Editor, Sun-Sentinel:
Well, it looks like we the citizens of Tallahatchie County have once again been hornswoggled by our local politicians.
For reasons unknown to me, our supervisors decided to throw out our current E911 system and completely renumber every structure in the county, along with renaming many roads and dropping directional indicators like north, south, east and west. Seems it would have been much better to just make needed updates and minor corrections to the existing one.
But like a good little lemming, I started changing my address as directed, including with the security company that monitors my property and financial accounts. And suddenly I started receiving email alerts about felons and sex offenders in Sardis and Batesville. Rather strange, since I live south of Charleston.
So, I decided to Google my own address. What I discovered was very distressing. The new E911 address I was assigned shows up as a building on Highway 35 across from the Batesville airport! I assume that means that if I need any emergency service such as ambulance, law enforcement or fire, I can forget it. And if mine is wrong, how can anyone else have confidence theirs is right? An E911 system that is not 100 percent correct is worthless. No, it is worse than that, it is dangerous.
I think a good investigative reporter (Yes, I’m talking to you, Clay!) should look into the origins of this debacle and find out who commissioned this operation, how the team was selected, how they were vetted, even why it was necessary in the first place. And there’s no better place for answers to these questions than the front page of our local newspaper.
Jim Newton
Charleston
Editor’s note: The Sun-Sentinel has on numerous occasions written about the county’s Enhanced 911 re-addressing project.
Undertaken by county officials with the technical assistance of the Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies at Delta State University, it was designed to meet updated state standards and Enhanced 911 National Emergency Numbering Association guidelines.
Government has no control over private companies that offer navigation services. As those databases are not infallible, first responders do not rely upon them as their primary means of locating addresses.
