Editor’s note: The Democrat did not express direct opposition to Magnolia Bluffs Casino’s arrival in Natchez, but was critical of the City of Natchez’s long process of negotiating a lease contract with the casino operator.

I couldn’t help but laugh “a bit” this morning as I read Kevin Cooper’s column (The Natchez Democrat Jan. 25) criticizing state Sen. Melanie Sojourner’s proposal to abolish hunting and fishing licenses in the state of Mississippi.

What “struck me as amusing” was the elitism and smugness of his put-down of Sen. Sojourner.

It was the same condescending attitude with which he and The Democrat opposed the Magnolia Bluffs Casino several years ago, but now propose to instruct the people of Natchez on how to spend the $1 million annual lease payment derived from the casino.

What Cooper and The Democrat can’t quite grasp is that above and beyond the possibly valid constitutional issues which Sen. Sojourner has raised, it is first and foremost the “yokels” and little people with their fishing poles, who dot the bridges and levees of Mississippi on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, that Senator Sojourner seeks to exempt from taxation.

Maybe there is a middle way between their needs and those of Natchez Nabobs like Cooper, but we will never find it if he keeps drinking the “kool-aid” of sarcasm and snobbery.

 

Gary O. Neal

Natchez resident