Carpenter, frequent critic of City Hall, arrested for creating disturbance there

Published 4:54 pm Friday, March 17, 2023

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NATCHEZ — Alma Kellogg Carpenter, 65, 814 State St., Natchez, was arrested Thursday afternoon for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

Carpenter allegedly created a disturbance at City Hall.

Natchez Police Chief Cal Green said Carpenter had made frequent visits to City Hall, “terrorizing employees” there.

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Green said Natchez City Attorney Bryan Callaway filed an injunction against Carpenter because she has made a number of visits to City Hall recently, disrupting the work of city employees. A number of employees for the city have reported Carpenter allegedly has yelled at them and used profane language.

“We were called over there on Wednesday when she was there being disruptive,” Green said. “But she was gone when we arrived. We got a call that she was back there yesterday. When we arrived on scene, she was in the mayor’s assistant’s office. She was waving a letter telling her she was no longer allowed to come to City Hall and saying she was being prevented from getting public records.

“She was advised she was going to have to go through the proper channels to get public records, and that did not sit well with her,” Green said.

The police chief said officers convinced her to leave the building and she was in the process of doing that when she spotted Callaway.

“Carpenter then goes tearing toward him like she was going to attack him. That’s why we had to arrest her. We did not actually let an assault happen in front of us,” Green said.

Carpenter was released from the Adams County Jail on a $750 bond.

“If she has a request for public records, she can submit that request in writing by mail, and they will be mailed to her. But she cannot come down there to pick them up anymore,” Green said.

This event was not the first for Carpenter involving a dust-up with city officials. Alderman Dan Dillard, who was running a Natchez Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting as mayor pro tem in 2021, had to ask that Carpenter be removed from the meeting because of her disruptive behavior during it. Dillard had asked Carpenter numerous times to stop interrupting the meeting from her seat in the audience.

When asked to leave, Carpenter sat down on the floor and police officers had to carry her away from the meeting.