<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0C0EE4_1FRbhS9Y00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0C0EE4_1FRbhS9Y00" width="1920" height="1736" ><figcaption>Obbie Riley</figcaption></figure>Obbie Riley answered the phone. That sounds like a small thing to say about a man who served his country for 22 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and his county for nearly two decades as a supervisor. But anyone in District 5 knows it is the truest thing about him. A missing dog, a washed-out road, a water line, a neighbor who did not know who else to call — Riley took it, and he took it seriously. News of his death came Saturday, confirmed through multiple sources including Mississippi Democrats. He was serving his fifth term as District 5 supervisor, having been elected in November 2007 and taking office in January 2008, and he was also chairman of the Neshoba County Democratic Executive Committee. The cause of death has not been reported. A son of LongdaleRiley was the son of the late Luther and Burline Riley of the Longdale community. He was born and raised here, left to serve, and came home — a sequence common enough in Neshoba County, but he came home and then ran for office, which is a different order of commitment. For years he was the only Black member of a five-member board. That position put him, again and again, in the harder seat: the one where you either keep quiet or you speak and accept what follows. He spoke. When the county debated the Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn, he was the supervisor who actually raised the subject in the meeting room and did his homework on it, telling the Mississippi Free Press that such monuments belonged in a museum or a park “that’s designed to teach history.” He carried the same stubbornness into less symbolic fights. His first order of business recently, he said, was making sure every home in his rural district could get high-speed internet — the issue the late John Lewis called the civil rights question of this century. Riley described himself as “sad, angry, and all of the above” about how long it was taking. Disagreement without contemptYou did not have to agree with Obbie Riley. Plenty of his neighbors and colleagues did not, and he knew it. What he did not do was mistake disagreement for enmity. He believed Philadelphia and Neshoba County could be a better place, and he believed it would get there only by telling the hard truth about where it had been. That belief made him a national voice on this county’s history more than once, and it never seemed to cost him his affection for home. Obbie Riley showed upThe Forrest County Democrats, in a statement released on Saturday, called him “fearless, tenacious, committed, and unwavering.” Fair enough. But the word we would add is present. He showed up — to the board room, to the funerals, to the ballfields, at schools, to the kitchen tables of someone with a problem. The District 5 seat will be filled. In time, it will be occupied by someone the people elect. Obbie’s presence, however, is not replaceable.</div></body>

Block Source: Neshoba Democrat

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

Obbie Riley answered the phone. That sounds like a small thing to say about a man who served his country for 22 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and his county for nearly two decades as a supervisor. But anyone in District 5 knows it is the truest thing about him. A missing dog, a washed-out road, a water line, a neighbor who did not know who else to call — Riley took it, and he took it seriously.

EDITORIAL/Obbie Riley was genuine

NewsBreak

Obbie Riley answered the phone. That sounds like a small thing to say about a man who served his country for 22 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and his count

EDITORIAL/Obbie Riley was genuine

Comments / 1