Former McComb mayor Zach Patterson faces an April 19 court date in a case that began as a property dispute between neighbors and escalated to across-the-fence charges of trespassing and disturbing the peace.
Judge Danny Smith will hear Patterson’s case in McComb Municipal Court.
The matter became public after Patterson wrote a letter of complaint to the city board, Interim City Administrator Joseph Parker and Deputy City Administrator Kelvin Butler.
In the Feb. 28 letter, Patterson called for an investigation into wrongdoing by Police Chief Scott McKenzie, Deputy Chief Rodney Nordstrom, Municipal Court Clerk Sonya Wells and “other unnamed employees.”
According to Patterson, McKenzie and Nordstrom were “active participants in (this) conspiracy to place me in a jail cell.”
Patterson’s letter did not detail the dispute that led to his arrest, referring only to “two non-violent misdemeanor charges.”
Nor did he specify what McKenzie, Nordstrom, Wells or anyone else had done to merit an investigation.
Two criminal affidavits describe the charges against Patterson.
The first shows only a count of disturbing the peace, without any further description of what led to the charge, along with the April 19 court date.
The second complaint, released Friday to the Enterprise-Journal, lists trespassing, a misdemeanor, which carries a possible $500 fine and six-month jail term.
Barrett L. Pickett, who lives next door to the Summit Street house where Patterson grew up and his mother still lives, swore out the trespass complaint.
Pickett said that on the morning of Jan. 26, he returned home to find a surveyor on his property, having been hired by Patterson. Pickett told the surveyors they were on private property, and that the fence line they were working on had existed for decades.
Pickett’s complaint went on to say that an argument ensued between him and Patterson, during which Patterson asserted that a particular fence stake was two feet into his property.
The disturbing the peace affidavit lists Pickett as the arresting officer, although that may mean that Pickett, a Mississippi Department of Transportation employee, was one who filed the charges.
Neither Patterson nor Pickett has spoken publicly about the matter. Patterson’s letter to the city also named two other people, Mickell McDowell and Rosalind Pickett McDowell, both of whom have also declined comment.
In Patterson’s letter, he says that he turned himself in at police headquarters Feb. 23 to face the two charges, after which he was “caged like a wild and rabid animal.”
Patterson will speak to the McComb city board at its Tuesday meeting. The board agenda says he will discuss “injustices, unfairness and bigotry of the McComb Police Department and Municipal Services.”
Members of the public may, with the mayor’s permission and advance notice, address the board. Patterson’s recent appearances have involved arguments over the length of time he was allotted to speak.
