Waging War On Progress

I feel that I must begin this blog ppst with an explanation of the photo collage. It's a play on a commercial I was watching last night. I giggled and thought to myself, what if Mayor Winston was making such poor decisions because he's hungry. As stated in the commercial, you're not yourself when you're hungry. Now that I got the humorous part over, let's get down to business. Unless you're living under a rock, you have heard about the Ferguson verdict. As I browse social media sites, the question of how this happened keeps coming into the discussion? There are those that are outraged by those destroying their city by rioting and looting. Please note, I think the riots detract from the death of the young man. However, I find it interesting that there are those that will label those rioting as barbaric; as animals. But what do we call those that destroy a city via a vote? In Lumberton, they're called the Mayor and Board of Alderpersons. Just a short while ago, Lumberton had a Darren Wilson serving as Chief of Police; his name was Dennis Hobson. He was doing his best to destroy specific areas of Lumberton and he had the full support of Kent Crider, Timothy Johnson and Bobby Gibson. Thankfully, his dirty deeds became too plentiful to sweep under the rug and he was terminated before he could gun down an unsuspecting youth. It just goes to show, elections have consequences and the ones you put in office can either make or break your city.

It has been reported that a business has been trying to lease the Cooper Power location but Mayor Winston allededly won't return their calls. Now I see why they don't want the planning and zoning committee. Just another example of not looking out for the best interest of the city. There's an opportunity to bring jobs to Lumberton but they're getting the cold shoulder because his only concerns are to make sure he and his business partners don't have to pay any additional taxes on the land they're hoarding. Another reason why the watchdog group is needed. Since we're on the subject, I would like to thank all those that inboxed/emailed their names and contact information. We're moving forward. Right now, I'm gathering information to have The Lumberton Citizen's for Progress incorporated. It is my hope that we will be up and running at the beginning of the year. We will hold meetings and teach all members how to research ethics violations. Thankfully, there's no expiration on filing an ethics complaint against an elected official. Our goal is to have the mayor and alderpersons fined for violating the laws governing a code charter municipality. The fines range from $500-2,000. The process to remove an elected official is too difficult. If we can hit them in their pockets, they will either make better, legal decisions or resign. That is our goal. I am making packets and already have over ten ethic violations outlined and resesrched; ranging from restricted access to public records to open meeting violations. Filling the complaints collectively will give us more leverage. Hopefully, after getting several judgements, we can then use those convictions to compel the State Auditor to go after their bonds for over spending during the 2014 fiscal year. Again, we have the ball rolling and I'm looking forward to moving forward with our demand for accountability from our elected officials.

This is a big pay week for Lumberton. The aldermen get paid this week and the employees get paid early because of the Thanksgiving holiday. At the last regular called board meeting, the board failed to pass a motion to pay the bills for this month; so I dont understand how they're still writing checks. That's one more thing we can look into once the watchdog group is incorporated. Through the freedom of information act, we can request the records to see when the checks were written and when the money was transferred. Sadly, based on the figures presented by tne city clerk at the last meeting, I dont know if the City of Lumberton has enough money to pay its employees through the end of the year. It will be very bad if the employees went to cash their checks right before Christmas and they bounce. But as Kermit says on social media, I guess that's none of my business. But before I sip on this tea, I would like to address a comment made, saying I need to stop blogging and shut up. Well, I won't shut up until Lumberton grows and is viewed as a place of integrity and not a place of insolent leadership. I won't shut up because this blog serves as a voice that needs to be heard and until it reaches your conscience and compel you to want a better Lumberton, my job is not done. In closing, I pray that each and everyone of you have a Happy Thanksgiving!