County Invests In Cameras To Help Combat Littering
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District 3 Supervisor Kenny Harmon checks a dump site in his beat.
WATER VALLEY – The Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of three trail cameras for use by Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks conservation officer Austin Tallent to help combat illegal dumping.
Tallent made the request at the recessed meeting on Oct. 25, explaining that the $100 cameras will send pictures directly to his cell phone allowing dump sites and other problematic areas to be monitored real time. He also explained that with the coming deer season, the cameras can be used to monitor sites where carcasses are dumped, especially on public land.
Tallent prefaced his request with an overview of his work in Yalobusha County and utilization of deer decoy purchased by the county two years earlier for $2,000. The conservation officer reported citations issued from cases where the decoy was used totaled $29,300. He explained that a typical case for headlighting and accompanying charges will result in approximately $4,000 in fines.
“It has been shot four times in two years, twice in the head and a couple of times in the body,” Tallent said. “The decoy definitely works.”
Tallent also shared that he has written 150 citations in Yalobusha County during the last two years along with issuing an estimated 100 warnings. Around 50 percent of the citations are hunting related and an estimated 25 percent of them are connected to boating enforcement on the Corps lakes in the county including BUI (boating under the influence. The remaining 25 percent of his cases are drug cases and traffic violations in the county, often working alongside Yalobusha County deputies.
The three trail cameras will be county-owned and listed on the county inventory, just as the deer decoy is.
Tallent also told supervisors that he has had opportunities to apply to transfer to other counties.
“I have stayed here because of this man right here,” Tallent said, pointing to Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch. “This is one of the best sheriff’s departments I work with. They are probably shortest staffed, but they are the hardest working guys out there.”
Tallent also said he lives in the county and recently constructed a new house.
“I am vested,” he explained about his bond with Yalobusha County.
