Justice

[Greggs] Like Bourbon For Chocolate

Last week, after spying the ever-growing acreage of my cat's butt, I begrudgingly headed to the store to buy her diet food for the first time. I felt badly about it. Mainly because I would think one of the perks of being a cat is the fact you never have to diet. That and naps being two of the things that make up for the daily indignity of crawling into a box of your own crap.

[Greggs] Finding My Manners

Emotions are interesting things. Because I am a therapist and ultimately a huge nerd, I spend at least three hours a day explicating mine. Due to this, if you cut in front of me in line, I will tell you this makes me angry. This is because in the second grade, a nun at my elementary school thought I struck a child while waiting in line and made me go to the back. I hadn't hit the other little girl, and I always felt powerless when I thought about that situation. As with most other humans, feelings of powerlessness in situations lead me to get angry.

Don't Miss Killen Cover Story, Irby Column

Note: For now, the JFP's current 4,000+ word cover story, "After Killen: What's Next for Mississippi?", is not posted here in the Killen trial blog. Click here to access that story, read the more than 100 comments to date and add your own comments. Also don't miss Natalie Irby's column this week about Killen attorney James McIntyre's closing statement, which she says represents the "worst Mississippi has to offer."

Edgar Ray Killen Back In Prison

AP is reporting:

A judge Friday revoked the bond that allowed Edgar Ray Killen to stay out of prison while he appealed his manslaughter conviction for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon ordered Killen returned to prison after a court hearing where District Attorney Mark Duncan said the 80-year-old Killen may have misrepresented his physical condition.

[Greggs] Why Ask Why

A few days ago I got an e-mail asking if I could write a column about "college" due to the theme of this week's paper. I decided it probably wouldn't be kosher for me to write a column screaming about politics, and then roll it in weed and dip it in beer. In sitting around thinking about what I could write that would encapsulate my five years of college, I wasted 100 words writing this introduction. I thought that was fitting, considering most everything I wrote in school had about 100 words of crap at the beginning.

Crime Plan Faces Reality Check

Last week Mayor Frank Melton announced a number of methods to combat crime in the city. "I'm making a change in leadership at the municipal court, and Gayle Lowery, a current city judge, will take over the municipal court effective immediately," Melton announced at a July 25 press conference in what his office is now calling the "oval office" (the square "ceremonial" mayor's office in City Hall).

[Greggs] Why Not Just Turn Gay?

The other day I was lying around with a friend discussing my less-than-stellar dating life and wondering what it would be like if I expended all that time doing something useful, like eating. At one point during the conversation she looked at me very knowingly and asked the question I have heard from more than one person on more than one occasion, "Why don't you just turn gay?" This is asked like sexual orientation is a knob on the stove that keeps the cookies from burning.

Better Late Than Never

Within weeks of passing a resolution to apologize for lynching, the U.S. Senate is moving to help solve old civil rights cases. U.S. Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., recently announced strong support for their Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (S. 1369) with 22 cosponsors, including Dodd and Talent, already backing the legislation.

[Chick] Oh, Snap

"Oh, snap!" That's what Monkey said when he realized he was going to miss a barbecue while with his dad at the beach. I was both shocked and amused. "Did you just say snap?"

I Want Justice, Too: Brother Wants Mississippi Cold Case Murders Re-opened

The Jackson Free Press teamed with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to follow an Army vet and Mississippi native on his journey back home, looking for justice for his little brother who was killed by the Klan in 1964. This is his story—and it helped send James Ford Seale to prison.

Deliver Us From Evil

I was lying in bed last week, thinking about the Edgar Ray Killen trial. My feelings on it are hard to sort out; I'm relieved, yet worried that too many people will treat it as an end rather than a beginning.

[Greggs] Just Not Paying Attention

Most of the time when I'm driving home from work, I'm diligently thinking about something like how cool I would look wearing a cowboy hat while dancing on the hood of my car. I will also admit to daydreaming about Colin Farrell, but only when there's no one around to see my look of rapture.

The Killen Verdict, Explained

FBI/AP pool photo

"Preacher" Edgar Ray Killen's jury trial has ended; he was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of the three young men on June 21, 1964. On June 23, 2005, Judge Marcus Gordon sentenced Killen to the maximum allowed under Mississippi law: 60 years (20 years for each homicide). Killen will be held in isolation at the Central Mississippi Correctional Institute until a state "classification" process is completed. Killen will be labeled either a medium or a maximum security prisoner and will remain in the Rankin County prison or be shipped to Parchman to serve his time. In either case, he will be in isolation in a cell for 23 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Weekends and holidays, he will remain in his cell for 24 hours a day.

Creative Loafing: 'Racial Healing In Mississippi'

Creative Loafing editor and blogger John Sugg has published a cover story about the Killen trial, with an intriguing comparison of Killen and Dick Molpus, in the Creative Loafing papers in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. He writes:

Killen's Bad Week Worsens

After a Neshoba County jury found Edgar Ray Killen guilty of three counts of manslaughter on June 21 for orchestrating the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, his week went from bad to worse. Being rolled out of the courtroom that day, the Baptist preacher struck and shoved a WAPT cameraman, showing a less genteel side of himself than the jury had seen in the courtroom, where he often dozed when they were in the room (and took notes when they weren't).

Ellington