[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 14, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E485-E486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING MAYOR CLINT COBBINS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 14, 2015

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
remarkable public servant, Mayor Clint Cobbins.
  The Honorable Mayor Clint Cobbins is the first African-American mayor 
of Lexington, Mississippi, the county seat for Holmes County.
  A Holmes County native, Mayor Cobbins is the seventh of eight 
children born to Mr. Lee Henry Cobbins and Mrs. Willie Lee Cobbins. 
Mayor Cobbins grew up in the Ebenezer Community. He is a 1974 graduate 
of the former Lexington Attendance Center (LAC). He also attended 
Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi, where he received 
training as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
  In 1983, he became a certified firefighter from the Mississippi State 
Fire Academy. In 1987, he completed his Law Enforcement Training 
through the Law Enforcement Academy in Pearl, Mississippi. He served in 
Law Enforcement for twenty-four and a half years. He retired as Police 
Chief of Tchula, Mississippi. Mr. Cobbins also held a dual career as an 
Assistant Fire Chief for the City of Canton, Mississippi where he 
served for twenty-eight and a half years. In 2004, he became an 
ordained Elder with the Guiding Light Church of God in Christ, 
Lexington, Mississippi.
  Since becoming Lexington's first African-American Mayor in 2012, he 
has been instrumental in the renovation facelift of the downtown 
Lexington area--completing the sidewalk project. He worked with the 
North Central Planning Board to restart the feeding program for senior 
citizens, which serves over 50 hot meals per day at the Multi-purpose 
Building. He also continued the Mayor's Health Council program for 
senior citizens.
  During the summer of 2014, Mayor Cobbins held, in collaboration with 
Madison County Sheriff's Explorers Program, a Fire and Police Academy 
Safety camp for Holmes County youth ages 6 to 14, in which 102 
graduated from the camp. He plans to do another camp during the summer 
of 2015. ``We have to keep our young people busy doing something 
constructive during the summer months. It will help them to stay out of 
trouble,'' the Mayor said.
  Also during 2014, he and the Aldermen of the City of Lexington, along 
with the Board of Supervisors of Leflore County collaborated with the 
Community Students Learning Center (CSLC) in securing a recent 
$495,000.00 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Dallas and 
BankPlus of Mississippi to do housing repairs in the City of Lexington 
and in Greenwood.
  Mayor Cobbins and the City Board of Aldermen have also voted to work 
toward making Lexington a Smoke-Free City. That work is currently in 
progress.
  Mayor Cobbins and his wife are also local business owners of Kay's 
Sugar Shack--a short order food business.
  Mayor Cobbins is married to Karen J. Cobbins, a native of Pickens, 
Mississippi, and they are the parents of three adult children.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mayor 
Clint Cobbins for his outstanding services in his community.

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