Mississippi Today
Stories of Alleged Brutality by a Mississippi Sheriff’s Department
Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield investigated dozens of arrests made by Rankin County deputies to report this article, which is part of a series by The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship examining the power of sheriffs’ offices in Mississippi.
Last month, The New York Times and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today investigated a series of allegations that, for nearly two decades, Rankin County sheriff’s deputies tortured people suspected of drug use to extract information and confessions.
Reporters examined hundreds of pages of court records and sheriff’s office reports and interviewed more than 50 people who say they witnessed or experienced these events. What emerged was a pattern of violence that was neither confined to a small group of deputies nor hidden from department leaders.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey declined to comment on specific allegations against his deputies, but in a brief phone interview in November, he told reporters “I have 240 employees, there’s no way I can be with them each and every day.” The department also announced that it had updated its internal policies and that deputies would receive training on federal civil rights laws.
These are portraits of some of the cases the investigation uncovered:
Christopher Hillhouse, 19
October 2009, Pearl, Miss.
Rankin County deputies arranged for a confidential informant to give marked money to Christopher Hillhouse to purchase drugs, according to department records. Mr. Hillhouse told reporters that he knew the informant was trying to set him up, so he spent the money at Dollar General and a gas station — stores deputies watched Mr. Hillhouse enter while tailing him, according to an incident report by Brett McAlpin, an investigator with the sheriff’s department. Later, deputies confronted Mr. Hillhouse at his family’s home. He and his mother said the deputies entered their house without permission or showing a warrant. Department officials told reporters they could not find a copy of a search warrant. Deputies demanded to know where the money was, the family said, before placing Mr. Hillhouse in handcuffs, punching him in the stomach and knocking his tooth out with a flashlight. Mr. Hillhouse said he was put in a van where a deputy continued to beat him for nearly half an hour. He was never prosecuted for a crime.
Dustin Hale, 17
November 2010, Florence, Miss.
Dustin Hale was at a friend’s house when he got into a fight that spilled out into the yard. Rankin County deputies arrived and handcuffed the teenager and then began searching for a gun deputies believed he had stashed. When Mr. Hale failed to present a weapon, the deputies shocked him with their Tasers and beat him, according to Mr. Hale and his girlfriend at the time. Mr. Hale was taken to an interrogation room at the jail where deputies placed a cardboard crown from Burger King on his head to humiliate him and shocked him until he urinated on himself, according to Mr. Hale’s former girlfriend, who said she witnessed the incident while waiting to be booked. Mr. Hale was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to comply and possession of alcohol. He was fined $507.
Gary Frith, 37
September 2012, unknown location
Gary Frith drove off when Rankin County deputies tried to pull him over, according to department records. Eventually he stopped his vehicle and, according to a lawsuit he filed, exited with his hands over his head showing no resistance. Deputies describe no violence from Mr. Frith in their reports. Mr. Frith said deputies beat and stomped on him until he was bloodied. He was then taken to a squad car where one deputy choked and repeatedly hit him and another told him to leave the county or they would murder him, according to Mr. Frith’s lawsuit. A sheriff’s office incident report provides no explanation for the large bandage over Mr. Frith’s eyebrow in his jail mug shot. Mr. Frith pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Ronald Shinstock, 41, and John Burrell, 40
March 2015, Brandon, Miss.
Deputies raided Ronald Shinstock’s home after a confidential informant set him up, according to court records. Deputies held Mr. Shinstock’s wife, their children and their friends at gunpoint while searching the house without presenting a search warrant, Mr. Shinstock and witnesses said. Department officials told reporters they could not find a copy of a warrant. Deputies took Mr. Shinstock and John Burrell, his friend, outside, where Mr. Burrell said a deputy hit him until his ears bled while demanding he tell them where the drugs were. Mr. Shinstock said deputies slapped him, made him strip naked and threatened to hit his groin with a flashlight.
Mr. Burrell pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was fined $7,541. Mr. Shinstock was convicted of selling methamphetamine. He appealed his case to the Mississippi Supreme Court, arguing deputies violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they raided his home without a warrant. The court denied his appeal because he failed to introduce the issue in his original criminal trial. He is currently imprisoned, facing a 40-year sentence because the sale occurred less than 1,500 feet from a church.
Samuel Carter, 64, and Christopher Holloway, 26
June 2016, Pelahatchie, Miss.
In reports, deputies said they were responding to a drug overdose at the home of Samuel Carter, an Army veteran, when they found drugs in plain sight. The reports mentioned no use of force during the arrest. Mr. Carter and other witnesses said that no one had overdosed in the home and deputies forced their way inside without permission or presenting a search warrant. Department officials told reporters they could not find a copy of a warrant.
Christopher Holloway, a Black man who was visiting the home, said deputies taunted him with racial slurs and began scouring the house for drugs. Mr. Holloway said he was handcuffed, beaten and repeatedly shocked in the groin and chest with a Taser until he defecated from fear and exhaustion. Taser logs indicate that James Rayborn, a deputy who was present at the arrest according to department records, triggered his Taser six times for 20 seconds during the arrest. Mr. Rayborn did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Mr. Holloway said deputies demanded to know where the drugs were and threatened to throw him into the pool while handcuffed.
Mr. Carter said he was shocked with a Taser and beaten in a separate room. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, but avoided prison time by agreeing to attend rehabilitation. Mr. Holloway was not prosecuted but served about eight months for violating parole.
Garry Curro, 64; Jerry Manning, 39; James Elbert Lynch, 26; and Adam Cody Porter, 27
June 2018, Pearl, Miss.
Rankin County deputies arranged for a confidential informant to buy drugs in the home of Jerry Manning, according to department records. Deputies then burst into his trailer without presenting a search warrant, witnesses said.
When one of Mr. Manning’s guests, Garry Curro, 64, stepped into the living room, deputies threw him to the ground and handcuffed him, Mr. Curro said, before beating him and repeatedly shocking him with a Taser. Taser logs indicate that Deputies James Rayborn, Luke Stickman and Cody Grogan, who were present at the arrest according to department records, fired their Tasers a total of 14 times for 27 seconds. None of the deputies responded to multiple requests for comment. Mr. Curro said that when he told the deputies he had received back surgery, one of them stuck a foot into the middle of his back, grabbed him by the neck and yanked his head backward. In his incident report, Investigator McAlpin does not mention the deputies’ use of force during the arrests.
Mr. Manning said deputies placed his legs under his bed and knocked out the bedposts, pinning him to the floor while they shocked him repeatedly in the genitals and the head. Deputies then wrapped a pair of bluejeans around his face and punched him repeatedly before dragging him into the kitchen, Mr. Manning said, where they then used a blowtorch to melt the handle of a metal nutcracker onto his bare thigh. One deputy drew a swastika on his forehead, Mr. Manning said, which was visible in his mug shot. Deputies leaned Mr. Manning against a chair and strapped a belt around his neck, he said. Then, one deputy stood on the chair and pulled the belt up, allowing him to hang by his own body weight until he thought he would die, Mr. Manning said.
Adam Cody Porter said deputies handcuffed him in another room and asked him where the drugs were. When he said he did not know, they threw him into a glass mirror, kicked him on his sides and used his pocketknife to shred his pants to ribbons, Mr. Porter said.
James Elbert Lynch said he was asleep when deputies grabbed him by his hair, dragged him into the living room and stomped on his face when he asked to see a warrant. Mr. Lynch said that when he told a deputy he did not know where any drugs were, the deputy dragged a blowtorch across the bottoms of his feet.
Mr. Curro pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and was fined $250. Mr. Manning said he entered a drug counseling program to avoid charges. Mr. Porter was not charged. Charges against Mr. Lynch were dropped.
Robert Wayne Jones, 34, and Jeffrey Tyler Mote, 26
June 2018, Pearl, Miss.
While trying to set up Robert Wayne Jones and Jeffrey Tyler Mote in a drug sale, deputies intercepted the men in a trailer park driveway, according to department records. The deputies then beat them and shocked them with Tasers, Mr. Jones said, demanding to know where their drugs were. He said deputies then drove them to a wooded area and beat them again before throwing Mr. Jones into a water-filled ditch and firing a Taser at his chest, above his heart. Mr. Jones said a deputy believed he had swallowed drugs to hide them, so he shoved a stick down Mr. Jones’s throat and twisted it until he vomited blood. In their official report, deputies did not mention using force against the men. A mug shot later taken at the jail shows Mr. Jones’s face swollen and covered in mud.
While in jail, Mr. Jones told his story to a fellow inmate who described the account to reporters. Mr. Mote was convicted of possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle and possession of paraphernalia and was fined $855. Mr. Jones was not charged.
Fredrick Trimble, 38
July 2018, Flowood, Miss.
Deputies arrested Fredrick Trimble during a sting initiated by a confidential informant, according to department records. Mr. Trimble, who said he thought the informant was trying to rob him, fled in his car and struck a pedestrian. The deputies caught Mr. Trimble, beat him and shocked him with their Tasers multiple times in the groin and torso while he was handcuffed, Mr. Trimble said. He said one of the deputies put a gun in his mouth, threatened to kill him and then pistol-whipped him. In their reports, deputies wrote that Mr. Trimble had attacked them. He was charged with assault and fleeing police officers and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Jeremy Travis Paige, 41
August 2018, Pearl, Miss.
Rankin County deputies arrested Jeremy Travis Paige after getting a confidential informant to try to set him up in a drug sale, according to department records. Mr. Paige said that after he tried to flee in his car, deputies beat him unconscious in the street. In their reports, deputies wrote that he resisted arrest and tried to kick them.
When Mr. Paige came to, he had been handcuffed and deputies were dragging him into his home, Mr. Paige said. He was then brutally beaten for nearly an hour, until his eyes were swollen shut and his tooth fell out, he and a witness said. Mr. Paige also said deputies waterboarded him, burned him with a cigarette and shocked him with a Taser. Department Taser logs indicate that at least one deputy at the scene fired a Taser. Mr. Paige’s booking photo, taken at the Rankin County jail, shows his battered face after the encounter.
According to Mr. Paige, deputies hid evidence of the violence by using Tasers that were not issued by the department and removing blood-soaked bed linens from the house. After Mr. Paige was arrested, his roommate came home and took pictures of the mattress stripped bare and blood spattered on the wall. Mr. Paige, who was sentenced to five years on drug charges, filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed after he missed court deadlines.
Mitchell Hobson, 38, and Roy Clell “Rick” Loveday, 47
October 2018, Brandon, Miss.
Rick Loveday said he woke up when deputies barged into his trailer home seeking drugs. Mr. Loveday, who was a deputy in Hinds County at the time, said deputies dragged him half-naked into his kitchen, where they poured spices on him, smashed a chocolate cake into his face and jabbed his buttocks threateningly with a flashlight before beating him.
Mitchell Hobson, a guest in Mr. Loveday’s home, said deputies tortured him for more than an hour, waterboarding him, beating his bare feet with batons, shocking him with Tasers, choking him with a lamp cable, sticking a Taser into his mouth and punching him in the face and body while demanding he lead them to a drug stash.
Andrea Dettore, another guest in Mr. Loveday’s home, said she witnessed Mr. Loveday’s beating and heard Mr. Hobson being beaten in the other room. Mr. Loveday said he also heard Mr. Hobson being beaten. The confidential informant who set the men up told reporters that Mr. Loveday spoke to him in court a few days later about being beaten by the deputies.
Mr. Loveday said deputies stole guns and other items from his home. He was charged with possession of paraphernalia. Mr. Hobson was charged with selling methamphetamine. All charges were set aside or dropped.
Carvis Johnson, 34
February 2019, Flowood, Miss.
Rankin County deputies pulled over Carvis Johnson after a confidential informant bought drugs from him, according to department records. Mr. Johnson claimed in a federal lawsuit that after he was handcuffed, Deputy Jamie Perry placed a gun in his mouth and threatened to kill him if he did not say where his drugs were located. Mr. Johnson said deputies beat him when he told them he had no drugs and said if he brought drugs into Rankin County, he would be killed.
Mr. Johnson’s lawsuit states that deputies threw him into a truck bed and took turns beating his back and buttocks with a crowbar. (In an interview, Mr. Johnson clarified that they used a car jack handle). Investigator McAlpin wrote in his incident report that Mr. Johnson tried to “obtain or conceal” a gun, but he made no mention of violence during the arrest. Mr. Johnson’s booking photo shows his face swollen and bandaged.
Mr. Johnson pleaded guilty to selling methamphetamine with a firearm and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. His lawsuit was resolved in a settlement for $2,000.
Maurice Porter, 28
March 2019, Florence, Miss.
Deputies stopped Maurice Porter in his car because they suspected him of selling drugs and driving without a license, according to Investigator McAlpin’s incident report. Mr. Porter said that he ran when a deputy referred to him using a racial slur and threatened to shock him in his groin with a Taser. After tackling him, the deputies shocked him, punched him and kicked him, Mr. Porter said. A confidential informant who said he witnessed the arrest told reporters that Mr. Porter was brutally beaten.
The deputies took Mr. Porter back to their vehicles but refused to let him stand, Mr. Porter said, hurling racial slurs at him as they dragged him by his hair and his shoulders. When they got him to the car, Mr. Porter said, Investigator McAlpin slammed a nightstick into his legs repeatedly knocking him to the ground. The deputies shoved him into a squad car, where he vomited, Mr. Porter said.
When Mr. Porter’s mother, Catherine, arrived, deputies would not let her speak to her son and told her they were going to search her house, Mr. Porter and his mother said. Ms. Porter said she did not grant deputies permission to search her home; department officials told reporters they could not find a copy of a search warrant. During the search, deputies took two guns and then took a security camera and the memory device that stored video footage, Ms. Porter said.
Mr. Porter was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. He was fined more than $1,000 and spent five months in jail.
Joshua Rushing, 32
January 2020, Pearl, Miss.
Rankin County deputies arranged a controlled drug sale between a confidential informant and Joshua Rushing, according to department records. In his report, Investigator Christian Dedmon wrote that Mr. Rushing rammed a patrol vehicle with his car and then ran from deputies and fought with them as they subdued him. Mr. Dedmon wrote that he shocked Mr. Rushing with his Taser and punched him until other deputies helped place him in handcuffs.
Mr. Rushing and his girlfriend, Nicole Brock, who witnessed the arrest, denied these claims. Mr. Rushing said he was pulling over when the deputies rammed his vehicle and they began to shock him with their Tasers while he was still in the driver’s seat. He said he was in handcuffs when Mr. Dedmon placed a pistol in his mouth and radioed that an armed man was fleeing. Mr. Dedmon then pistol-whipped him in the head, Mr. Rushing said. His mug shot shows a large bleeding wound on his forehead, where Mr. Rushing said he was struck. Mr. Dedmon, who pleaded guilty this summer to federal and state charges related to the torture of three men, did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment left with his attorney.
Before taking him to jail, deputies placed him in the bed of their truck and drove to a nearby service road, Mr. Rushing said, where they told him he had made a mistake coming to their county and shocked him repeatedly with a Taser. Taser logs from the sheriff’s department show that Mr. Dedmon triggered his Taser six times for a total of 19 seconds during the arrest. After being taken to jail, Mr. Rushing described the encounter to another inmate, who confirmed his account.
Mr. Rushing said he complained to the department, detailing the abuse; a lawyer for the department declined to provide copies, claiming they were personnel records. Mr. Rushing spent eight months in jail, but charges stemming from the incident were eventually dropped. Ms. Brock was charged with disorderly conduct and failure to comply and was fined $697.
Dwayne Kaiser, 59
February 2020, Pearl, Miss.
Dwayne Kaiser was set up by a confidential informant in a $100 methamphetamine deal, according to department records. Rankin County deputies then raided Mr. Kaiser’s home without presenting a search warrant, Mr. Kaiser said. Department officials told reporters they could not find a copy of a search warrant. Deputies brought Mr. Kaiser into his bedroom, he said, where they demanded to know where the $100 was and punched him repeatedly. Mr. Kaiser said that one deputy shocked him in the leg with his Taser, which is supported by department Taser logs. No use of force is mentioned in the deputies’ reports. Deputies then punched him until he told them where to find the money, Mr. Kaiser said.
Mr. Kaiser pleaded guilty to selling methamphetamine and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Barry Tatum Yawn, 40
June 2022, Florence, Miss.
When Rankin County deputies came to investigate a fight between Barry Tatum Yawn and his son, they shocked him with their Tasers numerous times, Mr. Yawn said. Then, they held him upside down by his legs, slammed his head into the floor and punched him until his jaw broke, he said. Department Taser logs indicate that several deputies fired their Tasers seven times during the time of the incident.
At the urging of a fire department medic, deputies took him to a hospital, Mr. Yawn said. Medical records show that doctors treated him for head injuries and a broken jaw, which the records say occurred during the fight between Mr. Yawn and his son. The medical records also state that doctors had to remove Taser prongs from Mr. Yawn’s shoulder. There is no mention of Taser use or any use of force in the deputies’ reports. Mr. Yawn was not arrested or charged in the incident.
Robert Grozier, 39, and Andrea Dettore, 49
January 2023, Florence, Miss.
Investigator Dedmon set up a drug deal between Robert Grozier and a confidential informant at the home of Andrea Dettore, department records show. According to Mr. Grozier, deputies stormed the property and forced a gun so far down his throat that he started to vomit and then shocked him with their Tasers until he falsely confessed to buying drugs. Ms. Dettore said she could hear Mr. Grozier grunting as if he were being hurt behind the closed bedroom door. Mr. Grozier and Ms. Dettore said that a deputy found a sex toy in the home and shoved it into Mr. Grozier’s mouth while threatening to shock him if he spat it out. Deputies found topless pictures of Ms. Dettore on Mr. Grozier’s phone and showed them to each other, making lewd comments, Mr. Grozier and Ms. Dettore said.
Mr. Grozier pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and was fined $250. Ms. Dettore pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and failure to comply and was fined $500.
Jerry Mitchell, Ilyssa Daly, Eric Sagara and Irene Casado Sanchez contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research. This article was reported in partnership with Big Local News at Stanford University and supported in part by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Presidents are taking longer to declare major natural disasters. For some, the wait is agonizing
TYLERTOWN — As an ominous storm approached Buddy Anthony’s one-story brick home, he took shelter in his new Ford F-250 pickup parked under a nearby carport.
Seconds later, a tornado tore apart Anthony’s home and damaged the truck while lifting it partly in the air. Anthony emerged unhurt. But he had to replace his vehicle with a used truck that became his home while waiting for President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration so that federal money would be freed for individuals reeling from loss. That took weeks.
“You wake up in the truck and look out the windshield and see nothing. That’s hard. That’s hard to swallow,” Anthony said.
Disaster survivors are having to wait longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data. On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It’s taking more than a month, on average, during Trump’s current term, the AP found.
The delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses, temporary lodging and home repairs. Delays in disaster declarations also can hamper recovery efforts by local officials uncertain whether they will receive federal reimbursement for cleaning up debris and rebuilding infrastructure. The AP collaborated with Mississippi Today and Mississippi Free Press on the effects of these delays for this report.
“The message that I get in the delay, particularly for the individual assistance, is that the federal government has turned its back on its own people,” said Bob Griffin, dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany in New York. “It’s a fundamental shift in the position of this country.”
The wait for disaster aid has grown as Trump remakes government
The Federal Emergency Management Agency often consults immediately with communities to coordinate their initial disaster response. But direct payments to individuals, nonprofits and local governments must wait for a major disaster declaration from the president, who first must receive a request from a state, territory or tribe. Major disaster declarations are intended only for the most damaging events that are beyond the resources of states and local governments.
Trump has approved more than two dozen major disaster declarations since taking office in January, with an average wait of almost 34 days after a request. That ranged from a one-day turnaround after July’s deadly flash flooding in Texas to a 67-day wait after a request for aid because of a Michigan ice storm. The average wait is up from a 24-day delay during his first term and is nearly four times as long as the average for former Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose term from 1989-1993 coincided with the implementation of a new federal law setting parameters for disaster determinations.
The delays have grown over time, regardless of the party in power. Former Democratic President Joe Biden, in his last year in office, averaged 26 days to declare major disasters — longer than any year under former Democratic President Barack Obama.
FEMA did not respond to the AP’s questions about what factors are contributing to the trend.
Others familiar with FEMA noted that its process for assessing and documenting natural disasters has become more complex over time. Disasters have also become more frequent and intense because of climate change, which is mostly caused by the burning of fuels such as gas, coal and oil.
The wait for disaster declarations has spiked as Trump’s administration undertakes an ambitious makeover of the federal government that has shed thousands of workers and reexamined the role of FEMA. A recently published letter from current and former FEMA employees warned the cuts could become debilitating if faced with a large-enough disaster. The letter also lamented that the Trump administration has stopped maintaining or removed long-term planning tools focused on extreme weather and disasters.
Shortly after taking office, Trump floated the idea of “getting rid” of FEMA, asserting: “It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow.”
FEMA’s acting chief suggested more recently that states should shoulder more responsibility for disaster recovery, though FEMA thus far has continued to cover three-fourths of the costs of public assistance to local governments, as required under federal law. FEMA pays the full cost of its individual assistance.
Former FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, who served during Trump’s first term, said the delay in issuing major disaster declarations likely is related to a renewed focus on making sure the federal government isn’t paying for things state and local governments could handle.
“I think they’re probably giving those requests more scrutiny,” Gaynor said. “And I think it’s probably the right thing to do, because I think the (disaster) declaration process has become the ‘easy button’ for states.”
The Associated Press on Monday received a statement from White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in response to a question about why it is taking longer to issue major natural disaster declarations:
“President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him. Gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations – that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. Under prior Administrations, FEMA’s outsized role created a bloated bureaucracy that disincentivized state investment in their own resilience. President Trump is committed to right-sizing the Federal government while empowering state and local governments by enabling them to better understand, plan for, and ultimately address the needs of their citizens. The Trump Administration has expeditiously provided assistance to disasters while ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to supplement state actions, not replace them.”
In Mississippi, frustration festered during wait for aid
The tornado that struck Anthony’s home in rural Tylertown on March 15 packed winds up to 140 mph. It was part of a powerful system that wrecked homes, businesses and lives across multiple states.
Mississippi’s governor requested a federal disaster declaration on April 1. Trump granted that request 50 days later, on May 21, while approving aid for both individuals and public entities.
On that same day, Trump also approved eight other major disaster declarations for storms, floods or fires in seven other states. In most cases, more than a month had passed since the request and about two months since the date of those disasters.
If a presidential declaration and federal money had come sooner, Anthony said he wouldn’t have needed to spend weeks sleeping in a truck before he could afford to rent the trailer where he is now living. His house was uninsured, Anthony said, and FEMA eventually gave him $30,000.
In nearby Jayess in Lawrence County, Dana Grimes had insurance but not enough to cover the full value of her damaged home. After the eventual federal declaration, Grimes said FEMA provided about $750 for emergency expenses, but she is now waiting for the agency to determine whether she can receive more.
“We couldn’t figure out why the president took so long to help people in this country,” Grimes said. “I just want to tie up strings and move on. But FEMA — I’m still fooling with FEMA.”
Jonathan Young said he gave up on applying for FEMA aid after the Tylertown tornado killed his 7-year-old son and destroyed their home. The process seemed too difficult, and federal officials wanted paperwork he didn’t have, Young said. He made ends meet by working for those cleaning up from the storm.
“It’s a therapy for me,” Young said, “to pick up the debris that took my son away from me.”
Historically, presidential disaster declarations containing individual assistance have been approved more quickly than those providing assistance only to public entities, according to the AP’s analysis. That remains the case under Trump, though declarations for both types are taking longer.
About half the major disaster declarations approved by Trump this year have included individual assistance.
Some people whose homes are damaged turn to shelters hosted by churches or local nonprofit organizations in the initial chaotic days after a disaster. Others stay with friends or family or go to a hotel, if they can afford it.
But some insist on staying in damaged homes, even if they are unsafe, said Chris Smith, who administered FEMA’s individual assistance division under three presidents from 2015-2022. If homes aren’t repaired properly, mold can grow, compounding the recovery challenges.
That’s why it’s critical for FEMA’s individual assistance to get approved quickly — ideally, within two weeks of a disaster, said Smith, who’s now a disaster consultant for governments and companies.
“You want to keep the people where they are living. You want to ensure those communities are going to continue to be viable and recover,” Smith said. “And the earlier that individual assistance can be delivered … the earlier recovery can start.”
In the periods waiting for declarations, the pressure falls on local officials and volunteers to care for victims and distribute supplies.
In Walthall County, where Tylertown is, insurance agent Les Lampton remembered watching the weather news as the first tornado missed his house by just an eighth of a mile. Lampton, who moonlights as a volunteer firefighter, navigated the collapsed trees in his yard and jumped into action. About 45 minutes later, the second tornado hit just a mile away.
“It was just chaos from there on out,” Lampton said.
Walthall County, with a population of about 14,000, hasn’t had a working tornado siren in about 30 years, Lampton said. He added there isn’t a public safe room in the area, although a lot of residents have ones in their home.
Rural areas with limited resources are hit hard by delays in receiving funds through FEMA’s public assistance program, which, unlike individual assistance, only reimburses local entities after their bills are paid. Long waits can stoke uncertainty and lead cost-conscious local officials to pause or scale-back their recovery efforts.
In Walthall County, officials initially spent about $700,000 cleaning up debris, then suspended the cleanup for more than a month because they couldn’t afford to spend more without assurance they would receive federal reimbursement, said county emergency manager Royce McKee. Meanwhile, rubble from splintered trees and shattered homes remained piled along the roadside, creating unsafe obstacles for motorists and habitat for snakes and rodents.
When it received the federal declaration, Walthall County took out a multimillion-dollar loan to pay contractors to resume the cleanup.
“We’re going to pay interest and pay that money back until FEMA pays us,” said Byran Martin, an elected county supervisor. “We’re hopeful that we’ll get some money by the first of the year, but people are telling us that it could be [longer].”
Lampton, who took after his father when he joined the volunteer firefighters 40 years ago, lauded the support of outside groups such as Cajun Navy, Eight Days of Hope, Samaritan’s Purse and others. That’s not to mention the neighbors who brought their own skid steers and power saws to help clear trees and other debris, he added.
“That’s the only thing that got us through this storm, neighbors helping neighbors,” Lampton said. “If we waited on the government, we were going to be in bad shape.”
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri, and Wildeman from Hartford, Connecticut.
Update 98/25: This story has been updated to include a White House statement released after publication.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Presidents are taking longer to declare major natural disasters. For some, the wait is agonizing appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This article presents a critical view of the Trump administration’s handling of disaster declarations, highlighting delays and their negative impacts on affected individuals and communities. It emphasizes concerns about government downsizing and reduced federal support, themes often associated with center-left perspectives that favor robust government intervention and social safety nets. However, it also includes statements from Trump administration officials defending their approach, providing some balance. Overall, the tone and framing lean slightly left of center without being overtly partisan.
Mississippi Today
Northeast Mississippi speaker and worm farmer played key role in Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina
The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina slamming the Mississippi Gulf Coast has come and gone, rightfully garnering considerable media attention.
But still undercovered in the 20th anniversary saga of the storm that made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and caused unprecedented destruction is the role that a worm farmer from northeast Mississippi played in helping to revitalize the Coast.
House Speaker Billy McCoy, who died in 2019, was a worm farmer from the Prentiss, not Alcorn County, side of Rienzi — about as far away from the Gulf Coast as one could be in Mississippi.
McCoy grew other crops, but a staple of his operations was worm farming.
Early after the storm, the House speaker made a point of touring the Coast and visiting as many of the House members who lived on the Coast as he could to check on them.
But it was his action in the forum he loved the most — the Mississippi House — that is credited with being key to the Coast’s recovery.
Gov. Haley Barbour had called a special session about a month after the storm to take up multiple issues related to Katrina and the Gulf Coast’s survival and revitalization. The issue that received the most attention was Barbour’s proposal to remove the requirement that the casinos on the Coast be floating in the Mississippi Sound.
Katrina wreaked havoc on the floating casinos, and many operators said they would not rebuild if their casinos had to be in the Gulf waters. That was a crucial issue since the casinos were a major economic engine on the Coast, employing an estimated 30,000 in direct and indirect jobs.
It is difficult to fathom now the controversy surrounding Barbour’s proposal to allow the casinos to locate on land next to the water. Mississippi’s casino industry that was birthed with the early 1990s legislation was still new and controversial.
Various religious groups and others had continued to fight and oppose the casino industry and had made opposition to the expansion of gambling a priority.
Opposition to casinos and expansion of casinos was believed to be especially strong in rural areas, like those found in McCoy’s beloved northeast Mississippi. It was many of those rural areas that were the homes to rural white Democrats — now all but extinct in the Legislature but at the time still a force in the House.
So, voting in favor of casino expansion had the potential of being costly for what was McCoy’s base of power: the rural white Democrats.
Couple that with the fact that the Democratic-controlled House had been at odds with the Republican Barbour on multiple issues ranging from education funding to health care since Barbour was inaugurated in January 2004.
Barbour set records for the number of special sessions called by the governor. Those special sessions often were called to try to force the Democratic-controlled House to pass legislation it killed during the regular session.
The September 2005 special session was Barbour’s fifth of the year. For context, current Gov. Tate Reeves has called four in his nearly six years as governor.
There was little reason to expect McCoy to do Barbour’s bidding and lead the effort in the Legislature to pass his most controversial proposal: expanding casino gambling.
But when Barbour ally Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who presided over the Senate, refused to take up the controversial bill, Barbour was forced to turn to McCoy.
The former governor wrote about the circumstances in an essay he penned on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina for Mississippi Today Ideas.
“The Senate leadership, all Republicans, did not want to go first in passing the onshore casino law,” Barbour wrote. “So, I had to ask Speaker McCoy to allow it to come to the House floor and pass. He realized he should put the Coast and the state’s interests first. He did so, and the bill passed 61-53, with McCoy voting no.
“I will always admire Speaker McCoy, often my nemesis, for his integrity in putting the state first.”
Incidentally, former Rep. Bill Miles of Fulton, also in northeast Mississippi, was tasked by McCoy with counting, not whipping votes, to see if there was enough support in the House to pass the proposal. Not soon before the key vote, Miles said years later, he went to McCoy and told him there were more than enough votes to pass the legislation so he was voting no and broached the idea of the speaker also voting no.
It is likely that McCoy would have voted for the bill if his vote was needed.
Despite his no vote, the Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper ran a large photo of McCoy and hailed the Rienzi worm farmer as a hero for the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Northeast Mississippi speaker and worm farmer played key role in Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a factual and balanced account of the political dynamics surrounding Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in Mississippi, focusing on bipartisan cooperation between Democratic and Republican leaders. It highlights the complexities of legislative decisions without overtly favoring one party or ideology, reflecting a neutral and informative tone typical of centrist reporting.
NEW ALBANY — After five hours in a courtroom where attendees struggled to find standing room, the Mississippi Public Service Commission voted to petition a judge to put the Holly Springs Utility Department into a receivership.
The PSC held the hearing Thursday about a half hour drive west from Holly Springs in New Albany, known as “The Fair and Friendly City.” Throughout the proceedings, members of the PSC, its consultants and Holly Springs officials emphasized there was no precedent for what was going on.
The city of Holly Springs has provided electricity through a contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority since 1935. It serves about 12,000 customers, most of whom live outside the city limits. While current and past city officials say the utility’s issues are a result of financial negligence over many years, the service failures hit a boiling point during a 2023 ice storm where customers saw outages that lasted roughly two weeks as well as power surges that broke their appliances.
Those living in the service area say those issues still occur periodically, in addition to infrequent and inaccurate billing.
“I moved to Marshall County in 2020 as a place for retirement for my husband and I, and it’s been a nightmare for five years,” customer Monica Wright told the PSC at Thursday’s hearing. “We’ve replaced every electronic device we own, every appliance, our well pump and our septic pumps. It has financially broke us.
“We’re living on prayers and promises, and we need your help today.”
Another customer, Roscoe Sitgger of Michigan City, said he recently received a series of monthly bills between $500 and $600.
Following a scathing July report by Silverpoint Consulting that found Holly Springs is “incapable” of running the utility, the three-member PSC voted unanimously on Thursday to determine the city isn’t providing “reasonably adequate service” to its customers. That language comes from a 2024 state bill that gave the commission authority to investigate the utility.
The bill gives a pathway for temporarily removing the utility’s control from the city, allowing the PSC to petition a chancery judge to place the department into the hands of a third party. The PSC voted unanimously to do just that.
Thursday’s hearing gave the commission its first chance to direct official questions at Holly Springs representatives. Newly elected Mayor Charles Terry, utility General Manager Wayne Jones and City Attorney John Keith Perry fielded an array of criticism from the PSC. In his rebuttal, Perry suggested that any solution — whether a receivership or selling the utility — would take time to implement, and requested 24 months for the city to make incremental improvements. Audience members shouted, “No!” as Perry spoke.
“We are in a crisis now,” responded Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown. “To try to turn the corner in incremental steps is going to be almost impossible.”
It’s unclear how much it would cost to fix the department’s long list of ailments. In 2023, TVPPA — a nonprofit that represents TVA’s local partners — estimated Holly Springs needs over $10 million just to restore its rights-of-way, and as much as $15 million to fix its substations. The department owes another $10 million in debt to TVA as well as its contractors, Brown said.
“The city is holding back the growth of the county,” said Republican Sen. Neil Whaley of Potts Camp, who passionately criticized the Holly Springs officials sitting a few feet away. “You’ve got to do better, you’ve got to realize you’re holding these people hostage, and it’s not right and it’s not fair… They are being represented by people who do not care about them as long as the bill is paid.”
In determining next steps, Silverpoint Principal Stephanie Vavro told the PSC it may be hard to find someone willing to serve as receiver for the utility department, make significant investments and then hand the keys back to the city. The 2024 bill, Vavro said, doesn’t limit options to a receivership, and alternatives could include condemning the utility or finding a nearby utility to buy the service area.
Answering questions from Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps, Vavro said it’s unclear how much the department is worth, adding an engineer’s study would be needed to come up with a number.
Terry, who reminded the PSC he’s only been Holly Springs’ mayor for just over 60 days, said there’s no way the city can afford the repair costs on its own. The city’s median income is about $47,000, roughly $8,000 less than the state’s as a whole.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post PSC moves toward placing Holly Springs utility into receivership appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article presents a factual and balanced account of the situation involving the Holly Springs Utility Department and the Mississippi Public Service Commission. It includes perspectives from various stakeholders, such as city officials, residents, and state commissioners, without showing clear favoritism or ideological slant. The focus is on the practical challenges and financial issues faced by the utility, reflecting a neutral stance aimed at informing readers rather than advocating a particular political viewpoint.
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