Cypress Cove Farms: Morrow's Waterloo?

Johnny Mack Morrow seemed like the proverbial shoo-in for retaining his House seat. There is no Republican opposition in that bastion of Democratic rustics, and Jeff Masterson (pictured) has, until now, been an extremely dark horse. The question is, "Did Morrow actually use (read: steal) over 77K in taxpayer funds to complete various projects on his Cypress Cove Farms?"

A working farm, Cypress Cove is open annually to students in Morrow's district. Each year grade school youngsters come from Haleyville, Hamilton, and all over Franklin County to visit the legislator's Red Bay farm during what the legislator calls "Farm Week." Perhaps a better term would be "Your Tax Dollars at Work Week."

Jeff Masterson is currently a Russellville City Councilman and a relative unknown outside Franklin County--until now. We have to ask just how long Masterson has been sitting on this information and, more importantly, can these accusations be proved? If Morrow has used tax payer dollars for personal gain, there would be more than an ethics violation in Johnny Mack's future. Morrow could possibly be adding the title "convicted felon" to his political resume'.

What if Jeff Masterson can't prove his accusations? In that case, we hope Mr. Morrow, a 20 year veteran of the House, winds up making even more improvements to his farm with money won in a libel suit against his opponent.

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We had planned to endorse Johnny Mack Morrow in the House District 18 race; however, we obviously now feel that until these charges are investigated (and that may not happen until after the primary), HD 18 voters will do well to monitor developments day by day and vote accordingly.

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Don't tell Tim James, but Jeff Masterson's Facebook page has parallel postings in Spanish. Well...he is a Democrat.


Shoalanda