A
a.saccus
Guest
My sister lives in a primarily white suburb near Jackson. I talked to her just last week. So when I saw the above headline, I was a little concerned and gave her a call her to find out if she'd been having any problems. It also gave me a chance to broaden the story from a source I was personally acquainted with and could trust.
She laughed and said she was fine, and she regaled me with some fascinating tidbits about the situation in and around Jackson which provide some ponerological and psychopathological raw material that may interest Forum readers as well. After the call, I did a quick google and found details and specifics that were consonant with what she said and filled out what she had told me.
The "State of Emergency" is actually a curfew for teenagers up to 18. It's not for adults. My sister thinks it's one more desperate attempt by the Mayor to get results in a rapidly deteriorating urban environment. In the past four weeks, she remembered four particularly brutal incidents. The victims were all elderly, the "youngest" about 75. Three were tied up and then beaten with baseball bats. The fourth victim was simply shot in the head point blank as he sat up in bed. Robbery does not seem to be the motive. The perpetrators were vaguely described as "young men."
The city of Jackson proper is primarily black, population about 175,000, and has experienced a major exodus in the past twenty years; mostly white residents and the wealthier blacks, all moving to the suburbs. The only people left are the ones that can't afford to leave. She says that there is considerable fear among Jackson's citizens, not only from seemingly purposeless violence, but also from the rampant drug use in the inner city. Drugs come up regularly from New Orleans and Texas and are easily obtained. There are no organized gangs, but plenty of unorganized ones. There are a great many abandoned buildings, including the once grand 20 story tall King Edward Hotel, dominating the skyline, which is now home to rats and drug dealers and is located about a block away from the State House; for Jackson is the state capital of Mississippi.
Enter The Mayor
According to my sister, Mayor Frank Melton is quite a character. She called him a "cowboy", not merely because of his approach to politics, but because he often wears a cowboy hat and conspicuously brandishes a gun, even carrying it onto airplanes, into schools, and when he's stopping school buses. (Why is he stopping school buses? She didn't know.) In her opinion, he does dramatic things to make news, and is quite good at that, but she doesn't think the urban situation is any better now than when he was elected a year ago.
She says Melton has a hard time delegating, that he doesn't like the City Council, which has a composition of about 17 blacks and 3 whites (Melton is black), and that he would rather shoot first and ask questions later than deal with other politicians. He has apparently had delapidated buildings torn down without getting the legal authority to do so. In fact, he doesn't seem to be too bothered by legalities at all. He once worked for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and is married to a woman who is a doctor in Texas but she won't come to live in Jackson, so he has a home in Texas as well.
A few extra interesting odd facts from my sister, before some internet bits on the Mayor.
The "Castle Doctrine" -as in "my home is my castle"-is a law which just took effect July 1. She says this law specifically affirms the right to shoot-to-kill someone who tries to break into your house, your car, or get at you when you're in your car. It was triggered by a case last year where someone came to the door of a house and the resident didn't know who they were, so the resident just shot through the door and went back to bed. In the morning he was surprised to find a dead body on his doorstep. No charges were pressed.
Casino business is good along the Gulf Coast. Although only three casinos out of twelve were able to reopen after Katrina, these three are now doing more business than all twelve did before Katrina.
The Air National Guard unit which has more or less sole responsibility for bringing back those wounded in Iraq via Ramstein AFB in Germany is stationed nearby. They have the reputation of being a crack unit, fly the massive C-17 GlobeMasters, and are a source of local pride.
About an hour's drive south of Jackson is Camp Shelby, which has complete training facilities for those being sent to Iraq, including mud buildings, mud villages, and lots of burned up cars lying around.
(Although purposeless urban violence is not a thing unheard of in itself, since I've begun to learn about mind control and COINTELPRO, I'm always curious to find out what military installations are in the vicinity. Also, I briefly dated a girl--later I found out she was involved in Wicca--who came from a military family. She said that she personally knew of military personnel who would leave the base and do covert domestic reconnaissance in civilian clothes.)
The whole region, which is usually quite lush, is experiencing a severe drought.
So much for the information from my sister. When I looked him up on the web, Mayor Melton became even more interesting. Consider the following quotes:
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Melton
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
June 23rd, 2006
Craig S
She laughed and said she was fine, and she regaled me with some fascinating tidbits about the situation in and around Jackson which provide some ponerological and psychopathological raw material that may interest Forum readers as well. After the call, I did a quick google and found details and specifics that were consonant with what she said and filled out what she had told me.
The "State of Emergency" is actually a curfew for teenagers up to 18. It's not for adults. My sister thinks it's one more desperate attempt by the Mayor to get results in a rapidly deteriorating urban environment. In the past four weeks, she remembered four particularly brutal incidents. The victims were all elderly, the "youngest" about 75. Three were tied up and then beaten with baseball bats. The fourth victim was simply shot in the head point blank as he sat up in bed. Robbery does not seem to be the motive. The perpetrators were vaguely described as "young men."
The city of Jackson proper is primarily black, population about 175,000, and has experienced a major exodus in the past twenty years; mostly white residents and the wealthier blacks, all moving to the suburbs. The only people left are the ones that can't afford to leave. She says that there is considerable fear among Jackson's citizens, not only from seemingly purposeless violence, but also from the rampant drug use in the inner city. Drugs come up regularly from New Orleans and Texas and are easily obtained. There are no organized gangs, but plenty of unorganized ones. There are a great many abandoned buildings, including the once grand 20 story tall King Edward Hotel, dominating the skyline, which is now home to rats and drug dealers and is located about a block away from the State House; for Jackson is the state capital of Mississippi.
Enter The Mayor
According to my sister, Mayor Frank Melton is quite a character. She called him a "cowboy", not merely because of his approach to politics, but because he often wears a cowboy hat and conspicuously brandishes a gun, even carrying it onto airplanes, into schools, and when he's stopping school buses. (Why is he stopping school buses? She didn't know.) In her opinion, he does dramatic things to make news, and is quite good at that, but she doesn't think the urban situation is any better now than when he was elected a year ago.
She says Melton has a hard time delegating, that he doesn't like the City Council, which has a composition of about 17 blacks and 3 whites (Melton is black), and that he would rather shoot first and ask questions later than deal with other politicians. He has apparently had delapidated buildings torn down without getting the legal authority to do so. In fact, he doesn't seem to be too bothered by legalities at all. He once worked for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and is married to a woman who is a doctor in Texas but she won't come to live in Jackson, so he has a home in Texas as well.
A few extra interesting odd facts from my sister, before some internet bits on the Mayor.
The "Castle Doctrine" -as in "my home is my castle"-is a law which just took effect July 1. She says this law specifically affirms the right to shoot-to-kill someone who tries to break into your house, your car, or get at you when you're in your car. It was triggered by a case last year where someone came to the door of a house and the resident didn't know who they were, so the resident just shot through the door and went back to bed. In the morning he was surprised to find a dead body on his doorstep. No charges were pressed.
Casino business is good along the Gulf Coast. Although only three casinos out of twelve were able to reopen after Katrina, these three are now doing more business than all twelve did before Katrina.
The Air National Guard unit which has more or less sole responsibility for bringing back those wounded in Iraq via Ramstein AFB in Germany is stationed nearby. They have the reputation of being a crack unit, fly the massive C-17 GlobeMasters, and are a source of local pride.
About an hour's drive south of Jackson is Camp Shelby, which has complete training facilities for those being sent to Iraq, including mud buildings, mud villages, and lots of burned up cars lying around.
(Although purposeless urban violence is not a thing unheard of in itself, since I've begun to learn about mind control and COINTELPRO, I'm always curious to find out what military installations are in the vicinity. Also, I briefly dated a girl--later I found out she was involved in Wicca--who came from a military family. She said that she personally knew of military personnel who would leave the base and do covert domestic reconnaissance in civilian clothes.)
The whole region, which is usually quite lush, is experiencing a severe drought.
So much for the information from my sister. When I looked him up on the web, Mayor Melton became even more interesting. Consider the following quotes:
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Melton
from http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=4917778
from http://rscottwhitley.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
from http://raymikell.com/?p=271
June 23rd, 2006
The risk-taking, the rage, the profanity, the disregard for legalities, the random and unwarranted searches, and the forced hugging of children (they can't very well get off the bus, now can they) all seem to be indicative of psychopathology. And the desire to involve the military in civilian crime fighting so as to have ever greater levels of control, and the moral oversimplification of the situation are ponerological indicators.
Craig S