By Billy Davis

State Rep. Nolan Mettetal has said he is pleased with a proposed redistricting plan because District 10 has fewer split precincts and it includes more Panola Countians.

“I can live with it,” said Panola County’s other state representative, Democrat Joe Garder, though he voted against the measure to voice disapproval with Republicans’ handling of moving boundary lines.
Mettetal, who is a Republican, voted with the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to approve new electoral lines for House districts.

Rep. Bill Denny, a Republican from Jackson, submitted the redistricting plan.  

House members voted 70-49 to approve the new districts after a “passionate five-hour rallying cry” from state according to The Clarion-Ledger.

Gardner said he agreed with other Democrats’ allegations that Republicans were “packing” minority districts, a practice of moving black voters into one area.

Gardner said he and other Democrats were also disappointed that Denny’s plan would force incumbent Democrats into three primary fights against each other in the next election.

District 10 and District 11 currently split Panola County roughly in half, with a portion of District 9 occupying the northwest corner of the county.

Under the new plan, Gardner’s district would add Crenshaw and Longtown, and stretch farther south to Enon, Courtland and a portion of Batesville. Como is also in District 11.

 District 10 also covers a portion of Batesville and stretches east into Lafayette County. Communities around Sardis Lake are in District 10 as well as Eureka, Mt. Olivet and Pope.

District 10 and District 11 already split areas of Sardis and would continue to do so under the new plan.
Mettetal said the proposed boundaries would move the once-split Courtland precinct into Gardner’s district and the entire Tocowa precinct, which is currently split, would move into District 10.

District 10 also includes a portion of Lafayette County and Mettetal said the new lines have been improved in that county, too.

“Before (the redistricting), District 10 circled all the way around Oxford,” Mettetal said.

The proposed boundary shows District 10 looping north and south of Oxford where it bumps against District 13.

Democrats were the majority party in the House last year when a redistricting plan was introduced. The plan was defeated in the Republican-controlled Senate, setting up a second year of debate over the issue.

The Panolian reported last year that Democrats’ redistricting plan would have enlarged District 26, centered in Clarksdale, all the way to Dogwood Hills in Batesville and south to Courtland. That plan died when the Senate rejected it.

The newest boundary lines show District 26 remains centered around Clarksdale and shrinks from coverage in neighboring Quitman County.

 The newly proposed boundary lines ensure Panola County is represented in the House of Representatives by local people, Mettetal said, perhaps alluding to the earlier plan for District 26.

A portion of northwest Panola County is currently represented by District 9, which touches five counties and is held by Democrat Clara Burnette.

The new House map shows Burnette’s district would drop Panola, giving that area to Gardner, and District 9 would include Tunica and portions of Tate, Coahoma and Quitman counties.

The House plan now goes to the State Senate for its consideration.