Lumberton Informer

"The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart . . . should swell into a mighty chorus of remembrance, gratitude and rededication on this solemn occasion." --Abraham Lincoln Melinda Carli and the Lumberton Friends of the Library will be hosting a Veteran's Day Program this November. The final plans for the event are not finished, but they are hoping the event will coincide with the program scheduled at the Lumberton Elementary School. They are requesting that people start submitting names of veterans (living or deceased) to the library so that ALL veterans can be recognized during this event. Anyone interested in loaning the library medals, uniforms or any military memorabilia, they are encouraged to do so. The event is in the planning stage, and they really want everyone to submit the names of any veteran so they can be included in the celebration of Veteran's Day.

I guess that title is misleading because after the latest census report, Lumberton may no longer be categorized as a city. There's the old adage that "it takes a village," but that phrase does not seem to apply to Lumberton. We sit around and talk about things that need to be changed, but are not willing to do anything to help bring about any changes. Most of the residents of Lumberton don't even bother to attend board meetings. We can sit back and wait for someone else to do something, but that's not how change occurs. The signs of decline are everywhere; Cooper Industry is no longer here, Farmland Services is gone, and now Custom Pre-Cast can be added to the list of closures. Gas stations are now beginning to close.And on top of that, the Shell Gas Station is the Command Center for Hobson and Gibson. If you stop there to buy gas and a Snickers, you might get charged with stalking. Just take a drive through Lumberton and you will see that empty storefronts and v...

Today, bath salts and spice are not the same as they were when you found them in your grandmother's pantry. The new pushers have perverted these items into substances that are used as recreational/designer drugs that will produce the ultimate “high.” These substances are often made in home labs with no oversight whatsoever, and thus the facilities may be filthy and the process shoddy and dangerous. Surprisingly, because these drugs are new and have not been analyzed by the FDA or the DEA, they often can be sold legally at your local minimart or at other convenience stores. One such designer drug that has attracted a lot of attention is herbal incense known by names such as “Spice” or “K2.” Individuals inhale this “incense” to get high. Spice and K2 are called fake pot, and sellers tout it because it doesn’t show up on standard drug tests. On the Internet it’s promoted as the “cool, new, legal high” and even comes in flavors such as “K2 Sex on the Mountain” and “K2 Thai Dream.”...

Lumberton resident Zack Knue is 13 years old and needs a kidney transplant. In an effort to help his family defray some of the medical cost, a motorcycle benefit ride is scheduled for September 10, 2011. The participants will meet at Wood Hinton Park and ride to the Blow Fly Inn , of Gulfport, MS. Registration for the event will begin at 9: 30 a.m. Registration fees will be $20.00 per motorcycle and $10.00 for passengers. Once the group arrive in Gulfport, there will be a 50/50 drawing at the Blow Fly Inn. This is an event that will raise money to help the family of Zach Knue. For more information, call Debbie @ 769-456-1746 or Ronnie @ 601-270-4648. Individuals who cannot attend the bike ride, but are interested in making a donation can also call Debbie or Ronnie. We hope a good crowd will come out and support this event.

If you haven't received your copy of this week's Lamar Times, you need to go get a copy. This week, the paper comes with a copy of PineBelt's Sports.com Football 2011 magazine. It features various stories and schedules of area football teams. There are several stories about the Lumberton Panthers. Josh Mlot wrote an interesting article titled, "Who Will(is) be the Panther's new QB. . .?" Players from the Lumberton Panther's are featured throughout the magazine. The Panthers are featured on page 8, there's a copy of the 2011 football schedule (there are only three home games, so get ready to hit the road to support the Panthers) on page 48 there's a pictorial featuring seniors, Charles Jenkins, Keshod Willis and James Carr another article is featured on page 50 and the magazine closes out with a list of players on the Future Watch and there you will see that Jatarrin Clark RB/LB is one of the featured players. In a seperate write-up, Mlot said tha...

This is the second installment of What If Wednesdays and I didn't get many leads for stories for today's post. Every time something negative is posted, I get all sorts of complaints about focusing on the negative and not showcasing the positive in Lumberton, so I decided to leave the ball in the court of those that say I just focus on negative aspects of Lumberton and give them an opportunity to point out some positive aspects of Lumberton. True to form, the e-mail box was pretty much empty which gave me the impression that those complaining about negative posts are probably getting a thrill from those negative comments. BTW. . I would like to thank my readers from Pearl River County that supplied me with some interesting facts; you will see that information posted in the near future. Now, back to What If Wednesdays. I received a rather disturbing e-mail from someone complaining about the Louisiana Club. The last time I received a comment about the Louisiana Club, it was po...

Football season gets into full gear this weekend with half the country starting their season! The Lumberton Panthers, State 2A Championship Team, will kick off their football season tonight @ 7:30 p.m. against Kemper County.

Run off elections will be held on August 23, 2011. The polls will be open from 7:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. Voters who participated in party primaries will be allowed to vote in their respective runoffs. However, if a resident voted in one party primary and the runoff is in the other party primary they will not be allowed to participate. If a registered voter didn't vote in the Aug. 2 primary they will be allowed to vote in a runoff regardless of which party it falls in. Also, October 8, 2011 is the last date to register to vote for the November election. If you will turn 18 before November, you can register to vote at this time and you will be qualified to vote in November.

The incident from Friday seems to be a never ending saga, but the more I blog about the subject, the more information I receive. Apparently, Byrd knew me before I knew him. He allegedly told a fellow officer that "I'm going to get that fat mother!@#$ just as soon as Hobson give me the go ahead." Seriously??? If Byrd was such a stickler for the law, then he would have done his job, but it's becoming more and more apparent that I am being targeted by Team Hobson. (Trust, all of you, including Bobby Gibson, will be on my subpoena list.) You can lie under oath, but that will be your choice. Hobson thought his term would be a piece of cake, and he thought no one would care if they just targeted me, but they are also targeting others in the community. Just the other night, they arrested a student on scholarship for something that could have been resolved with a little mediation. Like I said, they are targeting any and everyone they can and don't be surprised ...

The Lumberton Friends of the Library is hosting a book sale this week at the Lumberton Public Library. They have classics, cookbooks, coffee table books, paperbacks and videos. The proceeds from the sale will be used to help support various programs offered at the Lumberton library. You get as many books as you can stuff in a bag for $2.00. Help support your local library by grabbing a bag of books.

I'm starting a new feature on the blog and it's called "What If Wednesday." What if we really had a board of aldermen that were concerned about the City of Lumberton? The other week, someone started a "You're Probably from Lumberton If. . ." facebook page and it brought memories of all the good times we had growing up in Lumberton. Unfortunately, the children that are growing up in Lumberton won't have those types of memories because there is nothing for them to do. Over the years, and this is not just a jab at the current board, the City of Lumberton has lost its way. People have staked their livelihood and political careers on the fact that certain people will not get involved in the growth of this city. The City of Lumberton is spending the majority of its budget on payroll. Over $875,000 of the city's budget is spent on payroll and out of that $875,000 a majority of it is used to employ police officers ($481,000). The City of Lumberton is s...

The other day someone said, "I hope our tax dollars aren't being wasted on personal agendas." Well, everyone in Lumberton knows why I my car was illegally towed and more than likely, it was at the behest of Bobby Gibson and Dennis Hobson. Prior to this event, the board had instructed Lindsey Carter to file an injunction against me, but I don't know how that's working out since Lindsey spent most of the last board meeting dodging Rebecca Hale and her eye rolling. Since they ran into a dead end, they decided to call on Dennis Hobson and see which of his officers had the least amount of integrity. Apparently, Ryan Byrd decided to respond to the call of duty. Ryan Byrd is the latest addition to Hobson's team of Henchmen; he's been out of the academy for six months and he's determined to treat the life-long citizens of Lumberton like they're criminals. But from what I heard, my encounter with the Angry Byrd was nothing more than a light afflictio...

Due to the incident that took place over the weekend, I find it necessary for me to shut down the Lumberton Informer. The total disregard for the law and the sinful nature of Bobby Gibson and his cronies has taken left me speechless and without anymore strength to fight. I tried to make a difference in the City of Lumberton, but my concerns have gone unheard and I think it would be best for me to just throw in the towel. . . . . SIKE. . Did Bobby Gibson and Dennis Hobson think they would stop me from blogging by having my car towed . . .? Well, think again. . Did they think this would make me blog less or blog even more? Put on a fresh pad little girls because this is going to be a heavy day for you. All of that talk last week about Bobby Gibson taking over the police department was merely conjecture.( Note: Would someone please explain the word conjecture to Bobby Gibson because I think he's only on Tape 3 in the Hooked on Phonics series and three syllable words are probab...

Apparently, Bobby Gibson liked his role as Mayor Pro tempore because Mayor Holder has returned from her sick leave and he's still doing interviews. That's quite strange since one of his campaign promises was to stay out of the newspaper, but he's been talking up a storm with the Hattiesburg American. A month after appointing Darren Dennis Hobson as Chief, the board has finally released the information to the public. The American reported that on the same day that it [Lumberton Board of Aldermen] accepted former chief Adrian Fortenberry's resignation, they deleted the adjective in front of Hobson's name, approving him as the city's chief of police. Well, those of us that witnessed the so-called changing of the guard realized that it went a little differently. The board had already giving Hobson the keys to the city and they worked in reverse to try and correct the fact that they put the cart before the horse. According to Bobby Gibson, "(Fortenberry) wan...

Since moving to Lumberton, Rhetta Domingue has been inundated with requests to start a cooking class for Cajun/Southern cuisine. Well, your request have not gone unheard and she feel that the time is right; especially now that she's semi-retired. If anyone would like to attend and become a part of her cooking club inbox Rhetta Domingue on facebook. The classes will be FREE, however, she's asking $10.00 per person/class, to cover the cost of the foods used for the cooking demonstration. Instructors will be Rhetta, her husband, and possibly another friend of who is a wonderful cook. Most of her recipes are Cajun and seafood dishes, but she is skilled in preparing Italian and other foods, as well. Classes will begin on Monday, August 15, at her home (Norton Road). Two classes per Monday ( 10:00am and 6:30pm). There will be classes on each following Wednesday (2:00pm and 6:30pm). Beginning August 27, a class every other Saturday ( 2:00pm). For more info and to sign up, please inb...

Tuesday's meeting started with citizen’s comments and Michael Holder and Perry McLemore questioned the board about their recent change in employment status. Holder and McLemore were hired brought on as full-time employees, but it was changed after Bobby Gibson got upset that Michael Holder and Perry McLemore mowed the grass at the 5th Avenue Park. Gibson thought Holder and McLemore were cutting the grass at the request of Alderman Rogers and since Gibson was serving as Mayor ProTempore, he decided that he didn't want any city worker to cut the grass at the 5th Avenue Park and since Holder and McLemore disobeyed his orders, he went back and had their employment status changed. At the meeting, he stood by his lie and said that they were never hired as full-time, but the minutes state that the board voted to rename the employment status of Holder and McLemore. If they were never hired on a full time, why would the board need to vote on changing their employment status? The new...

I wonder which block heads came up with the idea of filing an injunction against the Lumberton Informer. I'm certain that the decision was made without legal counsel, but since tonight is the regular scheduled board meeting, Lindsey Carter will be there to advise them on their decision to seek an injunction. Currently, there is no way one can get the IP address of commentators for those using the Blogger commenting system and for future reference, the Lumberton Informer uses the blogger commenting system. In an effort to assist with the pending investigation of the Lumberton Informer, the following are two of the IP addresses I frequently use: 68.153.114.234 and 205.138.207.222. (Note: those are only two of the IP addresses I use, I have another IP address, but I change the setting from time to time. When the matter regarding IP addresses was first mentioned in a comment on the Lumberton Informer, I installed a hit counter to keep a record of the IP addresses. The hit counter is op...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 voters go to the polls in the statewide primaries. Four Democrats (Johnny L. Dupree, William Bond Compton, Bill Luckett and Guy Dale Shaw) and five Republicans (Phil Bryant, James Broadwater, Dave Dennis, Hudson Holliday and Ron Williams) vying for the governor's seat will be on the ballot. For lieutenant governor, the two republicans, Billy Hewes and Tate Reeves will find out which one will go up against lone reform party candidate Tracella Hill in the November election. Voters will also cast their ballots for candidates in other categories as well. Polls will open at 7 am Tuesday.

The regular scheduled meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen is scheduled to take place tomorrow, but the board has managed to hold another special called meeting today. For some reason, the board has been scrambling to hire personnel, vote on policies and make several changes while Mayor Holder is out on medical leave. In case you were not able to attend the seven or so special called meetings. . Here’s a recap of what took place. The board hired another deputy clerk. Her name is either Cindy Wall or Cindy Wallace and she will be working in the office along side Stephanie Mullings and Susan Guidry. I guess Cindy's the solution to the late deposit check and cash payments. Now that Stephanie and Sue have help, someone in the office will be able to make the arduous journey from city hall to Bancorp South to deposit water bill payments. The good news is we will no longer have to wait 15-21 days for our checks to be deposited into the bank, but the bad news is that hiring Cindy wil...