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By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
May 15, 2003
The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies are getting serious about seat belts during the last two weeks in May.
Roadside safety checks throughout the county will be part of a program called, "Buckle Up Mississippi, It's The Law And It's Enforced."
Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie, speaking to the Meridian Kiwanis Club on Wednesday, said coffee mugs and T-shirts will be given to motorists who are wearing their seat belts and have all other driving requirements in order, such as a valid licenses and tags.
He added that a person may, however, be charged for not having their children properly restrained.
Maj. Ward Calhoun of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department said T-shirts and coffee mugs will be given out as long as they last.
Sollie said Lauderdale County was ranked among the top 10 counties of Mississippi with the highest fatality rate from motor vehicle accidents last year. He said there were nine fatal automobile accidents in Lauderdale County. Calhoun said it is believed many of the people who died would not have lost their lives if they had been properly restrained.
Sollie added that, of the nine fatalities last year, seven drivers were impaired and speeding was a factor in many of the deaths.
Also during the Kiwanis Club meeting, Sollie entertained members when he shared some archaic laws still on the books in Mississippi, such as:
People shall not keep a stallion or a Jack within 100 yards of a church or roadway;
That county sheriff's must assist in tick eradication efforts; and
That only Mississippi Department of Transportation or municipal police departments have the authority to enforce laws regulating the tinting of automobile windows.