Apr. 7--The decision is in. Home Cable Company is out as a cable provider in Jones County.

On Monday, the Jones County Board of Supervisors voted to pull the franchise of Home Cable Company, which serves about 114 homes in Beat One. The decision comes after years of failed attempts to get company owner Leland Dennison to address customer concerns. In addition, the Jones County Tax Assessor Ramona Blackledge recently informed the supervisors that the company is not licensed to operate in Jones County and owes thousands in taxes.

"Because of their lack of buying a license and the fact that they haven't paid any taxes to the county since 1989, I make a motion that we pull the franchise of Home Cable Company in Jones County, Mississippi," said Beat One Supervisor Johnny Burnett. "We want to help small businesses as much as we can, but this man is totally disrespectful to the citizens of Jones County.

"He's made no effort to contact us after we've made several phone calls and sent letters to him with various concerns," added Burnett. "We are not going to tolerate him any longer."

The Laurel Leader-Call was unsuccessful in attempts to reach Dennison for comment.

Jones County Board of Supervisors Attorney M. Wayne Thompson was asked to send a certified letter to Dennison by Friday, informing him of the board's decision.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause customers," said Burnett. "We are continuing our efforts to get better service for Home Cable customers. We plan to call Comcast to see if they can come out to the area."

In other business, the board heard a request from Laurel CAO Dennis Keveryn to assist the City of Laurel in paying "demand charges" to Dixie Electric Power Association for service at the Sportsplex. "Dixie Electric discovered they have not been charging us demand charge," explained Keveryn. "The demand charge is from $4,000 to $4,500 a month."

In a written statement released to the Laurel Leader-Call, Dixie Electric General Manager Alan Bradley said: "In upgrading the service to the baseball fields at the Sportsplex, we realized that the demand charge had not been applied since 1998 for the baseball, softball or soccer fields. This is an oversight on our part, and the Dixie Electric Board of Directors agreed to begin charging the city for the demand charge.

"The baseball demand charge will be applied immediately, and the soccer and softball field's demand charges will accumulate from April to September to be paid in October to coincide with the City of Laurel's budget process," Bradley states. "We regret this error occurred and are working with the city to correct it."

Laurel's City Administrator Dennis Keveryn told supervisors when he received the notice, the first thing he did was panic. "We are in the middle of our budget and this thing hit us blind-sided," he said. "I know we're hitting them right in the middle of their budget, too. We just need a little help here if they have the funds."

Keveryn considers it only fair to ask the county for assistance because, according to Elvin Ulmer, Laurel's Parks and Recreation Director, 74 percent of those using the Sportsplex are from the county. Only 26 percent are from Laurel.

"We are not complaining," he said. "That's fine. The way the Sportsplex is paid for is through tax on food and other stuff.

"It's the operation of the Sportsplex that the city is shouldering. If the supervisors can help us, that would be great. But we won't fall out or anything like that if they don't help us."

The board agreed to take the city's request under consideration.

In other action, the board voted to authorize Sheriff Alex Hodge and Board President Andy Dial to execute an agreement with the Keefe Group of Pearl to take over commissary duties at the Jones County Adult Detention Center. Regional Sales Manager Brian White said the company would take orders from inmates, gather the items, place them in plastic bags and deliver them to the detention center for distribution. A contract with the Keefe Group reduces the workload of detention center employees.

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