Silence Is Acceptance

It seems that Bobby Gibson, Timothy Johnson and Ben Winston has declared war on the members of the community that helped them to get elected. If they want a war, then I say we need to suit up and put on the whole armor. I don't ascribe to the theory of an eye for an eye because it will leave the whole city blind. But if (Gibson, Johnson and Winston) are going to use an evildoer (Hobson) to try and expose skeletons in one person's closet and they have enough skeletons to fill a New Orleans cemetery, then they need to tread carefully. There are some that gathered the other day to protest the treatment of Mayor Holder, but this matter extends further than the office of Mayor Holder. In order to get more done or to show that we mean business, we need to establish a paper trail. It's obvious that the aldermen are not concerned about the same things that concern us, but we have other options. It takes more than one citizen filing complaints to the Mississippi Ethics Commission to get things to change. Whenever the aldermen violate the guidelines they are sworn to follow, we need hundreds of citizens to file an ethic and/or open meeting complaint. It only takes a few minutes to fill out the complaint form and drop it in the mail to get an investigation started. Another thing we can do is attend the regularly scheduled board meetings that take place on the first Tuesday of every month. It's one thing to read what's taking place, but it's entirely different when you see it first-hand. Attend the board meeting, and watch how Rebecca likes to cuddle up with Tim Johnson; watch how Bobby Gibson never addresses the mayor, but gets all of his insight from the city clerk. Just go and note the tones of their voices and the utter lack of professionalism. While at the meeting, notice how there's additional clerks sitting in the audience (getting paid time and a half) and notice the number of police officers that are leaving our streets unattended and spending hours patrolling the halls, hoping they can arrest a citizen for disorderly conduct. Just come and see for yourself and you will be amazed.
Bobby Gibson has been making calls; trying to convince his supporters that he had nothing to do with the arrest of Mayor Holder. When the story aired on WDAM, they showed some papers that had the signature of Bobby Gibson, Rebecca Hale and Dennis Hobson. I don't know what the papers were, but I feel that it was related to the story since they were called by Hobson to report about the incident. Bobby Gibson may tell you that he had nothing to do with the arrest of Mayor Holder, but he put the people in place to carry out his commands. While Mayor Holder was out on sick leave, Bobby Gibson presided over several special called meetings that resulted in the termination of Chief Fortenberry, Cassandra Fortenberry, Joshua Messner, Andrew Phillips, Betrand McKinney, Johnathan Hosey and a slew of other officers. For Bobby Gibson to say that he's not involved is a blatant lie because made sure that everyone of the officers, with the exception of Kelvin Jones, were hired without even coming before the board for approval.
Recently, there has been talk of aldermen that are defrauding the social security disability program. Again, we can talk about this until we are blue in the face, but it's time to put it in writing. If you suspect social security fraud, a claim form can be filled out on www.socialsecurity.gov/oig or you either call 1-800-269-0271 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or write Social Security Fraud Hotline, P.O. Box 17785, Baltimore, MD 21235. All reports are confidential and can be made anonymously. If you suspect an alderman has committed tax fraud, and that includes using someone else's social security number, you may report the fraud through IRS.gov. This is not a black or white issue; this is a green issue. The City of Lumberton is hemorrhaging funds; last night at court there were at least 7 police officers in attendance and our aldermen are more concerned with planning their next election bid rather than resolve the chaos that is taking place at city hall. Bobby Gibson and Timothy Johnson are not part of the solution which means they are part of the problem. Don't get mad, get involved.