Supes seek support from Congressmen during annual visit
From Staff and Press Reports
In a recent trip to Washington D.C. Archie Collins and Chris McIntire of the Choctaw County Board of Supervisors met with four members of the Mississippi Congressional Delegation.
The purpose of the trip was to brief the delegation of the progress on projects such as Silverado and seek support for other projects. Accompanying the supervisors from Choctaw County were Marty Crowder, County Engineer and Alan Bates of the Choctaw County Economic Development Foundation.
Wednesday morning, January 31, the group met with staff members of Senators Cochran and Lott. Senators Lott and Cochran were involved with Senate business and unable to attend the briefings themselves. During the afternoon the group met with Congressman Roger Wicker, Congressman Chip Pickering and members of their staffs. Both Congressmen were gracious to visit personally with the group between voting deadlines.
In all of the meetings the Choctaw County representatives, with Chris McIntire as primary spokesman, briefed the delegation on the status of Silverado and the lake project, and requested support for the four-laning of MS Highway 15, improvements to the road connecting Choctaw Lake and the Noxubee Refuge, and support for the continued growth of power plant and mining projects and the ongoing lake project. Over the past six years, the visits to Washington DC have resulted in over $871,500 for Choctaw county projects.
"Mississippi is very fortunate to have a strong senators and congressmen that are concerned with local projects underway," said McIntire. "Each year when we update them on the ongoing projects in Choctaw County they respond with an eagerness to help make our projects, like the road improvements at Choctaw Lake, move forward."
Later that evening Choctaw County jointly hosted a reception with Winston County in appreciation of the support of the delegation. The reception was well attended by staff members of each delegation and Senators Cochran and Lott spent several minutes at the reception as well.
The reception provided an excellent opportunity to network with the delegation, develop good working relationships and raise awareness of issues directly affecting Choctaw County. The reception was possible through sponsorships of companies and organizations supporting Choctaw and Winston Counties. Sponsors supporting Choctaw County were North American Coal, Crowder Engineering, and Pickering Engineering. Also attending some of the meetings and/or the reception were Tom Bryant and Carl Ray Furr or Pickering Engineering, Jeff Ballweber of Mississippi State University, and Joy Foy of Mississippi Development Authority.
Laura Sandiford contributed to this report. |
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