What the hell is going on in Canton? There is a ruckus among us as our favorite engineer, the Madison County Journal, Barbara Blackmon and some other Canton dignitaries go at it. The Journal reported yesterday:
Engineer Rudy Warnock went beyond the scope of his duties to threaten and harass Canton Municipal Utility Commissioners, an attorney for one embattled commissioner alleged at a special meeting on Thursday.
A series of text messages presented by the attorney, who is a state Senator, also revealed threats to whip a Madison County newspaper publisher.
Attorney and State Sen. Barbara Blackmon presented a folder with dozens of copies of text messages provided by embattled CMU Commissioner Cleveland Anderson that include alleged text message exchanges with Warnock, CMU General Counsel Mike Espy and a number of other city and CMU officials.
Anderson, in a motion to fire Warnock on Thursday, claimed he went out of the scope of his duties as engineer and “caused dissent and interfered with the orderly operation of CMU.”
Some of the messages refer to policy changes Warnock allegedly suggests, as well as the capability to issue $45 million in bonds.
Warnock also allegedly threatens former CMU Commissioner John Noble and Anderson in a series of messages, even suggesting that Anderson should “answer the door when [the FBI knocks.]”
In another message presented, Warnock asks to have a meeting with CMU Attorney Mike Espy, Canton Alderman Andrew Grant, Alderman Eric Gilkey and “Tye Breedlove with the FBI office.”
There is an FBI agent in the Jackson office named Ty Breedlove. Following their procedure, a press request has been sent to the FBI for comment.
Warnock later discusses the Madison County Journal, a weekly newspaper based in Ridgeland, saying access to future information “Needs to cost them dearly!!!.”
He later apparently threatens Associate Editor and Publisher Michael Simmons in a series of text messages the state senator presented.
The messages presented by Blackmon and allegedly written by Warnock say:
• “He works as a reporter for Madison county journal which is pro republican and anti democrat.”
• “[Madison Mayor] Mary Hawkins tells him where to go and what to report!!”
• “You will never get a fair shake with him.”
• “He needs his ass whipped.”
• “Need a down home bitch slapping!!”
• “I’d pay good money to have his slapped silly.”
Any messages sent in that conversation following Warnock’s alleged threats were not included in the packet of messages Blackmon presented.
The CMU meeting Thursday morning followed a meeting by four Canton aldermen held at 8 a.m. where they voted 4-0 to replace Cleveland Anderson with Bob Winstead.
Those present and voting for the replacement for were: aldermen Andrew Grant, Les Penn, Eric Gilkey and Olivia Harrell. Mayor Arnel Bolden was not present.
Canton requires five officials present to call a meeting, however Penn cited an old case that allowed for aldermen to hold a meeting without the mayor present if he purposefully did not show up and under extreme circumstances. Penn said he would send a copy of that case law to the Journal. The Journal has not received that case law yet.
Anderson and Commissioners Lanny Slaughter and Cleotha Williams did not recognize the action taken by city aldermen Thursday morning and both state Sen. Blackmon and her husband Ed Blackmon Jr. concurred.
It is unclear which board officially presided over the meeting as Chairman Charles Weems did not recognize Anderson until it came time to approve the claims docket, when Weems seconded a motion by Anderson for approval. Every other motion made by Anderson was not recognized.
Weems attempted to have Canton Police remove Anderson from the meeting but Mayor Bolden told the officers to stay put.
The meeting continued with Winstead silent and Weems objecting to a series of motions that included the firing of General Counsel Espy and Warnock as engineer in a questionable 3-2 vote, with Anderson, Slaughter and Williams voting aye.
Kingfish note: As asked earlier, what the hell is going on?
48 comments:
Observations:
(1) About the only people in Madison county more crooked than the Blackmons are Warnock and his crooked buddies.
(2) Les Penn and Weems are over their heads in this sorry shit. It is a disgrace for these "good" Canton citizens to pull this crap on their friends and neighbors.
(3) Warnock has to have something on the FBI as he seems to be protected. His unethical deals with the former Madison County BOS should have put him in jail years ago.
(4) If CMU "has the capability to issue $45 million in bonds" and Warnock-Espy keep control, then it won't be long before they will find a way to get that money. Warnock will have more secret no-bid contracts (like the f**kin' he did to us Madison County taxpayers with the bogus $2 million airport "study").
What is going on?? I will tell you what is going on:
Rival Mexican drug lords fight over turf and money. It is no different in Canton.
The Warnock Gang hijacked the fat CMU money cow. After the Blackmon Gang saw how easy it was, they decided they want a piece of the action and are jockeying to push Warnock out. Either way, you Canton suckers are screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Both above posts are right on. What is unanswered is why the hell Penn and Weems have converted to the dark side. Penn ran against this crap last election - hope he has some good answers (other than a fittened wallet) to give as a reason.
Somebody needs to ask how much Espy is getting paid.
Espy's contract is public record. Call up there and ask. It's an hourly rate I imagine.
Phillette - remember her - counsel for Madison County BOS? Add $550000 to the cost of hiring her. Oh....and the legal fees for Copeland Cook are skyrocketing now.....funny.....legal fees were all the rage when the money was going....to a black guy. Now that white folks get the cheese...all is right with the world.
I was wondering where that stink was coming from in Canton.
@12:38pm....
So now is all about race???
Espy was part of the former Madison County BOS "Rainbow Rip-off Coalition" with plenty of racial harmony between Blacks (Banks, Griffin & Espy) and Whites (Warnock, Steen, Howland & John Bell Grocery-Clerk). You say he was fired because he was black?? Get real- he was fired when the voters threw out the trash in the last election.
As far as a trip down racial memory lane....do you recall when Espy was running for re-election for House of Representatives?? He was in a close race and guess what?? Some "racist" conveniently spray painted "Nigger" on Espy's front door just before election day!! The media ate it up and ignored the obvious that Espy did it himself to stir up "his" voters. Can you say "Tawana Brawley"??
12:38 - nice idea. If we can start adding the cost of court settlements to the attorney fees, we can have a new pricing model. The BOS settled the federal court case for $550,000 - and according to most observers that was a good deal for Madison County. The cost, of course, was due to the decisions of the prior board and the contracts that they entered into with Warnock. As much as I assume they would like to have not paid a dime to Rudy, there was a little detail about the contract terms from the team in place prior to those that hired Phillette. But you can't charge that cost to her, or to the current board, unless of course you are one of Rudy's butt-kissers or someone else that was sucking on that tit that lost out in 2015.
What about Copeland Cook fees?
What's that all about?
Snake eyes and I Go to Jail. A 5 lands me on the Community Chest. If I draw the "Street Repairs" card do I get the engineering contract as well? A 10 lands me on the "Luxury Tax". Ouch. Boxcars I land on GO and collect my salary. It's a tough corner of the board!
Where did Blackmon get copies of Text messages??
That's actually funny !!
The food fight, while entertaining, us just Madison County politics as usual.
The interesting nugget in all of this is Warnock's blase use of an FBI agent's name. If my name were Ty Breedlove, Mr. Warnock would not be speaking at all.
But that's just me.
hmmmm...the blackmon's and boss hog...eerily similar...the only difference is the blackmon's drive bentleys less the rebel flag painted on top! yee-haw from canton!
Appears Penn has gone to the dark side.
Appears Penn has gone to the dark side. In Madison, just one set of crooks replaced another, though the new set are not in the same league as the old set, yet.
Can we assume an FBI agent is aware of these threats and a@@ whippings being mentioned ??
From what I have gathered talking to people in Canton this evening is Harrell and Penn supporters are only worried about one thing when it comes to CMU and that is making sure the Blackmons can't touch it. And that is why they are trying to remove Cleveland Anderson that is trying/did to bring the Blackmon's back on board, and it seems the Mayor has turned from being elected to get rid of the Blackmon's to now needing their support because he intentionally missed special called meetings this week that would have gotten rid of the Blackmon's appointments. The people I talked to also told me there really isn't a good ending to this game, no matter who is up there, as long as CMU has the money it does, there is going to be a constant fight from each side of town to see who is in control.
No one in Madison county is saying a $550,000 sweetheart deal with Rudy is a good deal. An engineer has an ethical obligation to turn over plans, or he can lose his license to practice in Mississippi. Rudy refused, and the first year lackey lawyer agreed with him. Two wrongs - Rudy the Bully and Bryant's little girl -- do not make it right.
Phils daughters education is costing Madison County taxpayers milions.
@10:45PM..
Prior to this cluster f**k, CMU was run efficiently - esp. considering it is a quasi gummint institution. The fact that CMU was debt free and sitting on a pile of money indicates that the prior managers were doing something right.
Then Weems & Penn sold out, replaced the honest engineer (Waggoner) with Warnock, replaced the CMU attorney with Espy & fired the CEO who was doing a good job. They were going to make Karl Banks the new CEO until this treachery got too hot.
Mayor Bolton has done a good job (relatively speaking). He beats hell out of the ignorant openly racist buffoon (Wm. Truly) that was in that office before. He opposed the Warnock treachery when it happened, but was out maneuvered by Weems, Penn, Noble, and Warnock.
Now, we have the Blackmons entering the contest. I don't think Bolton sold out to the Blackmons - it is that they are also opposing the Warnock Cartel and he probably sees them as the lesser of the evils.
I don't see it as "a constant fight from each side of town to see who is in control". It is a fight between two Cartels to get their hands on the money. The city as a whole is on the sidelines waiting to see who is going to be the one that rips them off. If the people of Canton had any balls, they would rise up and throw all these fools out and start over will some honest, accountable politicians.........but that would be too much to expect from Canton.
Well now-
Who else has Warnock threatened ?
What else has Andrew Grant been involved in ? Isn't he an employee of the county?
What else does Mrs Blackmon or any one else have proof of?
Me thinks the unethical behavior should cost Warnock his license and the others in the text messages should be fired!
Shame on those people for such hateful / arrogant and bully actions
Kingfish is asking the right question ....
So, Phil's daughter agreed with Rudy's lawyer for the sake of expediency and the County forked over half a mil. They fired Espy who is laughing his head off, knowing the County did not put on it's (easy) case.
Kenny Wayne is back... first day on the jobs for the Blackmon board... they created a Health & Safety department for CMU. And then named Kenny Wayne Jones the department head at over 90K a year.
Kenny Wayne is back at CMU?
Good gracious~
Such a cluster..............
Well, hoped to move from Jackson to the burbs, but apparently it's not better in Madison. Same song, second verse. I guess it just spreads.... so where now?
How much money is being spent on outside lawyers now that Phil Jr is lawyer for the Board?
9:42:
To say 'it's not better in Madison' than Jackson is absurd. Bad pols everywhere including Madco and Niknar counties, but Jackistan is in its own league...
The nixed comment about threats from Rudy was based on factual posts from his own facebook page (public at the time) and from the Madison Journal. Not sure why The Fish would cull it. Can't claim it was libelous.
Someone 'splain to me why this Cancerous Canton Cartel needs Whiteboy Warnock involved in their takeover of CMU. Are there no black engineers?
Whoa now...................................
The story says included in the copies of Text messages were some including " CMU General Counsel Mike Espy and a number of other city and CMU officials."
What the heck !?? Who did they threaten or bully !??
Who are the CMU officials?
All that nasty pack hangs together don't they?
Dang grown people should be ashamed of themselves.
I hope they all drop public - wouldn't that be grand...
Canton is like that town in A Fistful of Dollars. There are no good guys.
Of course the Kingfish claims to live in Jacktown, so whtta ya expect besides a comment like that? Canton includes all the county offices and indeed there are some 'good guys' inside those buildings and always have been some. It's just easier to center on the bad and not do the hard work of investigating. The Clarion does the same thing.
Blackmons on one side, Montomery-Karl et al on the other. Tell me exactly who are the good guys or what group is trying to do right?
Good question Kingfish -
answer NEITHER side
All of these mentioned in the CMU CITY of Canton crap have their own agenda which includes greed , power and some hatefulness.
If the citizens would raise h*** , get some serious media coverage on it, wonder what would happen then?
Kingfish Sez: "Canton is like that town in A Fistful of Dollars. There are no good guys."
Then Kingfish Sez: "Blackmons on one side, Montomery-Karl et al on the other. Tell me exactly who are the good guys or what group is trying to do right?"
Maybe you meant, in the first quote, to say 'With this CMU thing' instead of broad-brushing Canton in general. There may be 'no good guys' in the CMU tug-O-war, but there are some in Canton. You have to search, but there's a few.
Canton is a mini-jackson when it comes to political leadership, graft and self-serving tools. If 'the citizens' of Jackson haven't 'raised hell' in twenty years, what makes 2:14 think this would ever happen in Canton?
That's about as obtuse as saying 'If the parents of JPS would just raise hell and get some serious media coverage on it', things would change.
When those who are governed are too ignorant to conduct the work of the governing.....the governed are not governed....they are owned.
Rut Roh.....
Someone tells there are more threatening messages.
Saved voice and text messages.
As a Cantonian, I disagree with and resent the broad, negative comments about the people of Canton.
For the record, it's Mayor Bolden, not Bolton, but I do agree that he is an honest man.
Weems, Penn and Noble are good men trying to juggle a big mess.
No question, if you're looking for the bad guys, that Rudy and the Blackmons fall at the top of that list.
then why do weems , penn and noble support rudy
Exactly ! If those board members are such good men why did they go to the dark side ??
There are more messages ...
now we will see who has the guts to do the right thing
@ 3:16 and @ 3:59 y'all obviously don't understand Canton politics. Weems & Penn haven't gone to "the dark side" as everyone here likes to refer. It's just the good white & black officials in Canton that have smart supporters go all in when the Blackmon's are involved. They see Rudy as a little problem compared to Ed & Barbara.... especially Barbara. You give Rudy to much credit if you think he is as good as the Blackmon's in robbing Canton.
I do agree with @ 2:35 about Arnel Bolden. Arnel has been a good Mayor for Canton. . BUT no one can understand why he would have flipped on Rudy for Barbara. With Kenny Wayne being back in the picture at CMU it's believed a deal has been cut between Arnel & the Blackmon's with his re-election coming up & making sure the black vote supports him, instead of the Blackmon's old man ... the devil himself William Truly
DUH !
More of the reason someone in the City of Canton should have the balls to get rid of all of them and start over!
But no one does, they are all talk. Someone in someones pocket, owes something or afraid they will be 6 ft under evidently.
Good gracious! Corrupt, unethical is corrupt and unethical all damn day long!
Do not give a sh** about Warnock or Espy or any of their cronies. The sooner they are all NOT dealing with anything in Madison county , city or otherwise will be a good day.
Back to original post- Text messages and threatening others.
City officials, Warnock, Espy and who else?
Unacceptable, doesn't matter who you are.
and your new, CMU GM is
Drum roll, please
KENNY WAYNE JONES!
The mayor is in over his head now. There is a new group in charge. The Blackmons, Mayor Bolden, and Kenny Wayne Jones!
Election season should be interesting
Good I suppose.
Are they all crooks too?
As long as Warnock and Espy are gone!
The Citizens should get engaged, involved and still watch every move and action of the board and CMU.
Hold them accountable.
@1:37 obviously missed your joke @11:58. CMU in the Blackmon's hands will have the good families left finally packing up and heading south... there is about to be a battle in Canton. It will either be won by the old money or by the new guard of the Blackmon's & Kenny Wayne. Should be interesting to watch. I for one would like to know what kind of contracts Ed & Babs signed.
The primary product of CMU is sewage. How appropriate that Rudy and Espy whould be in a battle with the Blackmons and Kenny Wayne over shit.
@9:53
haha~~ good one
welllll-- the word is Espy was prowling around at Madison County Chancery today.
wonder what's next?
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