Quinn’s article has long quotes from Travis Childers’s letter and notes local law enforcement support for Langston.
“I suppose many will say that Joey somehow lost his way. I disagree,” wrote Childers, whose letter is among 320 sent to the judge expected to sentence Langston next week. …
“No one in my forty nine years in Prentiss County has had greater impact on so many people that I personally know than Joey Langston,” Childers wrote. “He has been a friend to all and an enemy to none. His heart is bigger than our entire county. His generosity to the people of Prentiss County will probably never be exceeded in my lifetime; not only his generosity of his resources, but by his generous gift of love and kindness to all who were willing to accept it. He has been a friend to the poor just as the wealthy. He has treated everyone with the greatest respect. I can hardly believe this tragedy is happening to him and his family.
“I recall so many times that I (as chancery clerk) have called on him to help pay hospital bills, buy medicine, pay school expenses, furnish Christmas gifts to needy children, even to assist in burial expenses for people in our county. Most of the times he never knew the people he helped. Several years ago there was a certain death of a young child, which as you know is devastating enough to a family in itself. Joey, knowing the family was not prepared to bury this child, much less prepared to pay six thousand dollars for a funeral. He discreetly stepped in to the office of the local funeral home and left a personal check to cover the expense for the family. He asked the owner to please not tell the family he paid the bill. There was no lawsuit to follow or any other personal potential gain to Joey. He just knew that he couldn’t bring that child back, but he could help in that way. When I approached him and suspected that he had done this kind act, he asked me to not tell the family that he had taken care of this.
“This is not a man who has lost his way. He may have gotten sidetracked, but he hasn’t lost his way. I only wish that every town and county in America had someone like Joey Langston.”
Well, Langston may have been a swell guy and the Robin Hood of Prentiss County forest, but he admittedly engaged in some very bad behavior that has cast a very negative light upon our MS legal system. And while he may have done great deeds and may have made his peace with the lord, there are still serious legal consequences to face with society — and rightfully so.
The fact that Childers is blinded to societal justice in this situation by his friendship with Langston is admirable on the one hand, but disturbing on the other, considering his new position as a member of the US House of Representatives. At no point did he acknowledge the wrongdoing by his friend or assign any responsibility or accountability to Langston for it. To the contrary, this letter seems to suggest that it is ok to break the law for personal gain as long as you do good deeds along the way. What does this say about Childers? Does he believe that the ends justify the means?
And, while a somewhat minor point, I note that his sentence structure is poor —hope he has competent staff that can take care of any writing he must submit to the public.
He just lost any future votes from me.
The only reaction to a comparison of these and other letters to the guilty plea and the cooperation motion that the government files is cognitive dissonance. I would not be the least surprised to see the judge make a point of that in a sentencing hearing– that the reaction from Langston’s community misunderstands the profound gravity of the offenses and gives him reason to discount the letters.
Even if that’s not the judge’s express thought, I don’t understand the philosophy behind letters that virtually deny the offense and its gravity while singing the praises of the defendant. It seems to me the only position with both persuasive power and intellectual integrity is to accept the conviction and explain why, accepting that, there are good things to be said about the defendant.
I don’t pretend to understand what is happening in Booneville, or what the truth about Langston’s place in that community may be. I know other people up there who I hear speak very well of what he is to Booneville. I don’t know. Brumfeld seems to accept the notion that he’s well respected– a “philanthropist”– up there, and wrote her story that way. If that’s a fact– if Langston really is viewed in the town as he’s described (although the philanthropy I’ve heard described would be chump change to him given his success) then I guess the over-the-top praise is an almost (note that qualifier) understandable failing by people who know him personally and had direct experience of the “good works.” It falls short of understandable, though, given the offenses.
You know … spreading around a little money to help people who find themselves in Life’s jams is a good thing to do … ’specially when the donor is an attorney who wants jury pools to think well of his name. Not that any North Mississippi attorneys would do that. Cf. Matt. 6: 3, 4.
Childers’ letter (like the majority with dates on them) was sent in January. When he served on the Prentiss County Board of Supervisors.
To answer the questions raised by some on previous post, many of the letters were written before the Scruggs letters were made public.
Here’s Patsy’s list of the letter-writers.
I don’t begrudge any who wrote letters in support of Mr. Langston, they are his friends, who I would expect to support him. I believe Mr. Langston will receive every bit of the three years of his plea agreement and such is well deserved. Simply such conduct cannot be condoned. The scheme to pay someone $1 million to go talk to the Judge on side without knowledge of the opposite party and without entering an appearance is more sinister than an outright bribe to the Judge (e. g. its easier to catch a bribe bec cash has to be spent and creates a $ trail). This scheme is harder to detect therefore more dangerous to our justice system.
*Yawwn* I haven’t had coffee yet but … why is Jerry Mitchell’s name attached to this story? Or am I missing something? So Paul does all the footwork and Jerry doesn’t even give him a “Paul Quinn contributed …” Or is somewhere on that page I’m not seeing?
Does Childers’ letter leave anyone second guessing their vote for him? I’m second guessing mine just a bit.
One name that stands out to me on the list of letter writers is former Alabama head football coach and current Millsaps coach, Mike Dubose. ‘Member him?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Dubose
Could someone please tell me why Joey Langston is running to the Court house to receive his sentencing when the man is on a first name basis with the Vice President elect Joe Biden? Wouldn’t one think he would get a better offer from the new administration? Or has Joey’s actions angered the his close friends ?
afotl, I couldn’t have said it any better. Childers’ refusal to acknowledge any wrong doing on Langston’s part is irresponsible. “I can hardly believe this tragedy is happening to him…”REALLY, now, “happening to him”? Did he not have a hand in making it happen?
“He has been a friend to all and an enemy to none….He has treated everyone with the greatest respect.”
Mr. Childers, my I introduce you to one, the Constitution of the United States, and to two, the individuals whom Joey’s “suffered tragedy” stole their right to a fair trial and justice.
You just lost one vote.
Tony Snow, have you retired your old handle? One to a commenter here, y’know.
langston gets off too lucky in my opinion … he deserves more than three years in prison. if i got paid $1 million to bribe a judge and then thought i was free and clear, i might be generous giving away somebody else’s money also. being successful and generous are completely unrelated to being honest. i can’t see how the judge could ever consider his good deeds in the community as an excuse to let him walk on being a thief. his crime is the worst (nonviolent) that a person could ever commit, IMO. too bad he can’t get 10 to 15 years.
Childers writes of one instance where the funeral for a child was paid for by Joey where “there was no lawsuit to follow.” Literally dozens of people in Booneville could tell you this was a somewhat common way of “running cases” in Joey’s office and I find it hard to believe that Childers does not know that.
Sorry, just watching it snow in Mississippi. Didnt mean to cause you any problems.
I am sad to say I voted for Childers. I wish those letters were made public a few months back. My vote would have been “None of the Above”.
what nauseating drivel from childers. many have known for years what kind of person defendant langston is. i hope he does find true justice in a sterile, chilly prison cell.
Guys,
The Childers connection with Langston was well-known and documented prior to the election. Most everybody knew this. And I believe if the letter had been out ahead of time, it would’ve been covered up, rationalized, explained away and otherwise ignored by most of the same people who voted for him or somehow aided his election (more than a few of whom claim to be Republican publicly).
Maybe you few guys would be the exception who were not aware of this relationship, but most people made up their mind on this election way ahead of Nov and with full awareness of the Langston business and personal ties. Other factors that outweighed them (many quite selfish, short-sighted or willful ignorance) to such people.
No offense to you guys, but just saying that Childers writing a “poor ole Joey” letter is not shocking in the slightest, it’s not news even, other than the specific words he chose to utilize
Dude: I agree that Childer’s closeness to Langston was well known before (all of the various) elections (that is, the special election, primaries, general, etc) and was not surprised that he’d written a letter.
I don’t think the closeness of a chancery clerk to his home county’s board attorney (including business dealings with him), all of which was known before the election, are much of a surprise. I have yet to hear allegations that tie Childers to Langston’s illegal conduct.
The letter is “news, even” because it is a positive letter from someone who is now a sitting congressman.
On the other hand, I take exception to your shots (“Other factors that outweighed them (many quite selfish, short-sighted or willful ignorance)”) at people who voted for Childers. There are people who voted for Childers because he came closer to where they were, politically, and who did so with awareness of his (and much of Prentiss County’s) ties to Langston.
Nmc, not directing those comments necessarily or entirely to people on the board. Sorry about not being clear there, I kinda got going, I guess.
But I guess I was going to get nauseous if a lot of people started saying “Well, if I had known he was tight with Langstong, dadburnedit, I wouldn’t have voted for him”. ‘Cause like you said, a lot of people voted for him b/c they thought he was local and all sorts of other reasons (some that I mentioned above, are true, but don’t apply universally). Those people can’t have it both ways, I don’t think.
There are no direct ties from Childers and Langston’s illegal activity that I know of. There are the stories over how Childers helped get the airport lengthened for Joey’s plane and even rumors of a late night at the courthouse the night before Joey pled. But I’m not making an allegation that Childers is dirty. He has been good friends and business partner with a guy who has been for a long time, though. And this was well-known prior to his election and re-election; so, that relationship doesn’t matter to enough people or other factors were just much more important to them apparently. Take care.
Mark Twain: “Friends exist to support you when you’re wrong. Half the world will support you when you’re right.”
I don’t know too much about this and am not really qualified to comment except that I do know kids (teenagers) at Walnut Grove who have gotten 7 or 8 years in maximum security prison for selling a few ounces of crack or powder cocaine, non- violent crimes. Something doesn’t seem right here.
something that bothers me, Pam, is why do these white collar guys get 2-3 months to report to prison. If I committed a crime, even nonviolent, like writing bad checks or something, I would be sentenced and hauled off to prison the same day. Can any lawyer types here (or judges if you’re out there) explain that to me?
Hope Childers is a better congressman than he is a realtor. His sign only attracted rust in my yard.
Lydia, their crimes aren’t considered dangerous I guess.