All results / Stories / Jackson Free Press
Day 4: Dr. Ellen Melton in Front Row
Photo: Dr. Ellen Melton leaves the courtroom after closing arguments today with city employee Stephanie Parker-Weaver (left). Melton, the wife of the mayor, lives in Texas. Photo by Jaro Vacek. Click to enlarge.
Spies In The Sky
Jackson and the metro area have a new set of eyes in the sky, thanks to local helicopter pilot Coyt Bailey, SafeCity Watch, philanthropist Jim Barksdale and other private donors, who together donated about $700,000 for the purchase of a surveillance helicopter that will cruise the skies over Jackson and Ridgeland.
Strong Mayor, Weak Council
42 candidates are looking to claim a seat on the Jackson City Council in this year's elections. All have high aspirations, but many don't know what they're getting into.
Flubbed Balls and Missed Shots
Photos by Adam Lynch & Roy Adkins
A Texas developer says the city of Jackson is holding up progress on $15 million in development, and she wants to know why.
Trying To Make It Right
The e-mail about the Jackson doctor came all the way from Canada. Hollis Brown, a singer/songwriter in Saskatchewan, wanted to know if an e-mail he had received, calling New Orleans evacuees in the Astrodome ungrateful "n*ggers," had really been written by Dr. Richard L. Johnson of University Medical Center. "It sounds like some KKK Krap if you ask me," Brown wrote.
JUST IN: Lumumba: Stop Melton's ‘Jackson Gestapo'
Audio of press conference: Lumumba_21207.mp3 (8.3MB)
David Bowen Admonishes Black Mississippians
In a bizarre column today in The Clarion-Ledger, former Congressman David Bowen, a Democrat, first says that blacks and whites in Mississippi need a "new" dialogue, then proceeds to tell black Mississippians what they should not say in this dialogue. No similar advice for whites was in evidence, however. Here are some excerpts ...
[Kamikaze] Let the Chickens Roost
It appears that the chickens did indeed come home to roost. No, not in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright sense. Not even the Malcolm X sense. These "chickens" are a direct product of America's passive attitudes toward race relations. Its longstanding dismissal of the obvious problems between folks of different hues and different histories has now come back to bite it on its hind parts.
[Hutchinson] Obama and Male Voters
This is an election with some strange things happening. One of the strangest is the penchant for so many white males to join with African American voters in a few primaries to back Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. It's strange not because of anything Obama has said or done to get so many white males behind him. It's strange because of the possible motive of many of the men that are voting for him.
‘The Mayor Happened'
The Jackson Free Press got an anonymous call about the mayor of Jackson tearing down a house with sledgehammers in late August 2006.
UPDATED: Ridgeway Minor Arrested for Armed Carjacking
Also see Schwindaman's cartoon story: Adventures of Above-the-Law Man!
[Kamikaze] Stop The Witch Hunt
Enough already! At this point we're beating the proverbial dead horse. It's one thing to do some good investigative journalism. It's another to question standing policy or programs. But it's another altogether to be obsessed with finding fault in some of those same policies or programs, even after no wrongdoing has been found.
City Faces $4.3 Million Shortfall
Department of Administration Director Rick Hill reported to City Council today that the city is facing a $4.3 million budget shortfall.
Nightmare on Ridgeway Street
About 8:30 the evening of Aug. 26, residents of Ridgeway Street in the Virden Addition saw the Mobile Command Center roll up in front of Evans "Bubba" Welch's duplex, near the corner of Mill Street. Mayor Frank Melton and his two bodyguards, witnesses say, emerged from the blue-and-white RV, and one broke down Welch's back door.
[Kamikaze] A Jackson Reality Check
It's time for some hard truth. Some Jackson detractors may have taken my ProJack stance as blind love for our fair city. Some have accused me of selling hype over substance. I've refuted crime stats, championed development and screamed "Buy Jackson" at the top of my lungs.
[Kamikaze] Punked ... Again
Politics sucks! More so, politicians suck! Around these parts, the whole damn lot of you should be ashamed. This is a wake-up call to everyone serving in public office in this city: the ones I support and the ones I criticize, the ones I consider allies and the ones I think stand in the way of progress.
[Crossroads] JFP Picks & Reviews
Whether you've already bought into the anti-corporate, "Think Global, Shop Local" mantra, or you're just trying to figure out what all the Wal-Mart bashing is really about, Lori Cheatle and Daisy Wright's "This Land Is Your Land" is the perfect primer to what corporations are doing, or trying to do, to America.
[Kamikaze] Our Victories Are History
I've never really liked the idea of Black History "Month." There'll be another slew of black history programs (yawn). We'll hear the same speakers speak, and my kids will once again hear about Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman in school. Pretty standard stuff. We'll sing, we'll pray, we'll celebrate the lives of Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King. We'll talk about the marches on Selma and Washington. We'll talk about slaves traveling the underground railroad and black folks getting attacked by police dogs in Birmingham, Ala. We'll applaud the passage of the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action. Basically, we'll let America give us a collective pat on the head and a hearty "good job."
The Fierce Urgency of Now
A well-meaning friend from out of state asked me a puzzling question recently: "When will it be enough?" When will Mississippi have talked so much about race history that we don't have to anymore?
[McInnis] Tiger Woods and Selective Naivete
I never understood the significance of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in baseball, and baseball is the favorite sport in my household. Robinson's accomplishments in the integrated major leagues means no more to me than his accomplishments in the Negro League because I do not need whites to validate the genius of African people.