Update #2: Facing backlash and mounting phone calls Panola County Reverses position – Flowers and memorial approved:
Good news!!! Just got call. We are more than welcome to put flowers up. @TheLastRefuge2
— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 19, 2014
Update #1: How about “Leah’s House” as alternative location for tribute? This is where Jessica went for support, restoration, healing and comfort. Please let me know your thoughts in comments – my heart is heavy, and we’re searching for a way to turn adversity into a positive outcome.
As UNBELIEVABLE as it sounds, the Panola County Sheriffs office is refusing to allow any flowers to be left as the roadside where 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers was brutally murdered on December 6th.
In an incredibly insensitive position, according to Mrs. “Robbie” (Robbie W. Haley is Administrative Assistant to the Sheriff 662-563-6230) within the Panola Sheriff’s Office, nothing will be allowed, and anything left to memorialize Jessica Lane Chambers will be removed immediately by the Sheriff’s department personnel.
The Sheriff’s assistant tells Ashley (our contact in Courtland) *she should give the collected money to the family -and- any flowers must be placed graveside. Nothing additional to draw memory to Jessica Chambers will be permitted by the Sheriffs office.
♦ Is this because the community stands embarrassed by their own lack of action and now takes a prideful position?
♦ Is this because Jessica Lane Chambers does not meet the modern politically correct persona for allowing such a temporary memorial?
♦ Or is this, yet again, just another visible example of how desperately the Panola County Sheriff’s department wants to brush this under the rug?
Whatever the motive, it is not only insensitive – it’s callous.
The Sheriff of Panola County, Mississippi, is Dennis Darby. *Jessica Chamber’s father, Ben Chambers, also works for the Panola Sheriff’s department.
@BrianJi49798000 @TheLastRefuge2 I was told NO. It was private property, and a hazard of traffic.
— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 19, 2014
@BrianJi49798000 @TheLastRefuge2 anything put there would be removed.
— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 19, 2014
@TheLastRefuge2 @ashleyryna9 i just called them anyone wanna know what they said?
— Brian Jimenez (@BrianJi49798000) December 19, 2014
@TheLastRefuge2 @ashleyryna9 i asked if it was still an active crime scene and she immediately directed me to call the DA office.
— Brian Jimenez (@BrianJi49798000) December 19, 2014
@TheLastRefuge2 @ashleyryna9 i pushed her to just answer my question and she hung up on me.
— Brian Jimenez (@BrianJi49798000) December 19, 2014
https://twitter.com/lenny_laws/status/546043267021021184
@TheLastRefuge2 @Pixie__B that area is plenty far enough off the side of the road to put flowers.
— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 19, 2014
Then there’s this:
https://twitter.com/annecarolineb/status/546041172519436290