The Wash Out From Bureaucratic No-Man’s Land Finally Fixed

The wash located on Hwy. 6 gets filled in Friday by county work crews. Photo By HottyToddy.com

After a bureaucratic shuffle among several state and local agencies,  including the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Lafayette County, the massive wash located on Highway 6 and the intersection of CR 413 has been filled in and landscaped by county work crews.

HottyToddy.com first reported the story on May 30 under the headline, “Environmental Agency Fails to Enforce Rules at Front Door.”

The wash, located just feet from the front door of the regional office of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, first appeared five years ago and only grew larger with each rain, despite the effort of nearby Highlands residents to alert government officials that water from the wash seemed to be draining into Highlands Lake.

MDEQ officials first said that the wash was the responsibility of the State Department of Transportation, but in the end, neither agency was culpable in the environmental matter. As it turned out, the wash was on land belonging to Lafayette County.

Upon learning of complaints about it from state officials, the county acted quickly to make the necessary repairs on Friday.

“We are so grateful to the county for their prompt response in taking care of this problem,” said Highlands resident Ed Meek. –– Michael Harrelson, editor, HottyToddy.com

Email Michael Harrelson at michael.harrelson@hottytoddy.com