Lumberton Informer

Are you tired of trying to run somebody down just to get a hair cut? Do you want a barber that has a set schedule? Well, the wait is over. It's Back 2 School time and you know what that means. . .It's time to go from jaded to faded. If you're looking for a barber with some serious clipper skills, I suggest you check out Brandon Gill of Southern Stylez Barbershop. Brandon has stepped up his clipper game and has a seat waiting for you. His shop is located at 516 S. Main Street, Poplarville, MS. So pay him a visit or give him a call (601-590-7187) to schedule your next appointment. Walk-in are always welcomed. Southern Stylez is open from 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Last night, I heard the rumor that Dirt Cheap had closed. I was thinking, I was just there Saturday evening that couldn't be true. Then I woke up this morning and more people were saying Dirt Cheap had closed, so I took a drive to out to see for myself. Well, it's no longer a rumor. It's true. Dirt Cheap has closed the Lumberton location. The signage on the door stated " Lumberton Dirt Cheap Now Closed. . .Thank you for shopping Dirt Cheap." Apparently, none of the employees knew the store was closing but it's obvious the management knew because they had official signs printed with the Dirt Cheap logo. I didn't shop at Dirt Cheap but I would go in every now and then to see if they had any odd finds; especially around the holidays. I don't know what they're planning to do and I surely don't think it's cost effective for the citizens of Lumberton to travel to the Hattiesburg Dirt Cheap location; especially with the rising gas prices. All o...

I know I do a lot of talking about the youth that love to hang out around Myrick Avenue, but it seems that some of them are decided to use their talents for more productive endeavors. Someone asked me if I saw the Man Round Here video featuring Bae-Bay, 5'5' Superfly and Coot. My first reaction was "Who?' and then they said, I'll send you a link. I clicked on the link and I immediately recognized the area. I watched as the video played and I must say, I was truly impressed. I didn't know the nick names, but I recognized the faces. Some people may not like the verbiage used in the video, but it's a clear, concise, well put together video. Regardless of what some may say, it takes some talent to know how to spit rhymes. They may not know they're using a combination of cretic, anapest and dactly meters, but they're making it do what it do. The cinematography was rather good and I say job well done.(Artists are paying big money for those types of vide...

Last night, around 10: 30, I was traveling down Myrick Avenue. I had to slow down because there were a bunch of guys walking in the middle of the street. Good thing they were in the street because I didn't see the police cars. Before I could gripe about these bone-heads walking in the middle of the street, the blue lights came on. I was like, I know I wasn't speeding, but they didn't stop me so I kept on rolling. Before I could get my cellphone, someone just took off running and a police officer was right behind him. I don't know what happened or what was going on. I went in the house, closed the blinds and fixed me a cup of Camomile tea with a touch of honey. The other day, I reported about the lack of patrol but last night, the blue light special was handling their business. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered why do people run from the police. There's this culture of young boys that are always saying their "real" this or that (I won't use the t...

Last night, there was a budget workshop scheduled. I don't know if anyone attended. I didn't bother attending because what's the point. Over half of the aldermen are going to beat their chest and do everything they can to make sure they stick to their no new taxes plan because they, and their business partners, are land hoarders and they don't care if the city has no revenue as long as they can protect their personal investments. I don't understand why they take so much time discussing the budget because when push comes to shove, they're going to amend the budget every other month. In government, when they run out of money, they just amend the budget. In real life, when you run out of money, you either make adjustments in your spending or do without certain things. Wow. .what a novel idea. Most people already know that. Unfortunately, the ones that don't know this are serving as aldermen. So, here we go with another round of budget talks. Like I stated, I...

That song is usually played during Christmas, but I think it's the perfect song for the Back to School Season. Summer is winding down, and soon the big yellow limos will be patrolling the streets. Personally, I wish school was held all year round, but I don't think teachers would be happy with that proposal. I haven't seen the list, but I'm sure the back to school supply list have enough items on it to fill a Sam's shopping cart. While preparing for the upcoming school year, please remember that the State of Mississippi is having it's tax free weekend this week. So, you can go stock up on school uniforms and other school related supplies. Please, don't go to Dillard's and think they're going to let you purchase cologne and purses and call them school essentials. I tried it last year and it got ugly. Also, Victoria A. Page will be hosting "The Difference" Back II School Drive on July 28, 2012 from 3:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. There will be food, g...

So, what was going on this weekend? School is about to start and students and dropouts are taking it to the streets to celebrate. The streets were filled Friday and Saturday night and I couldn't tell if they were going to a party or coming from a party. However, the mere fact they held down the entrance of Frank Lee Homes for over three hours let me know they weren't going to a party. Apparently, that was the party. It was around the second hour when I realized, where the hell is the LPD and who is on duty? I know they can't patrol the area all night, but I thought they would have at least shown up at sometime during the three hour span. We keep hearing talk about a curfew, but we have teens, cougar lovers, etc. hanging out when the curfew starts and it seems there's no one patrolling. The other night, I was in Hattiesburg (it was after 10:00 p.m.)and there were some teenage boys in the parking lot. Next thing I know, two HPD police officers pulled up, flashed their ...

Sunday, July 22, 2012, the members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (next to Bass Academy)will be handing out food boxes to assist families dealing with the rising food prices. According to a volunteer, they have been handing out these food boxes since Hurricane Katrina. He said there were given a great opportunity to be a distribution center after the Hurricane and they wanted to keep a food pantry as a part of their m inistry. The food boxes will be handed out on between the hours of 1-3 p.m. Just come in, provide them with the number of people in your household and they will give you a box of grocery items. Also, they have volunteers that will assit women and the elderly by carrying their boxes out for them. It seems to be a well received program and it's definatley good to see a church giving back for a change.

I was torn on how to name this post. I went with my first thought and used Preston's Produce, but like me, many know this local farmer as Coach Fairley; not Preston. At one point, I was thinking of using the title, Coach's Crops or Coach's Corner. As you can see, I struggled a little on this title, but you won't have a struggle finding fresh fruit and vegetables on Myrick Avenue. I love fresh vegetables and because of this garden fresh jewel, I've been eating more vegetables than ever. Coach Fairley has fresh okra, tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, watermelon and cantelope; and they're all locally grown. So, if you're out and about, stop by and pick up a few items. Next week, I will blog about the Tic Toc Cafe. If you have a business that you would like to have featured, please let me know and I'll stop by and blog about the services you offer. There was a food truck that used to be parked by Olen's but I never got the opportunity to stop by. I don...

There's a fascination with televison shows like Punked and What Would You Do? These shows put people in real-life situations to see how they would react. Often times, when a person gives a cheating spouse another chance, we sit back and say I would never take him/her back. But in reality, we don't know how we're going to react until we're in that situation. The other day, I was speaking with a woman, whose name would imply that she's descended from royalty. I told her that this blog was a study in creative writng; a social experiment of sorts. After I thought about it, I realized that this blog could have been viewed as a social experiement. Now, I'm sure this woman has been privy to some very detailed conversations about me, but she has never treated me any differenlty; she has never had a bad thing to say and everytime I see her, she greets me with a hug and a smile. If you ever wanted to witness the embodiment of true Christianity, you need to meet this wo...

When someone says "Oh, Jonathan, I forgot to thank you for something" you know it's time to gird you loins because that's not something you hear often and my response was correct. It was one of those nice-nasty moments. You know the kind. . where they're saying something in a polite voice, but there's really an underlying meaning. Now, let me give you the back story. Some time ago, I blogged about how Rebecca was upset that Sue had to work in the office by herself and she went on and on about how this was so unfair to Sue. I posted that blog after watching an episode of GCB, so I called it the GCB's of Lumberton. Well, today, someone thanked me for calling her a GCB (not Rebecca) in my blog. I went back to see what was going on. .so I had to pull up the post and low and behold, it was the post about Rebecca. Now, I don't know if a comment was made that referred to her as a GCB or not. Contrary to what most people think, I don't monitor this blog ...

Now something strange is going on at Frank Lee Homes. Frank Lee Homes is listed on some documentation as affordable housing but they receive a lot of financial support from HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) in the form of LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit). Well, when I was a property manger, we were told that units could not remain vacant because we would lose the funding for that unit. So, whenever a person moved, we tried out best to make sure someone was in that unit before the next month. But for some reason, that's not the case at Frank Lee Homes. Units have been vacant for months at a time. There are all sorts of people that say they're on the waiting list, but they're never called when a unit becomes available. I used to keep a waiting list and as soon as a person moved or was evicted, I was calling the next person on the list to see if they were still interested in moving onto the property. Afterwards, I would send in the clean up crew and hav...

Now, I heard of people hitting you over the head with the word, but hitting the passah with the bible. .Really? What's going on with these small churches? I wasn't a fan of megachurches, but you don't hear of things like this happening at World Changers, New Birth or Potter's House because security won't let you get that close to the pastor. But, like one of my friends said, "I always thought Pastors duty was to get people in the Church not to kick them out." Pray for these people coming from the book of His-ology instead of the books of the bible.

At what point would you turn on a person? Often time, we look at shows and say. "Oh, I would never do that!" or when there's a celebrity that takes back a cheating spouse, the first thing some women say is "I wouldn't take him back!" But the truth of the matter is, we don't know how we're going to react until we're in that situation. I don't like people that are not honest. You know the kind that will lie and pretend something is alright just so they can continue to take from you, but after they feel they have taken all they can, then they want to show you how they feel. That's one reason why I like to make people angry, because people never tell you how they really feel about you until they're angry. Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Again, what's your price? You may not have lied to a person for a piece of silver but you probably lied to a person for a piece of . . .well. So, let's say you didn't lie for sil...

Before I start this post let me put on the whole armor of God because I know there are some that are going to say I shouldn't say the things I'm about to say. Jeremiah, in chapter 23, verses 1 and 2 rails against the “shepherds that destroy and scatter his flock”. 1 Timothy 6, verses 3 though 5 calls them depraved men. Jesus calls them ravenous wolves (Matt 7:15). In Acts 20:29-30 Paul refers to them as savage wolves. I know one of the first questions that's going to be asked is "Should I make my complaints against these men and women public? Or is that some how against the teachings of scripture? You know, the usual knee-jerk reaction of “Touch not God’s anointed” or “Don’t put your mouth on the man of God.” Am I being judgmental to rail against them? Am I being disobedient if I post information about them? I don't think so, but if you can show me in the scriptures something different, then I will repent. Yesterday was another, it could only happen in Lumb...

Gateway Baptist Church is sponsoring this year's Free Summer Feeding Program. They are offering free breakfast and lunch to ALL kids 18 years and younger. The remaining dates are July 9-18, 24-31 and August 1-7. Breakfast is served 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Lunch is served 12:00 noon- 1:30 p.m. They are also offering FREE transportation. If you need a ride to the facilities, please contact (Rev. James Galloway at 601-796-4337. This program is open for ALL children of the City of Lumberton as well as residents of the Wellstown Community. * The Gateway Baptist Church/Lumberton Family Life Center does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, marital status, sex, disability, age, gender identity or sexual orientation in its programs or activities.

Memorial services for former U.S. Representative and Attorney, Richard "Rick" Tonry will be held today. Survivors include his wife, Joy Willmouth Tonry; two sons, Richard Tonry and Cullen Tonry; a daughter, Tara Tonry Alley; and eight grandchildren. Visitation will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Bernard Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home, 701 W. Virtue St. in Chalmette, followed by a 1 p.m. Mass, also at St. Bernard Memorial. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a scholarship in Mr. Tonry's name at the Good Shepherd School in honor of Father Harry Tompson.

The main points of the meeting were discussed live while the meeting was taking place on the Lumberton Informer Facebook page, but I will recap the events for those of you that were not aware of the new format. Hopefully, I will have the kinks worked out and will broadcast the next board meeting through my webcam. The meeting started out rather slowly. At one point, we thought there wasn't going to be a quorum. Hugh Jay McGraw was being sworn in after winning the post as the Alderman, Ward 2. Judge Prentiss Harrell administered the oath of office. Mayor Miriam R. Holder, Alderman Quincy Rogers, Stephanie Mullings, City Clerk, Elsie Fortenberry-Cowart, Interim Chief of Police and Roy Easley, Acting Public Works Director were present for the ceremony. Noticeably absent were Bobby Gibson, Timothy Johnson and Kent Crider. (It's interesting that Gibson would be present for the counting of the votes but not for the swearing in ceremony.) Harrell encouraged the board to work togeth...

I withstood all the vile, hateful language, notes, stares, comments, etc. but I still refused to throw in the towel. There are certain people in Lumberton that wanted me to shut down the blog. Not because I wasn't telling the truth, but because they didn't think "outsiders" should know the truth about the things that are still taking place in Lumberton. People across Lumberton let their hatred for my posting unite them as they channeled their bigoted thoughts in their "we" versus the Informer mentality. With all the hate-filled messages that were cast in my direction, I never thought going to church would make me realize that it's time to shut down the blog and not for the reasons you may think. I certainly wasn't convicted in my spirit, but for the first time, I saw how a one-sided point of view could lead to the casting of stones instead of the mending of fences. There are many times when I would get a tip from someone and I would run with it and...

I've always said that I don't offer balance throughout this blog. It seems that most of the focus is placed on the bad things or more gossipy topics, but I think today is a good day to give credit where credit is due. I know she don't do what she do for attention or accolades but I would like to tip my hat to Mrs. Kim Rogers, founder of the KeKe B Foundation. Kim, like many other women of our community, is a testament to the power of hop, courage and resilience of a loving mother. I don't know how she does it but she has chosen to take a stand when others would have buckled under pressure. Her dedication and courage has touched so many people in so many ways. The work she's doing through the KeKe B Foundation will be a beacon for many generations to come and the she many never realize the impact her courage has made in the lives of others. But despite it all, she is still pressing forward. Kim does not want another parent to experience what she had to experience ...