Bye Bye, Butch.

Not content to allow the MDOT Director to leave office on his own terms, the Transportation Commissioners have given Director Butch Brown until tomorrow to clean out his desk. Newly elected Northern Commissioner Mike Tagert joined Dick Hall in ousting Brown. Brown had said he would resign effective in June of this year.

MDOT commissioners vote to oust director Brown

Mississippi Transportation Commission voted 2-1 today to demand that Executive Director Larry L. "Butch" Brown submit his resignation by close of business Wednesday or he will be terminated.

A new commissioner, Norther District Commissioner Mike Taggert, was sworn in before the meeting and sided with Central District Commissioner Dick Hall on the move to replace Brown.

Southern District Commissioner Wayne Brown voted against the motion.

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Brown strikes a deal in public intoxication charge

Mississippi Department of Transportation executive director Larry "Butch" Brown has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that could see public intoxication charges dropped.

Brown was not in court this morning, but his attorney reached a deal with prosecutors in the charge of public intoxication arising from an incident at Beau Rivage Casino & Resort in July of this year.

Brown is to enter anger management classes and stay out of trouble. If he successfully completes the course, the charges against him will be dropped and his record expunged.

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Johnson's Cabal does away with all pretense of good government.

Tim Johnson and his friends on the Madison County Board of Supervisors have stopped acting as if they care, deciding to boot Supervisor D.I. Smith from Executive Sessions. They have worked behind closed doors from the public for so long, apparently now they want to rid themselves of the distractions while they systematically dismantle decades of work in one of the most promising counties in the state.

Madison County board says D.I. Smith e-mailed suit plans

A Madison County supervisor is accused of leaking information from a closed session that could impact a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Supervisor D.I. Smith faced allegations from fellow supervisors Monday during a board meeting.

On a 4-1 vote, with Smith in opposition, the Board of Supervisors agreed to have Board attorney Eric Hamer seek the opinion of the attorney general or the ethics commission on barring Smith from any executive sessions in which the MDOT lawsuit is discussed.


"He's shown he can't be trusted in this matter," board President Tim Johnson said in seeking to bar Smith.

Smith, however, said he has done nothing wrong and called the board's attempt to censure him "simply politics in Madison County.

"I'm not aware I disclosed any information I wasn't supposed to," Smith said.

The county is asking MDOT to pay back $20 million local officials said was lost when the county decided not to build an I-55 interchange for Reunion Parkway. Smith has said he thinks the suit is a waste of the county's money.

However, Mississippi Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Hood said state law does not keep an elected official from discussing what occurred behind closed doors.


"Discussing what happens in executive session is not a violation of the open meetings act or the ethics in government law," Hood said.

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MBJ: MDOT chief arrested for public drunk

The Biloxi Police Department confirmed to the Mississippi Business Journal that a Larry L. Brown, Sr., 67, was arrested at the Beau Rivage Resort at 6 a.m. Friday and charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

That’s the same name and age as Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director “Butch” Brown.

Reached on his cell phone Friday afternoon, Brown confirmed that he had “just left” the Beau Rivage. He said he had attended a planning session and had spoken to a group of economic developers.

Brown denied, however, that he had been arrested. “I haven’t been involved in anything drunk or disorderly,” he said.

A mugshot provided to the Mississippi Business Journal by the Harrison County Jail appears to be Brown, based on a photo of Brown on www.transportation.org, the website for AASHTO, a non-profit, non-partisan association that represents highway and transportation departments in the U.S. Brown is the president of AASHTO.

Calls to the Beau Rivage were not immediately returned.

Mississippi Business Journal