“We have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.” – then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about Obamacare

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Sid Beauman must have known something.

Less than seven weeks after storming out of a Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting in protest of a grant applied for and accepted before the board could discuss it, the details of the grant came to light. Of the $40,000 Cities of Service grant, only 15 percent of that money actually will be going to the betterment of our community. The other 85 percent, or $34,000 will help line the pockets of Stefanie Ashford, an independent grant consultant from Starkville who was responsible for applying for the grant in the first place. She will act as project director to disperse 15 measly percent to the program and 85 percent to her checking account.

The whole ordeal stunk from the beginning, and the stench is just getting worse.

On Sept. 28 during the regularly scheduled board meeting, two amendments were added to the agenda, one dealing with surplus lighting and the other a grant designed to help reading and literacy programs for children in kindergarten through third grade at Dana Road and Sherman Avenue elementary schools. The grant had already been applied for and accepted before the board meeting, a gross violation of board protocol.

An incensed Beauman, the alderman representing the city’s South Ward, stormed from the meeting, saying, “This (the reading program) is a good program. But it is not supposed to be done this way. I could not support it presented in this way. I will not sign off on this or anything else that will be done in this meeting. Thank you very much.”

Now it seems that Beauman might not have been completely correct. A program designed for the children, to help with literacy, should in no way mean 85 percent of the fund being funneled to an administrator. She will receive that money as project director after the board approved it 2-1, with Beauman voting no. “We’re talking like this is a $40,000 grant to help kids, but they’re only going to get $6,000 of it,” Beauman said Nov. 9. “That’s not good, percentage-wise, to me.”

Had it been known that Vicksburg would see a pittance of the entire grant, would the two who voted originally for it still have voted for it? Or do Mayor Paul Winfield and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield prefer the Pelosi approach: Sign it, then see what is inside it.

Either way, this entire episode is a stain on City Hall and gives the perception of amateur hour.

A grant to help the city with literacy — what a great idea for Vicksburg. Too bad it will mostly go to a woman from Starkville.