Two men face burglary and grand larceny charges in connection with the theft of power tools from a locked shed at a residence in the county.
The Webster County Sheriff’s Office posted a press release concerning the crime on social media last week.
The post reads, in part, “On Tuesday, Feb. 7, at around 2:30 p.m. Webster County deputies, Montgomery County deputies and agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics executed a search warrant at a residence on U.S Highway 82 in Stewart.
“This search warrant was obtained after investigators identified two suspects in a burglary that occurred in the Lodi community early Saturday morning (Feb. 4). Deputies were able to retrieve every item that was stolen at the residence.”
Webster County Sheriff David Gore and the investigating deputies thanked Montgomery County Sheriff Jeff Tompkins and his deputies who assisted, as well as the MBN agents, in the release.
“These deputies have worked hard to solve this case,” it adds.
Although the release did not name the suspects, they are identified on Webster County Jail records as J.L. Palmertree, 53, and Troy Jason Tucker, 49. Each is charged with burglary of a commercial building with forcible entry and grand larceny.
Justice Court affidavits filed by Sgt. Andrew Banks allege that on Feb. 4, both men broke into a locked exterior shed in the 3500 block of Edgeworth Road and stole multiple power tools of various types and brands.
Judge Jerry Jones has set bond at $100,000 for Palmertree and $50,000 for Tucker, and they remained in custody as of Monday morning. Neither had been appointed or hired an attorney as of then and they are tentatively scheduled to appear in court today. By Anna Coburn
The Winona Times
KILMICHAEL — The citizens of Kilmichael came out to the Feb. 7 Board of Aldermen meeting in droves.
Although the meeting started at 7 p.m., citizens began gathering at 6:30 p.m. The meeting room was so full, there weren’t enough seats, and the crowd spilled into the hall.
What they’re worried about is the possibility of the railroad that either borders or is a part of their land becoming federal property. Before the meeting even started, they were gathered holding multiple conversations regarding their property.
The C&G Rail Trail Coalition made its stop in the town of Kilmichael. Spokesperson Richard Beattie said the group is trying to get local governments from “West Point to Greenwood to look into” the establishment of an idea of how the coalition could, according to its website (cgrailtrail.org) “convert 92 miles of inactive C&G (Columbus and Greenville) rail line between Greenwood and West Point into Mississippi’s longest rails-to-trails.”
Beattie said he doesn’t own any land along the railroad, he’s “just a concerned citizen [and] I’ve been in Greenwood for 40 years. I’m a bicycle advocate. I’m a cycling fan because it’s part of my treatment.” Beattie explained that he has Parkinson’s disease, and that cycling helps combat his symptoms.
Kilmichael Mayor Bryan Lott spoke up first.
“I want to say this: as you can see there’s a lot of people here tonight. And 90 percent of them live in the county,” he said. “I’m telling you this to show you how I feel about this. This should have gone through the county before it came to our towns. We’re a small municipality. We depend on our county so strongly, so if they’re not on board, it’s gonna be hard to get us on board.”
“My point being is: I think this thing went backward,” Lott continued, “This is just how I feel. I’ve talked to a lot of people the last two weeks — I can’t support it.” He said he couldn’t support something that no one he talked to was in support of.
Beattie explained that the coalition is only asking to have municipalities help investigate the idea as a team, to which Lott responded, “I understand that, but I don’t believe in wasting money. So, if I know all these people are against it, we’re not getting anywhere. This came up a long time ago, and it didn’t go anywhere.”
Lott then opened the floor for questions but asked everyone in the room to remain civil.
Resident Leah Yeatman spoke up saying “I love riding bicycles. When I first heard this idea, I thought ‘It’s great!’ Until we realized it goes through our land, which is hunting land. So we’re not going to be able to use that land to hunt.”
Yeatman stated her concerns about injury to those who might accidentally be on her property, and the question of liability was posed. She also worried about those with houses mere feet from the railroad, along with her concerns about public places attracting the homeless and drug-addicted taking up residence bordering people’s land.
City Attorney Lane Greenlee stated, “Let me answer your liability question: in Mississippi, you have no liability to a trespasser. So, if someone is walking down the railroad tracks and they come out onto your property and hurt themselves, you have no liability.”
Yeatman countered that “laws do change.”
Also in attendance was Sue Stidham, director of the Montgomery County Economic Development District. She expressed that she had information about reopening the track. With her was Don Elrword from Cleveland. “He has an interest in seeing that the rail is open and usable,” said Stidham.
She stated that the timber business in the area is beginning to boom. She explained that the Montgomery County area has a four-way highway that offers travel from coast to coast, and a railroad track has a north-to-south road.
But, she stated, “We do not have any river [transportation] ability other than trucking. The train would connect us river to river.”
Stidham handed out a map marking all of the timber routes coming out of Mississippi.
Yeatman spoke up again, asking “When the railroad came through, when they first built it, was the easement eminent domain, or did the railroad buy the easement?”
Ross Robert Lake, a Kilmichael resident passionate and adamantly against the Rail Trail then spoke, answering her question.
“Ninety percent was eminent domain,” he said, a stack of letters and papers in his hand. Several letters were from attorneys at Lewis Rice LLC in St. Louis, Missouri.
“Some of it the railroad bought, mainly in the city areas. According to these lawyers, more than 90% was an easement granted by the state. When the easement ends, the land goes back to the landowner. The railroad salvage value is worth $75 a foot, conservatively estimated. The state is only going to pay swampland price for the land, and you won’t be able to go to the other side and cross over their federal parkway, when you want to bring your logs, cattle and heavy equipment out because you’ll be trespassing on federal land and you’ll crush their little bicycle path.”
“The easement ends when the railroad goes back to the state and says, ‘We’re through,’ and they abandon it officially. Unofficially, [the railroad] has been abandoned for 40 years. There are probably still expenses that the railroad still has to pay,” Lake explained.
Lake became more and more intensely animated as he continued to talk.
“They’re gonna tell you a pretty story right now to get you to agree to [the Rail Trail],” he said, “but eminent domain’s a terrible thing to go through.”
Yeatman had a question regarding land that is divided by the railroad. Beattie answered saying that the coalition applied for grants to study how landowners would be affected by the trail.
Alderman Bernard Jenkins of Kilmichael Ward 2 spoke, saying, “I’ve lived in Kilmichael all my life. I agree with the mayor 100% that [the Rail Trail proposal] should have started [at the county level].”
Yeatman asked Beattie if the track was several feet from his front door, would he still agree to the Rail Trail. Beattie responded, “I would buy property to be along the trail.”
Stidham said, “C&G still owns the railroad, and we have been talking to a former railroad person,” and that they are looking to open a railroad that runs from east to west.
Lott closed the discussion after the question of eminent domain was reiterated. Still, the crowd took a while to dissipate. Ultimately, Police Chief Barry Gregg gently corralled the crowd outside of the meeting room. The board did not make any motions regarding the Rail Trail.
In a later interview, Lake explained that the lawyers from Lewis Rice are sending out letters to residents who own land bordering the railroad.
A letter provided by Lake sent to him by Meghan S. Largent of Lewis Rice says, “From our research, the railroad held only an easement over much of its right-of-way, under Mississippi law, once the railroad abandoned using this easement for a railroad the land should revert back to you. Instead, because of this federal program, the federal government has preempted Mississippi law and allowed the railroad to sell it for a public park.”
The letter also states that the railroad is “soon-to-be-abandoned railroad corridor in which the current owner, the Genesee & Wyoming railroad, intends to abandon and sell for use as a public recreational trail. The federal government will likely authorize the railroad to sell or donate its right-of-way through the federal “Rails-to-Trails” program.”
Lake stated that “These people have sent this [letter] out, and they are carpet-bagger, swindler, ambulance-chaser lawyers.”
Greenlee expounded on the letter in a later interview, stating that he hasn’t “read that federal act, but the federal government” supersedes the state government. He explained that the letter is lawyers soliciting landowners to join in a class action lawsuit.
In a document written and provided by Lake titled ”Rails to Trails — Higher Taxes and a Land Grab by the Federal Government,” he lays out his issues with the proposed Rail Trail, and the action he recommends landowners take.
He explains that the Rail Trail would be “another useless project destroying our privacy,” and that it would give way to “more taxes, way more taxes.” He says that “compensation [would be] minimal from [the] state versus the residual value [of the property].”
He mentioned other arguments then advised in a section labeled “What to Do” that landowners “call representative and senators, call and write the Surface Transportation Board, and sign petitions against [the railroad] soon to be available at Greenlee’s Shoprite, High Grade and Nails Truck Stop.”
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Editor’s Note: The Webster County Board of Supervisors also heard from citizens against the Rail Trail during its Jan. 3 meeting.
Dudley Shurlds from Harpole Road, Maben, addressed the board with concerns of the proposed Rails to Trails project that would run through his property and many other taxpayers’ property through the county. His concerns were included in the minutes as an exhibit.
Ross Lake of Kilmichael, who as reported in this article was at that town’s board meeting, also addressed the supervisors in opposition to the project. Lake, who also owns property in Webster County, requested to put into the minutes a copy of a letter from the aforementioned Lewis Rice law firm dated Dec. 19.
Also present against the rail project were two couples who live on state Highway 182 east of Eupora.
