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...

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...

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...

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...

The second meeting of 2017 will take place tonight. It is rumored that the Lumberton Board of Aldermen will sell the National Guard Armory tonight. Instead of keeping the building and turning it into a community center, shelter, senior citizen center or to house the Lumberton Volunteer Fire Department, Kent Crider is pushing for the sale of the building before the 2017 election. The building was given to the City of Lumberton and instead of using it to enhance the City of Lumberton, they're rushing to sell the building. I just started my subscription to the Lsmar Times and I didn't get an opportunity to see if the notice to bidders was advertised. I know bids are sealed but with the crew we have at city hall, I don't trust the process. Unfortunately, I saw what happened when the City of Lumberton rushed to sell the Movie Star building; everyone made money from the deal except the City of Lumberton. It was my hope that the city would keep the building o...

We're on the eve of the second regular scheduled board meeting of 2017 and those elected to represent the City of Lumberton are not conducting themselves in a professional manner. Since the last board meeting, where the board members decided to show they fully support an employee that committed a criminal act while on the clock, the board members and the city clerk have tried to set up road blocks in an attempt to build a case against me. Those of you that read and/or troll the blog, you noticed there were several attempts to show their full support of Danny Davis. Your current mayor, Kent Crider, went to the Lamar County Library Board meeting with a slew of misinformation; he said the assault started outside, that some disgusting language that he could not repeat was disseminated using the library's internet service, that he's planning to organize a ban of the Lumberton Public Library and he also proved he was not well versed in any laws...

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...

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...

I was going to entitle this post "Jack-holes of the Year but we're in the middle of January; I'm sure there will be plenty more before this is over. I could gloat but I'm just glad that I'm finally getting video footage proving what I've blogged about for years. Blog post after blog post, the powers that be were claiming that I was telling lies but now they're coming apart at the seams because they're scrambling to silence me. I know many of you watched the video from the meeting with the Lamar County Library Board where they announced that Danny Davis was banned from the Lumberton Public Library because he assaulted me. Now you know why Lamar County is advancing while the City of Lumberton continues to fall apart. The Lamar County Library Board took actions based on evidence while the Lumberton Board of Alderpersons refused to take actions because they're emotionally involved; their dislike of me caused them to shirk their re...

When you know what you're dealing with you know how to adjust you plan of action. Last night, the elected vipers of Lumberton held a special called meeting to tie up the ends of a CDBG Grant. However, it was interesting that they included an agenda item to sign a resolution establishing a code of conduct for officers and employees of the City of Lumberton. Just a few days ago, the board set a precedent for employee behavior by refusing to reprimand an city employee after he assaulted a citizen while on duty. Now, they're backpedling and trying to cover their bonds behinds. You mean to tell me that the City of Lumberton does not have a code of conduct in place for it's employees? Is it not in the employee handbook. I'm guessing that's why Merlene Wall has refused to respond to my FOI letter requesting a copy of the City of Lumberton employee handbook. Maybe it's still sitting on her desk. She will either respond to my request or respon...

One month ago, I was assaulted by a City of Lumberton employee that was on duty and one week ago I was assaulted again by more City of Lumberton employees. I'm still trying to get over the shock that no one other than my alderman, Quincy Rogers, had the integrity to call for the suspension of Daniel "Danny" Davis. Thankfully, others were in attendance to see the miscarriage of their duties take (that's one reason why I didn't blog a review of the meeting). Moments before Kent Crider laughed at a citizen when she was asking for an explanation about the desecration of her father's grave, he yelped like a kid that had his candy taken from him at recess, when he said "you didn't do anything when he was saying all those things about us in his blog!" Bingo. In that moment, it was clear that these elderly people had the mindset of an elementary student. Crider's cry explained their votes without them saying ano...