To the Editor:
Our esteemed Mayor’s letter offering transparency regarding the proposed Native American Museum brought to mind a well-known statement in Alice in Wonderland. The statement which came to mind is “curiouser and curiouser.”
The Mayor, claiming he wants to be transparent, bestowed on readers of The Star-Herald that the feasibility study for the museum has a cost of $20,000, with $15,000 paid by an anonymous donor. Did anyone else reading that think that the Mayor’s transparency evaporated really quickly? Knowing that 75% of a study’s cost for a major developmental project in the City is shielded or shrouded in anonymity isn’t my definition of transparency. Who could help but be even more curious as to who is really “behind” the proposed Museum, but wants to hide by being anonymous, and anonymous to whom, as someone surely "knows." Given that the average yearly household income in Attala County is around $33,000 for males, but of course only around $27,000 for females, a large percentage of residents are probably ruled out as being Mr. or Ms. Anonymous. Of course, to Anonymous that may NOT be much to gamble unless the anticipation is that full personal payback and more will come when the study comes back with a resounding YES to “feasibility.”
Furthermore, no transparent mention was made by the Mayor of the cost of the first museum study, what he deemed the “Need Feasibility Study.” Who deemed that this first study be done if no one tweaked the Mayor’s ear?
Let’s continue on, however, in the transparent vein about the second study, although the transparency is already a bit murky. The Mayor adds that the remaining $5,000 is being paid by the Kosciusko Attala County Community Foundation. Now that additional information, while lofty sounding, is probably to most readers about as transparent as “anonymous donor.”
An internet proficient reader though could Google and end up on the “Kosciusko Attala Partnership” page of community organizations. There one could be informed that KACCF is a “non-profit that aims to enable and empower individuals within Kosciusko and Attala County to enhance, beautify, and ever-improve their community.” Now that is a very uplifting mission, but still rather opaque as to who exactly is involved in “ever-improving,” except that senior citizen quilters apparently are at the bottom of their ever-improve list. (Opaque by the way means the very opposite of transparent.)
A dedicated reader though, seeking real transparency, not the mayor's definition of it, could look further for it on Delbert Hosemann’s web page of public information. There it can be found that the Kosciusko Attala County Community Foundation has a principal registered agent, who is Jeffrey Lacey. Not included is that he is a local CEO investment banker, formerly of M & F bank. It can be found that the Foundation came into being in 2009. A list of officers and directors is also provided, who in this instance are the “incorporators" or founders of the foundation. Here is the list. Does anyone recognize any of the names?
George Hester, Jimmy Cockroft, Wade Shumaker, James Rasberry.
Yes, indeed, Alice, curiouser and curiouser about that museum.
The flow of money to pay for the feasibility study (the $15,000 and $5000) is also a bit opaque. Because the KACCF is a non-profit, contributions to it made by anyone are tax deductible. If channeled through KACCF, the anonymous $15,000 "contribution" could be a significant charitable tax deduction, although I admit I'm not totally up on Trump’s recent machinations regarding tax laws and charitable contributions.
Beverly E. Johnson
Kosciusko
