Jackson Jambalaya

Laurel Street Park in Jackson or Laurel Park in Flowood?

I have no clue what 'Laurel Park' is, but the two women from Maryland should have left it after the first encounter. Not the second, but the first. Not the third, but the first. Stupid is as stupid does. So, what did the 'girls' do....sit there and giggle, thinking they had been flirted with by two amorous gentlemen?

I live right around the corner from the park. Came home around lunch saw theses two guys walking down sidewalk in front of my house on St. Mary. I thought now these guys look up to no good. Then thought you know maybe I shouldn't be thinking like that. I actually looked in my back yard by the park several times to make sure they weren't jumping fence to steal anything. Guess they were too busy carjacking someone. This is why the black community gets profiled around here. Not because of racism. Because of people like these thieves!

Day after day after day after day after day after day...

If you're stupid enough to be in that area, you deserve what you get.

That's Belhaven y'all. Nice place. Except for the crime.

Calling them hoodlums is racist.

Turning into South Jackson.

3:19: What an ugly, ignorant comment from someone who knows zip about Belhaven. I lived in Belhaven for 20 years until I needed a larger home. Belhaven is a great community of fine people. Belhaven has always been a very united, engaged community of interesting people, including professors at Belhaven and Millsaps, doctors working nearby at UMMC, Baptist and St. Dominic's, lawyers from all the best law firms, and intelligent, better than usually educated people from all walks of life. Belhaven is a well organized community as well with active improvement, garden club and security organizations working for the neighborhood. The architecture of Belhaven is also much finer, more unique and of historic interest than that of any cookie cutter bedroom community outside of Jackson. Yes, crime can be an issue, but the people of Belhaven do a good job looking out for each other as true neighbors. There is a true community feeling in Belhaven I have never encountered anywhere else. You do not know either what you are talking about or what you are missing.

I'm glad Jackson crime is under control and they don't need the state to take over... lol

I don't miss my days as a security guard at Belhaven College... It was weird back then at night and now in broad daylight...

3:19… Stupid enough? Im willing to bet you that our property value is more that yours where you live. This is a nice historic neighborhood next to First Pres school. You are one of those people that think were snobby bc all the people in our Jackson neighborhood send our kids to private school or something I'm sure. Clearly you have no idea. People in this area can afford to live anywhere in the metro area even east over reunion bridgewater etc. I have 3 kids at St. Andrews school as do many of my neighbors I like being near hospital especially when I'm on call.

Wait, I though Marylanders were banned from visiting Mississippi. I guess now we have the real reason why.

@3:19: people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The next time your trailer park gets hit by a tornado, let's talk.

Damn that is a massive chip on the shoulder of those Shangri-La, er, Belhaven folks.

3:19 is the same guy who posts the same thing each time a story like this gets posted. Completely obsessed cow pasture dweller.

To 3:19---I also live in Belhaven and my family members loved the area for 25 years but now things are different. I carry a gun when I go from my house to the car, I carry a gun when we walk, I carry a gun when I let my dog out day or night. You don't have a clue what you are talking about---look at the beautiful homes that were off Robinson Road where the Dennerys lived, look at the beautiful homes that were on West Capitol---Belhaven is headed in the same direction---don't be stupid, it's just going to take a while to get there !!!!!

You send your "3 kids at St. Andrews"? Wow, I'm impressed. We will listen to you much more closely going forward.

To all you idealists bashing the post who simply stated the obvious.... You don't have to live in belhaven to that the surrounding crime is affecting the "bubble" around belhaven. Its one thing to defend your neighborhood but to do it from a "I send my 3 kids to St. A" sounds pretentious (which is why outsiders target the area when they find women by themselves). I don't live in the neighborhood but I did in college and many years after. I got out after the lady lost her life in her on driveway taking out the trash. You can defend the neighborhood all you want to pretend us madison folks are part of the problem, but hell at least i don't have to pack heat when I go outside and can drink the water coming out of my faucet.

Three things as a former resident of Belhaven: 1) Unlike the burbs, lots of really interesting professionals who know each other across the neighborhood; 2) it is close to cultural attractions like the symphony and the art museum (sorry, an outlet mall does not count as a cultural attraction); and 3) IT AIN'T BORING.

3:58. Sorry. Nothing you wrote at all convinces me and probably others that Belhaven is safe. In fact we know it is not.

Advice for all those who live in Belhaven: Gun show. go, buy, learn responsible ownership, learn to shoot, use when needed

Belhaven is full of wonderful people and its a great community. Too bad turds float through and act all thuggish. time to flush the toilet..

Belhaven is part of Jackson. The streets are the same, the water is the same, the elected officials are the same.
A partially paved street does not keep anything in or out.

Simple. All you folks that live in Rankin burbs, including Pearl trailers, and those that live in Ridgeland apartments or Madison's Mary approved homes - stay there. Its fine. you don't want to live in Belhaven and probably wouldn't fit in anyway.

For those of us that live in Belhaven - as I have for over 30 years - be glad with what we have and why we are here. Is it absolutely safe? Hell no. Nowhere is. But I'll take my safety here any time. I don't carry a gun. Not because I'm opposed, but I'm not worried enough to feel the need for it. I enjoy my house and location, and haven't had any crime related to it (other than one power tool issue) in the last twenty years.

Live and let live. I don't want those folks on here that constantly tell us how bad it is as neighbors. They don't want to move in, which helps our neighborhood. All is well.

yall know good and damn well Jackson has a lower crime rate than Madison and Rankin! Come on guys get it together and get the hell out before the hoodrats start moving in.

They... stuck something (might have been a finger covered by something) in the woman's back and told her to give up the car keys or else.

That's bad. But this would have been much, much worse:

They... stuck something (might have been a finger covered by something) in the woman's back and told her to get in the car or else.

This is how violent rape and murder stories start.

Like any amateur, criminals are emboldened by success, and they tend to escalate their behavior until stopped. A shoplifter graduates to car theft, a car thief graduates to car jacker, a car jacker graduates to kidnapping... or worse.

Get some training. Get your IC permit. Get a gun, and carry it. And practice shooting regularly.

This story could be much more tragic than it is. The next victim may not be so "lucky".

I moved out to rural Madison County in 1993 from fashionable, fantastical northeast Jackson. My mother cried. I called it moving to the Paw-Paw patch. Had a station wagon, laughingly said I was loading up the wagon and going into town for supplies each week. It was the smartest thing I have ever done. I was raised in northeast Jackson, in fact a 5th generation Jacksonian. I know where the bodies are buried, really. So newcomers, don't lecture me, really.

In 1983, Belhaven was a quaint enclave, where the largest roaches I have ever seen crawled over the sidewalks and street. Literally. Not much has changed and I am truly sorry. In fact, my grandparents had a house on Laurel Street, so I am really familiar with the area. It is a beautiful neighborhood, but the crime has been there for decades. The roaches now approach women at the park. What a shame.

God love the numbskulls who recently built new homes in Crimehaven, er, Belhaven.

Much to the dismay of you fools who refuse to see the obvious, my neighbors and myself spent all this evening hanging out in the front yard, enjoying whine, at our nice little neighborhood in Madison County. I know everyone on the street, and we have neighborhood parties frequently, which often include a barbeque. The children are allowed to roam freely and play in one of our neighborhood parks, and none of the parents have to worry about their safety. Madison County deputies do an excellent job keeping our neighborhood safe. I've lived here for over ten years, and I've never heard of any crime occurring in the area, with the exception of the occasional Jackson resident who will steal a package. Which is ok, because they're always caught. I realize not every neighborhood out here is like this, and we have a gem. But rest assured, Belhaven isn't the only neighborhood that is like a small friendly community. And we don't even have to worry about getting murdered while taking out the trash.

You might like living in the hood, and that's just fine, but don't think we are stupid enough to believe that Belhaven is a safe, nice neighborhood to live in. You've just gotten numb to the crime.

Tolerate Jackson crime, tolerate more Jackson crime, tolerate even more Jackson crime, sooner or later become a Jackson crime victim.

@9:19. When a strong storm knocks the fake stucco off your house and the pasture floods, you will wish you lived in a nice neighborhood in Jackson

@ 9:08 - Kinda doubt you even know where Belhaven is. There are no new homes in the neighborhood other than one built on a lot where the house burned in 2001, one that burned on Euclid, and the townhomes that are adjacent to the Belhaven complex across from the hospital. There may be another random one or two that escape me. There are no vacant lots and the neighborhood is historically protected so houses are not torn down. So don't worry about the "numbskulls" who recently built that don't exist. Mine was built as recently as the turn of the century, the 20th century.

I've long since stopped trying to figure out the crime problem in this part of town. What I spend my idle moments now pondering is the large number of residents who actually pretend they live in a quaint, New Orleans styled late-18th century art district where they can congregate on wind-chimed verandas for mint juleps in the cool evenings. And the faint clip-clop of hooves in the distance signals a party of six, dressed in their finest, about to arrive at the Coach-Stone, where an old grey gentleman in a silk jacket will (Hello Miss Miss) help them disembark.

@9:19
Why do you sit in your front yard and whine?

@10:03

Again, this fake stucco nonsense is just something y'all have made yourselves believe, in an attempt to justify your hood. My house is brick. Please come punch through it.

1 numbskull + [x] numbskulls = numbskulls

I lived in Hatheway Lake in madison a couple years ago. I just hated it. It took forever to get to work and the neighborhood was very dull. I bought a house in Belhaven a couple months ago and love living here. Crime is an issue but I would rather take my chances with the thugs than Mayor Mary and the gang.

Belhaven has been like this for as long as I can remember. It's hard to keep the neighborhood up when you live among "historically protected" apartments and rental houses.

I do envy the roller coaster rides you Belhaven snobs get to take everyday when you drive home as well as the frequent visit to tire shops when you hit the various "historically protected" sink holes.

Speaking of stucco, I don't think I've seen any of new construction with stucco in some time. Sounds like someone is still living in the late 80s in NE Jackson where that was common all around.

you will wish you lived in a nice neighborhood in Jackson

Please name two.

Or were you being sarcastic?

Heatherwood, Eastover, Petit Bois, Woodland Hills, Fondren, Belhaven, LOHO, Fontaine Place, Lake Trace, I can go on.

Country Club of Jackson, Rolling Meadows, Rollingwood, on and on.

I love living in Lake Caroline. It's a ten minute drive to work (yes, there are high paying jobs in Gluckstadt) and we have a sense of community like none other. I hope you all enjoy you're time in Belhaven. As for me and my family, we will never leave Lake Caroline. The love and enjoyment the neighbors have for each other is simply too hard to find. Please don't lump all of the Madison County neighborhoods into one bucket, I assure you they are not all the same.

These "pasture" comments are rich. Maybe I'm missing the dig, but it doesn't seem to make sense considering the commentators presumably live in Jackson neighborhoods which were built on either a farm field, pasture, woods or best yet, a swampy floodplain. Meadowbrook Highlands was built on what was the Primos' horse pasture until the 90s. The monster mansions recently built east of Eastover, at the end of Meadowbrook and Wild Valley, was a floodplain grass field. High school kids tore it up regularly with trucks, jeeps and four wheelers until developed in the early 2000s. There were still cows on the Jackson side of County Line Rd in the 80's. Look elsewhere at towns like Oxford or Brentwood and Frankin, TN. Now that Oxford is built out, they're annexing wood and pasture lands to keep up with growth (growth is good, remember?). The point is made, but there are many more examples to prove the stupidity and absence of facts behind the "pasture" jab.

Yet another troll like @7:17 AM worried about Mary but not smart enough planting their false flag to know that Hatheway Lake isn't within the Madison city limits.

How many of the Bellhaven residents trolling this thread leave their homes unlocked? Their cars unlocked?

Bueller? Bueller? Anybody?

/that's what I thought. Living in the nicest neighborhood in Jackistan is still living in hell. Live there at the peril of your own life. The archives are filled with the obituaries of dumbass people to stubborn to leave.

We can debate Belhaven vs Madison till the cows come home, but only one of us is dodging bullets and boiling drinking water. Thats a fact. If you think belhaven is the greatest then by all means stick to you guns (for your own sake pun intended). Madison has its cons and ill be the first to tell you that too often people drive straight into their garages, never to be seen for social activities.

Anon @ 7:17 is posting falsehoods. You know you're reading bullshit when the Jacktown thirty-somethings start yacking about dull neighborhoods, Mayor Mary, long commutes and how enjoyable it is living among thugs.

@ 7:17AM - Interested to know how much you dealt with Mayor Mary as a homeowner in Hatheway Lake since she is the Mayor of a city and you lived in the county. It's humorous how real criminals in your current neighborhood don't bother you as much as the mayor of a city you didn't live in did.

To 7:17 am

Good Post !!

So those touting the make up of Belhaven's residents it sounds like it is made up of la la land liberals who refuse to see the forest for the trees. Which are the ones that have gotten this country, and Belhaven in the shape its in. If you're willing to risk your families safety to live in an old craftsman style house(they aren't antebellum homes like some would have you think), which constantly requires work, more power to you. I have lived in Brandon proper my whole life and I can tell you the commute into Jacktroit isn't bad for the time I need to be there. I was looking for the keys to my truck this morning and realized I had left them in the ignition since Saturday and, shocker, it's still in my driveway. I'll make a very substantial bet to anyone that lives in Belhaven that it wouldn't last a week there. To phrase a doctor friend(who happens to live in Rankin County), "if ignorance is bliss, you must be truly happy".

I just don't get why it chaps so many people that the residents of Jackson choose to live here and like it. When we cease to like it, we will move. I'm good with suburbanites living where they choose. It really is ok and valid for folks to have different tastes - so peace, please, people.

10:08

You are incorrect about there being no vacant lots.

There are several in the area...I looked at building. However the lot price of $65k doesnt make sense in light of having to do $45k in dirt work to remove and replace the soils.

Its a great neighborhood....its just going to require more attention....more fences...more lighting....but it will survive.

Now the larger risk is west Fondren....there are true gangsters who live on West street and as UMC expands..and housing developments encroach on the "hood," it will be interesting to see how that works. For those who havent seen the multimillion dollar development down from Sal and Mookies....go check it out.

I will call the first tenant in those units the bravest dude in Jackson.

I sense that the majority of the posters, on both "sides" of pro/anti-Belhaven non-issue, are paid trolls. In fact, both "sides" may consist of ONE troll arguing with himself.

I live in Madison. My first home was in Belhaven. I remember 'The Big Flood', which impacted a low-lying portion of Laurel street. I upgraded my first house, and sold it to a member of one of Jackson's big-name families. Then, I bought one of the flooded houses on Laurel Street. A post-flood owner had replaced interior finishes, plumbing, and wiring. I spent a lot on the exterior, and then rented the place to a succession of very nice tenants - two of them medical students from wealthy families. ALL my tenants, in both my Belhaven rental houses, ranged from 'very nice' to 'prominent'. I would have refused to rent to Rednecks or White Trash, had any applied. None did. But I, and others, felt a sense of responsibility, to preserve the social fabric of the Belhaven Community. The COMMUNITY was, and IS, a living treasure.

I've owned rental houses/buildings in other parts of the metro, and the quality of tenantry available to me in Belhaven was clearly superior. Elsewhere, I had trust fund babies who turned out to be addicts, and WORSE - far worse. (Today, it's just too risky to own residential rental properties, and so I have none.)

Then, I sold the Belhaven houses, and went off to Tulane for another degree. I regret selling the houses, and miss Belhaven. It was, and IS, a neighborhood full of interesting houses, lovely people, and venerable plant-life. Belhaven is a botanical wonderland, where IQs are high enough for residents to appreciate and preserve fine old trees and shrubs (and plantings of rare bulbs, some of which persist from the early 1900s).

But, after living in New Orleans, I NEVER want to live in proximity to a certain 'element', ever again. Belhaven is too close, for ME, to that 'element'. But that's just me. I admire those who remain in Belhaven (and those in Fondren). Belhaven is a wonderful community, full of wonderful people. (And, most anyone you'll ask, from Madison to Brandon, will agree. Belhaven is a VERY nice place.)

I'm May 12th @ 4:58, I am going to put my home in Belhaven on the market asap and move to the coast. You can take Jackson, Hinds County, Rankin County and Madison County and shove them up your ass as far as they will go---I'm tired of it all !!!!!!!

9:36am, the Hood always loses out to gentrification, so I have no doubt that West Fondren will improve greatly. And those first owners will benefit the most in terms of increased property value.

People that live in multimillion dollar developments have no problem with calling the police over quality of life nonsense that the neighborhood may be used to getting away with. And police respond when residents who paid hundreds of thousands, call them. So any crap that has allowed to fester wool get resolved.

Well stated 11:30

@11:46

This is jpd you're talking about. Good luck with that.

7:17

If you are more afraid of 'Mayor Mary and the gang' than Mayor Yarber and real gangs, you don't belong in Belhaven, you're better suited for Whitfield.

I live in a nice neighborhood in NE Jackson, and as someone else stated above, there are quite a few nice neighborhoods in Jackson from which to choose. We have looked at Belhaven. If the right house came along, we would seriously consider it because having lived in NE Jackson almost my whole life, I know what a wonderful neighborhood it is. I have friends who live there and absolutely love it. But I do love my current NE Jackson neighborhood, so we will likely just stay put here.

I have a sister who lives in Reunion, and she has told me that the commute is just too ridiculous for them (jobs and also kids in school in Jackson), and so they will likely move back to Jackson in the near future. We do enjoy going to their home in Reunion, as it is also a nice neighborhood. At one time, we thought about living there until we realized how problematic the drive was for us, even just once every now and then to visit (and that wasn't even in the morning or afternoon work/school traffic!). If you are ok with that commute, then go for it. We are not ok with that commute, for a number of reasons, so we will stay in Jackson. I also have a friend who lives with his family in another nice Madison neighborhood out 463. They work in Madison and send their kid to Madison public school. The 1.5 mile commute to their kid's school takes them over 30 minutes every single morning due to the horrible traffic congestion. It annoys them, but they are willing to deal with that, and they prefer Madison, so good for them.

Oh - and to the person who likes to sit in their front yard and drink "whine" in Madison...guess what...we do that here in our neighborhoods in Jackson, too. We also stroll our babies, and our kids ride their bikes and play in the front yards. I have accidentally left my car in the driveway, unlocked, with a COMPUTER in plain sight on the seat for a month...here in Jackson...and it was never bothered. (But I will say that I don't care where you live, that's a stupid thing to do, and I don't plan on doing it again. As reported on this website, you can't even leave a Yeti in your driveway in Rankin.)

Yes, Jackson has issues. We are willing to put up with those issues because we prefer Jackson. We do hope the issues will be worked on and resolved at some point in the near future. The suburbs also have issues, and if you are willing to put up with those issues because you prefer Madison or Rankin, then you should live there.

2:29 your absolute calm logic drives the redneck haters CRAZY.

Well stated.

"7:17, If you are more afraid of 'Mayor Mary and the gang' than Mayor Yarber and real gangs, you don't belong in Belhaven, you're better suited for Whitfield." May 13, 2016 at 2:24 PM

Agreed. Except that Governor Bouffant seems to be busy defunding Whitfield. Instead, I'd recommend that 7:17 move to a state with a functioning Mental Health system, and establish residency prior to Commitment proceedings.

@9:12 gets it.
S/he willfully lives in Jackson and I willfully don't.
S/he is happy where s/he is, and so am I.
Some people are willing to risk elevated crime in exchange for convenience and neighborhoods with character.
Other people prefer accept clear-cut neighborhoods and nearly indistinguishable houses in exchange for near-total safety.
"Different strokes for different folks... and so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby..."

The rednecks really hate Jackson. It is quite comical. Rednecks are great for entertainment on these threads. They create problems when they start voting. Then you get Phil Bryant & Donald Trump. Make America Great Again guys!

4:55, was it the rednecks who voted in the mayor of Jackson? He can't even balance a check book.

Man. If I ever get 'jacked, I hope at least one of yall will look for me rather bitch about each other's towns.

May 13, 2016 at 2:29 PM = 100% fabricated story

The 1.5 mile commute to their kid's school takes them over 30 minutes every single morning due to the horrible traffic congestion.

100% Bullshit.

I have accidentally left my car in the driveway, unlocked, with a COMPUTER in plain sight on the seat for a month...here in Jackson...and it was never bothered.

100% fabrication.

I'm with 2:29. I used to live in Madison County. I had many friends who lived there too. It was tolerable for a few years, but the drives and missing out on the goings-on in Jackson always kept us bored. We moved to NE Jackson 3 years ago, along his with many others folks our age who are turning their backs on the suburbs. We love it. Hate on, haters.

I can't understand the logic behind 'living in a neighborhood with character' while sacrificing personal and family safety. There is something alarmingly false about claiming to not be bothered by crime and absence of safety.

And, please, what are all these 'negatives' and 'down sides' some of you keep harping on regarding life in Madison or Rankin County. And please stop with the bullshit about stucco and pastures.

I enjoy eating at Crechales once every two months but am never comfortable getting there or leaving there. Getting there from Madison during daylight hours is OK. But, the trip back, in the dark, on 80 and I-220 for twenty minutes is a sphincter-clincher. The same would be true if we ventured to the theatre or Irish Pub in Belhaven. The facts do not support your claims of peace and safety.

Jesus you whiny bitches. To paraphrase Mitch Hedberg, what about the red Kia? Does anybody care about the red Kia?

@11:30 good to hear your input Sen. Walter!

"(Lord's name taken in vain) you whiny bitches. To paraphrase Mitch Hedberg, what about the red Kia? Does anybody care about the red Kia?"
May 13, 2016 at 8:03 PM

What we CARE about, is that these two innocent Yankee women from Maryland made it through the incident without paralysis from being shot in the spine, brain injury from being stomped in the head, or tissue damage/STDs from being raped. Women are being gang-raped, in their own cars, at Jacktown gas stations, now. Parks are not much safer.

Hopefully, those women NOW know that red cars are among the THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE, IN MISSISSIPPI. They're too attractive to 'Teens & Youths'.

People, please be nice to the poor misguided fools who want to live in Jackson. Don't try to explain to them that there is a safer place to live. Don't mention there are places where cops can arrest criminals without the fear of being attacked by the people they are trying to help. Be sure and don't say a thing about paved streets and clean running water in the homes.
Just think, these people may decide to move and they may become your new neighbors.

You people do realize that there are plenty of high paying jobs in Madison County, right? I'm 30, like to consider myself successful, and the furthest south I ever have to go is the City of Madison. What does Jackson offer that would make me want to go further? We have plenty of good restaurants, community activities, great grocery stores, farmers markets, and other community events that me and my family very much enjoy. It's is possible to have a very happy life around here without going to the hood that is all of Jackson and most of ridgeland.

KF could just rename the comments sections to "White (mostly suburban) People Mad Online."

If KF would post all of the comments people send in you would probably learn a little about what is happening today. People will explain how they feel but it is racist. Now days everything except what blacks post is racist. The truth does not matter anymore.
As usual this will not be posted either.

Can you direct me 8:33 PM to your blog so that I can "learn a little about what is happening today"? Thanks.

I love America.

We are free to live where we want to and insult other people's choices.

10:15

You're living a fairy world if you believe that.

Belhaven resident woke up to klan propaganda in their yard yesterday. Apparently they are utilizing the high crime rate to drive recruitment.

Did I hear that right. Everyone living in Belhaven belongs to the Klan?