By Billy Davis

Panola County supervisor Kelly Morris last week handed over his county-owned truck after a road department foreman was left without a vehicle.

The issue of supervisors driving county trucks is a bone of contention among some voters, and the breakdown of a road department truck gave Morris an opportunity to surrender his controversial truck.

Morris in January had made a board motion to park the trucks at the county courthouses. That effort died when he failed to find a second, and he responded by parking the white Dodge at his home.

“I used it to go to board meetings. That was it,” Morris said.

The District 4 supervisor, now a year into his first term, inherited the truck from former supervisor Jerry Perkins.

Morris said road manager Lygunnah Bean asked for the truck, with a stated plan to purchase Morris a new truck, since the truck had originally belonged to the road department. The truck had been driven by David Arnold, a former assistant road manager.

Morris said he balked at Bean’s suggestion to buy him a truck and has decided to use his private vehicle for his public job.

“I didn’t think it was right, with this bad economy and the county raising taxes, to get my own truck,” Morris said.