Lumberton Informer

Before going to work, I like to sit out on the patio but I couldn't enjoy my morning dose of sunshine because of all the tall grass and the fact that I had to wade through this field of neglect to get to my garbage can. As I sat there with fears of the Zeka virus and Lyme disease running through my mind, I recalled a time when managers of the Mississippi Regional Housing Authority 8 would evict residents that failed to pay their lawn care fees. Now the same corporation is slacking in their responsibilities and have failed to properly maintain the lawn all Summer but that's the nature of MRHA 8; they will adjust the rules to fit their purpose. They're in a position to help people but they seem to love employees that will lie, cheat and possibly steal in order to advance their agenda. What they failed to realize, if people no longer needed housing, they would be out of a job. As you know, I've had dealings with the manager of Pe

Mayor Elect Quincy Rogers along with Tina Speights Holder, Audrey Young Davis and Jonathan Griffith will take the Oath of Office on Monday, July 3, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. at the Church of the Way, 884 E. Main Street, Lumberton, MS 39455. Johnny Buckley and Susan Crittenden decided to take their oath at 11:00 a.m. at City Hall with Judge Bill Anderson presiding. I'm not certain why they opted to hold a separate ceremony but it shows that there's already some division with the new board. After every election, the Board of Alderpersons always had their ceremony with the Mayor elect. I remember when Mayor Miriam Holder took her Oath of Office at the 5th Avenue Community Center, EVERY board member was in attendance. When Ben Winston was elected as Mayor of Lumberton, EVERY board member attended the swearing in ceremony at the Ben Barrett Community Center. Now that we have a board that has pledged to Work Together to Move Lumberton Forward, the two incumbents opted to hold

Today is officially the last day of the current Mayor and Board of Alderpersons. I also heard that today is also Danny Davis' last day as Public Works Director. If the rumor is true then I can truly say that things are already getting better for the City of Lumberton. I'm sure Danny think he's crippling the City of Lumberton by resigning before the new board takes office but he's actually helping the City of Lumberton Move Forward. Since the inception of this blog, Davis "quit" his job several times because he knew at least one board member would beg him to return. It's amazing that he claimed month after month, year after year that he loved this city but words are meaningless if they're not supported by your actions. If he loved this city, there would be an employee at the Public Works Department that had the education, experience and expectation to carry on in his steed but Davis made sure that the ones

I remember when I decided to start the Lumberton Informer. I was sitting at the barber shop, now Tina's Salon, and I was talking about the election with Wade. During the discussion, he asked me what did I think about the election. At that time, we were weeks away from the election but I told him that I didn't trust Bobby Gibson and Timothy Johnson because I felt they were running to serve Ben Winston and Paul Ockmond. I also told him I was waiting to see who's the third partner and it was later revealed through their voting pattern that Kent Crider was their other partner in crime. So, their attempt to control the City of Lumberton has been in the works for years; it didn't just happen. I told Wade that I needed to establish a forum where we can hold elected officials accountable. Over the years, I've gotten many things wrong because my access to public information was often restricted. As a matter of fact, there's a current investigation

Just received a call from a person that was informed that he was "BANNED" from Pecan Ridge. I asked him a few questions and from what he told me, the manger did not follow the proper procedures. I contacted the Lumberton Police Department and they told me that the manager gave them a copy of the ban list and I requested a copy. For some reason, tenants are told they could be evicted for allowing people on the ban list to visit but the tenants are not given a copy of the actual ban list. Recently, a tenant with health issues was about to get evicted because of the ban list but no one had a copy of the list saying the person that visited her unit was banned. I haven't received a copy of the ban list but once I receive a copy I will not post the names because I don't want them to get violated.....again. It's enough that their names is printed on a paper without due process but I will contact as many of them as I possibly can to see if I could get them to f

People were worried about Ben Carson becoming the Director of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) but it's the snakes that are already working in the housing business that you should be concerned about. Over the past two weeks, I received calls from individuals that were able to give me very specific details about the issues I'm having with management at Pecan Ridge, a MRHA 8 property. They were able to give me details about letters that were faxed to the main office in Gulfport, MS, they knew what information I submitted was accepted and/or rejected, they knew about the exact amounts of the rent I was charged and the adjustments that were made. Now how did this information get out of the office and became water cooler talk at city hall and beyond? I know I didn't discuss the matter with anyone but somehow people know exact details that were sent via fax or mailed directly to the office in Gulfport. Maybe the information was left on the f

Just one week ago, the citizens of Lumberton voted to #MoveLumbertonForward but the agents of MRHA 8 and others are trying to derail that change. I've been adjusting to my recent win while dealing with rumors on top of rumors. After getting calls from people outside the State of Mississippi and receiving screenshots from various conversations on social media, I decided to do a little investigation. I've barely had time to settle down and embrace the change that the citizens of Lumberton voted for on June 6, 2017 but it seems that I have yet another fight on my hands. LeaAnn Jones-Ulmer, a member of the LEDC and an employee of the MRHA 8, was allegedly going around telling people that I wasn't going to be able to represent Ward 3 because they're [MRHA 8] going to make sure I'm evicted. Keep in mind that a few months ago, I filed a report with the MRHA 8 regional manager about the fact that Ulmer was discussing my files with people o

The meeting started out as usual. Noticeable absent was the members of the Lumberton Police Department but shortly after arriving, I received a call informing me why the police were not present at the meeting. However, there was an officer in the audience that was hired as a full-time/part-time officer at a rate of $12.50/hour. His name is Phillip Duckworth and he's replacing Officer Linda Marie McKibbin. The first item on the agenda was to allow Mr. David Hatt to address the board about brining a skydiving business to the City of Lumberton. Thankfully, he was not present because I don't trust this board to negotiate a contract that will benefit the City of Lumberton. They tabled a motion to repair the windshield of Martha Youngblood because Danny Davis said none of his workers were mowing grass at the time of the incident. There were some lackluster reports given by the Public Works Director and City Clerk. Danny Davis warned the board that we were going to fail the wa

Due to inclement weather, I didn't not attend the board meeting last night but I'm sure they didn't accomplish much last night. However, about 40 minutes prior to the board meeting, I received an email from Vanessa Jones, the new attorney for the City of Lumberton. The letter did not have a subject line but I'm guessing it was in response to the request I submitted asking for verification of Paul Ockmond's certification as the building inspector and code enforcer. The letter I received is provided below. I take issue with the letter because it lacks specificity. One would think that a person that's paid $100/hour could write a better response; instead Jones seemingly struggled to string two sentences together in an effort to remain as vague as possible. Another issue I have with the response is the fact that the elected and appointed officials of Lumberton do not think the citizens of Lumberton have the right to know if thos

I just mailed a letter to HUD about my suspicions about fraudulent activities taking place at Pecan Ridge Apartments, formerly Frank Lee Homes but eternally referred to as "Turn Key." As many of you know, I worked as a property manager for years and I know a little about tax credits for apartments. As a matter of fact, I went to several training sessions about LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit). One of the first things I learned as a property manager was to maintain a waiting list and to make sure you did not move tenants in the computer unless you had another tenant slated to move in. Tenants would move without notice but regional managers were adamant about leaving the tenant in the system because the property could lose money from that unit if it remained vacant too long. Generally, it would take a week to turn an apartment around for a new tenant; depending on the condition of the apartment. I recall an instance where one apartment was left in

The qualifying deadline for the 2017 municipal election is quickly approaching. Everyone currently serving on the board are seeking re-election with the exception of Alderman Quincy Rogers who's looking to unseat Kent Crider as Mayor of Lumberton. The other day, I shared a post encouraging potential candidates to make sure they obtain signatures from the residents of their wards in order to ensure they're certified to participate in the 2017 Municipal Election. In previous years, all candidates were allowed to submit signature pages signed by registered voters. However, during the Special Election of 2016, the rules were somehow changed. When Kent Crider's seat was vacated after he was declared the winner of the Mayoral Election, there were two candidates that submitted paperwork to seek the seat as Alderman of Ward 1. Well, one candidate was disqualified because all of the signatures on their signature page were not residents of Ward 1. The Lumberton

I was blogging the other day and stumbled upon some important information. It seems that Lumberton Code Enforcer/Building Inspector, Paul Ockmond, is allegedly working under the previous inspector's certification and milking the city and citizens in the process. Stealing Southern Baptist Preachers??? Tell me it ain't so. Now I know why Paul Ockmond was slithering through my community, offering to pay someone to run against me. I discovered this Ponzi scheme accidentally. Imagine what I would find once I have access as an elected official? That thought has many scared and they're actually willing to pay to keep that from happening. What are they hiding? Are the ones currently serving on the board in on the scam? The bible carrying ministers seem very comfortable with the crew that's already in place; for some reason. We all know there's a plethora of individuals on Lumberton's payroll that's about as effective as set of old butter kni

At the February board meeting, our elected officials went into executive session to discuss what they deemed "the sale of property" but they were actually discussing a trade with Lamar County. According to Crider, they needed to make a decision because it was a done deal but according to an article in the Hatteisburg American "there still remains some details to work out." Based on the article, it was hard to tell who initiated this deal that will result in the City of Lumberton losing a building that would cost $1,000,000 to build today in exchange for a vacant building and 5 acres of land. It looks like another win win for Lamar County and another bad business deal for the City of Lumberton. If you're a sports fan, you're familiar with lop-sided trades. For instance, the time the Vikings gave Dallas a dynasty for Herschel Walker. How about the time when the Baltimore Colts traded John Elway to the Denver Broncos or when the Atla

I didn't plan on blogging today but when I logged onto the Hattiesburg American I saw an article entitled "A trade in the future for Lumberton armory?" Before I discuss the article, I would like to discuss the inflated water bills we received. Prior to the meeting, there were several stories regarding the late water bills; stories ranged from blaming the post office to blaming the customers. At the meeting, nothing was said about the late water bills and there was not mention of any adjustments regarding the due date. One of the reasons why they don't hold Merlene accountable for her lack of professionalism is because they know the water bills do not contain a post mark. We know we received the water bills late but we can't prove it because they can say they were delivered to the post office on time but we don't actually see when they were received by the post office. When Merlene tried to explain why the water bills were higher than

As you know, this is an election year for the City of Lumberton and other surrounding municipalities. For years, self-serving agendas have ruled Lumberton. We complain about the people ruining our city but we're not willing to give others an opportunity to show leadership through service; something that's lacking from this and previous administrations. Lumberton is on life support and a mortician has the authority to pull the plug. Do you really think a person that specializes in death is capable or willing to support life. Death is his bread and butter and Lumberton's corpse is just another opportunity to put more money in his pockets. Over the weekend, those currently serving on the board were at various events gathering signatures in order to have their names placed on the ballot. Each candidate is looking to get re-elected. All of the candidates have made their intentions known except for Tommy Dukes, Jr. He's collecting signatures but

I stopped doing review of the board meetings but since this one was short and ineffective, I decided to post a review. Abbott and Hardy (Crider and Buckley) had their routine rehearsed perfectly when they downplayed the value of some shelves at the old Lumberton Hospital. The board declared the shelves as surplus so an undisclosed person could purchase them for $100. At first I didn't think much about the deal but when Johnny and Kent kept trying to convince everyone the shelves had no value I realized that they probably saw the items on an Antique Trading Show and using this as an attempt to swindle the City of Lumberton once again. The department dead-heads gave their monthly monologues. Prior to the meeting, Merlene allegedly made various claims about the late inflated water bills but during the meeting she settled on the story that the bills were higher because they included a 40 day billing cycle because of the holiday season. The person over the