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[Cohen] The Enemy Within

Our new NOISE section will highlight the JFP's breaking online stories, hot blog discussions and exclusive online op-eds. Starting this week, the JFP is asking a number of opinionated souls to regularly contribute pieces on the fly about issues of the day to our Web site. If you are interested in joining the NOISE team, please e-mail [e-mail missing], and we'll provide you the guidelines. And if you're a reader, check back throughout the day; you never know what will pop up next!

Melton Sues Democratic Committee

Earlier: Melton to Democratic Party: 'Go to Hell'

Democrats Need Not Apply?

Political leaders in Terry are booting Democratic candidate Cedric Abston from the Terry mayoral ballot for the second time. Terry election commissioners Lessie Hayes, Shauna White and Kelsie Bloomberg opted to restrict the number of candidates in the race for Terry Mayor to incumbent Rod Nichols, claiming the Democratic Party did not follow state statute in registering Abston.

Guilty By Default?

When Mayor Frank Melton held the post as head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, he leaked a memo containing accusations against MBN employees that were later disproved by the state auditor's office. Melton faxed the memo to Clarion-Ledger reporter Ana Radelat the day it was handed to him, kicking off a lawsuit against him and the Gannett Corp., the newspaper's corporate owner, for defamation.

Wait, And Wait Some More

On Oct. 1, Mayor Frank Melton announced that he was dissolving the city's Crime Prevention Unit with only days' notice. Charging that the members were not doing their jobs—despite the workers collecting hundreds of hours in comp time—Melton dismissed the division as inefficient, vowing to replace them "within days" with his Quality of Life Division, staffed with volunteers.

Highway 80 Gets Scrutinized, Organized

After declining slowly for decades, the Highway 80 corridor in south Jackson is poised for a rebirth. The Jackson Redevelopment Authority is looking to have the corridor designated an urban renewal area within the next 60 days, JRA executive director Jason Brookins told the Jackson Free Press Friday. The designation would allow the organization to push economic-development efforts in the area by purchasing blighted property, offering tax exemptions on improvements and issuing bonds.

Barbour Comparison Off the Mark?

Gov. Haley Barbour made national news again this week by comparing health-care reformas envisioned in the U.S. House and Senateto the horror of the Jonestown massacre. Speaking as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Barbour equated the Democrats' health-care reform proposal in Congress to the poison Jim Jones used to kill 918 of his cult followers in a 1978 mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

The NAMIWalks Fundraiser is back! Help me "Stomp Out The Stigma of Mental Illness"!

I am writing you today to tell you about an upcoming event that I am participating in that is both very important and very exciting to me. It is NAMIWalks for the Mind of America, NAMI's signature walkathon event that is being held in Jackson, MS at Mayes Lake State Park on October 06, 2007. Registration begins at 9 AM, and the walk begins at 10 AM.

JFP Interview: Keith Beauchamp

Telling The Untold Story

Keith Beauchamp, 34, has spent the last 10 years of his life investigating the brutal murder of Emmett Louis Till in Money, Miss., in 1955. Till, 14, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was reported to have whistled at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, and was subsequently tortured, beaten and shot in the head.

‘I'm Not Crazy'

Keep up the good work," they'll say. Or, "your folks must be proud." They say this when I show up to interview them or to photograph them. Before even seeing my work, people are proud. Once they actually meet me and see that I am only 18 years old (some think younger), people's minds begin to wonder, "How did this little girl end up doing such a big job?" Never do they seem to doubt my capabilities and talents. They assume that I must be pretty good if I'm so young and already being given assignments by a real newspaper; but really, I'm just an intern hoping to one day be more.

Regarding Herman

Herman Snell was driven. I don't know why--or by what, exactly, but it was fascinating to watch. Herman wanted people to know what was going on in the arts, particularly film, and he wanted them to hear good music. And to him, that meant keeping up with the details.

Malco Pulls Controversial Political Ad

UPDATED: Malco has issued a follow-up statement, ensuring that campaign ads on its screens will "not happen again." See full statement in comments below.

Young, Influential ... and Staying

I vividly remember ripping off my hat and gown and tossing them into a big, open truck outside the Mississippi State coliseum in 1983. It was hot as hell, and I was wearing shorts underneath unlike most of the women around me who had dresses, stockings and even high heels under their gowns.

Of Love and Pardons: How They Met

On the night of Dec. 7, 1992, Joseph Ozment and three friends arrived to rob J & R's Old Store in Hernando and found Ricky A. Montgomery there, working alone. During the robbery, one of Ozment's accomplices shot Montgomery three times, though not fatally. Ozment, fearing Montgomery would be able to identify him, delivered two more bullets to the head of the 40-year-old clerk, who was begging for help.

District Attorney Owens: Hinds County Diverted 300 From Criminal Justice

Three hundred first-time non-violent offenders went through a diversion program last year in Hinds County in exchange for dropped charges, District Attorney Jody Owens said at a press conference Tuesday.

‘They Murdered My Brother’: Judge Drops Murder Charges Against JPD Officers

Desmond Barney and Lincoln Lampley, two Jackson police officers indicted for 62-year-old George Robinson's death, walked free on Thursday, May 20, after Hinds County Circuit Judge E. Faye Peterson rendered a directed verdict in the case.

Subpoena This

September 13, 2006 Photo caption: Former mayor and Melton attorney Dale Danks. On Aug. 30, The Clarion-Ledger announced it had finally reached a settlement with the city of Jackson in its open-records law suit. Around the same time, the city responded to a memo from the Jackson Free Press detailing eight public-record requests the city had ignored over the past year. The city filled most of the old requests, and the city clerk's office waived several hundred dollars' worth of duplication costs. The requests were all months overdue.

DOSSIER: County Documents At Risk, Public Meeting Confusion, No to WJTV

The Jackson Free Press scored a transparency victory this week, at least for now, when the Hinds County Board of Supervisors provided us a list of the documents it plans to destroy, which I addressed in last week's Dossier after reporter Seyma Bayram learned about the impending destruction.

Jackson Zoo Receives $50,000 from County; Road and Bridge Repairs in Limbo

The Jackson Zoo will benefit from a $50,000 grant from the Hinds County Board of Supervisors after it reversed its earlier decision to withhold the grant because the zoo is now closed and awaiting its new management to get its license to operate the facility.

How 'Sister District' Helped Shanda Yates Unseat Longtime Mississippi Republican

Sister District, a California-based group dedicated to helping elect Democrats in state legislatures across the country, helped one Jackson area political newcomer unseat a longtime Republican incumbent.

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