It is truly a classic "rags to riches" story. Tunica County, once referred
to as "America's Ethiopia", a county which, as recently as 1992, had an
unemployment rate of 26%, is now one of the fastest growing regions in the
country. Due to the entrance of the gaming industry to the area, in the
early 1990's, coupled with the planning and foresight of local leaders and
government officials, Tunica County now, almost unbelievably, is the
nation's third largest gaming resort area. As a Tunica press release has
resident and fifth-generation Tunica County farmer Penn Owen, Jr. quoted:
"(This county) is now a vibrant and exciting place, but also (a place) where
the rich history of Delta literature and music is tradition. Our county has
become a lively place where people have come from all over the United States
to live, work, and enjoy." Indeed they have.
 There are ten casino properties and nine independent hotel properties with
over 6,000 new hotel rooms and suites in Tunica County. Each of the ten
casinos has luxurious hotel rooms with first class accommodations and most
offer amenities that one would expect, such as swimming pools, room service,
spas, fitness facilities, and so forth. In addition to these, there is an
abundance of meeting, convention, and event space throughout the area. The
ten resort properties offer 120,000 square feet of flexible meeting space
for groups up to 1,600 with individual meeting facilities up to 40,000
square feet. Moreover, it is not rare to have headline performers such as
Bill Cosby, Faith Hill, or Chris Rock appear at one of the casinos on the
weekend. Clearly, Tunica County, due to its gaming industry, offers
something special to tourists and natives alike.
 But while gaming has given innumerable advantages and financial windfalls
to this once impoverished county, Tunicans are also proud of their quaint
and charming heritage. A meal at the Blue and White Restaurant in Tunica, a
staple for over 50 years, or an excellent lunch at the Hollywood Cafe in
Robinsonville, where the fried dill pickle originated, are musts for anyone
seeking the true "flavor" of this unique county. A stroll through downtown
Tunica is also a prerequisite: charming specialty shops and old-fashioned
style merchants line Main Street, giving a visitor a wonderful sense of
small-town Mississippi which only the Delta can provide. As Mayor Bobby
Williams says, "Tunica was always clean, safe, and appealing, even before
gaming arrived." But he, along with other Tunica County leaders, do not
underestimate the major benefits that industry has brought.
 "Times here are certainly different," Mayor Williams says. Having lived in
Tunica since 1959, and the owner of a business on Main Street, Williams
Furniture, the Mayor has seen both the good and the bad times.
 "Before gaming came in, we could only afford to do what we had to do," he
recalls. "That was all we could afford to do.There was really no opportunity
for anything else. Now, however, the possibilities that have opened up are
endless. We do our yearly budget in the fall, and we are able to contribute
much more to the community since the arrival of gaming." Such contributions
include flat-rate water bills for the citizenry, no taxes, major water and
sewer upgrades, free garbage pick-up, sidewalk replacement, and a $7 an hour
starting salary for city employees with a raise coming in 90 days.
 "My philosophy as mayor is to take care of our people here, especially our
senior citizens," Williams says. "I want to improve their quality of life so
that they can enjoy themselves, and I think we are doing that. I get calls
on a daily basis from all over the country on how we do things here in
Tunica," Mayor Williams adds. "It's truly amazing. The city averages about
$3.5 million from gaming revenue every year, but we turn back $800,000 of
that to our local citizens in savings on car tags, taxes, garbage, and other
services. We also try to save about 30% of that revenue every year for
future use and city upgrade. It's a good time to be mayor!" Williams adds
with a laugh.
First elected in July of 1993, Mayor Williams had earlier sought the office
unsuccessfully in 1977, when times in Tunica were decidedly different. He
ran again in Œ93 at the urging of many citizens who asked him to do so. He
says he never dreamed that the "Tunica Miracle" as it became known, would
happen so swiftly and so resoundingly.
 "I had always liked to visit Las Vegas with my wife Sandy for vacations,"
Mayor Williams tells us, "but I couldn't imagine that the day would come
when we'd have something similar in our own backyard." The mayor recalls
that the initial entry of gaming into the county met with little fanfare.
 "In 1992, a meeting was called and our City Aldermen took a vote on whether
or not to allow gaming here," he says. "Not too many people showed up for
this vote, and so the measure was approved. Next thing you know, a casino
comes into Mhoon Landing and it all took off from there. Our first casino
here, Splash, had folks waiting in line for hours to get in. Today we have
10 casinos, the likes of which are almost second to none.
 People here are extremely happy with gaming, I believe," Mayor Williams
adds. "The gaming industry people are strongly community-minded and make a
good many donations to local organizations and causes. Plus, they're fine
people. They've brought in work for anyone who wants it, and our senior
citizens, the residents I'm truly concerned about, now have places to go and
great entertainment options just up the road."
 Mayor Williams says also that the good times are just beginning for the
town and county. "There are a lot of new things coming in that will make our
community even more livable and profitable," he says. "We're going to be
opening up a farmer's market on Sugar Ditch where produce can be sold and
arts and crafts shows can be held. We've got a new museum coming in, opened
up by our Agriculture Center. And when our new airport opens, sometime in
2004, all kind of growth will be taking place. With our county having new
roads and new water and sewer lines being built you're going to see parks,
centers, and recreational areas like these spring up as well."
"Somebody asked me recently what would we do if the gaming revenue dried
up," Mayor Williams laughs. "And I says, ŒWell, we didn't have anything to
start with, so what would be the difference!?' "
The Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau, established in the 1996 session
of the Mississippi Legislature and opened in January of Œ97, will see to it
that no "drying up" will take place. That's according to Executive Director
Webster Franklin, who has been on board with the CVB since it's inception.
"We operate on a 3% room tax and a 3% food and beverage tax that generates
just under $3 million a year," Franklin says of his organization's funding.
"Our mission here is to market the tourism assets of Tunica County and
package our area in an attractive way." According to Franklin, the amenities
of Tunica County and it's many attractions make that mission fairly easy.
 "Besides our outstanding casinos, we also have here in Tunica County two
outstanding golf courses, Cottonwoods, designed by Hale Irwin and located at
the Grand Casino, and River Bend Links, a joint partnership between Harrahs,
Sam's Town, And Hollywood Casinos," Franklin says. "Additionally, our
Branson,MO-style theaters attract many big name acts for weekend shows."
According to Franklin, tourists come from over the country to get a taste of
Tunica. "Our major market is the Midwest, though," he says. "We are 20 miles
south of where I-40 and I-55 intersect, a major artery in the country. And
because of our location, we have access to some 60 million potential
visitors." As an example, Franklin says, Tunica is only a day's drive from
Chicago. "We average visits from 44 states a month," he adds.
 The contrast in Tunica County prior to gaming is staggering, Franklin
notes. "In 1994, there was one red-light in the entire county. In January of
1992, unemployment was at 26%; today it is at 4%. There are 16,000 available
jobs currently in Tunica County in a population of 10,000," he says. "In
1992, we had 20 available hotel rooms. Today we have 6,245. And according to
our recent figures, the occupancy rate for those rooms between April and
October of this year was an amazing 90.23%," Franklin adds.
Continuing with the contrasts, Franklin notes that a traveler could not get
gas between Tunica and Memphis in 1992, "and there was not one stretch of
four-lane highway in the county," he says. "Today, we have one of the best
infrastructures of any county in Mississippi due to great planning and a
good deal of hard work.
 Our county government has been very prudent with the gaming revenues that
have come in," Franklin goes on to say. "We've invested a great deal in
infrastructure to prepare for future growth, and education and other
necessities here have been taken care of and improved tremendously."
 All of this success in Tunica County has attracted a great deal of media
attention from around the country, Franklin says, making his job much
easier. "Over the past six months we've had write-ups in the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, The Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle, and
the San Antonio Express, among others. And just recently, MSNBC was here
planning a major one-hour segment on Tunica County that will air sometime
next year."
Franklin sees his job in the future to be primarily one of promoting
secondary leisure activities for tourists. "For example, the Tunica Arena
and Exposition Center, a 22 million dollar facility which opened in the
summer of 2000 and is the largest facility of its kind in the state, will be
hosting events that will bring in a lot of different shows and concerts
which will attract more tourists. Also, Highway 304, which the state is
building, will allow easier access to Tunica for areas east. We are also
looking at promoting more golf, entertainment, and shopping, such as with
our factory outlet shops, that will encourage visitors to stay. Moreover, we
are currently building a residential community from scratch in the northern
part of the county, as well as new apartment complexes, to encourage people
to live in Tunica County."
 The Tunica Arena and Exposition Center, under the direction of executive
director A.C. Chapman, is surely an envy of the state. With seating from
2,000 to 6,000, 48,000 square feet of exhibit space, and 14 luxury suites,
the facility was built after local casino operators told county officials
that they needed a venue that could host events too large for their own. The
county-owned building is designed for car shows, concerts, banquets, ice
shows, and other such events.  It was designed by Pryor-Morrow Architects of
Columbus, MS and the general contractor for the project was W.G. Yates & Son
Construction of Philadelphia, MS.
 With Tunica's burgeoning business success, the need for an additional
financial institution was seen as necessary by bankers Freddie Britt and
Willis Frazer, the founders of Covenant Bank based in Clarksdale. A branch
was constructed in Tunica, and another is set to open in Robinsonville.
Billy Wood, Executive Vice-President and Manager of the Tunica Covenant
Bank, says the move was a smart one.
"Tunica's, and Robinsonville's, economy show strong signs of continued
growth," Wood says, "and we are positioning ourselves to be the banking
leaders in the county." A veteran of the banking industry since 1963, where
he started with the old Bank of Clarksdale, Wood joined the Covenant team in
April of 2000, and was very excited with the opportunity.
 "The biggest factor for me in joining Covenant Bank was the local
ownership," Wood says, "which is so rare these days in the mega-banking
world. Also, I've always had immense respect for Freddie Britt and Willis
Frazer, and it was a pleasure to go to work with such solid people and good
friends in a new venture. We just opened our doors here on December 1, and
it was the first time in my career that I had ever taken place in starting a
new branch. It was very exciting for me," Wood enthuses.
 Wood says that Covenant Bank brings to Tunica County a local, home-owned,
full-service bank with friendly, personable service. "And decisions will be
made on the premise, with no need to climb up a bureaucratic ladder," Wood
adds. "We want our customers to feel at home when they walk in the front
door, as well. This is an outstanding community, and we want the fine people
here to be comfortable in our bank." For the future, Wood says he'd like to
see the Tunica branch of Covenant Bank in the $80 million institution range.
With the reception he and his staff have received thus far, Wood believes
that such a goal is certainly within reach.
 "Our role here is to provide for our citizens. We play an active part, on a
day-to-day basis with our casino industry, and our mission is to keep up the
many economic opportunities we have in place." So says Ken Murphree, Tunica
County Administrator. "Gaming has been good for Tunica County, and for all
of Northwest Mississippi, and jobs have opened for people in counties all
over this part of the state."
Murphree says his expectations were high when gaming came into Tunica
County, and when he took on his position in May of 1994, after leaving as
Administrator for DeSoto County. But, he adds, the reality has exceeded his
initial expectations.
"I had dreams and hopes like we all did, but I never imagined things would
turn out as they did," Murphree admits. "I remember a meeting I had with a
representative from Sam's Town Casino in which I told him that I was dumb
enough to believe we could become the third largest gaming jurisdiction in
the U.S.!" he laughs, "and here we are.
The citizens of Tunica County look at gaming as an industry, just like any
other," Murphree continues. "Moral aspects aside, you'd be hard-pressed to
find anyone here who would not say that gaming has been great for this area.
There's a heightened sense of hope with the citizens here that had not
existed before. People are working now, and are living better lives."
As for what's ahead, Murphree says that Tunica County must not let the stars
get in the eyes of the citizenry and community leaders. "We have to make
things better here, and work constantly at doing so," he says. "Some
Midwestern states have seen Tunica's success, and they want to emulate us.
There will be competition. So we have to improve the tourism opportunities
here, such as with our factory outlet shops, our conversion of downtown
Tunica into a specialty shopping area, and our newest project, the planned
river park." (See story on page 77).
 Murphree also cites the new airport coming into Tunica as a factor that
will help tremendously in keeping the county growing. "Great economic
possibilities will take place when the airport comes in," he states. "It
will have a 7,000-foot runway and will be able to land virtually any
aircraft. This will not only bring us more casino patrons into Tunica, but
will also, hopefully, attract industry around the airport." The airport,
Murphree says, is set to open in 2004.
 Anticipation is high in Tunica County, to say the least. The turnaround
this area has experienced is truly phenomenal and should serve as
inspiration to other counties in the state. With all of the improvements,
developments, and growth planned, county leaders are predicting, in unison,
that the best is yet to come. All eyes will remain on Tunica County to see
what the future will hold for the continuation of the "miracle." DBJ

(Be sure to watch WABG-TV's coverage of Tunica County in its "Delta's Edge"
coverage beginning the first full week of January, 2001 on the 5 and 10 pm
and 6 am newscasts.)