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DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
The forecast shows triple digits Saturday but don’t worry, Water Valley Fire Chief Mark McGavock has thousands of gallons of water on the city’s pumper to cool things down. Saturday marks the First Annual Water Valley Fire and Police Fun Day for area youth. An exciting lineup of activities are scheduled including four bouncy houses, the Oxford Police Department’s mounted patrol, helicopters from Air Evac and Wings, wreckers from several local businesses an, of course, fire trucks and police cruisers.
The action gets underway at 11:30 and extends to 5 p.m. at the Crawford Sports Complex on South Main.
The fun day comes at no cost to the taxpayer. Sponsors including Larson’s Cash Saver, Windshield Magician, Renasant Bank and Home Depot along with a few individual who are picking-up the tab for the bouncy houses and other expenses including plenty of bottled water.
Water Valley Police Chief Jason Mangrum explained that the purpose of the event is to provide activities for youth in the community while continuing to forge long-term relationships between the law enforcement officers and the community.
Mangrum noted that building trust for the department and officers with the community not only helps with solving crimes, but in some cases even prevents crimes. Citizens are comfortable with providing information or tips, trusting that the officer will not compromise where the information comes from. The information can be as a simple as learning where patrols need to be increased. It could be someone who noticed something unusual and stops an officer to report it. Or it could be a tip about a more serious crime.
The bottom line, according to the police chief, the more officers are involved in the community, the more they build that trust. For more information about the fun day, contact Chief Mangrum at (662) 473-8193, Steve Story at (662) 473-7122 or Josh Wedgeworth at (601) 480-6930.
The sheriff’s department is also busy planning for the second annual Camp Deputy. The week-long camp is scheduled July 25 – 30 at the Multi-purpose Building in Coffeeville. Youth ages seven to 17 are invited to participate. Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch also maintains that building trust is critical. Citing an example, the sheriff explained it is important to ensure that youth in the county don’t feed scared or intimated by law enforcement officers. Again, building that trust will allow youth to reach out to an officer if they have a problem at home or notice something unusual.
Law enforcement agencies from across the area will be participating in the camp with different programs ranging from raising awareness about bullying to the dangers of fentanyl.
The camp will start at 7 a.m. each morning with breakfast and check-in. Classes start at 8 a.m. and continue until noon. Lunch will be served at noon and pickup is from noon to 1 p.m.
Applications for Camp Deputy are available at the sheriff’s department in Water Valley or from any deputy. For more information, contact Sheriff Gooch or Lt. Ralph Horton at (662) 473-3602.
Camp Deputy was founded last year by former Sheriff Mark D. Fulco and was an immediate success. It was also one of the last public events the late sheriff was involved with. Just weeks after the camp Fulco died from complications to Covid.
For Sheriff Gooch, that makes continuing the camp even more important.
“This meant to much to Mark, I feel like we are honoring him by making Camp Deputy even bigger this year,” the sheriff explained.
