Dear Editor,

I read with interest your editorial on U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s lackluster support of the Yazoo Backwater Pump Project. I live at Eagle Lake and have been greatly affected by the backwater flooding and have become an advocate for the completion of the Yazoo pumps.

The sentiments in your article are dead on. I have personally heard Rep. Thompson speak at the Rolling Fork flood meeting on March 18th and again at the Valley Park meeting on April 5th to turn in the Override the Veto petition.

While his support seems to have strengthened in the weeks between these meetings, and he has formally requested funding for the pumps from the appropriations committee, he is far from the passionate advocate we need and some of his public comments are likely to do more harm than good. With that said, he is our current elected representative, so we need to ensure he clearly knows our position in the matter, educate him on the facts and support him as long as he is in office.

While I normally stay away from political discussions, this issue has drawn me in. No matter if you are for or against our president’s border wall, you have to give the man his due — that is the platform he ran on and after being elected he has done everything in his power and more to make it happen.

The people of the 2nd District of Mississippi need the same passion for completion of the Yazoo Backwater Pump Project from our elected representatives.

Ann Dahl

Eagle Lake