Hugh Jay "Sticky Fingers" McGraw: Playing With Fire

If you read the blog yesterday, you saw me discussing the allegations that McGraw had allegedly stolen something from the Shell gas station. Apparently, WDAM follows the postings of the Lumberton Informer because hours later, Ryan Moore was in Lumberton getting Jay McGraw to confess to stealing a $26 Zippo lighter. The incident happened almost a week ago but the powers that be, including the members of the Lumberton Police Department, were attempting to sweep the theft under the rug. When McGraw was questioned about shoplifting from a local gas station, claimed that he didn't know why he stole the Zippo lighter. Clearly, this is not his first time taking something that's not his but we have to take his word that he was caught the first time he ever stole something from a convenience store. Deep eye roll.

There's several problems regarding the way this theft was handled. As a person that was arrested for violating a 1973 parking law that was still on the books, I'm not pleased that an elected official was basically given a get out of jail free card. McGraw claimed he paid restitution for stealing the lighter and agreed to no longer go to the store but that's not enough. Had this been anyone else, they would have been arrested, taken to Purvis to be finger printed and take a mug shot, put in a jail cell while being processed and depending on the time of day, locked in a cell until bond was set. Because he's an elected official that has the support of Mayor Ben Winston and the voting support of Alderwoman at Large Cora Rogers and Alderman Tommy Dukes, McGraw has the votes necessary to successfully fire any officer, including the police chief. The fact that a thieving aldermen with a history of arrogance and a bad attitude has enough political clout to hire and fire is reason enough to see why this case is purposefully getting swept under the rug. Now, I'm not going to address the rumors of alleged alcohol and drug abuse. Because of politics, Jay McGraw will not stand before a judge, be forced to hire legal counsel or enter a plea of innocent or guilty. McGraw will also avoid having a misdemeanor on his record. Unlike me, McGraw will not be required to hire an attorney to have his record esponged for getting arrested for a parking violation. As a matter of fact, an admitted thief will continue to have a say in the business dealings of the City of Lumberton. How reassuring. (Sarcasm fully intended.)

At one point in the interview with Ryan Moore of WDAM, McGraw admitted that getting caught shoplifting was an embarassing experience but unfortunately, it wasn't embarassing enough to make him resign. Since he's decided to retain his post as the representative of Ward 2, henceforth, Jay McGraw will be referred to as the shoplifting alderman Jay McGraw. The fact that McGraw decided NOT to resign, he's showing everyone that he's not only a thief but he's a coward. So many people were denied opportunities in this city because of the shoplifting alderman, Jay McGraw. He helped secretly bring in "friends" to prepare the budget for the city, he has personally denied full time employment for the longest serving clerk while disregarding the budget his alleged drinking buddy prepared to bring in an additional full-time clerk. Now that it's know that McGraw has a penchant for stealing, I can't help but wonder what dirty deeds he's facilitating at city hall.

Since McGraw won't resign with dignity, it's time for me to look into his background for some details that we normally wouldn't investigate. Your wife, Margie McGraw, said my blog has made her life in Lumberton miserable. Well, I'm going to do my best to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. I want to thank everyone that's been in boxing/texting me information I could use. So far, here's part of what I've discovered: I've learned he has two sons with military careers. So far, the online search has yielded information about stays in Marietta, GA, Tupelo, MS, and Ocean Springs, MS. I will dig a little deeper after I finish this post. Also, I'm not ready to reveal the name of a person that's serving as a military police officer. It must be awkward to learn that your father is a shoplifter when you're a military police officer. As McGraw stated, the whole situation is embarassing and we all have made mistakes but we usually have to pay for the mistakes we make. I will continue to follow this case because the City of Lumberton has set a precedent regarding shoplifters. It's going to be interesting to see how the next shoplifting incident will be handled. Will Joe Blow be allowed to pay restitution in order to avoid arrest and possible prosecution? Hopefully, he will resign. If not, we will just keep digging for more information. I don't think the next shoplifter will be given the same red carpet treatment. We shall see.