Pennebaker, leader in Mississippi highway expansion, dies
TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – Former state Rep. John David Pennebaker, who helped create Mississippi’s comprehensive highway construction program in 1987, has died at 72.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Pennebaker, a New Albany attorney, died of pneumonia Wednesday at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.
Pennebaker served in the House from 1975 to 1992 as a Democrat. Former House Speaker Billy McCoy, a Rienzi Democrat, says Pennebaker was one of his top colleagues.
When Pennebaker was chairman of the House Transportation Committee and McCoy was vice chairman, they worked on a plan to improve highways. With business support, the legislation creating more than 1,000 miles of four-lane highways became law in 1987 over Gov. Bill Allain’s veto.
The legislation often is cited as boosting economic development.
