Sheriff faces federal charges for seizing ice trucks after Katrina

[MSgt213]

About 150 people gathered in support of Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee on Sunday, outraged at federal charges against him stemming from a dispute over ice trucks in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

Most who convened at the McLaurin Community Center added their signatures to a petition, which asserts that McGee acted in the best interests of residents when he seized a pair of 18-wheelers full of ice from Camp Shelby without Federal Emergency Management Agency authorization on Sept. 4.

"We had diabetic people who hadn't been able to put their insulin on ice for three days," said Lee Behrens, 53, chief of the McLaurin Volunteer Fire Department.

"If it was up to FEMA, those trucks would still be at Camp Shelby."

McGee, 53, was scheduled to plead guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with, intimidating and impeding a federal officer, but the hearing was delayed indefinitely late Thursday. A new court date has not been scheduled.

McGee acknowledged to the Hattiesburg American on Thursday that he acted outside federal guidelines when he asked two ice truck drivers to follow him to distribution centers in the Brooklyn and Sheeplo communities.

"I didn't see anything wrong with what I was doing other than it was outside the protocol," he said Thursday.

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS01/602260338/1002/NEWS17

[Suich]

1. This is absolutely INSANE!!!

Sorry about the caps...I don't know how to underline!

[babylonsister]

2. Yeah, better to send all the ice to Maine instead of trying

to help people. :sarcasm:
This is just crap; the man did something positive, unlike the majority of FEMA robots who were awaiting orders. :grr:

[sojourner]

8. Just to be sure...the trucks weren't really headed to Maine?

That is, the sheriff didn't "hijack" the load? (No matter, what he did was for the public welfare and a courageous demonstration of leadership.....so lacking in public servants these days!)

But, my take from the article was that the trucks were actually awaiting FEMA orders, right? :shrug:

[noamnety]

3. K&R (nt)

[Rowdyboy]

4. Totally ridiculous! The sheriff is a hero and the Republican prosecutor

(a slimebag named Doug Lampton) is about to get the "kick-in-the-balls" of his life. NO jury in this state will convict that sheriff, nor should they!

BTW: This thread only needs one more vote for the greatest page and it deserves it!

[OneBlueSky]

5. OMG! . . . he prevented them from shipping the ice to Maine! . . .

this entire maladministration is completely and thoroughly insane, malfeasant, criminal, immoral and/or amoral, and with no redeeming social value . . .

how do you impeach an entire administration? . . .

[sandnsea]

6. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton

This would be the idiot in question.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mss/

And phone numbers.

[phone]
[phone]

[sutz12]

7. Figures....

If the whole thing was run anywhere near normally, this might have been a problem.

But since everything was screwed up, let's arrest the few people that actually tried to help someone. :eyes:

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Down with Sheriffs who steal ice and teens who steal school busses!