" As a former McCombPloice Officer I can tell you that there are two things wrong there....Low Pay and Very short on Officers...of course,A will fix B....improve pay,fill the gaps and the morale of that Department will go up 1000%,and you will see an equal rise in anti-crime work.The problem there now is a step beyond serious.Get to work Mayor and stop messing around with trifles... "

" I am a Black Woman and very proud of the mayor Z .Patterson first and formost i just would like to say Thank You and we all appricate and applused you. We are proud of a Strong Black man running the citie of Mccomb contiune your faith and trust in God and he would see you through. P.S. May God protect and guide you and your FAMILY! "

" Thank you Greg,
I wish Chief Hughes, Perry Ashley, Laura Burris, Sam Mims and the list goes on would have went toe to toe with Zach Patterson instead of just quitting. The officers of McComb are beaten down mentally, if you don't think so just listen to your scanners. "

" The color of one's skin has nothing to do with EGO issues.McComb is just out of control,City Hall,take a look at the problems you are causing for the residents.SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!. "

" Great job Greg!!! Wow if we made a list of everyone who has been verbally abused the list would fill the front page of the EJ. Thank you Greg for speaking up......... It is time someone put a stop to this. And since when did he get a degree in Law Enforcement??? "

" Hah, that is cute about the Mayor's hankee. Wow, astounding. "

" Good job Greg...The department is well served with you in the lead...I too, would hope the city would put you there permanently...However, they don't always do what is best for the people of McComb, do they...My prayers are with you, the men and women who "serve", as well as this great country which is facing hard times because of greed, affluence, and humanism...Faith in God and the shed blood of Jesus Christ, is the only option..what a shame, Jesus has become a last resort...(Yep, still preaching!!! LOL!) "

" After reading this article in the paper, I checked out the E-J website and specifically the comments that appeared after the article. There were 27 comments and made for some interesting reading. I suggest that Patterson read them. It may teach him a little humility. I seriously doubt it, but anything is possible. Anyway, after reading that Patterson harassed three police officers who were eating breakfast in a fast food restaurant, I asked around in an effort to find out what that was all about. Apparently the officers who were eating didn't respond in a manner that Patterson thought fitting so he belittled them in front of the other patrons in the restaurant. We have all seen scenes in the movies where an officer enters a room, someone barks "Attention on deck!' and everyone jumps up and salutes. This must be the reaction that Patterson wants. As a retired navy Chief Petty Officer, I can tell you that such respect must be earned. Any military officer that earns respect will get it. Even military officers that don't deserve it will get it, but more grudgingly. But any officer that has to demand respect has a problem and is a problem. "

" We should pay police as if our life depends upon it. We should also respect them in the same manner. I hope these bloggers can remember when Zach complained earlier in the year about the newspaper editor putting an eight year old child in his place over at the walking track. We cannot teach that same child to respect the police because obviously the mayor of this city does not repect the police himself. Of the numerous "blemishes" we have had in city government lately, any logically thinking adult is really stretching it to defend the mayor on this incident. "

" The difference is that Melon is Zach's mentor whom he admires.
Way to go Greg! "

" Brian, no one is implying that Melton and Patterson are bad leaders because of the extra melatonin that God placed in their DNA that made them 'black'. They are bad leaders based off their actions, decisions, and abuses of power.Period. It is black and white, not the racial color, but the degree of no ambiguity. What I mean is there is no gray area. If Senator Obama loses this election, are you going to claim it was merely his skin color, not his political stance, not his experience, not his background that lost it? If Senator McCain loses it, does he lose it because he is white? I think not. Patterson is a petty tyrant who abuses his authority. Cut and dry. He is a small fish in an even smaller pond. To Shane, the EJ is reporting the facts. To simply state that the EJ does not speak well of McComb, because they are not intimated and will not 'kow tow' to Mayor Patterson is wrong. Is it a conflict of personality to grant one dismissed city employee a severance of $10,000? It is okay to pay city funds to landscape for Bo Diddley? It is okay for the Mayor to directly belittle a police officer and not bring to the attention of the Chief of Police first? That is called chain-of-command and empowering juniors. Maybe Col. Patterson (USA, retired) never grasped that concept during his active-duty time. How has McComb moved forward? Is downtown reemerging because of his efforts? Community Parks, Algiers? For gosh sakes, we dont even have a public swimming pool anymore or a four screen theater and McComb is going is going forward under Patterson's leadership? The quality of life has increased? I own a home in South McComb, which I dont currently reside in due to my military service, and I have $55 dollar a month water bill, for a residence which does not open the tap or flush the toilet once a month. That is quality of life? Compare how much car tags cost if you live inside McComb city limits vice outside of them. I agree with Ronnie Temple, GOD please bless the City of McComb. Good leadership is irrelevant to skin color. "

" Way to go Greg Martin! I'm so glad to see a Department Head take up for the miss treatment of their employees. Too many good employees have left the City of McComb for that reason. Me being one of them. But don't kid yourself if you think the Mayor is the only one dishing it out. The City Adm is good at it as well just not to your face. Be sure to hang on Greg its probably going to get pretty bumpy for you in the days ahead. I'm wishing all the City Employees who are left the very best. It will get better some day. "

" Just look at Mr. Mayor Patterson's hankie in his coat pocket.....see the way it's folded. Thats not accidental.....it is folded to represent the points of a crown. Jackson Mayor Frank Melton wears the same kind of symbol. Before you dismiss this as being a little to far left, just look at the hankie on the last videos made at board meetings. Now that he know's we've noticed he'll change it. "

" where have we gone forward??? name one thing since patterson has been mayor... failed festivals, strife, contension, bitterness, and anger... oh yeah we got that blues marker and like 20 people road on that bus tour, and we got a tree cut.. we lost a city administrator, currently have a city administrator that is working despite being fired, and we lost two fire chiefs, one police chief, a city clerk, and numerous other run off or laid off employees. we have a police department that is short handed by numbers that are scary, we have firemen leaving their jobs to find new ones. i am still trying to find the forward steps so find some point them out but you should at least be able to base it in fact as i can. oh yeah we are in debt up to our eye balls as well.... "

" You manage to attack racial undertones with blatant racism congratulations.... "

" Brian is right. I am not voting for either candidate, I am voting against Obama based on his far left voting record. He is the closest thing to a socialist this country has ever seriously considered electing, and it scares me to death. "

" Shane, the form of government that we enjoy in this country is a representatave republic. Sorry you missed it in civics class. "

" Dripping with undertones huh? Did you also dislike his tone and tenor? Perhaps you would like for us to connect the dots and discern that AJs' post was code for anti-Obama and therefore racist. Now, lets use YOUR logic. Since historically, (antebellum) the South has been one of the poorest, most uneducated, and backwards parts of the country, do ya think that could possibly be because of demographics Brian? Hmmm? Perhaps if a certain high percentage of the residents of the south were to take some self pride, go to school and get a job that wouldn't be the case. Did you ever consider that Brian? No, of course not. Then you couldn't blame whitey. Give me a break. "

" To "Brian": What I find interesting is that you jumped right on the race issue, based on AJ's statements. When I read AJ's statement, my first thought was that he was referencing Democrats. The part of the statement about comparing promises and platforms with results just screamed "Nancy Pelosi!" to me. "

" Brian, how in the world did you turn that quote into a racist remark, besides the letters being black and the page being white I see no reference of color. Furthermore who do you think you are fooling by slinging your political mud into a legitimate matter of civil affairs. "

" Brian, your post is completely mental. The assumptions and inferences you made from that one quote you pasted are astounding. Only someone who is absolutely obsessed with race would come up with a post like that. It couldn't possibly be that Patterson and Melton have both been newsmaking mayors, stirring controversy and inviting major criticism from their constituents of the dubious decision-making abilities and massive egos they have both demonstrated. No, no, no, it's "OBVIOUSLY" because they're BLACK. Your entire post was a pile of worn-out, regurgitated, knee-jerk cliche. Thank goodness you informed us all at the very end of your post that there are good and bad leaders of all races. What a revelatory statement! I had no idea. Me am so happy you has smartened us up. Please.... Anyway, Brian, I hope you feel better now that you've gotten that out of your system, and I hope you will feel personally vindicated when you pull the lever for Obama, knowing that you have struck a major blow to racists everywhere. "

" It looks like the mayor is trying to be all things to all people. Here's a thought, let those qualified individuals do their job, the job which they passed the test for and were trained for. And should you decide to lower the standards of those positions so that you may fill your quotas, the people of your city will suffer. Do your city a favor mr mayor and focus your energy on the job the people of McComb elected you to do and let those with the expertise continue to do their jobs. "

" Unless Patterson is ready to patrol the city himself, he had better back off. As a former Patrol officer for the city of McComb for almost 7 years, your police department is on the brink of collapse. It is my opinion but your city needs a lot of help. I left the police department to come home to Colorado. But I really left because I was tired of the politics. The pay is bad, the crime is high, and the politics in the department itself is bad. That is why you dont have a lot of senior officers in the department. So good luck McComb you need it!!!! "

" AJ's quote: "Our country could use this and the mess in Jackson as good lessons of what they think they are getting in candidates and what they actually get."

I don't usually respond to local matters, but my hand was forced...although my response isn't concerning the local issue. AJ's quote (copied above) is OBVIOUSLY dripping with anti-Obama undertones based on his skin color. Of course the insinuation is Obama, who is black, can't possibly lead the country because of the disasterous mayoral administrations of Frank Melton and Zach Patterson, both black. This logic is, of course, flawed.

Using this logic, white folks aren't capable of leading either. The South, for example, has historically been "led" by white people. Historically, the South has been one of the poorest, most uneducated, and backwards part of the country.

It's one thing to disagree with Obama and plan to vote against him. It's another to do so simply because of the notion that African-American's aren't capable (based on Melton and Patterson) of leading.

There are examples of bad leaders (oxymoron I know) in all races; and of course there are examples of good ones too. "

" IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, YOU HAVE TO BE CERTIFIED BY THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI TO BE A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WHICH MEANS YOU HAVE TO ATTEND AND PASS THE TRAINING AT THE MS. HIGHWAY PATROL TRAINING FACILITY TO BE CERTIFIED. I KNOW BECAUSE I WENT TO THE MHP TRAINING ACADEMY AND PASSED THE 13 WEEK COURSE WITH WOULD BE HARD FOR PATTERSON TO PASS BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO LISTEN NOT TELL THE TRAINERS WHAT GOING ON. "

" I do not applaud the actions of the police chief. These actions are retalatory and petty in nature. I do think that the police chief was correct in addressing what he believed a wrong --- but where is the criminal act. No one should be intimidated by either party, neither the police officers or the Mayor. This appears to be a power struggle and nothing more -- lets be clear on that. "

" God Bless McComb City. AND, I will salute Chief Greg Martin and I TIP my hat to him. "

" Some of the Firemen have had some of the same experiences as the Police Officers with the mayor making them acknowledge his presence and addressing him as Mayor any time they see him and even cutting in front of them in lines at Wal-Mart just because he is the mayor. Maybe the Firemen should join in on this. "

" I think it is very possible to make a mountain out of a mole hill and to publicize matters such as this is only aimed to hurt all involved. The manner in which presented represents nothing more than dirty politics. There should be checks and balances on all levels of governing offices and thank God we live in a democratic republic where this is possible. None of the principals in this event were out of the boundaries of their rights and pursued due process. But to me, neither was presented in a good light and doesn't speak well of McComb or the Enterprise Journal for that matter. There will be disagreements and conflicts -- no matter. I'm not saying to ever look away from serious matters -- things should be documented -- but at least let it be newsworthy and not just negative attacks for the sake diliberate sensationalism. Whether you personally like Mayor Patterson or not, or his management style, he is the only Mayor that has ever tried to move McComb forward since I've been a resident here. He's not been popular -- but I fail to find one thing of significance,though you've all definitely tried, that has been brought against him other than conflict of personalities and power struggles. He doesn't seem to be bringing anything out of balance or out of culture to our city --- but has tried to improve the quality of life here -- thereby ruffling a lot of immature feathered nests. The other Mayors seemed to play it safe and do nothing thereby not rocking the boat and waking up this sleeping city. These were elected officials who allow their towns to become desolate ghost towns that seen in so many towns in Mississippi. It keeps us in the stereotype of being ignorant belligerant southerners and not the intellegent progressive Mississippians we've become. This negative jounalism and political pettiness is distressing and needs to stop. I'm all for frank, FAIR and honest disclosure but the EP fails to possess that ability. "

" Chief Martin you are a truly courageous person for upholding the law and defending your men. McComb is in great need of more leaders like you who are not afraid to stand up for what is right no matter what the personal cost. The citizens are behind you-keep up the good work! "

" How did the citizens of McComb elect this man. He sounds like a bull in a china shop, making enemies and leaving destruction behind. I have recently read of his involvemnt with the Fire Department, City Administration, City Council, and now interfering with the Police Department, and its Officers directly. It would be interesting to go back to when he was running for office and compare his promises and platform with his results. Our country could use this and the mess in Jackson as good lessons of what they think they are getting in candidates and what they actually get. "

" It is fine time that someone go toe to toe on behalf of these men and put a stop to this. "

" Patterson is on a down hill ride. "

" I applaud you Greg. I wondered yesterday how the city was moving forward and making progress. I couldn't come up with anything. I appreciated BT for all his years of service but placing you in the position of Acting Chief was a good move. I hope it will become permanent. "

" Kudos for Chief Greg Martin and Lt. Nevels!!! The mayor really needs to know his place, and the police department is not it. Stay in the Mayor's office Mr. Melton, I mean Mr. Patterson. Let the experienced police run the police department. "

" Good for you Chief Martin. Looks like maybe the mayor has met his match. A city employee with the guts to stand up for his employees rights. Next Patterson will want everyone in McComb saluting him. This Frank Melton wannabe may just get what his buddy is going through. Biggest difference in the two is Frank did have his heart, if not his mind, in the right palce. I don't think Patterson has anything in the right palce "