Mushroom Management: Keep Them in the Dark and Feed Them Bullsh*t

I find the double standard funny here in Lumberton. People look for any reason to discredit what I say but they never present any facts. This blog was under scrutiny for over a year during when Merlene Wall sued me for stalking and defamation of character. It think she even tried to use the fact that her grandchildren were distraught as a basis for her case. Well, the solution to that matter was easy; tell your grandchildren to stay off my blog. That bit of advice is really for everyone. There’s people that love to focus on the anonymous comments and some of the comments are really out there but most people aren’t like me; they only possess keyboard courage. I find it strange that people get all in their feelings when I block them from my blog but the same people run to the Lumberton Connection, the page that has me blocked, to whine about the fact that I blocked them from my page. Also, the language used on Lumberton Connection is just as distasteful as the language used in the anonymous comments but, for some reason, it’s acceptable since it’s directed towards me.

I was going through some screenshot files and I apparently missed something that was said by Nikki Crider. She said in one comment that “three people have to vote together to change Lumberton.” Let’s face it, she said a lot of things. I’m going to attend the next Lamar County Board meeting because I want to know which “county members said they would do nothing for Lumberton if he [Jonathan] got mayor.” I know that’s just part of the skill of Lumberton’s elected officials. They don’t know the laws governing a code charter municipality, they refuse to hire a city clerk that can fully utilize BBI, they don’t know the guidelines of the Open Meetings Act and they don’t proofread documents Merlene Wall present them to sign but they’re experts in the art of Mushroom Management; keeping citizens in the dark and feeding them bullsh*t.

Since Lumberton is represented by Warren Byrd, I really don’t think he said he would not help Lumberton if I’m elected mayor but you never know what’s said behind closed doors or via “private” conversations. For some reason, Nikki felt comfortable making that statement because she knew those that wanted to believe it would. Now, let’s address her statement about it take three people to vote to change the Lumberton. Those of you that actually read the blog know I posted about that several times when Ben was serving as mayor. He always activated his Manchurian cronies by saying “all we need is three votes” and Kent Crider, Jay McGraw and Tommy Dukes started salivating like Pavlov’s dog and usually raised their hands in unison after Ben trained them through conditioning. When the board secretly hired Richard Rose to prepare a budget and pay him for grant writing services there were three votes (Crider, McGraw and Dukes). When the police department was slashed to one officer per shift, there were three votes (Crider, McGraw and Dukes). When the board cut the hours of the court clerk, claiming there wasn’t enough money in the budget but later hired an additional deputy clerk during the same budget year with more hours, there were three votes approving this fiscal quagmire (Crider, McGraw and Dukes). Later, Cora Rogers joined the bandwagon of ignorance when she thought she had a shot at becoming mayor because Ben promised her she would be the next mayor after he won the District 2 Supervisor election.

If you like, I could go back to the last administration when Crider was part of the voting block that sided with Bobby Gibson and Timothy Johnson to block everything that was presented by Mayor Miriam R. Holder. Had I been granted access to the minute books, I could have provided more details of the 3 votes that are changing Lumberton. Also, I believe the reason why the auditor from Wright, Ward, Hatten and Guel stopped the audit of the City of Lumberton is related to the inaccuracy of the minutes. For those of you that don’t know, the city speaks through its minutes and for the past two years, Merlene has denied citizens access to the minutes. Let me change that, because I may have been the only person denied access. She’s probably trying to say minutes are missing because any “reputable” auditor would want to see the minutes and compare them to the expenditures. Where are the minutes showing where the auditing firm was hired? Where are the minutes showing the price of this audit? Where are the minutes showing the board approved the hiring and payment to this auditor? They don’t exist. January 2016 is the first time I missed a board meeting in probably the past 10 years and I don’t recall this board approving the hiring/payment of an auditor. Maybe it was done during executive session or over the telephone.

Thankfully, because of Merlene’s manipulation, no one can be blamed for the missing minutes. She convinced the board that they needed surveillance cameras at city hall for safety reason when she really wanted them to catch Jay McGraw stealing from the cash registers. She and Melissa wanted a way to cover their tails since they were not willing to come forth about catching him stealing before. Now that city hall has surveillance cameras, and citizens are denied access to the records room because it’s the new executive session room because Merlene said the old executive session room was bugged, it’s going to be difficult to blame someone else for the missing minutes because all you have to do is go to the DVR and roll back to footage. Just like I said when she made the claim that I tried to trip her in the board room after the counting of the affidavit ballots , roll the tapes. Look at God! He protected me even when I didn’t know I needed protection. She lie so effortlessly and didn’t realize that she talked the board into putting in a surveillance camera that would help prove my case. Hold my mule! I think I’m going to shout again. But on a serious note, if you question the things I post then present facts to challenge it; otherwise, stay in the shade with the other mushrooms.