A burn ban remains in effect for Lincoln County and officialsexpect fire threat conditions to remain high for the prohibition’sduration.

The ban was issued Thursday and will be in effect through July5.

“I see no noticeable rainfall through July 5, unless we get astorm,” Lincoln County Civil Defense Director Clifford Galey toldsupervisors during Monday’s meeting.

The ban prohibits outdoor burning, although some activities -such as those by the Mississippi Forestry Commission – may beallowed, Galey said. He added that construction site burning mustbe under the supervision of a certified burn manager, a list ofwhich is available from MFC.

And citizens have a new reminder that the burn ban is ineffect.

Galey raised a “burning ban” flag Monday on the flagpole at theLincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex. It was the first timethe flag, which was given to the county by the forestry commissionafter last year’s burn ban, has been raised.

“It’s just something to re-enforce that the ban’s out there,”Galey said. “People may see it and ask questions.”

In other business Monday, Solid Waste Coordinator Ronnie Durrupdated supervisors on recent countywide clean-up efforts andfuture concerns.

“Summertime’s coming on and we’re getting a lot of signs brokenoff,” Durr said.

Officials remain perplexed as to the reason for the street andtraffic sign vandalism.

“What they do with them, I don’t know, but they’re going to getthem,” said District Two Supervisor Bobby J. Watts.

During the recent Great American Cleanup, during which trashbins were placed at various locations around the county, comparedto last year, Durr said about 8 tons less of material werecollected and disposed of. He mentioned overflow, items left on theground surrounding the bins, at the sites in Districts One andFour.

“It was quite a challenge (picking up all items) at those twosites,” Durr said.

Durr also mentioned there were more tires disposed of this yearthan he anticipated.

“We just had a lot of tires,” said Durr, who speculated thatcommercial businesses may have dropped some off. “But, they weredisposed of in a responsible manner and we moved on.”

Also Monday, supervisors accepted the resignation of PublicDefender Gus Sermos, who also served as guardian representative forchildren in youth court.

Sermos’ resignation will be effective July 5. Supervisorsapproved sending letters to Lincoln County Bar Association membersto see if anyone is interested in the public defenderappointment.

“We’ll see how much interest is out there,” said Board PresidentDoug Moak.