Jackson Jambalaya

House No. 2 leader gives up extra salary from duty
Today's Clarion-Ledger reports:
"J.P. Compretta, second-in-command in the Mississippi House, said Friday he will no longer accept the additional $3,300 a month he's received since health problems sidelined Speaker Billy McCoy in 2004.
The House management committee approved a pay raise for Compretta, the speaker pro tempore, after McCoy suffered a stroke that year. McCoy returned to work in 2005.
Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis, took over McCoy's duties while he was ill. ...
Compretta was the top earner last year in the House. He totaled $95,501 in salary and travel expenses, more than $3,000 above the pay of McCoy, D-Rienzi. Compretta's earnings included mileage and travel expenses." http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080112/NEWS010504/801120345/1001/news

One more public official with his snout in the public trough. Billy McCoy has been back on the job for quite some time. He was healthy enough to run a re-election campaign as well as assume full duties as Speaker of the House for more than a year. This was nothing more than a chance for McCoy to give a payoff to one of his buddies. Interesting how the payments stop after McCoy stops his payments only after he narrowly kept the Speakership this week.

By the way, over at a certain alternative weekly newspaper that publicly backstabbed their endorsed candidate, State Representative John Reeves, because he would not support McCoy, there has not once been any mention of McCoy arranging his friend to receive the speaker's pay for over two years.

Geaux Peggy Geaux
Well well, the Hinds County potentate wannabe and fossil extraordinaire, Doug Anderson, still thinks Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Peggy Hobson-Calhoun is crazy. hehe.

"Anderson recently called Calhoun "crazy" in an interview with The Clarion-Ledger.
He and Calhoun have been on the board together since 1993 and often have butted heads and disagreed on many issues, including whether the county needs to spend $2.8 million on a maximum security pod at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. Calhoun is for the project.
Calhoun chalks the disagreements up to conflicting "leadership styles."
"He has always tried to defame or discredit me," Calhoun said. She says she's a strong woman and Anderson feels threatened by that.
"Doug likes power and to me some people see power as controlling others," she said.
Anderson said he has not changed his opinion and does not regret calling her crazy.
He would not comment when asked if he thinks Calhoun will make a good board president.
"It is my belief that any politician who votes against the best interests of their constituents has to be crazy," he said. He didn't offer specifics but intimated that he was talking about Calhoun." http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080112/NEWS/801120337/1001/news

There is nothing like watching a punch-drunk angry has been fighter who can't handle losing. In this case, Anderson is just throwing his usual tantrum when he can't get his way. He is so in love with himself that he thinks a WOMAN who dares to stand up to him, beats him, and then puts a stop to some of his crazy government projects is crazy (remember the deal involving the garage and his former son-in-law? Or buying the Mississippi Valley Title Insurance building but having no clue as to what to do with it?). Doug Anderson's legacy is a Hinds County that is bankrupt and can barely meet payroll. Now that Doug Anderson no longer has his enablers on the Board to protect him, he is acting like a typical junkie when forced to deal with reality. Geaux Peggy Geaux.

Grand Jury Probing Scruggs Case
Now the investigation has spread into Hinds County as "One of the cases apparently being looked into by federal authorities is a 1994 lawsuit in which two of Scruggs? former associates, attorneys Alwyn Luckey and William Roberts Wilson Jr., sued Scruggs for a bigger cut of millions of dollars that the attorneys had won in asbestos litigation.Hinds County Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn said Thursday that the 1994 file was not available because federal investigators took all 7,001 documents related to the case earlier this week.The judge who presided over the 1994 case was Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter" http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS/80111006

As an expert told me yesterday, the feds copy documents when its cooperation, when they seize documents, that is not a good thing. As I am not familiar with how investigations work, feel free to comment on this development in the comments section.

One man gets it on Mississippi Public Radio
A Mr. Thom Eason writes a letter to The Clarion-Ledger pummeling the bad decisions made by Executive Director Marie Antoon for eviscerating the programming at MPB Radio. He writes:
"Goodbye, Mississippi Public Broadcasting-Radio.
First, Gene Edwards came in and managed to run off all the best on-air talent. I am growing weary of hearing Mr. Edwards' discussions of anal polyps and body hair removal on the weekends, most definitely.
Now that all the good talent has gone, they have been replaced with people who excel in pronouncing words and names improperly, reading news and weather with great pauses and - best of all - who do not monitor the on-air feed to enjoy their broadcasts of music and news on top of each other. "Unprofessional" is a very kind description.
Now I read that Marie Antoon, executive director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, wants to get rid of all that icky music and those great National Public Radio shows and replace them with talk radio ("MPB-Radio talks up changes," Jan. 8).....
But for Antoon to tout the new HD feed by claiming "when they hear the signal and the content, I believe they're going to be very pleased" is disturbing to me. I can only imagine how great it will be to hear the untrained readers and two or three simultaneous feeds in crystal-clear HD." http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080112/OPINION02/801120302/1009

Read the comments in the reader's reaction section as there are some good ones. I recently wrote about the changes at MPB Radio in "Mississippi Public Radio...Falling, Falling, Fallen":
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/01/mississippi-public-radio-falling.html.

More Stokes Bafoonery
One thing you can count on is that if you wait long enough, Kenneth Stokes will provide some comic relief. In this case he "wants to propose an ordinance requiring mandatory security guards at convenience stores in Ward 3." http://www.wapt.com/news/15033990/detail.html

First of all, no such ordinance can probably be written that applies this action to just ward 3. Second, its yet one more example of Jackson government imposing yet another burden on business owners, thus making it more expensive to operate in Jackson. The profits derived from operating a convenience store are not great and many of them are not owned by national corporations but are mom and pops that have to watch every penny. Obviously they are hurt by crime but if it was worth it, they would have already hired security guards. What Stokes proposes would probably force some out of business. Good job Stokes. Your idea is a perfect example of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. By the way Mr. Stokes, have you given any thought how you will replace their sales tax revenue after they close because they can't afford to hire security guards?

It is ironic that Mr. Stokes is now focused on fighting crime. Ironic as he once owned some crackhouses. Ironic because in a previous administration, the JPD actually focused on crime in his area. His response was to raise hell and charge that the JPD were not harassing people in Eastover as they were in his ward. So much for taking Stokes seriously on fighting crime as he couldn't care less about it unless it means a headline for him. The most dangerous place in Jackson is anywhere between Kenneth Stokes and a camera. The sooner this buffoon goes, the better off all Jacksonians will be.

Lee Vance: Leader for the JPD
Maggie Burkes writes a good story about Assistant Police Chief Lee Vance, http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=15943_0_10_0_C. After Jackson has suffered from a crime epidemic and turmoil in the JPD, its nice to see coverage like this given to someone who is trying to make Jackson a better place.

Enjoy the weekend.