Washington Post Profiles Struggling Mississippi Towns

The Washington Post has an article out today titled "A Slow Demise in the Delta." Here are a several excerpts:

Many of these towns are trapped in a long, painful death spiral, plagued by poverty, crime and unemployment. More than 100,000 people -- nearly a quarter of the population -- have fled in recent decades in search of a better life.

"It's just a sad situation," said Judy Hill, who leads a women's group that is desperately trying to rescue what is left of the small agricultural town of Shelby, which has a cotton gin, two liquor stores and not much else. "There's no industry, no factories, no hope for the future, nothing to keep the people here. And what the answer is, I don't know."
...
A few years back, Grim, Hill and a cluster of other spirited women formed a group called Shelby Women United to tackle the town's problems. With a state grant and a lot of elbow grease, they helped transform an old train depot into a library. Volunteers tore down 80 dilapidated buildings and removed abandoned cars. Now, the group is searching for ways to attract businesses and start a chamber of commerce.

"The goal is to get one new business to go into one of these abandoned buildings," said Hill, 66, who moved to Shelby nine years ago and is white. "That would be a good start."
...
Pat W. Denton, who is from a prominent white Shelby farm family, recently moved to Cleveland, Miss. He still rents out 1,600 acres back home and is part owner of the local cotton gin. "When I was a kid we had theaters, service stations and steakhouses in Shelby," he said. "Now, it's just going down."

As farmers shift from cotton to corn to take advantage of higher prices, even the cotton gin is emptying out. "We used to do 35,000 bales," Denton said. "We might do 15,000 this year."

Said Judy Hill: "That's what's happening all over. These Delta towns, they're just folding up."

We have a crisis in leadership. Haley Barbour has given up on rural Mississippi and Lester Spell can not be found when the small farmer or producer needs help.

We need new leadership. People like John Arthur Eaves will bring the technology necessary to rural areas to make business more viable. Rickey Cole, a candidate for Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, will help to push for the programs that will bring rural Mississippi into the world economy instead of being left in the dust.