Wednesday, July 10, 2019

From time to time we get questions from members of the general public about the operation of their government. Recently we had several people ask us about the cost of the executive chairs that members of the Sabine Police Jury have in their meeting room and also the nice button-down custom shirts Jury members wear. Both have a nicely embroidered emblem of the Police Jury on them.

A few weeks ago, Observations went over to the Jury meeting room to take a look at the chairs. I found there was a meeting in progress and met District 2 Juror Mike McCormic coming out of the room as I was going in. Not wishing to disrupt in any way, I said I would come back later. Mike told me the meeting was related to applying for a grant.

The same day I got what I took to be a “smart-ass” email from him, (I hardly know the man), as follows:

 “I don’t know why you were visiting the Police Jury today, but I have to assume by your desire to paint the Police Jury in a negative light that you weren’t there to seek out the positive things the Jury has accomplished. You quickly wanted to leave even though I invited you to stay and after I told you I was applying for a grant. By the way, I was applying for $10,000,000 that we could use to bring some of [sic] asphalt roads up to a level that could handle both our citizens and our timber industry’s needs without destroying them. I thought that may be of interest to you. However, I do not play in a band so my interest may not be of interest to you. Any time you want positive things to post let me know.”

First of all, he did not invite me to the meeting, and I would not have attended had he. Secondly, I left because there was a meeting in progress that I did not wish to interrupt. That is common courtesy. And lastly, his remark about him not playing in a band was great. I understand that Ima Hogg and the Three Piglets are looking for a swinette player.

In order to answer questions from the public, Observations made a public information request to Mr. Bill Weatherford, Secretary for the Jury, about the cost of the chairs and the shirts.  Mr. Weatherford answered promptly, as he always does.

I had not intended to use this information in Observations, but simply was going to pass it on to those who had asked about it. Then here comes another e-mail from McCormic:

 “I understand that you have asked for prices of the chairs in the meeting room. I have to assume that the purpose is to further divide and anger this parish by publishing negative information without knowing the background. This occurred before my time in office, but by talking with some of the jurors that were there and Mr. Ron Busby, this is how I understand it. In looking at the option of spending several million dollars on replacing the courthouse or updating it, the decision was made to update it. Grants were received to replace the a/c units, replace lighting, etc.  This upgrade effort continues today. During this time period, the need for chairs and table arose for the Office of Emergency Preparedness. As part of the courthouse modernization of the courthouse, it was decided that the table and chairs …would be given to OEP and the new ones would …be part of the upgrade. The chairs were a reasonable priced chair. With the crap that you and Tedd [referring to his brother-in-law Tedd Dumas] are trying to stir up along with seeing thing like the arrest of the mayor is making the parish a laughing stock of Louisiana. It’s hurting the parish I love and it angers me. Who would want to move here that reads this stuff.”

As stated, I had not intended to use the chair and shirt information in Observations, but since Mikey wants to make an issue of it, here goes:

Ten black chairs embroidered with the Parish seal were purchased on July 27, 2015 at an expense of $4,129.90, making the cost $412.99 each.

Now to the shirts which have the parish emblem embroidered on them:  The first order was for long-sleeved soapstone shirts on March 12, 2019. Eleven shirts were purchased (one for each Juror, one for Road Superintendent Bobby Hughes and one for Mr. Weatherford) at a total cost of $806.48. The average cost of a single shirt for each Juror, including the logo setup fee, shipping and tax, was $73.32.

The second order was for short-sleeved dark blue shirts on April. 30, 2019. A total of 14 shirts were ordered at a cost of $681.77. In addition to the Jurors, shirts were ordered for Mr. Weatherford, Hughes, D. Tatum and A. Durr in the Road Department and S. Rivers in the Jury office. The cost of the Juror shirts ranged from $48.14 to $53.66.

Total cost spent on shirts was $1,488.25. Total cost spent on executive chairs was $4,129.90. The grand total is $5,618.15.

And there’s more. Linda McCormic, Mikey’s wife, sent an email containing a statement from their daughter. We didn’t have room to use it in this week’s column.  And Mikey sent another e-mail about a blue-ribbon committee that Sen. Gerald Long formed to provide him with things he could do legislatively to help with economic development in the parish. He said the committee only met one time, but he provided a two-page report he had written entitled, “Toledo Bend is the only potential growth engine for a dying Sabine Parish.” If you are interested, you might contact him at michaelmccormic@hotmail.com for a copy.

To sum up, the public is paying for the operation of the Jury. The public has every right to ask for information and receive it. The information is what it is. The facts speak for themselves and may be positive or may be negative. I seek to obtain the truth. It is up to readers to make their own decisions about content. And another thing, elected officials work for us. We, as taxpayers, foot the bill.

I truly hope the police jury can obtain that $10 million grant they’re talking about trying to get. We can only pray for less talk and more action.

On a personal note, I recently bought a sufficiently nice and perfectly functional office chair and paid about $75 for it.  Of course, it doesn’t have my emblem on the back. And lastly, I have never paid $50 for any shirt I have ever bought and don’t intend to. Just saying.

Many Contractor Bruce Taylor continues his crusade to make the Sabine Parish Police Jury get a bigger bang for our taxpayer bucks. He said this Jury mowing machine has been parked on the Big N Ranch Road with a flat tire for going on two weeks. He estimated the mower cost between $125,000 and $150,000. He explained, “The Jury could have gotten a tire from Mark’s Wholesale for $1,200, but the tread was a little different. So they ordered one that cost even more just so the tread would match. I wonder if they are paying the operator all this time?” In a lighter matter, Bruce voiced some of his concerns at a recent meeting of the Jury. He said he was waiting for the meeting to start and was speaking to a person when a lady turned around and asked him why he didn’t run for Police Juror. His reply, “I wouldn’t lower myself.” Bruce also added, “When I voted for my Police Juror, I didn’t vote for him and his wife.”

Big fund raiser coming up for Frankie Howard for Sabine Sheriff. It will be held Thursday, Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Zwolle Festival Grounds. There will be a fish fry and entertainment. Tickets are now on sale for $25 each.

Last week in an online publication, Around the Town, Robeline Police Officer Brad Raynes opined that I should have done some research before I wrote an article about the House Bill 457 by Rep. Frankie Howard regarding putting signs in Robeline about it being a speed trap town.

In last week’s column, Observations wrote about the change in the speed limit signs in Robeline that were erected by the Department of Transportation. We stated that the new signs were installed the same day Rep. Howard asked for them. That is a mistake on our part. The signs were installed the same day Rep. Howard informed Observations about them.

The fact is, according to Rep. Howard, he asked the DOTD to change the speed limit about the same time he pre-filed his bill, which was on March 29.

So, it looks like the unexpected DOTD visit and speed limit survey that occurred in Robeline “some 3 months ago” according to Officer Raynes, came after Rep. Howard had already pre-filed his bill on March 29.

Maybe Officer Raynes should check his facts before he speaks.

And we stand by our belief that Rep. Howard’s attention to this issue has resulted in positive change. Nothing meaningful has been done about Robeline’s speed trap ways for decades. Had Frankie Howard not stepped to the plate, our guess is Robeline would have continued their enthusiastic ticketing along the two Hwy. 6 stretches east and west of town, which were formerly noted as 45 miles per hour.   

The Many City Council met in a special called meeting last Wednesday, July 3, to consider several items of business relating to the Many Police Department.

The Council voted unanimously to place three propositions on the November ballot so voters can decide what they wish to do regarding the Many Chief of Police and the Many Police Department. The choices would be as follows:

1.  Abolish the Many Police Department, with police duties within the city limits to be turned over to the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Department.

2.  Have the Mayor of Many, with approval of the City Council, appoint the Chief of Police.

3.  Elect the Many Chief of Police with the chief being responsible for reporting to no one.   

After the vote, Mayor Ken Freeman stressed that it is important for the citizens of Many to decide, not the City Council nor the mayor. “We believe strongly that this decision should be made by our citizens, and for this reason we decided to put it on the November ballot,'” Freeman said.

In other business, the Council authorized Mayor Freeman to hire a mediator who will conduct meetings between Mayor Freeman and Police Chief Roger Freeman in an attempt to resolve problems and issues within the police department. Police Chief Freeman will have to agree to the mediator before those meetings can take place.

Mayor Freeman said he thought this approach through a mediator would be best for all concerned. “For the past year, we’ve met several times in private and in public to discuss these concerns with the chief of police to no avail. I’m hopeful that mediation will help,” Mayor Freeman commented.

Heard around Town:

When the Many police told KTBS-TV News that it took several weeks to investigate the charges against Mayor Freeman, they said the investigation was being conducted by the State Attorney General’s Office and the District Attorney. KTBS contacted both the attorney general’s office and the DA. Both said they had nothing to do with any such investigation and were not investigating the incident.

The Sabine Parish Library will hold its Summer Reading Program finale next Tuesday, July 16 at 10 a.m. at the Many Community Center [Sabine Theatre.]

Science Tellers will present “Aliens: Escape from Earth.” During a midnight meteor shower, something mysterious falls from sky toward Earth – but it’s not a shooting star. Two kids venture out to investigate and soon find themselves mixed up with a family of visitors from another planet. Trapped by a crazy space scientist, they must risk everything to rescue the aliens and help them escape from Earth!

Throughout the intergalactic story, volunteers from the audience will get to discover the unbelievable world of science through experiments and demonstrations with chemical reactions, energy, explosions and much more.

The library encourages all interested persons to not miss this action-packed and educational alien adventure. They promise it’s totally out of this world!

That’s enough for now. Thanks for reading Observations and, as always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions for future articles. Send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call (318) 332-8653. To read recently archived columns, click on the following pages below. For older ones, visit our Facebook page, where they are listed under Photos and Albums by date. To send, save or print this week’s column, click on the appropriate icon below.

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