All results / Stories / Donna Ladd
Rainbow Coalition
The excitement was palpable in the rotunda of the state Capitol on March 2 when a diverse team of city and state leaders showed up at a historic rally to encourage the state Legislature to clear the way for Jackson to build a 125,000 square-foot convention center. The project's supporters have drafted legislation that would allow Jackson to ask residents to approve a 1-cent local option sales tax for the $100 million project.
* Corrections to Talk of Jackson *
The JFP's Talk of Jackson section has a couple really dumb errors this week. (As a result, two writers are currently hanging in the newsroom from their toenails. Don't tell anyone.) Here are the errors:
Melton to North Jackson: ‘It's Over!'
Read full story here.
Reading from the Same Page
Back in 1961, during the dark days of Jim Crow when local African-Americans had to stage read-ins to get to the books in the public library, it would have been hard to imagine the entire city of Jackson reading the same book. Not only that, but reading the same book by an African-American man. A book about the trial of a young black man in Louisiana facing the electric chair for killing a white shopkeeper. During the botched robbery in "A Lesson Before Dying," the young man was not armed, and he had not pulled the trigger (sound eerily like a recent Mississippi death-penalty case?). This is still a difficult topic; in the 1960s it would have been near forbidden.
Online Exclusive: SPQ Quiz
1. Which of the following is NOT a man you need in your life at all times?
B. A man you can dance withC. A man you can shop withD. A man you can talk to
Tricks and Errors
The 2003 Mississippi election results were pockmarked by dirty tricks and general incompetency that has left one local Senate race in controversy and regular Mississippians feeling like they needed a rough loofah and a long, hot shower to shed the residue.
Bitter Waters
Artist Martha Ferris and husband and playwright Kos Kostmayer of Vicksburg believe we're in danger. Since 1985, we have lived in the shadows of Entergy's Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant in Port Gibson, which provides a third of the state's power and creates about $20 million in tax revenue. The couple warns it also poses a grave risk of both security breaches and serious accidents such as the April 26, 1986, Chernobyl nuclear-power meltdown. They want to "alert the public about what Entergy is up to, who's footing the bill, and the incredible hazards of building a second nuclear reactor in our back yard poses," as Ferris wrote in an e-mail.
Here Comes Da Judge
Damn, it's time for more Morgan-Quitno rankings. The last time we got dinged, it was for being the 10th most dangerous city, based on 2001 crime statistics and released last fall (and reported by daily media this spring as if they had just come out). In this round, though, the Lawrence, Kan.-based book publishers have the state of Mississippi in its sights. (Didn't that town learn anything about needless agitating back in frontier times?) This hellhole of a state we live in, it seems, is the 14th most dangerous, our second-worst ranking ever. We were more dangerous in 1999 (13th) and hit our safety peak in 1994 (the first year of the rankings). And, after all, Vermont is the safest state, and we wouldn't want to rank anywhere near them wussy-butts, even if they do, too, appreciate the right to arm bears, er, bear arms.
The Greatest Lie
It was press night, and all sorts of people were lining up to ask me stuff so we could put this issue to bed. But I had to leave for a couple hours, to go to Millsaps to hear one of my favorite professors initiate the Medgar Evers Lecture Series. This wasn't one of my Mississippi State profs. This was Dr. Manning Marable, the man who a thousand miles away at Columbia University taught me more about the Southern Civil Rights Movement—or what he calls the Black Freedom Movement—than I ever learned on the home soil. Most importantly, Marable affirmed my belief—the only white woman in his "Black Intellectualism" graduate-school class—that it's right, no, necessary for white people to embrace and understand African-American history. In fact, blacks and whites in this country—not to mention Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and others—have a shared history that cannot be understood if part of it is left out.
[City Buzz] Colonel Snoop Reporting for Duty, Sir
JACKAL SMOKED OUT … Like the rest of the world, Jacksonians of all political persuasions were all aglow in the days leading up to Christmas over the capture of long-time dictatorial butcher Saddam Hussein. We were surprised, though, to see how quickly some locals tried to make political hay out of the capture. Within two hours of the announcement, one loquacious blogger posted on the JFP site, "Game, set, and match. 4 more years. Yeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!" About the same time, a local businessman sent around a photo of the bearded Saddam to his e-mail list, saying simply, "Recent photo of potential candidate that can out do even Howard Dean in demonizing 'W.'" It was forwarded to us by an artist with the subject header, "It didn't take long." We prefer a simple non-partisan "good riddance" to the Butcher of Baghdad. …
Artiste At Work
For two months the lights at the large, older brick home on Morningside Street in Belhaven Heights burned the night. There's no "artist at work" sign on the outside; however, a peek inside the house reveals organized chaos, with silk batik scarves draped from clotheslines stretched across the length of a spare bedroom/studio, in doorways and on a screened back porch.
[Talk] Gettin' Safer
Jackson has lunged out of the "Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities" to No. 16, according to just-released 10th annual Morgan Quitno Press "most dangerous city" rankings for 2002. Using M-Q's standards, the city of Jackson made gains in 2002 over 2001 relative to other U.S. cities based on overall FBI crime figures, moving up six spots in the new rankings from the No. 10 spot (framed as "in the top 10" by key Republican candidates in the 2003 election) in the group's 2001 rankings.
[Talk] Rebels for NAFTA
Every year at the Neshoba County Fair, candidates bring in college students to do their dirty work. They did it back when I was head of "Students for Stennis" at Mississippi State—when, as it happens, Haley Barbour ran against him. We all stuck stickers all over us, screamed and yelled for our candidates, and jockeyed to get our candidate signs in front of the cameras—and in front of the opponent's signs.
Live at the Rodeo
After seeing the Columbia shuttle tragedy unfold on television, I walked out the door and felt the sun on my face, and smelled the warm winter air that only the South knows. I felt all the more grateful for everything I have. I decided to clear my head, and, remembering there was a Paint Horse show at the Fairgrounds, I hopped in my truck. I've been a horse lover ever since I paid my way through summer camp by feeding and saddling horses, cleaning the stables, and working the chuckwagon during overnight pack trips. I must say I was a bit overwhelmed when I arrived at the show.
Open Letter to City: Open Briefings; Let Info Flow
As rumors swirl about everything from gas prices to lawlessness, the City of Jackson has seemed to take a bunker mentality. They are, apparently, having "briefings" twice a day between the city and the Hinds County EOC—but are not opening them up to the media, or media questions. They give us a hand-out of "highlights" afterward, but we cannot ask questions about where power is being restored, the priority of restoration, the problems, gas issues (and all sorts of rumors are floating on that), issues regarding potential crime and looting and what should be done. Very importantly, there doesn't seem to be key people addressing issues of refugees and what the people of Jackson can, and should, do to help them. Here at the JFP, the e-mails and phone calls are fast and furious with questions and requests—and we can barely handle them, although we are doing our best.
[City Buzz] Screw ideology; Mississippians want health care
MOVE OVER, VERMONT: The John C. Stennis Institute of Government announced the surprising results of a statewide poll on Dec. 8, showing that a wide majority of Mississippians want the state to pay more of their health-care coverage, and are willing to raise some taxes to pay for it: 78 percent favored guaranteed health coverage for every Mississippian, and 74 percent said they would pay higher taxes to make it happen. Of the 78 percent, 87 percent were Democrats, and 70 percent were Republicans. A full 89 percent want every child covered; 70 percent want smoke-free public places; 66 percent want smoke-free restaurants; 56 percent want the government to spend more to fight AIDS and STDs. The full results of the study are at healthyfutures.cc. …
PDFs Campaign Finance Reports for Melton, Johnson
See a list of campaign contributions and disbursements here.
Melton Vows Lawsuit Over Public Ed
Read report here.
From 2004: Chokwe Lumumba v. Mississippi Bar
Activist attorney Chokwe Lumumba, the founder of the New Afrikan People's Organization, is headed back to court this week to fight for his professional life. Again. The Mississippi Bar is arguing for the disbarment of the attorney, who is known for representing black men accused of violent crimes from 17-year-old South African Azikiwe Kambule to rapper Tupac Shakur to ex-police officer Eddie Myers who was found innocent of murder in October 2002.
Only Children Bleed
The House Juvenile Justice Committee is holding legislative hearings on the training schools at the Capitol on July 19 from 2-5 p.m. and July 20 from 9 a.m. until noon in Room 113. Call Rep. Eric Fleming, D-Hinds, at 925-1740 or 359-3374 for more details.