Doing More With Less Is Nothing New
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
It’s been an interesting week in Water Valley’s online world. We made state news over city budget issues, for one. According to publicized reports across parts of Mississippi, it seems that Water Valley doesn’t have much money. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked! I thought we were rich this whole time but were just playing humble so that Oxford didn’t feel bad about itself.
Anyway, I’m glad the week online is behind us because my screenshotting thumb is strained at this point. I’m also glad it’s over because city officials can now keep on with the truly challenging business of doing a whole lot with very little. I wouldn’t wish that challenge on anyone, so godspeed to those we elected and appointed to do it! While Water Villains, especially, do not take reliable electricity for granted, I do think we could use some time offline. In that regard, I have a book recommendation this week!
I was in Turnrow Books down in Greenwood the other day and saw a paperback tucked in among the “Mississippi Authors” shelf. It was a book called “One Night of Madness” by a guy named Stokes McMillan, a fourth-generation Attala Countian. This book thoroughly covers a wild and horrific true crime case that took place in rural Attala County in 1950. A man named Leon Turner went on a rampage, terrorizing a whole county — most specifically a woman named Mary Ella Harris and her entire family. The case became national news.
Many of you born and raised here have likely heard of or remember tellings of this case. I had not. The book is written by the son of a many-generational newspaper family, so the telling is straightforward, chronological and completely riveting. The writer arranges the book in such a way that a very complicated set of connections is easy to follow. The writer also reveals nuanced aspects of the Mississippi social construct that are often left out of narratives about our area of the world. The book also has pictures! It is an absolute page-turner, and I couldn’t put it down.
I’ve been on an Attala County history kick lately because I was on an advisory board for the restoration and renovation of Kosciusko artist L.V. Hull’s former home, now named The L.V. Hull Legacy Center. On a recent visit to L.V.’s home (which is located next to the Kosciusko cemetery), I ran across the grave of my very favorite Wagner Letter writer, Elma Coleman Meek ( of Ole Miss-naming fame). During that same cemetery visit, I found the tombstone of a woman surrounded by the graves of six infants.
I won’t tell y’all the number of hours I’ve spent online trying to figure out the story of these six infants because it’s sort of embarrassing. I could probably solve the mystery just by actually asking anyone in Kosciusko. Yet another reason to get offline!
Lastly, to Karen Turnage, who bought and put out the new pedestrian sign in the middle of the crosswalk last week — thank you! Thank you, as well, to Chief Mangrum for supporting Karen in this. The sign is working! While drivers may not stop for a real person crossing the street, they apparently do stop for a plastic symbol of a person crossing the street! The power of art.
