Sellout: How Many Pieces Of Silver Did It Take?

Over the weekend, the second shooter involved in the Greentree Apartments shootout, turned himself in. I guess there can be a sigh of relief for this area but it's a brief sigh. At the time of this post, there were no reports of any arrests associated with the shooting that occured at Pecan Ridge Apartments ( the property formerly known as Frank Lee Homes and forever known as Turnkey or as those that like to hang out there, "The Trap".) I know there's more evidence in the Pecan Ridge case since the property is under surveillance. I'm just wondering why no arrests have been made. I guess we can expect some results shortly since our police department is under staffed.

In SSDD news, I reported on the so called budget workshop. Let's be clear, it's utterly ridiculous that we have a mayor that claims he does not know what's in the budget and a board, minus Q. Rogers, that vote to pay bills not knowing what's available. At this point, it doesn't matter if anyone knows how to use the BBI software and their reluctance to do anything about it. If your excuse is you're worried about your bond, then you better stop being led like sheep and find a different path. You can explain your reason for your vote at every meeting but the minutes are going to reflect yay or nay and whenever the State Auditor's Office come in, that's the information they're going to use because your explanation will not be a recorded part of tne vote. Budgets are budgets. Some just have larger numbers. If Winston and this board wanted to know what money they have available, they can get a balance like the rest of us. The City of Lumberton has a checking account and I'm sure there's a bank statement; either online or in print. Get the statement, a copy of the checks/payments/deposits that have not cleared, deduct them from the balance and you'll know what you're working with. Now how difficult could that be? If they wanted to know they would. Most of the board members are also business owners. For this purpose, we'll eliminate Dukes because he's probably got tax liens from every business he opened. If anyone has proof, please give me a copy so I can post it because I have to fight these false witnesses in court. Winston owns a business, McGraw's wife owns a business, Crider owns a business, C.Rogers owns a business and Q. Rogers background is loss prevention and business analysis. Q. Rogers is the only one bold enough to question and refuse to vote to make payments based on inaccurate information. In essence, he's the only board member protecting his bond because he votes "no." As I said, you can explain until you're blue in the face but you're responsible for every yes vote you cast as a board member until the day you're lowered into your grave. So that's why you should learn why a seasoned official is voting no instead of trying to force them to vote in the affirmative. As we can see with this current board, people without spines should never serve in a capacity that requires business decisions. I'm sure none of the business owners on this board would ever pay bills/expenses/payroll month after month without accurate information. If they wouldn't do it with their money, why are they doing it with ours?

But it gets worse. They hate to be questioned. Only in Lumberton will a group of people get upset with a person because they describe how they behave and then they turn around and claim they behave in that manner because that's how they were described. Utter foolishness. Everyone sitting on the podium every first Tuesday of each month are either on the mailing list or second tier members of AARP but they insist on behaving like preschoolers. Perhaps they're in their second childhood stage. Whatever the case may be, each swore an oath when they took office and each will be accountable for the votes they cast, regardless of who influenced their vote. It's like our entrance into heaven. We can't stand before God and say satan made me do it because we had a choice. Each board member has a choice and only they can answer for the votes they cast. I don't know what influence Ben has over this board but I find peace in knowing that he can't do their time in jail or in hell. Remember, it's the small foxes that destroyed the vine. Enough of this gasoline drawers board, I think I'll focus on more uplifting events in Lumberton this week. Lumberton has a great community despite its poor representation at city hall. If you have some good news to share, please send me a message and let's have at least one week of good news.