September 26, 2023
91福利 started the new series of Lunch and Learn focused on how county government works. Kicking off the new County Government 101 Series on September 14th was the Honorable Nance Fitzpatrick Stokes, Circuit Clerk for Pearl River County.
Attendees were greeted by Dr. Jennifer Seal, Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research/Dean of the Dr. Williams Lewis Honors Institute (Poplarville), who also led the invocation before lunch being served. PRCC President Dr. Adam Breerwood welcomed attendees while sharing a little about Stokes, including the fact that she is a graduate of PRCC.
Stokes highlighted the variety of responsibilities she covers in her office including the election process/voter registration, jury duty, marriage licenses, passports, judgement roll, and serving as Clerk of Circuit, County, and Youth Courts. She then opened the floor for questions from community members and honors students who were present.
A key takeaway from her presentation is the importance of voting. The recent primary election had only a 26% turnout. The runoff election only had 16% turnout.
鈥淭he runoff in one of our county races, the winner won by four votes,鈥� said Stokes. 鈥淪o, your vote does matter.
鈥淚f you not registered to vote, get out and register. Then make sure you do vote.鈥�
Beau Wiltshire, President of the Poplarville Area Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the recent growth of the chamber and the desire to strengthen the relationship with PRCC. Wiltshire and his wife are PRCC alumni who recently returned to Poplarville.
鈥淥ne of our areas of focus for the next ten years includes looking at what we provide as small businesses that make the college鈥檚 job easier to continue to grow at the pace of the last few years,鈥� said Wiltshire. 鈥淭here are lots of good things downtown for students and faculty.鈥�
The next Lunch and Learn will be held on November 2, 2023, with Pearl River County Chancery Clerk Melinda Smith Bowman speaking.
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Article and photography by Laura O’Neill.
