Lumberton's Chief of Slander

I received an e-mail the other day asking me who would I like for Lumberton's next Chief of Police. The person went on to say that Dennis Hobson was doing a great job and how it's hard to get officers to come to this city (I guess we're all entitled to our own opinions.) For one thing, it is difficult to get good officers here in the City of Lumberton, but to fire six or more certified officers is not a way of getting good officers on the police force. Someone made a comment about the type of people that Hobson will bring into this city and it was a valid point; why would he bring in law-abiding officers when he's not willing to adhere to the law of the land. My sources said that he's not a certified officer; that he has paperwork showing that he completed training, but because of his "issues" while employed in Meridian, his certification has not been released. So, in the coming weeks, we should see what type of officers he will be bringing to our city. Sooner or later, he will have some officers on the docket to be hired and I wonder if this lame board will actually take the time to do a thorough back ground check or just rely on this word.
I have been trying to speak with two of the officers that were terminated, but I haven't been able to hold a full conversation with them, but I would like to share some of the information that Officer Joshua Messer shared with me.

Informer: Could you give the readers some background about you and your work history with the City of Lumberton?

Messer: Hello my name is Joshua Messer and I work for the Marion County Sheriff's Office along with my partner Andrew Phillips. We feel that our good names have been dragged through the mud and slandered by the City of Lumberton.

Informer: Do you know why you were terminated?

Messer: We were both fired with absolutely no grounds. We were never reprimanded or had any written or verbal warnings for violations of Lumberton PD Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). As a matter of fact I was never given a copy of Lumberton SOP. Chief Fortenberry advised us that we were to work as needed if we were available in our time off from our full time job. We gave up time away from our families to protect and serve the citizens of Lumberton and slander is the thanks we recieve.

Informer: How did you find out that you were fired from the Lumberton Police Dept.?

Messer: The Hattiesburg American and the Clarion Ledger reported the information given to them from the City of Lumberton that we were fired along with other officers. Along with half the state of Mississippi we discovered that we were fired by reading our names in the newspaper. We have not received any phone calls or notices of our termination. As Chief Fortenberry brought to my attention, why were we "fired" and why were our names listed in 2 newspapers. Why didn't they simply take our name off the part time roster or tell Hobson not to call us anymore. We do not understand what we did to the City of Lumberton for them to attack our character as they have. We have never been fired from a job in our life until now and I believe we deserve an explanation.

That's part of the reason why I don't feel that Hobson is not a good fit for the City of Lumberton. Abraham Lincoln said the following and I'm summarizing his statement: "you must be weary of those that have the rule or ruin mentality; if they can't rule you then they will do everything in their power to ruin you." This board has the votes to do anything they deem necessary or possible and we can only sit back and watch as they continue to rip our city apart. They are using their political power like a hammer. A hammer can be used to build something up or tear something apart and unfortunately, this board is doing the latter.