Lumberton Informer

The Lumberton Public Library will be closed from March 25-30., 2013 for Inventory.

I received the following message from Rachel Jefferson and I wanted to pass on what she said. Due to the rain forecast for Saturday, we are cancelling the Easter parade. We are very thankful to the support that we received, especially from Somer at Tangled, Lacy & Matt with AC Services, Tiffany at Tic Tic, and of course, the LPD and Fire Dept. As far as I know, the Community Block Party at Greentree Apartments is still scheduled to be held this Saturday. If there are any changes, I will let you know. Also, the Lumberton Police Department will sponsor an Easter Egg Hunt and host the Day in the Park on Easter Sunday. Please remember, this is a police sponsored event and no open containders/cups will be allowed. Enjoy you weekend and stay dry!

Today's post was really gonna cut deep, but thankfully, I typed the post, put it on the shelf and decided to re-read the post before publishing it. The post helped me get out some things I wanted to say, but I didn't think publishing the post would have been good; especially prior to election. I must keep in mind, I am seeking election this go around and I don't want to say/do anything that could be used as fodder to use against another candidate. So, since I plan on working with the Mayor for the next four years, I will refrain from publically airing our differences. For me, that's a little bit of growth. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to water down my responsibility to those I plan on representing but I will keep in mind that I cannot unring a bell. At this point, it is moot if Mayor Holder was calling me a liar or not in her response to my status update. As long as I know that the information I posted was information I received from city hall, I'...

Yesterday, a status update led to a whole conversation about the City of Lumberton and the need for me to be more positive in the things I blog about. I called city hall to find out when the candidates would be certified for the election. I let the telephone ring over 15 times and right before I hung up, someone finally picked up the phone. I asked my question and I was told "the board requested to have the date moved extended to April 8, 2013." So, I posted what I was told, but I posted it in the form of a question. Well, several people responded to the post. Some were saying Lumberton will never amount to anything and that it was the laughing stock of the state. Then there was this Cody guy, who on several occassions, blamed all of Lumberton's problems on Mayor Holder but for some reason, he was very supportive of everthing she said on the blog yesterday. Instersting. Also, he made a point of saying he had been led here, by the Lord, and that "someone posting n...

I just saw the listing of the MTV movie award nominees and thought I would have a tongue in cheek post about some things that were said around the City of Lumberton. For those of you that went to see the movie Django, this post is for you. The quotes are going to be posted in Southern dialect, but I need you to guess if this quote was made by an elected/appointed Lumberton city official or if the comment was made by Stephen in Django. Disclaimer: These are not exact quotes and some parts may have been embellised for emphasis but the general idea is the same. Quote 1: I'se want you to know that my best friend and business partner is a Lamar County Supervisor and it's time to vote on your funding. I'se want to know if you can block his page. Quote 2: We finally got their [black a**es] (The part in the brackets is implied.) Quote 3: If'n you don't get your black a**es off city property, I'mmma call the Lamar County Sheriff's office and have you arr...

I can always tell when the end of Spring Break is near. Generally, you don't hear a peep from the chirren, but as soon as it's time to go back to school, they start to "Wild Out." I remember going on trips during Spring Break but I guess things have changed. I also remember being forced to do Spring Cleaning during the first few days of Spring Break and you really know things have changed. I don't even know if this generation know anything about the Saturday morning cleaning rituals with Al Green blasting in the background, windows up, curtains open. You would be strung out, and must clean everything, even under the beds. But the times, they are a changing. The generation of today have more things but less responsibility. Recently, there has been a lot of changes at Frank Lee Homes. There's a new manager and he's doing some awesome things. I think he's even working on getting rid of the antiquated ban list. Personally, I don't know why those l...

No that's not a picture from the a Special Called Board Meeting. It's that time of year, the Renaissance Festival has arrived and according to WDAM, there are over 3,500 participants at Hillsdale. Generally, we would see the participants at various stores in Lumberton. Last year, I was invited to attend the event after meeting a couple at Dirt Cheap. Well, no chance of that happening this years, especially after a group of businessmen allegedly increased the rent on the building, forcing Dirt Cheap to close, but that's not the point of this post. The point of the post is the City of Lumberton need to find a way to bring some of those visitors into the city. I'm certain they're willing to spend money on certain necessities. I would be nice if the local stores would try to find out what type of products they perfer and make an effort to carry those items during this time of year. Also, I wonder if they're aware that we have two gas stations. Visitors may be conf...

As you know, Lumberton's First Annual Easter Parade is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, 2013. There's still time to enter. Please contact Rachel Jefferson for details. Also, on Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Lamar Baptist Association will be hosting a Community Block Party at GreenTree Apartments. After the parade, you are more than welcome to enjoy the food and fun they have scheduled. Also, I'm not sure how the fund raising is going for the Easter Parade, but I think Rachel should ask all the elected officials and members of the Lumberton Police Department to volunteer their time and participate in a dunking booth. We could get a dunking booth and charge anywhere between $5-10 (depending on the person getting dunked) to help raise money for the 1st Annual Easter Parade. Do we have any volunteers? Please pass the word and encourage your representative to come out and help raise money for the Easter Parade. This should be fun! Will resume regular posting on Monday, Mar...

There is still talk about the excessively high water bills. No one seems to know what's going on and it seems that our elected representatives are willing to sink their political career on the need to collect these overly soaked water bills. You see, this board has not managed to set aside the funds required so the new board would have a working revenue. Therefore, some are easy to brush off these water bills and claim the water went through the meters just to add to the city's accounts. Friday, when I turned in my qualifying papers, Susan Guidry had a novel suggestion. In our brief conversation, she said the board needed to scrap the water bills until they get everything fixed and I agree. Everyone should have been charged their flat rate until they work out the kinks or find out what's going on with the water billing system. The city has been plagued with water billing issues for a long time and after terminating the one that was considered by many to be the source o...

I wanted to try something different with the blog and decided to change the format a bit. This week, I interacted with someone and I was in awe of how she spoke and represented what is good about the City of Lumberton. I have had the pleasure of knowing her for quite some time and there was one time when we had a public disagreement (well, it was via Facebook and the blog but public nonetheless). There are those that say I have tunnel vision but to that I say phoey. If I'm wrong, I am more than willing to say I was wrong. But don't try to categorize me because I don't support your team. I have and always will call a thing a thing and if your feelings get hurt in the process, then do be it. Now, this post was not supposed to be about me, but it was to be about a person that inspired me this week and I know she has inspired countless others. This person is a fighter. She will not give up on you and all she asks is that you do not give up on her. She knows the difference ...

Tuesday night, city attorney, Lindsey Carter, felt the need to defend the board. He said "the board has done what they could in a bad situation. They did not know what was going on and everyone from the auditor to the clerk was saying that everything was fine. Everytime they [board of aldermen] make a decision, they're faced with an EEOC charge." Really Lindsey, you took this moment to try and defend those that should not be defended. I was going to correct him on his half-truths, but I felt I would have been preaching to the choir. But now that I have your attention, I would like to go on record saying, that the statment made by Lindsey Carter is an unequivicoal lie. The board did know what was going on and they refused to do anything because allowing Stephanie to go unchecked was a blatant disregard for the superintending authority of Mayor Holder and this board did every thing they possibly could to tie Mayor Holder's hands. I guess I can't blame Lindsey, a...

Last night's board meeting started off like a town hall meeting. For once, citizens were giving the opportunity to address their concerns to the board in a fair and equitable manner. The board listened attentively, but once again, Bobby Gibson, alderman at large, was not receptive to what was being said and tried to hurry the process. It's strange that the person that's supposed to represent the whole city is the one that does not want to hear from the citizens. Perhaps, he should rethink this run for office because if he's not there for the people, then who is he there for. (Will blog more about the things that were discussed during this period in another post.) The meeting started out on a wrong foot. This was the first meeting with the new city clerk, Merlene Wall, and the first thing I noticed was there was no agendas printed out for the public. The excuse that was given was they were busy and did not have time to run off copies. Again, this goes to the fact t...

They finally terminated the employemnt of embattled city clerk, Stephanie C. Mullings but for some reason, they're still having trouble in the city clerk's office. Just the other day, a neighbor showed me her water bill and it was over $500. After the so-called investigation, the city determined that the water went through her meter. Really. It seems like a biased opinion, if you ask me. While Stephanie was in office, it was easy to say she was stealing this and she was allowing certain friends/family to pay whenever or whatever they wanted to pay. Now that's she's no longer at city hall, the problem with the water department still exist. If you recall, I have always said that if any stealing and/or malfeasance is taking place at City Hall, it could not be done alone; it would require a partnership. Well, I hate to say it but it seems that my speculation is true. So, who else at city hall is padding their pockets? Now, it doesn't take a college degree to see that ...