Parents and adults in Vicksburg need to take a more active role in helping youth in the community, Mayor Paul Winfield said Friday, adding he has called a meeting of community leaders and city and county officials to discuss getting more adults working with children.

Winfield announced the 11:30 a.m. Wednesday meeting at the Vicksburg Warren County School District administrative office on Mission 66 at a Friday morning meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

He said he and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield will provide lunch.

“We need dialogue. This is a community problem, it’s not just one agency shouldering the burden,” he said. “A lot of people blame the teachers and the school system. When you have children, you have to be responsible to the child.”

The mayor said the Tuesday morning fight at Vicksburg High School influenced the calling of the meeting, but added, “this was a dialogue that needed to be had anyway.”

The fight at VHS was the third in two weeks at the school. It involved about 50 students and resulted in the lockdown of the school and the arrest of nine students.

“I think this is a good start,” said Dr. Elizabeth Swinford, superintendent of the Vicksburg Warren School District. “We have many issues that need to be resolved, and many of those issues begin in the community. It would benefit all of us to be proactive to stop these things before they escalate.”

Winfield said the meeting will address ways to influence and encourage more adults to get involved with the city’s youth.

“A lot of our young people are in need of help,” he said. “They need mentoring. It’s (the violent behavior) not their fault. It’s grown-ups, in my opinion. We need to talk about how to engage the adults and parents to get involved with their children. I’m challenging grandparents and others to get involved in a child’s life.

“Youth truly want guidance. When they don’t have guidance, they turn to anarchy, and when they turn to anarchy, they make bad decisions.”

Mayfield added, “We have a problem and our response is reactive. When you’re reactive, it’s too late. We need to be proactive. Finger-pointing does no good. When you’re finger-pointing, you waste time that could be spent resolving the problem.

“It’s incumbent on all of us in this community to take action,” he said. “We’ve all got to step it up.”

On the agenda

Meeting Friday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen:

• Recognized the following employees on their anniversaries with the city: James Whittington, police, five years; Anna Booth, administration, 10 years, William Crawford, police, Charles Ferguson, Charles Harris, Lenwood Miller and Jeffery Cockrell, fire department, 20 years.

• Approved the minutes from the Feb. 21 meeting.

• Adopted the following budget amendments: transferred $74,000 from the City Cemetery administrative services fund to the capital fund for paving in the cemetery; transferred $107,000 from the federal grants revenue fund to capital to pay for renovations to the third floor of the old Levee Street Depot for Vicksburg Main Street.

In a related matter, the board approved a contract with Central Asphalt Co. Inc. of Vicksburg for the cemetery paving project to pave a new section in the rear of the old cemetery and an access road and parking lot to the cemetery office in the cemetery’s new section.

• Accepted closeout documents from Independent Roofing Systems Inc. of Jackson for the roof on the rear wing of the depot.

• Approved paying $129,288 to Champion Chrysler Dodge in Gulfport for six police package Dodge Chargers. The cars are being bought through state purchasing.

• Approved $600 for advertising for the Raw Dog Sports Group for the Grand Station Casino Jackpot Softball Tournament. Winfield said 50 teams from several states are expected to play in the tournament, March 30 to April 1.

• Approved $500 for advertising in the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Minority Caucus program.

• Approved $100 for advertising for the Vicksburg Cruisers Car Club Red Carpet Classic Auto Show, April 28.

• Approved a request from Vicksburg Catholic School to close Grove Street between Howard and Hayes streets on May 5 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the 42nd annual Play-A-Day-In-May-Away Festival.

• Approved paying $36,265.52 as the city’s share of dispatcher salaries and benefits.

• Approved paying $6,198.04 to the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport.

• Approved a $4,000 allocation to Haven House Family Shelter.

• Approved statements from Trustmark Bank and BancorpSouth.

• Approved the following reports: city sexton, privilege license, mayor and treasurer, monthly tax collection, delinquent tax collection and detail budget.

• Approved the claims docket.