Tippah County News Today, Sept. 28: Fire Danger, Supervisors, Vote Deadline
Monday in Tippah County comes down to four things: fire danger stays dangerously high through Tuesday even as rain finally looks possible by the weekend, county supervisors have set their October meeting dates with the voter registration deadline landing on one of them, Ripley heads back to Walnut tonight for a volleyball rematch just two nights after the Wildcats swept the county tournament, and Ripley’s band is still riding high off a near-miss for the top spot at the Crossroads Marching Classic.
Fire Danger Stays High Through Tuesday, With Rain Not Far Off
Dry air is holding a tight grip on north Mississippi, and the National Weather Service in Memphis is warning that humidity will drop low enough Monday afternoon to create dangerous fire conditions across Tippah County. Relative humidity is expected to fall below 30 percent, with a real chance it drops under 20 percent the way it did Sunday. Tuesday looks similar. Small fuels like twigs, grass and dry leaves are drying to around 10 percent moisture, which means a stray spark can catch and spread fast even in a light breeze.
Both Tippah and Benton counties have burn bans in effect. Tippah’s started Sept. 18 and runs through Oct. 18; Benton’s began Sept. 8 and runs through Oct. 8. Both can be extended if conditions don’t improve. Gas and charcoal grills are still fine, but campfires, burn barrels and burning brush or debris are not allowed. The county sits entirely in at least moderate drought, and roughly 45 percent of Tippah County has now slipped into severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, up from zero a week earlier.
The good news: models are pointing to relief. Remnants of Hurricane Polo are expected to merge with an upper-level trough by midweek, shifting winds out of the south and raising humidity, with a 40 to 50 percent chance of more than a quarter inch of rain somewhere in the area Saturday or Sunday. Timing and totals are still uncertain. Ripley’s forecast calls for sunny skies and highs in the low-to-mid 80s through Wednesday, climbing near 89 Thursday with a 40 percent chance of evening showers, then better rain chances Friday through Sunday. Anyone planning to be outdoors this week — including hunters ahead of Thursday’s archery deer season opener, or vendors setting up for this coming weekend’s First Monday Trade Day in Ripley — should keep an eye on the forecast and skip the campfire. Report any wildfire activity to 911. Full details on the drought numbers and the week-by-week forecast are in Tippah News’ fire danger report.
Supervisors Set October Meetings, One Landing on Election Deadline
Tippah County supervisors will meet three times in October: Friday, Oct. 2, at 10 a.m.; Monday, Oct. 5, at 10 a.m.; and Thursday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. All three sessions are in the board room on the second floor of the county building at 101 E. Spring St. in Ripley. The board includes Jimmy Gunn (District 1), John Griffin (District 2), Mike Graves (District 3), Glen Michael (District 4) and Chad Newby (District 5), with Melinda Crum serving as county administrator.
Both meetings are open to the public, but anyone who wants to speak needs to arrange it ahead of time by calling the Board Office at 662-837-3655 or the county administrator’s office at 662-837-1053, and submit any supporting documents in advance. No agendas had been posted as of this weekend. Worth noting: Oct. 5 is also voter registration deadline day, and Ripley’s First Monday Trade Day market runs that same weekend, Oct. 3-4.
One Week Left to Register to Vote
Mississippi voters have until Monday, Oct. 5 to register ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Tippah County residents can register through Circuit Clerk Phil Koon’s office in Ripley at 662-837-7370; Benton County residents go through the circuit clerk’s office in Ashland. In-person absentee voting opens Saturday, Oct. 24, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 31, both 8 a.m. to noon; mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day.
One change this year worth knowing about: under House Bill 859, in-person absentee voters now feed their paper ballot straight into the voting machine, the same way they would on Election Day, instead of sealing it in an envelope. Those ballots simply aren’t tabulated until election night. The change is meant to stop ballots from being tossed over an unsigned envelope flap. Mail-in absentee voting is unchanged. The Nov. 3 ballot includes the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, Democrat Scott Colom and independent Ty Pinkins, plus the District 1 U.S. House race and several judicial contests, including Circuit Court District 3, which covers Tippah and Benton counties. Photo ID is required at the polls. More on registering, absentee dates and what’s on the ballot is in Tippah News’ voter registration deadline coverage, and the full meeting details are in the supervisors’ October meeting schedule.
Ripley Heads Back to Walnut Tonight
Two nights after Walnut swept the Tippah County volleyball tournament without dropping a set, the Wildcats and Tigers are right back at it. Ripley travels to Walnut Middle School for a 6 p.m. rematch tonight, according to Tippah Sports’ schedule for tonight’s games. Falkner is on the road too, visiting Jumpertown at Booneville Middle School, also at 6 p.m.
Walnut enters riding a seven-match win streak and a 26-4 record after claiming its third straight county title Saturday, beating Ripley, Falkner and host Pine Grove without surrendering a set. Senior outside hitter Molly-Kate Rolison was named tournament MVP and has committed to continue her volleyball career at Northeast Mississippi Community College. Ripley opened that tournament by beating Falkner in three sets before falling to both Walnut and Pine Grove. Full detail on the county tournament is in Tippah Sports’ recap of Walnut’s championship run.
Also Worth Knowing
Ripley High School’s band capped a strong weekend at the Crossroads Marching Classic in Corinth, finishing Reserve Grand Champion with a score of 90.0, just behind New Albany’s 91.7. The band swept three of four Class 4A caption awards — best drum major, best color guard and best percussion — with its drum major score of 95 standing as the highest of any caption, any class, at the entire competition.
For more from Ripley, Walnut, Falkner, Blue Mountain and the rest of Tippah County, visit Tippah News’ Tippah County News and Ripley News category pages.
