The name says it all: Crook at it again.

We can add another peculiarity to former Madison County Chancery Clerk and Ridgeland Alderman Mike Crook's growing list. Some things get better with age. Crook's actions seems to get more unusual as time goes on.

He has been credited with royally screwing up the land records in Madison County during his tenure as clerk, being a lawsuit happy landlord, and attempting to conduct a coup of the TEA party movement for his own meglomaniacal purposes, among other things. Last year he refused to comply with police officers in Ridgeland, and then sued the City for arresting him over it.

But this one? This one makes all the others look positively normal by comparison.

BY: Lucy Weber

Former Ridgeland alderman Mike Crook may have figured dinner for he and his wife and a sleepover could keep him out of legal trouble over rental property, but he was wrong.

Crook was found guilty Thursday in Madison Municipal Court on two counts of violating the city's ordinance governing rental houses. Judge Dale Danks ordered him to pay $867, the maximum fine that includes $300 per count plus court costs.

Acting as his own attorney, Crook tried to convince the judge he didn't need to meet city licensing requirements because he lived at the house he owned at 127 Cypress Drive. However, Danks said tenant Tammy Thompson provided "the most compelling evidence."

"He asked if he and his wife could come over and have dinner and if he could sleep on my sofa in case the city asked if he was living there," testified Thompson, who paid $1,250 a month to live in the house for about seven months last year.

City officials said Crook, a former Madison County chancery clerk, never posted a $10,000 bond required under the rental ordinance adopted in 2008 despite numerous letters and phone calls, but he did pay the required $100 rental fee. A bond or letter of credit is used to guarantee the owner will make any needed repairs the city requires. A bond or letter from a bank for $10,000 costs anywhere from $200-$300, said Bill Foshee, the city's director of code enforcement.

"The city has 327 rental houses, and 326 of them have complied with the ordinance," Foshee said.

Crook said he intended to appeal to Madison County Court. "I'm glad to get to County Court to have a fair trial," he said.

The case against Crook marks the first time the city has taken a homeowner to court for violating the ordinance.

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