Jackson Jambalaya

You should put the reason WHY they should pull it for those who don't know. A Murrah high school student was killed in an auto accident there Friday.

Take it down or amend it to explain why it's not funny any more.

It wasn't funny to begin with though certainly in keeping with the bad taste too often displayed by Donna Ladd's shrine-to-herself free entertainment weekly. The posted is 35 mph and yet her JFP promoted driving the stretch for thrills at above the speed limit. Those creative class progressives sure know how to lead. Reminds me how recently one of them, an attorney no less, in a sad attempt to explain away Jackson's runaway crime rates was dismissing arson as a "victimless crime" over in the comments at the C-L. Pathetic.

THE JACKSON FREE PRESS SHOULD MAKE A PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR THIS OUTRAGE.

MWankerA wrote "The posted is 35 mph and yet her JFP promoted driving the stretch for thrills at above the speed limit."

Beyond the sad story about this terrible accident and needless loss of life Ladd's two faced hypocrisy needs to get loudly called out here.

How many times has she complained about bad drivers? How many thousands of words has she written about bad drivers from outside of Jackson in their SUVs and trucks, the bad drivers she fears while out on her Belhaven walks, bad soccer mom drivers talking on cell phones and on and on? Then she, as editor, green lights the hyping of speeding and joy riding in our city as some sort of best of activity?

I wholeheartedly agree with Anonymous above. Jackson deserves an apology!

Oh, come on. Now you're expecting Donna Ladd to predict car accidents? Shame on you for using this to further a petty grudge.

This post and string is stupid. Incredibly stupid.

No one asked her to see the future. It's just asked of her to be respectful and take it down, and most certainly to not promote driving above the speed limit to possible have a wreck.

January 25, 2009 2:54 PM doesn't get it. They just don't get it.

All I said was take it down .Truth be told, I received a couple of phone calls and some emails telling me about it. Not like I went out headhunting. However, its like the end of Fight Club, seeing them blow up the WTC towers just isnt' the same after 9/11 although its obviously now what they meant. Same thing here. Just take it down.

However, they did call Robbie Bell "most intriguing" person of 2007, something she has defended a few times showing she really doesn't get it.

No, you don't get it. Not even a half-wit would interpret this as insulting or disrespectful. Stick to computer code. Debating isn't your thing.

"The SUV was speeding, possibly as fast as 70 mph, police said." http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090125/NEWS/901250356/1001

at this point the little stint in the JFP does need to come down. it's just not "cute" anymore.

Keep grasping.

"No, you don't get it. Not even a half-wit would interpret this as insulting or disrespectful. "

Tell that to the Ulmers.........

JFP, listen to the posters on your own site and take the riverside dr. part of your "best" of jackson down. if for no other reason, at least just do it out of respect for the friends and families of the kids. why don't you just bump the finalists up one each and make fondren guitars your best cheap thrill and so on. i mean....why not?

Keep grasping.

If I were those families, I'd be thinking lawsuit. That unfortunate incident happened one day after the "Worst" of Jackson hit the streets.

Just think about it - a publication targeted at youth advocating dangerously breaking the law (wink wink) for a cheap thrill. The day after it is released, tragedy strikes by folks doing exactly what was advocated.

If I were JFP, i'd be lawyered up. But a tip to the lawyer that takes the case - get your cash up front.

WLBT reports:

Neighbors in the area say something must be done to the dangerous street before tragedy strikes again.

It's not unusual to see vehicles racing on Riverside Drive. Local residents say it is especially dangerous when children are let out of school in the afternoon.

"These roads are so bad that if you hit the bump the wrong way it will send your car airborne," said Wendy Wolfe who lives nearby.

"People go down this street as if they were on the Indianapolis speedway," said nearby resident Sharon Butler.

Did Donna Ladd talk to any of the people living on Riverside before promoting the street as the 'Best Cheap Thrill'?

Knowing her, she will probably blame the choice on her readers.

Stick with conputer code

Anonymous Anonymous said...Stick with conputer code

CON-puter code: The electronic format code used on computers purchased at Electric City

"Did Donna Ladd talk to any of the people living on Riverside before promoting the street as the 'Best Cheap Thrill'?"

or the THREE schools?

Keep grasping and making an ass of yourself.

Top of my list is better driving in this area: I’m tired of hearing almost daily about more people, including kids, dying on our roads because of bad driving. Donna Ladd, December 05, 2007, 10:28 AM

As for teen driving safety ... we really need a public-information campaign both about putting kids in dangerous cars and about the examples parents are setting for bad driving. Donna Ladd, December 19, 2007, 12:17 PM

But it is okay to encourage people to drive down a notoriously uneven residential street for the cheap thrill?

If you all are considering that a newspaper ad should, would and could have influenced an accident is poor judgement on your part. It is up to the driver to obey the rules, laws and regulations. Just because someone in the JFP made a joke, that I personaly thought was funny, that happens to offend someone doesn't mean that they should take it down or have it removed. If that is the case, why don't we as parents and "good citizens" jump in on the school districts for not having tougher rules for someone downgrading another individual. If we all stood up and made controversy as is being made here, maybe that would stop some of the shootings in schools and torment on children of a lesser. Now, back to the topic! If anyone should be blamed it should #1 be the county for not maintaining the roads as they should #2 the driver of the vehicle!! And for the person that said "If I were those families, I'd be thinking lawsuit", whom would the lawsuit be against??

"The SUV was speeding, possibly as fast as 70 mph, police said." http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090125/NEWS/901250356/1001

People need to use their own basic judgement skills and common sence that the good Lord gave them before you go judging someone else and trying to ruin their good name/reputation and wanting to have them take-down/remove something. IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!! FREE SPEECH!! THAT'S THE REASON THAT THOUSANDS OF OUR FATHERS, SONS, DAUGHTERS, DADDY'S AND MOTHERS HAVE DIED FOR IN THE PAST 8 YEARS!!!

That brings me to my first call-to-action of this column. I hereby challenge the Jackson Police Department to start issuing more tickets to people who roll through Stop signs (not to mention roar through them). I’m fully aware that the police can’t sit on my block every day, nor should they, but what I’d like to see (or not to see) is an increased presence of JPD cars tucked strategically around the corner from these heinous intersections. I want to see them turn on their lights, pull over the driver and ticket her or him. If this is done often enough, word will quickly spread at First Pres or in downtown offices, and people will start stopping at the Stop signs.

My suggestion is that JPD just spread the wealth around randomly. I urge readers to go to our Web site and, under this story, post dangerous intersections where you witness the worst driving. We need to help the police on this one. But, more than anything, smarter driving is everyone’s responsibility. Donna Ladd, December 16, 2004, 01:26 PM

Would a responsible member of Jackson's media promote driving a known bad road for the thrill of taking "a free ride on the wild side!". Is that good basic judgment and common sense?

Keep grasping, and keep it up. This is almost fun were it not be for the topic at hand.

Kingfish, you are better than this. This is disappointing. S#(% like this will make everyone, save one nut from Eastover, see you with no credibility.

I think anon has too much time on his hands. Maybe, just maybe, if he would spend a quarter of his time volunteering for his community as he does bitching on a blog, we would have a better place. But then again, why would he do that. He's a loser.

THE JACKSON FREE PRESS SHOULD MAKE A PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR THIS OUTRAGE. POPULARIZING UNSAFE RECKLESS DRIVING IN NEIGHBORHOODS IS AN INEXCUSABLE AFFRONT TO OUR CITY.

"Would a responsible member of Jackson's media promote driving a known bad road for the thrill of taking "a free ride on the wild side!". Is that good basic judgment and common sense?"

It is a joke! It has been taken completely out of context and been taken too seriously!! Yeah, it is a "cheap thrill" according to my daughter!! She thinks that it's fun, EVEN DOING THE SPEED LIMIT!! So, if someone has been in any way, shape or form influenced by the statement of "a free ride on the wild side", they need to have their license taken away! After all, you can't blam someone for YOUR mistakes!!

it is obvious that the riverside spill in the JFP was meant to be cute and funny. the wreck was also obviously a coincidence. the point is...it's not funny anymore and pulling the web version of the article is the appropriate thing to do. what ever happened to showing a little compassion.

Stop trying to act like mr. goodguy. You're a GD asshole. Pick on the JFP for something legit.

But please, keep grasping and digging the hole.

You obviously need to get laid, KF.

Dude,

I can't tell one Anonymous from another, but one of you logs in every couple of hours to write something about grasping.

Grasping for... the truth? perspective? credibility? Donna Ladd's ass?

What exactly is being grasped for here and who is doing the grasping: kingfish? the posters? Donna?

Posting "keep grasping" every few hours makes it seem like you've been sipping all day and in a drunken stupor expect us to know what the HELL you're talking about.

I think you know exactly what was meant. But nice attempt at lame humor. If you don't, you are dumber than I thought.

I should also add that all the handwringing over crime ignores many of the more real dangers that exist in the city and the ‘burbs, due to bad driving, driving under the influence, lack of places to walk/exercise and so on. Donna Ladd, February 17, 2005, 10:26 AM

I guess y’all are determined to tell me that I don’t watch people and animals nearly get hit regularly when I walk in the a.m. in Belhaven, but you can’t change reality. There are some freak drivers plowing through there in huge vehicles, talking on cell phones. Donna Ladd, August 14, 2007, 06:54 PM

I urge readers to go to our Web site and, under this story, post dangerous intersections where you witness the worst driving. We need to help the police on this one. But, more than anything, smarter driving is everyone’s responsibility. Donna Ladd, December 16, 2004, 01:26 PM

This seems like a pretty easy one for me at least.

JFP promotes and glorifies driving recklessly on Riverside Drive one day and the next three impressionable teens do so and have a terrible car accident that kills one of them.

The only cheap thrill I know of in Jackson would be picking up an Alt Weekly produced by a bunch of no talent hacks and free interns, sitting down with a bunch of hypersensitive, dope smoking hippies in Fondren equipped with a soy latte, reading away and acting like we were being informed.

It’s nice to know that there is a “leak” at the JFP just like the one that keeps pumping information to Ladd about C-L layoffs and downsizing. The only difference is with only 2 or 3 paid employees at the JFP it should be easy for Queen Ladd to root out the culprit who has trolled through her precious blogosphere.

OH NO what if was a disgruntled intern that discovered the hard way you get blacklisted in the local media for working at the JFP and get a job with the locals that Ladd has spent her pathetic career degrading.

I live on Belmont. Words can not describe the grief everyone feels about the young man's death after so many of us have complained to Jackson and JPD about Riverside. Margaret Simon has done nothing but give the problem lip service. The Channel 3 video accurately tells the story about the frustrations over the condition of that street and the abuse of traffic laws by too many of the people who drive it. The Free Press plug was a terrible decision and a disservice to all of Belhaven. Simply dreadful and the people here saying it is all okay are despicable. How would any of you like it if the Clarion Ledger or Northside Sun featured the streets you live on as some kind of public amusement park to drive up and down for the jollies? Children live around here. There are schools. Have you no common sense? Thank you Jim for calling this out. At least you had the courage to stand up for what is right and what is very wrong.

The accident was tragic. MAYBE the JFP should change or amend its award page, but attributing any of this to Donna Ladd is disgusting and demonstrates how deep your unhealthy obsession with her has become.

Where does the buck stop numbskull? If the ills of the C-L land with Hampton, Agnew, et al, if Emmerich is to be skewered for every word that appears within the confine of his pages whether he wrote them or not, then this f'up lands squarely on Ladd's desk.

What is disgusting is your apologia. It demonstrates your detachment from the reality of Ladd and her usage of the JFP to attack too many people in this community.

She f'up. Maybe you should waste your time asking how this Riverside screw up slipped through her vaunted editing process.

the majority of posters on here do not believe that donna ladd or the JFP was responsible for the wreck. good grief!
But leaving the article on the web site at this point is just plain tacky and shows a lack of class.
the funny thing is the JFP would be rolling around in this like pigs if the shoe were on someone else's foot. JFP didn't even consider the accident news worthy.

being a belhaven resident myself that also lives on belmont st. and uses the sidewalk on riverside to walk my dog, i did not appreciate the article nor did i find it in the least bit funny.

THE JACKSON FREE PRESS SHOULD MAKE A PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR THIS OUTRAGE. POPULARIZING UNSAFE RECKLESS DRIVING IN NEIGHBORHOODS IS AN INEXCUSABLE AFFRONT TO OUR CITY.

Wow, is it always like this around here?

Do you ever get the suspicion that one of the Anonymous posters is Frank Melton? That would explain the crazy, half-drunken tone of some of the posts.

I love your blog Kingfish, but there are enough trolls around here to make a lord of the rings movie.

You think Melton is only half-drunk?

Ah, just 3/4th.

Looks like someone has their panties in a wad about the jfp

My wife and I are using the JFP pics of the Best of Jackson 2009 as a form of birth control. Before that we just used Ladd’s syllabus from one of her writing classes.

One of the comments.

Once again I offer my condolences to the family and hate that certain media has made a mockery of out of unsafe driving conditions and undercut the value of human life.

All of the JFPs over here in Rankin County have been removed. I can’t find one in any of the newsstands close to my office and that is strange because there is usually an over abundance each week.

It's taken down!

Too late though for Ladd to avoid getting this bad PR. Hopefully next year she won't be stupid. So much for fact checking, phone calls and interviews BEFORE publishing. Pot and Kettle, meet Donna Ladd.

Just watched that WAPT story - OUCH

Ladd's spinning, badly, about the WAPT clip and her piss poor decision. No matter how hard she tries she can't reconcile her spin and the Best Cheap Thrill blurb. Digging the hole deeper, deeper, deeper. She's, er, grasping.

I suspect the reason Donna Ladd has suddenly found her voice for road repair, funding, enforcement, etc is because someone has forwarded to her one of the email conversations taking place amongst Belhaven homeowners that are not, shall we say, very flattering regarding her lapse in judgement.

Livid would be a good description of a number of people.

No one recalls her being "proactive" about resolving poor city road conditions before now nor remembers her calling for elected officials to be accountable about the disrepair either.

As echoed here by many, irrespective of the tragic death, encouraging thrill seekers to venture into a residential setting for some fun is a serious miscue. By the time you hit your late 40s you should probably know better.

Any shrink could figure out from reading her rag what her problem is. Put in another light, she and Bill Gates probably have something in common.

Michael, that's because it's the Best of Jackson issue. They always run out of those.

Some of you are so obsessed with Donna Ladd that it's scary. Beginning to believe what she's said about strong women scaring certain pathetic men because you don't even treat the people responsible for the poor condition of Riverside like this.

Oh, well. It's not your world anymore... We have a black president, Oprah has more power than almost anybody, gay marriage is starting to poll at better than 50pct... You're losing. People shouldn't blame you for being bitter.

Who is losing Tom? People shouldn't blame you for being bitter.

You can't play the gender card when people don't agree with someones positions or opinions.

If a woman decides to play football she can't expect the other players to follow the rule that you can't hit girls.

Ladd gets picked on because she expresses her opinions in a really visible way (by publishing her own paper) The more visible a person becomes then the more they become a target. That's just how it is.

That being said, I get pretty tired of people who just go on and on arguing with her. Let her say what she's gonna say and if you don't agree, register that and move on. It's unlikely she'll stop publishing because somebody doesn't agree with her.

As for who has power and who has control, that kind of thinking is probably the problem itself. It's impossible to function as a unit if everyone wants to make it all about this team vs that team and who takes home the trophy this week.

It's pointless to divide the country down the middle and say "this is oprah's team and this is rush limbaugh's team and whoever wins the presidency this term gets all the bragging rights."

The republicans won last season and the deomcrats won this season. Now that's settled can we move on to more important things?

Dear Anonymous,

I work in a pretty much desolate office in Rankin County where there are two places that the JFP is placed. The rack near my office is directly adjacent to a vet’s office. Every week there is an over abundance (not really sure why they put them right next to there own box anyways) and the vet usually grabs up all the extras before they put the new ones out (I think its on a Thursday) She uses them for cage liners which is the best use for a JFP if you ask me (my kitten had coccidia when we first got him and those things came in handy with all the diarrhea). Plus a librarian said she saw a man get all remaining issues out of the rack at Flowood Library yesterday. Lawyer in an office over said it could definitely be a liability for them.

Cordailly,
Michael

Rule 1 - when you are in a hole, STOP DIGGING.

Instead of shutting the hell up, she puts out a flat fact piece. In it, there is no mention of her award not but a day earlier before Ulmer died that almost dared JFP readers to go for a ride.

Then, the piece de resistance . . . Donner lays out a classic blame others piece. She starts with a bit of revisionist history by telling us what she wanted to remember about what she told us. Instead of a "tee-hee" moment, she tried to pawn of the "cheap thrill" line to biting satire and political commentary.

Then, she went on to blame . . .
The City (for bad roads)
The Police (for not enforcing violations)
The Driver (for driving too fast)
Soccer Moms and Suburbanites (who had nothing to do with the accident, but drive bad, nonetheless)

Unfortunately, not a word about the fact that she put out a piece that suggested dangerous behavior only to have a kid die and three more get injured who did exactly what was stated THE NEXT DAY. If it ever comes out that any one of those four kids read that story or even heard someone talking about it - well, let me put it this way - is there a trial lawyer in 'da house?

If I were running the Clarion Ledger, I would put this gaffe of the JFP above the fold. She has been mean-spirited and bitter to them and they ought to stick it to her on this one.

Then, the piece de resistance . . . Donner lays out a classic blame others piece. She starts with a bit of revisionist history by telling us what she wanted to remember about what she told us. Instead of a "tee-hee" moment, she tried to pawn of the "cheap thrill" line to biting satire and political commentary.

Right. The same predictable one-way reset of the record as if to discharge her actions as benign. She uses this strange logic that the readers are her "smart alternative" are somehow also ignorant enough to fall for the bullshit.