I recently read The Democrat’s important, just-the-facts report regarding abuse of the open meetings law by the Adams County Board of Supervisors under the leadership of Henry Watts (Democrat, Sept. 9). The citizens of this county and area need to know that this is just the tip of the iceberg, being only one of many examples of a well-established pattern of gross violations of law and procedure by the current board.

This pattern is already evident in the (very limited) public record, and much more evident in certain records which have not as yet been made public.

At the behest of my District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus, I presented an issue before the board on June 13, 2008. Although I was there only to report my personal observations and photographs concerning massive destruction on the right-of-way of public road, and to request that the board take appropriate action, Mr. Watts immediately caused the meeting to go off-record into executive session. The Democrat’s reporter, cameraman and curious citizens were forced to leave the room, thus the public’s business was concealed from the public under a baseless pretext, just as occurred with the economic development authority meeting about which The Democrat had complained.

For more than two years, I have had the misfortune of being forced to either accept the board’s willful refusal to take any action on the very serious matter I had presented, or to try to appeal to that board’s sense of duty and decorum. The former is an unacceptable option, and I found the latter to be hopeless; so I have pursued all possible recourse.

I have been forced to conclude that the current 3-4 member controlling-vote segment of the board is either exceedingly ignorant of the law or is arrogantly disdainful of it; or, quite possibly, both.

The record clearly shows that for nearly a year, with the help of my supervisor (who took the correct position from the beginning) I diligently tried to work with and not against Mr. Watts and his followers, to no avail. I provided facts, law and urgent suggestions regarding the unavoidable consequences of the board’s failure to take action; again, to no avail.

It is well known that a law with no teeth is no law at all. Unscrupulous politicians do no worry about a $100 fine to be paid by the taxpayers, or, as mentioned by The Democrat, allowed by the ethics commission to go unpaid. Such politicians do not worry about a letter from the ethics commission asking them to be more careful.

What such politicians do get concerned about is that the public will finally wake up, see through the glad-handing and the schmooze, and vote them out of office.

I was forced to take the matter I had naively placed before the board more than two years ago, to the attorney general and the state auditor. After almost a year, those officials let me know that they will do nothing and that it is up to the voters of Adams County.

I have spent several thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of family time, and I will pursue four certain remaining avenues of recourse. Meanwhile, I will focus on getting hard facts before the public so that voters may consider them. The election for district supervisors occurs in November 2011. In the meantime, we must make the best of what we have — close scrutiny by The Democrat and citizenry is very important.

I will end by saying that among all the extremely disappointing things I have witnessed about the current controlling segment of the board, the most disturbing is of the extreme bad faith — dishonesty of belief or purpose — which has repeatedly been demonstrated since I presented them with an important but very simple issue of what is best for the public interest more than two years ago.

The contrast between the written law (County Government in Mississippi, third edition) and the actual negligence, gamesmanship and machinations of the current board is truly appalling.

There are certain details concerning the how and why of the board’s handling of the issue I presented, which I feel I have a duty to make public, and I plan to do so.

Lynn Wirtz

Natchez resident