New law allows north MS counties to improve tourism along Tallahatchie River - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
JACKSON • Gov. Tate Reeves recently signed legislation into law that creates the Tallahatchie River Authority, a group of eight counties that can band together to promote economic, historical and and tourism projects around the Tallahatchie River.
House Bill 1323 allows one representative each from Lafayette, Leflore, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tippah and Union counties to collaborate with one another to improve the river.
Bill author Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, said he’s excited about the future economic impact the new group could bring to north Mississippi.
“Even though the governor just signed this, it’s really taken on some legs,” Creekmore said.
The Union County lawmaker said a group wanting to build a high-end RV park and a company looking to construct a boat ramp along the river have already made business inquiries, now that the legislation is law.
The authority may not have any direct power to attract a particular business to the area, but the new law gives it the authority to work with other governments to create long-term plans for tourism, economic development, forestry and drainage.
Just like the river twists around some 230 miles of the Magnolia State, the body of water is a site that’s tangled full of tragedy and artistic inspiration.
The river is the site where Emmett Till’s body was dumped after a group of white men in Money lynched, beat and tortured him to death.
After Till’s death, his mother, Mamie Till Bradley, decided to open the child’s casket at his funeral to expose the world to the horrific violence white southerners were inflicting on Black people at the time. Bradley’s decision is widely credited as a turning point in the civil rights movement.
But the muddy waters are also the inspiration of one of Chickasaw County native Bobbie Gentry’s famous songs.
In "Ode to Billie Joe," a family during a “sleepy, dusty Delta day” discusses the recent death of Billy Joe McAllister, a local boy the narrator knew who jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. The song garnered worldwide attention.
Creekmore said the authority plans to conduct their first meeting in July in Tallahatchie County.
source: https://www.djournal.com/news/state-news/new-law-allows-north-ms-counties-to-improve-tourism-along-tallahatchie-river/article_c405df5d-701b-5359-98ca-51fbbb7e631d.html
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