NATCHEZ, Miss. – Plans are being made for a distribution of masks provided by Natchez-Adams County officials for people to wear when out in public during the coronavirus pandemic. When, where and how will be announced later, said Adams County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford.
He said the facial coverings – which are required for anyone inside Natchez stores and other businesses – will be supplied by the state of Mississippi.
As state and local governments continue to relax their quarantine orders imposed in March, the county Board of Supervisors today loosened the city-county nighttime curfew to allow casino and bar patrons to be out until 2 a.m. The previous Adams County curfew required people to be home after 10 p.m. unless they’re essential workers, such as health-care providers, grocery employees and critical manufacturing workers.
The narrowed curfew window will largely accommodate people traveling to and from Magnolia Bluffs Casino. The Natchez casino reopens Thursday after being closed since March 16. Mississippi’s 26 casinos were ordered closed by the state because of the spreading virus. While COVID-19 continues to be virulent, the casinos’ reopening Thursday will be with various restrictions and mandates to ensure they’re disinfected and are not crowded. The regulations are similar to those put in place on other businesses that’ve been allowed to reopen their doors to customers.
The curfew has been relaxed for those not traveling to and from the casinos and bars, but they can’t be “out and about or hanging out in the streets,” said Adams County board attorney Scott Slover.
At least 15 people residing in Natchez-Adams County have died from the coronavirus and 173 confirmed to have been sickened by it since March 11, according to the state Department of Health’s most recent count published Monday. Of the 15 who died, eight were in Natchez-Adams County nursing homes.
While state and local officials have said numbers of COVID cases have stabilized this month, the counts are up from the end of April, when at least eight people from Adams County had died from it and 133 were confirmed to have been infected.
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The Board of Supervisors faces a June 30 deadline to plan what will be done to fix the hazardous Robins Lake dam that could break and flood parts of south Adams County.
While the state Department of Environmental Quality is requiring corrective measures be taken to avert such a disaster, Adam County supervisors are questioning whether they’re legally responsible for the privately owned dam. It’ll be expensive to repair what DEQ has deemed a “high-hazard” dam. The five supervisors decided Monday to get board attorney Scott Slover to retain outside lawyers who could give more advice on supervisors’ legal liability.
While the small dam and lake are privately owned, the county board took ownership of the public road atop it several years ago. There are several landowners at Robins Lake, but countless numbers reside downstream who could be flooded if the dam breaks.
Remediation options presented to the board in recent months include rebuilding the dam or eliminating it and drain the small lake it retains. Whatever steps taken will be expensive with uncertainties who pays and where the money comes from. Adams County Administrator Joe Murray estimated the cost could be as much as $1 million.
DEQ’s dam safety division is demanding the county have a plan in place next month or face sanctions by the state.
Robins Lake is located about 10 miles south of Natchez and west of U.S. 61 and Lower Woodville Road between the Cloverdale and Sibley areas.
In addition to their legal liability, county supervisors said they question the viability of the fishless lake that could amount to merely a large “drainage ditch” full of sediment. They decided Monday to get measurements of the lake’s depth.
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Natchez residents who’ve gathered yard limbs that the city’s trash collector won’t pick up can ask Adams County crews to do the job.
However, the county official in charge of this said his office has been inundated with requests to do this – keeping his county workers busy within the city. Adams County Road Manager Robbie Dollar asked county supervisors Monday if they want to continue this pickup service for Natchez residents.
“I don’t see how we can deny them because these people pay city and county taxes,” county board President Ricky Gray said of Natchez residents.
The city’s contract with its private trash collector – Arrow Disposal Services – requires city residents to limit the amount of yard limbs and rubbish to four feet long and two cubic yards for curbside pickup, Dollar said. The county is not as restrictive.
“The city does not offer what we offer,” Dollar said. However, city residents must call the county road department to give details on what they want hauled away. The phone number is 601 445-7935.
Dollar said his county pickup crew averages about three loads daily. He did say they will not take rubbish cut by professional tree-cutters. Residents should ensure those they hire remove the cuttings.
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