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Subject: District Attorney Fails Eros Community

It seems I spoke too soon when I praised District Attorney, Danny Newell, for taking
action against the mayor of Eros, Kelly Gryder, and Eros village employee, Brian
Costin, when charges for felony theft were filed against them in November of 2022.

Here we are at the end of March and still no word as to our serious dilemma in Eros.
The mayor and Board of Aldermen have not met since June of 2022. There is no Eros
employee to assist citizens with issues.

You would think having a speedy trial, so the day to day business of Eros could resume as soon as possible, would be a concern of the District Attorney. I have called the District Attorney’s office inquiring as to the court date of these charges against the mayor and was not given a date that I could show up to see the proceedings. I was left with the impression that observation of the trial by concerned Eros citizens was unwelcome.

It makes me think that the prosecution of individuals for grand theft is not a priority on the district attorney’s to-do list. Reading the comment on Mr. Newell’s Facebook page by Mr. Bougues from Quitman, I see he states that assistant district attorney Chris Bowman prosecuted more cases in 3 years than Mr. Newell did in the 20 plus years working in the DA’s office. That doesn’t leave me with a good feeling about justice being done in this case.

I was under the impression that a case like this, involving a municipal employee, would be expedited for the sake of the local municipal government. The loss of tens of thousands of dollars of Eros municipal funds may not concern him like it does citizens of our small community.

Someone stealing money from Eros sure concerns me. Who knows what is happening in the office building of Eros. If the mayor is doing anything questionable, besides not showing up during what used to be the hours of business, we don’t know, we are unable to check Eros records.

She still has keys, and could be using them in the dark of night. Don’t know.

Apparently nobody outside of Eros really cares.

Shannon G Morris

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