Leroy Brooks didn’t leave Monday’s Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board member without a few parting shots.
Brooks, who represents District 5 on the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, went before the CVB board to request the second half of a $7,500 grant awarded for the local Juneteenth festival. The board in September withheld the money, citing concerns about Brooks’ involvement with the festival while simultaneously serving as an elected official.
On Monday, the board voted 8-1 to award the money, with Rissa Lawrence opposing. Brooks took aim at Lawrence after the vote, claiming she had made repeated efforts to kill Juneteenth and other black festivals.
“What I’m saying to you is that this is not 1955,” Brooks said. “I’m not Emmett Till. I don’t whistle, I talk. One thing I was raised as a young boy in the South to do more than anything in the world was to respect women.
“Unfortunately, the nicest thing I can say about you is that you appear to have a racist attitude and a personal attitude towards me,” he said.
Lawrence attempted to deny Brooks’ accusation, but couldn’t find room to speak.
Brooks also took a shot at board member Mark Castleberry, saying that he hated to think Lawrence’s attitude was “an extenuation of your friend on the board.”
“I would think at this point on your life that you would not want to fall on the sword for your friend,” he said.
When Castleberry asked board president Dewitt Hicks to bring Brooks to order, Brooks charged that Castleberry had called other members of the board to ask them not to vote for the Juneteenth funding.
Brooks abruptly left the meeting shortly after.
Lawrence and Castleberry declined to comment to The Dispatch after the meeting.
CVB’s ethics policy says elected officials cannot “request or directly/indirectly receive any public funds received by the CVB, nor will they have any financial interest in any event funded by the CVB.” The policy goes on to state elected officials’ names cannot appear on any required document for a funding request to the CVB.
After the September meeting, Brooks threatened to sue CVB if it didn’t pay the money for the event. He also told The Dispatch he believed Castleberry and Lawrence, who expressed concerns about his connection to the event, were racially-motivated.
On Monday, Brooks said he followed the board’s procedures. Cindy Lawrence, who chairs the event, made funding requests and signed checks. Brooks, one of the festival’s founders and a former organizer, said he now only volunteers with the event.
“My name is synonymous with Juneteenth. You say ‘Juneteenth’ anywhere in Columbus, people will say ‘Leroy Brooks.’ I can’t separate that,” he said.
Brooks also questioned the policy of forbidding elected officials from being associated with events CVB funds. He said it’s caused problems with raising funds for events.
“I think all of you are business people,” he said. “You know sometimes a name goes a long way. There’s been some issues on whether it helps us get elected — I’ve been elected for over 32 years. I certainly don’t need a festival to get elected.”
Roast-N-Boast
The CVB board also voted 8-1, with Rissa Lawrence opposed, to give Roast-N-Boast the first half of a grant to fund its barbecue-cookout competition.
The competition was held earlier this month at the Columbus Fairgrounds.
Last month, the board tabled awarding the first half of the $5,000 grant to Roast-N-Boast due to questions about how the organization would award proceeds from the event to St. Jude Children Hospital. CVB Executive Director Nancy Carpenter previously told The Dispatch that board members had concerns about approving funds for an event that would then be given to another organization.
On Monday, Butch Crouse, a member of the Roast-N-Boast board of directors, said the organization used proceeds from a pre-event auction to raise a charity donation.
“It’s been explained to us that money cannot be contributed to an event that turns around and contributes your funds to another one,” Crouse said. “Memphis Barbecue Network and the (Kansas City Barbeque Society) Network recommend highly that we have charities. It’s their way of saying ‘You need to have a charity.’ So that’s why we have one.”
Following the meeting, Rissa Lawrence declined to comment to The Dispatch on either of her votes to oppose event funding.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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