Two Warren County supervisors who listened privately Monday to tapes made by a former downtown business operator said they were disgusted by the tapes’ contents.

Three other members of the board left the meeting room after voting against hearing from Melanie Damrell, former operator of Dixie Diamonds, in closed session.

“I was disgusted with some of the things I heard,” said Michael Mayfield, District 2 supervisor and a candidate for North Ward alderman. “They made me sick to my stomach.”

Mayfield and Charles Selmon, District 3 supervisor and a candidate for mayor, are believed to be the only officials who have heard the recordings. Last week, city board members said they would listen if Damrell played them during a closed session.

Generally, Damrell said the tapes support her contention that businesses serving black clientele are discouraged from operating in the recently refurbished Washington Street corridor. The Vicksburg Post has asked to listen to the tapes, but Damrell has declined.

She operated a bar at 1306 Washington serving black and white clientele on the second level of a building owned by Harry Sharp until she was evicted in February by a court order stating failure to pay her share of utilities as the reason.

Sharp is also board chairman of Vicksburg Main Street, a franchised downtown merchants association funded by a special tax and other public funds. Sharp and the Main Street board have denied any racial steering or discrimination and have invited Damrell to meet with them in open session.

Because Warren County allocates $16,000 to Main Street, Damrell was on Monday’s county board agenda.

After Warren County Board Attorney Paul Winfield suggested the meeting be closed, Damrell implicated him. “Would that be because some of the most racial comments on the tape were made by you?” she asked.

Winfield repeated his position that it would be inappropriate and possibly libelous for the board to hear the tapes in open session and denied any racist comments.

“This young woman has gone before several boards slandering people including myself regarding civil rights, which is a very serious issue,” said Winfield. He also left the room while Damrell met with Mayfield and Selmon.

“I’m here to discuss a disgrace within the Main Street program,” Damrell told the board as her name came up on the agenda. “It’s against civil rights to do it and it’s unconstitutional,” she said.

David McDonald, board president and District 1 supervisor, then asked that the matter be tabled until the end of the agenda. It was.

In discussing whether to hear the tapes in open session, District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders said he felt a Main Street board meeting was the proper forum for playing Damrell’s tapes. District 5 Supervisor Richard George and McDonald also voted against taking up the tapes during executive session.

George, Flanders and McDonald then left.

Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens, responding after the county board meeting, continued to say that Damrell’s accusation are false and that her business was never friendly to blacks.

“She’s confused,” Leyens said. “She’s the one with the Dixie Diamonds and the rebel flags and no black employees in management.”