Jackson Jambalaya

 Two former CMU employees claimed they were fired because they would not talk to then-CMU engineer Rudy Warnock.  WLBT reported yesterday: 

Two Canton Municipal Utility employees were fired from the agency after having run-ins with its former engineer, Rudy Warnock, according to testimony.

The Rudy Warnock and Cleveland Anderson bribery trial began this week at the federal courthouse in downtown Jackson.

Proceedings were postponed on Thursday after the government’s last witness was unable to testify due to a medical emergency.

But before that, the court heard from Lisa Ross and Brian Finnegan, two former CMU staffers who ended up out of a job after allegedly not bending to Warnock’s demands.

Warnock was named engineer for the utility in the summer of 2016. At the time, Finnegan was CMU’s general manager, and Ross was its contract attorney.

Ross lost her position shortly after she refused to talk to Warnock about CMU issues, telling the court she had not been authorized to do so by the utility’s Board of Commissioners.

“Later, I received a call from Cleveland Anderson, and Mr. Anderson instructed me that I was to take Rudy’s call whenever he called, and answer any questions that Mr. Warnock had,” she said.

“I told Mr. Anderson I would, but I had no intention of doing that, because it was my position that Mr. Anderson was only one member of the board, and one member could not direct my activities as a lawyer.”

Within a couple of weeks, Ross was out, and Mike Espy was appointed in her place.  Rest of article.

Next week should be fun to watch.  Stay tuned.