Citizens coming together for another attempt at change on West Madison Utility Board

Last month, residents who rely on West Madison Utility to provide water and sewer went as many as 16 days with neither. But, as most residents know, this is nothing new.

Over the years, attempts have been made. Local contractors and residents have tried to get involved to fix the problems. But, the West Madison Board has resisted. When confronted with the fact that they haven't been doing their job at board meetings, they simply go into executive session, and have even called the cops on residents who refused to leave.

As a result of the newest issues, citizens are again coming together to confront the board and find solutions to the decades old problem. But, after the latest meeting, it would seem that the board is still very defensive. A group of 35 plus in attendance on October 4 got to see the secretary of West Madison Utility verbally threaten one resident. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the secretary challenged her to fight.

 "She told me that we could go outside and pretty much she was saying we could fight," said the unnamed meeting attendee.

Promises of  no disconnections for the month of September were not kept, reconnection fees were charged, and some residents still saw bills in excess of $100 despite receiving no service from September 14 through September 30.

The citizens group has formed a committee and hired a lawyer. They plan to meet with Supervisor Karl Banks on Tuesday and ask for assistance moving forward. However, Banks has never been very helpful with this situation in the past, even going so far as to blame residents. Banks has used the problem to his political advantage over the past 25 years, but done little to help.

Residents are working with Rural Development hoping to have West Madison audited. Currently, rural water associations are only required to submit an annual "self-audit" to the State Auditor's office for review. That lack of oversight into the business practices of rural water associations invites mismanagement and misuse.

Questions have arisen regarding the award of a $400,000 grant many months ago to the utility that has never materialized. Some residents suggest it is sitting in a bank account unused. Others say misused.

Then there is the old story of the West Madison Director years ago who left town following the award of a grant, moving to Arkansas. The grant money supposedly disappeard with her. But, due to her connections with both Supervisor Karl Banks and Congressman Bennie Thompson she nor the money were heard from again.

Whether some of these stories are true or not remains to be seen. But, their is almost always a hint of truth, even in a lie. The fact that it is believable shows how far we have come, and how low West Madison Utility has fallen. If some of the mismanagement rumors turn out to be true there is further to fall yet.

If there is a silver lining, it is that the crisis has brought together the community like never before.

Said one, "Blacks and whites are pulling together and working hard to ensure that we no longer have to live with these injustices."

Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at 6:00 pm. at the Kearney Park Community Center. For more information, or to be added to the agenda call 601.879.9718. The next meeting is November 1.

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West Madison Utilities/Kearney Park

MIM: A Republican Challenger To Pickering?

Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler

A couple weeks back state Auditor Stacey Pickering announced he will run for re-election rather than test the waters of a competitive lieutenant governor primary. I don’t think there is much denying that this was a victory for Republicans as Pickering looks likely to win a second term.



State Auditor Stacey Pickering

 However, last weekend Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler admitted that she at least had interest in running for state Auditor. She made that statement on the Red and Blue Review with Jere Nash as she was filing in for Andy Taggart.

To say this would be a shakeup in the race is an understatement. I would venture to say that Hawkins-Butler is probably one of the two or three most well known mayors in the state after the mayor of Jackson. Whether or not that is a positive remains to be seen. But for a Republican to run against a sitting Republican office holder would certainly be a game changer, and give political watchers like myself another highly competitive GOP primary.

MIM

Rasmussen Poll: Tea Party Participation Up As Election Nears

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say they are Tea Party members or have close friends or family members who are part of the movement.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 17% describe themselves as members of the Tea Party, up four points from late August. Twelve percent (12%) more say they are not members themselves but have friends or family who are involved in the small government, anti-tax movement.

Just after Democrats in Congress passed the national health care bill in late March, 24% of voters said they were Tea Party members, with 10% more saying they had close friends or family members who were participants.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 6-7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports.

Rasmussen Reports

Congressman Harper says new job numbers report is "very disappointing"

Congressman Gregg Harper

U.S. Representative Gregg Harper issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the economy shed 95,000 jobs in the month of September.

“Over 18 months ago, American citizens were promised that unemployment would not surpass eight percent if the President’s trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ plan were to become law. Sadly, Mississippi has lost 30,800 jobs since this promise was made.

“Republicans understand that the federal government does not create jobs, businesses do. This is why we urged the Democratic leadership to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts before leaving Washington for the November elections. If the current tax rates are not extended by January 1, 2011, small businesses owners that pay in the 35 percent tax bracket will pay 39.6 percent. To boot, individuals that file in the lowest tax bracket will be subject a 50 percent tax increase, with their rate rising from 10 to 15 percent.

“The federal government should lend a hand to America’s employers, not weigh them down with more heavy tax increases. Today’s report of 95,000 more jobs lost in our country is very disappointing.”