The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1952-04-17
no.mes Legislators
Voted against Pay
>.,aise For Legislature
Williams Defends
$50 900 Ceiling For
Cos Tax Refunds
by James B. KEELING

The entire Holmes county le-
gislative delegation voted against
the bill to raise legislators paw.
The House Of Representatives
passed the bill by overwhelming
vote but the three Holmes re-
representatives., Representative Ed
White of Lexington, Representa-
tive Eph Cresswell of Durant.
and Representative T. p. Mont
gomery of Pickens were among
the few who voted against il
The measure went to the SEN
ate where the upper body gave
1t a resoundlng kick in the pants.
And Senator T. M. Williams of
Lexington was one of the chief
toe artists.
Many pay raises were voted by
the legislature and the Holmes
county delegation voted affirma-
lively on most if not all of them.
The chief measure was flat ten
per cent raise in pay down the
line for state employees. AS most
of the salary schedules were put
into effect long before the infla-
ton era there has been no au-
dible protest throughout the
state of Mississippi on the ten
per cent raise Even the sidewalk
scientists of Courthouse Square
probably would admit the state
employees needed the money.
They probably would have been
hot under the collar had they
realized the small salary which
one of Holmes favorite sons had
been receiving in a very impor-
tant job.
Sen. Williams Speaks
Said Senator Williams: 81
was shocked when learned that
Tom y. Ellis, clerk of the SUI
preme court, was Receiving only
$500 a year salary. There are
some little fees that go with it
but the total still is far too low
for so important a post, So we
voted to make it little more
decent. l think every pay raise
given was deserved"
Asked about pay raises for
Holmes county and what they
would cost the county, Senator
Williams replied that it would be
only about $4,000. I'VE voted
$500 a year more to the county
supervisors, $500 a year more
to the superintendent of educa-
ton, $50 a month more to the
county attorney and little raises
to the clerk of court and others.
More Money Obtained
"And just look at what we OBJ
tanned in the way of additional
money for Holmes county. There
was $12.l00 additional from the
gas tax money distribution. We
also saved the county some
$4,000 by relieving it of the pre-
sently enforced payment of ten
per cent of the secondary road |
construction. Then we get close !
to $4,000 distributed to the in
corporated towns of the county
on the basis of about So head |
population. So from a financial |
standpoint Holmes county did |
very well.
Lots of people do not know
that Holmes county has more
miles of road than any other
county in Mississippi- l did not |
know this either until Chancery !
Clerk Parham Williams showed !
me the figures.
Some esteemed persons have
expressed horror that we limited |
the amount of appropriation to
ten of the larger counties to
$4,000 each, and distributed .
the excess among The smaller
counties. This money is for the
county road systems. Just look .
at this state map prepared by ,
the highway commission. OBJ
serve Kinds county in which the
capital, Jackson, is located. The |
map shows Kinds has l8 per cent
of the states total county roads. |
Holmes county has l.9l of the
states county roads. Look at all
of these 70 country counties and
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