Thursday, January 5, 2023 A3

Carroll County project grants extended

BY ANNA COBURN
Staff Writer
news@winonatimes.com
Since 2019, the Carroll County Board
of Supervisors has been using funds
from a federal grant to renovate several
roads and the bridge into North
Carrollton.
“I wrote on Oct. 18 on behalf of the
board of supervisors [in order to] get an
extension,” said Mayor of North
Carrollton, Ken Strachan, in his
Emergency Management Director of
Carroll County capacity.
In his letter, Strachan addressed the
need for an extension on the grants say-
ing, “weather conditions would not per-
mit work to be done and COVID-19
delayed the projects.”
He received a reply on Dec. 15,
approving a final extension for seven
total grants until April 22, 2023.
John M. Siler, Director of the Public
Assistance office of Mississippi,
responded saying, “We have reviewed
your justification for a time extension to
complete work and determined that your
submission is consistent with State
guidelines for approval.”
In his letter, Strachan assured Siler
that “no other time extensions will be
requested and all listed projects will be
100% completed.”
Board President Jim Neill of Beat 1
asked Strachan to continue working with
County Engineer Shane Correro to
ensure the completion of the bridge is
possible by the April deadline.
Despite a tight deadline, Strachan
reassured the board “still has the 2020
and 2021 declarations” from flooding
and severe thunderstorm events to fall
back on.

Clerk Continued from page 1

Not only does Williams have a good
relationship with the people of North
Carrollton, but she has the qualifications
necessary to carry out duties of City
Clerk, Strachan said. Williams was born
and raised in Chicago, Ill. where she
worked as a community organizer, and
she later moved to California to contin-
ue working in the same field, she said.
Williams earned her bachelor’s degree
at Chicago State University and her
master’s degree through the University
of Phoenix. She is a former K-8 teacher,
who served students at Stagg
Elementary in Illinois. She also served
as a youth minister at City of Refuge,
she said. She moved to Teoc with her
four boys who she hopes to adopt to
bring new invigorating life back to her
parents, Frederick J. Williams Sr. and
Ida L. Williams while helping to build
up their hometown, North Carrollton. “I
was looking for an opportunity to help
build North Carrollton. I was already
working with the school [district] and
the community. So, when there was an
opportunity to help on a larger scale, I
walked through those doors. I saw the
advantage to help me build the commu-
nity,” said Williams. “My goal is to
raise up successors for North Carrollton.
North Carrollton is old schools, an old
town. I think it’s important to raise up
successors, so we will have someone to
change the guards, to pass the torch to.”
Strachan said Williams’ relationship
with the town’s youth is important since
municipal government plays a signifi-
cant role in the Carroll County School
District. North Carrollton officials par-
ticipate in Municipal Government Week,
which is coming up this month,
Strachan said. “We take [guides] to
Marshall [Elementary] in several of
those grades. The guides go over the Photo by Tish Butts
importance of municipal government,
and we give them a certificate,” said Lendera Williams (left) is North Carrollton’s first African American City Clerk. She
Strachan. “It’s important for the town to is pictured with Mayor Ken Strachan.
be involved in the schools. That’s some- meetings and Supervisors meetings over Carroll County to see how she could be
thing she’ll be an asset.” Williams has a year ago. She was attending them instrumental in her community. “I’m an
not limited her service to young people about the coat drive,” said Strachan. advocate for children, and the mayor
as she has worked to establish a “That’s how we met.” After speaking has the same mindset,” said Williams.
senior/youth center in North Carrollton. with supervisors, Williams began work- “It’s going to be great working with him
“She was attending [Aldermen] Board ing with other officials throughout and being on his team.”

Covid-19 cases slowly rising in Mississippi, locally

BY ANNA COBURN
Staff Writer
news@winonatimes.com
According to recent reports, there has been a
rise in COVID-19 cases. Currently in
Mississippi, there have been 4,075 new positive
test results, according to the Mississippi
Department of Health’s (MSDH) most recent
data. “Our COVID numbers are up slightly, but
not a whole lot,” said Tyler Holmes Memorial
Hospital’s COVID-19 Vaccine Infectious
Disease nurse, Leslie Sultan, “and we’ve
recently had more ER visits.”The Center for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites
weekly trends in cases that show that while at
the beginning of 2022, during the week of Jan.
19, there were 5,630,296 cases reported
throughout the U.S., during the week of Dec.
21, 487,367 cases were reported. There has
been a slight rise, but overall numbers suggest
that COVID-19 cases are still lower than July
number peaks, which reached a high at 837,192
during the week of July 27, according to the
CDC. According to the MSDH website, there
have not been any COVID-19 related deaths in
Carroll or Montgomery County since the month
of September 2022. “[COVID cases] might
rise a little more due to people gathering for the
holidays, but both Carroll and Montgomery
counties are categorized as low by the
MSDH—meaning that our services are not
overwhelmed,” Sultan continued.While recent
spikes in the numbers included a high of 1,429
cases reported statewide on Dec. 15, the num-
bers have once again dropped down into the
low hundreds. With the current COVID-19
case number securely below 5,000, the current
population of Mississippi puts the case num-
bers in perspective. According to the United
States Census Bureau, Mississippi has approxi-
mately 2,904,057 residents. That means that
about .0005 percent of Mississippi residents
currently have COVID-19. Of those cases, 14
deaths have been listed as being “COVID-relat-
ed” on the MSDH website for the month of
December.

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