Lumberton Informer

I feel that I must begin this blog ppst with an explanation of the photo collage. It's a play on a commercial I was watching last night. I giggled and thought to myself, what if Mayor Winston was making such poor decisions because he's hungry. As stated in the commercial, you're not yourself when you're hungry. Now that I got the humorous part over, let's get down to business. Unless you're living under a rock, you have heard about the Ferguson verdict. As I browse social media sites, the question of how this happened keeps coming into the discussion? There are those that are outraged by those destroying their city by rioting and looting. Please note, I think the riots detract from the death of the young man. However, I find it interesting that there are those that will label those rioting as barbaric; as animals. But what do we call those that destroy a city via a vote? In Lumberton, they're called the Mayor and Board of Alderpersons. Just a short while a...

Apparently, I have been going about this the wrong way. I know there are those that don't like my delivery but I don't have time to be coy. The City of Lumberton is circling the drain and if we, the citizens, don't take action, it will be nothing more than a memory. How much more do we have to loose before it becomes a matter of concern. We basically have no police protection, no fire protection and no accountability at city hall. This didn't just happen. It's been happening and as the city slowly fades away, we sit by and let it continue to erode. Everybody in Lumberton knows that the majority of land is owned by three individuals and one of those individuals happens to serve as mayor. Now, the city does not have enough business to generate revenue so the only way to create a workable budget is via millege rate increase. Now, did you seriously think Mayor Winston was going to raise the millege rate when he and two of his friends/business partners own so much la...

Alderman Tommy Dukes was not in attendance due to a recent injury. He can miss 11 regular scheduled meetings. It's my hope that his near death experience changed his perspective and he will return as a better representative or he will use his recovery time as a moment to reflect on the possibility of resigning. Dukes is blessed to have survived the wreck and he was especially blessed that the incident didn't occur in Lumberton because there wouldn't have been any emergency personnel on duty to respond. In the meantime, please keep Dukes and his family in your prayers. The first agenda item was to review the contract with Media 3. The City of Lumberton has not been getting timely payments from Media 3 because the contract has not been renewed. The vote on this matter was a tie and Mayor Winston refused to exercise his duty as a mayor in a code charter municipality and break the tie. Now, I hate using the word dumb when referring to a person but for someone, that is not...

If your spouse told you not to get on to this blog this post is not intended for you. Now for the rest of the readers the meeting went as follows:The board meeting started with an order to approve the transfer of $15,000 from WSOM account to the general fund. The motion was approved. After the motion to transfer another $15,000 from WSOM, Jay McGraw, the unofficial city clerk (I guess thats why he and Melissa butted heads), went into a tirade about how much money the city was receiving from various grant programs but I guess he forgot that he and the majority of the board voted to close those accounts, so how will the money get deposited; especially the anticipated grant money? The majority of this post will have references to the video of the meetings; so if you havent watched the video, I would advise you to do so. Somehow, during the confusing explanation about the need to borrow more money from WSOM, it was revealed that WSOM actually owes money to the general fund. Now, we have ...

I posted videos of the board meeting but since they were not posted in order, I still needed to post a review of the board meeting. Alderman Jay McGraw was not present for this meeting. Ms. Tess Smith addressed the board first. she wanted to let everyone know she was up for re-election as the Lamar County Superintendent and she wanted everyone to support her election bid. I will be interviewing Tess later and will have a blog of our interview. Bro. W. McRaney addressed the board about his Round Up for Jesus Ministry. He wanted local churches to give back to the community. He said that when he was Chief Investigator for Treasure Hunt/Hudson's, he recommended the closing of Lumberton's Dirt Cheap but he said he's willing to work to try and get one back in the City of Lumberton. There was an order to discuss and vote to allow the city clerk to put an ad in the newspaper regarding the Flood Plan Notice as recommended by Jason Hicks, grant writer. Mayor Winston wanted to vot...

Every year at the beginning of fall, I think about the biblical quote in the Book of Jeremiah, "The harvest is past. The summer is ended. And we are not saved." (Jer. 8:20) What is it going to take to save the City of Lumberton? The aspect of blogging has become daunting because I have grown weary of pointing out violation of laws over and over again. There are board members that want more done about those that are allowed to walk free despite their continual violation of the law. Well, I feel if it's good enough for the goose, it's good enough for the gander. Why are city officials allowed to walk around freely despite breaking the laws at almost every meeting? If you're not upset about one, then you shouldn't be ruffling your feathers about the other. How many more times must I scream about the misappropriation of funds, lack of moral fiber, disregard of the statutes governing a code charter municipality, lack of accountability, a misguided city clerk, and...

For a moment, I felt like throwing the towel. I would attend the meeting, blog a review the next day and then I would get my copy of the Sunday's paper and wonder if I had attended the same meeting. Now before you all start taking mega doses of Geritol and get your granny panties in a bunch, this is not an attack on the writer of the Sunday editorials; it just shows that people see things differently. Thant's another reason why I started recording the meetings; so people can see for themselves. I generally don't take the mayor, board and city clerk at their word because they are trying their best to privitize public discourse. Just last night, I decided to stay after the meeting was over and I glanced up while Merlene Wall was explaining something to Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers and Alderman, Ward 3, Quincy Rogers. I noticed that Merlene motioned or pointed towards my direction; I guess that was an sign for the alderpersons to lower their voices to keep me from hear...