SPD cracking down on social gatherings after weekend crowds

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss.(WCBI)- In college towns across the south, the students have returned.

A picture of a large crowd gathered in Starkville has gone viral.

An executive order from Governor Tate Reeves prohibits outdoor gatherings of more than 20 people.

It’s an issue that’s happened outside city limits too…

Law enforcement officers are monitoring gatherings to keep safety rules enforced, even if that means issuing citations.

The large overflow is leaving restaurant owners with more questions that answers.

“At some point, someone has to come and help us enforce this because there’s only so many of us. During the summer it was easy, but now there’s an extra 20,000 people here. Without the help of the city, it’s just going to get worse,” said owner of The Klassroom,Tyler Klass.

“You come out here on a Saturday and it’s jam-packed, not a-lot of concern. Definitely just needs to be regulated better because we have six employees here and we only have two that work here at night,” said Drifter’s manager,Bubba Mendoza.

Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard says this incident rose very quickly.

But, after a few minutes, officers dispersed the over-crowded bar.

” That was one business of several that chose to violate or not enforce the mask enforcement. For that night, we had a detail that was actually out doing other compliance checks. Once that picture was made aware to the police department we went back over took enforcement action on that business,” said Ballard.

Ballard says since July, over 70 compliance checks have been issued under the enforcement program.

” We can’t enforce our way out of this. It has to be an individual responsibility. It’s got to be inherently taken up by the business owners and the managers.If you want to service and the businesses are holding the line there that’s where you’re going to get the best compliance possible,” said Ballard.

Oktibbeha County Sheriff Steve Gladney says deputies had reports of gatherings outside city limits too.

” We get a call and then we get there and there’s 200 or 300 people there. It’s a small number of deputies but we were able to handle it over the weekend and we broke up a-lot of large parties all over the county,” said Gladney.

Gladney and Ballard are urging citizens to remember public heath regulations.

” Wear the mask, be smart. We certainly don’t want this thing to start going back up to large numbers,” said Gladney.

“We take this very seriously and are working through our code enforcement and police to educate and inform those who have now gotten back from the spring and summer sabbatical to our community,” said Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill. “I expect it to be an ongoing process that will take continued efforts to address.”