Click to enlarge | Dupree sits between his daughters and surrounded by supporters as he listens to the judge dismiss his motion to dismiss the trial.
Below is the live video stream of the Ware vs Dupree Election Challenge. Please tweet or recommend this page and remember to follow us on Facebook. This live feed will begin Tuesday July 23rd at 9:45am. This trial is about a free and fair election and transparency in Hattiesburg’s local government. Dupree supporters will attempt to make this about race and a continued struggle for civil rights. The race baiting group of preachers in Hattiesburg will no doubt seize on this opportunity to regain relevance and divide our city. In reality this is about corruption in our local government, a lack of accountability to our citizens, and a complete lack of transparency. The Hattiesburg Patriot has repeatedly investigated and reported on this corrupt administration as evidenced in the Mayor Johnny Dupree section of our website. Mayor dupree has sold out the masses to build a crony filled government, and now it is all coming home to roost.
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A “Vote Early, Vote Often” Supporter. Click on image to watch video on Facebook.
When the initial hearing took place in July, Dupree’s defense team said that Ware’s complaint was so vague that they couldn’t even respond to it. The reason for the vagueness was obvious legal strategy. They didn’t want Dupree to know what they knew. So, Dupree’s team of lawyers were forced to file a Motion for Clarification and Motion for Definitive Statement. Ware had until the 17th to file it and he did. The judge also ordered that the last day for Dupree’s team to file for a motion to dismiss is the 19th. So, it is expected that he will do just that. In the meantime, below are the legal responses by Mr. Ware, complete with names.
Another interesting, but not at all surprising development is the arrival of James K. Dukes to the defense. Mr. Dukes is a major power player in Hattiesburg. He was instrumental in getting the Sheriff elected. He was instrumental in getting Chief Bolton on as the Chief of police, and the Chief’s brother on as the jailer. The Mr. Bolton (the jailer) is also on the board of Forrest General Hospital. Dukes represents:
(1) The Forrest County Sheriffs’ Department
(2) The Forrest County Board of Supervisors
(3) Forrest General Hospital
Mr. Dukes Law Firm is known as one of the top criminal defense firms in the state.
Ware’s more detailed complaint ” Definitive Statement” (with names, locations and specifics) can be found below. Please click Recommend at the bottom of the page below the documents.
After today’s election challenge lawsuit, an unusual situation was caught on camera. Raylawni Branch was videoed asking Shea O’Hara, “When are you going to pay me the money you owe me. – You took advantage of a man with Alzheimers.- You owe me money and you know that!” O’Hara denied the accusation, explaining that he paid a late 1980s campaign printing debt with baseball cards. Mrs. Branch was not too happy with the situation, saying that she and her husband had a new printing company at the time and O’Hara took advantage of them. The video is below. Sean O’hara received a whopping sixteen votes in the election.
If Dave Ware’s complaint is true Johniece Dupre may have a new nickname. “Jailbird Johniece”. Dave Ware filed lawsuits in Forrest and Lamar counties against the Mayor Johnny Dupree for improper handling and documentation of absentee ballots, the responsibility of the City Clerk, Eddie Meyers. The suite also names the election commission as defendants for certifying an election where “Irregularities affecting the outcome of the election substantially occurred in both Forrest and Lamar counties.” The suit alleges 56% of the absentee ballots were not legally cast and should be thrown out, and that the Mayor’s wife committed election crimes, specific alleged violations of:
Miss Code Ann. 23-15-625 and 23-15-627 alleging ” Defendants wife, Johniece DuPree, who is also a notary public, on information and belief, improperly hand carried absentee balloting materials to voters, in contravention of Miss Code 23-15-625 and 23-15-627. Mrs Dupree who witnessed 35 absentee ballot applications and notarized the 35 ballot envelopes, was not authorized by law to deliver any balloting materials from the Clerk’s Office to voters. Further, on information and belief, Mrs. Dupree pressured one or more absentee voters to vote for her husband when some of the voters she witnessed were voting their ballots.”
Miss Code Ann. 23-15-711, alleging improper handling by the poll workers.
Miss Code Ann. 23-15-625, 23-15-627, and 23-15-657 alleging “it appears that balloting materials were delivered to voters, in contravention of Miss Code Ann. 23-15-625, 23-15-627, and 23-15-657. It further alleges, ” the city clerk and/or the person requesting a ballot on behalf of a voter, failed to complete the required certificate of delivery as to approximately 80 such applications, such that there is no record of who requested the absentee ballots. ”
Jailhouse ballots are of particular concern in the complaint. Documentation for 30 absentee ballots were actually recorded as mailed out to the jail, yet 33 were returned. The suit also brings into question the integrity or capability of the notary who notarized the 33 absentee ballots. One ballot wasn’t signed, yet it was still notarized. The notary’s only job was to witness the signature. The complaint alleges, “all the applications but one initially indicated the reason for voting absentee as ‘being outside of the county on election day’. Later that reason was ‘whited out’ and a new handwritten reason for entitlement to vote was created on each application verbatim and in the same handwriting as in jail, not be able to vote on June 4. Such reason is not provided by law, see Miss Code 23-15-713 and the evidence demonstrates that the requesting voters did not offer this reason when the applications were initially completed.”
Miss Code Ann. 23-15-715 “The Clerk improperly mailed absentee ballot materials to voters that do not permit absentee ballots to be voted outside the City Clerk’s Office”
There are many other documented incident at polling places in the complaint. This is a large complaint and is embedded below. Click on the arrow at the top right of the window to enlarge the pdf and read the complaint in its entirety. Your feedback on Facebook is appreciated.
The below complaint was filed with the City Clerk and Circuit Clerk. According to the statute, the Forrest County Election Board must have a hearing regarding this matter.
COMPLAINT of VIOLATION of ELECTION LAW
Pursuant to MS CODE SEC. 23-15-903. Procedure for filing complaint of violation of election law; which states
In addition to any other procedure provided by law, any person who has reason to believe that any election law has been violated may file a written complaint with the commissioners of election of the county in which the alleged violation occurred. The commissioners of election shall conduct a hearing on any such complaint. The district attorney shall have notice of such hearing and the district attorney or his legal assistant may attend such hearing. If the election commissioners find that there is probable cause to believe that a violation has occurred, they shall refer the complaint to the district attorney and the district attorney shall present the matter to the grand jury at its next term
I am filing a formal, written complaint alleging that numerous violations of election law occurred in the 2013 Hattiesburg municipal election and a hearing of the Forrest County Election Commission should be held as required by law to determine if probable cause exists to bring in the Attorney General in order to put forth the matter before a Grand Jury.
(1) ALLEGED VIOLATIONSEC. 23-15-551. Marking and casting ballot; who may be present in polling room A voter shall not be allowed to occupy a voting compartment already occupied by another voter, nor any compartment longer than ten (10) minutes,
Mitchell Carter, 18, said that on Tuesday an unnamed member of the DuPree campaign drove by his home and offered to pick him up and drive him to the Rowan precinct a few blocks away. Carter claims he was then escorted inside by a DuPree campaigner who followed him to his polling station. “When she came in there, I felt awkward, you know, because she thought I was supposed to vote for DuPree, and she came in there, put my card in and everything, and I thought she was just going to tell me how to do it.”
According to Carter, the worker not only stayed with him, but she worked the machine herself, voting for DuPree and other candidates on his behalf.
“It just happened that quick. Like, oh my gosh, I just been like voted for…like someone voted for me like I didn’t want him. And after that, it was the end of it,” said Carter.
Carter claims he wasn’t alone in his experience and campaign workers picked up other young people that day. “They went out and picked out all the younger people to make them vote for DuPree, because they don’t know about all the politics and whatnot.”
Carter says he feels taken advantage of, but it wasn’t until he told his mother and witnessed her anger that he decided to come forward. “My mom is saying African Americans, we worked hard to vote, you know what I’m saying? And when you strip that right, that’s like disrespecting the whole Civil Rights movement, you know?”
Election Commissioner Christy Thornton’s Facebook page displays her support for Electing Johnny Dupree. Election officials are supposed to be unbiased, according to the law.
(2) Election Commissioner Officials Daisy Lee Wade and Christy Thornton allegedly and willfully violated SEC. 21-8-31. Election offenses; which states
Any municipal officer or employee, other than the mayor and councilmen of any such municipality, who shall, during hours of employment solicit or attempt to influence any person to vote for any particular candidate at any election held in such municipality shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) or by imprisonment in the municipal jail not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both such fine and imprisonment.
Both Mrs. Wade and Mrs. Thornton displayed signs in their yards endorsing Mayor Dupree and Mrs. Thornton also “Liked” Mr. Dupree’s “Elect Johnny Dupree” Fan Page, which advertised her endorsement of Mr. Dupree to voters on Facebook; and which are violations of the law as election officials. Given the evidence of their support of the Mayor Johnny Dupree is is evident that they lack the ability to be impartial and should be investigated by the grand jury.
(3) Ward 5 candidate Kavadji Beverly allegedly violated the Hatch Act – The Office of Special Counsel states on its website a covered employee is:
“An officer or employee of a state or local agency is subject to the Hatch Act if, as a normal and foreseeable incident of his principal position or job, he performs duties in connection with an activity financed in whole or in part by federal funds. Coverage is not dependent on whether the employee actually administers the funds or has policy duties with respect to them. However, an employee may have other duties in connection with federally funded programs or activities, and thus may be covered by the Hatch Act, even though he does not apply for or administer federal loans or grants or have any authority or discretion over the federal funding.”
Ward 5 Candidate Kavadji Beverly is an employee of the City of Hattiesburg within the department of Urban Development. This department receives funding and grants; as such, any employee within the department is prohibited from running in a partisan election.
I request a meeting of the Forrest County Election Commission hold a hearing as required by MS CODE SEC 25-15-903 to determine if probable cause exists to report this complaint to the Attorney General for probable election crimes.
Respectfully Submitted on this day 13th June , 2013
When Hattiesburg’s Election Commission certifies the Mayor’s Race on Monday it poses a new hurdle for the Ware Campaign. Ware would then be forced to file a lawsuit in Circuit Court to challenge the official results of the Mayor’s Race only after discovering evidence that shows that enough ballots were erroneously counted or were not legal and could change the outcome. Prior to certification, Ware’s campaign has the opportunity to bring forward questionable ballots for examination by the commission and to be reviewed by Hattiesburg’s Municipal Election Review Board, but this window is quickly evaporating.The election Commission is set to certify the election on Monday, and a reliable source tells the Hattiesburg Patriot the vote is expected to be 4 to 1 to certify the results with President George Decoux being the dissenting vote
Daisy Lee Wade (216 Fredna) attempts to influence voters with her endorsement of Mayor Johnny Dupree. Click to enlarge
Election commissioners are appointed by the mayor for a four year term; so it shouldn’t be a surprise that some if not most of the commissioners are supporters of the mayor. However according to Section 21-8-31 of Mississippi Code (click to read) it is a crime for a municipal officer to attempt to influence any person’s vote for a particular candidate, and that is exactly what Commissioners Daisy Lee Wade and Dr. Christy Thornton did. Both Commissioners had Dupree signs in their yards as evidence by the photographs, and while on the clock, being paid as election commissioners.
Also of concern for the Ware Campaign challenge are the absentee ballots and their legality.This challenge will start with the 30 votes that came from the Forrest County Jail. Legal Minds with The Hattiesburg Patriot have discovered that voting absentee because you are incarcerated is not a valid reason to vote absentee according to Section 25-13-627 of Mississippi Code; which clearly states that the only 12 permitted reasons to vote absentee are as follows:
Election Commissioner Dr. Christy Thornton (located at 104 Bristol Lane) attempts to influence voters with her endorsement of Mayor Dupree a violation of Mississippi Code.
(2) I am a member of the Merchant Marine or the American Red Cross and am a citizen of Mississippi or spouse or dependent of such member.
(3) I am a disabled war veteran who is a patient in any hospital and am a citizen of Mississippi or spouse or dependent of such veteran.
(4) I am a civilian attached to and serving outside of the United States with any branch of the Armed Forces or with the Merchant Marine or American Red Cross, and am a citizen of Mississippi or spouse or dependent of such civilian.
(5) I am a citizen of Mississippi temporarily residing outside the territorial limits of the United States and the District of Columbia.
(6) I am a student, teacher or administrator at a college, university, junior or community college, high, junior high, elementary or grade school, whose studies or employment at such institution necessitates my absence from the county of my voting residence or spouse or dependent of such student, teacher or administrator who maintains a common domicile outside the county of my voting residence with such student, teacher or administrator.
(7) I will be outside the county on election day.
(8) I have a temporary or permanent physical disability.
(9) I am sixty-five (65) years of age or older.
(10) I am the parent, spouse or dependent of a person with a temporary or permanent physical disability who is hospitalized outside his county of residence or more than fifty(50) miles away from his residence, and I will be with such person on election day.
(11) I am a member of the congressional delegation, or spouse or dependent of a member of the congressional delegation.
(12) I am required to be at work on election day during the times which the polls will be open.
The Hattiesburg Patriot has been informed by numerous sources that the mayor’s wife, Johniece Dupree, requested absentee ballots from the clerks counter on behalf of numerous citizens and inmates in the jail, and she did so on numerous occasions. Mississippi Code 25-13-627 clearly states,
“Absentee ballot applications shall be furnished to a person only upon the oral or written request of the elector who seeks to vote by absentee ballot; however, the parent, child, spouse, sibling, legal guardian, those empowered with a power of attorney for that elector’s affairs or agent of the elector may orally request an absentee ballot application on behalf of the elector.”
The Hattiesburg Patriot alleges that Mrs. Johniece Dupree willfully violated Section 25-13-627, and that she should be charged with a misdemeanor. Furthermore any and all ballots mailed out at her request should be voided unless it meets the legal requirements of the above code. Furthermore, the Hattiesburg Patriot alleges that all absentee ballots that were received from the Forrest County Jail or any other incarceration institution be thrown out.
The Hattiesburg Patriot is a site that stands for what is right and just, regardless of race, socio economic status, etc., and feel in an election which was decided by a few votes, and where no candidate received a majority, every vote that can be examined for legality should be examined. Also, any person who violated the law to assist in obtaining illegal ballots should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Mayor Johnny Dupree, Assistant to the Mayor John Brown, and Pastor Kenneth Fairley wait anxiously an the affidavit ballots. Fairley to HP, “Man, get that camera out of my face.”
Mayor Dupree, Pastor Kenneth Fairley, News Media, and another twenty or so Ware and Dupree supporters crowded around the clerks counter as the Municipal election commission eliminated 56 of the affidavit ballots, accepted 40, and have 19 still up for review. The Hattiesburg Patriot was there to video the exchange between the Mayor and the election Commission over their decision to wait until tomorrow to verify the 19 remaining ballots. Dupree was clearly anxious and almost demanding that the commission reveal the outcome of the 40 verified ballots and the other 19 tomorrow. However, City Attorney Charles Lawrence supported the commission in that decision. He told the HP on video that state law required all affidavit ballots to be counted at the same time. Meanwhile, Candidate Dave Ware leaned back against piece of furniture off from the fray, as cool as a cucumber. When asked if he was nervous, Ware simply said, “No.”
Fairley was increasingly anxious, became agitated, and told the HP, “Man, Get that camera out of my face.” “Vice Mayor” aka Assistant to the Mayor, John Brown claimed his moment of irrelevance and chastised the Municipal Election Commission about their handling comments from the audience. George Decoux look as if he wanted to unleash a Jedi mind trick on Downtown Brown, but to no avail. Video is posted below. It speaks for itself. You may need to wait a little bit for the video to buffer, depending on how many people are on the site. Enjoy.
Hattiesburg Attorney Tal Braddock (right) and Ward 1 Democratic Candidate Justin Herrington (left) enter the Forrest County Circuit Court House to file an injunction, seeking justice in Hattiesburg’s tainted election process.
Hattiesburg Ward 1 Democratic candidate J.C. Herrington has filed an injunction against Mayor Johnny Dupree, the city of Hattiesburg, the Hattiesburg Municipal Election Commission, and three independent candidates. Herrington and Hattiesburg Attorney Tal Braddock filed the action in Forrest County Circuit Court at 4:50pm Wednesday, May 22nd. The action demands that three of the independent candidates be disqualified, since they did not meet election law requirements to run for office. The Law requires that an independent candidate for councilman obtain 50 signatures from within the candidate’s ward in which they were running. These candidates all failed to meet that requirement. Herrington also has the Mississippi Attorney General’s opinion backing up his action.
Prior to this action the Hattiesburg election commission requested a legal opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. Hattiesburg Election Commission President George Decoux said in a pubic hearing that the commission would honor the Attorney General’s opinion. When the May 3rd, 2013 opinion came down and stated the candidates were not qualified under Mississippi Code Annotated 23-15-361 and should not be certified by the Hattiesburg Municipal Election Commission, the commission ignored the Mississippi Attorney General’s opinion and voted 4 to 1 to certify the three independent candidates. Mr. Decoux was the only commissioner who voted in line with the Mississippi Attorney General. Election council members Mary Lee Bourne, Nina Arrington, Smith, Christy Thornton, and Daisy Lee Wade all ignored the opinion and voted in favor of certifying the independent candidates. Now, Mayor Dupree, the city of Hattiesburg, three independent candidates, and five election commissioners must answer to the action in Circuit Court. The three candidates affected are:
(1) Ward 4 Petra Arnold-Wingo – Wingo is running against Mary Dryden
(2) Ward 5 candidate Kavadji Beverly – Beverly is a code enforcement officer with the city and running against incumbent Henry Naylor. Beverly works at Pastor Ken Fairley’s Chrurch.
(3) Ward 1 candidate Derrick Ware – This candidate is like an onion. He is employed at Hall Fairley Mortuary. On may 10th, he withdrew from the race; then he was allowed to reenter the following Monday, which Herrington and his attorney allege is a violation of election law (See documents below). Derrick Ware is closely associated with convicted felon William Vaston Fairley. Vaston Fairley is the son Pastor Kenneth Fairley. According to sources, Vaston Farley is working closely with both the Kavadji Beverly and Derrick Ware campaigns.
Herrington is also asking for a new primary since the city of Hattiesburg was in egregious violation of Mississippi Code Annotated 23-15-649. This statute required the city to have absentee ballots ready at least 45 days before the primary. The responsibility for this largely falls on the city clerks office. Eddie Myers is city clerk. Absentee ballots were over 20 days late for the primary.
The plaintiff, J.C. Herrington told the Hattiesburg Patriot
There is no right way to do a wrong thing. I believe everyone should have to play by the same set of rules and it’s clear that these candidates and the election commissioners with the exception of George Decoux the lone election commissioner to vote against qualifying the candidates disagrees. The election commissioners all agreed before the AG opinion came in that they would honor the opinion. Well what happened between their commitment to me and the opinion coming in? I’d guess the same thing that happened to me which were threats, harrasment, and intimidation.
I will no longer bow down to this kind of nonsense. Everyone and I mean everyone no matter who you are or who you know or who you are affiliated with should have to abide by the same rules. It’s time for Hattiesburg to do things the right way and it’s time that everyone is put on an equal playing field. Bottom line is again everyone should have the same rules to go by and this lawsuit is an attempt to level the playing field so that everyone has the same set of rules and I will push this all the way to the Mississippi Supreme Court if I have to.
J.C. Herrington, Ward 1 Candidate for City Council
Click on top right arrow in document window to enlarge.
Hattiesburg Realtor Chris Price is employed at Vines Realty and is a close friend and Realtor for Mayoral Candidate and Ward 4 Councilman Dave Ware.
A March 8th, 2013 Mississippi Ethics Commission opinion determined that Realtor Chris Price could not serve as a councilman and also collect a real estate commission related to the city’s Land Application Project; and doing so would not be ethical. Price was securing options to purchase land for Dr. Bennett York’s Land Application group while he was also campaigning for city council. When asked if he had a comment as to why he (Price) submitted a request for an ethics opinion so far into his candidacy Price responded, “No, I don’t have a comment on that.” Submitters of ethics opinions are anonymous. It is not clear whether Price submitted the request himself, or if it was submitted by someone else in the 1st person. What’s interesting is on the same day the ethics opinion was handed down Mr. Price filed his qualifying paperwork to run for city council.
Price is also a close personal friend and Realtor for Councilman Dave Ware. Ware was supporting Price via social media in Price’s bid to become Councilman for the Ward 4 seat that Ware was vacating in his bid to run for mayor. Ware has called Modern Mechanical waste water treatment “impractical” and has been bias in favor of Land Application. Ware and Price also partnered in the tornado recovery effort and were covered on WDAM for their joint effort to replace books for DREAM in their selfless act of charity. It is not clear who called WDAM to report this selfless act of charity. It should come as no surprise to readers here that Ware will likely support Price making his commission in the land deal, given the opportunity.
Price also endorsed Mary Dryden for city council. Dryden’s daughter is married to Joseph F. Tatum III. The Tatum family owns a large amount of land in Lamar county that is part of the land which would be used by the city under Dr. York’s land application group. It is not clear if Price himself was the one that optioned the Tatum land plot, but his motive for endorsing Dryden is dubious. If elected as Ward 4’s councilwoman Dryden could likely be a deciding vote on which land group to choose. Dryden’s family (daughter and grandchildren) might stand to benefit of inherit or make a small fortune on the land deal. Dryden is an outspoken advocate of land application. It is not clear if Mrs. Dryden would be facing a similar conflict of interest that Price faced. The Hattiesburg Patriot has been informed that an ethics opinion will also be requested for Dryden in the matter if she doesn’t voluntarily submit a request of her own. This whole land deal project smells of good old boy politics and reeks of numerous conflicts of interests.
Below is the ethics opinion provided to the Hattiesburg Patriot by an anonymous source. Section III includes the analysis. Below that document is the official statement Price released to the media two weeks after the ethics opinion was issued.
I began campaigning for Councilman for Ward4 because I wanted the opportunity to part of the solutions that can improve quality of life for people of Hattiesburg. In the past year, I got that opportunity through my business and the land application project.
I have gone to great lengths to preserve the integrity of such a dynamic project. However, because of the nature of my profession, I feel that where I can most effectively serve the community now is by continuing with this work, which is a critical part of Hattiesburg’s future.
With a heavy heart, the blessings of my family, and the advice of my wisest advisers, I must withdraw from this campaign. No matter the results on June 4th, I will continue to be the voice of action for Ward 4 and the Hattiesburg community. As I have for many years, I will commit myself to doing what I can to address whatever challenges that our city faces. Ward 4 is fortunate to have Mary Dryden as a candidate, and I encourage all of my supports to rally behind her as we continue to grow as a Ward and become an example for the City of Hattiesburg. I look forward to celebrating the progress we can make together.
