On a 3-1-1 vote, the Town of Jonesboro’s board of aldermen moments ago decided to defund the town’s police department, except for enough money to pay the elected chief Wesley Horton’s salary and benefits, plus minimal office and vehicle expenses.
The yearly budget for that department starting 7/1/2012 will be $95 thousand. Four years ago, the budget was about $800 thousand/year.
Voting for the motion made by LaStevic Cottonham, and seconded by Devin Flowers, was Charla Mason-Thompson. Renee Stringer voted no. Sam Lamkin abstained.
We will have additional reporting later with more details.
Lincoln Parish News Online 
06/25/2012 at 3:35 pm |
This is crazy! When will this ever end? There were many other things that should have been cut instead of the Police Dept.!
06/25/2012 at 7:24 pm |
Such as the mayor’s salary?
06/25/2012 at 7:30 pm |
Good place to start, then cut the councils pay, except Renee’s. The others have definitely not earned their pay!
06/25/2012 at 8:40 pm |
The people of Jonesboro should just do like Obama and invite about 40,000 illegal Mexicans over temporary around election time to vote the mayor out of office , hope the next election everybody gets out to vote !
06/25/2012 at 3:44 pm |
This will end When someone in the DA’s office, AG’s office, or anyone else that has power in Baton Rouge grows some balls big enough to arrest his butt along with the entire town council except for Renee Stringer. Sam Lamkin is a pitiful excuse for a man…….how in the hell can you abstain from voting on something this important? He is about as useless as tits on a boar hog! Next thing you will see is all of the drug heads selling on main street, and people being robbed in the walmart parking lot. This is so stupid it is funny!!!!
06/25/2012 at 4:01 pm |
sheer idiocy
06/25/2012 at 4:08 pm |
Never in my years have I heard such a ridiculus story. This is the most asinine thing I could have ever imagined happening except what is already known about Jonesboro & it’s controversial mayor.
Bring on the drug lords to the East side…….known as Leon Drive. You do not have anything to worry about in the TJ. Crime will definitely be on the rise and pay off well in Jonesboro thanks to these morons.
Sam, what in thunder is wrong with you? How dare you abstain from voting on such an important issue. I know you were raised in a good family where right and wrong was taught. What happened to you?
Does the Sheriff have to take up the slack now? I think he has his hands full with the parish and prison. It is not fair to him.
06/25/2012 at 4:10 pm |
In my first paragraph that should read “its controversial mayor” not it’s.
06/25/2012 at 8:30 pm |
its certainly not fair to the taxpayers. i dont appreciate the fact that i am having to pay for someone elses free ride.
06/25/2012 at 4:10 pm |
Perhaps we should ask that the Mayor be defunded and go to a home charter rule….he would not be elected Mayor/President
Guess since Andy Brown mowes the town’s cemetary, he needs to provide police protection as well.
Andy Brown can take care of all animal control issues as well….
What does Jackson Parish need a town mayor and councilmen for?
And the Mayor earns his high salary…..We all knew that what ever the mayor wanted, the trio at the table would vote for it….they can not think for themselves…..
06/25/2012 at 4:14 pm |
I, for one, would like to hear from “Messy”, and the brethern over IN the Leon Drive area. Are you all going to be safe now that the PD has been cut down to almost NOTHING? More crime, more drugs…..that is what Jonesboro really needs now.
06/25/2012 at 4:17 pm |
I can just see Lumpkins sitting up at the table at the next meeting – “Uh, Mayor, I heard a rumor that we no longer have a police department!” Is this true? Where are these rumors coming from? ROFLMAO!!!
06/25/2012 at 4:36 pm |
The residents of Jackson Parish has now become the proud owners of an additional $400,000 burden placed on them by the Town of Jonesboro. Congratulations taxpayers………..be sure and thank the king and his crewe, and when the parish has a need and all the deputies are in town dealing with the issues that should have been dealt with by the police department, again , thank the Town. hope you can get a deputy when you need one, if they do their job, they won’t be cruising around in the parish, their hands will be full in town. where is the finanical person, where is the prosecution, where is the people that should come and help……votes sure must pay high dividends.
06/25/2012 at 4:38 pm |
Is there anyone left that believes the CTIC (Chief Turd in Charge) Mayor has the welfare of Jonesboro at heart. Other than the pigmies living in and around Leon Drive? Having a town without a police presence is a dream come true for a wide variety of groups – armed robbers, murderers, rapists, child molesters, drug dealers, and such. What next? An edic making Ebonics the official language of Jonesboro? Folks of Jonesboro, all you need to do is get the required number of registered voters to sign a petition for recall and vote the dim-witted SOB out of office. If you can’t do that, then the lights will go out for Jonesboro, if you know what I mean. I can not understand why anyone with a lick of sense would defund the police department. It is beyond comprehension and I mean WAY BEYOND COMPREHENSION.
06/25/2012 at 6:25 pm |
wat the heck is wrong with my home town and that goof ball as of a mayor
06/25/2012 at 6:40 pm |
Sad to say, but your hometown as you once knew it no longer exists.
06/25/2012 at 6:34 pm |
What next abolish the Fire Department?? Why don’t you abolish the freaking IDIOTS on The Freaking TOWN COUNSEL. with the exception of Renee Stringer. Sam Lamkin is the biggest damn Idiot of them all.They ALL need to be kicked to the curb. Freaking DaMN IDIOTS.
06/25/2012 at 6:51 pm |
go back and read the budget, the fire department is getting an increase, ……..and more raises….no, he washes his car for him, makes more than roberts ever thought about making. go back and read the documents.
06/25/2012 at 6:59 pm |
Now, Now….take a chill pill. I have two good friends that keep me company. Smith & Wesson travel with me ….perhaps you need some good friends.
Any one on Leon Drive doing illegal activities, I will call 911 when I see it….I also takes pictures with my cell phone for evidence. We can all help our community….we can police our areas!
Leslie, our mayor, is just trying to keep a balanced budget for the good of the town.
Maybe when he sells the airport or gets some commercial interest to fly in and out, he will re do the police department.
Too bad all those nice mens and womens gonna lose their jobs…
I bet the man who the mayor and Mr. Flowers wanted hired back during the winter is glad he did not get a job now….he would just be laid off. You know the one…the one that did not have a car to get to work so the police would pick him up for work…the one the mayor and Mr. Flowers wanted to attend the cop school in Caddo Parish instead of the one the Chief uses in Monroe had passed….the man who did not complete his application for school on time and turn in his drivers license…I think I remember Charla taking up for him ….well enough said…I am certain the Mayor is glad his personal pick was not hired cause how would he explain to his friend he was being laid off due to budget cuts.
It is all good STILL in Jonesboro…..lots of blessings for every body.
We really do not need the po po..we can all help out! Smith & Wesson for all!.
06/26/2012 at 4:52 pm |
People are missing that point. There would be all the money in the world and all the officers they needed at the police department as long as they are hand picked by the mayor! That is what this is all about. The mayor can’t get the “officers” he wants on the force so, this is what happens. If you won’t join him, he will do everything to destroy you.
06/25/2012 at 7:13 pm |
What about the $2.00 that everyone that is billed for public safety on their water bill each month. If no public safety, then the town shouldn’t get this every month. Everyone needs to subtract that from their town bill each month. Why should the people pay for a service that no longer exists.
06/25/2012 at 7:30 pm |
Maybe that is for the water you buying to be kept safe for the public to drink and use….stop trying to cause more budget problems…please pay your water bill….heck, help out the town and pay more than you owe…make a donation!
06/25/2012 at 9:55 pm |
Why give the idiots more money………Aren’t they already miss using enough……Why throw good money after bad……it’s not a money problem……
06/26/2012 at 7:41 am |
“Messy”, I can see that your one of the one’s on Leon Drive that we need to watch out for. Dumb, on Crack, and carries a Gun? Point CLEAR DUMBA**!!!!
06/25/2012 at 7:31 pm |
I think they have lost there minds. What happen to all the money?¿???
06/25/2012 at 7:52 pm |
Messy’s two friends (Smith and Wesson) are good reasons for the town of Jonesboro to have a professional police department. How many more of the Leon Drive crowd are armed? More than one I would say and if intelligences is a prerequsite for gun ownership, then the Leon Drive contingent is not meeting all of the qualifications. I would ask Messy to go back to school and learn how to communicate through the written process (“for the water you buying”). Often I get the impression that Messy might be white just trying to stir up trouble. Well, he doesn’t have to stir – The Chief Turd in Charge does alright on his own. And then there is the Dildo.
06/26/2012 at 7:44 am |
Two Thumbs Up!!!!
06/26/2012 at 11:19 am |
I am wondering if “Messy” is the chief moran himself or one of the 4 council stooges on these forums.
06/25/2012 at 9:17 pm |
This is unbelievable. A mayor double his salary, cell phone expenses twice as much as they were, yet the Town cannot maintain a cemetery, can’t afford a police department. Four council members either vote for or abstain on almost every ridiculous proposal the mayor brings up. When is this town going to wake up?
06/25/2012 at 10:04 pm |
Looks like the only solution will be to increase the parish taxes so more sheriff’s deputies can be hired to maintain law and order in Jonesboro. But that would not bet fair to the citizens of the other towns in the parish, just because one town can’t handle its own business.
06/25/2012 at 10:08 pm |
Stay out of the Leon drive area if you think it is too dangerous….
06/26/2012 at 7:47 am |
Why don’t you just go smoke somemore Crack and shut the Hell Up!!!?
06/26/2012 at 11:24 am |
Messy: Well, it will be interesting when all the little GOOD elderly blacks become deathly afraid to live in the Leon Drive area. Bring on the double locks and bars for windows and doors More crime is on the way!
06/26/2012 at 1:39 pm |
New business idea for me…selling and installing security systems ….bars for your doors and windows…and a S & W too!
06/26/2012 at 7:19 pm |
You are pitiful!
06/25/2012 at 10:09 pm |
The sheriff’s office is already doing several things that the Town of Jonesboro has done for over 100 years, such as maintaining the cemetery. There is another solution, and it can be found at the polling booth, but that is two and a half years away.
06/25/2012 at 10:20 pm |
Just the other day I saw a Sherriffs car pulling over someone in the city limits. So why wouldn’t we continue this that has already been occuring. The Sherriffs office is always stopping people in the city limits so why keep a town force when the sherriffs office is located in town is already here?
06/25/2012 at 10:27 pm |
the sheriff dept has not been having to pay for a whole dept. just cause you may have seen them stop one in the town, dont mean they work in the town. you must be a loyalist to the king.
06/25/2012 at 10:43 pm |
WHAT the sheriffs office actually stopped someone? wonders never cease
06/26/2012 at 11:27 am |
The Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Dept is one entity………capable
The TJ is one entity……….incapable
Each should be self sufficient.
06/26/2012 at 5:44 am |
I heard the Mayor is going to get a grant for the Police Department …. see he will take care of everyone!
All is still going just fine in Jonesboro….we have law enforcement for any outsiders passing thru our town.
There really is no need for much more police than Mr. Horton.
When the carnival comes back, Mayor Thompson can be the deputy in charge of safety there….remember, when the head carnie man was mad at Mr. Horton for shutting his ride with no operator down. Head Carnie called our Mayor direct and Leslie took care of it.
Mr. Horton gave the Mayor a badge and blue lights…now Leslie can just help out when an extra copper is needed…..
All good for all the good folks in Jonesboro!
06/26/2012 at 12:29 pm |
Yeah, really, Horton did give the Mayor his lights and badge. Wonderful if he feels like a DA now.
06/26/2012 at 5:18 pm |
Our mayor is almost a lawyer…so he can almost be a DA
06/26/2012 at 7:22 pm |
Not to fear. He could NEVER pass the bar exam.
06/26/2012 at 5:53 am |
Once Again Messy, let me explain to you………Jonesboro WILL NOT be eligible for ANY grant money until the town gets a clean audit. WE ALL know that WILL NEVER happen as long as CTIC is mayor!
06/26/2012 at 6:08 am |
I am not sure you are correct. There typically are exceptions to all things. With Mr. Fannin and Mr. Alexander on the Mayor’s team, anything might happen.
For example, you thought the Legislative auditors were sending in someone to manage the town’s finances ….didn’t you?
It ain’t happened yet…it ain’t gonna happen and is not going to happen.
You probably thought after Andy Brown tried to bring attention to the supposedly wrong doings at Town Hall, something would be done…
not happened yet…not going to happen.
Legislative auditors know this year is the year for a clean audit. New, fresh auditors going to make it happen….they come all the way up here from Lake Charles …they are municipal audit virgins…
and they have help from that nice lady from Ruston, Tonya Wade.
Forecasting a wonderful audit, legislative auditors give Jonesboro a clean bill of health, Tonya Wade gets more tax payer money, peace and love returns to our sweet town.
All is good and soon you all just gonna forget and move on to something else to whine about.
Amen!
06/26/2012 at 6:11 am |
Oh yeah….More grants are in the future of Jonesboro…the Mayor will hire a real grant writer and get mo mo mo money!
Maybe we can rename Allen Avenue to Mayor Leslie Thompson Avenue….honor this history making hometown man…making history as the first black mayor of Jonesboro …one with a vision of change!
06/26/2012 at 6:17 am |
How about changing the name of the Jonesboro Airport in honor of our Mayor?
LeStevic, Devin & Charla – hop on this…vote to re name that fine airport after our Mayor. His name needs to be on something so his memory will live on forever.
Maybe those 8 white folks with planes at the Jonesboro airport will help pay for a statue at the airport.
06/26/2012 at 6:54 am |
Ha Ha, LMAO. You are hilarious!
06/26/2012 at 7:49 am |
He is not only hilarious, he is as stupid as Forrest Gump. “Momma said when you open a box of chocolates (pun intended) you never know what you are going to get.” I got a place where the CTIC can leave his name – the police blotter when they arrest him for stupidity in office. As for the airport, that would not be a great thing to put the CTIC’s name but the landfill sounds appealing. I mean, after all, isn’t he just trash trying to do a job for which he is not qualified?
06/26/2012 at 8:10 am |
Hey “WOW”, it’s the Crack that does it to “Messy”. Just keeps the person in a FOG!
Hey “Messy”, if “Your Mayor” wants to “honor” the town of Jonesboro, “LEAVE”, and take that damn Trio with him!!!! And another thing, TAKE YOUR DMUBA** with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!
06/26/2012 at 8:09 am |
my heart goes out to the citizens in the town of jonesboro. i was one of the lucky one, i got out before the town started heading down the crapper…anyone with any idea on how to run a town wouldnt cut the throat of the one who protects you…..stand tall wes
06/26/2012 at 10:22 am |
What next? Do away with the Fire Dept. and have the citizens form a bucket brigade? Or can the Sheriff’s Dept. handle that too?
06/26/2012 at 11:50 am |
This place is an embarrassment. Ppl pray for wisdom.
06/26/2012 at 1:24 pm |
messy,
I am 100% correct about the grant money…….i’ve done the research, but dream on if you must!
06/26/2012 at 5:19 pm |
I agree with you that most times grants do not come thru if the audit is not clean.
Jonesboro will have a clean audit
Jonesboro will get some more grants
Ask Mr. Fannin….he will tell you
06/26/2012 at 2:08 pm |
Let’s us dare to forget that ole Jim Fannin deserves some credit for this! We shouldn’t give all the credit of the towns situation to Leslie.
06/26/2012 at 5:20 pm |
Yes indeedy….and we have to give “Coach” Stokes a big round of applause as well.
06/27/2012 at 6:27 pm |
People with elderly families need to think about other things, who will do the senior food drives now. I know my Granny is going to still need hers.
06/27/2012 at 10:29 pm |
The legeslative board down in Baton Rouge that has held how many “shake our finger at you ” meetings along with Fannin and anyone else that has any authority to help fix this problem has failed! They are all obviously as worthless as the mayor! Fiscal Administrator to be appointed they said, what, 4 months ago? Where is he/she? Maybe if they would have actually appointed one instead of just saying they were going to there would still be a police deptartment. Maybe if they would do anything besides sit down there and shake their fingers something would get done. They are now included in the “laughing stock ” category! Thanks guys,, you’re really helping!