Severe weather causes widespread damage in the Jackson Metropolitan Area

I was at Froghead Grill in Clinton, waiting for lunch to be served along with the other seniors at the radio station. A tornado warning is nothing to get in the way of a free meal. Even with the television in the restaurant on mute, you could see the gravity in David Hartman’s movements. Behind him, I could see the storm path, cutting right through Clinton. I looked out the window toward the west and saw the ominous supercell approaching. Suddenly, I wasn’t as interested in my Pacific Wrap.

Being the weather nerd I am, two thoughts went through my mind. (1) I want to be on the air right now. That was not a possiblilty, so (2) I’ve got to go outside and see this thing.

Two MC students place in Best of Jackson 2008 (including best rapper?)

The Jackson Free Press Best of Jackson 2008 edition is out, and I have been snubbed for Best DJ for the second straight year (darn you, Bender!). However, two fellow Choctaws performed better than I, placing in their respective categories.

Wesley Caldwell placed third in Best Local Filmmaker. But hands down, the upset of the year comes in the Best Hip-Hop Artist category, where this man got second place – right behind Kamikaze, right ahead of David Banner:

His name is Shivaz. His MySpace (complete with music videos) is a must view: www.myspace.com/shivaz4real

I’ll be at the JFP’s Best of Jackson party Sunday night, calling for a Shivaz live performance.

BREAKING: Malcolm McMillin to be new JPD chief

Earlier this morning, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton named Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin the new chief of the Jackson Police Department. McMillin will succeed Shirlene Anderson, who was offered a special assistant role in the Melton administration earlier this week. McMillin will continue into his fifth term as Hinds County sheriff in January, and will take over as police chief immediately.

It is not unprecedented for a county sheriff to also be police chief of a city within the county. WLBT’s Bert Case reported that similar measures have been taken in Florida and other states. Case also said that according to Mississippi statute, the Hinds County sheriff is already the supreme law enforcement agent in Jackson, even over the JPD chief. On WLBT’s Midday Mississippi, Case was quite candid in calling Jackson “a dying city” that needed consolidation with county and state offices to improve. This would certainly be a step toward that goal.

Some issues still remain to be resolved. Namely, how McMillin will be paid in correlation with his existing role as sheriff. But also, how will McMillin and Melton co-exist? The two have rarely seen eye-to-eye in the past, and though Melton has promised to stay out of the way of police business, how long will it be before the Cowboy is dressed in his bulletproof vest armed with a sledgehammer for a night of police raids? For McMillin, it’s a curious move. Beloved by the vast majority of Hinds County, the sheriff is taking on what many see as a losing fight. It not only means added pressure for McMillin, it likely means a failure that could cost him re-election.

To be clear, I am speaking of failure in the eyes of the people. For McMillin’s move to be considered a success, crime in Jackson will have to decrease dramatically (you know, to before Anderson and Melton erased 10 years of progress in a matter of months). People aren’t satisfied with maintaining the status quo or knocking the numbers down a percentage point or two. They will want to see visible change in their neighborhoods, and McMillin, nor anyone else, can deliver that overnight.

I love the move for the city. I can’t think of anyone more capable of turning Jackson around. And for the reasons I’ve just stated, I think it is clear that Malcolm McMillin cares sincerely about the future of Jackson. It is a challenge and could be political suicide, but he is taking it on anyway. Let’s just hope Mayor Melton is true to his word and stays out of McMillin’s way. We want to see change in Jackson, not more soap opera drama on the 5:00 news.

Common Sense at the Polls (Thoughts from My Novitiate into Mississippi Politics)

This article has been submitted to the Jackson Free Press.

 

If college has done anything for me, it has piqued my interest in politics. For the first time, I truly invested in the state and local elections. I researched candidates; I even braved the heat and humidity of the Neshoba County Fair to hear some good ol’ mudslinging and eat watermelon.

 

Yet it seems my knowledge of this year’s issues only takes me so far. To be a part of the political process in Mississippi, you apparently must be full-fledged blue or red, and do most of your thinking in the past.

 

Voter ID is my first quandary. From what I hear, there is quite a bit of opposition to the proposal. Something about rehashing memories of the old poll taxes and preventing the poor from voting. I have to present some sort of identification to pay for a t-shirt, get my contact lenses from Wal-Mart, and to go inside any building on Commerce Street. And I’ve never once felt intimidated by that Wal-Mart optometry cashier. The Mississippi Voter Registration Application requires a driver’s license number, social security number, picture ID, bank statement – identification that proves you are who you say you are. Voter ID is not a literacy test or a tax. It is not alienating your right to vote. It is ensuring that your right to vote is not compromised; that your vote is really your vote. Right?

 

Removing deceased voters from the roles seemed like an even easier move to make. Yet, the Jackson Free Press did not make an endorsement in the Republican Secretary of State primary, citing the “overblown” focus on illegal immigrants and cleaning up the voter roles. What is so wrong with making sure those who are no longer alive to vote, don’t vote? In fact, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to maintain those lists, removing the deceased and people who have moved. Opponents will point to a lack of evidence of this kind of voter fraud. Yes, and until Noxubee County, there was a lack of evidence of voter fraud discriminating against whites. All it takes is one incident, why leave the door wide open?

 

Already thoroughly puzzled, I drove up to my polling place Tuesday as a moderate with no home. After seeing the boxing match that was Charlie Ross vs. Phil Bryant, I wanted to have a say in the tightest, most talked about statewide election. For Secretary of State, there was Inglebert Hosemann, but what’s in a name? Maybe Jeffrey or Mike lacked a humorous commercial, but made up for it in policy.

 

But none of that really mattered anyway, because I live in Hinds County, where the Democratic primary is the election. In my own backyard, Mayor Frank Melton was trying to control the entire county with Tyrone Lewis as the Cowboy’s sheriff. The district attorney’s race was a tight one, and again, I wanted to make sure the candidate who was not in Melton’s corner came out victorious. Not to mention some notable state races, like insurance commissioner and secretary of state, where there was a young guy with some good ideas.

 

I do not vote by party lines; it’s about the individual candidates. I vote where the races are. I vote where my voice is needed the most. This year, the biggest state election was on the Republican side, but the biggest local issues were on the Democratic side. So I had to choose. I cringed as I realized that there would be a party affiliation stamped by my name, ignoring my personal views, labeling me. But I chose and I voted. Better to be half-heard than not heard at all.

 

Soon, Mississippi’s primaries will be completely closed. Picking a side will mean far more than a year-to-year decision to follow the close races. The label will stick. I think I am a fan of California’s old “buffet style” primaries, essentially a Super Sized general ballot. But in Mississippi, like too many other states, the (R) or (D) next to a candidate’s name means more than ideas or character.

 

Once our primaries are fully closed, I imagine I will lack that “glowing sense of pride and duty” Maggie (Burks) referred to recently. My voice will be stifled. Maybe I’m just young and naïve, but something became very clear to me Tuesday. Closed primaries do far more to harm the voting process than bringing a plastic card with your name on it to the polls.