Month: January 2016

Comment bump | Lana Noonan: Mayor exercised poor judgment speaking about DoJ Audit and misspent funds

Folks I was at part of last night’s meeting and put out two segments on Periscope both of which will self destruct in 9 hours or so. The State Auditor segment is wobbly but with good acoustics. The public comment section included Mr. Wells of Ward 6 with the Mayor’s interrupting Mr. Well’s remarks but what he said being very hard to discern acoustically on that segment posted to Periscope.

It is a fairly well known fact that I am hearing impaired so I had a hard enough time hearing what I thought the Mayor said, which I discerned as, “the Apollo moon landings were staged at a movie studio in New Orleans (Film Tax Credit Incentivized), the reality is that the moon is made of green cheese and that it’s all former Mayor Favre’s fault.” Luckily for everyone Lana Noonan of the Hancock Alliance for Good Government was sitting next to me taking notes and I think she heard what the Mayor actually said:

The Mayor utilized his poor judgement early in the meeting last night when he interrupted Ward 6 resident, David Well’s and attempted to blame the previous administration for the handling of the DOJ funds!

I have reviewed the previous city audits and could not locate the handling of those funds as a finding until this year.

Four of the seven Council served in the previous administration with former Mayor, Eddie Favre, and Ward I Councilman Doug Seal stated publicly last night that the handling of these Drug Forfeiture Funds were never a finding in the city audits until this year under the Fillingame administration.

In their Preliminary Report the Department of Justice concurred with the independent auditing firm.The DOJ also declared some of the expenditures were impermissible and there was not sufficient documentation to prove the funds were spent on Police Dept. needs as required by law.

If the Departnent of Justicd had found everything in apple pie order, they would have issued that determination to the Council by letter and left town. They would not have ordered an audit!

I forgot to mention

Over the past 5 months I’ve collected a massive amount of information as it relates to the Chris Epps investigation including the construction of the new jail in Jackson County along with certain service contracts that cut across a wider geographic region. To catch everyone back up former MDOC Executive Director Chris Epps along with his self-admitted partner-in-crime Cecil McCrory had their own sentences delayed indefinitely by Judge Wingate while the Feds sort everything at MDOC out, ostensibly with Epps and McCrory’s full cooperation. I’m going to hate myself for disclosing this but I have reason to believe the FBI has visited every Sheriff in the State in regards to the Epps/MDOC investigation. This in turn sheds more color on the significant ramp up in Federal investigative resources in Jackson last summer that Slabbed previously disclosed. [link] [link].

By August two more indictments were unsealed that was accompanied by  one more guilty plea and another indefinite delay in sentencing with Irb Benjamin’s trial set for April of this year.

The reason I’ll hate myself for disclosing the Sheriff visits is because it came from a source that I can’t use which means I’m asking you folks to make a small leap of faith.  The bottom line here is that by now it stands to reason the federal investigation has greatly narrowed in scope.

Meantime here on the coast rumors of continued FBI interest surrounding the construction of the Jackson County Adult Detention Center persist.  Those rumors center on Chris Epps, one of the primary jail contractors and a former Jackson County Supervisor. Continue reading “I forgot to mention”

Involuntary yet very necessary absence…….

First up an acknowledgment that there are several things happening behind the scenes both personally and professionally that are consuming all of my time. I will not go into any of it and ask the very few of you folks that have personal insight to refrain from commenting on any of it. The only information that I will share follows.

First up is complex problem solving, a subject that I am very acquainted going way far back. Whether the complex problem is how to present a knotty subject here on Slabbed, solving a complicated, arcane but financially valuable unique tax situation or otherwise, the key for me has to engage in copious amounts of thought. There is a point for me occasionally that once something rolls around the ol’ cerebral cortex long enough a special moment arrives when everything comes together and crystallizes into something coherent and for me that happened about an hour and fifteen minutes ago. It was at that time that I noticed an increase in my heart rate from the mental excitement that accompanies solving a complex problem coupled with a massive endorphin release that soon settles into what is known in the CPA world as a “warm, fuzzy feeling”. The only thing left to do is pop a top and spend a few hours relaxing for the first time in a few weeks. I covered the same general topic last November in fact.

I’d be remiss to not acknowledge the insane amount of behind the scenes attention our missives receive both here at Slabbed and via the Slabbed New Media twitter account. Thank you for bearing with us while we take the necessary time to keep the torch burning here at Slabbed New Media.

It is possible over the next few weeks we make the news again. To save everyone the time and effort I will not be issuing any other statements beyond this post. Thank you.

2016

Happy new year folks! Unfortunately 2015 went out with a bang:

Lawsuit: Toddlers sexually assaulted while in Hancock DHS custody ~ Margaret Baker and Wes Muller

This is no run of the mill sexual molestation folks, not when a 3 year old gets gonorrhea. With all the news of late that Gov. Phil will finally be tackling the cesspool that is the foster child industrial complex in Mississippi, albeit under the threat of contempt of court, maybe something will be done to clean up social services at DHS, which has been a major disaster in Hancock County especially.

Breaking bad????

Former college dean to plead in meth case ~ Robin Fitzgerald

I think an overdue 2015 victory lap maybe in order:

What Each State Googled More Than Any Other State In 2015 ~ Ryan Nickum

Speaking of the Ashley Madison Hack, the two posts Slabbed did linking the Pastebin data dumps in late August each nabbed in excess of 100,000 page views, easily making them the most trafficked posts ever here.

Earlier in 2015, Estately did an article on each States most embarrassing Google search and I though Mississippi had an interesting list.

MISSISSIPPI: Gonorrhea / chlamydia / feet photos (image search) / penis enlargement / male enhancement / R. Kelly (musical performer) / Aryan Brotherhood / Blind Melon (band)

And this brings us full circle to DHS:

Gov. Bryant Taps Justice Chandler to Lead Overhaul of Child Welfare System ~ R. L. Nave

Finally, the resignation of Angola Warden Burl Cain in the aftermath of some good investigative reporting by the New Orleans Advocate has the Louisiana muckraking community buzzing along the same lines we are here in Mississippi over the Chris Epps investigation. 2016 promises to be busy that way.