Jackson County Supervisor John McKay and his unwavering support of Bill Walker during the DMR Scandal was certainly enough to put him on Slabbed’s radar screen back in the day. Since then we’ve all gotten to see McKay in action once again in the Singing River Meltdown beginning with the demise of his appointed trustee, Morris Strickland. No one news story better encapsulates John McKay the elected official than the saga of the folks in Vancleave up on McGregor road that were McKayed by McKay and his political family during the construction of the new Ocean Springs High School. I can think of no better place to start telling this story than with Jackson County Spokeswoman April Havens in early December 2009:
A Kiln man who won a $3.1 million contract to supply dirt for the new Ocean Springs High School was granted permission by county supervisors Monday to construct two 10-acre catfish ponds on his Vancleave land despite local resistance.
Tommy Cobb bought the McGregor Road land in June 2008, he said, to use for hunting and catfish ponds.
In October, the Jackson County Planning Commission voted 6-1 to allow Cobb to construct his ponds and haul off the dirt, but resident Louis Fortenberry appealed that decision to the Board of Supervisors, which heard the appeal Monday.
Fortenberry claimed Cobb hadn’t received the proper permits for digging the ponds, among other problems.
Supervisors, however, said the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality confirmed that Cobb received his necessary permits for the ponds, which will be 8 feet deep.
And indeed Cobb did have Catfish Pond permits, which are far easier to obtain from MS DEQ than a permit to extract dirt as we continue:
Attorney Michael Watson said Cobb would not maintain a dirt pit, but rather haul the dirt to the new Oceans Springs High School site, for which his company, G&C Construction, won a contract.
G&C Construction won a $3.1 million contract to supply the high school with 260,000 cubic yards of dirt, he said.
To some, that plan might “look fishy,” Supervisor John McKay said, noting some are upset that Cobb was able to “lowball” the bid because he’d be using his own dirt.
“I haven’t liked the way this has been handled, but we allow other people to dig ponds,” McKay said before making the motion to deny the appeal.
“I think you have a legal right to do what you’re doing,” he said.
Watson said Cobb bought the land in 2008 with the intent to construct a hunting camp and the ponds.
“He’s been open and honest,” Watson said. “He’s had the same intentions from day one. I’m sure some folks are going to say he worked one over on the system, but it just worked out for him.”
So here are the players per Haven’s press release, Tommy Cobb, Supervisor John McKay and now State Senator Michael Watson. Mr. Cobb sure was lucky finding land with supposedly suitable dirt for the construction of a new high school where he was supposed to start digging some Catfish Ponds. Even luckier is Cobb’s catfish and dirt site was evidently the one closest to the site of the new high school which means everything in terms of transportation costs thus the “low ball” remark by McKay. I could be wrong but I think the Cobb Catfish Ponds are the “mud hole” that Stacey Pickering referred to in his now infamous DMR family speech but before I get to that, allow me to introduce the consultants Cobb hired to help him out with his Catfish Pond project per a source familiar with the details of the construction that has spoken to Slabbed New Media under condition of anonymity:
- Scott Walker and Robbie Maxwell aka Maxwell Walker Consultants
- Former Harrison County Supervisor Kim Savant
The permitting of the Catfish ponds was handled at Mississippi DMR by Bill Walker and at DEQ by Trudy Fisher. Bill Walker’s wife Sharon was on the Ocean Springs School Board at the time as Board President.
Thus G&C nabbed the contract, sold the School District $3.1 million dollars worth of dirt and of course never constructed the first catfish pond, likely because that was never part of Cobb’s master plan to make money Jackson County style. Here is a picture of the site from earlier this year courtesy of the folks at Google Earth.
In fact, Mr. Cobb would die young on October 21, 2013 then as a resident of Oxford Mississippi according to his obituary, which was obtained by Slabbed New Media. And just as Mr. Cobb died young, so did his company because on December 11, 2012 G&C Construction filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was ultimately converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation as the company was unable to reorganize its affairs. Included as a creditor was the United States EPA, which tagged G&C with Clean Water Act violations related to the construction of the road used to extract and haul the dirt to the high School construction site. I reckon Mr. McKay was wrong about G&C having all the required permits as the EPA begged to differ practically from the start of the operation in late 2009:
Normally, voters that are sold out by their elected representative would get a chance to evaluate the job performance of their elected official at least every four years in a voting booth but in a final show of what makes Jackson County such a special place the gang on the Board of Supervisors made sure McKay’s problem was taken care of by redistricting the area into District One in 2013. Again we turn to the County Coms Department for the skinny:
“You will have different constituents come Jan. 1,” attorney Parker Berry told supervisors this morning.
Berry works for firm Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada.
“I didn’t realize that,” Supervisor John McKay said. “I figured the new maps would take over at the next general election.”
McKay said he’s concerned because his lines and Supervisor Barry Cumbest’s district lines change quite a bit with these new maps.
“It concerns me that there will be people who voted for me that won’t be represented by me anymore,” he said. “And there will be some who didn’t vote for me that I’ll represent. I guess I’ll just have to introduce myself to them.”
McKay predicts “there will be a little confusion for a while” as residents learn who to call when they have a county issue.
Somehow I doubt Mr. McKay included this chapter of his political career in his introduction to his new constituents.
Let’s review. An out of town contractor just happens to show up and buy land to dig catfish ponds at the same time the new Ocean Springs High School needs a massive amount of dirt. Despite not having all of the required permits, Supervisor John McKay green lights the project while declaring it fishy but in order and completely permitted. Two of the three CONsultants hired by the contractor just so happened to end up in the federal prison a few years later on public corruption charges along with Bill Walker, who was a close fishin’ buddy with Supervisor McKay. Does this sound like Jackson County to you folks? It sure does to me.
This post was made possible only by the support of generous readers in Jackson County.
See also What do Pinocchio and Supervisor McKay have in common?
Edited 7/28/15 10:19AM to correct the redistricting to District One.
Well, well, well. I always wondered why in the Sam Hill that high school was located so far from the rest of Ocean Springs. Could it be that the lot with all those wetlands to be filled was chosen way, way before anyone else knew? Like the waterfront CIAP property? Like the lots across the street owned by Walkers?
Here’s some more shenanigans by McKay’s campaign manager Jalanivich: recently the Land Trust (of Green Heron habitat fame; the Scott Walker purchase in Gulf Hills) received a huge money grant from MS Power to “restore 2.3 acres as a community green space” in Weeks Bayou in OS. What they also have to know is that might have been a natural wetland at one time, but when David Harris built Harbor Landing (sold to the DMR for 4 million and he kept the money!), he chose Jalanivich, an alderman for OS, to build it even though Jalanivich’s license did not allow him to build a building that big. Jalanivich dug out the foundation of that boondoggle and trucked the fill dirt to a lot on Weeks Bayou, which he filled, dump truck by dump truck, and built a spec house on. David Harris also owned that land at Weeks Bayou first; it was bought from a widow who made Harris promise he would not build on it. Harris promised all right…and sold it to Jalanivich. There was never any permit found for the dumping and filling. There was never any permit found for the first Harbor Landing either; just an unsigned document showing it was permitted with 6 parking spaces. The spec house Jalanivich built on the bayou? It was trashed in Katrina and left a slab. Who bought the slab? The City of Ocean Springs!! How did they support this purchase? They chained it off and let the public forget how it got there. Who gets it? The Land Trust! Now, all evidence will be concealed, and Jalanivich goes on to sell property to be used for a major Jackson County building, the Imaging Center, and a happy career as OS Harbormaster.
My Fellow Americans,
Once again it appears that Johnny has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
The choice is simple:
NO WAY MCKAY!!!
The road washed out in February and county road crews had to go repair it. Cobb supposedly put up a $200,000 bond. Did the county ever get the money?
Watson’s SEI for that year shows he represented G & C before the JCBOS. Maybe they could ask him to give some pointers on how to properly fill one out.
I found this a link to this story on the SRHS Hopes site. Great post.This is one of those deals that started out as a conspiracy to defraud and ended up as an environmental crime. At one point this matter was being investigated by the local DAs office but we have seen how ineffective they are.I was also told people were also questioned by the FBI. I think adding a little more info may help show just how bold of an act was committed by these co-conspirators. The contractor, C&G Construction LLC, was owned by the daughter and son-in-law of Tommy Cobb but operated by him. He had filed bankruptcy just a couple of years prior to the OSSD contract being given or stolen by him with a little help from his consultants and their friends. As pointed out, his price was contingent on getting his “catfish farm” approved. To further disguise the dirt pit on McGregor Rd. he named the operation Groner Catfish Farm. The married last name of his daughter was utilized. As a shear “oversight” the dirt’s quality was never tested prior to being dug and hauled to fill the Ocean Springs High School site, which was mostly wetlands. C&G Construction LLC hauled the dirt down narrow roads from the site that were also damaged and had to be fixed by the county at taxpayer expense. With the dirt in place, C&G Construction was paid in total, Counting all change orders this amount almost $4 million dollars. As the next phase of the OSHS project started,which was a separate contract for the site improvements including buildings, the general contractor soon realized that the dirt hauled in by C&G would not reach the required compaction level. So, much of the dirt had to be removed by another contractor and replaced with fill material imported from a legal dirt pit by another contractor, who was paid in addition to all of the money paid to C&G. (to be continued)
In the end, I would wager, more was spent on the site work than if the high bidders price had been accepted in the beginning. So why was this allowed to happen? You already know the co-conspirators. Who you do not know are the many local contractors who were shut out from the job prior to the first bid ever being opened. These other local contractors expected an even playing field but what they got was a Mt. Everest with C&G Construction LLC on the shoulders of Maxwell-Walker an already at the summit. (to be continued)
So who made this all work out for Tommy Cobb, the simple catfish farming contractor from Oxford,Ms.? Did he just get lucky and “it all worked out”as his attorney state Senator Michael Watson said at the JCBOS meeting? I think not. Watson may have been just employed as legal counsel but if he was not part and parcel to what went down in Jackson County he would have to look back in retrospect, with wonderment, at the bold manipulative acts of others. So who got paid to see that Groner Catfish Farm received needed approvals at the county state and federal levels? You probably already have a good idea. (to be continued)
Yall sure this isn’t Bay Saint Louis? Hizzoner Les Filingame and his Legal Jester Don Rafferty?
Who got paid? Well, we know Sen.Michael Watson got paid as the attorney for Tommy Cobb,G&C Construction LLC and Groner Catfish Farm. We know Scott Walker & Robbie Maxwell were paid as consultants.I wonder how much of the total contract amount they received? What about Dr.William Walker? What about Dr.Sharon Walker? Without their involvement the Groner Catfish Farm would have not ended up as an environmental crime. Bill handled the permitting through the State of Ms. Was it his idea to call the dirt pit a catfish farming operation because the permitting was so much quicker? Sources say Bill Walker walked the permit thru the process with the MsDEQ. Did he do this for everybody when he was with the DMR? Not hardly.Did he receive a piece of the action from the other consultants?
Or was he just trying to save the school system money? Did Scott just say “Daddy get er done” I got bills to pay? How about Sharon Walker? As president of the Ocean Springs School Board she controlled the site work contract process. The minutes reflect she voted “yes” on the G&C contract. Should she have recused herself because her son was working for C&G Construction LLC. Did she benefit in any way by voting yes? Convicted felon Kim Savant who is awaiting sentencing for his crimes,is said to have been involved as a consultant. How big was his piece of this dirt pie? You can read in the Sun Herald why his judgement day in federal court has been further delayed. They say he must complete the terms of his plea bargain agreement. Does this mean he has revealed the crimes of others and will be needed for his testimony? Lots to ponder. So who got hurt? (to be continued)
Was anyone hurt or impacted by this conspiracy? The immediate adjoining property owners were and are impacted by what has gone on. They came to the JC Planning and Supervisor meetings in numbers and their objections were ignored because the dirt pit deal was already done.They endured dump trucks running 7 days a week during the hauling period.They were forced to travel over damaged roads for months. Now they have an abandoned hole that is in violation of county,state and federal laws next door. No reclamation what so ever has been completed as required by these laws. If you visited this gouged out illegal hole in the ground you will see for your self that to this day siltation still runs into Moungers Creek every time it rains and eventually works its way into Bluff Creek.Who will pay to resolve these issues? Why has the county not enforced the conditions of the permit issued to Tommy Cobb? Why was this not stopped when the EPA stepped in? The taxpayers of Jackson County have been impacted. Some of the roads in the area were ruined by the dump truck traffic and had to be repaired by the county with taxpayer money. The local legitimate contractors who took the time to bid on the OS High School site work project were impacted because they did not have a real chance of having the winning bid, even though they were led to believe the opportunity existed. The OS School District was impacted by having a lessor quality untested fill dirt brought to the new high school site. As stated previously some of the fill had to be removed and replaced at an additional cost by others. Will the parking areas fail prematurely and have a shorter lifespan because of the lessor quality dirt on the site that was not removed? Probably so. As you can see, the negative impacts are many. All of this sure makes you wonder why Jackson County Supervisor John McKay allow this to knowingly take place in his district? I think I know.(to be continued)
Perhaps the state government or political contributors could help support these victims.
After all, Stacey E. Pickering (RRRSM) thought he was entitled to a garage door when his property was allegedly “ransacked” by thieves.
Lawd how mercy sweet Jesus !!! The crap ole No Way McRat has done and is involved with just doesn’t stop
I pray he does not get re-elected
He’s got his own little mafia going on it seems.
SMH. Mmm mmm mmm
The Speed family,Lee family,Gainer family,Barnette family,Adams family,Tillman family,Bell family,Hewett family, Mallette family,Vice family,Holder family,Parnell family,Williams family,Lemon family, Mohler family,Bang family,Waltman family, Ely family and others want to know why did John McKay sell them out and then cut them out as life long residents of District 5. You see, those named are but a few of the families that live or own property in the North Vancleave-McGregor Road area in close proximity to the illegal dirt pit approved by John McKay. Why would he side with an unknown nonresident named Tommy Cobb instead of a room full of Jackson County voting residents? Was the Walker relationship so strong he could not say no? Was he promised something in return, like unlimited access to the party boats in the Walker- DMR charter fleet? What did he demand for the very obvious betrayal of those that helped place and keep him in office? In 1-Timothy 6:10 KJV it is said “For the love of money is the root of all evil” The Groner Catfish Farm (aka illegal $$$ dirt pit) conspiracy produced plenty of money and evil. In fact, many think those involved traded one for the other. I think all of the people in Jackson County want to know what John McKay received in return for turning his back on the families who are property owners in the McGregor Road area. Rest assured, John McKay did not risk the voter blow back from this illegal deal, for nothing . He should reveal why he pushed the deal but don’t hold your breath. McKay should be utilizing a famous line from the ex-Governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards, who ran for re-election using the phrase “Vote for the Crook”. No matter if money, future favors, IOUs, wining with dining, or anything else of value was received by this man for his involvement in this matter or even if he did it for free, he is equally as guilty as the other co-conspirators. So what can be done now? (to be continued)
Before we go down the road of what can be done about all of this I would like to first have a sidebar to lay out the illegal $$$ dirt pit timeline. C&G Construction LLC claims to have purchased the land off of McGregor Road in 2008, which is being verified. The contract between the Ocean Springs School District and G&C Construction LLC was approved on September 21,2009. The John McKay Board of Supervisors voted to allow the “catfish ponds” to be excavated on December 8, 2009. The EPA-US Corps of Engineers visited the site after receiving complaints from adjoining landowners in December of 2009. After finding Tommy Cobb in violation of the Clean Water Act for filling wetlands he was told to stop all work and was issued a cease and desist order.That is pretty serious business. But Cobb never slowed down and started excavating-hauling soon there after. As of today the wetland filling violations have not been addressed or resolved on this property. Think about this. So we have a school board with Sharon Walker at the helm giving a contract to C&G who does not even have the proper approvals or permits to move the dirt from the location proposed.Then we have a board of supervisors, with John McKay at the helm, giving C&G permission to excavate and haul the dirt without having the proper permits to do so. In fact, C&G never had the proper permits to do so. Prior to hauling the first load of dirt down McGregor Road, C&G was under a cease and desist issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency!!! Why did the Ms.DEQ, DMR, JCBOS, OSSB not know this? Or did Bill Walker run interference while the dirt was being hauled 7 days a week ? Sounds like the dirty conspiracy was not going to be stopped (to be continued)
These Elephants are like chess masters i.e. digging illegal holes but thinking steps ahead and digging new voting districts around the big illegal hole .
I’m pre”dick”ting dem Elephants have a backup plan if the new district voter polling shows McKay will lose – so make sure someone watches dem voting machines and/or mount some hidden cameras ,wink,wink!
Take home message: If you want to play with chess masters yo’ done gotts to think at least two moves ahead.
HOLY CATFISH SLABBED MAN!!!! I guess John McKay deserves some type of medal for having the most “screw the voter” deals on record in Jackson County, all the way back to Eddie Khayat. The man must never sleep. But then you would wonder how could he with all the crap he has pulled. You know he must lay awake at night worrying that the next hard knock on his door could be the FBI. They love to come at about 4 AM. He continues to be exposed for what he really is,a man elected to office by many, who serves very few for his own benefit.
Before we start down the what can be done about the illegal dirt pit road that is now abandon and part of an environmental criminal investigation please allow me to add a few more little tidbits of lies and deceit on the part of these dirty conspirators. At the meeting of the JCBOS on December 8, 2009 resident Mr. Louis Fortenberry, claimed to the board that Tommy Cobb had not received the proper permits for the digging of the ponds,among other problems. Supervisors,however,said the Ms.Dept. of Environmental Quality confirmed that Cobb received his necessary permits for the ponds,which will be 8 ft. deep. This was not true at all. Mr.Fortenberry was so right and the board so wrong. The MsDEQ did not even issue the needed surface mining permit until January 15, 2010. If you look at the application and the permit language Cobb and others ask for and got permission for what? They asked for and got permission to excavate an area 37 acres in size to a depth of 37′. The abandon hole is over 30′ deep, not 8′ as John McKay said it would be. Did McKay and the other block heads on this board ever asked to see the permit? I found a copy from right here in Vancleave,Ms. because the permit and application are all online. Also the state permit required that a bond in the amount of $58,240 be posted by Cobb and company. This bond was supplied by North American Insurance Company and the funds were to be used to complete restoration if not completed by Cobb. Since the restoration was never completed did the county demand the money from this bonding company? Of course John McKay does not know or care. He washed his hands of this mess he and the other conspirators created. Cumbest will not cross the river to get involved so I guess we, the citizens and voters of Vancleave, will have to act. We now need to discuss what we can do to about this dirty mess.
There is so much more to be told. Maybe we can get the woman from Lyman Hatchery over in the Gulfport area to come forward and tell the tale about that CONspiracy??? It involved contractors and engineers as it was told to me. Almost same game as the OS school deal and Snotty Scotty was storing Katrina cottages up there that were “given to the DMR”. I think the FBI needs to have a little visit with the man who is “watching over” that place now named Dave Rose, who is an officer of some kind. I hear that “connected” members of the CONtractors made plenty of bucks up there and even cut timber not following the States’ guidelines.
Walker and Fata$$’s pal from the EPA took care of any problems presented to the EPA and there is a lot of information available about that and documented paperwork also. But I see that the EPA lady has flown the coop, to get away from the fire, I feel. I hope that I am wrong about the FBI looking the other way. It now appears that there is a huge surprise in store for the deserving.
Coffee is gone, break over, hi ho, hi ho, it’s back to work I go!
If I was running against chess master John DeCay I would pledge if I won to water board his Elephant ass ( making sure his Pinocchio nose did not stick out the water) in the illegal moneypit, water hole till he spilled all the beans on the massive conspiracy FROM the SlabbedNations’ alleged initial EPA permit, inferior mud, lack of enforcement of EPA’s cease and desist order which should have stopped all work at the illegal 30′ pit, permitted to only a 8’pit; TO finally the “digging” of the new district voting lines so DeCay could not be voted out by a majority of his pissed off constituents.
Cruel and unusual punishment? Damn straight, how else do the voters get the truth.
So, what can we do about all of this? Just to recap we have a financially busted out of town contractor who somehow shows up in Jackson County. He had been bankrupt not to long before coming here.He is now dead with not dirt pit restoration in his will. He somehow got hooked up with Harrison County Supervisor Kim Savant and pays for him for his consulting services. Savant is now a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for taking kickbacks. Cobb wants to bid on the new OSHS site work job. He is advised to also hire Scott Walker,who is now in prison, to represent him in Jackson County along with Robbie Maxwell, who should probably be a convicted felon. They have William Walker to handle the DMR, DEQ, US Corps of Engineers and the EPA. They have Sharon Walker,who probably should be a convicted felon also, to push a contract with Cobb thru the OSS Board. They have John McKay running herd, Rawhide style, on the JCBOS. McKay also keeps his finger on his man Larry on the JC Planning Commision. Cobb has the McGregor Rd. property under contract, gets the contract taken care of by Sharon, gets the needed county approvals handled by John and has Bill work out the state permits in a record time. But wait, somebody forgot to get the wetland permit and Mr.Louis Fortenberry is an environmental expert. McKay blows him off at the BOS meeting and lies about Cobb, who is already building his haul road thru the wetlands, having all that was needed to approve this illegal project. McKay says done deal, no matter who objects. Buck$$$$ was the only thing McKay was seeing when he said “Looks Fishy, Be Happy” on that December day. But somebody called the FEDS and they shut it down with a cease and desist,they thought. Next day business as usual. 20 trucks running 7 days a week hauling about 300,000 cubic yds. of untested dirt over the next few months. Dirt done. McGregor Rd. ruined. Everybody and I mean everybody gets paid by the OSSD. All is well. Tommy Cobb abandons the property. C&G goes bankrupt. Bill and Scott Walker go to prison.Kim Savant gets indicted.Sharon Walker gets kicked of off of the school board.John McKay runs for Mayor of Ocean Springs and is destroyed because of his involvement with of all people,the Walkers. Redistricting sends the people in north Vancleave into District 1 exile per McKay’s plan. and now the election is next week I am about to tell you what we together can do. (to be continued)
The posts from Keeping A Talley need to go down in the history books and Slabbed archives. Brilliant work!!!!
I know all of this seems very complicated but it really is not. I do feel this story will be in print someday but not at the Ms Press. Maybe titled something like “Consultants,Kickbacks and Lies; Mississippi Mud, Jackson County Style!!!” With all that has been said about this dirt-y caper most should wonder how these dishonest people pulled it off, over five years ago with very little said about it in the community. So what is to be done now that the money has been spent, one crook is dead, two crooks are in federal prison ,another crook is soon to go and the damage to the environment is getting worse everyday. Does the silt need to damn up Moungers Creek before someone takes action? After much thought and many words I have come to the conclusion that we have to resolve this one step at a time. Step One: We have to deal with John Mckay who just happens to be embroiled in a very tough re-election campaign. My little insider operating birdys tell me he is worried. He thinks that if he gets enough signs out ,most placed without asking, he will win. Never I say!!! His plan for our Vancleave, when redisticting came along, was to divide the area into south Vancleave and north Vancleave. His reason was simple. He did not do well in Vancleave in 2011 so he wanted to cut those that resisted his politics in about half. This would make the Ocean Springs voters a larger percentage of total vote in District 5. Sounds good right? Not so fast. Many think it backfired. What really happened is McKay alienated most of the people in Vancleave. They soon realized what had happen to the strong clout they had because of the total number of votes they controlled in District 5, had been cut in half by McKay. Time to seek our revenge. We are going to skin him in the voting booths like a buck$$$ deer on Tuesday. Even if you now live outside his district I am going to tell you how to make your vote count in his district.Unlike the new illegal mud hole he stood to close to my method of defeat is perfectly legal.I got to feed cows in the morning early so good night all and please gather your thoughts tonight because tomorrow we begin the assault together. No north ,no south ,no Vancleave or Ocean Springs. We, as voters in this county are going to drive home the message that we are SICK AND TIRED of the bullshit that has been going on at the JCSO Jail, the OS High School, the DMR, the SRHS and other things we pay for. We are going to show that John McKay is taxpayer enemy #1. Are you with me? (to be continued)
THE ONLY REALISTIC WAY TO REPLACE CURRENT JACKSON COUNTY SUPERVISORS IS FOR ***EVERYONE*** TO VOTE IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY!!! Any of the current supervisors who win in the Republican primary are back in.
Jackson County residents of whatever political party who want to get rid of the current crop of supervisors should vote in the Republican primary rather than the Democratic primary. *** – THIS IS LEGAL – *** if you intend to support the candidate in the general election if they make it past the primary – see MS Code § 23-15-575 (2013). The people of Jackson County can “vote out” 4 of the 5 supervisors in the Republican primary, but it can only replace 2 of them AT MOST in the general election.
If the candidate you voted for in the primary loses in the primary, you are free to vote for whomever you want. Or, if new information changes your mind after the primary, you can vote for someone else. IT DOES NOT “REQUIRE” THAT YOU VOTE FOR YOUR ORIGINAL CHOICE *** OR EVEN THE SAME PARTY *** IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. But given the situation, if your intention is to replace the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, THE SUREST WAY to replace at least most of them is to vote in the Republican primary. The added benefit is that if you do lean more Democrat in your thinking, you can also vote for Bryant’s, Reeves’ and Pickering’s primary opponents (and presumably, if by some miracle, those opponents managed to actually win the primary [they won’t], you Dem-leaning folks would be happy, right?)
On the other hand, the only thing the Democratic primary in Jackson County will determine is who Jackson County Dems prefer to see lose to Phil Bryant and Tate Reeves. Most of the other Dem primary races are uncontested. The only two Democratic supervisor races are the 2nd District, which has no Republican candidate anyway and the 4th District, where Democrat Sean Alawine has very little chance against any of the 3 Republicans (Brodnax, Reich and Ross, the incumbent).
IF YOU WANT TO RID JACKSON COUNTY OF THE CURRENT BUNCH OF SUPERVISORS, YOU NEED TO PASS THIS ON AND EXPLAIN IT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN: The only way to “vote ’em out” is to vote in REPUBLICAN primary.
YOU Need to Vote, thank you for the great ideas. Your comments are exactly the kind we all need to hear if we a going to be able to slay this redistricting dirt pit dragon. After going to BJs this morning in “central” Vancleave for a bacon egg biscuit and some conversation with some of my long time buddies, I drove around the “new” District 1 area north of Jim Ramsey Rd. The first thing I noticed was not a single re-elect Barry Cumbest sign could be found. I wonder if Cumbest even knows his new district lines? I also wonder how many individuals that are no longer in District 5 realize they have been McKayed into exile? Anyway, that is a concern. Ronald Reagan once said ” Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession.I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first”. Do we have supervisors that have and are prostituting themselves out here in Jackson County? Yes we do and McKay is the biggest one practicing both at once. If you want to get your blood pressure up just think about what he has been involved in over the past few years. We have talked about his illegal dirt operation.Do you remember how he manipulated the new county jail design after millions had been spent because Scott Walker represented some contractor who offered a modular design? How about the lies he told pertaining to his involvement with Walkers and the DMR? God knows how much we do not know about his other deals with the now imprisoned Walkers. His zero oversight of the SRHS is just another unconscionable. He now claims the JCBOS are just passive landlords.What will this disaster cost in the end, millions$$$$$ for sure. The redisticting is also a bone of contention with many and not just in Vancleave. I have a niece who lives in the Acadian Village subdivision,which is south of 90 on the east side of 57. McKay made promises to all in this community that he did not keep. When confronted he lied and denied. What did they get for calling him out about his broken promises? They got moved into District 3. Look at the new district map and see the sliver that this community is, now in District 3. These poor people were cut out, as he directed, for only one reason. He eliminated a certain number of mad people who had been McKayed. Now lets come up with some sure fired ways to make sure Jackson County gets rid of him and the other deadbeats currently serving on our county board of supervisors. (to be continued).
Talley, everything you have written is the truth. I encourage all of my fellow Jackson county friends, whether you have ever voted republican or not; whether you are black, white, green, red or yellow; please vote in the republican primary against these supervisors. It is the only chance for our county to begin a thorough cleansing of these crooks who take advantage of us all. Everyone’s friends and neighbors have been involved in the last SRHS fiasco, which is down right sickening. Our friends and family have had their hard-earned retirements STOLEN from them by arrogant, entitled (they think), scum of the earth!!! Let’s show them that they can’t do that to our Jackson county Taxpayers. What do you say??? Let’s clean house!!!!
Please vote. And please vote in the republican primary this upcoming Tuesday, and vote against the incumbents.
You got to start by calling your mamma and calling your paw to make sure they are voting for anybody but an incumbent. Call all of your relatives also. Even call all of your liberal friends and give them the advice of the previous commenter You Need To Vote. Call everybody you know and remind them about the issues in Jackson County these BOS clowns have failed to address. Refer everybody to Slabbed.org, SRHS WATCH.org and SRHS Hopes on Facebook so they can read the posts and comments themselves. Excuses are all these men offer. McKay, in particular, claims excuses from ignorance to memory problems. He does not even know what his job description says.I know it does not say LANDLORD!!! The most important thing is to start calling now and do not stop until Tuesday at 5PM.
Some more thoughts:
The real races in the Republican primary are going to be District 1 (Cumbest) and District 5 (McKay), so it is going to be VERY important for voters in those districts to pick a candidate. I won’t recommend any particular candidate because I don’t know enough about any of them. Those who want to mobilize the “anti–incumbent” voters in those districts need to pick one candidate and support them because if the voting in the district gets split among the challengers, that will only benefit the incumbents. For you anti-incumbent voters, a run-off including the incumbents is better than an outright win by them, but incumbents are generally favored in re-elections. For the purposes of replacing the incumbents, a run-off between challengers is a win. If there is a strong challenger in the district, they would probably be the best bet for an “anti-incumbent” vote and campaign amongst friends and family.
There isn’t much time, but if those among you who plan to try to rally friends and family (and have them rally their friends, etc.) to “vote ’em out,” you need a clear direction beyond “vote for anyone but the incumbent.” You need a candidate. Pick ONE of the challengers in each district and drum up support FOR THEM, don’t just encourage everyone to “just vote against the incumbent.”
And DO NOT “WRITE IN” ANY CANDIDATES OR WORSE, WRITE IN ANY SILLY STUFF LIKE “NONE OF THE ABOVE” OR “MICKEY MOUSE!” IT IS USELESS! It will only get your vote rejected. And don’t say anything at the polling places about how or why you voted! If you make comments like “well, that’ll show ’em” or anything that can get your vote marked as challenged or rejected by precinct workers, it is your own fault. Yes, precinct workers are authorized and duty-bound to mark “suspect” votes. The best bet is don’t say anything at all. From the Attorney General’s website:
“A person lawfully in the polling place may challenge a voter based on party loyalty only if the voter openly declares he does not intend to support the nominees of the party whose primary the voter is participating in.”
and
“Miss. Code Ann. Sections 23-15-245 and 23-15-577 provide that in primary elections the only persons who may lawfully be within 30 feet of the polls are: 1) Voters approaching the polls, voting, and leaving the polling place, 2) The poll managers (pollworkers), 3) One pollwatcher appointed, in writing, by each candidate whose name appears on the ballot.”
BOLO
All citizens and taxpayers should be aware that there is another grifter on the loose.
http://www.sunherald.com/2015/07/31/6345536_janus-leaves-prison-for-halfway.html
As others have said in the above comments,we all must get active.Time is of the essence. I have called over 25 people this morning in Jackson County and told them about the “dirt” on McKay and the dereliction of duty all of the current supervisors are guilty of. Please contact everyone you know starting with all of your family members, friends, co-workers, kids school teachers,and anybody else you can think of.Ask that they do the same.When you go to church talk to everyone. When you go to Greer’s Grocery store,Walmart,Rouses or Wayne Lees talk to people inline both in front and behind you. If you stop in at the Burger Barn, BJs, Gradys, Freds, Cast Iron Cafe,The Shed or anywhere else speak up and tell everyone that all incumbents must go and that McKay has been the ring leader for all things bad in Jackson County. Get in touch with everybody you know by using your landline or cellphone. Send out the word via email, gmail, ymail, shemail, hotmail,outlook, aim, Icloud, Myway or any other way you have available to you. Use the USPS, Fed-Ex, or UPS. Go by horse back,bicycle,canoe, motor boat or hot air balloon to spread the word. Go to the Vancleave Choctaws and ask them to join our grass roots efforts that is trying to sweep out the incumbent trash. Do not wait another hour before you start.Every single vote counts.We can make this happen if we all really try. Please,please,please do your part in helping cleanup up this mess that McKay and company have created. Are you with me?
I did forget a few ways to contact people and get them to vote out the existing supervisors, who do not deserve to get re-elected. Use carrier pigeons,smoke signals or send out a tweet on Twitter. My point is use any means available to contact everyone you know in all parts of Jackson County. Good honest people must win because losing is not an option unless you are an incumbent.
My arms are still tired from holding up my homemade NO WAY MCKAY sign all over Vancleave on Saturday. I went home after several hours because of the heat. While sitting in my easy chair and reading the SRHS Hopes latest I came up with another idea that I thought would make McKAY GO AWAY. I saw that personalized cartoon of McKay again and thought this would make a great flier but needed to add a few things. I called my grand daughter who came over and helped me out. Once done she drove me over to that Office Depot place in D’Iberville and we got 1000 copies made. I am now handing these out and placing them in any retail outlet that will allow it.In big bold letters across the top this flyer shouts out NO WAY MCKAY!!! Not only do people get a to laugh at that lying fool they also are reminded of his real record of deceit and underhanded deals. Most I talk to do not even realize how Vancleave has been split and turned into a much lessor voice at the ballot box as compared to before 2013 because of redistricting.I talked to everyone at my church yesterday and have now called over 100 people. One person can do a lot if they want to. Please, time is running out. Pick up that phone or send up a smoke signal.Send out a tweet or and email. Private message or Facetime people you know.We can rid our county of many problems tomorrow. Are you with me?
Thank you for all the hard work as you are a true fighting American.
What a day it has been.This campaigning against something or someone is hard work but fun. I feel comfortable tonight sending this message to the McKay dirt pit headquarters in Ocean Springs Vancleave is lost and this Mongrel is headed south down 57 come daylight. As I said earlier I left out this morning with 1000 custom made flyers and you know I do not have one single flyer left. I left some at the Chevron first, then went across the street to the other convenience store and then on to Freds, Burnham Drugs, Greers and all other places of business. In Greers I even strolled thru with a buggy and personal gave a flier to everyone in the store for over an hour. I did not find anybody all day that would admit to supporting McKay. I did encounter one person who was thinking about McKay but was not sure. I resolved that for him or he may have agreed with me to get me to shut up. Tomorrow I am going to get my sign polished up early and start out at the Vancleave Community Center then I going down to the St. Martin Community Center and I might make it all the way down to Fountainbleau Community Center. If Vancleave is any indication tomorrow will be a bad day for all incumbents. Please folks there is still time to continue the NO WAY MCKAY phone bank. Let us all pray tonight for a better Jackson County with new leadership starting tomorrow. Are you with me?
Wowzy wowzee WOW! To add a littke bit more to this here epic story , if my memory serves me right, didbt Gary Henze (mrs walkers brother ) get the subcontract to do this job ( the money pot. I mean dirt pit)?
Talk about some low down dirty rats. I’m sure glad I won’t be having to answer for crooked deals like this when I get to the pearly gates
Satan be forewarned, you gonna have some jackson county folks busting your doors wide a$& opened
GPa Grimm,
Very funny. I would bet that most of these “Christian, Republican Politicians” only worry about God on Wednesday night’s and twice on Sunday. Any other time it’s Sin-City. Of course, they could always try to set up a “bible study” within a state agency to assist with their shallow, two-faced holiness.
I don’t know who you are Talley and frankly don’t care. But you certainly have carried the ball during this last part of the game. You have your facts down pat in chronicled order. I just wish we had a DA that would do his job he was elected to do and clean house like he should. But if we can just get rid of McKay, that is a beginning to cleaning out the scum in Jackson County.
Amen john Rodgers. Tally has certainly educated me and lots more. We need this kind of honesty Thank you Slabbed for providing a safe place for us to exercise our right of freedom of speech
I am getting ready to go cast my anti-incumbent vote this morning. I got up extra early to take care of my chores that have been neglected for the past few days. My cows and chickens are fed . I also gathered up some eggs and pick some stuff from my garden. I don’t anticipate being home until after 6 this evening. I fixed me a little cooler with plenty of water and got a bottle of ibuprofen to help minimize the arm pain from sign waving.I do appreciate the kind words from all of you. I sat to long in my easy chair watching and keeping a talley of all the questionable things this current group of numskulls supervisors have been involved in such as the county jail fiasco, the predetermined Sheriff Byrd replacement process, the county inventory problems, no oversight of the county hospital, the misuse of our tax dollars on charter fishing trips and much much more. The illegal dirt pit that was exposed right here on Slabbed was such a localized issue to me I just said to my family this is enough. While I do not seek any attention or glory for speaking out, what I do hope for is that enough people agree with all of us that have stood up and said “Out with these lying bastards”. I hope by the end of the day our little grass roots group of simple folks,including the retirees from the hospital, helped win the argument for new leadership on the local level. Please call others to re-remind them how important going to vote is today. I am gone to cast my “no to all things wrong in our county” vote. Are you with me?
I think you and Tally have it right Doug. I mean when you say that Vancleave was “McKayed”. I can remember a similar time when the Coast was “Tucked”, when a certain past elected offical did not do what they promised and sold the Coast down the road. With people like Tally on our team, they had all better pay attention in Jackson because our numbers are growing and we are not going to stand for it anymore. Great job Talley!!!!!
Keeping A Talley:
Hey, I got up early this morning too…..
Watered the plants……. Did da’ dishes
Went to the “JOHN”…
Put in too much tissue…
Realized there was “NO Way”, started to get the plunger…
Bingo, I realized there was a bigger duty I had today…
That was pushing da’ plunger on John Mc Kay…..
Hoe Ray, Its Flush John McKay Day…..
When ? Anytime TTTT OOOO DDDD AAAA YYYYY !!!!!!
Just a quick report from the anti-incumbent campaign trail. I have had many honks,waves, and shouts today. I keep moving around,stopping for about fifteen minutes at each spot. I have been to the Vancleave, St.Martin and the Fountainbleau voting spots and saw many people coming and going. I had lunch at an undisclosed eating place and almost had a football game style cheering section chanting NO WAY MCKAY!!! NO WAY MCKAY!!! NO WAY MCKAY!!! Reminded me of the Bulldog games when the grand daughter was a cheerleader. Somebody needs to find some black roses and send them over to the “McKay victory party” at that fancy restaurant that I can’t spell that serves that Lebanon type food . This is where he and his supporters (family members) will be holed up watching the rejection returns tonight. If I have time I am going to drop off some fresh certified Prime Angus Beef dung for all to enjoy. Compliments of the good people of both north and south Vancleave. Still plenty of time to call up the reserve votes for anybody but an incumbent. Please make the calls and send the texts to anybody else you may think off. We can do this.
This has turned out to be one of the most fascinating and contentious political years I have ever seen. Corruption and suicide in Harrison County took down two sitting supervisors and a terrible campaign strategy for mayor took down a third. Jackson County’s own supervisors have stumbled so many times over so many issues I dare not list them all. Now they are faced with a real strong effort to oust them all ,which in my opinion will be partially successful.Who would have thought Stacey Pickering, who was once thought to be a very viable candidate for US Senate, could be so dumb? After his Gulf Coast fundraiser in the wrong place at the wrong time and incompetent handling of all things DMR, I did. The small amount of information we know now about his handling of money is sure to take him down if the Mary Mayor does not. These last 12 months have been just over the top and the remainder of this year will be equally entertaining. We will wake up in the morning with many races unresolved and headed to a runoff. This will mean 3 more weeks of the sharp elbows and hurt feelings before we move on to the general election. People want to complain about social media and blogs but they have become dominate tools that are here to stay and candidates will live or die by what is being said. Some may remember another game changing event using the then technology of the day that totally transformed how people campaigned.The first televised debate in black and white does not seem like that long ago. My,my how things have changed. As of 5 pm today I think it is just impossible to know who ends up as a winner or looser tonight. Just too many interacting variables. Sure is going to be fun watching it all on my HD Smart TV in full color.
My Fellow Americans
It’s time to say: NO WAY MCKAY!!’