Jackson Jambalaya

It makes me sick for the people to say that the Fondren and Belhaven area is "Safe" with a low crime rate.....What planet are you living on people!!! Oh I know it must be the type of people who voted for OBAMA!!! Liberals who think everyone is good.....NOT!!!

11:26 Bingo. I have lived in the Jackson area for forty years. At one time the Belhaven and Fondren areas were wonderful places to live, but they aren't anymore. When Beth Henley's Mother was attacked in her own home in the Fondren area and later lost her life some years back, people realized Fondren was not safe, and I know people who moved. Same is truth of Belhaven. Not safe. In fact they are dangerous areas. Not an area of town people even want to ride through after dark anymore. Sad but true.

Any pictures of the guy available yet or maybe details?? Just curious as I take my kids to the park a lot.

well, i have lived there for about four years, and no problems where i am. nor my neighbors. i am on gillespie. we hang out on our back porch, have no bars on windows, and keep common sense at the ready, and we've been just fine.

so, what do i know?

Wow, sounds like someone is bitter than property values in Belhaven are way higher than Rankin County. I live in Belhaven and have never had a single issue with crime. It's a historic neighborhood in the city. Things happen. But isolated events like this do not mean Belhaven is inherently unsafe.

1:56 QB what do you know about property values?....I might just be in the Real Estate Field and no they are not better in Belhaven than Rankin County I can assure you. You are just one of thoes residents that turns a blind side to events that happen in Jackson and think everything is ok....and I am sure you voted for Obama!!

Good grief, Anon 2:09, calm down! It's just a discussion.

Crime happens everywhere. My friends in Lake Caroline are neighbors of one of the houses that go robbed. I lived in Ridgeland when a woman was raped on the city's jogging trail. No place is immune because no place is without PEOPLE. The only place you can be 100% safe from crime is in your grave -- and these days, even that's not certain.

If someone wants to live in Jackson, fine. If someone wants to live in Pearl or Clinton or Gluckstadt, same difference. For the life of me, I don't understand why people get their panties wadded about where someone chooses to live.

I am glad the woman is safe and that she had neighbors who were willing to intervene.

CL on this story on Monday

For the life of me, I don't understand why people get their panties wadded when someone chooses to voice their personal opinion.

WLBT has reported that the attempted rape took place on February 11 (see http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12021079). But, as far as I can tell, the first time the official Belhaven neighborhood email newsletter mentioned it was on February 19, more than a week after it happened. Did the people that send out the official Belhaven newsletter not learn about this incident before February 19? Or are they not mentioning all the significant crimes (or potential crimes) in Belhaven that they actually know about, or, not mentioning them as quickly as they learn about them? I think Belhaven is a great neighborhood to live in overall, but sometimes I think some crime information here in Belhaven is hushed up. I know crime happens all over the Jackson metro area, including in places like Madison & Ridgeland, and I'm sure that some crime is "hushed up" to some degree is every part of the metro area. I just hope the neighborhood associations in Belhaven (and elsewhere) will start to realize that the true value of any particular neighborhood, as compared with others, will depend on how honest and forthright their city and neighborhood leaders are being with their residents.

The newsletter went out Friday but I first heard of it on Thursday and was told it had just happened. Hard to hush up things in Belhaven as everyone talks to each other and these things get around VERY quickly.

For the life of me, I don't understand why people get their panties wadded when a neighborhood association is slow to fully communicate about violent crime.

I've never seen the great appeal of Belhaven or Fondren. The streets are Awful. The streets alone are enough to piss me off everyday. City of Jxn taxes (which don't go to street repair?) are pretty steep. Crime is an issue, and I would be more comfortable living somewhere safer.

Don't mean to sound so negative, but crime marches on, no matter how you want to look at it, no matter where you live. There are bad, desperate people out there.

I agree with you 6:11, but I would take it one step further

1. Can't stand Madison holier than thou pretentious attitude, would love to drop them in the big city and see how self-important they think they are now.
2. Rankin is not much better, we have a true Southern don't give a hoot attitude. We don't really know how to "git 'er done."
3. Downtown just looks and feels unsafe on all accords and is falling apart.
4. Country folks just ride through. Hoping not to run into any of us.

All in all, we all have our issues. Can't we all just get along?

Tried to post this comment a couple of minutes ago. Apparently it didn't go through then.

WJTV reported tonight on both their 5 p.m. and 6 p.m reports that the attempted rape at Laurel Street Park in Belhaven happened more than a week ago (on February 11), but that police didn't notify the residents about this potential danger until after an arrest had been made yesterday (on February 21). According to WJTV, Police Chief Lee Vance said that the police didn't notify residents of the incident sooner because they didn't want to cause "unnecessary panic" in the neighborhood.

Let's face it: All of the local news outlets SHOULD had been notified by the police about this attempted rape the same day that it was reported to police (which was presumably on Feb. 11th, the day this attempted rape happened). Yes, Belhaven residents do talk to each other and do have an official email newsletter, but not everyone receives the newsletter, and even the official newsletter didn't report this incident until February 19, more than a week after the incident had happened. Whether the neighborhood association people who put out this email newsletter didn't hear about the incident themselves until Feb. 19, or whether, for some reason, they chose not to put it in their newsletter until Feb. 19, I'm not sure, but something is very wrong somewhere. How can residents report seeing a SPECIFIC suspicious person or vehicle that was associated with a SPECIFIC serious crime if the residents themselves have not been notified of the crime? I would like to know whether it was the police themselves who happened to notice this man in the Belhaven area again yesterday (February 21), or whether it was a resident who "just happened" to have heard about the Feb. 11th crime (whether by word of mouth or by personal email) who noticed the man in the area yesterday and reported it to police.

The February 11th attempted rape most definitely should have been reported by the police to all of the local news outlets the day it happened. Also, the Belhaven neighborhood association should have informed all the residents on their email newsletter list about this crime as soon as they (the neighborhood association) learned of it.

Email Margaret Cupples. She sends out the newsletter. Word passed around Belhaven before it was sent out in the newsletter a couple of days earlier.

@7:15 PM same thing happens with crime downtown. Swept under the rug to hide the truth from the unsuspecting.

Where are the crime stats for Ridgeland and Madison>

I lived in Madison for years and EVERY time a new house was built in the neighborhood, one of the newly released from Parchman on the construction job used his knowledge to steal from somebody in the neighborhood!I was a crime victim 3 times.

Moved back to Jackson for the last couple of decades and have not been victimized yet.

C'mon people...get real...crime follows the money.

Rapists follow money?

The Belhaven/Fondren vs. Madison/Rankin is laughable. Go to MLS and see how long properties in 39202 stay on the market. They don't - and in fact - more move without ever being listed. It's a fact. Sure - it's "urban" living - but it's every bit as save in Belhaven as it is anywhere else. The incident happened on 2/18. Neighborhood news circulated the next day. Not sure where 2/11 came from. Belhaven residents are vigilant - and this is part of the reason why the guy was caught so quickly. And I love seeing all the Madison and Ranking tags at Laurel Park - maybe this incident will keep you in the burbs for a while.

@8:53- you nailed it on the head. we bought our Belhaven house from a realtor connection without the house ever having been listed. i know of two other houses that sold in Bhaven without being listed.

Bhaven is a popular neighborhood that has an appeal that suburban neighborhoods can't have. that is simply because of demand.

Bhaven is a small urban neighborhood that has a wide spectrum of home sizes (from condos to over 4000+ sq.ft.), so that there is no abundance of any particular size. if you want to live in Jackson, it is basically the top spot other than Fondren. But, it is "protected" from crime by its boundaries a little better than Fondren. so, houses don't stay on market long.

in the burbs, you can find many neighborhoods with similar homes, sizes, amenities, style, in many locations. Madison has three or four subdivisions i can think of where you can get similar homes. Rankin has more. more supply.

I love seeing all my Belhaven neighbors who bring their dogs to Laurel Park specifically to let them crap there. Visit any early morning before work or late afternoon after work to watch the parade of owners who walk their dogs to the park and leave shortly after Fido has completed the dump. A disgusting practice.

Both WLBT and WJTV reported on Monday, February 22nd that the attempted rape took place on February 11th (a Thursday). See http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12021079 AND http://www2.wjtv.com/jtv/news/local/article/jackson_police_dont_notify_residents_about_attempted_rape/105085/. I would assume these TV stations got the date of the incident from the police.

Unfortunately, the TV stations (WLBT and WJTV) apparently only learned of the February 11th attempted rape incident on Sunday, February 21st, after the police had caught the guy earlier that day (Feb. 21st).

The Belhaven neighborhood email newsletter didn't report anything about the February 11th attempted rape incident until Friday, February 19th, which (assuming WLBT's and WJTV's incident date of February 11th is correct) was more than a week after the incident happened. The neighborhood newsletter of Friday, February 19th, stated (and I quote) "Thursday morning, there was an assault on a female neighbor who was walking her dog, in Laurel Park...," but failed to point out that the incident had happened on the Thursday of the PREVIOUS week, not on the day before. So, did the neighborhood association not hear about the February 11th incident from the police before February 19th? Or did the neighborhood association sit on the information for several days until some of the residents who were hearing about the incident by personal "word of mouth" started wondering why they weren't being officially informed about it by either the police or the neighborhood association?

I know for a fact that the neighborhood association has tried to squelch certain information about crime in the area for PR reasons. I don't think crime is that much worse in Belhaven than any other area, but I do think there is a problem with the neighborhood association's PR mentality. (But I also know of other communities in the central Mississippi area which have also squelched crime information for PR reasons.) My sense is that there is also pressure (from somewhere) being put on the police to also keep things quiet. Perhaps if the police had notified the TV stations the day the incident happened, this man could have been caught a week sooner than he was. The fact that he was spotted back in this same neighborhood less than two weeks after the attack of Feb. 11 shows that he was quite bold and extremely dangerous.

In light of the delay in getting out the information of this incident--whether the delay was by the police, the neighborhood association, or both--I think we were all somewhat "lucky" that this guy happened to be spotted and caught before he was able to attack someone else.

Let's hope that both the police and the local neighborhood associations (not just in Belhaven but throughout the central Mississippi area) will get a wake-up call from this incident and will start using every available means to inform the residents of serious crime as soon as it happens. Let's keep our residents immediately informed so that they can be active participants in keeping a "look out" for these criminals to help catch them. JPD and the local security patrol can't be everywhere or see everything.

I live in Fondren. Just moved there from Belhaven. I was made aware of the attack via text and email from neighbors on Thursday the 18th stating the attack occured THAT morning. The news got the date wrong. The CL reported nothing on the story until they caught the guy. WE (meaning residents of Fondren and Belhaven) thought that was strange as a neighborhood email was circulated about one hour after the attack took place and made it to me by 2pm on Thursday afternoon. We were all on the look out for the car. We had a description of the guy and the car from the email.

Belhaven residents didn't try to "cover" this up. Its crappy CL reporting. Residents are why he was arrested. They saw him trolling the same part of the neighborhood again and called it in to the police.

I've lived in both neighborhoods for over three years. Never been the victim of any crime. Had my purse stolen out of my car in Madison during my seven years living there. Crime is everywhere.

I find it so amusing that people say they won't even "drive down here after dark". HYSTERICAL. We are out walking our baby in her stroller at 8pm at night in our neighborhood with at least twenty other families we regularly pass. We also walk to the drugstore and grocery store on the corner. Something I'm pretty sure the surburbanites DON'T do.

And I live in "No Fo" which is on the edge of ghettoness! And, I LOVE IT. My street has block parties. I know all my neighbors and their kids. People actually "commune" on their front porches in the evening (weather permitting).

But, I would like for the stereotype of us being a war zone to persist. I don't want some of you people living in my neighborhood. You kind of sound like asses.

To Butterknife: why did you move from Belhaven to Fondren? My wife are approaching retirement years and are looking at moving to Belhaven. Just curious.

I know for a fact that the incident occurred on 2/18 and not 2/11. Media has incorrect information. as has been stated in other comments - the reason this guy was caught was because neighborhood residents passed around a description and when he was spotted - he was arrested. nice work 'haven.

Butterknife and 2:20 are correct.

Why did the Knife move? Ever heard of expanding the family?

As Kingfish said. I shot "un babi" out of my 'gina and required an upgrade in bedroom space. :) (If you can't tell, I'm learning Spanish from Dora) We found a totally redone 1920's home in Fondren for a reasonable price and we loved it.

I should correct myself and say that I officially lived in "The Heights" which has far less inviting "strolling streets" and we wanted more of a neighborhoody feel for the rug rat.

I have a deep love for both neighborhoods, though. But, then again, I tend to like places that don't all look like the neighborhood from Edward Scissorhands.

I have a 3 br/3.5 ba home in Belhaven that I am interested in selling, seriously. I am in the process of moving for a job opportunity, and would love to sell my house without the involvement of a realtor (and the commission!). If anyone is interested, email rowanholdings@gmail.com.

thanks!