Mississippi minister moved by decorated pothole

“O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree, how lovely is thy pothole?” A McComb, Miss., man decided to add a bit of holiday cheer to a pothole in the middle of a city street by erecting a wiry tree on top of the traffic cone marking the damaged pavement. After other residents added decorations and presents to John Drummond’s tree, the Rev. Leon Hitchens of Webb Chapel Church wrote a song about it. “If a man can take a pothole and bring the whole world together, the question is what are you doing to spread the Christmas joy?,” asks the lyrics to “Pothole Christmas Tree.”

But will the city fix the pothole? The tree’s national media coverage has brought unwanted attention to McComb’s road repair woes. “When I saw that on Fox News, I was embarrassed,” Selectman Devante Johnson said last week. The city’s Board of Mayor and Selectmen said crews are repairing potholes as fast as they can, but noted that finances are tight. A $3.2 million bond issue dedicated to street paving could help them catch up.