Hobson's Law: City Under Seige
It's been a week since board appointed chief Dennis Hobson took over the Lumberton Police Department. So far, two seasoned officers were suspended without pay (one for having the audicity to ask about the cancellation of her insurance and the other for refusing to turn over the keys to Chief Fortenberry's office), one citizen was arrested for either questioning the city clerk about not receiving her child support payments and/or because she made a reference to a civil rights violation, at least three women were allegedly threatened by Hobson with a tazer gun and on Saturday a new hire told citizens that they couldn't ask about the fire investigation and that they were dealing with "the new Lumberton Police Department." When Roy King was arrested for impersonating a police officer, WDAM and the Hattiesburg American were all over the story, but when a citizen was charged with disorderly conduct because she wanted to know why she wasn't receiving her child support checks, nothing was reported. This weekend, I sat down with Rachel to find out what happened when she went to city hall to question Stephanie Mullings about her child support payments. (In an effort to be fair, I left messages for Stephanie Mullings to give her side of the story but she never returned my phone calls.)
Informer: Can you tell me what happened?
Rachel: First of all, I would like to say that I read your blog and I don't agree with everything you post, but I feel that you have the right to your opinion and I have the right to either agree or disagree, but I don't think that people should resort to being nasty when they don't agree with you position on a particular issue. What I wanted to share with your readers is what I, as a citizen of this city, faced when I was trying to find out what was going on and why my children were not receiving their child support payments.
Is there a court order for your child support payments?
Rachel: Yes. . (Rachel then shows me the court order and the guidelines for withholding the funds are clearly outlined. .it shows how much should be taken out each week and how it should be submitted to the child support office.)
So what happened when you questioned Stephanie about your child support payments?
Rachel: She was telling me that she was sending in the money and then she started talking about the security of the records and information at city hall, with someone else standing behind the counter. We had a back and forth about the child support and I wanted to know if the money was being held in an interest bearing account and why was it taking so long for the money to be forwarded to the child support office. Now looking back, I feel that I was being set up because out of nowhere, Stephanie yelled at me and said "You're a damn liar!" and when I realized what was going on, Hobson was standing right behind me. I was still questioning Stephanie about the child support payments when Hobson gave me a lawful order and told me that I had to leave.
Informer: What happened next?
Rachel: I don't want people to say poor little Rachel, oh that was so bad what happened to her because I was being mouthy the whole time because I am trying to make sure I can provide for my children. When Hobson told me to leave the clerk's office, I complied with his order and left the office, but as I was leaving, I told Hobson "Everything Jonathan said about you is true" and he stopped me and told me to put my hands against the wall.
Informer: Wow. . I can imagine that you were frightened. .what were you thinking, what was going through your mind?
Rachel: Again, I did what Hobson asked of me and I was saying "You're not serious. .you're arresting me?" and out of no where, Elsie and Rick came running out of the office and when I looked up, I saw the tazer gun in Hobson's hand. At that point, I became frightened. I have a heart condition and if Hobson would have tazered me, I would have literally died. Next thing I know, I was being put in handcuffs but at no point did they read me my rights, so I kept talking. Somehow, I managed to get Bobby Gibson on the phone and he told them to take me out of the handcuffs and Elsie told me that I better be glad that Bobby didn't want me to go to jail, but they never removed the handcuffs.
Informer: So how did you end up going to jail?
Rachel: Since I was never read my rights, I continued to talk. At one time I tried to get Richard to photograph me with the handcuffs on but they told him that he would go to jail if he took a picture of me in the handcuffs and somehow I started talking about how my civil rights were being violated. Hobson had his feet propped up on the desk while on the cell phone and I said something to Elsie about civil rights and she told me she had enough and said that I was going to jail. I still wasn't read my rights and now I'm being hauled off to jail because my children weren't receiving their child support payments.
Informer: So, they actually took you to jail?
Rachel: Yes. I was taken to jail. I was trying to stay calm and not panic, but I was taken to jail.
Informer: So what are you doing to clear your name?
Rachel: I see this as a learning experience, but I will fight to clear my name. I did not break any laws; whenever I was given an order by a police officer I complied. They are using the police department to bully the citizens of Lumberton. I am a mother and I have a right to find question a clerk that is not following a court order to withhold child support payments. I am looking for some legal assistance in this matter because if it can happen to me, it could happen to anyone. I just want to provide for my children and it resulted in me going to jail.
I don't know what's going on in the City of Lumberton but you guys need to wake up and smell the coffee. There have been problems with the last two adminsitrations and the only constant in both those equations is Stephanie Mullings. I don't care if you like her or go to church with her, it's obvious that she don't know what she's doing. She's a lair and a thief. I remember when she stole the money from the concession stand and her husband threatened everybody and we just let the matter go. This girl has some serious issues and the city of Lumberton needs to cancel her subscription.
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Is this the same Richard that works for the city. That guy is a real success story, he has turned his life around and is doing well and now we have a criminal over the clerk's office. I remember last Christmas when Stephanie messed up Richard's payroll check and he needed the money for his children's Christmas presents. She sat there and told him that she couldn't correct his check until after Christmas. Now that's a cold hearted heifer.
ReplyDeleteI have also requested an interview with you. We can either have it at the fire station or at the library. Alot of stuff needs to be said.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the reason Stephanie did no return your call was because she is on the coast attending MML conference getting all the updates on the new laws. Call her when she gets back and get her side of the story. Both sides need to be heard.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting about my unfortunate incident, Johnathan. It is my hope that your readers will be disgusted at the actions of the two officers involved, and of course, the inept city clerk. We have a great little town here, full of wonderfully kind and caring people. Unfortunately the few who are in charge are the ones who cause us such shame as a community. Citizens, please act. I beg you not to sit idly by and watch the miscarriage of justice that has taken place here. We must summon our combined senses of intergrity and unity and save our little town. I was unfortunately arrested, for the first time in my life. This whole terrible ordeal was indeed orchestrated by the city clerk and two rogue police officers. I have to begin the work of restoring my good name and hope that my neighbors and friends will support me in this endeavor. Just as important though, is the need for us as a unified community to begin the work of restoring our beautiful little town. Thanks again, Johnathan. I look forward to working with you in the future.
ReplyDeleteRachel Heather Jefferson
Um. Why do the citizens of Lumberton allow this malfeasance from public officials?
ReplyDeleteDesonta. . most ppl sit back and do nothing because they always feel that it's not their problem until trouble comes knocking on their front door. Now that Rachel has come forth, hopefully ppl will begin to realize that no race is safe. . anyone that dare to question the status quo will get in the crosshairs of the city clerk and the "new" Lumberton police department.
ReplyDeletehttp://meridianstar.com/local/x681145624/MPD-officer-arrested
ReplyDeleteCopy and paste and you will see the story about Hobson.
Wait a minute. Why are you telling us about the plight of a white woman? We don't want you to tell us about any white people that are disenfranchised, we want to be able to continue to lable you as a racist so get back to blogging about the injustices against black people (Blacerton) so we can stick our heads back in the sand and say we don't have a race problem. But I do like the comment above, Stephanie is the only constant in this variable, we can elect new board after new board, but if we have a weak, misinformed, lazy city clerk, the city will continue sinking deeper and deeper. For the record, I am also white, I hope that doesn't matter.
ReplyDelete