Letters To Editor – Sept. 20, 2012

To: Citizens of Yalobusha County:
At a recent board of supervisors meeting, the owners of the Grand Palace Lounge, who had already obtained a state permit, were denied a county permit to sell beer. The board’s attorney, John Crow, interrogated the Hayes brothers like they were on trial. (In the past, Mr. Crow had assisted these same men in closing the deal when they purchased the building that is now the Grand Palace Lounge.)
For some reason, the county went along with an annexation by a town to allow one business to sell cold beer.
The owners of the Grand Palace have all of the legal documents that a business owner needs to obtain a county beer permit, but the Board of Supervisors still denies them the permit. Who could imagine that it would be this difficult to receive a county beer permit?
Sheriff Lance Humphreys claimed that he had received 67 calls about problems at the Grand Palace in the past 2 and 1/2 years, but no arrests have been made and no investigations are ongoing with regard to those 67 calls. In particular, in the AK47 incident that was mentioned, the name of the person was provided to the sheriff’s department, the person was identified by witnesses and security, but NO ARREST WAS MADE.
Shells were also seized from the shooting, which seemed like a planned event, because the sheriffs deputies and a newspaper reporter were on the scene in less than ten minutes.
Mr. Humphreys said that, over the last month, something had occurred there every week that required his attention, but no arrests have been made on any of these incidents and no deputies have been to the Grand Palace to investigate any of these incidents. Yalobusha County, obviously, needs no supervisors, since Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Crow make all of the decisions for the Board, while the rest of the members sit by, idly, saying nothing. Mr. Vaughn said that if it was left up to him, there would be NO GRAND PALACE.
That’s letting everyone know that the owners of the Grand Palace will NEVER receive a county permit. This seems extremely biased, coming from the President of the Board. Every citizen should have an opportunity to make a living.
It seems like the owners of the Grand Palace are being denied a right to make a living in Yalobusha County. Mr. Vaughn, is this the way ALL “Elected Officials” work in Yalobusha County toward taxpaying citizens.
Donald and Tyrone Hayes

(Editor’s Note: In an effort to allow the Hayes brothers balanced coverage, the Herald agreed to their request to re-publish two pictures in this week’s print edition that were included in the original article about the meeting. Photos aren’t included with online letters.)

Dear Editor:
  This week I’m writing about gasoline prices from a different position. Instead of some large differences in pricing between Water Valley, Batesville, and Oxford, these all seem to be in close sync together. Prices are higher, but they are up everwhere and that’s just the nature of the beast!
  I want to comment on some things I’ve noticed since prices leveled out. Several people have mentioned that now they could buy gas locally, and not try to wait out being in a nearby town, where prices were substantially cheaper, to fill up. Several weeks ago comments were made that when making a point of shopping for cheaper gas in say, Batesville, people also bought groceries, ate out, and otherwise spent money there.
  I think it’s indicative that if one can find fair prices at home they’ll not only be buying gas here, but also their other shopping needs. It appears obvious that equitable local gas prices would boost the whole local econmy. It would seen that should be the desire of both the local merchants (including gas distributors) and consumers. For the good of our whole area, try to shop local!
  /s/Joe Lowe