in county meetings was arrested for disorderly conduct, but that was not his first run-in with the law. After his recent arrest, police video surfaced showing him him being pulled out of a bar for questioning about threatening another patron of the bar with a gun. The police video is from Meridian, Mississippi (in the county neighboring Neshoba County, site of the civil rights murders).
By the way, this happened SIX DAYS AFTER KATRINA, when the southern part of Mississippi was devastated. While black and white Mississippians were working together to help each other out with food, water and ice, this county official--who should have been preoccupied with helping the southern part of the state get the resources they needed--is partying it up at a bar.
Read on, and then watch the video.
An article about Boswell's recent arrest for "disorderly conduct:" The supervisor, William Ray Boswell, 63, of 2219 Jeff Davis School Road, Meridian, was charged with disorderly conduct/failure to comply with an officer just after midnight.
Boswell was released from the county jail at 1:20 a.m.
He is set to appear in Philadelphia Municipal Court on Dec. 18.
Police Chief Richard Sistrunk said Boswell was arrested after a traffic stop that involved another motorist.
A female motorist was stopped on Range Avenue for speeding, Sistrunk said. As the officer was issuing her a ticket, Boswell kept coming up to the vehicle despite the officer's orders for him to leave, he said.
After the fourth time, the officer placed Boswell under arrest, Sistrunk said.
snip/
http://www.neshobademocrat.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=297&ArticleID=13694&TM=64872.93Today's article about the police video surfacing: Lauderdale official videotaped using n-wordsnip/
Boswell, the irascible budget hawk on the five-member board, long has courted controversy. He often is the sole "no" vote on many issues and has a less-than-cordial relationship with his fellow board members.
But his recent behavior has drawn intense scrutiny and called into question whether his outsized behavior is hurting the county.
"There was some name-calling that took place in one of our work sessions," Board President Craig Hitt said of a supervisor's meeting this fall.
Specifically, Boswell referred to Supervisor Joe Norwood, who is black, as a "cotton-picker" and other supervisors as "monkeys."
"In my opinion, it did appear to be racial slurs," said Hitt, who is white.
Hitt said the behavior to people who know Boswell is not unusual. "The real difference now is that it's public," he said.
Boswell came under increased scrutiny when Philadelphia police arrested him just past midnight on Dec. 7 for disorderly conduct. Boswell was arrested after police pulled over a female friend he was following. Few details have been made public about the arrest except that Boswell protested the traffic stop and was placed under arrest for the misdemeanor charge.
Philadelphia Mayor Rayburn Waddell co-signed Boswell's $1,000 bond in what he described as a "professional courtesy," according to The Associated Press. Waddell did not return calls from The Clarion-Ledger seeking comment.
After that arrest, television station WTOK and The Meridian Star each obtained a copy of police videotape recorded Sept. 5, 2005, in front of J.J.'s, a local nightclub. In the grainy footage, posted on both outlets' Web sites, Meridian police officers inform Boswell they are investigating a charge that he threatened another patron and asked if he was carrying a gun.
In the video, Boswell allowed himself to be searched and admitted he "had a few beers" and just stopped at the bar on a whim. Then, in an expletive-filled rant, Boswell demanded to know who called the police. Several times during the video, Boswell made use of the n-word to characterize a black man inside the bar with whom he had a disagreement.
Following a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Thursday, Boswell would not speak about his arrest except to maintain his innocence. As for the videotape, Boswell offered up the explanation that he was working undercover that night to investigate allegations of drug use and lewd conduct at the bar.
"I was investigating a report from a mother that had asked me what she could do to have J.J.'s closed up," he said. "She asked me would I investigate. She had a daughter working there and she had not seen her daughter in more than two months."
Yet Boswell would not make specific accusations of wrongdoing at the nightclub or what result his so-called investigation produced in the year since the tape was made. He would not say whether he ever shared his concerns with law enforcement.
Boswell admitted to drinking while at the bar, but only to disguise his real purpose. He apologized for his foul language and suggested he was set up but would not say specifically who was out to get him.
"If I've offended anyone, I'm sorry. I did not know that was on film and it shouldn't have been," he said.
As for his use of the racial slur, Boswell said it is not a regular part of his vocabulary. But he did not apologize for using it.
"I have as many black friends as I do white, probably," he said. "I've heard black people - black friends of mine - use that word many times. ... That person who accosted me just happened to be a minority, or black person."
snip/
MORE HERE:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061217/NEWS/612170393/1001/NEWSHERE is the police video from the September 5, 2005, call to JJ's bar. The video is unedited and is 40 minutes long, but well worth the watch:Videotape Shows Boswell Confrontation with Police
Meridian, Miss.
Reporter: Wade Phillips and Lindsey BrownVIDEO:
http://ww2.wtok.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=1107764&h1=Ray%20Boswell%20Police%20Video%20-%20Unedited&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=2352000&LaunchPageAdTag=Homepage&fvCatNo=&backgroundImageURL=&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//ww2.wtok.com/global/category.asp%3Fc%3D53020%26title%3DFeatured+Videos%26WNResizeIframeID%3Dwn_frame46890810728072%26clientType%3Dwn_video_c%26WNResizeFileURL%3Dhttp%3A//www.wtok.com/video&rnd=11142055Accompanying article:
The recent arrest of Lauderdale County supervisor Ray Boswell in Philadelphia, Miss., for disorderly conduct is not his first run-in with the law.
In September 2005, Boswell was kicked out of a Meridian strip club and had a confrontation with police as a result.
A videotape from a police patrol car shows Boswell cursing and using racial slurs. He was not arrested and no charge was filed.
Police received a call saying Boswell had threatened to shoot someone in the club. When they arrived, a belligerent Boswell reacted angrily.
(Boswell): "I ain't got no f****** gun on me."
(Boswell): "I'll close this mother f***** tomorrow. I promise you it will be closed after tomorrow."
When Boswell tried to explain himself, he begins using racial slurs.
(Boswell): "Those f****** n****** were messing with me, and I said, look, get your a** away from me. F****** n******. I said get your a** away from me. That's all I said."
The videotape runs nearly an hour, and during that time Boswell goes from belligerent to kind, at one point, even thanking the officers for coming. Boswell says he's been working very hard since the hurricane
(Katrina) hit, and just stopped in at the club to have a beer.
(Boswell): "I've been working my a** off trying to get the people help. Call me an SOB if you want, but I'm a good guy."
(Boswell): "Thank you for coming and straightening me out. I shouldn't have never come down here."
Before someone comes to pick him up, Boswell gets angry again though. He continues throughout the recording to threaten to have the strip club shut down.
(Boswell): "I'm gonna have the TV cameras right out front here, shooting out there, shooting pictures of this f****** place, and I'm gonna come here tomorrow night when the g** d*** girls are stripping, and you know it, I"m gonna do it."
Not long after that, two people came and picked him up to take him home. Again, he was not arrested, and no charges were filed.
Now a word on how we got the tape. Several weeks ago, a person who wished to remain anonymous, brought by a copy of the tape for us to view. It should be said that person is a political opponent of Mr. Boswell's. We held off initially on showing the tape, but after his arrest in Philadelphia on Saturday, believed it was now appropriate to show his previous behavior.
MORE:
http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/4858291.htmlAnother source for the police video:
Part I:
http://www.themeridianstar.com/video/rayboswell/RayBoswellPartOne.movPart 2:
http://www.themeridianstar.com/video/rayboswell/rayboswellparttwo.movRay Boswell's response to the video tape being aired:VIDEO:
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/4919471.html
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