Greene County Democrat

Category: Community

  • Newswire : Senate passes deal to reopen government after Shutdown

    By Sahil Kapur, Frank Thorp V, Melanie Zanona 
    and Julie Tsirkin, HBCU News

    WASHINGTON — The Senate passed legislation Monday night to reopen the government and end the record-long shutdown after eight Democrats broke with their party and joined Republicans to break the logjam.
    The vote was 60-40, with every Republican except Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voting in favor of the measure.
    The measure now goes to the House, which could vote as early as Wednesday to pass the package and send it to President Donald Trump, who said Monday that he supports the bipartisan deal.
    Senate passage came after a long vote series to reject several amendments and package the components of a deal into one.
    The legislation includes a “minibus” of three full-year appropriations bills, including a full funding of SNAP benefits through the end of next September, and keeps much of the government open on a short-term basis through Jan. 30.
    But in a major concession for Democrats, the deal does not include an extension of expiring subsidies under Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, after Republicans held firm against continuing those funds. That means more than 20 million Americans could see their premiums spike next year.
    “The American people have now awoken to Trump’s health care crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday before voting against the legislation. “Democrats demanded that we find a way to fix this crisis and quickly, but Republicans have refused to move an inch. So, I cannot support the Republican bill that’s on the floor because it fails to do anything of substance to fix America’s health care crisis.”
    The Senate deal with Republicans was struck by Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. Joining them to support the measure were Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Dick Durbin of Illinois; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Tim Kaine of Virginia.
    “This was the only deal on the table,” Shaheen told reporters before the vote. “It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits that tens of millions of Americans rely on to keep costs down.”
    Durbin said that while he shares other Democrats’ misgivings about the Trump administration, he “cannot accept a strategy that wages political battle” at the expense of paychecks for federal workers by keeping the government closed.
    Despite backing down on their main demand during the shutdown, the Democrats walked away with a promise by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to vote on an ACA funding bill by the end of the second week of December. But there’s no guarantee that will achieve the 60 votes necessary to pass, which is why most Democrats voted against the negotiated bill.
    King said reopening the government boosts the prospects of an ACA funding extension to “maybe 50%,” but he added, “I can’t guarantee a result. Nobody can.”
    And in a bad omen for that cause, all 53 Senate Republicans voted Monday against including a simple one-year extension of the ACA funds, proposed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in the funding bill. That vote came in the run-up to final passage.
    Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., held a conference call with House Republicans on Monday morning and laid out a potential timetable for votes this week after the chamber has been out of session since Sept. 19, according to four sources on the call.
    Johnson said he’s hoping to vote as soon as Wednesday on the Senate’s deal to re-open the government. Still, even though the vote timing is fluid, members were encouraged on the call to start getting back to D.C. as soon as possible given the air travel delays.
    The speaker also vowed that, before the House votes, he will swear in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won her special election on Sept. 23. The House has been out of session since Sept. 19 in an unusually long and unscheduled recess.
    Following her swearing-in, the House will then vote on a rule for the Senate deal, followed by final passage, and then the House will leave town again, Johnson told members on the call.
    While the House vote is expected to be tight and leadership is still in the process of doing a whip check, Johnson expressed confidence that they’d be able to pass the Senate’s government funding package, the sources said.
    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said House Democrats are “focused on dealing with the bill that’s coming over from the Senate to the House, and we’re going to fight hard to defeat it.”
    Asked if the shutdown was worth it, Jeffries said Democrats “waged a battle on behalf of the American people.” He added that “the fight lives on.”
    Jeffries deferred to House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., when asked if all Democrats will vote against the bill.

  • School Board receives report on Superintendent Search Community Input Process

    The Greene County Board of Education held a called session, Monday, November 10, 2025 to receive a report on the Community Input Process of the Superintendent Search for Greene County School System conducted by the Alabama Association of School Boards (AASB). Ms. Susan Salter, AASB Consultant, coordinated local stakeholder engagements in October and November with 33 attendees as well as a stakeholder survey with 76 respondents. Salter noted that although there was a small number of parent and community participants, the responses were similar. “There was a consistency in views,” she said.
    Regarding superintendent traits desired, the community input listed the following: strong communication skills, good listener, relationship builder, approachable, committed to accountability and transparency, creates a good work environment, leadership ability – has strength to make difficult decisions but can be flexible, and have strong visibility in community.
    In responding to challenges the new superintendent will face, the participants listed declines in enrollment; issues at the middle school; special education services; parent involvement. Other challenges include student achievement (academic and behavior), teacher recruitment, morale and retention and improving communications with parents and the public.
    When asked if the superintendent should be hired from among existing employees, from outside the school system, or no preference, approximately 44% indicated no preference; 32% said from within the system; 25 % said from outside the system.
    Ms. Salter stated that next steps include accepting applications through December 10, 2025. All applications must go through AASB. In this process the board does not accept superintendent applications.The link to apply is on the board’s website and can be widely distributed. AASB will screen and vet all applicants (checking credentials and references) and select five finalists. Salter and the board will compile a list of questions for the finalists. She suggested creating about 10 questions for an hour interview with each finalist.
    On December 15, Susan Salter will give the board the final list of the top five candidates screened and recommended by AASB. The board will schedule the interviews beginning December 17. The interviews of the top five applicants for superintendent will be open to the public.

  • Commission chooses Spencer as Chair and Summerville as Vice Chair at Organizational Meeting

    Seated L-R: County Commissioners Allen Turner, Garria Spencer, Chairperson, Roshonda Summerville, Vice Chair, Latasha Johnson and Tennyson Smith. Standing are members of the Greene County Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated: Phillis Belcher, President, Drenda Morton, Isaac Atkins, Shirley Ezell and Marva Smith.

    The Greene County Commission held its annual Organizational Meeting on Monday, November 10, 2025, in the William M. Branch Courthouse at 5;00 PM. All five commissioners were present, including newly appointed District 3 Commissioner, Latasha Johnson.
    Garria Spencer, Chairperson relinquished the chair and asked Legal Counsel, Mark Parnell, to officiate at the meeting for the purpose of electing a chair for the coming year. Commissioner Johnson nominated Spencer to be the chair. There were no other nominations, so Garria Spencer was elected Chairperson by acclamation.
    After the election, Spencer thanked the Commissioners for their support and said, I will do my best to work with everyone on this Commission and recognize your concerns and interests.”
    There were two commissioners nominated for Vice- Chair, Tennyson Smith and Roshonda Summerville. Summerville was selected by a 3 to 2 vote.
    The Commission agreed that its regular meetings would be held on the second Monday of each month at 5:00 P M.
    The Commission agreed to retain the same depositories for its funds. They designated that two of the following persons, Garria Spencer, Roshonda Summerville, Brenda Burke, Altheria Wilder, and Rhonda French would be eligible to sign checks for the Commission. The signatures on the safe deposit box were similarly adjusted.
    The Commission did not make any appointments or changes to county agencies or internal committees. Commissioner Turner requested a list of all committees and boards and their current occupants and vacancies.
    The Commission also received and approved a report on finances for the month of October 2025, first month of the current fiscal year. The County spent $2,093,525 on all bills and payroll, plus an additional $94,401 on electronic claims for employee deductions.
    The County has $9,318,691 on deposit with local banks and $1,901,849 in certificates of deposit. There is $4,884,839 on deposit with Citizens Trust Bank of which $1,038,957 in unrestricted and $3,845,881 in restricted funds. In Merchants and Farmers Bank, there is a total of $4,433,851 of which $1,497,654 in unrestricted and $2,936,197 in restricted funds.
    At its November 1 meeting, the Commission accepted the resignation of Sandra Walker, District 1 representative on the Greenthumb Board and appointed Lucy Spann to this position.

  • Gov. Kay Ivey appoints Latasha Johnson to fill District 3, County Commission seat

    L-R: Ms. Latasha Johnson, her mother Mrs. Annie Johnson, District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne.


    Former Eutaw City Mayor, Latasha Johnson was sworn-in as Greene County Commissioner, District 3, on Monday, November 10, 2025 at the William M. Branch Courthouse. Greene County District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne officiated at the installation. Ms. Latasha Johnson was assisted by her mother Mrs. Annie Johnson.

    In her remarks Commissioner Johnson extended her appreciation to the crowded courtroom witnessing her special occasion. “ The Lord has given each of us special gifts and I know that mine is a servant’s heart, and I am dedicated to serve. I was born and raised in Greene County; I love this community and I am committed to serve the people with or without a title. I am grateful for the trust and confidence you have placed in me at this time. I asked that we work together in love to continue to build our community.”

    Commissioner Johnson was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey to complete the term vacated by former Commissioner Corey Cockrell, recently installed as Eutaw City Mayor. All Greene County Commission seats, and other county offices, will be up for election in 2026.

  • Newswire : Congressman Meeks chastises President Trump for possible invasion of Nigeria

    Congressman Gregory Meeks (D – NY)

    By April Ryan, NNPA

    “A complex reality” is being overlooked by President Donald Trump, with his Friday proposal to send the U.S. military into Nigeria over alleged anti-Christian behaviors, believes Congressman Greg Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
    The president said last week in a post to social media that if Nigeria does not halt the persecution of Christians, he may send U.S. troops “guns-a-blazing” to “completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
    Trump has directed the Department of War “to prepare for possible action,” he wrote (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476385101120405). “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!” Congressman Meeks responded in a written statement with, “I know President Tinubu recognizes the importance of interfaith harmony and is working to address this challenge.”
    While chastising the president’s plans, Meeks said, “Providing security support is one thing; Trump’s threatening military intervention to ‘defend Christians’ is a reckless distortion of the facts. And Trump’s aid cuts have blocked much-needed emergency nutrition and livelihoods programs—the very tools essential to preventing the spread of insurgency.”
    “The Trump Administration’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern ignores the complex reality of violence there. Clashes between Christian farmers and Muslim herders are driven by resource scarcity and competition for land, not religion alone,” adds the New York federal lawmaker who went on to say, ” Terrorist groups have devastated communities, especially in the predominantly Muslim north, and all Nigerians deserve protection.” According to a 2019 Pew Research study, Nigeria ranked fifth among the world’s Christian populations and third among the world’s largest Muslim populations.
    Meeks also makes the distinction that Nigeria’s President Tinubu is Muslim while his wife is Christian. The last time President Trump met with a Nigerian president was in April 2018, when he hosted then-President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria at the White House. The bilateral meeting focused on enhancing partnerships between the two countries, promoting economic growth, and fighting terrorism, including Boko Haram and ISIS in West Africa.
    There is no chance of ironing out this issue at the end of the month at the G-20 Summit in South Africa, as President Trump has declined to attend the world leaders’ event on the African continent. Although not a formal member of the G20, Nigerian officials plan to participate in the summit and make presentations.

  • Newswire : Millions suffer as Trump’s economy crumbles

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    America’s economy is not collapsing by accident. Under President Donald Trump, Russell Vought, and Stephen Miller, a deliberate plan has taken hold, a plan that weakens the labor market, starves families of food and health care, and rewards the wealthy with power and profit. What was once called “economic populism” has become an organized campaign of cruelty that has left the country broken and millions of Americans in despair.
    The labor market is in free fall. UPS cut 48,000 workers, the largest reduction in its 117-year history. Amazon is firing up to 30,000 corporate employees. Intel eliminated 24,000 positions. Nestlé slashed 16,000 jobs. Ford and Accenture each let go of 11,000 workers. Novo Nordisk terminated 9,000 employees. Microsoft cut 7,000. PwC laid off 5,600. Salesforce dismissed 4,000. Paramount reduced 2,000. Target eliminated 1,800. Kroger cut 1,000. Applied Materials reduced 1,444, and Meta let go of 600.
    The layoffs have rippled across every major industry, devastating workers, families, and communities nationwide. According to Intellizence data, more than 4,200 companies have announced mass layoffs since January. The Associated Press reported that executives cite Trump’s tariffs, erratic trade actions, and federal instability as the leading causes of widespread job losses and frozen hiring.
    While the job market collapses, Trump’s government shutdown has unleashed a humanitarian crisis. More than 42 million Americans, many of whom supported Trump, will lose access to food assistance through SNAP and WIC. Another 25 million people will lose their health care.
    Trump also canceled nearly 94 million pounds of food aid, including meat, eggs, and dairy, that were supposed to reach food banks across the country. For those working on the front lines of hunger relief, it was an invisible theft—food promised but never delivered.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed it will not release $6 billion in contingency funds, claiming the money can only be used for “unforeseen events” such as natural disasters. Yet Trump approved $40 billion for Argentina, spent $1 billion for a private jet stationed in Qatar, and at least $300 million to destroy historic White House property and construct a new ballroom for himself.
    Taxpayers have been forced to pay an estimated $30 million for his golf trips, $520 million for unnecessary National Guard deployments, and $172 million for jets requested by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. None of those expenditures has lowered health care costs or provided relief to struggling families.
    While ordinary Americans lose jobs, food, and medical care, Trump’s personal income has skyrocketed. The Trump Organization reported $864 million in revenue in the first half of 2025, a 17-fold increase from the previous year. Most of that money came from cryptocurrency ventures. Financial filings show $463 million from sales of World Liberty Financial tokens and another $336 million from TRUMP meme coins.
    The investigation revealed that foreign investors were heavily involved. Hong Kong-based billionaire Justin Sun, who reportedly was charged with fraud by the SEC in 2023, bought $75 million worth of Trump tokens. Abu Dhabi’s state-controlled MGX used Trump’s stablecoin to fund a $2 billion investment in Binance. Chinese businessman Guren “Bobby” Zhou, reportedly under investigation for money laundering in Britain, purchased $100 million in tokens. Trump, meanwhile, eliminated federal crypto enforcement teams, withdrew regulatory warnings, and pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after his conviction for anti-money-laundering failures. Ethics experts have called it the most blatant conflict of interest in U.S. history.
    Vought, Trump’s former budget director and the author of Project 2025, created the framework for this collapse. His plan dismantles federal oversight, guts safety nets, and funnels public funds into private and partisan interests. Miller, Trump’s longtime political enforcer, has turned those ideas into action by starving agencies, blocking aid, and tightening control of the economy under the White House.
    Wall Street, meanwhile, is celebrating the pain. UPS shares surged nine percent after its mass firings, and Amazon’s stock climbed on news of more job cuts. Economists say this “profit from pain” economy has become Trump’s defining legacy, an America where corporate success depends on working-class suffering. The fallout is everywhere. Food banks are running out of supplies. Hospitals are closing departments. Families are skipping rent to pay for prescriptions. Millions who once believed Trump would protect them are now struggling to survive policies that favor billionaires, foreign investors, and the politically connected.
    Georgetown University business professor Jason Schloetzer told the Associated Press that uncertainty has replaced confidence in every corner of the job market. “A lot of people are looking around, scanning the job environment, scanning the opportunities that are available to them, whether it’s in the public or private sector,” he said. “And I think there’s a question mark around the long-term stability everywhere.”

  • Newswire : White House says it will make some SNAP payments after Trump threatened to defy court

    By Toni Romm, New York Times

    President Trump threatened on Tuesday to deny food stamps for roughly 42 million low-income Americans until the end of the government shutdown, a move that would defy a federal court that had ordered the administration to continue the aid payments this month.
    In a post on social media, Mr. Trump said that benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
    Hours after that ultimatum, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to walk back the president’s comments. She told reporters at a news briefing that the administration is “fully complying” with the court and would provide partial food stamp payments in November.
    “We’re complying with the court’s order, and we’re getting that partial payment out the door as much as we can, and as quickly as we can, but it’s going to take some time,” Ms. Leavitt said.
    The whiplash on Tuesday only added to the persistent sense of panic and anxiety among the roughly one in eight poor Americans who rely on SNAP, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program. The president’s comments once again raised the risk that these families could find themselves vulnerable to hunger and financial hardship, even though a federal court ordered Mr. Trump and his aides to restart nutrition assistance.
    To comply with that directive, administration officials told two separate courts this week that they would make only partial payments to people on SNAP, essentially halving their aid for November. That alone had proved insufficient for cities and nonprofits, which had returned to court on Tuesday — before Mr. Trump’s threat — to try to restore full benefit amounts and force the government to pay the money more quickly.
    “This is immoral. See you in court,” Skye L. Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, a legal organization representing one of the lawsuits that has repeatedly challenged the Trump administration, said in a post on social media.
    The White House declined to elaborate on Mr. Trump’s plans. The Agriculture Department did not respond to a request for comment.
    In the original order, published on Saturday, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island essentially gave the Trump administration a choice. He said it could provide full SNAP payments by Monday or partial benefits by Wednesday, while finding that the government had a legal obligation to sustain the program if the funds were available.
    The Trump administration chose the latter approach, financed using about $5 billion set aside for SNAP in an emergency reserve previously established by Congress. The Agriculture Department could have tapped an ample store of additional funds to provide full benefits to those enrolled in food stamps, but the agency declined to do so.
    As a result, families stood to receive about half as much in nutrition benefits this month than they would have normally — and, potentially, only after weeks or months of delay. Officials at the Agriculture Department had acknowledged these limitations in court filings, even as the administration refused to make other funds available for SNAP.
    By Tuesday, Mr. Trump appeared to suggest he would halt food stamps entirely. He said on social media that the benefits were managed “haphazardly” and attacked Democrats, a set of comments that recalled his previous threat to punish the party and cut its favored programs during the shutdown.
    Some congressional Democrats expressed outrage over what they saw as a patently illegal act.
    “The president is not a king,” said Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House’s leading agriculture committee. “He is not free to disregard the rule of law whenever it becomes politically inconvenient for him.”
    By that afternoon, Ms. Leavitt insisted that the president only sought to register his disapproval with using emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits. She said that Mr. Trump wanted those “funds preserved,” even though the administration had attested to a judge that it would exhaust that money during the shutdown.
    Before the president posted his threat on social media, local leaders and nonprofits had filed anew in federal court in the hopes of securing a clearer order from Judge McConnell, one that would force the Trump administration to pay benefits rapidly and in full.
    “Time is of the essence when it comes to hunger,” they wrote in their filing, prepared by lawyers from groups including Democracy Forward.
    They said that the court “did not contemplate that millions would be deprived of basic nutritional assistance for weeks” while the government readied its partial benefits. They asked the judge to force the Trump administration to “release the unlawfully withheld funding, in its entirety, for November SNAP benefits.”

  • Newswire : Democrats win all November 2025 elections from coast to coast; voters repudiate Trump


    New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.; New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani; Abigail Spanberger, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Virginia. (AFP; Bloomberg; Getty Images)

     

    By NBC News and others

    Democratic wins in Tuesday’s elections gave the party a sorely needed burst of momentum ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
    The party came in favored in races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor and a California ballot measure to green-light a Democratic gerrymander of the state’s congressional map.
    But the huge margins in those governor’s races and other contests left many Democrats feeling a new emotion — excitement — for the first time in some time. The results affirmed the candidates’ decisions to run economic-centered campaigns, highlighted Republicans’ trouble replicating President Donald Trump’s coalition and included other signs of repudiation and warning for Trump.
    Even as they caution there are limits to how much these Democratic victories in several blue-leaning areas can translate into 2026 midterm elections on far more competitive turf, some Republicans are sounding the alarm.
    “It was a bloodbath. It’s a disastrous night for Republicans in the state, and I think nationally folks should probably heed some warnings as well,” said Mike DuHaime, a longtime New Jersey GOP strategist and former Republican National Committee political director. “It shows there’s some discontent certainly with the current administration and it shows that candidates and campaigns matter as well”
    Three Democratic Pennsylvania Supreme Court judges were affirmed to continue serving, after ten years on the court. Pennsylvania law allows a vote on judges after ten years of service. These judges who ruled against Trump in several 2020 election cases will continue to serve on the bench in a swing state that Trump narrowly carried in 2024.
    Zohron Mandani, a Muslim immigrant and self-described ‘Democratic Socialist was elected Mayor of New York by over 50% in a three-way race against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent and Anton Sliwa, the Republican candidate. Trump on election eve endorsed Cuomo and asked Republicans in New York City to vote for him. Mondani brought out thousands of young and discouraged working class voters to the polls with his message and proposed program of economic affordability.
    In California, thousands of people were lined up at polling places when the polls were scheduled to close at 8:00 PM to vote for proposition 50, to allow the California Legislature to re-district Congressional seats in response to Trump’s efforts to create five more Republican favored seats in Texas. Voters in California waiting in line said they were voting for “freedom”, “democracy” and “to turn back Trump” as their reason for supporting Proposition 50.
    Political observers said that Tuesday’s election was the beginning of the 2026 mid-term elections for Congress.

  • City Council of Eutaw holds Organizational Meeting; names new police chief

    The new City Council of Eutaw met at 5:00 PM on November 3, 2025, for its Organizational Meeting. The new Mayor, Corey Cockrell presided at the meeting which was attended by all five council members. Districts 1,2, and 3 (Valerie Watkins, Jonathan Woodruff Jr. and Tracey Hunter) were represented by persons who served on the previous council, while District 4 and 5 council members Lorenzo French and Carrie Logan were newly elected and had not previously served.
    The Organizational Meeting was to set the rules and procedures for Eutaw City Council meetings, make appointments and clarify the banking and financial roles of the Mayor and Council members.
    The Council adopted Resolution 2025-14 for the rules of procedure for meetings of the Eutaw City Council which included quorum requirements, use of Robert’s Rules of Order, reporting, minutes, adoption of resolutions , decorum, public comments and other regulations.
    The Council adopted Resolution 2025-15 specifying that there will be two regular meetings per month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, at 5:00 PM at the Eutaw City Hall.
    The Council adopted Resolution 2025-16 on Banking stating that two signatures will be required on each check. Four persons are designated as signatories: Mayor Cockrell, Sha’Kelvia Spencer, City Clerk, Council members Tracey Hunter and Jonathon Woodruff.
    The Council adopted other resolutions naming Councilwoman Tracey Hunter as Mayor Pro Tempore, who will preside over meetings in the absence of the mayor; Sha’Kelvia Spencer as City Clerk; Joshua Swords as Municipal Judge; Zane Willingham as City Attorney and Municipal Prosecutor. These persons are currently serving in the same roles.
    The Council adopted Resolution 2025-20 naming Kendrick Howell as Chief of Police replacing current Chief Tommy Johnson. No information was given as the reason for the change. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 3 to 2, with new members , Lorenzo French and Carrie Logan, voting against the resolution. Bennie Abrams was re-named to his position as Fire Chief.
    Several other resolutions were adopted naming Mayor Cockrell as the Superintendent of the Water Department and a separate resolution authorizing the mayor to have a limit of up to $10,000 in discretionary spending. The resolution requires the mayor to report on discretionary spending at the next regular Council meeting.
    Due to Veterans Day falling on the second Tuesday, the next regular meeting of the Eutaw City Council will be held on Wednesday November 12, 2025, at 4:00 PM. A Eutaw Council work session will be held this Thursday, November 6, 2025, at 5:00 PM, to discuss pending issues and design the agenda for the November 12 meeting.

  • Greene County Commission holds special meeting to allocate funds for a waterpark, repairs to Eutaw Activity Center, Greene County Health System and employees

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher and Editor

    The Greene County Commission held a special called meeting on Saturday November 1, 2025, to obligate unrestricted funds at its disposal to various projects and commitments.
    The Commission allocated an unspecified amount of funding toward repairs to the front doors, floors and windows of the Eutaw Activity Center, which is owned by the county. The County Administrator was authorized to design specifications and solicit bids for this work, which was estimated to cost more than $100,000. The funds will come from funding provided to the County Commission from the Greene County Racing Commission, from simulcasting of dog and horse racing and historic horse racing gaming at the Palace Entertainment Center.
    The Commission earmarked $600,000 of funding in its Bingo Fund Account for development of a waterpark. The waterpark will be a leisure and recreation center for residents of Greene County. The park will consist of a splashpad, primarily for children, water slides and a swimming pool. It will be built in phases starting with the splashpad. Commission Allen Turner said, “ We have been studying what other counties and municipalities have done in building and improving their public parks for recreation. We want to build a waterpark in phases with our discretionary funds and grants we can raise from state, federal and private funding.”
    Turner indicated that the Commission was in the early stages of design of the waterpark but had not designated a specific location for the project yet. He pointed out that the County owned land on Highway 43 and was exploring other locations like the Rober H. Young Community Center, formerly Carver School, in cooperation with the City of Eutaw as a potential site.
    The Commission also approved additional support for the Greene County Health System (GCHS), which includes the Hospital, Nursing Home and Physicians Clinic, to ensure these vital facilities would be open and available to serve the residents of Greene County. The Commission authorized an additional $150,000 in advances to the GCHS of the 4 mil advalorem property tax, with an understanding that these funds would be repaid as the county collects these taxes for the healthcare system. In a prior meeting the Commission authorized $100,000 advance to GCHS, which has been already paid to and used by the healthcare system. The Commission also previously provided and paid $40,000 in opioid funds as a grant to the GCHS.
    At Saturday’s meeting the Commission also agreed to grant the GCHS an additional $100,000 in Bingo or other discretionary gaming funds for payment of outstanding debts. This grant was conditioned on the GCHS presenting a list of priority expenses to the Commission. The Commission previously granted $100,000 to GCHS, with half to be used for an audit and other half for necessary expenses. This means that the GCHS has $150,000 to draw against for critical expenses; $50,000 for an audit; and $150,000 for advances from the 4-mil tax, primarily for payroll expenses, on an as needed basis. These advances will be repaid as people pay their 2025 property taxes.
    The Commission also approved a net salary supplement to employees, with $1,100 for full time employees, $500 for part time employees and $300 for temporary employees. The total cost for these supplements will be $85,000.
    The Commission accepted the resignation of Sandra Walker (District 1) from the Greenthumb Development Board and appointed Lucy Spann as the District 1 representative.
    This was Commissioner Corey Cockrell’s last meeting. He resigned on the morning of November 3rd, when he was inaugurated as the new Mayor of Eutaw. The Commission is expecting Governor Ivey to name the replacement for Commissioner for District 3 in the near future.