Undercover ???

If you log onto hattiesburgamerican.com you will notice that 4 of the top stories are about the events that recently happened here in Lumberton. You will see "Sheriff: Undercover officer stopped man in Lumberton", "Charges set to be dropped", and "Charges dropped against man." All of this makes for good news, but it reflects poorly on the City of Lumberton. I think the whirl wind is beginning to settle, but once the waters are calm, one can sit back and reflect on what happened. I've been thinking about the recent events and something about how this made the headlines is not sitting well with me. For instance, when Danny Rigel confirmed that it was one of his officers that an undercover narcotics agent stopped the man on Myrick Avenue, I had a red flag moment. I guess since Danny is the sheriff of Lamar County we should take him at his word. I'm not saying he was lying but I feel that he had an ulterior motive for revealing the identity of an undercover agent. First of all, if this was truly an undercover agent, he will not be able to work in this area again as a narcotics agent because his identity has been revealed. Secondly, since when do narcotics agents patrol the streets and pull people over. I thought their primary duty was to catch individuals selling drugs; I didn't know they were supposed to approach and search "suspicious" people. It just goes to show you that we shouldn't accept everything we hear, even on this blog, but search and find out answers for ourselves. In my opinion, the whole ordeal has a stench on it that would make the Bogalusa paper mill smell like Pear Glace, but I really don't know what's going on, but I'm certain that there's much more to this story. Do I think this case was given due process? No. Do I think it was right for the chief to suspend a police officer for his involvement in the case? No, but I don't have the details of what happened and far be it from me to go on record and say who is and who isn't doing their job. But on the other side of the coin, wasn't the information given to Jerry Walters a part of work product and didn't compromise the officers identity that are on the log and now it's in the hand of private citizens and that could lead to other issues; including but not limited to privacy violation. I'm certain that Chief Fortenberry had his reason for the suspension and I am more than certain that there are at least three aldermen behind the suspension as well. Do I think the charges against King should have been dropped? No. If he had enough evidence to clear his name then it should have been presented to the judge and the judge should have made the decision about dismissing the case. The poor sportsmanship that was exhibited by the Lakers in their last game of the Western Conference is nothing compared to the political debauchery that takes place in Lumberton. I don't know what's going on and I'm certain that there's more to come.