Inside the Journey for JusticeI find myself sitting at the end of a pew, tape recorder in hand, admiring how the light shone through the stained glass windows on a sweltering day in Mississippi. I look to my left and on the other side …
Crime Plan: More of the SameMayor Frank Melton said he is responsible for the remarkable rise in violent crime in the city last Friday. "I am accountable for that, and the buck stops with me," Melton told reporters.
Day 9: Documentary Starts Court FirestormDefense attorneys started the morning off by raising objections to the testimony of Charles Marcus Edwards, the prosecution's star witness, based on footage shown on MSNBC this weekend of a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. television documentary about the case. In the …
James Ford Seale: A Re-Birth, of a FashionNow that the trial is going on, a bit of new media background on the declaration that Seale was dead has been added to the record. I just read a post on the Hungry Blues blog. He quotes a new …
Day 8: Franklin County Editors, Past and PresentThis morning, Judge Henry Wingate agreed to allow the government to show the jury a racial epithet-filled letter that James Ford Seale allegedly wrote to the Franklin Advocate on July 23, 1964—two and a half months after he is accused …
The Truth Can HurtA reckoning happened last week in the James O. Eastland Federal Courthouse in Jackson. A lot of truth came out before anyone ever took the stand to testify in the James Ford Seale trial for the kidnapping of Charles Moore …
Day 5: Of Guns and FreedomBy his own admission in court on Tuesday, it was Charles Marcus Edwards who first fingered Henry Dee. The young man who lived near him had come back to Chicago and was wearing a black bandana around Franklin County. That …
A Letter to Caller Number One"Why don't y'all just leave him alone?" The passion in the caller's voice was alarming. "He's an old man. Just leave him be. Let sleeping dogs lie." When I heard these words back in February, I stepped away from the …
Seale the 'Last' Case? We Doubt It.To fill space this weekend in The Clarion-Ledger's package on the James Ford Seale case, reporter Jerry Mitchell returned to a well from which he has drunk in the past with a story headlined "Seale Case Could Be Last of …
Goodbye, Mrs. ChaneyIt took 41 years, but Fannie Lee Chaney lived to see her home state mete out a degree of justice for the murder of her son, James Chaney, on Father's Day, 1964. She was born Fannie Lee Roberth on a …
Ladd: Why the Past Is Not PastRead JFP Editor Donna's Ladd's cover essay this week about why Mississippians must continue "dredging up" the past—regardless of what the national, or local, media think about it.
Dredging Up the Past: Why Mississippians Must Tell Our Own StoriesIt was warm under the mammoth magnolia tree on the north side of the Neshoba County Courthouse, just yards from where the Confederate soldier stood on his marble pedestal until a storm knocked him over and broke his arm off …
James Ford Seale Trial to Begin WednesdayThe federal kidnapping and conspiracy trial of former Klansman James Ford Seale is now set to begin Wednesday, May 30, with jury selection in a federal courtroom in Jackson. Seale is accused of kidnapping Charles Moore and Henry Dee, who …
With A Good IntentionPeople come up and thank me all the time for being "daring." Or "courageous." Or "fearless." No, the Jackson Free Press is not particularly daring or courageous (although admittedly we can be a bit fearless now and then). We're just …
The Crime: May 2, 1964The last time Mazie Moore ever saw her boy, 19-year-old son Charles, he was standing in front of Dillon's gas station on Main Street in Meadville, trying to thumb a ride with his friend, Henry Dee, also 19. Mazie had …
The Klansmen Bound: 43 Years Later, James Ford Seale Faces JusticeShuffling behind a young black woman in an identical orange jumpsuit, James Ford Seale entered the fourth-floor courtroom of the James O. Eastland Federal Building in Jackson on Feb. 22 with shackles hanging loosely around his waist and ankles, and …
The Klansman Bound: The CrimeThe last time Mazie Moore ever saw her boy, 19-year-old son Charles, he was standing in front of Dillon's gas station on Main Street in Meadville, trying to thumb a ride with his friend, Henry Dee, also 19. Mazie had …
Families to Replace Marker for Dee, MooreOver at MississippiPolitical.com, C.W. is reporting about a memorial service to be held in Meadville on Memorial Day. The families of Henry Dee and Charles Moore will replace the memorial that Thomas Moore originally put up there on our original …
MySpace Sex FiendsMississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, along with seven other state attorney generals, signed a letter Monday demanding that MySpace provide a list of sex offenders who use the online social networking site and explain the steps the company will take …
Stiffing the HelpThe Hattiesburg American reported last week that the Department of Labor is investigating a Jackson business owned by Rosemary Barbour, wife of Hinds County Supervisor Charles Barbour, a nephew of Gov. Haley Barbour.
Transforming LivesDomestic violence affects one in three women in their lifetimes, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. The staff at the Center for Violence Prevention is trying to quell the national and statewide epidemic of violence against women, particularly in …
[Green Eats] Giants Dominate OrganicsIf you think the farmer-in-the-dell wearing Birkenstocks and singing "Kum Ba Yah" owns that organic brand you're so fond of, think again. According to "Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew" (Harcourt, 2006, $25), half of all organic sales …
[Green Eats] Eat your Veggies!While most of us agree that organic produce is healthier in general simply because it is grown without enormous amounts of pesticides, it's not always easy (or cheap) to buy organic. So what fruits and vegetables present the most danger, …
[Green Eats] Eating the RainbowSummer is fast approaching, and everyone is rushing to fit into that itsy-bitsy bikini. That means it's time to eat healthier. Swimsuit season is my motivation—as I told a friend, "I don't care how much I weigh; I just want …
Red And Ready To Rumble: The JFP Interview With Charlie RossSen. Charlie Ross, R-Brandon, is confident this year. The 50-year-old senator is running for lieutenant governor against State Auditor Phil Bryant in the primaries, and possibly against Democratic Rep. Jamie Franks of Hernando in the November general elections.
Jesus Rode A Donkey: THE JFP Interview With John Arthur EavesAttorney John Arthur Eaves, 40, is the polar opposite of his Republican opponent, Gov. Haley Barbour. Barbour is a faithful follower of smaller-government philosophy, isn't afraid to boot Mississippians off state Medicaid and has been willing to short-change the so-called …