Jonesboro attorney Bobby Culpepper promised he would be filing a lawsuit for three plaintiffs against the Town of Jonesboro’s controversial mayor Leslie Thompson and the Board of Aldermen, if the board voted to amend the budget and provide for a doubling of the mayor’s pay.
The board did vote to amend the budget and double the mayor’s salary, both by a 3-2 vote.
In a public hearing preceding the regular monthly meeting of the board, Culpepper said, “Please do not consider this as a threat. It is not. It is a promise.”
Culpepper also said that, “I have pointed out to you in detail 12 violations of law that would occur if you pass ordinance number 700 so that you cannot appear in either civil or criminal court and tell the Judge that you did not intentionally violate the Louisiana Local Governmental Budget Act.”
He went on to say that if the local District Attorney refused to charge those who voted for an unbalanced budget with malfeasance in office, he would personally ask the Attorney General to do so.
He also said that if the US Mail was utilized in furtherance of illegal activities or that federal funds have been misused, he will be contacting the FBI.
Culpepper read from a prepared statement that spelled out the alleged violations.
See here the statement.
We will have additional reporting tomorrow on other events from tonight’s meeting.
Lincoln Parish News Online 
03/08/2011 at 10:06 pm |
I pray he actually sticks to it this time and doesn’t, after some clandestine meeting, suddenly drop the lawsuit.
03/08/2011 at 10:27 pm |
shut up karen what have you done to stop leslie?
give em hell bobby!
03/08/2011 at 11:23 pm |
Shut up? More of J-Berry’s fine intellectual crowd has come out tonight I see.
03/08/2011 at 10:51 pm |
We all need to stop fighting with each other and join together and see at this man gets what is coming to him and see Jonesboro come back from the trash can that he has put us in .
03/08/2011 at 11:14 pm |
We have to support Bobby Culpepper and thank him for putting his neck on the line for a town and it’s people. Maybe he should run for mayor. According to what I read the night before the meeting, the document isn’t even valid. Now Mr. Culpepper has confirmed that. I really wanted this to work out, the first black mayor and proud of him. I cannot say that now and it is heartbreaking. Is it because he is blinded by racism and wants to get back at others? Is it an honest mistake? What can we do to help Mr. Culpepper? I think the state needs to take it over so that he is not in the middle of this. It is not about race it is about the laws set forth for the entire state to follow. All races must follow the same laws and no race is above the law. If charges are filed against those voting yes and the mayor then it looks like the arrests will be all black. That is not good for any of us. It does look racist. The fact that 5 voted for the ordinance, doesn’t that put all of them at fault from the beginning? So charging all of them would leave it in the hands of judges. I am sure the no votes will be off the hook but they still all broke the law technically by knowling voting.
03/08/2011 at 11:29 pm |
Why are the arrests all being black bad? If they were all white and none black would you still say that? People need to stop being so afraid of the stupid race crap some spew that is intended to make you second guess every action as if it were wrong. It is smoke n mirrors. If all arrested are black, it is their own fault. It isn’t because anyone is racist. Everyone was read the paper stating the laws. Everyone had equal chance to vote yes or no. Some chose to willingly violate the law and others chose not to do so. How is that racist? Crime knows no race–just the criminal.
03/08/2011 at 11:33 pm |
amen Karen, preach it!
03/08/2011 at 11:32 pm |
check your facts, there will be no technicality…………..on 3 voted for it!!
03/09/2011 at 12:39 pm |
Yes but doesn’t the law state that if an ordinance is even voted on that is illegally written they are all at fault. Abstaining from voting might have been the right answer….Not an attorney but I want to make sure we do it right so that they can’t keep calling the race card…..
03/09/2011 at 10:39 pm |
You cannot stop anyone from calling the card or names of anything for that matter. Truth will prevail.
03/08/2011 at 11:23 pm |
Sir, you need to read Walters reporting again. Two members of the board voted NO!!
03/08/2011 at 11:54 pm |
I think Mr Culpepper played it just right. He waited until they showed thier hand then chopped it off with the law. It was only a matter of time. If they do arrest the black members of the jury why would it look like racism? I understand that their lawyer hasn’t a clue about the law but that is not our fault and they were told before the vote ,by Mr. Culpepper, that if they
voted yes they would wake up in jail. I say”Book um Dano.”
03/09/2011 at 6:07 am |
What was Mr. Reeves yearly salary as mayor?
03/09/2011 at 6:32 am |
I don’t know how much Mr. Reeves salary was but I know he requested it be reduced for him because it changed his tax bracket with his school system retirement. In 2008, the council adjusted the mayor and the chief of police by increasing it 10 %. At first Thompson refused this stating , “it was a token amount.” He later recanted his statements and took the raise. The mayor and chief of police salary are in ordenance and increase with every new term up to the fourth term. Thompson just got a raise at the begining of his term.
03/09/2011 at 6:40 am |
that is why Ordinance 538 that is suddenly missing is so important. I will have a copy for you before this day is out and you will be able to determine for yourself, that there was a raise effective January 1, 2011. Now reread what I just posted…..there was an AUTOMATIC INCREASE, A RAISE ON 1-1-2011.
03/09/2011 at 10:48 am |
I was at the meeting last night. When the mayor asked why hadnot the previous mayors been harassed as he is being,and saying it was only because they were white,I thought I would come unglued.
03/09/2011 at 12:31 pm |
[…] racism, immediately after attorney Bobby Culpepper finished his public statement regarding his promise to litigate if a budget amendment was […]
03/09/2011 at 4:18 pm |
should have never dropped the 1st suit…like we all knew mayor and council would do the right thing??
come on
03/09/2011 at 6:01 pm |
I fully support Bobby Culpepper in what he is going to do. The Mayor sat up there and said on numerous occasions last night in the Council meeting that the town does not have any problems. He needs to get his head out of the sand. I know personally of a Vendor that supplies the town with certian items, that sent them a bill and on one occasion about two years ago, they sent him a check for his product, and about a month later they paid him again. The same thing happened about 2 to 3 weeks ago. He was a Christian man and returned the money to the town. So if that is happening to one vendor in town just think how many other ones are they paying and never returning the checks.
NO WONDER THEY CAN’T BALANCE THE BANK ACCOUNT.
03/10/2011 at 6:11 am |
as long as leslie can get his hands on the town money he will spend it on what ever he wants, and we wont have nothing here i look for him to end the christmas lights as well.all he does is do things for the blacks like the little parades he does during the summer if this wasnt true he would have them down town so everyone could see them but does he NO!!
03/14/2011 at 7:54 pm |
Update Please! Has any action been taken in this matter? Did he file the charges? Mr. Thompson mentioned that he was in court for this or did I misunderstand that point in the video?