Look Back In Yalobusha History
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“Backstreet,” a country band fronted by Brad VanWinkle, was among 40 semi- finalists in the Marlboro Country Music Talent Roundup in Memphis in April, 1985. The members included (front row, from left) James McPhail of Batesville, steel guitar; Jerry Gordon of Water Valley, drums; Donnie Dickey of Water Valley, guitar; (back row, from left) Doug Gurner of Water Valley, bass; Brad VanWinkle, guitar and vocals; and Neal Bryant of Oxford, guitar.
The city’s beer ordinance was in the crosshairs a decade ago after aldermen had made revisions several months earlier, triggering a brouhaha that spilled over into the Board of Aldermen meetings for months.
The saga started in December, 2014, when aldermen tweaked the beer ordinance in an attempt to accommodate a potential new, upscale restaurant to be located in the recently renovated Blu-Buck buildings. It turned out the proposed proprietor was phony and the joke was on all of us.
This was the first major change to the ordinance after it was adopted by city leaders following the 2007 election that legalized the product in Yalobusha County. The changes included allowing a restaurant to serve beer for on-premises consumption if a church was located within 150 of the restaurant if the church congregation was okay with it. Before, if a restaurant was located within 150 feet of a church, serving beer was out.
The changes also increased the license fee from $15 to $250 and required quarterly reporting of sales to city hall. The modifications also included wording that stated beer or light wine could only be served simultaneously with a meal, meaning restaurant patrons could not be served beer or light wine before their food arrived. Another change required male and female restrooms for restaurants to serve beer.
There was backlash from business owners and the debate spanned monthly meetings in January, February, March and April, 2015. In January, city officials changed the wording to allow beer to be served in anticipation of a meal rather than simultaneous. In February, 2015, city officials made concessions that included lowering the license fee back to $15 annually and to require annual reporting for sales figures instead of the quarterly reporting. By the April meeting the topic losing steam – the board room a was less packed and letters to the editor in the newspaper were waning. In the May meeting a decade ago, the hot topic was the dog pound as a brand new organization, Second Chance Animal Alliance, were working on a deal to partner with the city to make improvements at the dog pound.
There was little mention of the ordinance for several years, but that changed with talk about another potential restaurant opening on Main Street. Terry Warren spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2017 renovating the Wagner buildings with plans to open a restaurant. Warren pushed for one change in the ordinance, removing the requirement that beer could only be served in a restaurant in anticipation of a meal. Warren envisioned turning two 100-year old buildings two story buildings into a restaurant, venue space, country store and an upstairs bar. He lobbied hard for the ordinance to be changed, but was not successful.
Warren immediately stopped work on the restoration after city leaders denied his request and the beer issue quietly festered for another year. Warren ultimately opened a restaurant in Oxford, and filed for a demolition permit for his Wagner buildings in Water Valley.
Yep, Warren filed paperwork at city hall in January, 2019, to tear his buildings down. City officials jumped into action, ultimately creating a historic district and commission to protect the Main Street buildings from threat or neglect. The commission is formally known as the Water Valley Historic Preservation Commission, but I like to call it the Warren Commission.
• 20 Years Ago, April 14, 2005 – The Casey Jones Railroad Museum in Water Valley was one of 17 sites in Mississippi included in the National Geographic Traveler’s Appalachian Map Guide.
The Yalobusha County Relay for Life raised $78,000.
• 30 Years Ago, April 20, 1995 – Finalist in the Watermelon Queen category of the 1995 Watermelon Pageant included Lara Leigh Smith, first alternate; Teresa Myrick, second alternate; Heather Horan, Watermelon Queen; and Tracy Lee McMinn, third alternate.
• 40 Years Ago, April 18, 1985 – Pilot Club members Mrs. Sam McCachren and Mrs. Markley Trusty were pictured as they were leaving town headed to the Louisiana-Mississippi Pilot Club Meeting in Jackson.
Attending the New Madrid Earthquake Conference in Memphis were Dean Arrington, Mayor of Coffee- ville; Henry Dean Gray, Supervisor of District 5, Fred E. Moorman, Supervisor of District 1; Doyle Varner, Radiological Officer, Yalobusha County Civil Defense; Patsy Upchurch, Director of Yalobusha Civil Defense; and Paul Roberson, City of Water Valley.
• 50 Years Ago, April 17, 1975 – Third grade students Janice Carroll, Sandy Stone, Mark Jefferson and Rebecca Hawkins were among performers in the Water Valley Elementary School Music Department’s concert.
Participants in the Yalobusha County Spelling Bee included winners Diana Wright and Suzette Shields, both of Coffeeville, Darlene Hardy of Water Valley, Missy Davis of Water Valley and Emma Benson of Oakland.
The First Christian Church of Water Valley scheduled a brief Ground Breaking Service on the coming Lord’s Day, April 20th. The service would signal the beginning of construction for a new Education Building valued at $90,000. Bro. Anderson would lead the service.
A clean-up drive was scheduled in the city and the Mayor and Board of Aldermen agreed to a special pickup of heavy items including stoves, discarded furniture, etc. at no charge. There was normally a charge of $2 for the service. Volunteers would also be issued trash bags at the bandstand for picking up litter. The person gathering the largest amount of litter would be awarded $25 in cash.
• 60 Years Ago, April 15, 1965 – Water Valley City Librarian Lucille Chapman and Water Valley Lions Club President Bill Larson examined enlarged copies of the Reader’s Digest, which the Lions Club made available to aid people who had trouble reading fine print.
Bobby Tyler accepted a position as the head coach at Senatobia High School.
Stanley Perkins, Bob Linder, L.C. Stewart and Bob Riley were candidates for mayor.
• 70 Years Ago, April 14, 1955 – Water Valley was to be featured on the radio in a day-long radio broadcast over Oxford Station WSHU.
• 80 Years Ago, April 20, 1945 – Two of Water Valley’s older citizens, G.R. Woods and August Enderlin, were guests of the Water Valley Rotary Club last Friday.
