Things were going pretty well ... but I had never forgotten that the "boundary dispute" over the 50-acre farm I'd grown up on was still unsettled - and that my family was still being deprived the proceeds from valuable mineral rights that were involved in what appeared to be a bureaucratic mix-up.
Fortunately, however, the Marines had trained me to read topographical maps - vital tools for calling in artillery strikes on enemy positions. Armed with that wartime knowledge, I went to work. With the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Atlanta-based forensic surveyor Walter Robillard, I discovered that the acreage of our family farm had been changed on land-surveying documents maintained by the State of Mississippi.
Originally purchased by my great-grandfather Louis Jones, the first "freeman" born in our family after slavery, the tract had initially contained over 50 acres. But a few decades later, about fifteen acres had somehow disappeared from the maps. The reason for the apparent "error" soon became evident, however, when we learned that a major U.S. oil company had earlier discovered oil beneath that section of our family farm.
It seems that a group of wealthy and highly influential landowners had somehow persuaded the county to make an "error" on its Township Plat that led to their receiving the oil royalties, instead of the rightful owners.
The change to an established section line was of course only one in a long line of miscarriages of justice for which Mississippi's notorious power structure has long been noted.
As you might imagine, my family has spent many years imploring the U.S. Department of Interior, the courts and the news media to review the disturbing case of the Woodville land dispute.
We haven't had much luck, so far.
Make no mistake, please: all we're asking for is a fair-minded examination of this longtime dispute... and to let the chips fall where they may.
I volunteered for military service in 1969 because I truly love this country, and because I really believed in the slogan Ms. Lewis made me write 25 times on the blackboard.
As our nation struggles to solve its immense racial, social and religious conflicts that are tearing our society apart, I find myself praying again - like I prayed in Vietnam on that hot summer night so many years ago.
Dear Lord, please help us all to remember that wonderful line in our Pledge of Allegiance: "One Nation Under God, Indivisible - with Liberty and Justice for All!"
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