TYLERTOWN — Walthall County Justice Court Clerk LaShanda Magee told county supervisors Feb. 7 that she and the deputy clerks feel unsafe in a building with inoperable safety equipment.
The walk-through metal detector hasn’t worked for a year or more, she said, and neither Allen Blackwell, who picked up the manual and operating key, nor Chief Deputy Toney Rushing, who tried swapping out some parts between the machines at justice court and outside the main courtroom in the courthouse, had managed to fix it.
She asked that somebody who can fix the machine be called, or for the unit to be replaced.
“These are our lives,” Magee said. “The constables are not checking people good. We’ve found knives in the building. It’s not funny.”
Purchasing clerk Hannah Bourgeois said she would check prices on both walk-through units and hand-held wands for the board to consider at the next meeting.
Magee also said animals seem to be getting into the building.
“They’re getting into the candy on our desks and putting it in the walls, and they’re climbing around inside the walls,” she said. “We’ve put sticky pads down, but they just run over that.”
Library system president Darlene Morgan and Tylertown librarian Anita Beard also meet with the board to request improvements to the library property.
Morgan said the parking lot lights that aren’t working are keeping patrons from using the library’s meeting rooms at night and creating dangerous conditions.
Beard added that the parking lot is a lot of potholes, and parking spaces are not lined off, including for handicapped parking spaces.
They also complained of a leak from the roof that runs down a window in the genealogy room that continues to be a problem despite repeated attempts to fix it, and recommended removing plumbing fixtures from a disused restroom to create more storage space.
Supervisors said they would consider the requests.
