Tommy Williams

There was an 11-person trip to Washington, D.C. reported July 1 in The Meridian Star that included four of the five members of the Lauderdale County’s Board of Supervisors.

From county board attorney Rick Barry’s “swamp” here in Lauderdale County to the proverbial swamp in Washington, D.C., the primary purpose according to the talking points was to get assistance from our state’s representatives with money for the courthouse and therefore the $15,500 the trip cost was justified.

As good as they are in Washington at spending taxpayer’s money, they have nothing on Barry’s board of supervisors and seven boards of supervisors during his 27 years of calling the shots.

As indicative as eating at one of the most expensive restaurants in D.C. is, and the insensitive behavior of flying from Jackson instead Meridian’s airport, those are only minor indicators of the callous indifference they have shown to the real needs of Lauderdale County and its citizens.

Even Washington’s swamp dwellers don’t make their employees work in an unsafe embarrassment to constituents of the entire county for 20-30 years as Barry and his procession of boards have with our courthouse.

And in addition to the morality deficiency shown here, D.C.’s swamp dwellers aren’t quite as obvious about it as ours are. Ours put their own frivolous “wants” ahead to their MS Code statue, 19-3-41, requirement to “erect and keep a courthouse and jail in good repair,”  and are proud of it — “its for the children,” or “it’s what our constituents elected us to do.”

The extravagance of taking 11 people to D.C., including two members of the Barry firm and other “hangers on,” pales in comparison to the county’s money wasted by Mr. Barry’s boards starting with $20 million in bond issues in 2006. Most of that was wasted on the failed Loblolly project and it’s very possible that $10M could have been “clawed back” from Scremtec had Barry done a better job negotiating/authoring the legal arrangement for the county.

Regardless of other difficulties in the decision making, a central problem delaying any real action on the courthouse is the debt from approximately $54 million plus, just in long term bond issue borrowing since 2006. Beginning with that mostly wasted $20 million “Industrial Revenue Bonds” in 2006, $10M more in 2008-09 bonds for “roads and bridges,” another $10M more in 2012 for roads, bridges, recreation, and most anything else Mr. Barry and his boys wanted to spend it on. But then came the coup de grace, the icing on the cake, the $14M bond issue in 2013, with $10M for ballfields and a basketball court, and an “afterthought” pittance $4 million for the courthouse.

And make no mistake as to who calls the shots here — as the only constant for nearly seven boards of supervisors’ four year terms is county board attorney, J. Richard Barry. As to the decision to go to D.C., selecting the party participants, deciding the Jackson travel route, and even to authoring the talking points, it was all designed by or at least approved by counselor Barry, or it wouldn’t have happened.

The thinking goes something like this: “Now that we’re broke and so heavily in debt lets get an impressive group together and go shop D.C. for some handouts. Even if no significant help comes from it, we’ll look good like we’re doing our due diligence and have a nice free trip in the process.” 

And speaking of talking points, how much have we been hearing about economic development and jobs for 15-20 years now? But where are they, other than BWI and 60 jobs in Marion?

I can tell you for sure a lot of them, at least 7,000-8,000, are in the Golden Triangle where Joe Max Higgins brought them in during the past 14-15 years.  Although his first choice was Lauderdale County, he went there instead because here there was “too much control by just a few people.” We may not know who all “the few people” are but we most certainly know who is at the center — our 27-year county board attorney.

And Mr. Barry’s influence just keeps growing as evidenced by his recent election to serve as president of the state bar association. And he may soon have even more locally if his firm’s attorney, Bo Bailey is elected circuit court judge in November. As much as we would like to believe judges are “above the fray,” the board of supervisors’ three year “stay” from having to prosecute their appeal of their violation of the Open Meetings Act ruling by the state’s ethics commission, signifies otherwise.

And last but not least, the most recent and blatantly deceptive talking point ever concocted, was proffered by Barry’s partner and chief talking-point administrator Lee Thaggard.

After being forced to admit violating the Open Meetings Act vs. having to try to defend their appeal in Judge Mason’s court, Mr. Thaggard claimed to Star reporter Whitney Downard that the ethics commision “expanded” the act’s meaning. Nice try Mr. Thaggard!

There’s been no change in law since 2012 when passed. It’s only calling out non-compliant counselors like you and Mr. Barry who encourage your minions to avoid transparency at all costs when conniving to borrow the big money, specifically that $14M bond issue in 2013. Next time might be more expensive.

But perhaps even worse than all of the above is our county’s terrible reputation with the economic development search groups hired to evaluate all aspects of potential locations for large employers looking to relocate or add to their company’s facilities.

It could take a generation to eliminate that reputation of being so “controlled by just a few.” And that assumes a change to honest and responsible governance for all the county’s citizens from what ours has been, which created that damning reputation. Don’t hold your breath.

Tommy Williams is a resident of Marion. He is acting director of Lauderdale County Citizens For Responsible Governance. Contact him at 601-479-5110 or email lccfrg@gmail.com.