The ASEEDS Partnership held its 2018: A Year in Review, last night at the Duck Hill gym. Various speakers spoke about the work ASEEDS has done so far and what the partnership plans to do throughout this year.
As a surprise, Blues singer Lil’ Willie Farmer performed during the event while those attending enjoyed a meal. Romona Taylor Williams told how on Feb. 28, 2018, ASEEDS kicked off at the Duck Hill gym and did an overview of what the group has done so far.
The meeting touched on ideas that stakeholders – community members – wanted to see happen. The two biggest projects ASEEDS are working on are a greenspace, where plants that love water will be placed in the area to help combat the flooding on Martin L. King Drive near Duck Hill Baptist, Binford High School, the Duck Hill gym and Duck Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
Along with the meeting came the introduction of the Duck Hill Creek Rangers, a group of teenagers who are learning about the environment and climate and the role they play. The group is led by Monique Cooley.
“We have 12 members and nine active members,” Williams said. “We wanted a way to get them involved but we knew we had to have something to make them stay involved. So we decided to give them a little stipend also.”
Williams said Creek Rangers serve at every community event held in Duck Hill and also help around the community.
Williams recapped the very first meeting. She said the first issue residents wanted to fix was the severe flooding by City Hall and the area over the gym and Duck Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Project Manager Abba Goel said many told him that he had to see Duck Hill when it rained.
“But, I keep missing it. So, one day it was pouring down rain,” Goel said. “I got up and told myself ‘I’m going to see this today.’” He said he made it to Duck Hill and water was 15 feet and wasn’t moving.
“It was just rushing and I said ‘We have to figure this out,’” he said.
Goel said Duck Hill would flood because the water came down hill and settled in the downtown area. He said during another downpour, his wife was downtown in Duck Hill.
He said he talked with Sutherland about the situation, and they began to look for help to fix it. He said other people told him the work would take $500,000 to fix the problem.
“They told us we had $100,000 and that was it. I said ‘We can work with that,’” he said.
Goel said he hired local people to do the work.
“Men who’ve never done anything with water,” he said. “But, I taught them what to do, and they learned.”
He said they installed a gravity fed mitigation system that not only sent the storm water to Bogue Creek, it cleaned it in the process. After installation, he said there was another heavy rain and water was still standing.
“And I said ‘It doesn’t work, we’ll have to do something else.’ But then 30 minutes later, they called me and said all the water was gone.” Water that would have taken days to recede, left in 30 minutes. He said the system wasn’t perfect but it worked.
“I didn’t say that it would completely stop it,” Goel said. “But, instead of it being around most of the day, the water is now gone in 20-30 minutes and that’s serious.” He said the material is biodegradable and takes the polluters out of the water.
He said this year, they’re working on helping four families with water issues when it rains and figuring out how to stop water from coming into the Duck Hill gym when it rains and to keep it from ruining the floor.
Williams those in attendance that everything starts with planning and many towns in Mississippi lacked resources because they didn’t plan.
Next, Patrick ….. with Mississippi State University who presented the plans for Binford High School. Melba Rodgers said back in 2002, a group of concerned citizens created Preserving and Restoring Eagle Pride in order to save Binford High from being razed.
“They were going to tear it down and we have memories that are tied to that school,” Rodgers said. “We love Binford High and we wanted to keep it.” So, she said the group came together and went to work putting the high school on the historical listing.
The high school is the first building …. Overstreet built in Mississippi and it still stands. PREP wanted to make a historical landmark keeping the town of Duck Hill from tearing it down.
Through the ASEEDS project, the plan to make turn Binford High into the Lucie E. Campbell and …. Binford Center for Cultural Arts and Social Impact. The high school will be a space the community can use to hold plays, host events and turn it into a mix-use building.
It’s not the only thing ASEEDS has lined up for this year. Williams said to help with the food desert and insecurity that Duck Hill has, the partnership is working to put a farmer’s market in Duck Hill. Right now residents have to drive 10 minutes to either Winona or Grenada for groceries because Duck Hill doesn’t have a grocery store.
William said it’s the goal of the group to place a store in Duck Hill so instead of those needing
“2018 was the planning stage and now 2019 we are going to execute,” Williams said.
