This is my response to the recently published letter to The Dispatch by Angry Leroy Brooks, the proverbial Fox of Aesop’s Fables, who found the grapes too sour once he saw he was unable to reach them. More than 100 years ago, author Charles Whittington wrote about Aesop’s fable of the Fox and the Grapes as follows:
This fable is a good reprimand to a parcel of vain coxcombs (conceited foolish people) in the world, who, because they would never be thought to be disappointed in any of their pursuits pretend to dislike to every thing which they cannot obtain. There is a strange propensity in mankind to this temper, and there are numbers of grumbling malcontents in every different faculty and sect of life. The discarded statesman, considering the corruption of the times, would not have any hand in the administration of affairs for all the world. The country squire damns a court life, and would not go cringing and creeping to a drawing-room for the best place the king has in his disposal. A young fellow being asked how he liked a celebrated beauty, by who all the world knew he was despised, answered, “She had a stinking breath.” How insufferable is the pride of this poor creature, man! Who would stoop to the basest, vilest actions, rather than be thought not able to do any thing. For what is more base and vile than lying? And when do we lie more notoriously, than when we disparage and find fault with a thing for no other reason but because it is out of our power?
Mr. Brooks, who refers to himself as a giant and others as a “midget” is a lying and slandering fool, angry that all the money he raised from Lowndes County Republicans could not buy his election in the City. Instead of accepting defeat like a sportsman, in true Trump fashion, Brooks declares the election was rigged and that his opponent cheated. Leroy makes vague assertions about corruption and ballot rigging, when it is he himself who invented and perfected the absentee ballot machine. Absentee ballots didn’t defeat you, Leroy, the voters did… by a wide margin of 351 votes. What saddens me is the narrative you’ve tried to create. You’ve painted me as a terrible person, and worse, attempted to influence the citizens to see me as a corrupt politician. I have never wronged you, and if you’re wondering why your own progress has been limited, perhaps it’s time to look in the mirror. As the Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
If any of you wondered why I would not endorse Leroy for Mayor, and assisted Stephen Jones in his campaign, Angry Leroy’s letter ought to clear that up. Brooks is an arrogant, bitter, grudge-holding loser, and now the world knows why he was never allowed to hold the gavel to lead the County Supervisors. Leroy is a “base and vile” old liar, bitter that he lost again. He’s just a jealous man. I sincerely wish you peace. Forty-one years is a long time to try to rule from the sidelines. May you find clarity, humility, and a better path forward. Go home, Leroy. Just go home.
Robert E. Smith, Sr. is the former mayor of Columbus and currently serves as a trustee for the Columbus Municipal School District and board member of Columbus Light and Water.
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