29 thoughts on “It has been said every dog has its day……..”

  1. Intellectual theft is wrong, no matter who is doing it. (I’ve often wondered about the identity of Blake, but II was assuming it was a single author.)

    In any case, I applaud Kevin for bringing the matter to the attention of Gambit readers. His decision to discontinue publishing a serial plagiarist was the right one.

    1. Agree 100% on intellectual theft being wrong, especially when a profit motive is present, and Allman’s reaction to the Gambit employee caught doing this.

  2. It took a reader of Gambit to bring this to management’s attention …just last week ? Hmm …

    1. I think he’s been on notice. I also think he’s noticed. We’re having lunch soon.

  4. I am wondering why you have been asleep at the wheel on this thing at DMR Doug. I had some extra time today to review some of the documents that the Sun Herald released to the public, and I am absolutely horrified! The Agenda for Gulf States Marine Fisheries Council Artificial Reef Inspection Meeting dated August 1, 2007 has the following Agenda:
    7:00 a.m. leave on “Miss Hospitality” from Point Cadet for trip to Fish Haven 2.
    10:00 Mark and record material on bottom and verify reef utilization of finfish (in other words, let’s fish).
    12:30 Lunch on vessel
    2:00 Move to Fish Haven 13 to mark and verify reef utilization of finfish (in other words, let’s fish again).
    3:00 Return to Point Cadet.

    Attendees were: Jason Spelling of the Governor’s Office (then Haley); Ashley Edwards of the Governor’s office; Clay Williams of Capital (can’t read)….now this is the man that was just put in charge of the Airport.,,,another Barbour man; Scott Walker of Senator Trent Lott’s office; Parah Fishburn of Senator Thad Cochran’s office; and Bill Walker of the DMR.
    Now, my questions: 1. Who is driving the boat?
    2. Who has the credentials to “mark and record material on the bottom with acoustic instrumention and verify reef utilization of finfish”? 3. Why is Baby Walker on this trip? Isn’t this a conflict of interest in the biggest way? 4. Why is Thad Cochran’s representative there, ie. Parah Fishburn? and 5: Why are a bunch of suits out on a boat fishing and eating high-priced cuisine at the taxpayers’ expense while we eat cake?
    Now, if the FEDS and State Auditors do not have enough to do something about this with just this one document, (not including the pile of others that have more info like this), there is a problem. It certainly appears to me that the entire top GOP eschelon are involved with the raping of our Coastal assistance money that was 1. Given to us to help us recover from Hurricane Katrina, and 2. BP monies that have been coming in regularly to help restore the Gulf. This is an outrage!! And the Coastal residents should be mad as hell!! I am physically ill after reading this.

    1. Marcus,

      I don’t think Doug has been asleep since we have at least seen quite a bit of topics with DMR listed in the subject line. The DMR is a very slippery situation at this point in time which called for the installation of “slippery leadership” to help calm the public. I do agree with your questions as the actions of the former “king” were very questionable in nature.

      I have a few goodies to share but I am waiting for the next DMR posting from Doug because I don’t want them to get lost and unnoticed by many in the comments from older stories. Yes, I admit I like to make the headlines 🙂 Plus, I get the funny feeling Jamie squirms when he sees the name “Eye-Spy.”

      Here is an idea for the next headline name: “The Big Report” This could signify the release of the anticipated report that cost the public 150K–Hell Danny Guice was doing a better job for a lot less by himself and with credible DMR management staff.

      1. The sad reality is this topic will be with us some time to come as I’m hearing nothing has yet been presented to a Grand Jury of any kind. I guess you take such rumors, like indictment rumors, with a grain of salt because 99% of the time indictment rumors are bogus.

        Marcus, the news cycle has its ebbs and flows and I’ve learned not to fight that. I do have a post in the works that feature reader comments and tips and will include Joe Cloyd and that Malvaney guy from Alabama. I bet many of you guys would be shocked to learn Jamie Miller has some defenders and these people’s take on things can’t be dismissed.

        You folks may remember Slabbed reserved judgment on that Sun Herald Op-Ed which called for the resignation of the entire CMR. I’m also ready to chip in my two cents on that topic.

        Last we gotta talk about the media and DMR with Melissa Scallan’s departure/hiring at DMR which very well could be termed a win-win.

        Finally, speaking of document dumps, the Broussard files will come before all of that.

        1. We KKKan’t wait.I think Malvaney is from Mississippi according to the book that features he and others called “Bayou of Pigs” available on Amazon and written about in the SunHerald. This group and they are a group have fingers everywhere. Looking forward to some total disclosure about those “scammer boats'(someone elses line)Where of where could they be? And Cloyd is a mystery to many. I wonder if he has an underground tunnel to his neighbors house for purposes yet to be discovered? Oh, that neighbor be non other than Scott Walker. What a group they make.

          2. Another good Tuesday song to go with the DMR Report is “WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS” by the Beatles or Joe Cocker. Dedicated to Jamie Miller over at the Ms.DMR and his buddies who put him there. I cannot seem to link it though. I know rfp can.

          4. That’s real good rfp.Thanks,I feel certain Jamie,Joe and the gang over at the DMR and the other offices they dwell in will appreciate this.I do.

  5. By the way – these are Public documents that can be downloaded from the Sun Herald Website. Read them and weep.

    1. These same documents have been online for sometime now and have been discuss on Slabbed. In fact I remember a discussion about the fishing trip that included Spelling,Williams,Edwards,Fishburn and the Walkers. The boat they were on was a private charter with its own crew.It is obvious to all that the trip was just fun in the sun for these young Republican guns. No testing except of the catered food served up by the taxpayers. Eye-Spy the report is out and in the words of the CMR lacks info on were the money is. I guess Frontier will have to explain it to them this morning at 9am.I can hear them now putting it in laymans words “Don’t worry, We are happy with your money, It will be alright.”

      1. Thanks, I started looking at the report this morning and inside operators are still at work so I will have my usual negative comments posted soon.

    2. Research tip. Feed what is found into the search engine to see what they have indexed. Doing that with the Miss Hospitality August 1 2007 charter information you provide above turned up the answer to Clay Williams reported affiliation at the time of this taxpayer funded “research trip”. It also confirmed that John Fitzhugh and Paul Hampton included this very trip in their extensive article on the DMR charters (March 3 2013).

      Before the agency owned the Fish Haven or leased the Topaz, it used charters for research at the reefs. After reviewing more than 15,000 documents, the Sun Herald found just one charter — an Aug. 1, 2007, trip on the Miss Hospitality captained by Kenneth Barhanovich — that included any details about the trip.

      That document named the six people aboard for the Gulf Fisheries Council artificial reef inspection. They were Jason Spellings and Ashley Edwards of then-Gov. Haley Barbour’s office; Clay Williams of Capitol Resources, a lobbying firm; Scott Walker of then-Sen. Trent Lott’s office; Parah Fishburn of Sen. Thad Cochran’s office; and Bill Walker.

      <a href="http://www.sunherald.com/2013/03/02/4502635/investigators-looking-into-dmrs.html&quot; Link for the above. Tip of the hat to the Sun Herald’s obtaining and publishing these documents, and reporting on the contents. Don’t miss the comments there. Imo this article is one of the reasons the title Mayor does not currently go with John McKay.

      Don’t take this comment as criticism. It is intended to clarify and complete the record. Your comment did provoke a new insight. What imo WOULD be interesting new information to share concerning this charter trip would be any invoices for “bait” and “supplies or beverages” for this trip. These hardworking ‘guest researchers’ probably didn’t miss a trip to the trough just because they were hunting ‘biological samples’. That’s the type of thing the Sun Herald reporters probably do not have time to run down. Slabbed readers do occasionally post this type of information here (with links)!

        1. Better, working now. Good article, better comments,55 is a lot of participation.Thanks

      3. Not a problem rfp…I had just not had the time to go through all of the things that the SH put online and have just gotten around to it. I was simply floored when I looked at those documents! I don’t understand why the FEDS haven’t done something?? It’s there in black and white…..do you think the fix is in???

        1. Do you have a link for these invoices? Posting which of the SunHerald document groups (like 2012 GOMESA funds) and the pdf page number is all it takes.

  6. My Fellow Americans (Part 1–Risk Analysis)

    I have been close reading the report and the PowerPoint presentation on the Sun Herald website and I have a few comments I would like to make. The presentation can be found here:

    http://media.sunherald.com/smedia/2013/06/18/14/06/iSd6U.So.77.pdf

    The risk analysis has me kind of stumped. When you read the reports there are many areas of the organization that are flagged “RED” meaning they pose a very high risk for the agencies mission. The presentation does a great job of explaining how risk is identified and what risk encompasses but the bottom line does not add up quite right.

    Example 1: The report denotes a “YELLOW” or MEDIUM risk associated within the IT department. The power point specifically calls out these two key points:

    a) MDMR management should consider the deployment of encryption software for application and database systems that contain Social Security numbers and other confidential information -the unauthorized disclosure of which would be a violation of State policy and regulations.

    b) Additionally, MDMR management should consider the
    deployment of mobile device management software on
    all smartphones, whether issued by MDMR or personally
    provided, that have access to MDMR email accounts since the possibility exists that confidential information might be contained in employee emails.

    HERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH EXAMPLE 1: The information that outlines weaknesses within the IT department involve personally identifiable information (PII). There are state and federal laws which protect individuals from unauthorized access to this type information. This should have been labelled DEAD RED and it should be a major concern within the DMR. This type problem should be solved at once because the DMR could be held liable if personally identifiable information were to be compromised.

    Example 2: The risk associated with the Public Affairs department is labeled “RED” or HIGH. The Powerpoint specifically calls out these points:

    a) MDMR must focus on rebuilding its image and credibility by providing more information about its mission and services to the public in a way that delivers that information in a timely and trustworthy manner.
    b) MDMR should communicate and coordinate with other state agencies that have crossover issues to most effectively communicate announcements to the public.
    c) MDMR should increase its focus on communicating with the public through social media and interactive communications.
    d)The Executive Director or his designee must have final approval over any public announcements or press statements by MDMR in order to ensure accuracy and clear messages that are consistent with MDMR

      1. Yes this is all important stuff to be dealing with in a time of crisis..Logos,new brochures,extra events including trips to view the reefs. What they better do at this point is come up with some solid financial info to take to Jackson if they are going to ask for $2 million more for next year. A whole new round of fishing trips must be planned to take all of these state politicos out to show them how important this agency really is. I live right around the corner from the Bolton Building off of Kensington Drive and if I were trying to save money I would start by turning the lights out at night and turn the airconditioning up. You can see the windows sweating.As for the new logo I think maybe a new species of fish called the republicuda with a Scott Walker face eating up a mix of grilled jumbo shrimp wrapped in $100 bills would be most appropriate based on the people driving this new DMR boat.

    2. Let me add to my previous post. The sections labeled “problems with examples” are based on my own opinions and beliefs. Nothing more.

  7. Eye-Spy based on your preliminary review you are hired to untangle this web. You appear to be more knowledgeable than the $150,000.men and that is my opinion and belief. They had their feel good moment yesterday. Now we all want to know how could there be so much of a negative budget projection. Its like the Chinese doctor told his male patient who had a terrible disease called the Hong Kong Dong.”All can do is cut cut,cut,cut or leave lone, rot off in two week” Same applies to this terrible situation.Employees,prepare for the crash.

  8. To tell you the truth I really don’t know if its possible to end up with an accurate bottom line number. It seems as if there are to many variables involved to get to that point. I am no expert so who knows. If they came up with a figure that had a 20% margin of error I would call that close enough. I hate to admit that but the magnitude of this task seems huge. As a tax payer I am more worried about how business will be conducted in the future and what preventative actions will be installed to keep the books accurate.

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