David Winfield cast a large shadow across politics in Clay County.
The former District 5 supervisor who passed away due to natural causes Saturday at the age of 68 leaves a legacy of unquestioned tenacity and preparedness. The former farmer and trucking company owner began his term on the board of supervisors and immersed himself in the laws and regulations which would benefit his district until he was defeated in 2007.
“When he sat down at that table, he took pride in being able to serve the people of District 5,” said District 1 Supervisor Luke Lummus, who was began his tenure in 1996. “And he knew every law. While (Chancery Clerk) Robbie (Robinson) would be looking something up in the code book, David would be reciting it.”
Even among his political opponents, the depth and breadth of Winfield”s knowledge was respected.
“He”s almost irreplaceable with his background and experience,” said Jesse Ivy, an opponent of Winfield”s in the current race for District 5 and a frequent critic of the board of supervisors.
Current District 5 Supervisor Floyd McKee, the man who defeated Winfield in 2007, remembers Winfield best as an opponent. McKee had been a county constable for more than 20 years prior to opposing Winfield and said the two never crossed one another, but all that changed when he opposed Winfield.
“I had no problem with him myself until I ran for supervisor. Then he went to giving me trouble,” said McKee. “He was a tough competitor. He just wouldn”t give up. He was out there day and night (campaigning).”
But McKee was more than an average opponent for Winfield. He had been subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit brought against Winfield and the county by a former sheriff”s deputy who claimed he had been run out of the CCSO by Winfield and Sheriff Laddie Huffman and subsequently blocked from obtaining a job with the West Point Police Department. The deputy won that lawsuit and cost the county an undisclosed settlement.
The county took another hit when a woman sued claiming she had been fired from her job at the Department of Human Services because she had a Floyd McKee campaign sign in her front yard.
McKee and Winfield”s race was equally ugly. At one point roofing tacks were thrown into the driveway of several of McKee”s supporters, although no evidence ever tied Winfield or his campaign to the vandalism.
McKee said his and Winfield”s political philosophies didn”t differ drastically except with respect to certain fiscal policies. When the county raised sanitation collection fees in 2007, McKee opposed the move and voted to cut the fee almost in half in 2008.
Sanitation, ironically, may be Winfield”s greatest political legacy. He and then-West Point Mayor Kenny Dill worked diligently in the early 1990s to bring a landfill to Clay County despite significant opposition.
“The heat was not the money that was going to be spent,” recalls Robinson, who has served as chancery clerk since 1984, the same year Winfield began his tenure. “It was the location of the project and ”Do we need one?” Everybody said ”Not in my back yard.””
Robinson said Winfield had the foresight to know the landfill would benefit the county, and when the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Authority was established and constructed on Highway 45, it did just that. Straddling the border between Clay and Oktibbeha counties, the landfill saves Clay approximately $5 for each ton of waste dumped and saves the county untold amounts of gasoline.
Plus, the landfill doesn”t look like a landfill.
“If someone didn”t tell you it was a landfill, you wouldn”t know it was there,” said Lummus.
Lummus added that the Golden Triangle landfill has been used as a template and example for landfills around the state due to its low profile and management. Winfield served on the waste authority board of directors since its inception. He had also held positions on the executive board with the State Supervisor Association and numerous additional appointments throughout his political career.
Winfield”s passing leaves a large block of dedicated voters up for grabs in Clay County. Ivy believes that he, as an African American, can expect to gain some of those voters because District 5 is a minority district. McKee believes Winfield”s voters don”t necessarily share the same animosity he and Winfield shared and that many will support him as the incumbent.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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