Ethics Commission to Meet at Molpus Historic Site

Jackson, Mississippi – The Mississippi Ethics Commission (“Commission”) will hold its June meeting on the historic grounds of the Molpus Timberlands Management, LLC (“Molpus”) offices in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Commission, which usually meets at the Jackson Commission office, has decided to hold some of its regular meetings around the state as part of a continuing effort to educate the public about Mississippi’s Ethics in Government Laws. The Commission chose Hattiesburg in part because many federal, state, and local public officials work in the area, but also in order to give University of Southern Mississippi students an opportunity to observe the operations of the Commission.

The Commission meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2011, in the Molpus Church Building, 178 Bonhomie Road, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  The meeting is expected to last into the afternoon. Commission meetings start in open session with discussions about administrative matters and deliberations on advisory opinions. The Commission is required by law to take up investigative matters, however, in a confidential session from which the public is excluded.

Molpus’s Hattiesburg offices are located in the old Tatum Lumber Company headquarters, a once-thriving company town built in 1915 and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2000, Molpus purchased the property and has since restored the headquarters building, the company store (commissary), the church, and a mill worker’s house. Many visitors come to the site each year, walking the property or taking a self-guided tour that explains the historical significance of the property.

The Mississippi Ethics Commission was established November 15, 1979, and administers and enforces the Ethics in Government Law, codified as Sections 25-4-1 through 25-4-119, Miss. Code of 1972, and related authorities. The Commission is composed of eight members who were appointed to serve four year terms.  For more information, visit the Commission’s website at www.ethics.state.ms.us.

The Molpus Woodlands Group, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, was founded in 1996 as a Timber Investment Management Organization (TIMO) and has a company legacy dating back to 1905.  With its sister operating company, Molpus Timberlands Management, LLC (collectively, Molpus), Molpus is one of the oldest timber-related companies in the nation, with experience in all facets of timber management, manufacturing, and marketing.  Molpus is one of the few TIMOs that have all of their core businesses and forestry functions handled or supervised by in-house experts.

Molpus employs seventy-three people in its fourteen offices located in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, and Oklahoma.  Molpus acquires, manages, and sells timberland as an investment vehicle for pension funds, college endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and high net-worth individual investors. The company focuses on ensuring long-term optimum cash returns on investments while practicing responsible forest stewardship. For more information, visit http://www.molpus.com/.