Jones County supervisors twice now decided to abandon a long standing practice of publishing notices of county business in the Laurel Leader-Call. Supervisors have opted instead to publish these notices, the county’s legal advertisements, in a competing newspaper. The other paper publishes just once a week, not daily like the Leader-Call. It circulates, at best, a third of the copies of the Leader-Call.
This is bad news for the Leader-Call, of course. It is also a poor choice for Jones County and its citizens. We continue to urge our elected supervisors to publish these notices in the newspaper you hold in your hands.
Our supervisors first decided to publish the legals elsewhere during a meeting on Feb. 17. They later changed their minds. But they decided yet again last week to abandon advertising in this newspaper, except in rare emergency cases.
Supervisors apparently feel they have saved the county and its taxpayers thousands of dollars. We normally applaud such fiscal responsibility, but this time the sacrifice is much too great. In publishing these notices elsewhere, supervisors commit themselves to informing fewer citizens of the government's work less frequently. While this may satisfy the letter of the law, it abandons the fundamental principle of our democracy that government is conducted in full view of the public.
This is a matter of basic math. A periodical that circulates each week a third of the copies published every day by another simply cannot reach the same number of people. Put another way, supervisors are shutting down a public address system that serves the entire county to instead shout at small crowd. This choice is most certainly not worth the savings the supervisors think they will realize.
We also have serious concerns with the way our leaders arrived at this decision. At no point did they solicit bids or commit to a process of deciding where to place these advertisements. They did not announce their intention of taking up this topic in published agendas.
No, there was no process. There was no notice, in apparent defiance of our state’s open meetings law. Supervisors instead reacted to the informal overtures of our competitor, who himself describes theirs as a “gentleman's agreement.”
This is no way to run a county. Consider what would happen if all government business was performed with little advanced warning. What would happen if all supervisors’ decisions were made with handshakes, rather than deliberations and duly recorded votes? The implications of such a precedent are frightening.
So, absent a formal process, the Leader-Call will return to the supervisors on Monday to again make our case. We will urge them again to publish notices of the county’s business in this newspaper. We will do so for the benefit of our business, to be sure, but more significantly for the benefit of Jones County and all of its citizens.
— Chris Zimmerman, Publisher
Editorials
A disservice to the public
- Editorials
-
-
Dems’ turnout slips since ‘07 primary
More people voted Democratic than Republican in Mississippi’s primaries last week, but that doesn’t mean the Dems should break out the bubbly. In fact, the numbers might give them reason for heartburn.
-
Risk-rewards of beachfront homeownership
People who build beachfront homes in Biloxi know they are taking a risk. Maybe not this year or the next or even the next, but sooner or later Mother Nature will deliver her fury, usually in the form of a hurricane, against the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
-
OUR VIEW: Awesome job in landing major company locally
Christmas came six months early for Jones County when it was announced this week a major manufacturer would set up shop in the Howard Technology Park, something the facility has been attempting to acquire for years. And from all accounts, it was a team effort to have this gift end up in our lap.
- OUR VIEW: Teen ‘prank’ could be deadly
-
Hurdles to taxing online sales
The next time you’re talking with candidates for the Legislature, ask if they think everyone should pay their fair share of sales taxes.
-
New Choctaw chief seeks tribal unity
For 28 years, Phillip Martin was the very public face of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, as comfortable in the halls of Congress as he was at the Mississippi Capitol.
-
OUR VIEW: Tough Decisions Ahead
Jones County Tax Assessor Ramona Q. Blackledge recently released preliminary revenue numbers for the coming year compared to this year and it looks like we will be facing a loss of about $700,000 in our annual revenues.
-
OUR VIEW: Why the obsession?
The earth finally began to rotate once again Tuesday afternoon after being suspended while the world watched the Casey Anthony murder trial play out the past month in a Florida courtroom.
- OUR VIEW: Thank our military this July Fourth
-
ATV drivers need safe place to ride
The recent front-page article regarding problems caused by riding ATV’s (All-Terrain Vehicles) in improper places and manner motivated me to pass along some thoughts I have on the issue.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
Dems’ turnout slips since ‘07 primary
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
