Actions Speak Louder Than Words

By Editor | February 4, 2026 |

DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell

I had a minor revelation during the last week: The folks who are the most vocal when there is a problem are rarely ever part of the solution. You know the ones I’m talking about — the people you only hear from when there is a problem. And the 2026 Ice Storm was a problem. A big one. Forty-one counties in Mississippi were impacted. There are plenty of keyboard warriors in the county.

District 4 Supervisor Eddie Harris said it loud and clear during Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Eddie is not one to mince words or kick the can down the road, and I like that about him.
Speaking on the record, Harris noted that a lot of folks were on Facebook bashing the county.

“I promise you, us five (supervisors) were out Sunday morning doing what we could do,” Harris said. “We hired some local contractors to help us. We cleared these roads by Thursday. Ninety-five percent of the roads were cleared by Thursday with local help.
“And the stuff they talked about on Facebook — it’s 41 counties in this state that were damaged. MEMA has to get around to everybody. We can’t make MEMA bring us stuff. We put a request in Sunday, and it takes time for MEMA to organize and get stuff here.
“People on Facebook complain about what we’re doing. We did all that we could do. And we want to say appreciate to the people — the volunteers — who helped us clear these roads. In four days, over 500 miles in this county were cleared where people could get out and go down the road.
“Nobody was sitting on their thumb. We were working. We did the best we could with the situation we had.”

Well said, Eddie.

Are there things that could have been done better?

District 4 Supervisor Eddie Harris reports that county crews and volunteers worked for days to clear roads following the ice storm.

There is not an edition of this newspaper I’ve published that I didn’t look at afterward and see room for improvement.
While we’re talking about Monday’s meeting, we also need to brag a little on our EMA director, Stewart Spence. Or better yet, let Board President Cayce Washington’s words tell the story.

“I’ve got to commend Stewart in front of this crowd,” Washington said during Monday’s meeting. “He has worked nonstop, around the clock, on minimal sleep, going into dire situations — transporting people, transporting groceries and basically assembling an army of volunteers to make what happened last week happen.

“He’s been the point man. I’ve yielded to him when he needed to make the call. He’s been instrumental working with MEMA, FEMA and other agencies, and more importantly, local people, to get things done.”

Well said, Cayce.

In the City of Water Valley, the response set the bar. Enacted last August, the Water Valley Electric Commission had their first real test and you might say it was a make-you or break-you scenario.

The restoration was second-to-none. All of the departments, police, fire, streets, water, did an amazing job.
Fountain Square became ground zero to support the power restoration.. Liz Reynolds graciously offered her building to house the crews who came in to help restore power. For eight days, volunteers fed three solid meals a day to those crews, with the highest headcount nearing 60. That’s a lot of food — and that doesn’t include the meals that went out into the community.

It was the same story all over the county — too many acts of kindness to list.

Charmie Weeks shared one of the best stories of the week. A woman stopped by to drop off a few supplies and told Charmie she planned to bring more on Friday — the day she gets paid.

Wow. Just wow.

There are so many people who have helped and continue to help that I hope we can someday compile an accurate list. I won’t try to name names. It’s simply too many.

And that and so many more selfless acts says more about this county than any Facebook comment ever could.

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