City Garbage Fee Challenger Without Utilities 26 Month

City Garbage Fee Challenger Without Utilities 26 Month

Activism

In this article the writer depicts the hardships being undergone by one Mrs. Cornelia Crenshaw. She was involved in a protest against a garbage fee being added on to her electricity. In response her electricity had been shut off, and at the time this article was written it had been off for 26 consecutive months. She believed that the fee was illegal and that she thought it was unfair to impose it on the lower class. The article goes into describing the details of how Mrs. Crenshaw functions without any electricity. She used a camp stove powered by propane to prepare food and heat water which she used in baths. She had multiple lamps battery powered and kerosene throughout her house for lighting. She was visited by the Health Department and cited for unsanitary conditions, but this case was postponed until the litigation on her case with the city is complete. When her lights were first turned off she protested by sit-in at MLG&W and was arrested for disorderly conduct. The article shows several pictures of her continuing about her daily activities, including cooking, lighting lamps and receiving encouragement from friends via telephone. Her home is furnished in hand carved furniture, and her kitchen features all modern appliances. She has lived inside the city limits since she was five and attended both local high school and college. She has become more of a political figure due to her battle with the city over the additional garbage fee.

Hancock, Orville

Mississippi Valley Collection

The University of Memphis Libraries

September 4, 1971

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Hist4851, Spring 2015