Lumberton Informer

There have been several inquiries regarding the work that's taking place on Gumpond Road. After speaking with a representative from MDOT, I was told that the bridge is tentatively scheduled to re-open in March, 2011; a specific date was not given, but they said that there is some minor issues that must be addressed before the bridge is re-opened. I spoke with someone in in Wayne Brown's office, if you would like to follow up on this information, he may be reached at 601-583-0859. For additional information regarding construction on the Gumpond Road Bride, you can call Brad Lewis of the MDOT construction division at 601-359-7301 or you can contact MDOT construction administrator, district 6, Steve Twedt at 601-544-6511.

I have a lot to share, but I'm going to wait since we only have a few more days left before the next board meeting. I don't want the aldermen to claim that they failed to take action on certain agenda items because of the things I said in the blog. Don't you love the irony of that statement. . .our aldermen feel disenfranchised by this blog, but none of the aldermen read the blog. . interesting. But I will share some information from an interview the aldermen had right after they took their oath of office. I pulled a news article from July 4, 2009, that highlighted the swearing in of our current board. The title of the article was “Mayor, Board call for unity” and was featured in the Hattiesburg American. Those statements were taken almost two years ago and it’s interesting to contrast the things the aldermen said after they were sworn in with their actions over the past two years. Alderman Rogers was grateful for being elected to serve again and he was optimistic and willi...

I received an interesting comment Wednesday. I would have published the comment, but I generally don’t post comments submitted by cowards. I don’t do general statement; making comments that could apply to almost anyone. Whenever I have something to say about an individual, there is no confusion about the identity of that person. I fell that if a person is bold enough to sit down at their computer or phone and submit a comment that states that I’m a racist, then that coward should exhibit that same boldness and submit their name along with their comment. So, when the issue came up a few weeks ago about the Nathan Bedford Forrest car tag, I wasn’t upset about the matter. I thought it would be a great idea; at least there would be a segment of racists within the State of Mississippi that would be willing to identify themselves and we would know who they were because it would on their tag. ( For the record, I truly believe that anyone that would purchase a car tag to commemorate the f...

Apparently, Roy Easley is not pleased with his debut on the Lumberton Informer. What is wrong with these folks; do they think it’s still 1950. I’m sorry to tell you this, but your time machine must not be working because we have an African-American in the White House as well as the first African-American woman serving as Mayor of Lumberton. I know you think you’re the new massah on the Public Works plantation, but I’m free (mind, body and soul). Just because you have the majority of people on the board wiling to stand behind you and give you the keys to the city does not mean you have control over what I say on this blog. If you were not sleeping behind the concession stand at the baseball field at Wood Hinton Park, then swear to it on a bible and I will more than happy to give you a print out of the e-mail that stated the dates and times you were over there sleeping while on the clock. I’m certain that it gave our city clerk a great deal of joy to read the post to you (and yes, I am c...

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about where do I get my info for this blog. In case you didn’t know, most of this information is public records. The word around town is that I’ve been getting my information from Rob “New York” Mitchell, and that is not the truth. It has been said that he’s been banned from hanging around the police department because he’s been giving me inside information. Well, first of all, I didn’t know he was a regular fixture at the police department and if he was banned from hanging out at the police station, it probably stems from his relationship with Dennis Hobson not because he’s feeding me information; which he is not. Since so many are curious about how I receive my tips, I’m going to describe my sources. The person or persons that give me information is black, white, or Hispanic; they drive a motorcycle, car, truck or van; they live in a house, mobile home or apartment; they are employed, unemployed, disabled, on TANF and/or SSI; they are studen...

It’s one thing when you’re blogging and you don’t come into contact with the people you blog about; but it’s a totally different ball game when you are required to interact with those individuals. I stand behind the things I say and I have no intention of turning back now. It is my belief that my blog mirrors what takes place at city hall. I had a person ask me did I take into consideration that my posting may hurt some people, including their families; individuals that may not have anything to do with what’s going on at city hall and my response to that matter is an emphatic NO. I don’t think Stephanie and I will ever be able to sit and reason with one another because I don’t feel that she has the integrity to be truthful about her actions. At one point, I was willing to stop posting about our city clerk and I had gotten to the point that I was deleting many of the negative comments that were posted about her and then all these reports began filling my inbox. I have received some...

I was searching through Google again and it brought me to this link on the behind the blue wall blog. www.behindthebluewall.blogspot.com is a blog dedicated to posting information about police officers that are involved in domestic violence incidents. So, who do you think I found on this blog; you guessed it--Lumberton's very own, Darren Dennis Hobson. He was also featured in another story on the Meredian Star that was titled "Suspended Officers Legal Woes Continue." Here's an excerpt from that story. . . Daren Dennis Hobson, a Meridian Police Department officer currently on suspension from the force without pay, still faces legal issues. According to a recent indictment from a March Lauderdale County grand jury, Hobson faces attempted false pretense and forgery charges. The attempted false pretense charge stems from an incident that allegedly occurred in July 2008 and involved the attempted purchase of a laptop computer from a Meridian electronics business. According...

If you've been reading this blog, you are well aware of the situation I was involved in with Dennis Hobson on February 8, 2011. Well, the Lumberton Police Department has decided to reward Lumberton's Most Controversial Officer with a take home car. Are you serious? It seems that Timothy Johnson, Bobby Gibson and Rebecca Hale threatened the Chief of Police with their numbers (they have enough votes to fire him) and instructed him that Dennis "The Menace" Hobson would be taking home a car because he don't have transportation to and from work. So let me get this right, he don't have any transportation, so the City of Lumberton if footing the gas for this man to go where ever he pleases. Now ain't that some shit! This man is a threat to public safety and they are giving him the keys to the city. Giving officers take home cars is not in the budget and when did it become the responsibility of a municipality to provide transportation for it's employees? The o...

The members of Morning Star Baptist Church will be hosting a Black History Month/Youth Explosion Event on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. The members of Tabernacle Baptist Church will be hosting their Black History Month Celebration on Sunday, February 27, 2011 during their regularly scheduled church services (11:00 a.m.). Dr. Carla Holder will be the Special Guest Speaker and the Lumberton Community Male Choir will also be a part of this celebration. Black History Month is the annual remembrance of the events and individuals in the history of African diaspora beyond their traditional homeland. The United States and Canada have celebrated Black History Month every February since its inception in 1976, with the United Kingdom recognizing Black History Month in October. Black History Month is based upon Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week created in 1926. Both events are intended to educate and honor Blacks regarding their cultural background to instill pride regarding t...

May break my bones, but words will never hurt me . . . we may have thought that was a true saying when we were kids, but as an adult, we know that words are quite hurtful. As a matter of fact, the damaging effects of words could hurt us much longer than any visible wounds. With that being said, I don’t have any plans of discontinuing my blog because of the claim that family members are being hurt by the things I say because that’s not my problem. Like I stated on my facebook page yesterday, if the things you are doing are hurtful and/or embarrassing to your friends, family, etc. then you might want to stop doing what you’re doing. The day I posted the link to the story about Officer Darren Dennis Hobson, I decided that I would share the link on my facebook page, instead of blogging about it. I had discovered the information about Hobson days before I posted the link. When I received the packet with information about Hobson, I didn’t know what to do with it; there were several ...

The Lamar County Democratic Executive Committee will have its monthly meeting Feb. 19,2011. The meeting will be at 10 a.m. at Lumberton City Hall.For details, call (601)268-6605.

Now the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. When I was threatened by Officer Hobson the other week I really didn’t know where it was coming from, but after receiving several e-mails about his friendship/relationship with our city clerk, Stephanie Mullings, it’s becoming more and more evident why he approached me the way he did. He was channeling that same mentality that led to the death of Mack Charles Parker—the man that was murdered while in police custody when a white woman lied about what actually happened. Like I’ve stated before, the currents of bias and division that fueled the conundrums of the past have truthfully only cloaked themselves in subtler, more nuanced garbs, and as such, requires a far warier and sophisticated frame of mind to navigate them successfully. In other words, they’ve traded their hoods, swastikas, and shaved heads in and replaced them with badges. They no longer hold white power rallies, they hold political office. When Hobson approached me with...

It seems that Alderwoman Hale can add another title to her ever increasing position. Not only is she a co-owner and possible user of the purp, she's a business owner, elected official and now she's Lumberton's newest deputy clerk. I wasn't going to blog about this, but these folks have balls that would put King Kong to shame. This past Thursday, while our city clerk, Stephanie Mullings, was out house shopping, Rebecca was taking care of business at city hall; she was taking water bill payments, had passwords and access to citizen's confidential information, accessing the city's computer system and handling cash. Now I know elected officials are bonded for their position, but I didn't know they were also bonded to work as a city official, with access to private information. I bet if Leonette would have allowed Alderwoman at Large, Miriam Holder, to work in the office while she was out on personal business, there would have been news cameras everywhere, but si...

Last week, I promised to disclose some information I received while attending the Board of Aldermen meeting. Before I entered the doors of city hall, I knew Kent Crider had something he wanted to discuss because he's never early to a meeting and he was the first one to arrive at this particular meeting. I started looking into the matter and then I thought about what was said. So, I don't know if posting about this matter would hurt/help the City of Lumberton. Since I don't operate in ignorance, like many of our elected officials, I decided to let the matter rest and hopefully it would come to fruition. Unlike our aldermen, I don't allow personal agendas to cloud my thinking. Putting this information out into cyberspace could mean the loss of revenue for the City of Lumberton and everyone knows that we need all the revenue we can get. I will keep you posted on the matter if necessary, but for now, I will wait and see what develops from this venture. FYI: If Kent Crider d...

So many people think that when they say, “I’m going to call my lawyer” that it’s going to make me stop doing or saying the things that I say, but it’s not. I’ve been down this road before and I wish people would take the time to look up the meaning of the word slander. That’s not to say that there aren’t any lawyers out there that would take up the case, but if you would look at the picture that’s attached to this post, you will notice that it’s an arrest photo that was taken in Meridian, MS. Some of you may not know this, but arrest reports and photos are public record and sharing this information is not slander. I also wonder why people think court cases are one sided because if and when I’m taken to court, I have a list of people that I will subpoena that will prove my case and not to mention the information that I’m hoping to find from my search of the arrest records in Hattiesburg, Petal and Meridian. But those of you that read the Informer know that this is not the fist ti...

Many of you may have noticed that I was wrapping up the blog and getting ready to shut it down, but just when I thought there was nothing left to blog about, I became enthralled in my own Rodney King moment. Yesterday, I shared a link to wtok.com that had a photo and news story about on of Lumberton’s police officers. Apparently, Darren Dennis “The Menace” Hobson was involved in a domestic violence situation and he was charged with assault. (In an effort to remain transparent, I would like to let my readers know that in 1997, I was charged, not convicted of aggravated assault, and for the record, the fight involved me and another man.) Somehow, five minutes after sharing this link on my facebook page, Hobson came screeching down Main Street and spotted me sitting in my car and he got out and approached me. At first, I didn’t know what was happening, and finally I rolled down my window. He called me by my name, interesting since I’ve never had any contact with him before, and then he st...

Now this blog has really gotten intersting. I just posted a news article that I found while googling police officers from Lumberton. At first, I couldn't believe that I found something on an officer, but then minutes after sharing this information on my facebook page, the officer pulled next to me and actually made threats against me. Then as he was leaving he said that he was contacting his lawyer and would be filing a lawsuit against me for slander. When he first approached my car, he asked do you have any recording devices on? Where do the do that at? Then he went on about what he was going to do and then when he realized that I didn't have my camera, he walked away, got into his car and said that I should record what he just said, but just minutes ealier, he made a point to make sure that I didn't have any recording devices. This all happened just a few minutes ago, and right after submitting this post, I will be contactin the Chief of Police to file my complaint ...