New businesses, improved roadways, renovated facilities andpotential developments are all signs of growth and improvement forWesson, officials said.

Plans are under way to make additions to the Wesson PublicLibrary to increase space for programs, books and items significantto the history of Wesson.

“Currently, they have more books than they have shelves and moreprograms than they have room to do them,” said Wesson Mayor AltonShaw. “I am very impressed just with the amount of people who comein and out of there to be a small town library.”

The expanded facility will include a significant place to storeWesson’s historical artifacts.

“We have so much history we need to get in one place before itdisappears,” Shaw said.

In other activity, the north water tower will be underrenovation for the next few weeks.

“It’s a complete rehabilitation, inside and out. It was at thepoint that if it didn’t get painted in the next two or three years,the engineer said that it would have to be taken offline,” Shawsaid.

The $135,000 restoration project is funded through a $100,000grant provided by the Mississippi Development Authority and fundsset aside by the town.

“We had the rest we had been putting back just for therehabilitation of that water tower,” Shaw said.

Other changes in Wesson include the hiring of a police dispatchand the relocation of the city clerk to the police department, Shawsaid.

Lack of funds are the cause of delay in the St. AbroseLeadership College project. St. Ambrose will be located in the oldWesson High School building but with rising construction cost,another $1 million will be necessary for the completion of theproject, Shaw said.

Minor roadway repairs are currently under way, but a muchlarger-scale project is in the plans.

A new business addition in Wesson, Melody’s Common Ground, isexpected to open next week. Sandwiches, salads, wraps, freshfruits, smoothies, espresso based drinks, homemade pastries, anddoughnuts will be served at the coffee shop on Highway 51.

“There was nothing like it and I’m a coffee fanatic,” said ownerMelody Strong. “I felt lead to do this so the younger people wouldhave a place to go and hang out and have a gathering place in townfor people.”

Melody’s Common Ground will provide local entertainment and aplace to socialize for people of all ages.

“You think you know your market and there are older people wholike their morning coffee and Co-Lin students are excited,” Strongsaid. “I really don’t know who will walk through the doors.”