Sheriff Billy McGee has taken Charles “Plukey” Bolton’s salary and divided it among his inner circle. Bolton was paid just over $80,000 annually. He was recently convicted on 9 felonies stemming from fraudulent income tax return filings.
Sheriff McGee is reported to be grooming his future son in law, Nick Calico, to become the next candidate for Sheriff. Mr. Calico became engaged to McGee’s daughter on July 30th. It’s cleat the #ForrestCountySyndicate has a plan to continue the dynasty long after McGee is out of office. While Forrest County goes more in the hole financially, the #BillyClub inner circle gets massive raises. **This site has the best sources.
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Local hero Flashback
MARJAH DISTRICT, HELMAND PROVINCE,, AFGHANISTAN
09.29.2011
Story by Sgt. Earnest J. Barnes
II Marine Expeditionary Force
The day started out as a normal day in Afghanistan for Seaman Apprentice Byron McGill, a Navy corpsman from Petal serving with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. He checked his gear, as well as the physical condition of the Marines he cares for, and they stepped off on a patrol. It seemed no different than the many they’d conducted prior to this day.
The Marines patrolled en route to a local resident’s compound where they were going to ask questions about enemy activity in the area. The point man, which directs the routes of each patrol, was leading the squad and came upon a scene which frightened him.
Lance Cpl. Jorge A. Palacios, a Miami, Fla., native and an infantry point man with Charlie Company, said he was overcome with disbelief when he saw a child floating in the canal next to a compound.
The child was not moving when he pulled her out of the canal. He began screaming for McGill. “I personally thought she was dead,” Palacios added.
McGill rushed to provide aid in a matter of seconds. Unaware of what his fellow service member was yelling about, he was disturbed by the scene he came upon. Palacios, who is also a team leader with his squad, handed off the child and set up his Marines to form a security bubble to give McGill the safety and area he needed to work on the unexpected patient.
“Of course, I freaked out at first, [thinking], ‘Oh baby! Dead baby!’” said McGill. “Then I told myself, ‘Just do your job.’ I just went by the basic steps — the ABCs.”
McGill evaluated the situation and quickly put the pieces together of what happened.
McGill immediately began administering treatment. He opened the child’s airway and then checked her chest for movement. He did not see any, and he went back to clear the child’s airway for a second time to begin rescue breathing, which is a basic lifesaving step he learned from his medical training. McGill said as soon as he cleared the 2-year-old girl’s airway for the second time using the head-tilt, chin-lift method, the child miraculously reacted.
“The baby started vomiting and choking. I picked the baby up, put her on my knee, and gave her a few thrusts to the back so she [could] get rid of the vomit and water in her mouth,” said McGill, who joined the Navy in 2008. “She continued to vomit and cough. After about 30 seconds she cried out, and that is when I knew she was ok. I grabbed a cloth and wrapped her in it and held her for a second.”
Several Marines on scene began yelling into the nearby compound to alert someone inside of the incident.
Basbibi, a local resident and the mother of the young girl, said she was inside the house when she noticed her daughter missing. She said she looked for her all over, but it was when she came to the back of the compound that she heard a lot of noise and emerged confused about what was happening outside her home.
“I was scared, because I did not know what was going on. There were a lot of Marines around,” said Basbibi. “I realized they were helping my daughter, and my fear faded away.”
McGill handed the child off to her mother and gave specific instructions on what to do to care for the toddler. Basbibi gave a sincere thank you to McGill and the Marines as they went on their way to continue their assigned mission.
McGill said it felt great to be able to save a life, and it isn’t just him doing miraculous things over here. He explained the members of the coalition forces are changing lives everyday, and he wished everyone, to include his family, could see the change that is being made.
“My wife was very proud, but I wish others could see, and my family could see, the good things we do,” said McGill.
Editor’s note: Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is currently assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
Prominent Hattiesburg attorney, John Lee, will take the 5th if made to testify in tax evasion trial.
John Lee, a prominent local attorney, has now been named in court filings related to the tax evasion charges of Charles and Linda Bolton. Lee’s attorney informed the court that he will take the fifth amendment if called to testify. Invoking the 5th amendment will protect Lee from possible self incrimination.
Lee is a close friend of the Boltons, and according to the US Attorney, wrote “many” checks to Sports 22 and their package store. The checks were not claimed as income by the Boltons, yet they were reported as expenses by Lee’s law firm. According to the filings, Lee designated the payments as supplies and other goods and services, not loans as claimed by the Boltons.
Local attorneys Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes also wrote checks to the Boltons. They have since been removed by Judge Starrett as Linda Bolton’s defense council; since they will likely be called as witnesses in the trial. It’s not clear if they also plan to plead the 5th if called to the stand.
In a filing by the court, the US Attorney states,
The United States intends to introduce business records, checks, check registers, and tax returns of John W. Lee, an attorney and friend of the Boltons. These records are admissible under the hearsay exception as business records. Lee’s attorney has informed the government that Lee will invoke his Fifth Amendmentright against testifying in the Boltons’ trial and will be unavailable to testify. In lieu of Lee’s testimony, the United States intends to admit the records as business records through stipulation and, possibly, through other witnesses with personal knowledge of the records. Therefore, the United States seeks an order precluding the defense from arguing that the government has a duty to call Lee, controls whether Lee testifies, or the fact that the govermment did not call Lee is a weakness in the government’s case against the Boltons
Here, the Lee records will establish that many of the checks that Lee wrote to the Sports 22 Restaurant were designated in his business records as for “supplies” or other goods and services. Many of the check registers and memo lines in the checks from Lee to Sports 22 Restaurant record the checks as being for goods and services. The government will also seek to admit Lee’s tax returns for the years 2009-2013 to show that Lee also claimed deductions for the checks he wrote to Sports 22 Restaurant and Hall Avenue Package Store because the checks were for supplies or goods and services. The checks, check registers, and tax returns are relevant because they tend to establish that the Lee checks were,.for goods and services (income to Sports 22 or Hall Avenue Package Store), and not loans or income to Lee.
Attorney’s for the Boltons have notified the court that Lee will not be able to testify due to health constraints and the US Attorney wants to make sure the Boltons don’t attempt to use that to their advantage. The US Attorney argues,
“The Court should preclude defendants from arguing that the government must call Lee as a witness. The government believes that when it offers Lee’s business and public records, the defendants may argue that the government needs to call Lee to testify about the records, or that Lee’s unavailability suggests something adverse about the government’s case. The Court should prevent the defendants from making these arguments for several reasons. First, the government has no control over whether Lee invokes his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Once a defendant invokes this right, the government cannot compel a witness to testify and incriminate himself. See Salinas v. Texas,133 S. Ct.2174,2179 (2013) (“The privilege against self incrimination is an exception to the general principle that the Government has the right to everyone’s testimony.”) (internal citations omitted).”
Second, because the records the government seeks to introduce are business and public records, firmly rooted in hearsay exceptions, no Case 2:16-cr-00007-KS-MTP Document 49-1 Filed A8l22lt6 Page 4 of 5 confrontation clause issue is implicated. United States v. Holmes, 406 F.3d 337,348 (5th Cir.2005) (confrontation clause is triggered only with respect to “testimonial” evidence, not to non testimonial evidence that falls into a firmly rooted hearsay exception). Therefore, the defendants should be precluded from arguing that Lee must testify so that the Boltons can have an opportunity to cross-examine Lee, that they are prejudiced by the government’s failure to call him, or that the government is hiding something or has a weak case because Lee is unavailable.
Lee is said to be fighting cancer at this time, and will not be available to testify in the case. Below are the court documents
Kyle Wallace, one of Dupree’s top political contributors, won’t have to worry about being sued over his poor management of a sewer project, which cost taxpayers $840,000.
“My (arbitrator’s) conclusion is that the city and Mr. Wallace have engaged in what I’m going to call a rope-a-dope approach to this case, to this contract, to this litigation without any real effort to provide meaningful factual or legal defenses” (page 28 lines 4-9)
A $1.8 million dollar sewer project turned into a massive loss for taxpayers when the engineer for the city, Kyle Wallace with Shows, Dearmon, and Waites, breached the contract, according to the findings of an arbitrator. (page 17 lines 20-23) The ruling was upheld in Circuit Court. Wallace and his firm are top campaign contributors to Mayor Johnny Dupree.
According to the findings, Kyle Wallace, the city’s agent for the project breached the contract in a number of ways. The arbitrator found the following with regard to Shows, Dearmon, and Waits’ engineer, Kyle Wallace.
Wallace failed to disclose Creosote contamination at two different job site locations causing delays (page 9 line 25 – page 10 line 1 through 16)
Wallace failed to disclose an old abandoned sewer line and manhole which delayed the project four weeks to remove.(page 9 line 25 – page 10 lines 1 through 16)
Wallace failed to show on the engineering plans an old eight inch water line which broke and flooded the excavation on Timothy Lane, resulting in a cave in of the project (page 11 lines 20-25 and page 12 lines 1-12)
Wallace failed to give direction to the plaintiff to deal with the cave-in issues (Page 17 lines 13-17)
Wallace failed to respond to request two change work orders submitted by the contractor to correct these situations. (page 18 lines 9-25)
Wallace failed to identify an old site location of a previous trailer park located in the path of the sewer project, which required a deviation around the trailer park causing additional delays.
Wallace made multiple inconsistent statements and statements which were not credible.(page 17 lines 6-12), (page 27 lines 10-15)
Wallace, as the owner’s representative, authorized change work orders without council approval, then held those change work orders “out of convenience” in violation of the contract terms and failed to respond to the contractor’s request for payment. The Arbitrator determined this to be a “breach of contract.” (page 20 lines 4-16), (page 21 lines 6-25), (page 22 lines 1-4), (page 28 lines 11-25), and (page 29 lines 1-2)
According to the Arbitrator
“I find Mr. Wallace’s actions on this project to be questionable. I find some of his testimony to lack credibility.”
“They (change orders) were submitted to the engineer but there was no response and it’s not disputed there was no response.”
It was the city who had the responsibility under the contract to
“make the necessary arrangements for easements, rights-of-way, and other such issues before issuing a notice to proceed” and that “the city failed to do so in violation of that section.” 6.3(a)
The arbitrator also determined that the contractor had to
“de-mobilize and re-mobilize five times to meet the changing work conditions, all against a backdrop of a contract where the days were ticking down towards the 350 day limit.” (page 11 line 3-10)
The arbitrator also stated,
“I find that there would not be a reasonable way for a contractor exercising reasonable diligence to become aware of the condition before the project began.” (page 15 lines 1-4)
What is so troubling about these losses is Mayor Dupree has no plans to go after his top political contributors Shows, Dearmon, and Waits’ bond to recover the taxpayer’s losses. No one on city council has pushed the issue.
Concerned citizens can call 601-545-4500 and ask to speak to the mayor. Demand that he go after the bond of the engineering firm to recover our money. Also, citizens can email the council at [email protected] and demand their action.
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A recent motion to continue court filing by Televangelist Kenny Fairley and his attorney not only reveal significant issues with the defense in his fraud trial, but they also reveal new information about the government’s dual investigations, involving the FBI and HUD, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s related prosecution.
This information came from the department of Justice website https://www.justice.gov/criminal/pin
The most significant aspect of this case is the Public Integrity Division of the FBI is prosecuting this case. The division specializes in prosecuting both corrupt elected and corrupt appointed officials. Fairley is not appointed or elected.
Who else is a possible target? Keep reading.
Also of significant relevance is the Federal Government appears to have this trial on a fast track. The indictment was served on March 23rd, 2016, and trial was set for April 18th, 2016.
Within six days of the indictment being unsealed, Fairley received 17 Cds containing, over 6000 pages of documents via FedEx Overnight.
On April 5th, 2016 all parties had a telephone conference, when Fairley’s attorney, Sanford Knott, asked for a continuance beyond August, 2016. The court granted a continuance until July 25th, 2016, but just twenty four hours later, the court changed it’s ruling and moved the trial date up to June 13th, 2016.
On May 25th Fairley filed a motion to continue. In his motion under Item #1 of their argument, defense stated that given the timeline, and the amount of evidence, Fairley had not had enough time to assimilate the evidence and find competent council and experts, in order to build a defense.
Shouldering that burden, according to item #6 of the filing, is Fairley. And according to the defense, the process it is affecting his health. Item #6 Reads,
“Fairley has been diligent in preparing his defense in a way that no other client of undersigned council has. Fairley has traveled to various venues seeking experts and competent council from Mississippi to Michigan.” The filing goes on to say, “All of this has taken a toll on his health, the topic of which follows.
Item #7 states,
“Recently the Court was informed of significant health issues that Fairley has and the need for continued treatment out of state. The rush of a trial of this magnitude is simply unfair, given that stress, without question,compounds and contributes to the deterioration”
However, nineteen days after the date of this filing, Failey’s son commented on social media that his father was “in good health.” This contradicts defense council assertions that he is ill. Is he ill, or is he in good health? The defense asserts it can provide medical documents if necessary, but none were filed with the court.
Under #2 EXISTENCE OF NOVEL QUESTIONS a window into the government’s investigations and prosecution is revealed for the very first time. It reads,
“The defense would point out that there does exist a novel question of law that must be answered and that council has been researching as follows: to what extent can the government prosecute Fairley for theft, laundering, or otherwise misappropriating HUD funds when HUD itself, after its audit of Pinebelt, decided not to initiate a criminal prosecution of Fairley? Fairley believes that this question may be an issue of first impression given that HUD closed its investigation of Pinebelt, even while the prosecution was continuing its investigation.”
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For the first time we know there was an investigation by HUD, and a simultaneous investigation by the Public Integrity Division and the FBI. HUD opted not to prosecute Fairley, and Fairley’s questioning can he be prosecuted by the Public Integrity Dicvision if HUD opted not to prosecute. The distinguishing difference between the two is that the FBI Public Integrity Division was investigating, and that legal mings to wonder who is the other target(s).
Are possible targets in City Hall? Are they in Washington, DC? Was there some political pressure from higher up, perhaps at the DC level to kill the HUD investigation?
Hattiesburg Public School District has been on a financial downward spiral ever since 2011, when two things happened. Katrina grant funds ran out, and James Bacchus became Superintendent of HPSD. Bacchus’ appointment was a shock to many, as Bacchus had done a terrible job in his public interview, according to many in attendance. Bacchus also was the only candidate who didn’t have a Doctorate. So, when he was appointed by the board, it left many people scratching their heads.
During that time, under Bacchus leadership, the district rapidly expanded its payroll, creating new positions not just in administration, but everywhere. One of the newly created positions was the Director of Early Literacy. The position came with a salary of over $80,000 when it was created. The person who was hired for the position was Deborah Woullard. Mrs. Woullard is the wife of Forrest County Supervisor, Rod Woullard. Mrs. Woullard was a retired principal of one of the most successful schools at the time.
With Katrina grants running out and significant increases in hiring and pay raises, and with no adjustments to spending elsewhere, the District began running immediate deficits. The District covered these deficits by borrowing money using Tax Anticipation Loans. 50% of the schools in the state use these loans to get them through periods until their tax money arrives, but these loans are not intended as long-term deficit financing mechanisms. From 2011 to 2015, the Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Marcus Cathey, maxed out their ability to borrow additional funds against the district’s tax revenue, The board hit their maximum borrowing capability after accumulating over $7 million dollars in loans.
The district also depleted its fund balance from well over $4 million to just over $700,000 in December of 2015 when Bacchus resigned. At that time, Dr. Greg Ladner took over as interim Superintendent. Ladner cut everything and everyone who wasn’t a necessity and under contract. The nationally acclaimed debate team personnel was cut from 2.5 teachers to one. Other programs were cut to the bone or eliminated completely. The Human resource department was restructured, and by June, over 53 positions were cut completely. Over the previous five years, the district blew through approximately $10 million covering the deficits, and now it was left with a forecasted 1% ($400,000) of its total annual operating expenses in the bank and barely avoided going into the red. **This number has since changed after the July Board meeting. The school will have over a $1 million dollar balance as a result of higher tax receipts and lower expenses due to massive cuts.
As the dust settled on June 30th, there were still unnecessary, administrative positions which had survived. They would have to be dealt with by a new Superintendent. Eliminating these positions were going to be very tough for any superintendent, as there was tremendous political pressure behind the scenes to keep these positions.
One of those hot button positions was the Director of Early Literacy, held by Supervisor Rod Woullard’s wife. It is widely accepted by people informed on the school district’s finances and structure that many more cuts in personnel are necessary. Things seemed to be moving in a new direction when, on April 14th, Carey Varnado replaced board member, Mary Williams. Williams resigned a few weeks earlier. On May 8th,Eric Steele was appointed to the board to replace David Garraway. Garraway was not reappointed by Mayor Dupree. With two new board members in place, there was some hope for a change.
That hope would be short lived. Not one, but two newly appointed Superintendents resigned one after the other. Tony McGee, the superintendent of Scott County School District, was offered the job first, but very shortly thereafter he backed out. A few days later, Janice Johnson, the assistant superintendent of the Biloxi Public School District was offered the job. She showed up a week before her official day. Board member Carey Varnado told the Hattiesburg Patriot on June 28th, ”
Dr. Janice Johnson came to work a week early. The first official day was supposed to be July 1. She is already acting to make some serious changes that need to be made. She is seeking a lot of input from school employees and board members. She is a very quick learner, and I’m confident she is going to be exactly what the Hattiesburg schools need.”
Three days later on her first official day on the job, July 1st, Dr. Johnson quit. People wondered what was really going on in the District and this site has found out what happened.
Board member Eric Steele, a close personal friend and longtime schoolmate of Rod Woullard, reportedly put pressure on Dr. Johnson in a closed door meeting and let her know that Deborah Woullard would remain on the payroll. Sources who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation tell the Hattiesburg Patriot that Dr. Johnson was faced with the reality that she would be held accountable for a district which she didn’t have control over, and decided to quit.
This situation needs to be investigated by the Mississippi State Board of Education.
**If you want to help bring Hattiesburg Problems to light, please consider joining as a Patriot Plus member. It’s $7.95 per month and will give you access to private discussion forums, future web cast, and greater detail about current and future reports. HPD and Forrest County Sherrif’s office Scanner feeds will be available as well beginning next week. You can sign up by clicking here. All revenue will go towards future investigations and promoting sponsored stories.
Wade (in orange) and wife Dolly Walters. They had a home where the buffalo roamed, and the deer, and the antelope played. That ranch is under seizure notice by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Back in January the bottom fell out of the world of some high profile individuals here in the Pine Belt. Their jet set lives became grounded in a new reality of seizure notices for allegedly defrauding our veterans, workman’s compensation, and insurance companies. If charges are indeed filed against individuals by the U.S Attorney’s office, lavish lifestyles and #1200DollarPants could be exchanged for federal prison jail and over sized, orange jumpsuits.
The story broke with a whimper on a local TV station, then, a few days later, a source of sources contacted this site, and the Hattiesburg Patriot broke the story wide open over the span of three weeks.
Over a period of a few weeks on HP Facebook, names like Brett Favre, Bus Cook (Favre’s agent), Dr. Joe Story (the co-founder of the Andrew’s Institute), Wade Walters, Joelle Smith (pro bodybuilder, and wife to prominent cardiologist Randall Smith), Hope Thomley, Doyle Beech, and others were were reported on this site’s Facebook page.
After the news broke, and information flooded in to this site, it became apparent that there were two main cream syndicates in action. One was world Health Industries (connected to Brett Favre), and the other was the Advantage Pharmacy Syndicate connected to Wade Walters, Hope Thomley, Joelle Smith, and Doyle Beach. All four had millions of dollars in property seized in total. It also became apparent that the FBI had a medicare and Tricare fraud expert on the case.
And here on this site, for the first time, exclusive details will be revealed that have never before been made public. But first, the foundation must be laid with the declaration of Special Agent Darren Mayer. test
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Pictured Joelle Smith. She and her husband, Dr. Randall Smith, had their Lear 45 taken by the Feds over alleged fraud of Veterans Tri-Care in the Cream Scheme.
PRICE ROLLING
Under Facts and Circumstances #2, Agent Mayer asserts that the pharmacies involved engaged in a fraud tactic called “price rolling.” He states,” This type of fraud occurs when a pharmacy employee submits a claim to an insurance provider to ‘test’ the amount of reimbursement for a specific prescription. The claim is often retracted or cancelled and a ‘new’ claim is submitted using a different compounding formulation to determine if the ‘new’ claim is reimbursed at a higher rate.”
SPLIT BILLING
Split Billing is when a prescription that is written for a specific period (e.g. 30 days) is split into multiple, smaller prescriptions. Pharmacies avoid caps for prescriptions and get to add on multiple “dispensing fees,” regardless if the medications are actually sent separately.
AUTO REFILLING
The subject pharmacies are known to automatically refill prescriptions in spite of doctor’s orders and/or patient’s wishes not to refill the prescriptions. In some instances, patients were offered payments, or told to destroy the medications, to keep the patients from cancelling the automatic refills or from returning the medications. If a patient returns the medication, the pharmacy is obliged to reverse its claim to the insurance program.
WAIVING / PAYING CO-PAYS
In order to keep patients using their product, many pharmacies would tell their patients that they don’t have to pay a co-pay or make no effort to collect the co-pay. Some pharmacies would offer “co-pay” rebates, or they would even pay the copay using their green dot card., thereby creating a documented transaction of fraud.
PRESCRIPTIONS WITH NO PHYSICIAN INTERACTION
Patients have reported having received prescriptions without every having seen or knowing the doctor who prescribed the medications.
Altering Prescriptions for Financial Gain
The subject pharmacies are believed to bill for ingredients that are not contained in the actual compounded medications in order to receive a higher reimbursement from the insurance programs. The pharmacies may also substitute ingredients without the knowledge of the patient and/or the prescribing doctor.
SHELL COMPANIES TO CONCEAL
Many of the pharmacies are known to use affiliates or shell companies to hide their involvement from certain insurance programs, This arrangement often occurs if the pharmacy has been audited and prohibited from submitting claims to a particular insurance program
KICKBACKS TO DOCTORS
Through marketing companies, which are under the control or direction of the co-conspirators, kickbacks or incentives were paid to health care providers to prescribe compounding medications that were filled by subject pharmacies.
People want to know will these individuals get to keep their property? That’s for a court to decide, but one thing is certain. No one is just going to walk away from millions of dollars without a deal in place. Public, criminal charges haven’t been filed, but according to legal experts, with experience in both criminal prosecutions and criminal defense, the blood is in the water.
The City of Hattiesburg Municipal Court was at the center of alleged corruption and mismanagement back in the summer of 2012. An HPD internal affairs report leaked to the media, revealed many concerns about a couple of the judges and several clerks there. The report detailed allegations of clerks taking bribes in the form of cash, EBT cards, and designer purses in exchange for disposing of warrants, misinforming judges, and even allegedly altering judges’ rulings.
The Court, at that time, was under the police department and Police Chief Frazier Bolton. In the wake of the fallout, all three judges resigned and council restructured the court as an independent entity; not under a particular department or under the control of any particular person but the Municipal Judge. It was the council’s intent to give the judge everything they needed to have the buck stop with that judge. The mayor appointed Jerry Evans, and he was approved by council.
Since the court has been under the Management of Judge Evans, things are getting worse, according to a letter from Wanda R. Courter, an auditor trying to get Hattiesburg’s books up to date. The city’s previous auditor, Nicholson and Associates actually performed forecast of the receivables and books for the court in prior years, instead of actually requiring a full accounting. Since the new auditor has taken over, a higher standard of accountability appears is in effect, and Judge Evans doesn’t appear capable of meeting that higher threshold. .
In a letter to the city clerk and accounting department Ms. Courter states,
“From an overall perspective, we (the auditing firm) have received less data to use in our audit at this point than we had received at this time in the prior year audit.”
Courter goes on to state,
“Municipal Court fines and related accounting have been the subject of internal control findings for the last several years. Underlying deficiencies in procedures and controls have continued, and subsidiary reports of Court fine transaction activity for the fiscal activity for the fiscal year ended 9/30/15.”
While this may just seem like financial matter, citizens are being arrested for “unpaid fines” which have been previously paid and not properly recorded. Issues with duplicate entries and improper recording are of particular concerns.
These are the same things which also happened in the 2012 Municipal Court Scandal.
Judge Jerry Evans’ inability to manage his court’s records are actually causing citizens’ rights to be violated and wrongfully arrested. A lawsuit obtained by the Hattiesburg Patriot reveals that Ms. Liza Diaz was arrested on March 1, 2015. Represented by Attorney Christopher Farris, the complaint reads,
“During the course of the traffic stop, Officer Tate advised the Plaintiff that there was an outstanding warrant for her failure to pay an old speeding ticket. She pleaded with the officer advising that she had already paid the ticket a year earlier and that the receipt was at home. Unfortunately, he took her to jail where she remained for more than 24 hours, children crying and upset, arrested and her photo placed on the jail house times for all to see.
Her Husband brought the receipt to the jail to try to have her released immediately. He was told there was no one in Municipal Court on the weekend to verify the payment. The following day an employee came into work and confirmed the fine had been paid on April 1, 2014.”
Farris alleges on behalf of Ms. Diaz,
“Plaintiff would submit that the actions of the city of Hattiesburg Municipal Court in failing to properly enter the payment of the fine in the Court’s system led to her wrongful arrest and incarceration.”
If you have been wrongfully arrested for unpaid fines, WHERE YOU HAVE A RECEIPT OF PAYMENT, contact this site.
nepotism – The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
The Forrest County Board of Supervisors has a long standing practice of engaging in conflicts of interests and violations of basic ethics laws. The problem with the ethics statutes in Mississippi is there are no teeth of enforcement for violations, since violating ethical statutes is not a crime. The public is at the mercy of those elected to hold themselves to an ethical standard. However if a board works collectively, they can easily thumb their noses at the spirit of the law and appoint relatives to paid positions of power and trust by colluding with other board members.
Rod Woullard violated ethics laws several times when he participated in motioning and voting to have his brother put on the FGH Board.
Money is the key to power in government, and Forrest General Hospital is the golden goose which lays hundreds of millions of dollars a year in golden eggs. Whether it’s jobs, service contracts, construction contracts, land acquisitions, advertising dollars, or grants, FGH has become a slush fund of power, influence, and control. Like marionettes, the FGH board members dance to the tune of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors; even funneling money back to the Board of Supervisors through grants.
Supervisor Burkett Ross used this grant money to pay twice for a voting precinct, which created a windfall to the landowners, Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes.
Dukes is an attorney for Forrest General Hospital and the former Attorney for the Forrest County Board of Supervisors.
The minor issue for unethical boards and politicians who want to stack relatives on boards, is statute 25-4-105(1). The statute reads in part,”
(1) No public servant shall use his official position to obtain, or attempt to obtain, pecuniary benefit for himself other than that compensation provided for by law, or to obtain, or attempt to obtain, pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated.”
(i) The spouse of the public servant; (ii) The child of the public servant; (iii) The parent of the public servant; (iv) The sibling of the public servant; and (v) The spouse of any of the relatives of the public servant specified in subparagraphs (ii) through (iv).”
Reverend Reginald Woullard is Supervisor Rod Woullard’s Brother and a member of the FGH Board of Trustees.
In 2005 Supervisor Rod Woullard’s brother was appointed to fill the vacant Forrest General Hospital Board seat of Rod Woullard’s deceased father. Woullard’s brother, Reginald Woullard, was nominated to the board by Charles Marshall and seconded by Lynn Cartlidge. Pastor Reginald Woullard was approved in a unanimous vote, which included Supervisor Woullard’s vote for his brother. This vote was a violation of MS Code 25-4-105, according to Opinion No. 07-032-E by the Mississippi Ethics Commission.
Then, in 2007, Reginald Woullard was reappointed to FGH Board for a five year term.The motion was made by Lynn Cartlidge and Seconded by Supervisor Rod Woullard. Reverend Reginald Woullard once again received unanimous approval of the board, and once again, Supervisor Woullard violated 25-4-105, voting to second a motion and vote appoint his brother to the FGH Board of Trustees.
Mississippi Ethics Opinion 07-032-E states that an public servant must recuse themselves when a relative is being appointed to a paid board position, The opinion states, ”
A total and complete recusal requires the public servant leave the meeting room before the matter comes up for discussion and remain absent until the vote is concluded. The public servant must not only avoid debating, discussing or taking action on the subject matter during official meetings or deliberations but must also avoid discussing the subject matter with anyone. This includes casual comments, as well as detailed discussions, made in person, by telephone or by any other means, otherwise the attempted recusal simply becomes an abstention. An abstention is considered a vote with the majority,. Furthermore, any minutes or other record of the meeting or other proceeding should state that the recusing member left the room before the matter came before the public body, that he complied with all of the above requirements and did not return until after the vote.”
Hogan violated ethics laws by voting for his father to be appointed to the FGH Board of Trustees
In June of 2010, Supervisor David Hogan’s father, Dr. Marcus Hogan, was appointed to the FGH Board, with Chris Bowen making the motion and Rod Woullard seconding the motion. Supervisor David Hogan and Supervisor Lynn Cartlidge were absent, and Charles Marshall abstained.
Dr. Hogan was successfully appointed, with just the two votes of Rod Woullard and Chris Bowan. While this wasn’t a violation of the letter of the law, it is a perceived as a violation of the spirit of the law; since Hogan is the father of Supervisor David Hogan. If Supervisor Hogan had discussed his father’s potential appointment with anyone prior, including a fellow board member, he would have been in violation of 25-4-105.
In May of 2012 Reginald Woullard was reappointed to the FGH Board of Trustees. Supervisor Rod Woullard violated ethics laws when he made a motion to re-appoint his brother, and violated it once again when he voted for him.
On May 20th, 2015 Dr. Marcus Hogan was reappointed for a five year term. Chris Bowan made the motion to appoint, and Burkett Ross seconding that motion. Dr. Hogan was reappointed with a unanimous vote, including the vote of his son, Supervisor David Hogan. This vote by Supervisor David Hogan was a clear violation of MS Ethics Code 25-4-105.
For some unknown reason, on or about January 20th, 2016, Supervisor Rod Woullard called and requested an ethics opinion with the Mississippi Ethics Commission regarding the appointment of his brother, Reginald Woullard, to the FGH Board of Trustees. The Commission’s initial email response to that call is below and states,
Pursuant to Section 25-4-105(1), Miss. Code of 1972, no public servant may take action in his official position to
Supervisor Ross put up Dr. Marcus Hogan and Reginald Woullard after an ethics opinion said their appointment was unethical. Ross also used FGH Grant money to pay Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes a windfall after paying twice for a voting precinct.
obtain or attempt to obtain a monetary benefit for a relative, which includes a parent, spouse, child, sibling and some in-laws. See Section 25-4-103(q) above. Any compensation paid to the relative for serving on a board or commission would constitute a pecuniary benefit resulting from the appointment. Therefore, county supervisors may not appoint their relatives to serve on boards and commissions which receive a per diem or other compensation.
Even if the relative were to serve on the board or commission without any compensation, the appointment of a supervisor’s relative would contradict the public policy codified in
Section 25-4-101. Public servants should pursue a course of conduct which does not raise suspicion among the public that they are violating the public trust and which will not reflect unfavorably upon the government. Therefore, a county supervisor should not appoint his or her relative to serve on boards and commissions, even if the relative will serve without any compensation. See also Advisory Opinion No. 08-120-E. MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION
In order to comply with the letter of the law, the Forrest County Board of Supervisors had Dr. Hogan and Reginald Woullard
resign from the FGH Board on January 20th, 2016; only to be immediately reappointed in the same meeting, just minutes later. Supervisor Burkett Ross played ball and nominated both Dr. Hogan and Reginald Woullard to the FGH board.
In Dr. Hogan’s case, Supervisor Woullard seconded the motion, with Burkett Ross, Rod Woullard, and Chris Bowen voting for Dr. Hogan’s appointment.
In Reginald Woullard’s case, David Hogan seconded Ross’ motion to appoint Reginald Woullard; who was then appointed with the three votes of Hogan, Ross, and Bowen.
It appears they are colluding to violate the very spirit of the law. The Mississippi Ethics Commission opined that the family members on the FGH Board could not be paid, since their appointments violated the ethics statutes. This is what led to the switch-a-roo in January 2016.
Most of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors don’t appear to be concerned with suspicion among the public or following the spirit of the law. It appears what they are concerned with is the control of money, contracts, and resources for their friends.
Normally, with competent, honest people in positions of the public’s trust they work to save money, to get the most for the people they serve. Then there are those who enter politics, and act in a manner through sheer greed or stupidity, where they or their friends benefit financially. The latter seems to be more common in Hattiesburg and Forrest County. One example of highly questionable decisions by local politicians can be seen with events connected to Forrest County’s Beat 3 Barrentown voter precinct.
With decisions like these by Mr. Cartlidge, taxpayers have a right to be concerned about his actions on the Board of Forrest General Hospital.
It all started in 1985 when Forrest County Beat 3 Supervisor and Board President, Lynn Cartlidge, pushed for the board to sign a 30 year lease for land belonging to two of his friends, Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes, in order to construct a new voting precinct in his beat. It was just three acres at the time, and on the 15th of May, 1986 bids were put our for its construction, and the building and other improvements were constructed using taxpayer money.
Five years later, in 1990, the county decided to expand the area from 3 acres to 9 acres, and some time later, additional improvements were made to the property, including a walking track, funded by Forrest General Hospital. It is important to note, that the county had never negotiated an option to buy the land for a predefined price in the 1985 or 1990 leases at anytime prior to making the improvements.
This after all is a deal among close friends and for the benefit of the citizens, right?
Burket Ross used money from his community fund to pay for a building taxpayers paid already paid to build 30 years prior; giving Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes a financial windfall.
Then, 24 years later, the lease term is coming to an end for the Barrontown voting precinct and activity center. By this time Lynn Cartlidge is no longer making decisions on behalf of the citizens on Forrest County Board of Supervisors, but instead is now making decisions on the board of Forrest General Hospital.
When Cartridge retired from the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, Burkett Ross, who was then on the board of FGH, campaigned and won Cartlidge’s vacant seat. Ross then put Cartlidge up for his vacant seat on the Board of Forrest General Hospital. So, the two effectively swapped places.
Several years ago, the board of the hospital decided to start giving the Forrest County Board of Supervisors money for their community funds. Each supervisor has their own fund, which is funded by both Forrest General and taxes from Forrest County.
When Jim Dukes and Bud Holmes lease was nearing completion in 2014, Burkett Ross paid $193,415 from his community fund to buy the Barrentown voting precinct property. It’s interesting that the funding didn’t come out of the general fund, but instead came from Ross’ recreational fund, which includes monies from Forrest General hospital.
Jim Dukes was the Forrest County Attorney and FGH Attorney at that time of this transaction, and he was a direct beneficiary to the transaction.
Generally the Supervisors do not oppose another board members when they decide they want to spend their recreation money. In this case, according to the minutes, all supervisors voted to approve Ross’ request to pay for the precinct building once again.
Documents below include the original 1985 bid sheet, the lease agreement between the parities, the appraisal report, and deed.
