Residents call for reopening of CC Augustus Pool
TUPELO — Park Hill residents, elected officials and others are pushing for the city of Tupelo to either upgrade or outright replace the popular but currently shuttered C.C. Augustus Pool.
Built around 60 years ago, the public pool sits in the heart of Ward 4's Park Hill neighborhood. After two evaluations and a determination that it needed significant repairs, the city announced earlier this month the pool would not open this summer.
For Ward 4 Councilwoman Nettie Davis, the pool's closure is a blow to the community.
'(The pool) was very special to us," Davis said. "The people in our community feel it is a necessity.'
Davis, who said she wants to see the pool completely replaced at the C.C. Augustus Center, is not alone in feeling that it needs to be prioritized.
After receiving multiple calls regarding the pool's closure, Davis and Bridgett 'Miss Bam' Shelly, president of the Park Hill Neighborhood Association, called a neighborhood meeting on the topic.
During the meeting, Shelly and Davis spoke with neighborhood residents and Tupelo Parks and Recreation Director Alex Farned about the situation. While some solutions were proffered, the main thrust, Shelly said, is that residents want their community pool back.
'(The closure) was a big disappointment because we had plans for the children to swim,' Shelly said, adding the community had to cancel multiple events scheduled at the pool this summer. 'Children look forward to it (opening) because it is the only one where they can get there without transportation.'
Farned said the previous meeting won't be the last about the pool, adding that discussion on what to do with the pool will begin with this budget session for the next fiscal year, which is already underway. He said more information will be available to the public as the details get settled.
Shelly noted that the pool would have opened on June 3, the day of the municipal general election. While working the polls that day at the C.C. Augustus Center precinct, she said she had to turn away multiple children who wanted to swim.
Davis and Shelly also talked about its history as a place for Black children to swim safely. Davis noted that before the pool was built, her friends and family swam in creeks in town.
'It's sentimental to me. It's been in our neighborhood since I was a child,' Shelly said. 'Residents are not going to be quiet about them closing the pool.'
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Hamilton Spectator
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Political violence is threaded through recent US history. The motives and justifications vary
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Gunmen who killed 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, 23 shoppers at a heavily Latino Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 each cited the conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of Jews were trying to replace white people with people of color. That has become a staple on parts of the right that support Trump's push to limit immigration. The Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street before being fatally shot by police. 'You're seeing acts of violence from all different ideologies,' said Jacob Ware, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who researches terrorism. 'It feels more random and chaotic and more frequent.' 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The Minnesota attack occurred after Trump took the extraordinary step of mobilizing the military to try to control protests against his administration's immigration operations in Los Angeles during the past week, when he pledged to 'HIT' disrespectful protesters and warned of a 'migrant invasion' of the city. Dallek said Trump has been 'both a victim and an accelerant' of the charged, dehumanizing political rhetoric that is flooding the country. 'It feels as if the extremists are in the saddle,' he said, 'and the extremists are the ones driving our rhetoric and politics.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Political violence is threaded through recent US history. The motives and justifications vary
The assassination of one Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife at their homes, is just the latest addition to a long and unsettling roll call of political violence in the United States. The list, in the past two months alone: the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. The firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages, and the firebombing of the official residence of Pennsylvania's governor — on a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside. 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