Okay. I need help. Make any of this make sense.
Last week, a statewide news organization released a hit piece against Tate County’s House Representative Trey Lamar. Come to find out, the organization was fed information from locals going under the anonymous Facebook Group “Tatecounty Watchdogs”.
This “watchdog” organization insinuated that since Trey lived near the Back Acres County Club, he was funneling state money to correct an issue caused by a road improvement project paid for by the county, with state funds, to fix the private golf club.
Sure, from the outside I guess knee-jerk reactions could be made. But that’s the problem with assumptions…they are rarely based on all the facts.
The stories inflamed numbers, inaccurately described funding and misrepresented facts, all because the reporters have a personal bias against Lamar. Honestly, I kind of understand it. As a nonprofit news organization, they are entirely beholden to their benefactors. It’s probably no coincidence their biggest donors are City of Jackson Democratic officials who currently hold a grudge against Lamar. After all, he spearheaded the movement for the state to take over certain functions in Jackson in order to clean up our state capital.
To make a very, very, long story short, the story culminated in stating Lamar has brought home $38M to Tate County. The article tried comparing similarly populated counties by stating they had received only $6.5 million or $2 million. It also stated that Hinds County (Jackson’s location) received $5.9 million.
Okay. I see the implications, but they left vital information out of the story. For example, when comparing Tate to Union or Adams County, were colleges taken into account? Union County doesn’t have a college. There are some in Adams County, but I question if the numbers are anywhere near Tate’s Northwest Mississippi Community College main campus. And another caveat is any state money going to NWCC counts as money to Tate since the home office/campus is in Senatobia.
I think what concerns me the most is that the drive against Lamar began with locals going after him with strange ideas of his directing money to a golf course. I’ve sat down with Lamar, Tate County officials, City of Senatobia officials and numerous others. Lamar hasn’t done anything illegal.
He currently holds the position as Chairman of Ways and Means. Historically this is a coveted position because when you are in charge of where the “bucks” go, you tend to send them home.
So here’s where I’m scratching my head. If Lamar has directed $38 million toward home…why are Tate Countians complaining? I might could understand if folks in Jackson, Union or Adams County were leading the charge, but for the charge to come from Tate? Like what? Lamar has helped procure funding for over 128 miles of roads in Tate County. The story on the news site focused on two miles.
Believe me, if you live in Tate County, there has been some aspect of your life that has been improved by Lamar. I will personally be releasing the story on all he has done soon.
One thing is for sure, most of the people here in Tate have a pretty good idea of who these “Watchdogs” are. They are building homes in Arkansas, living in homes fined for being public nuisance, and have reputations for inflaming sensationalism.
Look, we live in Mississippi. Every small town has their group of “crazies”. We lovingly acknowledge them in the coffee houses and shake their hands, but it completely changes the game when the locals go to the “state”.
It’s a real shame when sensationalism and jealousy win out over integrity and pride.
Unlike so many false claims the story made, Lamar hasn’t benefited from most of the money he has brought home.
Tate Countians should be walking around and holding their heads high that we have someone like Lamar fighting for us. We damn sure don’t need to be the ones shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to undermine him.
