Lumberton Informer

School starts next week and on Saturday, July 30, 2016 (TODAY) the Future Leaders of Tomorrow will host a Back to School Kid's Day in Lumberton at the 5th Avenue Park. This group of dedicated, community service oriented group will give away book bags filled with school supplies. In addition to the book bag give away, they will also give away gift cards. There's also a raffle taking place and you still have a chance to get a raffle ticket for bikes and $100 Footlocker Gift Card. This will be a fun-filled event. There will be various vendors/booths present, including Tresa's Treats. If you haven't had an opportunity to sample her desserts; now is the time. There will be other booths at the event, water slides (bring a towel or change of clothes), plenty of food, games and speakers. The Future Leaders of Tomorrow have worked tirelessly to organize this event, please come out and show your support for a GREAT CAUSE. In case you're wondering,...

In many ways, we take for granted each and every hour of the day and each and every moment that God gives us with anybody and in particular , our family and friends. We kind of say Hello casually, we say Goodbye casually, we say see you later casually, we get in our feelings, shut doors on friendships that we developed over the years and just walk away; not realizing the value of every moment we have with a person. It is in those moments that an exchange takes place and when a person transitions into the next dimension of eternity, we should be able to rest in the peace and assurance that we have deposited everything that God would have us to deposit into their lives and that they did the same so when we hear of their passing and prepare to bid an earthly farewell, we can be assured that we are there to celebrate their life. So let everything that have breath praise the Lord for the life of Mrs. Queen Rogers : a beacon of hope, a w...

There’s never a dull moment in the City of Lumberton. Despite what you think of me or my quest for accountability; my goal, unlike others, is for the advancement of Lumberton. At the latest board meeting, the city’s engineer opened bids to begin work on the roof at the Lumberton Museum. There were three bids but the lowest two were from a local contractor and a contractor in Purvis. During the meeting, the city’s engineer informed Mrs. Kathleen Bogle that since the monies for this project was raised through donations, they were not required to accept the lowest bid. After the meeting, Mrs. Bogle and other members on the Museum Committee expressed their desire to hire a local contractor. The engineer said he would question those with the lowest bids to ensure the work was up to par. Less than a week later, it seems that the engineer has suggested the City of Lumberton accept the bid of the contractor from Purvis. Here’s the twist, prior to his recommendation, the...

This started out as a Facebook post but then it grew and I didn't want my social media friends to get upset because I've been posting all week. So I decided to copy and paste it in a blog post instead. Hopefully, this will be my last post of the week regarding this matter but I'm not making any promises. This has been an exasperating week to say the least but with the culture of hunting black men, I'm thankful to still be among the living. During this week, I think I saw where someone said whites are killed by cops to but their cases are swept under the rugs. I remember the names of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Sean Beall, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Pedro Villuneava and sadly it won't be long before another black/Hispanic male becomes a hashtag because of an overzealous police officer that wants to be judge, jury and executioner. As it was stated, these incidents are not new; police brutality has been taking place before Rodney King b...

With all that's bad in this world, let's take a moment to support a group that's actually doing something good; The Future Leaders of Tomorrow. On Saturday, July 9, 2016, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon, The Future Leaders of Tomorrow will host school supply drive and car wash in Purvis, Mississippi. Cars will be washed for a donation of $6. In addition to the car wash, they will be accepting donation of school supplies, selling raffle tickets for a $100 FootLocker gift card and they will also be selling raffle tickets for the bike raffle. There will be plenty of food available as well. All proceeds will be used to help with the Back to School Day Event that will be held in Lumberton on July 30, 2016. Please come out and support this great cause. Your support, donations and participation will be greatly appreciated.

I know today is July 6, 2016, but according to the printed agenda that was handed out, last night’s meeting will not take place until tomorrow, July 7, 2016 hence the PMS edition. The first agenda item was to conduct an informal workshop regarding information received at the MML 2016 Conference. The second agenda item was, according to Johnny Buckley, to implement a practice that was allegedly discussed at the MML Conference and that included having a time clock installed specifically for the police department. I thought they were setting a meeting for these changes but they decided that they couldn’t wait and should immediately attack the police department; even Cora Rogers saw through the bullcrap and she’s often blinded by ignorance. On the surface, it would seem that one or more of the aldermen had a vendetta against the police department. Did one of the officers dare to give an alderman or a member of their family a ticket? But once the conversation be...

The other day, I attended the first of many meetings regarding the consolidation of the Lumberton School District. As I sat there, I was not pleased. The room was filled with concerned residents from the City of Lumberton, sans elected officials, and any one of those residents would have been a better choice as a representative for Lumberton than Ben Winston. Let's be clear, he has 5 or 6 school-aged grandchildren, living in the City of Lumberton, but none of them attend school in Lumberton. For some reason, Dr. Linda Smith, thought the pastor that quit his ministry and the mayor that quit his term after two years was the best choice as the representative for Lumberton during this consolidation process. I wanted to get Dr. Smith's input on her choice but none of my calls to her office were returned. The Lumberton School District is in many ways the perfect microcosm for Lumberton. If you still don’t get that, you’ll be in for a rude awakening in the years ahead. A gradual ero...