Lumberton Informer

According to Facebook, the regularly scheduled monthly meeting for March was supposed to be one of the most anticipated meetings since getting elected as an Alderman but that was not the case. There were several news outlets there so the narrative they're establishing for the City of Lumberton will probably continue for the rest of the week or until the next scandal. Hopefully, they's no more scandals for a long time but time will tell. Every seat was filled sans two seats on the front row, but a lot was covered and discovered during the March meeting. Here's a recap of some of the matters discussed and voted on at last night's meeting: The Day in the Park at 5th Avenue was approved. Elaine Robinson spoke and invited everyone to participate and donate towards the event. She said there will be an Easter egg hunt, food and fun for everyone from every community. Alderwoman at Large, Tina Speights, asked the board members to rent port-a-potties for the event ...

On January 19, 2017, Ramona Ellen Bennett, second grade teacher at Lumberton Elementary School, was arrested for the sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church. The arrest happened almost two weeks ago, but the general public just found out about the arrest over the weekend. At the time of this blog post, the school administrative office was closed but I'm interested to know if she is still employed by the Lumberton School District? As you know, certain people that commit crimes in Lumberton are given a pass. Perhaps she was selling the drugs on her lunch break or after school. The City of Lumberton Board of Aldermen used that analogy to justify Danny Davis's assault against me. They said they were not liable because he was a salaried employee and the assault happened on his lunch break (at 9:30 in the morning). As soon as the office open, I will call to see if she was at least suspended after getting charged wi...

Last year, there were rumors about the state of the National Guard Armory. At one meeting, there was speculation that the building was getting sold for $10,000. Calls made to city hall regarding the matter were rather evasive; the clerks would neither confirm or deny the pending sale of the building that was gifted to the City of Lumberton. Besides the rumor mill, there was a sighting of the proposed buyer meeting with Lumberton's city attorney at Dan's in Hattiesburg. At first, I didn't know what was going on but after a little digging I started to wonder why the City of Lumberton didn't give the building to Lamar County since they wanted the building and the City of Lumberton was not able to maintain the facility. After hearing that Kent Crider was itching to sale give away the building for $10,000, I wanted to know why he was so adamant about keeping the building out of the hands of Lamar County but whenever Crider is involved there's prob...

Although I requested to have the venue of the trial changed, I went to court tonight to see Judge Anderson in action. When I entered the board room/court room, Anderson was in the middle of pronouncing a sentence but he stopped talking and stared at me while I was looking for a seat. At that moment, I realized that it wasn't necessary for me to introduce myself. I'm not a regular at court and most of my appearances in court has involved department heads in the City of Lumberton. After sitting down, it seemed like Anderson was administering some seemingly fair justice but it was soon evident that there was some bias to his action. I noticed that some of the people that stood before him were given more grace than others; especially those that were telling him how it was to see him again. I noticed that one person was getting some advice from the judge on how to make sure the incident didn't get placed on his record while several others were found guilty...

Last week I announced that I was going to blog about something I discovered. Unfortunately, I was not able to get all the pieces of the puzzle because of the storm that hit the Pine Belt. The story may be delayed but it will get posted as soon as I get my hands on the other information. The person that was supposed to send me the links I need is currently dealing with the aftermath of an actual storm. I may not get to blog the rest of the week because of a change in my schedule but as soon as I get copies of the information, I will post them on the blog. Now in other news..... As you know, today was supposed to be the court date regarding the charges filed against Daniel Davis and the assault that took place at the Lumberton Public Library while he was duty as an employee of the City of Lumberton. After I listed to the video tape of the department heads that included Mayor Kent Crider bragging that they have Judge Anderson in their pockets and that "he's waiting on ...

For several weeks, the City of Lumberton has been the subject of fodder because we have elected officials that refuse to serve the community they claim to love. At the beginning of the year, the board refused to take actions against a city employee that committed a crime while on the clock, and just this week, the Mayor of Lumberton threatened that he will ask citizens to boycott the Lumberton Public Library because the Lamar County Library Board is actually composed of individuals that have integrity; it would be great if the same could be said about our board. With all that's wrong with Lumberton, there's usually a glimmer of hope that always shine despite the despair. Just this week, it was reported that students from Lumberton High School raised money to send to a school in Lumberton, North Carolina, after their school was damaged by Hurricane Matthew. In 2005, the students from Lumberton, North Carolina, helped the City of Lumberton after Hurricane Katrina an...

The video of the meeting with the Lamar County Library Board is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dysfunctionality of Lumberton's elected and appointed officials. Before Crider's misguided rant at the meeting, he was giving more misinformation in an interview with the Lamar Times . For some reason, Crider is seemingly at a loggerhead with Lamar County officials; except for his pocket judge Bill Anderson. In last week's edition of the Lamar Times it was noted that the Lamar County Board of Supervisors want to use the National Guard Armory as a community center and possible fire station but Crider is set on selling the building instead of turning it over the Lamar County. When asked about giving the building to Lamar County, Crider responded "We would be crazy to give it to them." Normally, I would agree but Lamar County has proven that they're good stewards over the facilities that were turned over to them by the City...

Lindsey Carter was one of those behind the scenes attorneys. I've attended a lot of board meetings and I can't remember one instance where he voiced his concerns about protecting the City of Lumberton. Wait. There was this one instance. I recall when Mayor Miriam R. Holder was going to read a memo or note she received from the city clerk and she was going to read the contents of the letter. Carter advised her that she could not give details of the letter because it was a personnel issue. Other than that one incident, I can't recall any other time when Carter advised the board of their violations or possible violations according to the law. Well, maybe his sit back and watch, I'll get back with you, I got to research that, I 'm busy but here's my bill approach changed after the board decided not to respond to the letter of complaint I submitted regarding the behavior of Daniel "Danny" Davis. Wait, I might be wrong on...

Greetings! This is the first blog post of 2017 and I decided to give you a review of 2016. Before I begin, let me do a public service announcement and disclaimer. If you were blocked from this page and you're still viewing a page you claim is filled with inaccuracies; you're the weakest link. If you're on the clock and getting summoned to city hall to view the video and blog you claim is so upsetting; you're really a confused fan because reading and you comprehension is apparently optional. Also, if you're so bothered by the blog, why would you continuously share my posts on your page? I heard there's supposed to be a "White Out" at Tuesday's meeting. Danny's supporters are supposed to crowd the board room to convince the board members to keep their local hero on the City of Lumberton's payroll. Hopefully, I can switch shifts with someone so I can be there with you. Enough of that, let's get to today...

Let me make or break your end of the year celebration. I decided to post for several reasons. Today is the anniversary of the special call election that resulted in the Kent Crider becoming Mayor of Lumberton. I was trying to add the link of his campaign promises from Hattiesburg American but the link didn't work for some reason. Despite Crider's claim that he was the only person that could ensure the City of Lumberton secured the $2.5 million dollar Army Corp of Engineer Grant, here we are one year later and no work on sewer system but we're still getting monthly reports about the never ending leaks throughout the City of Lumberton. Oh wait....the project is now slated for January 2017 or close to election time along with the unicorn sightings of new businesses that's looking to come to a city that's losing its school. Yeah. Keep dangling that carrot for the goats that follow you. Hopefully, the elected officials of the City of Lumberton will go ...

Apples don't fall far from the tree. On Tuesday, when I arrived at city hall, there was a meeting in progress. As I rushed to go live, Danny "Daniel" Davis aka Triple D was raising more hell than a peg leg man on a tin roof because he realized he's finally disposable. Triple D has spent 30 years destroying the Public Works Department, making sure he never hire anyone that's capable of taking over the reigns of the Public Works Department. In other words, he stacked the deck to ensure he's always in control. When the board woke up and finally grew weary of the complaints about "certain" cemeteries not getting proper maintenance, reports of people taking home the city owned lawn mowers to cut their grass, water meters not getting read and Danny's perpetual cry that he's understaffed. I think we've had reports of water leaks for the past 10 years. At some point it seems like the leaks would be fixed. Sadly, there's little tru...

The Lumberton Panthers are about to take the field and battle for the title of State 1A Champs. The entire City of Lumberton is proud of the team. Some of you are currently in Starksville, waiting for the gladiators (Lumberton Panthers) to enter the arena and claim another victory. If you were not able to attend the game, it will stream live on-line and WDAM will also broadcast the game. This week, I featured some of the players on the team but we all know there's no I in team. Collectively, the entire team, coaching staff, cheerleaders, band, parents and fans have propelled the Lumberton Panthers to the spot they hold today; positioned to claim another championship victory for the City of Lumberton. Here's a list of the Lumberton Panthers: J.Tribbett (QB), D.Edwards (RB, ILB), D. Coleman (RB/LB), R. Coleman (RB/DB), K. Fairley (RB/ILB), J. Galloway (RB/ILB), D.Bucker (WR/DB), J. Buckley (RB/CB), T. Toney (CB/FS/WR), C. Bowens (DB/WR), E. Joseph (WR/DB),...

I didn't plan on speaking about Ben Winston or his candidacy for the vacated District 106 post. Prior to my conversation with Winston, I asked myself why is Ben running...again? But the answer is simple; people continue to vote for him. He's won most of the offices he sought and that's probably why he's running again. Also, he's aware that there's a good chance that there will be a runoff election because there's 5 candidates (no one will be able to get 50% plus one; if they do there's a dead cat on the line and in the electronic voting machines). After speaking with Winston, I'm still not clear of his platform but he genuinely think he can make a difference. When asked what qualiifies him to hold the position of District 106 Representative, Winston said the following "My God-given abilities, education, experience, business management and supervisory skills qualify me for this position. After serving as a former alderman, supervisor, mayor a...

I attended the meeting tonight for several reasons: to see if they were going to address the letter of complaint I submitted almost a month ago, to see if Step (Tommy Dukes) and Fetch (Cora Rogers) received permission from their massah to address my blog post and to make those in attendance uncomfortable. I guess Tommy and Cora didn't receive their freedom papers because they looked as shackled as ever. I arrived a few minutes late at the city engineer was, as usual, informing the board about applying for more millions more in airport grants so they can continue to improve the airport and get $350/month in rent for an entire airport. The department heads gave their reports. Crider was excited to announce that the increase in water bill rates generated an additional $2,000 last month and could result in an additional $25,000/year. Before they could continue the celebration of fleecing the citizens of Lumberton, they turned around and voted to allow Merlene "T...

If former mayor, Ben Winston didn't teach us anything else; he taught us that anything can be done in Lumberton with three votes. He managed to wrangle three supporters for everything that blocked progress in Lumberton but our community has three representatives on the board and they can't seem to do anything to take control. In other words, we have a set of house ninjas in office waiting on the crumbs from massahas table. We have the majority because the mayor cannot vote, unless there's a tie. So ask yourself what Tommy Dukes and Cora Rogers won't support Quincy Rogers when he vote for or against certain items? For the most part, Quincy is going to do the right thing but the board will fight him every step of the way. Regardless of what the rest of the board members do, he should know that he has the backing of Cora and Tommy but he don't and they're always kicking against the prick. If Quincy was not an honorable, level he...

Saturday, October 29, 2016, the Future Leaders of Tomorrow will host a Breast Cancer Awareness Walk at the 5th Avenue Park in Lumberton, Mississippi. The event will take place from 12 noon until 3:00 p.m. There will be plenty of activities for everyone. In addition to the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, there will be a canned food drive and a Fall Festival. So bring your kids, and bring something for the canned food drive and take part in this community event. There will be plenty of food, fun, music for everyone. Also, there will be survivors in attendance that will share their stories their testimony. Hope to see you there.

There will be a Homecoming Festival held in Lumberton on Saturday, October 15, 2016 beginning at 8:00 a.m. and ending at 3:00 p.m. The event is being held to help raise money to renovate the Lumberton Museum. There will be plenty of fun, food and activities for everyone. The festival will be held on Main Street and the Lumberton Museum will be opened so people can see the work that has been completed and the work that is needed in order to re-open the museum. I also think the Lumberton Football Club will be selling plates in front of His Place Worship Center. As I stated, there's something for everyone; just show me to the booth with the funnel cakes. This morning, I spoke with Daniel Wise, Candidate for the Mississippi House District 106 and he said he was going to come to the Homecoming Festival so he could talk to some of the citizens of Lumberton. When I told him that there's probably 800 voters in Lumberton and he said "every vote and voter matters; I will make ever...

Webster's define dunce as a person who is slow at learning; a stupid person; fool, idiot, stupid person, simpleton, ignoramus, dullard but in the City of Lumberton that definition is personified by the Public Works Director, Danny Davis. For some reason, he think his privilege allows him to do or say anything but that's not going to be the case in this matter. Almost a week ago, I filed a formal complaint against the department head because of his continued infantile behavior and threats to "fix" my water bill. For years, there have been claims that the water meter readings are inaccurate and when the person over that department boasts that he and another department head can assign whatever rate they want, it makes a normal person wonder if the allegations levied against this department are true. There's some doubt that the message above was actually penned by Danny Davis. I know he's stupid but I doubt he's that stupid. Or is he. A...

With all that's wrong with Lumberton, this place had a rich legacy of service, respect and compassion for it's citizens and at the help of this legacy of customer-orientated compassion was none other that Mrs. Faye Houts Englle; affectionately known as Mrs. Faye. In a time when 2 out of the 3 department heads are utterly unprofessional, I thought I would take time to reflect on a person that was always warm, welcoming, professional, knowledgeable and she was a jewel that shined brightly. "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies?" As many of you know, there's practically no virtue within the walls of Lumberton's city hall. We must rely on memory and reflect on a time when honor, integrity, compassion were not only words but attributes and Ms. Faye not only embodied these attributes but she exemplified them every day. As I reflect on the gentle, kind nature of Ms. Faye, I realized that she was always present i...