After a busy extended holiday weekend andanticipated increases in travel on Southwest Mississippi roadways,local law enforcement officials are pleased with how things turnedout in their respective jurisdictions.

    “Overall, we did pretty good for our district,” said Sergeant RustyBoyd, Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop M public affairs official.”The main thing is that we didn’t have any fatalities or majorinjuries. Just minor stuff.”

    Troop M, which covers Lincoln County and most of SouthwestMississippi, doled out a total of 732 citations and worked 17collisions.

    Sixteen of the citations were DUI related. Boyd said that isnormal; however, DUIs fluctuate from year to year.

    Only one of the collisions was an alcohol-related accident,according to statistics provided by Boyd.

    In all, the Troop M district saw only three injuries over theperiod that began last Wednesday at 6 p.m. and ended Sunday atmidnight.

    “With the exception of the bad weather on Saturday night andSunday, it was smooth,” Boyd said. “I think we came out prettygood.”

    Boyd encouraged continued safety as people travel throughout theholiday season, and he reiterated MHP will be out in force asalways through the Christmas holidays.

    “Roadways can be dangerous,” he said. “People need to continue topay attention and take extra care to make it safer foreverybody.”

    Statewide, MHP investigated 196 collisions, three of which werealcohol-related, reported 57 total injuries and two fatalcollisions with two fatalities. Fatalities were reported from TroopJ and Troop K, according to Boyd’s data.

    In the city, Police Chief Pap Henderson said he could not behappier with how smoothly the holiday went as far as traffic andsafety.

    “It went real good,” he said. “There were no major problems at all.We concentrated on everything we have to do, not just one area. Andeverything was good.”

    Henderson said the number of DUIs was not any more than normal, andno other major incidents occurred over the long weekend.

    “I’m really pleased with how the Thanksgiving holidays went,” hesaid.

    It was the same story out in the county, according to Sheriff SteveRushing.

    “Everything went fine as far as we can see,” he said. “There were afew accidents during the rain the other night. But there were nofatalities and no major injuries.”

    Rushing also said the number of DUIs in the county was normal, andno other incidents were reported.

    “Nothing more than normal happened,” he said. “It was a pretty goodweekend. I’m pretty pleased with how it went.”