Travis Childers and Joey Langston, Guilt by Association Volume 3
ROM- It appears that Travis Childers and Joey Langston partnered together or made a back-room deal to raze a church and re-locate some graves so Langston could land his $5 Million Dollar private Jet.
DJounal- BOONEVILLE – Negotiations have been under way for more than a year between Prentiss County and a church that stands in the path of lengthening the Booneville-Prentiss County Airport runway.Having reached an impasse, county officials have begun eminent domain proceedings to acquire property where Ruben Chapel CME Church and a small cemetery now stand.
Trustees of the church have received papers summoning them to court in September, said the church’s pastor, Rev. Henry Damons Sr.
“We’re praying we do not have to go to trial, and that this be settled without going to court,” Damons said.
At issue is conflicting appraisals of the property by representatives for the county and the church.
The church’s appraiser, Jack Sabely of Pontotoc, has said the fair market value of the property is $285,000, although to rebuild will cost the church $340,000.
The latest offer the church received was $180,000 from attorney Tyler Moss on behalf of the county, and members of the church voted to not accept the offer.
“All we’re asking for is a fair market value, and they claim they don’t have the money to give us what we have as the appraised value,” Damons said.
Information was not immediately available as to what other property owners may be subject to the eminent domain proceedings.
However, Chancery Clerk Travis Childers said Friday that settlement had been reached with at least one other property owner earlier in the week.
ROM- So basically the county (Travis Childers) was trying to low-ball this minority church in order to lengthen the airport runway at the request of the Langston’s so they could land their private jet. Then threatened to seize the land through eminent domain when the congregation balked.
DJournal- Charitable donationThe Rev. Henry Damons had a situation back in 2006. His Ruben Chapel CME Church and Prentiss County were at loggerheads over a year-long dispute. The county wanted the church property so it could extend the Booneville-Baldwyn Airport. It planned to take the property by eminent domain, raze the church building and relocate eight graves from the property. The problem was simple: The fair market value of Ruben Chapel’s building wasn’t enough to pay for a replacement facility. And so the congregation balked at the legal proceedings. Joey Langston broke the stalemate with a $40,000 donation through The Langston Fund, a charitable organization he and Tracie set up in 2002. Today, Ruben Chapel is about two months from completing the new building alongside Highway 45 on the Prentiss County side of Baldwyn. “Joey came through for us,” Damons said. “It’s a win-win for Prentiss County and the church.” He described Langston as a “kind man” who does a lot for his community. “Everyone is satisfied,” he noted.
Besides his benevolence, Langston was interested in the case because his law firm has a large plane housed at the airport, although media reports late last week said the $5 million jet is up for sale. The plane has been used in the Corporate Angel Network, which ferries cancer patients to treatment centers across the nation.
ROM- So was this “charitable donation” really as charitable as reported or is this the same kind of operation that Joey Langston is now infamous for? It APPEARS that when Langston needed a longer runway he called his old buddy Travis Childers who was more than happy to bulldoze a church and dig up the final resting place of Mississippi citizens to make it happen for his old friend and business partner. Childers and the county also had the audacity to try and seize the church under eminent domain.
When the congregation balked at the low offer (too low to rebuild) Langston came in to “save the day” with a “donation”. My gut tells me that this was all worked out ahead of time between these “business partners” and “good friends” but of course we will never know.
Digging up graves, bulldozing churches, bags full of cash, private jets, pulled hamstrings, this is getting FUN!!!
Feel free to comment
-ROM
P.S. Bardwell our Hamstrings are REALLY sore after this one. Put us on the IR!!! Hopefully a real reporter can pick up where our resources (google, gossip and rumors) have left off and figure out what really went down.
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Right of Mississippi 
April 9, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Is there any evidence of which you know, aside from Childers’ and Langston’s obvious friendship (which proves nothing), that suggests that this was anything but a standard eminent domain proceeding? Heck, the only thing atypical that I can see about it is that Langston actually stepped in and remedied the situation when he probably wouldn’t have had to have done so.
This sort of “reporting” is tenuous at best and irresponsible at worst.
April 9, 2008 at 8:22 pm
What? no, all we have are rumors from people in the area and we are trying to connect the dots. Aside from being privy to the conversations that took place between Childers and Langston I don’t know of any way to actually prove any of this. What we are doing is at least attempting to put this information out there so people can make their own determination on what might have happened. Or maybe a real reporter can track down the real story.
I see that we cant make up your mind but I think we have made our case stronger since the original post, mostly at your request.
The journal says that Langston had an “interest” in extending the runway because of his plane. How many people do you know in Booneville with private jets? Why else would the county have pursued this “standard eminent domain” proceeding if not at the behest of the owner of the private jet?
Anyone know if there would be any other reason to extend that runway, my source in Booneville says no.
Yet Childers moved to make this happen.
You have to admit it sounds a little strange….
April 9, 2008 at 9:55 pm
No stranger than any other eminent domain proceeding. Municipalities make use of eminent domain for a single business entity all the time.
Is someone from the Davis campaign feeding you this stuff, by chance?
April 9, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Will the insults never stop from you today? We do our own research and always have.
We could just as easily accuse you of being an agent for the Childers campaign, but we would never stoop that low.
April 10, 2008 at 3:03 am
I certainly meant no insult. I apologize if it came across that way.
Who’s “we,” by the way?
April 10, 2008 at 5:18 am
You say that Childers moved to make this happen. He is the Chancery Clerk of that County, therefore not a voting member of the Board of Supervisors. It would be impossible for him to make this happen.
April 10, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Bill, that is a somewhat fair point, but in a county as small as Prentiss the Chancery Clerk holds a large sphere of influence. They are the highest paid county officials.
My sources and several commenters on this blog have said that Travis Childers was a driving force behind this operation, like you said he did not vote on the plan so there is no record but we are trying to document our case as best as possible and give Travis the opportunity to answer the questions.
If you haven’t heard someone from Booneville tell you the story i’m sure it’s harder to comprehend, as we don’t post pure rumor we tried to document the case as best we could and let the readers connect the dots.
April 10, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Once again Bardwell, it’s all in good blogging fun. There are two bloggers here at ROM both part time so we use the pronoun “we” because “we” both blog under the alias of ROM.
Now the question we all have been waiting to ask, who exactly is Will Bardwell anyway?
We understand if you need to take some time for self reflection before getting back to us on that one.
-ROM
April 10, 2008 at 6:38 pm
bardwell is a very liberal hack with a journalism degree from Ole Miss and trying to be one of Diaz’s boys now when he gets through law school. never to be taken seriously.
April 10, 2008 at 7:04 pm
wompum, we are very aware of Bardwell’s political leanings but as we have stressed before we won’t question the credibility of another MS blogger because we expect the same treatment.
No foul if you do it though, looks like this story has legs even after the liberal bloggers tried to discredit it.
Looks to me like it is awful hard to discredit the truth.
April 10, 2008 at 8:25 pm
😉 Well, you did ask “who exactly is Will Bardwell anyway?” so I thought I’d try and answer. Did I win a t shirt or something.
Anyhow, I’m here right on the edge of Prentiss County and consider myself an extremely independent moderate. I know lots of goings on in the court house and am almost old enough to know when it was in Jacinto. Those rumors have very long legs if you know the right folks to talk to.
To more folks, more damning is the fact that Childers gave $2,000 to John Kerry than trying to aid and abet Langston in running some black folks out of their church. The church ordeal will hurt Childers with the local blacks but won’t matter in the long run with the rest of the democrats around the district.
Langston tried to “look good” with his “donation” but didn’t fool many folks when that donation was cheaper and more inconvenient than having to land/store/ground travel from somewhere else. After all, when you get like Langston, Scruggs, et al, it becomes more of a pride thing that economics. They carry that liberal trial lawyer mentality that says, “I’m as close to god that most of you commoners will ever see”. Their rite of passage is for others to let them get away with what they want because they are who they are.
Anyhow, Childers was as much involved with this stench as was Langston. If someone thinks the chancery clerk in these rural counties have little to say what goes on with the board of supervisors, then they’re using up all their stupid genes at one whack.
April 10, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Wompum you are now officially our favorite person ever. We had no idea about the John Kerry Donation. We will go round up that documentation.
April 10, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Go to the Huffington Post and you can find out a lot of donations. That or try this link.
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Childers
April 11, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Don’t forget this was a Black church and Black soul’s bones that were dug up– for a jet. One jet out of not very many others (how ’bout none) in Frankstown. A jet that is now on the chopping block.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. no judge in his right mind would’ve ruled to dig up white folks’ bones, eminent domain or not (unless of course somebody might’ve tried to bribe him, which Joey swore under oath he attempted to do with at least one other judge).
Somebody was taken advantage of .. and the advantagers, whoever they may be, appear to be lilly white.
Also, it is interesting that Farese was the Black church’s attorney at the time they took the ‘generous’ offer from Langston.
Farese is now Langston’s attorney.
April 11, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Well, Billy McCoy is our Representative in Prentiss County, and he said that the Legislature was going to “do something about” private Eminent Domain. It’s been 3 years, Billy, we’re blowin’ our whistles!! Come a’runnin!!!
April 14, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Read this from a earlier paper article And the preacher wasnt talking nice about Joey and Travis then,But a lot of the Church members feel the Preacher Changed his mind after he somehow aquired a new *Cadilac Car* according to church members at the church THEY feel the preacher was paid off…..
By Kenny Goode
The Banner-Independent
The pastor of a small, predominantly black, church in the Frankstown community said his congregation is prepared to fight eminent domain proceedings when the issue comes before a judge next month in Booneville at the Prentiss County Courthouse.
Court date is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 18 at 9 a.m. Plaintiff in the case will be Prentiss County.
“And we have retained Attorney Steve Farese of Ashland to represent us,” said the Rev. Henry Da-
mons of Ruben Chapel Church. The county will be represented by Attorney Frank Russell of Tupelo. Rev. Damons said the 240-member congregation of Ruben Chapel Church is resigned that their church, which was founded an estimated 80 years ago, will likely have to move to another location so the runway at the Booneville-Baldwyn Airport can be extended 1,000 feet. “Even though the church was there first and even
though it means some of the congregation’s deceased loved ones in the adjacent cemetery will have to be disinterred and moved elsewhere.”
He said the church has been a focal point in the community since 1925 with even earlier records indicating members attended church services nearby in a building known as the Lincoln School, which no longer exists.
Rev. Damons continued, “We also disagree on what Prentiss County officALS are trying to give us, monetarily, for the property. We’d rather lose the church in court than to give it to these people who are supposed to represent all of Prentiss County.”
The minister said, if and when the church relocates closer to Baldwyn, the money offered by the county would not be enough to construct a new church. “We will be going into debt by probably $150,000 because of having to move.”
News of eminent domain proceedings were announced in a press release last week from Glen Green, president of the Prentiss County Board of Supervisors.
Rev. Damons said it was his understanding that quite a number of landowners were less than pleased with the amounts they received but he could only speak for Ruben chapel Church.
“The law states the government has to give a fair market value and as County Board Attorney Joey Langston has stated so eloquently,’A fair market value is a fair market value in the hearts and minds of the jury’.”
He added, “I think the elected officials are trying to sell to the public that this is the right thing to do all in the name of progress. But, it’s not… It only benefits a few so we’ll leave it up to a jury.”
In his opinion, Ruben Chapel’s minister said he does not foresee any great amount of industry being brought into this area by the extension of the runway airports are the county needs to fill the in-
dustry facilities it already has first.”
The minister said perhaps the greatest issue, rather than getting enough money to rebuild, is regarding the removal of graves, which he estimates to be about 12
he added, “At the start of this, the negotiators wanted us to remove the graves. Some of those are unmarked and have been there a long time. You are talking about caskets which will have deteriorated and, in some cases, there will be nothing left but bones. It is going to be a horrific challenge.”
And he disputes the county’s figures regarding number of affected graves and predicts if the project goes forth, that some unmarked graves are even likely to be blacktopped over by the runway itself.
He said all aspects will ultimately be aired in court – including his allegations that many of those involved in the proceedings have had a personal conflict of interest.
He concluded, “That is what we are going to do. I could not sleep at night if we allowed the county to bulldoze this congregation.”
May 13, 2008 at 2:31 am
“To more folks, more damning is the fact that Childers gave $2,000 to John Kerry ”
Obviously Childers had the good judgement to try to help Kerry defeat the inept group in power in DC. After Katrina, how can anyone in Mississippi support Bush. Ya got $4 gasoline, 4,000 kids dead in Iraq for no good reason and 30,000 with their limbs blown off and ignored by the VA. I could go on for DAYS….and you say a campaign contribution to the man who could prevented this atrocity to our nation is damned? WOW! I see where y’all get your reputation. Keep on votin’ GOP and keep on reapin’ what ya sow.
October 4, 2010 at 10:23 pm
[…] Travis Childers partnered with Joey Langston in a back-room deal to raze a church and re-locate some… Why do we continually deny the despicable criminal activity committed by our elected official and then continually allow them to run our government? […]