On the Edge with Cliff Brown

Welcome to the edge.  The rest of this web site is devoted to bringing people information that they can use.  This page is different.  This page is where the editor gets to blow off steam.  I spend most of my day every day dealing with customers, thieves and suppliers in my retail stores.  I also spend an increasing amount of time trying to improve three web sites.  In both the retail business and the internet business there is red tape, government interference and taxes.  Once in a while a man like me just needs to shout.

     I use this page mostly to shout about government nonsense, but occasionally I share my personal opinion about the solutions to government nonsense.  Sometimes I touch on Christian and moral topics when I feel inspired to do so.  What I say on this page is the personal opinion of just one man.  It does not reflect the opinions of any one else connected with this site including the sponsors. 

     A few ago years ago, I discovered Simpsoncountyms.com.  I saw it as a great service with an even greater potential, so I became a sponsor by buying an ad for Fairtax.org  Latter I started writing “On the Edge” and bought another ad just to express my self.  On June 1, 2005 I bought the whole web site.  It is intended to be a for profit business but lately I have not been charging for most of the services.  In the future I may improve some parts of it and start charging for the ads, but for now serving the people and giving myself a place to write is reward enough.

     “On the Edge” is written from a Christian conservative point of view, but I know that there are a few good people with a wrong point of view.  If any one wants to write a column with an apposing point of view, they are welcome to start the way I did.  I will place their column link in a prominent place on the home page, and give a big discount on the ad.  You are also invited to make comments on my blog site www.freespeechroundtable.blogspot.com.

     “On the Edge” has an unusual road map.  Most people start at the top of a page and read to the bottom.  If you do that on this page, you will read back in time.  Every time I write a new letter, it is placed directly under this head letter, and all the older ones are pushed down.  Regular readers just check the dates and read the new ones.  I suggest first time readers scroll to the bottom and read back up.

     I hope you enjoy reading this column, but even more than the enjoyment, I hope it makes you think.  If you want to say amen or boo or have any other comment just tell me here.  

     Since I have placed my name on the ballot for State Senate District 35 in need to raise a lot of money.  That is why the donate button is on this page.  I really need every one who feels the need to do some good in the world to donate.  The law says that I must make reasonable effort to collect the names addresses and employers of any one who donates more that $199.99.  Please place that info on the paypal comment box.  You may also donate buy mail so please include that info with your check.  Mail to:

Committee to Elect Cliff Brown

P.O. Box 86

Mendenhall, Ms. 39114  

Dear Friends,                                                        April 25, 2007

To err is human but to continue is stupid.   Mistakes were made, but now changes are being made. 

Several years ago a close friend built a for profit on line magazine.  He did it before drag and drop web editing or before blogs had ready made templates.  He built it from scratch, bought paid hosting then tried to recover his cost by selling ads.  He had the most up to date weather possible at that time on line.  He had obits from most local funeral homes.  He had listings of local churches. His plan was to provide instant public announcements like boil water notices, school closings, sports scores and more.  He found out quickly that he was having troubling getting people to tell him about the public announcements.  He was not even told about boil water notices that affected him.  It wasn’t long before the funeral homes started forgetting to send obits and some of the paying sponsors went away. 

I saw that what he had, had some potential so I bought the whole magazine from him.  I added my “On the Edge” column to it and tried to get more advertisers involved but it just did not work the way I was trying to do it.  Both my friend who started the magazine and I had free personal blogs that could do nearly every thing that the scratch build site could do but with less effort.  I was looking for a way out when I discovered a competing site that had a large staff of reporters.  I knew then it was time to shut it down.

I like what I wrote in “ON the Edge” but I considered the rest of it not worth the trouble or expense.  I saved this one column and scrapped the rest.  Perhaps one day later I might be able to hire a staff and do it right but I doubt it will ever return. 

That online magazine was not the only mistake I have been involved with lately.  I made a bad one with my blog too.  I wanted my blog to be a gift to the local communities where they could talk about various issues.  I got a trickle of hits and a manageable number of comments.  A few of the comments were slightly over the top but not malicious.  I figured that if I made a post on my blog to discuss the arrest of Jimbo Sullivan I would get the same caliber of comments that I got on previous posts.  I was wrong.  My blog got over run by what I now believe to be a very small group of kids.  They dredged up old things from the past that they had heard, then added more to it than was ever there.  When I first saw the worst of the comments I reasoned that they were so ridiculous that no one in his right mind would ever believe it.  I later found that some people were indeed taking it serious and many feelings were being hurt.  Thanks to a bunch of people with their own agenda I had to remove something that could have been a good thing.

As long as I am talking about mistakes and changes I must also tell about my political campaign.  There is still three months to go and people are starting to respond in a small way, but because of the damage caused by that small group on my blog, I might have turn it into an apology tour instead of a campaign on issues like I really wanted.  I will have more to say about politics later.  I may also say some things about the state of American morals that allows people to live with total lack of regard for any one other themselves.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                       

Dear Friends,                                                        January 28, 2007

            I am preparing for some big changes in my life.  Part of that process involves cleaning up my bedroom and office.  I spent several hours today filing old papers in new ways and throwing away some other old papers.  Going threw them brought back some memories.  Perhaps the biggest was when I tried on my old Air Force uniform.  It had been hanging in the same place since the day I retired from the National Guard.  I reached into the pocket and found a slip of paper labeled “Hook Speech.”

            My National Guard unit has an award called the hook, which is presented to long serving members on their last day.  It is just a tattered piece of cargo strap with a rusty hook nailed to a splintered piece of wood.  It is the ugliest trophy I have ever received but the one of which I am most proud.  The award comes with a ceremony that makes it clear that I have been hooked.  I will always be a member of that unit.  The hook recipient is given a chance to make a speech to the unit.

            It was not only my last day but was also the last day before half of the unit was deployed to the war.  I will not say on this website what I said to the members in private, but this is the public speech word for word, as I said it November 7, 2004.

Hook Speech

            The year was 1980.  Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the hostages were in Iran and I had just finished two years at Hinds Jr. College and was looking for enough money to go to Mississippi State University.  It was a combination of poverty and patriotism that lead me to the Air National Guard.  I spent 5 years as a veterinary technician on a base with no animals and got totally board.  I decided that I would rather load the airplanes so I cross-trained.  I spent less than a year in the port and loved it but the poverty was coming back and I felt I needed some active duty experience.  I gave up all my rank and started over at Travis Air Force Base.  I started in fleet service then moved to records and statistics then later became a shift supervisor in out bound cargo. 

            During my four years of active duty, I fell love with the Fairfield California area and the local Baptist church.  In my last year of active duty, I spent most of my free time working on a church building project.  I decided to stay another two years in the Travis reserve unit and took a job as an instructional assistant in the Solano County school system.  During those two years, we finished the church building and did some volunteer carpenter work on churches damaged by the earthquake.  We even helped to repair a mission food pantry in the bad part of Oakland that had been vandalized. 

            After six years in California, I believed my mission was complete and came home to Mississippi.  I gave up all my rank again and rejoined the Aerial Port.  I worked a short time in the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks, and then started my own business in Magee.  Soon we started a second location in Mendenhall.  Recently we moved our Magee store to a larger location and I realized that there is no way I could give 100% to a growing business and 100% to the guard.  I had to choose one so I choose the business. 

            This unit is in for some real excitement soon and I wish I could stay for it but I can’t.  All I can do is give a little advice on my last weekend.  I want to divide the unit into two groups and say something to each group.  I call the groups old guys and young guys.  First to the young guys, assert your selves.  You can take all of your CDC courses, go to in resident PME and become an expert in every thing you do but still retire as a Tech or even a Staff unless you brag about your talents.  If you want a ribbon, write your own citation.  If you have a good idea say it loud and often.  Don’t expect to have your talents discovered.  Don’t be ashamed to brag.  My biggest regret in this unit is not bragging.

            Now to the old guys, listen to the young guys.  They are the future of the unit.  They have to climb the ladder.  Don’t pick a few to groom for promotion.  Give every one a chance to shine. 

            Now I want to divide the unit into two groups again, those on the deployment list and those that are not.  First to those that are left behind.  This unit has two great tasks.  It must support the war while still functioning as a unit at home.  Not being chosen to deploy is not and insult.  There are vital tasks to be done on the home front so do not let us down. 

            To those going forward.  It is a tough job.  I already have a yellow ribbon magnet on my truck in your honor.  Make me proud but do not get stupid. 

            I just divided the united in two different ways.  It is your job to come together.  Some day the war will be over and you will return to a more normal situation.  It will never be like it was, but not like it is now either.  No one knows.  The old guys will be gone, the young guys will be old and there will be new young guys.  Continue to brag and listen.  Those who went forward will probably be a band of brothers and the ones who stayed will feel left out.  Remember, you all have the same uniforms.  Don’t let a rift start.

            Now for the hook.  The old guys know what it means.  They know why I am proud of it.  If you are a young guy, ask the old guys. 

            Thank You.                           

Dear Friends,                                                         January 13, 2007

I have not written a letter for "On the edge" in a long time.  There is a reason for that.  I have placed my name on the ballot to run for the state senate.  One of my greatest campaign tools right now is my collection of web sites.  I have been doing some tweaking to the internal gears in them so they will be better tools.  That, plus running a business, plus doing several other adjustments necessary to get a political campaign going has eaten some of my time. 

Stay tuned in because soon you might start seeing some interesting things starting to happen.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown 

Dear Friends,                                                        December 27, 2006

            A few days ago I received a fund raising letter from Governor Haley Barbour.  Every word in that letter was true and I agree with most of it.

            He said that his reelection might get expensive because he is a target of the national democrats.  Mississippi elects a governor one year after the congressional mid term and one year before the presidential election.  Our governor’s race is seen nationally as the second round of the mid term and the preliminary event of the presidential race.  The democrats really want to keep their sweep going and knock off a former head of the RNC before the presidential election.  It is hard to predict the Katrina affect but one thing you can count on is lots of money being pored into both sides of the race. 

            Our governor listed several of his accomplishments of the last three years.  It was all true and nothing but the truth but not the whole truth.  One thing that jumped out at me when I read that letter was TORT reform.  Before Haley Barbour went to bat for us, Mississippi was the laughing stock of the legal world.  Even more dangerous than being laughed at, was the fact that our state was a magnet for predator lawyers who saw a gold mine in our jury pool.  It was very dangerous to run a business or practice medicine in Mississippi because of the frivolous lawsuits.  Governor Barbour promoted a package of reforms that helped medical professionals and mal practice insurance companies.  That accomplishment slowed the exodus of doctors from our state. 

            Even though it is all true I strongly disagree with that statement on TORT reform.  He spoke of reform in past tense.  He listed it among the things that are completed.  We have gone a long way but only because we had so far to go.  The truth is that the reform of our broken legal system is only a half finished job. 

            We need a lot more than minor adjustments written by lobbyists from just two professions.  We need real reform.  The logical next step is to pass the looser pays rule that our governor gave up on, but it should not stop there.  We will never get real reform until the plan includes real penalties for predator lawyers who intentionally bring meritless cases and judges who allow their court rooms to be abused.  The penalties should be at a minimum the same as for contempt of court and for the worst repeat offenders there should be permanent disbarment.  To prevent lawyers from policing them selves and giving each other slaps on the wrists, we need to amend our constitution to allow a completely independent review board with authority to discipline lawyers and judges.  Granted, our yellow legislature will never attempt any thing so bold but with proper prodding they might at least pass looser pays. 

            I know that in a short fund raiser letter all politicians do a little self promoting by saying more about what they did than what they could do, but still I would like to see some one say something about the criminal side of our justice system.  I am convinced that a lot of the problems with our civil courts come from the fact that our criminal courts are even worse.  Crime victims sometimes have to turn to lawsuits just to get some sort of justice.  I could probably write so much about the problems in our criminal courts that I would leave no one awake.  Instead I will mention only one giant hole (for now).  Mississippi actually has one of the nation’s finest crime lab facilities but we cannot keep it fully staffed.  I think the main reason is that it is in the wrong location.  It should be divided into several parts and placed on our university campuses.  It could then be staffed with professors and grad students of science, engineering and medicine.  The old facility should be used to run the most routine of tests and as a collection point to direct evidence to the correct university lab.  Once we get where we can analyze the evidence, we could then concentrate on training first responders to preserve evidence.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                          

Dear Friends,                                                        December 16, 2006

     I hate Christmas.  It is supposed to be a time set aside to remember that God sent his only begotten son to save the world.  It is supposed to be a time to clean our own hearts and think about love.  It is supposed to be a time when families can come together and relax.  To me Christmas is just a time of stress.

     A lot is said every year about the pressures of shopping.  People are expected to buy material things for ungrateful kin folks.  Add to that the pressures of required parties and school events.  Even churches pile on extra duties with choir programs and such. 

     This time of year a lot is also said about depression.  People expect great Christmas miracles and are disappointed when life does not look like something on a Hallmark card.  People go to once a year family gatherings and remember the people who are not there.  They also remember the reason their family only gathers once a year.  Add to that the loss of day light and the pressure to act happy and it is a miracle that the Christmas suicide rate is not higher than it is. 

     All of the above applies to me but I am also a retail merchant.  I am the guy who gets blamed for the commercial exploitation of Christmas.  People look at me like the grench and the Bethlehem inn keeper wrapped into one.  The truth is that I am under pressure to answer all of those frantic shoppers with employees who would rather be at Christmas parties pretending to be happy.  People who do not own retail stores assume that we get rich this time of year.  The truth is that we finally break even after a year of losses.  If the losses threw the year were big and the Christmas increase is not very big there is a danger of not breaking even.  The only thing worse than coming out of Christmas broke is people assuming you are not.  Added to that stress is the fact that the end of the year follows right behind Christmas.  That is when the Government wants its Christmas gift.  I have to get rid of the extra Christmas inventory before the inventory tax is calculated on January first.  The New Year is also when I have to think about both the business and personal goals that were not met during the last year.

     Any retail merchant can probably relate to what I just said, but this is an extra rough one for me.  I have several decisions to make such as whether or not to keep the Mendenhall location open.  There is a sentimental reason to keep both locations but the numbers tell me something different.  My wife’s health is not too good and the stress is hurting her.  Self employed people pay for their own health insurance and the deductible resets on the New Year.  I have to think seriously about finding a job that pays for part of the insurance.  I have written about the lawsuit and the hit and run attack against my wife, neither of which is resolved.  There are a few personal problems that are none of your business so I will not write about them and some political decisions that people are begging me to make.  The real kicker is that I am at my Mendenhall store just before Christmas and actually have the time to write this letter. 

     I know that many people are not in the habit of praying for the grench but please do.  I want that Hallmark Card Christmas just like every one else and I really need to remember just what all this fuss is supposed to be about.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                    

Dear Friends,                                                        October 24, 2006

            I started first grade at Brandon Elementary School in 1966.  Separate but equal schools were over and that was the first year under the school of your choice plan.  All the white parents chose to send children to the former all white school and almost all blacks chose the former black school.  There was one black girl in my first grade class.  The teachers and most of the other kids tried to make her welcome but she never felt like she fit.

            Over time more black parents chose former white schools and integration was gently starting to take hold.  In 1972 the federal government did not think progress was fast enough and said choice is no good when parents make the wrong choice.  That is the year forced bussing started.  I was assigned to the former all black Mclaurin.  Most of the black families who could afford it sent their children to Piney Woods and most of the whites (even some who could not afford it) chose East Rankin Academy.  There were only three white boys and no white girls I my sixth grade class.  I finally got a small glimpse of what that lone black girl in the first grade went threw.  All three of the white boys got an education in human relations that year.  One of the other two white boys was Richard Redfern. 

            I got very close to Richard.  When the grades were given he was always on top of the class and I was hanging on to the second place spot.  I came close in a few classes but could never win.  Some where along the way I got serious about marching band and he stayed interested in academics.  When we got transferred to Florence High school he graduated second out of over one hundred fifty.  I was happy to be in the top half and proud of my band scholarship to Hinds Jr. College.  Richard and I both went to hinds then to Mississippi State University.  From there he went to The University of Alabama and I went to the Air Force. 

            While growing up Richard went to Star Baptist Church and I went to Dry Creek but we visited each others churches several times.  The two neighboring churches sometimes had combined youth trips and would always schedule revivals so they would not conflict.  I spent a lot of time with Richard in school and in church and also in each others houses.  Our families got to know each other well.  Believe it or not we even talked politics a lot growing up.  Richard very often reminded me that when he became president of the United States he would appoint me Secretary of Agriculture.  I told him if he switched to the Republican Party I would accept the appointment. 

            Now Richard is the front runner in the race for Chancery Judge.  It seems logical that considering the history we share I would automatically just endorse him.  That is not the way I work.  I never put personal friendship and seldom put party affiliation ahead of job performance.  I went to the gathering he had a few weeks ago.  I wanted to see if that was the same Richard I had known growing up.  I also wanted to see who else showed up to support Richard Redfern.  I saw a who’s who of conservative leaders at Richard’s party.  I know that officially judge positions are non partisan but the chairman of the Rankin County Republican Party was there.  I have been to a lot of stuffy political events where people try to put on a mask, but this one was strikingly different.  Every one seemed relaxed. 

            Richard has a Doctors degree in law and has practiced family law for a long time.  He has experience as a city judge and as a justice court judge.  Even with all that I still believe that he learned most of what he knows about being a judge in a court of equity in the sixth grade.  Even if Richard was not my personal friend I would still vote for him.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                        

Dear Friends,                                                        October 23, 2006

            I sent a letter to the editor of the Simpson County News about a column by Donna McLean.  The paper published it exactly as I wrote it.  I found out that certain people have very thin skins and choose to misunderstand what I was trying what I say.  Usually if I am throwing blame around, the only follow up is to say that the bit dog barks loudest.  This time I must admit that maybe there was some room in that letter to justify pretending that I am attacking the police.  I have written a follow up which I hope the paper prints.

Dear Friends,    

            Recently I wrote a letter about crime.  I stand behind every word I said, but there were a few people who told me they thought it was an attack on the police.  I want to clarify that.

            When a crime happens, the police have to discover enough evidence to know with out a doubt what happened and who did it.  They then have to find even more evidence so they can convince the DA to present it to the grand jury. After the criminal is released they have to do all the work again when he continues in crime.  We have some good police and deputies, but it is really hard to do good police work when cases are not properly prosecuted.  Perhaps the police are failing but you have to look farther up the latter to see why.

            Now it looks like I am coming down on the DA.  It is true that the DA has turned out to be an abysmal failure but I cannot lay all the blame on one man.  Continue to look farther up the latter.  What good would it do to prosecute cases when judges do not take crime seriously?  Even if they manage to get convictions the perpetrators only get slapped on the wrists.  That is why I think a major key to fixing the system is the requirement that judges must justify leniency. 

            I know that judges already have sentence guidelines which sometimes force them to give small sentences.  If the DA chooses to prosecute a capital murder case as manslaughter, the judge is prevented by law to give the proper sentence.  Even when a judge wants to do right he can not hear a case that the DA never presented.  The buck passes from the DA to the judge then back to the DA.  Where does the buck go from there?  It goes to funding.  The DA’s office has several vacancies for ADA’s but the positions cannot be filled by volunteers.  Someone has to pay them.  The office is so short handed that they have to pick and chose which cases to push and which ones to drop. 

Our board of supervisors did find some money to begin repairs on the building where trials would be held if we actually had them.  They need to go the extra mile and find funding for Assistant DA’s.  Does that mean that the buck stops at the supervisors?  No, it does not.  The DA is a multi county office.  The Supervisors in all the counties that share our DA need to come up with a share of the funds.  When funding things that involve multiple counties the buck goes to the state legislature.  When writing sentence guidelines, that buck also goes to the legislature.  Our supervisors have to bypass the legislature and beg the federal government every time they need to get things done.

As you can clearly see, there is plenty of blame to spread around.  Every one can easily say he cannot do his job unless some one else does not do his.  The buck can go bouncing all over the place and criminals continue to roam free.  Where does the buck really stop?  It stops at the ballot box.

Your Friend,                                                          Cliff Brown                                                    

Dear Friends,                                                        October 14, 2006

     As some of you may know, my relationship with the Simpson County News is not perfect, but they do print most of the letters to the editor that I send.  I must also say that there are some things in the paper lately that have begun to change my opinion of the paper.  They have been telling it like it is about the sorry excuse of a DA we have.  The paper sometimes gives a reason for his lack of action that I agree with.  It is hard for the DA to do good when the judges are even sorrier.  The other good thing the paper does is run a column by Donna Mclean.  I recently wrote a letter to the editor about those two things.  I am placing it here too.

Dear Editor,    

     I just reread the Life Lines column by Donna McLean in the October 5 edition of this newspaper.  She described several extra costs we all pay because of crime.  Her column started me to thinking about the way court cases are handled around here.

     Trials are expensive, so certain judges and prosecutors assume that we can save money by avoiding them.  Criminals are allowed to plead guilty to lesser crimes than the ones they actually committed.  They are then given parole and suspended sentences.  In theory those criminals will get caught doing something else and when their parole is revoked they go straight to jail with out a trial.  In reality criminals are given at least one free pass.  To go to jail they must not only commit a second crime but actually get caught doing it.  According to statistics most criminals on parole do eventually get caught but their continued crime spree usually costs society more than the trial would have cost.  To make matters worse there have actually been several cases in which parole was violated but instead of going to jail more parole was granted.

     Donna McLean talked about the expense of monitored alarm systems for homes.  People in high crime areas put bars in their own windows and turn their own houses into jails.  It would be far cheaper to build just enough jails for the criminals than to build enough jails for the innocents.  But Simpson County is not a high crime area is it?  Yes it is.  It is a lot higher than most people in this county ever imagine.  Crime stats are artificially low because all the crime is not reported.  Even when it is reported to the police it is usually not reported to the newspaper.  The newspaper does find out about the major crimes but they have no way of knowing about the major crimes that are called something else.  I personally know of some one who committed assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill but was charged with leaving the seen of an accident.  People have a false sense of security because they have not heard about much crime or because it has not happened to them yet.  

     Okay, I will grant to you that good local prosecution does not protect local citizens against crime that actually occur in another jurisdiction.  Mail fraud, phone scams and internet crimes are usually prosecuted at the source.  Since those crimes cross county lines and part of the crimes happen here they can be prosecuted locally, but do not count on it happening.  Just because we cannot do much about crime in other places does not mean that we cannot take a bite out of our own local crime. 

     Donna McLean ended her column by saying, “Something is broken in American society, and we are not being offered a service contract to get it fixed”.   Here is your service contract.  It is a ballot box.  Our local DA and most of our local judges are elected by the local people.  Our state attorney general is elected by the people of this state.  After we elect better judges and prosecutors the next step is to make sure they do their jobs.  We must pass a state sentence guideline law that requires judges to first consider the maximum penalty for the crime a person was convicted of.  A judge may give a less than maximum penalty if and only if there is testimony during a sentence hearing which provides a valid reason for leniency.  If a less than maximum penalty is given the judge must state in writing the justifications for his decision.

Your  Friend,                                                       

Dear Friends,                                                        October 10, 2006

     A long time ago I wrote a letter about John Shows and his run for the school board.   I said that there would be a follow up letter to address some more issues.  I did not totally forget.  I just put it on the back burner when my wife was assaulted.  She is adjusting to her handicap and is doing more things on her own now.  That lets me put a few more things back on the front burner. 

     I asked John about corporal punishment.  He said he does not want to give free license for teachers to abuse kids, but he does think it is necessary for parents to have right to authorize the principal to use a paddle when necessary.  He told me that Simpson County has a good system already in place and does not want to make any major changes to it. 

     I asked John about school prayer.  He told me that the Simpson county kids still gather around the flag pole for prayer and he does not want to make any changes in policy that might put that right at risk.

     I asked John about prep classes for ACT tests.  I know that schools get more federal money when students do better on standardized tests.  That creates the tendency for schools to cheat.  When teachers know what types of questions or in some cases exact questions they can train students to regurgitate correct answers without really understanding the material.  John told me that the prep classes he proposes do not just teach the test but give students a better understanding of how the test process works.  It lets them know the proper way to prepare for and take standardized tests.  After more thinking I have changed my mind on the prep classes.  There is nothing wrong with giving our students a fair chance to compete for good grades and look good compared to students from other places. 

     I asked John about conflict of interest.  I know that it is against the law for a state employee to be in a position where he supervises himself.  Since the school board has a role in supervising teachers I was not sure if he could be both a teacher and a school board member.  He told me that he could continue to teach but not in Simpson County.  He is in the processes of lining up a job in Rankin County.  He also said that he would most likely take some time away from teaching to get his masters degree in school administration.  In my opinion that is not a conflict of interest but is almost an over qualification.

     I am now more proud to support John Shows in his run for school board.  Please go to the poles and vote at least once for John Shows. 

     Last night I went to an event to honor Richard Redfern, candidate for Chancery Judge in Rankin County.  As many of you know Richard and I have known each other since the sixth grade.  I will not endorse some one just because he is a good buddy.  I have to know something about what he is likely to do if elected.  I went to that event to decide for myself and I am very happy with what I saw.  I have no problem at all endorsing my old friend Richard Redfern.  I will write more about him later.

Your Friend,                                                                           Cliff Brown

Dear friends.                                                        October 2, 2006

     I have not written any thing for on the edge in a very long time.  I really do not need to tell you that because you can see the dates on the letters for your self.  I said right up front that this is not a daily journal.  I do not write with a hard dead line, but only when I have something on my mind or heart to write about.  Still though, I think you should expect to see something new from time to time.  This letter has two purposes.  Well ok three purposes, because some of what I write is for my own therapy.  The other two are an explanation of why I have been away from writing lately and a promise to at least try to write more often.

     I think the last thing I wrote was about my dog dieing.  That hit me kind of hard but what came next was worst.  My wife almost died.  August 1, 2006 a “customer” came into the store in Magee.  She had been in the store a few times before and had always caused trouble.  This time she came in with the obvious intent to harass Jade.  The usual routine is to ask for something we do not have then throw a fit because we don’t have it.  If by chance we do have it she goes into her well practiced rant about how the same item is better in other states or how we are price gouging.  Eventually we would tell her to leave so she would knock over a rack or display then leave.  August 1, I was in the Mendenhall store.  Jade and my sister were in Magee.  The “customer” did her usual routine but this time instead of just knocking over something she threw it over the counter at my wife. 

     After the “customer” and her three companions left, my wife and sister followed at a safe distance out to the parking lot and tried to write down a plate number from the car they got into.  That is when things got bad.  Two of the women jumped out of the car and tried to walk behind it blocking the plate while the “man” slowly drove away.  My wife some how saw enough of the plate to know the number and called it out to my sister who was standing with pen and paper.  The customer rushed at my sister and knocked to paper from her hand.  She then ran to Jade and took the phone away from her and threw it across the parking lot.  Then she snatched off Jade’s glasses, threw them down and stepped on them. 

     Jade is only five feet tall but when younger had practiced the national sport of her native Korea enough that she could defend her self.  The trouble is that Jade is no longer in her younger years.  She just could not react quick enough against some one who is younger, taller and so well practiced in not following rules.  Jade thought she was done for but after slapping her a few times the “customer” and the other woman suddenly ran back to the car.  Jade and my sister were very glad to see the car turn around and head out of the parking lot.  Even though the police still had not arrived they thought at least that round of the fight was over.  They started walking back to the store, but it was not yet over.  The car turned around and came back.  My sister managed to get out of the way.  Jade turned around just in time to put her hands on the hood of the car.  The impact broke Jade’s left arm and sprained her right wrist.  Several witnesses said she was vaulted about 5 feet up then landed on the hood of the car.  The car made a hard left tern and threw Jade off.  They then quickly drove away before the police arrived.

     Jade has obviously been unable to do a lot of her normal routine.  I have diverted a lot of my energy away from writing to take care of my wife.  She is still not fully recovered and is still in a lot of pain.  She has gotten used to the idea that she will never get full use of her left hand and is trying to learn how to do things a different way.  Over time she should regain 90% of the range of motion in her left wrist.  The emotional pain will take longer.  Seeing the permanent physical scars on her wrist, elbow and knee will remind her of what happened.  Probably the most damned thing of all is the fact that I had to investigate the crime my self and research the charges the hit and run driver would be charged with.  If I had not understood the law, it would have been written as an accident involving an uninsured motorist.  That same woman who threw the display at my wife is the same one who broke her glasses.  It also turns out that she was driving the car.  Apparently her husband refused to run any one down so they switched drivers inside the car.  I had to push real hard just to get her arrested.  When they finally did pick her up she filed charges against my wife for jumping on the hood of her car and causing a dent.   

     That is still an ongoing investigation and I need to hold back some of the facts in the case and my plans for prosecution.  There is a little more about it on my blog site. www.freespeechroundtable.blogspot.com   Any updates will be there and reader comments are also allowed on that blog. 

     Add that to the fact that I am still fighting a lawsuit from a thief who stole a large amount of merchandise then sued me for false arrest after the “DA” failed to present the case to the grand jury.  You can see why I am not in the mood to write but I promise to at least try.  My wife and sister are running the Magee store alone a few days a week but for security reasons I will not say which days.  I redesigned the security camera system so I fell better about them working alone now.  My schedule is leaving me with a little more time to write so I will do it.  I already have a back log of stories to work on including more about John Shows. 

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown      

Dear Friends,                                                        July 26, 2006

            I know that I very often write half letters and leave the other half dangling like a carrot so people will come back and look for the parts twos.  I said I will write about my father and a little about my own childhood.  Those are in rough stages of development.  Some people are still waiting for the rest of the John Shows story and that is coming soon.  Before November there may be a part three.  Today, I am changing gears a little and writing something more personal. 

I lost a dog Sunday morning and it set me back a little.  I wrote a story about my dog but I will not place it here.  I am writing this to point to something my friend created about a year ago.  My friend had a small dog that was so old and stiff he could barely walk, but that little dog was special to my friend.  When the dog he called Blackie finely died my friend was very up set.  As therapy he spent some time going threw old photos of Blackie.  He decided to build a web site memorial to Blackie just so he could have a place to go and remember.  When he thought about the healing he got from doing that he decided to open the web site as a service to other people grieving over the lose of a pet.  I placed the story of my dog there.

Please visit www.BlackiesPlace.com.  Click on the link that says “King and Queen”.  That was a hard story to write but the exercise did bring some healing.  I will probably make a small tomb stone for my dog, but telling the story and placing it on a web site that is guaranteed to be left on line as long as possible is sort of a permanent memorial too.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown

Dear Friends,                                                        July 11, 2006

            Coach John Shows is running for the Simpson County School board, so he bought an ad on this web site.  He paid the full price for the ad so I treated him just like any one who wants an ad.  After the ad was placed, I called him on the phone and asked his opinion of several issues.  He did not give the political answer to any question.  He did not even sound like a politician, and believe me when I say I know what a politician sounds like.  Couch Shows sounded like a teacher who is interested in education.  I was so impressed that I decided to write an endorsement for him. 

            Issue number one is experience.  No, I am not talking about political experience.  John shows is not cursed with that.  His experience involves actually teaching.  He teaches U.S. history and coaches football at Mendenhall Jr. High.  He is also certified in English.  The school board makes policy that affects what goes on in Simpson County public schools, so it would be logical to assume that someone running for the school board should know what happens in schools.  Believe it or not, John Shows is the only candidate running in his beet who has ever taught a class. 

            John Shows himself is a graduate of Simpson County public schools, and did most of his teaching is Simpson County, but he also has the advantage of knowing what goes on in other places.  He spent some time teaching in DeSoto County where they do things differently than here.  When he realized that there is a big difference in the way different districts do things, he did a comparative study of school policy.  Different areas tailor programs to fit different situations.  Some try new things that work and some try new things that fail.  John Shows understands what works and fails in other places.  He has enough classroom experience to realize what will fail in Simpson County. 

            Another major issue is parent and community involvement.  John Shows told me that when he was in DeSoto County parents were so involved that they were almost in the way.  Parents were lunchroom workers and classroom monitors.  They worked as chaperones, crossing guards, booster club members and every thing else they could get their hands on.  It did not stop at parents.  Businesses and churches did their part too.  When he returned to Simpson County, he was shocked at the total lack of interest people have in the schools.  It did not take him long to realize that the DeSoto County parents were not only not in the way, but were a vital part of the successful schools.  When John Shows wanted to know why parents are not involved he did something that would never occur to most politicians.  He did not commission an expensive study.  He simply asked the parents.  The answer was that they do not feel welcome.  That is a relatively easy problem to fix.  John Shows will push policies that invite parents into the schools.  He wants to open up more than just the schools. He wants the board open too.  He will ask the PTA to make sure that at least one parent from each school is at every board meeting. 

            The next issue is one I have heard certain radio talk show hosts make fun of, but never offer a solution.  John Shows has a solution that solves another problem at the same time and makes money for the school district.  The problem is the weight of books, and the solution is to get rid of lockers. 

            I know it takes a little thinking outside of the box to get that one but now that he explained it, it makes sense.  Heavy books are not a problem for larger students, but the kids in the lower grades have to carry home satchels and back packs that are too heavy.  If they have no homework that requires certain books they can leave some of them in lockers, but quickly picking the right books then running to catch the bus is not as easy as it sounds.  The solution is two sets of books.  The students would be issued one set to keep at home and the other set would be kept in the classroom.  Students would have nothing to carry back and forth and it would eliminate the need for lockers. 

            I know that lockers take up a lot of space.  They are often a long way from the next class which can cause tardiness.  There is often a rushed crowd around the lockers, which can cause discipline problems.  I know from talking to police that books are not the only things in lockers. 

            When John Shows told me about selling the lockers and buying more books my business side kicked in and I started comparing money from the sale of lockers to the price of books.  I realized that a lot of the books’ wear and tear comes from hauling them back and forth.  Next, I started thinking the plan would require two complete sets of books for every student, but John Shows reminded me that teachers often teach the same class several times during the day to different students.  There may be enough extra copies of most books to do it with out buying any.  That plan could be a huge savings of both money and space.

            The final issue that we discussed was school uniforms.  That could be the single largest issue in the county.  I will save that issue for the next letter.  All I can say for now is that John Shows is 100% right on that issue and his opponent is not. 

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                          

Dear Friends,                                                        June 16, 2006

     I admit that it has been a long time since I wrote any thing for “On the Edge” I guess I must use the lamest of old excuses.  I was busy.  I will make up for it by telling two related stories.  The first one I actually wrote in 2005 and did not finish it because it was about a court case that was still open.  The case is still open but what the heck; I will just change some of the names and tell it.  I think “Dirty Thief,” “Famous Lawyer” and “other Famous Lawyer” are good names to use.  The second story is something that happened about two hours ago and I am changing no names on that one.

     As you know, my wife and I own Jade’s Beauty Supplies & Fashions in Magee.  We operated in a 1000 square foot building until we out grew it and moved to a larger space in September 04.  For several years before the move, we routinely bought more pieces of gold jewelry than we sold and saved it so we could have a big display during our first Christmas in the new location.  Just before Christmas 04, the gold was stolen and I reported the crime to the Magee police.  I also told the police the name of the only person with the opportunity to take the gold.  An arrest was quickly made but the case for some unknown reason was never prosecuted.  Now the person who I know stole the gold is suing me.

     For a period of several months, Dirty Thief begged my wife to give her a job.  She said she needed a job very bad.  My wife finally agreed to call her from time to time as needed.  She called Dirty Thief to work a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning and setting up displays before Christmas.  My wife planed to set up the gold display on Wednesday morning, so on Tuesday she placed the box of jewelry inside another box behind the counter and covered it with bundles of hairpieces.  The box was completely out of the site of any one who did not go behind the counter.  The only two people who went behind the counter on Tuesday were my wife, and Dirty Thief.  I worked in Mendenhall that day. 

     Tuesday afternoon a man came into the store looking for Dirty Thief.  They talked quietly a few minutes then he left.  As soon as he left, there were no customers so my wife took the opportunity to go to the toilet.  She told Dirty Thief to greet any one if they came in.  As soon as my wife reached the bathroom, she heard the door chime and thought some one had entered the store.  She hurried back out to the sales floor and found no one there including Dirty Thief.  A few seconds later Dirty Thief ran back in the front door out of breath, and the man she had been talking to was walking up the hall toward the main mall exit.  Dirty Thief worked the rest of the day and at quitting time the same man picked her up and said Dirty Thief is his wife.

     Dirty Thief did not come to work on Wednesday, so my wife decided to work on the gold display alone.  She noticed the gold box was missing.  She also noticed that the tape had been removed from the VCR.  She cannot remember as a 100% certainty if she had actually put the tape in the VCR on Tuesday but she defiantly knew the gold was missing.  She made a careful search in other boxes of hairpieces then when I arrived from Mendenhall about closing time, we searched together.  She was too embarrassed to admit what had happened and told me she could not remember where she put the gold box.  It was the next week she told me the whole story and I reported the crime to the Magee Police department.

     At the police department I asked to see a detective, so Wesley Garner came out.  He seemed to be in a hurry but he did listen to part of the story.  When I mentioned the name, Dirty Thief, he said he knows her very well, and then quickly told the dispatcher to type a felony affidavit.  I signed it, was given a city court date and I left.  I assumed that the detective would ask for more details but he just asked for the video tape and I told him she stole that too.  About two hours later Wesley Garner called to say Dirty Thief was at the jail but denied taking any thing.   He also said her apartment was searched but no gold was found and Dirty Thief was already having a bond hearing.  I heard nothing at all about the case until less than a week before the city court date.  I was told it would be postponed a month because Dirty Thief was in drug rehab.  When the new city court date finally came that was the first time I saw Dirty Thief since her first crime against me.  On that day, Judge Bill Smith said exactly what I expected him to say.  He said this matter would go to the next grand jury.

     After that day in city court, I heard nothing from any official about the case until July when I received a letter from Famous Lawyer.  Before July, I never told any one about the theft except police and a retired police who is a close friend, but several customers mentioned it to me.  In June, a black lady who looked to be about 70 years old told me Dirty Thief had tried to sell her a crucifix.  When I asked her name, she told me she does not want to get mixed up with that woman because she might be dangerous.  I also started seeing several different people around both Magee and Mendenhall wearing unique gold pieces just like the ones that were stolen, but no one admitted where they came from.

     Now back to that letter from Famous Lawyer.  It said that Dirty Thief had spent a large amount of money to prove herself innocent of all charges against her.  The letter talked about my malicious act of bringing false charges against a poor innocent woman.  The letter went into a sad story of great pain, suffering and loss of reputation.  The letter included a list of dollar amounts of the damages I caused both Dirty Thief and the court system.  The total was higher than the price of the gold.  It was higher than the total value of my business. 

    I showed the letter to a local lawyer who is a friend.  I will call him “Less Famous Lawyer.”  He told me that the letter was not a lawsuit because it did not have an official seal and came in the mail instead of being served.  Less Famous lawyer told me it was just a routine shake down letter.  I could just pay a few thousand dollars in ransom money and it would go away.  My friend also told me that the Simpson County Grand Jury only meets twice each year and it has not met since Bill Smith said he would send it.  Thirty days later, I got served with the real suit.

     I started going to every lawyer I could find and they all seamed interested until they saw the name “Famous Lawyer.”  All of them either found some conflict of interest or quoted an exorbitant price to defend the suit.  I finally went to “Other Famous Lawyer.”  I told him that every lawyer in this town seams intimidated by Famous Lawyer.  He told me that he is not intimidated by him but the judges all are.  He quoted me a fair price to defend the suite and I paid it.  Other Famous Lawyer made me his temporary assistant and sent me to find out what happened to the grand jury.  Eddy Bowin clamed that he never received the theft case and the police department said it was rejected for lack of evidence even before the grand jury heard it.  Other Famous Lawyer pointed me to some very interesting places to find info but I will not say what I found out yet.  All I can say now is that I am not too worried about the suit any more.

     Now listen to the other story.  Jade and I worked together in the Magee store today and her son Dennis ran the Mendenhall store.  We close the Magee store every day at 7:00pm.  About 6:55pm, a woman came in with a young man who looked about 19 or 20.  There was also a girl who looked to be about 5 or 6.  The little girl did what many little girls do but the difference was that the mother obviously encouraged the behavior.  The child crawled under and even climbed dress racks.  That was a clue to watch the mother much closer.  The young man noticed whom we were watching so he started a string of questions about the price of several different items.  I kept an eye on the young man and Jade continued to watch the woman.  Jade saw the woman palm three tubes of lipsticks then approached the register saying she wants to buy this one tube.  Jade asked where the other three tubes are and the woman threw a fit.  She started the well-practiced play about how her husband left her rich and that she drives a Lexus so she does not need to steel lipstick.  She opened her purse and showed my wife but my wife already knew the lipstick was in the waistband of her pants.  When my wife told her where it was the woman played the race card.  She shouted that Chinks think all black women steel.  That is when I looked the woman straight in the face and told her that she is no longer welcome in our store because we do not tolerate racist bigots.  I told her to keep the lipstick and get her racist butt out of the store.   

     By that time, the little girl had quit running around the store and was standing quietly by her mother.  My wife had the phone in her hand and had already dialed 91.  When I told the bigot to leave the store, the young man rushed to me and took a swing and my wife pushed the 1 on the phone.  The woman grabbed the young man and told him to watch that bulge under my shirt.  At that point, the young man totally lost his temper and went in to a raging fit about black superiority.  The woman also started shouting a string of racist comments but kept the young man behind her and started slowly backing him up toward the door.  The most telling of the three was the brain washed 6 year old who started repeating every thing her mother said.  When the three started backing up, I followed them to the door.  They slowly made there way down the hall shouting and cursing all the way.  I stood in the door of my store and watched them leave. 

     When they got to the foyer a crowd had gathered in front of Dirt Cheep so they started pointing at me shouted the racist crap even louder.  Suddenly the young man took off running straight to me saying he wanted to kill me.  I was only three steps from the door but barely got threw it during the time it took him to run the length of the hall.  I pulled the door shut and reached in my pocket for the key.  He obviously thought I was drawing my gun so he ran back up the hall.  When he got back to the foyer two white and one black police men were there.  I stepped back in the hall and saw the three bigots run straight to the black cop and start another well-practiced lie.  The black cop had heard that lie too many times to fall for it.  He just came straight to me and asked if want to press charges.  I told him about the death threat and the run up the hall and the swing he took at me.  He heard the racism him self.  Of course, I want to press charges.

     I went back inside my store and waited for the cops to come back in.  They said we have bad news.  The 19 or 20-year-old man would have to be tried in youth court if he is arrested.  He had proof that he was only 14 years old.  I looked at the one black cop and asked a question I already knew the answer to.  Bill Smith is still the Simpson County Youth court judge isn’t he?  The answer was “Afraid so.”  He then said there is something even worse than that.  They live in Monticello.  I knew already that that means even if I press charges he would never show up in Simpson county youth court, because a Lincoln County constable would have to serve him.  It aint gonna happen.  I can wait until Monday morning to file in the Simpson County Court House but I really think it is of no use. 

     The Three cops waited while I turned off the lights and locked the doors before they left.  Probably the most truthful thing one of them said was, “this is not Rankin County is it”?  

     No, it is not Rankin County.  The Rankin County News is full of stories about the health problems of the DA.  I have a funny story about when I ran a foot race with the Rankin/Madison DA.  Maybe I will tell it some day.  It is true that his health is not good but he does his job.  It is also true that he tries his cases in front of judges who are not girly men.  It is embarrassing to admit that I own a business in a county with the justice system that we have.  It can be much more than embarrassing.  It is dangerous. 

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                                                                                                    

Dear Friends,                                                   May 15, 2006

            I grew up in South Rankin County back when it was still a rural area.  Several men had large hay fields where they made rectangle bales held by two strings.  They drove a flat bed truck between the rows of bales. Young boys walked on each side of the truck throwing bales onto the truck while other boys rode on the truck and stacked bales as high as possable.  I started working in the hay fields when I was too small to lift bales.  I could only drag bales up the stack so I rode the truck.  The pay was a lunch and a nickel per bale divided by the number of boys. 

            Over time the crews got smaller and smaller.  My junior year of high school I was one of only a few who still showed up.  That year most of the farmers put their old balers in sheds and covered them with tarps.  They were replaced by machines that made huge round bales.  No, it was not child labor laws that forced that change.  It had nothing to do with wet backs taking our jobs.  I heard one farmer tell another farmer something that summed up a lot of the problems this whole nation faces.  He said, "The boys nowadays are just to damn lazy to haul hay".

            Actually that farmer was only half right.  There were still some boys not only willing to work hard but wanted to.  What turned things was not laziness but pier pressure.  Hard work went from being a virtue to being a shame.  That summer I found a job with a federal to city grant program.  On paper my job was to use a sling blade to cut weeds around Florence.  In actuality the job was to sit in the shade and get paid.  I got totally board just sitting so I got up and started working along fence rows.  The other boys were board too but could not admit it until they saw someone else working.  When I got up they did too but stopped when they became the victom of a 1977 style drive by.  A group of their friends drove by and laughed because they were working.  After that I asked the mayor to take me off the federally paid crew and put me on the garbage truck which he did. 

            Over time a lot of those federal jobs programs became direct welfare.  People no longer had to even pretend to work.  Government welfare caused young people to lose the incentive to do those starter jobs where basic labor ethics would have been learned.  That lose of ethics caused welfare to become a perminant trap.  Even the people who want to rise up no longer know how.   

            You know that I could and someday may write a book on the results of our own welfare system, but today I want to make only one point that is often missed.  Many companies have replaced the starter labor jobs with machines, but all low wage labor cannot be replaced that way.  Certain industries like agriculture will always need strong backs.  There is a bogus argument that illegal aleins come from Mexico to do the jobs our own people don't want.  the federal government knows the major problems caused by the infiltration but is willing to look the other way to get the cheep labor.  That argument is wrong because it is the welfare policies of our own government that creates the need for that Mexican labor and destroys the stepping stones twoard the better American jobs. 

            There have been too many political speeches about ending welfare as we know it, welfare to work programs and a gradual scale down of welfare.  I see no problem with a safety net for people with actual handicaps but when we are talking about able bodied people there is only one way to break the welfare cycle And that is COLD TURKEY. 

Your Friend                                                  Cliff Brown    

Dear Friends,                                                        May 9, 2006

            The USA is a nation of immigrants.  Every one of us has ancestors from somewhere else.  Even the people we call natives immigrated across the Barren Straight Ice Sheet looking for better hunting grounds. 

The first immigrants to this land spread out over both North and South America.  They lived mostly as nomadic tribes but some established loose borders.  Some even built unmovable dwellings.  It was not an easy life back then.  There were famines and food shortages.  There were tribal wars.  There is even evidence that some tribes went totally extinct before the first Europeans got here.   

The first immigrants from Europe were Vikings lead by Leaf Erickson.  They Island hopped across Iceland and Greenland then established a settlement on what is probably Manhattan Island.  Many years after the Viking settlement was abandoned, Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba, which marks the point where most students start their study of American history. 

The various European countries sent explorers, then latter settlers to various parts of the new world.  The Spanish Conquistadors went mainly south, including what is now Mexico, because of the great plunder.  Over time the European nations staked their claims.  Wars were fought and deals were made, but eventually the newly independent USA ended up with the largest portion.  A lot can be learned from a full study of how the borders of our country ended up where they are now, but that will not move the borders.  Our founding fathers did a lot of evil things but also some wonderful things, and as a result the borders are where they are. 

Threw a little work from man and a lot of grace from God our nation has become the greatest nation in the world.  It is the land of freedom and opportunity.  It is where nearly every one else in the world wants to be.  Mexico is a land of great natural resources including oil but the government is corrupt.  I can understand why the peasant class is desperate to get out but if we let every one come here with out restriction we will cease to be the nation where people want to go.

In due time I will write about the obvious hole threw which terrorist and drug dealers can pass.  I will write about infectious illness, cheep labor and even our own national sovrenty, but today my only point is fairness.

According to our own unenforced laws, anyone who wants to come here still can.  There are rules to follow and forms to fill out, but it can be done.  Enforcing the immigration laws is a reward to the honest law abiding people who want to become one of us.  When we allow people who break the law step in line ahead of those who do it right it is an insult to every one with ancestors who came legally

Many of you know that my wife was born in South Korea.  She followed the rules and learned the English language.  She showed me the books she studied before her citizenship test.  There is more in those books about American government and history than most American high school grads know.  She thinks the military should take over the job of border patrol and I agree with her.

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                    

Dear Friends,                                                        April 24, 2006

            I often make reference to things I read in local newspapers such as the Magee Courier/Simpson County News.  Some of our papers do not have on line versions and if you are reading the World Wide Web from some part of the world other than Simpson County you might not be able to run to your local news stand and buy a copy.  Since this letter is about a letter to the editor of the Magee Courier April 20, 2006, I will start by retyping the whole letter.

  Dear Editor,

            I just read in this week’s article written by Allen Baswell concerning Jeff Magee’s self-storage zoning n Mendenhall.  It would have been a great story except that it was extremely one sided.  That could be because Mr. Baswell is a tenant of Mr. Magee.  I have been reading your paper for many years and this is one of the few times that I have been disappointed in the way a story has been reported.

            I will begin by saying that I am the daughter-in-law of one of, if not the finest men in the county.  He is known for his honesty, integrity, his commitment to his wife and his children, his faith in God as his savior, and the love of Mendenhall that has been his home for his entire life.  The legacy of Mr. Benny’s father Edd Monk was very hard shoes to fill, but he has done so in his own way.  You cannot name a person who would not repeat the same words when you reference his name, except maybe Mr. Magee.  Never has he been called upon that he has not answered with a yes, if there is a way that he could make it so.  He deserved equal time to tell his story just as Mr. Magee.  The people that read your paper should know that Mr. Magee is not portraying the zoning issue as it really happened.  Yes Mr. Monk (Benny) did tell him that he could use the building for storage, what Mr. Magee failed Mr. Monk was that he intended to use it for mini-warehouse storage not personal storage for himself.  Mr. Benny was unaware that Mr. Magee’s innocent request for storage was really a zoning issue until he came by the building and saw that it was transformed into multiple mini-storage units for individuals to lease.  This presented a zoning problem that needed to be addressed, so Mr. Benny made him stop work until the matter could be reviewed.  It was then taken to City Hall where Mr. Magee, the fine flower hanger, proceeded to use foul, abusive language in the presence of two women and directed at Mr. Benny for simply doing his job.  The confrontation went so far that the police were called to City Hall to calm the matter down.  This abusive display by Mr. Magee at Mr. Benny who is almost twice his age showed a lack of good judgment and respect, and a lack of respect for the zoning laws all citizens of Mendenhall must observe.  We all get upset, but we have got to use a small amount of discretion when trying to solve a problem instead of using intimidation and no thought as to how we are going to appear in the eyes of the people witnessing our outburst.  Apparently, Mr. Magee likes to throw threats and bully his was into getting what he wants.  I would advise anyone that might be considering supporting Mr. Magee on this issue to think long and hard because he is not very pleasant when things don’t go his way.

            Long before Mr. Magee came to town, and when he picks up and heads out, Benny Monk will be here to pick up and clean up the mess he left behind.  Let’s not forget who believes in this city, has served this city in many ways throughout his life and has put his family roots here.  Think about it and then realize that there are two sides to every story and now Benny’s side has been heard.  I love you Pop!

Becky Monk

            As you can see from Becky’s letter things in Mendenhall have more to do with protecting old families than with protecting what is right.  Let me say from the start that the Monk/Jones family is not the only old protected family in town nor the most dominate.  To me this issue had nothing to do with any thing other than the zoning ordinances until I discovered that Mike Monk, chairman of the zoning board, personally wrote most of them.  Now that that letter has been written I want to dissect it. 

            Allen Baswell does live in Uptown Apartments.  That is next door to City Hall and directly across from Uptown Storage.  That does not make Allen biased, it just gives him insight.  I was standing next to him during the meeting.  He heard what I heard and told the truth.  If anything he went a little soft in his story.  Yes, I know that the Monk family is important and respected in town.  I get reminded of that often.  Yes, Jeff Magee does get mad when lied to.  Perhaps it was an honest lie.  Benny Monk does have a hearing problem which causes him to misunderstand things.  Jeff does regret shouting at Benny Monk which was reported.

            Becky Monk called Jeff Magee (no kin to the family the City of Magee is named after) a fine flower hanger.  Jeff actually spends thousands on landscaping every year.  He put a small park and fountain next to Smokers BBQ.  The front of Uptown Apts. does have attractive hanging baskets.  He has bought another building on Main Street so he can enlarge his café.  The first thing he did to it was hang a row of hanging baskets along the top and mount planters along the wall facing Maud Street.  I think she probably called him that as an insult, but his flowers make the town pretty.     

            This is the most interesting and most true line in her letter.  “…he intended to use it for mini-warehouse storage not personal storage for himself”.  Drive up Main Street and you will find three buildings being used to store junk.  The largest one is the former Main Street Ace Hardware Store which still has broken windows from Katrina.  It is perfectly legal to pile your own junk into an eyesore building but it is not legal to improve it and use it for a good economic purpose. 

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown          

Dear Friends,                                                        April 20, 2006

     Recently, I wrote about the storage building Jeff Magee renovated, and about the effort in the city by a few to halt change.  This is a follow up. 

     The city council finally got around to meeting.  Three of the five members voted to allow the newly renovated storage building to operate.  One member (Frankie Monk Jones) rescued herself and one was a no show.  Jeff is now allowed to rent his seventeen storage bens and they are filling up fast.  In most places that would be the end of the story but this in Mendenhall. 

     I know of a lot of cities which use historic zones to preserve actual historic buildings.  Some use the zones to preserve some unique character of a downtown.  Some use the zones to prevent unscrupulous business like “adult” entertainment.  The city of Mendenhall has some of the most poorly written zoning ordnances I have ever read and it uses them to protect certain people from competition.  The city council did not change any of the ordnances.  All they did was to allow the downtown storage facility to operate on a “non-conforming” status.  They then went on to scold Jeff Magee because he did not follow the cities procedure and because he attempted to “pit citizens and businesses against each other”.  Jeff apologized for his method of getting things done and promised to jump threw all the hoops including the new stuff the city has decided to enforce now.  That should be the end of the story but like I said before, this in Mendenhall.

     Becky Monk, daughter-in-law of the zoning officer, wrote a letter to the editor telling his side of the story.  In my next entry I will get more into that letter and some interesting things I know are behind it.  Today I will pick out one line which says it all.  “Let’s not forget who believes in this city, has served this city throughout his live and has put down family roots here.”  The letter was not about the merits of building anything or even tearing down anything.  The whole essence of the letter was that he has the right do dictate zoning because of old family ties.  Here is another revealing line that needs no explanation.  “Long before Mr. Magee came to town, and when he picks up and heads out, Benny Monk will be here to pick up and clean up the mess he left behind.”  Does that mean that after Jeff is run out of town Benny Monk will restore the crack house to the historic condition it was before Jeff evicted the prostitutes?  

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown

Dear Friends,                                                   April 8, 2006

     In my last edition of "On the Edge" I said that after the San Fransisco earth quake I moved to the epicenter and did some volunteer carpenter work.  Something happened in Mendenhall last night which compells me to say a little more about that trip. 

     We went to a church with major foundation damage and cracks in the brick walls.  No one on our team had the experience to lead a job like that.  The local paster asked that since we were already there if we would reroof the parsonage house.  It was a 25 year old house with 15 year guaranteed shingles.  Several leaks had appeared.  All the materials had been stored in the garage for nearly a year while they waited for a "round tuit".  We had some people who had done roof jobs who said it was a three to four hour job.  There was an approaching storm in the Pacific but we knew it was at least six hours out.  We stripped off the old roof, put on tar paper and had began bringing shingle bundles up the ladders when a city code enforcement officer stopped us. 

     This was a small suburb town south of San Fransisco.  Almost half of the structures had damage and almost a quarter were condemed.  The city councel had passed an emergency ordinance to stream line the process of getting building permits.  They also added language to the building code that required buildings being repaired to be up graded to the new earth quake standards.  We understood the rules when we went there and were eager to comply.  We were not ready for the Barney Fife look alike who stood at the foot of a ladder and screamed at us.  The church had a permit that said repair of earth quake damage.  Since the permit did not mention roof repair we had to stop. 

     The state of California has some very strange labor union closed shop laws.  All skilled work must be done by union members or licensed contractors.  Unskilled Americans must work for no less than minimum wages which means that most unskilled work is done by illegal aliens.  Barney saw a crew of white men ages 35 to 65 with Southern accents.  That did not fit the norm.  All the work we were doing fit the code right down to the fire retardent label on the shingles.  He wanted to see our union cards which no one had but we quoted the volunteer labor loop hole.  He then wanted to see at least one roof contractors licenses and was shocked when a 60 year old man climed down the ladder and showed a general contractors licenses.  Our general contractor had to leave the work site and go with the local pastor down to city hall and wait in line for a permit.  While they were gone the code officer drove by to make sure no one was working, but only saw the one man sitting on the crest.  He never knew that the rest of us were busy roofing the back slope. 

     At city hall, the local pastor discovered that the city councel believed that the only money good for a damaged city had to belong to city government.  To help the city rebuild, the price of a building permit went way up.  The church not only had to pay the inflated price for a permit but they also had to pay a fine for beginning a project with out a permit.  By the time we finished  it was raining hard.

     On the American far left coast people expect a city to hinder the people who come to help. It is hard to believe such things can happen in Mendenhall, but it does happen.  I went to a zoning meeting last night and saw it happen with my own eyes. 

     My wife and I opened Jade's in Magee more than ten years ago.  Business was good so we decided to open a second location in Mendenhall for my step son Dennis to run.  Before we bought, we saw and smelled several eye sore buildings.  We heard the pie in the sky stories about how Mendenhall would rise like a phonix, but saw now evidence of it happening.  The only man we met who had a plan to turn things around was a professional fisherman named Jeff Magee.  He was buying the worthless eye sores and renovating them.  That gave us enough hope to buy the old Guledge Furniture building and turn it into Jade's of Mendenhall.

      Since we moved here Jeff Magee has cleaned up ten eye sore buildings in the down town area plus several in other parts of town.  The one he is most famous for is one of the many crack/prostitute  houses.  He embarrassed several people when he proved what the house was, by evicting the dealers.  His most recent renovation is the one that got him in trouble.  There was a filthy building with a rusty ten roof directly across from uptown apartments. The building had for many years been used as rental storage space.  Two different people had paid to pile there junk in it.  A local banker with a branch bank down wind of the eye sore came to Jeff and said that if he bought it the bank would loan enough for renovations.  Jeff knew there was no use for the building that could make money, but he could probably break even on the building and improve the value of his apartments, so he bought it.  He told the code officer that he would continue using it for rental storage but would make it nicer.  Jeff told the code officer that he would divide the space into smaller spaces each with its own roll up door.  There would be one large roll up door on the side of the building where people could drive in and unload.  The code officer who has the same last name as a member of the zoning board and a member of the city councel slapped Jeff on the back and said go ahead with the project.  The two men who had rented the space collected all their stuff that had any value.  Jeff hauled the rest of the junk to the dump.  The renovation work was well under way when a man who owns another set of mini storage units found out he had competition and the work was ordered stopped.  Jeff had committed to the project so he finished the work but now is not alowed to rent any storaage bens.  It turns out that the building is in an area zoned historic district, which greatly limits what can be done with personal property.  Jeff took the matter to the zoning meeting to request the grandfather clause, which alows continued use of a building for the same purpose.

     I was at the zoning board meeting.  Nearly every one of the few remaining business owners in the historic zone was there.  Concerned citizens were there.  A newspaper reporter who lives in one of Jeff's apartments was there.  As many as could crowd into the tiny room came in and stood around the walls.  The rest stayed in the hall and took turns pearing threw the open door, making sure the board members saw the parade.  It was obvious that the board had made a decision before the meeting was called.  They saw it as their only job to justify the denial.  They read aloud the ordinance on which they based their decision.  I agree that if only that single sentence was read it appears they are right.  Their arguments sounded like a discussion over the meaning of the word is.  When several people in the audiance pointed out that the board can grant a variance, the board countered with the rgument that they are just powerless puppets.  The board washed their hands just like Pointous Pilot and said to take it to the city councel. 

     As much as I like what Jeff does for the city I am not in this fight only for him.  The greater issues of personal property rights are at stake.  In rapidly growing cities, zoning does point growth in positive directions, and is often used to prevent the building of new eye sores.  When zones are used as a hammer against people who compete against well connected people, changes must be made.  Most of the business community will follow Jeff to the city councel.  They are already counting votes so they will probably wise up.

Your Friend,                                                Cliff Brown                                      

Dear Friends,                                                        April 4, 2006

      Some of you probably know that a lot of work goes into keeping weather and obituaries up to date.  We are in the process of getting more funeral homes involved so we can greatly improve this service.  I will say more about that later.  Most of you probably also know that this is not the only site I am involved with.  My other site takes less time to work with.  It is a user-friendly blog site where any one can post comments.  Sometimes I answer the comments, but usually I just get out of the way and let people speak their minds.  If you want to post your own comment just click on the link that says “Free Speech Round Table”.  Nearly everything on that site is open to comments but most people comment under the post titled “A Few Simple Rules”.

     Recently, someone left an anonymous comment that asked a very interesting question.  I decided that the best way to answer that question is to use my “On the Edge” column.  “Anonymous said:  I read the annual profile edition of the Simpson County News, and was disgusted to see Perry Lee profiled in the unsung hero section.  The paper billed him as larger than life because he has enough leisure time to take vacation trips with a group of senior citizen voters from his church.  Granted, driving a buss in the Ozark Mountains takes a little skill, but it is far from heroic.  I heard a second hand story that you also drove a church bus but did not brag about it.  If you did will you please brag a little?  Also, do you think that puff piece in the paper was designed to help Perry Lee run for reelection?”     

     Yes, it is true that while I lived in California I drove a church bus.  I don’t know which second hand story you heard or who you heard it from.  I am a little timid about ringing my own bell, so I never told this story very often.  Since you asked I will tell something that you might find interesting.  I served four years in the active duty Air Force at Travis Air Force Base near the San Francisco Bay area.  While there I got involved with a very active and fast growing Southern Baptist Church in Fairfield, Ca.  After I finished my active duty I joined a reserve unit and moved into a 28 foot trailer in the church parking lot.  I spent most of my time doing carpenter work on the church expansion project, but I made sure I was available for nearly any thing else that needed to get done, including driving the bus.

     One interesting trip was a three week mission to a Baptist camp deep in the red wood forest.  I carried a group of first and second graders to the camp where we joined with children from other churches in the association.  I was placed in charge of one of the boys cabins at night and by day I was an assistant counselor and assistant teacher.  On Friday afternoon of the first week I loaded all the kids from my own church back on the bus and took them home.  On Monday the second week I went back to the red woods with a bus load of third and fourth graders.  The third week was fifth and sixth graders.  My job was to teach the kids but I probably learned more than I taught. 

     One evening during the second week, the boys in my cabin seemed a little hyper, so I decided to take them on a nature walk to burn off some energy before bed time.  I lead my group of third and fourth grade boys out of camp threw the red woods and up a fairly tall hill.  I let them play hide and seek for a while on top of the hill, then gathered the group and started back down to the camp.  There was one boy named Joe who was more serious about hide and seek than the rest, and could hide better than some military snipers I know.  We got about half way down the hill and realized Joe was not with us.  I ran back up the hill and could not find him.  I started wondering how I would explain to a mother that I lost her boy in the middle of a red wood forest, then I remembered that on the other side of the hill there was an abandoned lumber camp that was closed by a spotted owl.  Joe saw the lumber camp and thought it was the Baptist camp.  I caught up with him almost a half mile down the wrong side of the hill.  It was dark thirty by the time I got all the boys safely to the cabin but we all slept sound that night. 

     I have many stories I could tell about my time in California.  When the big earth quake hit I was on a scaffold 17 feet above a concrete floor.  Neither I nor our church was hurt too badly, so we stopped work on our own expansion and pulled our trailers to the epicenter.  There was a lot of work for volunteer Baptist carpenters there.  When a food pantry at a mission in the bad part of Oakland was vandalized I went there.  Maybe someday I will tell some of those stores.

     Just because I drove a church bus to some interesting places and did some interesting things does not mean the service done by some one else is less.  All Christians are supposed to be on the same team.  If Perry Lee is called by God to go to Branson, Mo., I will not say his service is less.  If he takes those trips just for votes that is between him and God, but I will never accuse him of such a thing.  As for whether that profile was a puff piece to help Perry Lee get reelected, I believe it was probably not.  News reporters cultivate relations with people who win elections and not with people who lose them.  Incumbents naturally get puff pieces just because the reporters know them. 

Your Friend,                                                         Cliff Brown                           

Dear Friends,                                                        March 23, 2006

     Most of what I write goes only on a website, but once in a while, I send something to a newspaper too.  This letter is the reply to a letter to the editor of the Magee Courier/Simpson County News.  I had been working on my comments about the grocery to tobacco tax shift but did not have it exactly like I wanted it.  Before I finished my friend, Ruby Ainsworth, beat me to the punch.   

     I am very mad at Ruby Ainsworth.  I wrote the rough draft of a letter about the grocery to tobacco tax shift, but got busy running my business.  Before I found the time to polish it up Ruby Ainsworth stole my thunder.  Now all I c