The Political Albatross

Around June 18, 2010, Ben Winston, Lamar County Supervisor, District 2 ,was cited for illegally storing FEMA trailers in the City of Lumberton. After the citation was issued, Winston’s friends and family went into overdrive to put this matter to rest. Aaron Lott, who is probably the actual owner of the trailers, was the first to come to the defense of his business partner. Lott was quoted as saying that “this is the greatest economic impact the city has had in 12 years.” Ironically, after this great proclamation by Lumberton’s former mayor, the city suffered the worst budget issues ever. Throughout this whole ordeal, it was stated that the problem with the area was how it was zoned. As a matter of fact, just the other night, Winston’s other boss supporter, Paul Ockmond, stated that Larry Strahan and Terry Canaday informed him that the land would be re-zoned “heavy manufacturing” and that’s why Ben was not in violation and should not be cited for storing the FEMA trailers. Keep in mind, that there was an active planning and zoning committee in place at that time, and they never voted to change the area in question to an area for heavy manufacturing. As a matter of fact, Ben Winston came to the planning and zoning committee and asked to have the industrial park zoned as heavy manufacturing, but the property where the trailers were/are being stored is not zoned as heavy manufacturing.
Now this is where the Ben’s business partner and son in law come into the picture. In an effort to get rid of the citation that was levied against Ben Winston, they disbanded the planning and zoning committee and they are now in the process of getting rid of Andrew Beamon, Building Inspector/Code Enforcer. So, why am I bringing all of this up now? Well, the other night, Ben Winston’s lawyer finally came to meet with the board of aldermen to address this matter that happened almost a year ago. Why you might ask? Well, I’m glad you asked that question. After the planning and zoning committee was disbanded, the former chairperson of that committee continued to go to municipal court every month to see if a decision was made about the citation against Ben Winston. After the judge and attorney realized that the chairperson was not going to let this matter rest, they finally said that Ben Winston must make an appeal to the board of aldermen to have the land re-zoned or get a variance since there was no longer a planning and zoning committee in place. Stewart made that decision on February 14, 2011, and Victor Dubose spoke with the board April 5, 2011, but he will be at the next board meeting to get them to decide on either a variance or a re-zoning request. I find it odd that Ben Winston wasn’t willing to settle this matter before now; especially since he’s running for re-election. It’s mighty gutsy of him to let this matter linger so close to an election knowing that it will be fresh on everybody’s mind. Or did he think the matter was a done deal after his associates disbanded the planning and zoning committee? Recently, Ben Winston has been on the news, fighting for re-districting of Lamar County. Apparently, Ben Winston wants a majority-minority district to be established in Lamar County since the growth in the area establishes a need for one. I don’t know how I feel about that matter. For instance, we have a majority-minority board of aldermen in the City of Lumberton, and they're not willing to work with one another. Now you want to expand that same level of dysfunction to an district in Lamar County. Really???