For better or worse, Pearl Mayor Brad Rogers proved he's his own man when it comes to making a decision on the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District. Rogers was one of the five members of the levee board who voted in favor of a motion to adopt a levee plan for flood control along the Pearl River, as well as one of four mayors on the board who favored levees. Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads explained that he had constituents who wanted the board to get moving on some kind of flood-control plan, be it levees or a lake plan, and warned that the Corps had limited their choices by pulling the plug on the lake option.
Rogers offered no opinion himself regarding the desires of his voters as he cast his vote, but he stands out as one of the elected board members who took campaign money from the company of oilman and "Two Lakes" developer John McGowan, who vehemently opposes the levee plan as anathema to his own lake plan.
McGowan Working Partners employees gave at least $5,500 to Rogers during his race to unseat Republican Gary Foster, probably hoping for a friendly voice on the board to advocate for the lake plan. But Rogers, by his vote Monday, didn't deliver.
The levee plan is incomplete by many estimates, and still capable of leaving underwater parts of Jackson near creeks during high times of flood, but Rogers probably heard the voices of hundreds of Pearlies screaming to the board: "It's been 13 years. Hell, give us something."
Rogers is a life-long resident of Pearl. He attended Hinds Community College, Mississippi State University and received his master's degree in business from the University of Mississippi. He and his wife, Carol, have two young boys, Zack and Knox.
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