SUPPORT FOR A REAL HERO

Last month, I mentioned here the story of Sheriff Billy McGee of Forrest County, Mississippi. He and three deputies commendeered two trucks filled with ice and water which had been sitting at Camp Shelby, the FEMA staging area near Hattiesburg, taking them to a couple of rural communities which had been without aid since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast over a week earlier. He is now facing federal misdemeanor charges of interfering with, intimidating, and impeding a federal officer (a National Guardsman who attempted to prevent the officers' action).

He had originally made a deal with prosecutors where he would plead guilty. In exchange, the deal would prevent charges being brought against his deputies and would allow him to remain in office. However, the day before the court date, the judge postponed the hearing indefinately.

Since then, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi who was prosecuting the case recused himself, and it has been handed to the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, David R. Dugas. He still has reportedly not made a decision on wheather to press the case or dismiss the charges.

Today's Hattiesburg American editorial page features an open letter to the Honourable Mr. Dugas:

Dear Mr. Dugas,
The fate of Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee now rests in your hands.

Given the fact Mississippi U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton recused himself from The Case of the Stolen Ice Trucks, it has fallen to you to decide whether to bring federal charges against McGee, who admittedly ordered three of his deputies to commandeer two Federal Emergency Management Agency ice trucks from a staging site at Camp Shelby six days after Hurricane Katrina to aid storm victims in Petal and Brooklyn.

"Anything is possible because no decision has been made," said Dugas last week. "We can always choose not to prosecute."

Here are two reasons why you should do just that - choose not to prosecute.

First, extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary actions - and McGee's actions were appropriate given the circumstances.

Mr. Dugas, the Pine Belt was lurching rapidly toward chaos and disaster in the days immediately after Katrina.

The power was out in much of Hattiesburg for 11 days - even longer in the rural areas. In the absence of water, functioning toilets, air conditioning and dwindling supplies of food and fuel, people struggled to survive. We kept hearing promises that "FEMA was on its way." However, the cavalry was slow in coming. Then, when the nation's lead disaster response agency finally got here, it was so disorganized that supply trucks sat idle for days - exacerbating the suffering of our citizens.

McGee has stated he made repeated phone calls to FEMA officials in an attempt to provide desperately needed supplies for Forrest County residents. But after getting no response, the sheriff took matters into his own hands.

For McGee to do otherwise would have been a denial of his pledge to "serve and protect" the people of Forrest County.

Second, McGee gained nothing - and risked a lot - by acting as he did.

It took an enormous amount of courage for a county sheriff in South Mississippi to stand up to FEMA and, in the process, expose its abject incompetence. Is that what this threat of prosecution is really about? We wonder.

And for what? So he could be prosecuted for a "crime?"

Mr. Dugas, we expect nothing less from the people we put in elected office. And we dare say that, had you been in McGee's position, you might have acted in a similar manner.

Of course, neither of these reasons specifically addresses the one issue that concerns you: Did McGee break the law; and do his actions warrant prosecution? You must decide whether or not to prosecute McGee solely on the merits of the case.

However, anyone who is familiar with the judicial system knows that there are always extenuating circumstances - issues that a good prosecutor weighs before proceeding to court.

We believe, that, when this case is viewed in proper context, it's not a case at all.

I certainly agree.