Ben Winston Resigns: You Mad or Nah?

Apparently, there are some that are confused by something I said in a video post earlier. There are two things that make allows the United States to stand out among other nations and that’s the freedom of speech and the right to vote. I said earlier that I would no longer blog about Jay McGraw if he resigned but I can blog about anyone as long as it is not a written defamatory statement; something that’s otherwise known as libel. When it comes to public officials, the burden of proof is higher and actual malice must be proven in the defamation case. There are some that thought the news of the resignation of Mayor Ben Winston would prevent me from blogging about him and that is not true. The readers of this blog know I have made several references to former elected officials regarding their actions while they were in office. As a courtesy, I probably won’t blog about him after today unless I’m referring to his duties while he was an elected official. After all, Winston has shown everyone that he’s a quitter and why would I dedicate more blog posts about a quitter.

In case you haven’t heard, Winston submitted his letter of resignation. I think it said effective immediately but I think it must be accepted and entered into the minutes by the Lumberton Board of Aldermen before it’s official. This move by Winston has given the citizens of Lumberton a chance for a do-over. According to a report published on WDAM, Winston submitted his letter of resignation and offered this comment:

“I had some great political aspirations and things I wanted to do for the people of Lumberton and that just isn’t working out. I’m 66 years old, in good health and still have a lot of stuff that I want to do and the people seem to think I can’t serve them, so I’m out.”

This is one day after Ben Winston was defeated a second time by Warren Byrd for the position of District 2 Supervisor.

Here’s where I’m confused. Not really but I just wanted to point out something. Winston said he great political aspirations and things he wanted to do for Lumberton. Were those great aspirations and things attached to the position of District 2 Supervisor? He was Mayor of Lumberton. If he wanted to do something for Lumberton it could have been accomplished with that position. Winston also complained about the $600/month he was getting as Mayor of Lumberton. Keep in mind that former mayor, Miriam R. Holder served in that position without any pay; just thought I would throw that out there. Winston also said he spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Jackson and other places trying to do good for this city. After reading that I thought to myself, is he really that obtuse but then I realized that the answer was yes. Why, in this age of technology, when people can be reached via email, skype, facetime, texts, phone calls, ect. would anyone drive back and forth to Jackson to conduct business? When Winston claimed the City of Lumberton had the money for the $2.5 million dollar Army Corp of Engineer grant, I spoke to several people at the Army Corp of Engineer-Vicksburg location, including but not limited to Corp Counsel, from the comfort of my living room and had email confirmation of those conversations. Again, why would anyone drive back and forth to Jackson to conduct business when technology has given us other options?

As I said it before, Winston picked the wrong team and he lost. As I told his friend/business associate, Paul Ockmond, “never argue with a man that buys his ink by the barrel.” It is still my belief that Winston thought he could fool the people into voting for him if he was the Mayor of Lumberton but he didn’t want to listen to anyone that had something productive to offer. It is also my belief that Winston has resigned out of embarrassment. He thought he had it all in the bag but he underestimated the power of the blog. I still don’t understand why he’s embarrassed now? Amazingly, Winston wasn’t embarrassed when he went to court to have an elderly lady put out of the church where he was serving as pastor. Winston wasn’t embarrassed when the Lamar County Board of Supervisors talked to him like a mentally challenged child when he wanted them to go into executive session to ask them to take over the Lumberton Police Department. Winston wasn’t embarrassed when he went back to the Lamar County Board of Supervisors asking them for a donation to help pay the matching funds for the sewer grant. Winston wasn’t embarrassed to tell the citizens that begged for more police that they just needed to pray. But somehow, his pride could not take the fact that he lost…AGAIN…to Warren Byrd.

I don’t know what Ben Winston plan on doing after this point. Maybe he’s going back into the pulpit or planning a comeback for the 2020 election. Who knows? One thing is certain, from this day forth, he now has the title of quitter to add to his resume. As stated in Luke 9:62 (NIV)

“…No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

I don’t think I could have found a better message than that. Winston has quit in the middle of his term and this will cost the city he claims to love thousands of dollars they don’t have to hold a special election. As I stated, I can continue to blog about Winston but I don’t want to waste my words on a loser. Hopefully, this will give the citizens of Lumberton another opportunity to make a better decision for our city. Hopefully, Winston’s resignation will be the spring board needed to help clean up the image of Lumberton and to clean out the trash that’s stinking up city hall. Interestingly, his right hand man, Jay McGraw, hasn’t said anything about resigning after getting caught stealing from another local business. It would be nice if he went ahead and submitted his resignation so both positions could be filled with one election. Since you couldn't help Ben Win let us pray that Jay doesn't stay. I wonder if Ben is still going to go into the marketplace on Saturdays and pray for the City of Lumberton? Or was that another part of the plot he was using to get to the Supervisor's position. Now I have to totally reconfigure my plans for the Lumberton Chronicles: A Parody because most of the stories featured Ben Winston. No one want to read about quitters and I definitely don't want to blog about one. Cioa!