Crowd Relax

Lowndes county's board of supervisors meetings don't normally draw much attention.

That was not the case this morning.

Lowndes county's board of supervisors meetings don't normally draw much attention.

That was not the case this morning..

There is a change at the head of the table..

Harry sanders resigns as president of the lowndes county board of supervisors this morning, but he says that's as far as he will go..

Some of his fellow supervisors say that's not far enough.

As cash matlock reports, they say conducting county business will be almost impossible with sanders still in the room.

"therefore i submit my resignation as board president immediately, and i intend to represent the people of district one."

Sanders opened tuesday's board meeting with this short message before swapping seats with former vice president of the board and district 3 supervisor, john holliman.

Soon after, the floor opened for discussion.

"i too believe harry should resign from his position on the board.

His comments in the paper were hurtful to a lot of people."

District 2 supervisor trip hairston doubling back on a statement he gave to wcbi just last week in favor of sanders remaining on the board... fellow supervisor leroy brooks calling it a pleasant surprise.

"the one thing that made me feel good is that trip hairston voted with us to call for his resignation."

Hairston, brooks, and supervisor jeff smith all voted for sanders to remove himself from the board completely.

They say stepping down as president will not be enough.

"please sir, i'm asking you in the name of jesus to resign from this board."

"do the right thing now.

You know what the right thing is.

The right thing is for you to remove yourself from this situation so this county can heal and go forward."

Supervisor jeff smith says it will be difficult to handle county business until this issue is resolved.

"i expected us to come up here, request harry to resign from the board... we didn't get that committment today, but we got a committment from the people that we're not going to go away."

Supervisors voted 3 -2 on the resolution asking sanders to resign from the board.

Supervisors john holliman and trip hairston declined comment today..

A crowd of protestors gathered outside the courthouse calling for the same thing that some inside were wanting..

As the meeting went on, they were hoping to hear the news that at sanders would step down as a supervisor.

..

Quentin smith spoke with some of them to find out what's driving the discontent.

The signs were simple.... " justice and equality for all."

But yet powerful "harry must go."

All calling for harry sanders to give up his seat as a county supervisor after making racist comments two weeks ago.

"i do understand all of the other supervisors, i understand that they are not going to be able to get any work done.

They are not going to be able to get work done with him at the table knowing what he has said."

"there's not an apology for this, he has to go."

Russell brandon was one of the dozens of protestors calling for sanders' resignation.

He says he felt compelled to speak out and join in the fight after multiple encounters with racism from past experiences.

" i didn't do things sooner.

I tolerated this sort of disgusting racism for too long.

I spent too much time at thanksgivings putting off that racist uncle, just saying oh he's dumb or whatever, nothing is going to happen.

This is what happens as a consequence of that."

During monday's meeting, sanders did resign as board president, a position he's held for nearly two decades.

However, many believe that's not good enough.

They want him to step down from the board altogether.

Many in lowndes county believe his presence on the board is continuing to plague the community.

" with him staying on the board, it's just going to be divided and the community is steel going to be divided, so then he's got a lot on his shoulders and he needs to understand.

It's not just the community is economic development.

Going to want to bring something here?

Nobody.

Everybody is going to look at, why should wait.

We still got somebody racist sitting on the board."

His term expires in 2024, but many say they can't wait that long.

They want him gone now, and protestors made a vow to continue advocating for his resignation until it happens.

"we have people here participating to bring forth justice, this is when we have to have."

"this is just one day.

Hopefully he will go to bed i think about it again and decide to do what's best for the county."

"i don't think this county can continue moving forward.

I do not think any county can move forward with someone like him on their board.

I hope that anyone who's watching this right now, i hope you know that if you think the same thing that harry sanders does, you're wrong."

" harry , please resign, go on to the house."

Several of today's protestors... along with the lowndes county chapter of the naacp... are planning for another peaceful protest outside the courthouse for the board's next meeting which is scheduled for monday....