Lumberton Informer

In case you missed the news, here are some things you might have missed. At a special called meeting held on Thursday, December 29, 2011, Rebecca Hale, Kent Crider and Quincy Rogers voted to rescind the hiring of Timothy Ryan Byrd as court administrator. At the same meeting, Kent Crider and Rebecca Hale voted to raise the water rates; Alderman Rogers voted against the water rate increase. Absent from the meeting was Bobby Gibson and Timothy Johnson; they now have the ability to say that they didn't vote to raise the water rates when they're questioned by voters, but I think the reason they didn't attend the meeting was their unwillingness to rescind the order to hire Byrd. I don't understand why Hale and Crider would vote to increase the water rate and they know there are some serious issues in the water department. Instead of fixing the problem, they're passing the cost on to the citizens of Lumberton and still refusing to address the serious concerns regarding bil...

Disclaimer: This post contains a few explicit words and is not intended for children. For those that are still reading this post, I am giving a review of the things that took place in the City of Lumberton throughout 2011. News about the KeKe B Foundation, Dr. Carla Holder's Basketball Camp, Dianne Bennett Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, or the Friends of the Library Veteran's Day Program never gets reported. But whenever Lumberton's on News 7, the story's distorted. They always show Lumberton in the worst light and it usually stems from the events of Tuesday night. Most of the stories may not be new to you, but here's the City of Lumberton's 2011 review. Rachel Jefferson was arrested for wanting her child support. .handcuffed and charged with disturbing the peace wasn't a necessary retort. Peter's Construction used a lot of elbow grease and because of his sweat-equity the Main Street Grant saw its budget increase. Rebecca Hale's husband ended up...

I know I said I wouldn't update the blog until December 28, 2011, but a questionable special called meeting is scheduled for tonight @ 6:00 p.m. The meeting was called by Rebecca Hale and Bobby Gibson, you remember them, the two that allegedly signed the paperwork approving the arrest of Mayor Holder. Well, I knew there was supposed to be a meeting, but I was told that the meeting was to grant Jerry Walters approval to take the suburban to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to retrieve a donated tanker, but the agenda that's posted at the library also has an agenda item to hire Timothy Ryan Byrd as Court Administrator at a pay rate of $10.50/hour. Seriously??? Apparently, Jerry Walters was in on the set up. From what I was told, Walters called Mayor Holder asking if he could take the suburban to Baton Rouge to get a tanker. Somehow, Walters managed to get Mayor to tell him to call the other aldermen and see if they could attend a special call meeting to approve his travel, despite telling ...

A local fire chief has been put behind bars accused of embezzlement. Rock Hill Fire Chief, William Leeroy King II was taken into custody by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. King is charged with embezzlement involving county funds. King made his initial appearance Thursday morning and bond was set at $25,000. Authorities say king was issued a fleet card for fuel in which he is accused of using to fuel his personal vehicle. MBI believes King’s activity has been ongoing for the last year. You all may remember Roy King, a former member of the Lumberton Volunteer Fire Department, from the incident that happened here in Lumberton. King was charged with impersonating a police officer and was identified by a Lumberton resident, but was freed after Officer Wilczek went and obtained paperwork to help prove his innocence. King stated that he would file a law suit against the City of Lumberton to restore his good reputation. The Mississippi State Auditor’s office and...

There is still talk about the fact that the Lumberton Board of Aldermen are planning on overriding Mayor Holder's veto and hiring Ryan Byrd as soon as the minutes are approved; despite the fact that he lost his certification. The deputy clerks were saddened by the mayoral veto, citing that Byrd has a family and that it's Christmas. Well, on the other side of the same coin, I just saw a criminal background check that was conducted on Valerie Taylor who, because of the actions of Timothy Ryan Byrd, lost her certification and two jobs. Plus, she has a family to care for; she also has bills to pay as well as Christmas presents to buy. Taylor lost her job after she and several others were arrested on the night of September 23, 2011. This was the night the newly organized, Bobby Gibson run police department followed the guidelines of the Bill of Rights for Black Citizens of Lumberton. On the night of September 23, 2011, Amendments II: "The right of any white person to apprehend...

At the last board meeting, several items on the agenda was vetoed by Mayor Holder. Generally, the board does not really care about vetoes and there are times, as in the case of Lindsey Carter, the board doesn't bother to override the mayor's veto and just continue to let the person continue to work. I received a call earlier this week and I was told that Regina Newton was working in the police department. I didn't believe the person, so I didn't bother to blog about her working in Lumberton because I knew the next opportunity to override the mayor's veto wouldn't take place until next month. Well, low and behold, I saw it with my own eyes. Regina Newton was in a Lumberton police car, being trained. According to my source, she was "being trained so she can go straight to work when the board overrides the mayor's veto." Where do they do that at? Apparently in Lumberton. Now I know why Bobby Gibson and Rebecca Hale went into the clerk's office ri...

The antics of Timothy Johnson and Bobby Gibson at Tuesday night's board meeting has firmly established them as a prime of example of Lumberton's black on black crime. The term black on black crime was coined in the eighties to publicize crime perpetrated within the black community and I think the term is fitting for the Gibson and Johnson because the damage they're inflicting upon our community is far worse than any tactic used by a so-called racist because Gibson and Johnson's attack was unexpected. Eugene Underwood wanted to address the board regarding their hiring practices and Timothy Johnson, apparently the leader of "the collective" basically stopped Underwood in his tracks and refused to allow him to continue to address the board. But we've witnessed that type of behavior from Johnson before. Just like he continued to interrupt Mayor Holder on the Youtube video when she wanted to address the citizens of Lumberton, he did the same when Eugene Underw...

It's time for the City of Lumberton to re-negotiate their contract with the Gold Coast Skydivers. Currently, the City of Lumbeton is getting $100/month in fees while the Gold Coast Skydivers is raking in thousands of dollars every week from sky jumps, equipment sales, etc. Gold Cost Skydivers are also enjoying the benefits of having all those travel trailers on the property free of charge while the City of Lumberton pays the bills, including the electric bill. Note: they are paying their own water bill, but since there is not sewer connections, the bill mostly likely don't include a sewer fee which can be just as much as the water bill. City attorney, Lindsey Carter, did point out that when the current contract expires in February of 2012, the City of Lumberton will have a new building. But that's like comparing apples and oranges since the Gold Coast Skydivers are the only ones benefiting from the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was secured by the City of Lumberton...

I knew that things were going to be different at this board meeting because on my way to the meeting, several Lumberton Police officers had pulled someone over on Main Street. There goes my theory that the LPD does not patrol Main Street. First item on the agenda was to hold a Public Hearing on the rezoning of Winston Enterprises property on Hwy. 13 to Commercial (C-1). Winston said he was going to use the property to sale equipment but he didn't want to specify what type of equipment he would be selling. Winston also stated that he will erect a building and want to help establish a tax base and create jobs in Lumberton. Next, were citizen’s comments. Cora Rogers asked the board again why they disbanded the planning and zoning committee. Timothy Johnson stated that a planning commission wasn't necessary and that the citizens of Lumberton had asked them to disband the committee, but he didn't give the names of the citizens he represented when he and the others decided ...