Jackson Jambalaya

The MS Sports Medicine guys will be building out in Madison within a year or two. The slow drip became a trickle. Now it's a flood.

They are already in Madison. Until a mega hospital is built in the "burbs" medicine is here to stay in Jackson. Cheers to them for doing this.

We had a dinner scheduled at a restaurant near Baptist. It was moved to a location outside of the City of Jackson because some people in the group didn't want to leave a dinner after 8 p.m. in that area. Whether you think that was reasonable really doesn't matter. It happened, it will continue to happen, and it cost both the restaurant and the City of Jackson money.

There is a very real and lasting economic impact on businesses when something like this happens. Decreased customer traffic, more difficulty recruiting and retaining employees (especially those that need to work late), hiring extra security personnel and putting in extra physical security measures, etc. In the interest of self preservation, business (and, I would suggest, local homeowners) need to step up to the plate like Sports Medicine has done.

I'm not suggesting everyone plunk down $2500.00. But it would not be difficult to set up a system where local businesses could pay $5.00 a month in an autodraft to Crime Stoppers (or some other organization) that could immediately fund substantial rewards for crimes such as this. Most people pay way more than this in gym memberships they never use.

The organization could be a non-profit that is run by an all volunteer board comprised of people who own either businesses or homes in the area. It could have bylaws that state, for example, it will put up x% of its funds for a murder, up to $x amount, or a smaller percentage and cap for, say, armed robbery. There would need to be a defined geographic border at first, because people in one part of the city don't want to immediately use up all their money funding crime prevention 10 miles away from their homes and businesses, but the goal would be to expand boarders until the entire city is covered and there are no "safe havens" for criminals. The money would be able to gain interest. Think of it as a Kickstarter or GoFundMe against crime. Very small amounts contributed by many, many people that gets big really fast.

Pretty chintzy for a medical group that prints its own money and has for 30 years; not to mention shameless, as the car came to rest near their building...

Be a lot cheaper to put the money toward electing city council, mayor, sheriff, DA, judges that would follow the letter of the law, make no exceptions, and literally hammer any criminal for infractions.

While the sports medicine outfit can surely make a financial offering towards the goal of solving this crime, I would think a better approach would be to take a seat at the table when interrogating suspects and threaten them with a baseball bat across the knee....because quite simply they know how to fix it and can bill Medicaid in order to put mo' money in the kitty. Now how far out of line is that suggestion than one of the need to raise more money for a reward? Where is the monetary amount worth the info? $5,000? $10,000? $25,000? You tell me. Some folks will never understand what it means "to do the right thing" and talk without expecting compensation.

How about suggesting Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Kennuf Stokes present a resolution to the City Council and Legislature called the "Take a itty bitty bite out yo' check" plan and vote in another 1% sales tax to go entirely to Crime Stoppers. If the 1% sales tax revenue they are currently collecting can fix roads and bridges, surely it can stop crime in Jackson.

Nobody is going to step forward unless somebody from Twin-Cleavage reports on who left the titty bar in that car. And the passenger won't crack unless she is interviewed by somebody other than a Jacktown-Dick who got his training watching episodes of Columbo.

Just think how many different cameras that car and the passengers had to pass by before the girl was killed. Think how many cameras are watching that signal light.
Why hasn't anyone look at what is on the monitors?