SUMNER — Despite the challenges of COVID-19, there has been a lot of constructive activity in this sleepy town situated on the banks of Cassidy Bayou.
Recent news that Greenwood Leflore Hospital was closing its affiliated Sumner Clinic here was a bitter pill to swallow, but Sumner Mayor Jackson Webb said there have been some positive developments in the municipality.
Rock Island Rail is the recently introduced new operator of the Mississippi Delta Railroad, and the operators have set up shop in Sumner, Webb noted.
MDR, a short line owned by Coahoma County, covers 60 miles of track from Jonestown to Swan Lake, hauling agricultural products and other sundry cargo.
“They’ve got people in town constantly,” Webb said of Rock Island, noting that they create an air of excitement. “You see a lot of activity on the railroad. We’re glad to have them.”
Contractors also have completed major water line and sidewalk improvements as well as a street repaving project that impacted a large portion of the town.
Webb said the work ultimately involved more than was originally anticipated.
“When we dug up the streets for the water improvement project, we wound up with a lot of sewer issues and problems that certainly weren’t in the plans,” the mayor noted. “I can’t say enough for the people of Sumner being as patient as they were — with blocked driveways, a lot of detours and stuff like that. The citizens were really patient with us getting all that done.”
Webb said a town drainage project on North Jennings Street also corrected a situation where, “every time we got any semblance of rain, it was flooding houses, yards and everything else.”
Webb lauded former Sumner Mayor Smith Murphey IV for having “the foresight to apply for these grants,” adding, “I was lucky enough that we got approved when I was in office, but he’s the one who actually applied and got the ball rolling.”
IN THE PHOTO: A freshly-painted locomotive rests on the Mississippi Delta Railroad track in Sumner, where operators of the short line are based. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
