"I feel that it is my responsibility as Mayor of this city to be honest to the Fortner family, and to be honest to the citizens of Jackson and acknowledge that the city of Jackson failed to appropriately secure the site at the time we learned that that manhole cover was properly in place. We owe that responsibility to the Fortner family" said an earnest Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba as he opened his weekly press conference today. The Jackson Mayor again offered his condolences to the Fortner family who lost their only daughter in a one-car accident on Ridgewood Road Thursday. Franny Fortner was driving to graduation practice when her Mazda MX-3 convertible struck a manhole and flipped over.
Credit: Othor Cain
*The investigation of the incident is not complete. Mayor Lumumba and Public Works Director Bob Miller addressed the media.
*The city of Jackson hired Superior Asphalt to pave Ridgewood Road. The work began last summer and was conducted in phases. The punchlist of remaining tasks is not complete. Raising the manhole covers is on the list. Mr. Miller said that the certification of completion had not yet been submitted to the city.
*Mr. Miller said it is not yet known why the manhole cover "failed." City officials are reviewing the protocols and responses. Staffing is reviewed. The city once had a truck filled with barricades and cones that responded only to traffic hazards as they were reported. Mr. Miller is "looking at restoring that capability."
*Mayor Lumumba said the "work Superior is doing on behalf of the city is not complete."
*The Mayor said he listened to "all" of the 911 calls reporting the manhole problems on that tragic morning. Phone calls were made in the "9:00 hour" and the "11:00 hour." Phone calls were properly dispatched to JPD and Public Works. He said a police officer responded to a 911 call made after 9:00 AM when a woman suffered two blown-tires caused by contact with the manhole by Venetian Way. Mayor Lumumba said the officer made a visual inspection (5:55) of the manhole and it "appeared to the officer that that manhole cover was in place." Chief Moore said the officer left the scene thinking the cover was secure.
However, the same woman told this website that the officer tried to move the manhole cover back into place but was unable to do so due to its weight. She also said the officer did not attempt to barricade the manhole with her car until Public Works personnel arrived.
*Mayor Lumumba said there were two failures - infrastructure and response. He said it is not known why the manhole cover failed and that the failure is under investigation. He said the city failed in its response when the failure was reported.
*Mr. Miller said the manhole cover weighs approximately 80 lbs.
*The Mayor praised the citizens who called 911. "The citizens did what they were supposed to do," said Mayor Lumumba. He advised citizens to call 911 when they encounter similar problems on Jackson roads.
Kingfish note: Give the Mayor some credit for stepping up and taking responsibility for the city's failure, unlike previous Mayors known for avoiding the media at all costs. This tragedy struck a nerve. We've bitched about the crumbling Jackson infrastructure for years but in a way, we've become used to it as Los Angelans gripe about smog or the Brits endure their London fog. A climate of futility endured in Jackson. Failure was tolerated for too long. Suddenly, there were no excuses. Cynicism gave way to shock, then rage. The city still reeled from the murder of a six year-old boy and a young woman gunned down for fun at a major intersection. Now a young woman who shined among her generation was killed by our neglect. A Mayor who has used the politics of rage knew real rage when he saw it.
JJ needs to clarify one assertion made earlier. IMS was indeed the project manager for the Ridgewood Road resurfacing. JJ has the contracts. However, IMS term as project manager ended last summer. Also, some competitors who have taken to social media to bash Superior and Yates should probably pipe down. No one likes an opportunist during a time of tragedy.
66 comments:
Such a tragedy. I’m glad the mayor is not hiding from this tragic event but at some point all of the political posturing needs to be set aside and real solutions need to come forward. This didn’t have to happen, let’s fix the infrastructure problem.
I think LaMumba is over-estimating the power of simply being honest. It will not bring back Franny. His conscious choice to focus on radical African nationalism over simple infrastructure upkeep has cost someone their life.
KF, I have to agree with you that the Mayor is showing leadership by acknowledging the failure and accepting responsibility on behalf of city government.
It's tragic when anyone loses a life in such a manner, but the events leading up to Franny's death were a series of obvious failures and the fact that she was an outstanding young woman who was the only child of an older couple and was one day away from high school graduation are all factors that exacerbated the tragedy in the minds of most citizens.
Being a leader isn't all parades and speeches. A true leader steps up in times of trouble and does his job. It looks as if Lumumba is doing just that. I hope he follows through.
His comments give me hope that someone is finally going to step up to the plate and take some responsibility to get Jackson back on the right track. Time will prove whether I am right or wrong.
Why in the hell does it take a year to pave a 1/2 mile stretch of road? Does that happen anywhere but Jackson. Is Jackson on layaway plan for steeet repaving? Will one of the reporters please ask that question? What a joke they all are!!
AHH...A lawyer's dream come true. A mayor admitting fault.
Here's why it takes a year. The City of Jackson bids a contract, but no deadline is stated. Yates takes the contract, begins work, but halts Jackson work to work on a new contract (i.e., state contract) with a deadline. After finishing the state contract, then Yates comes back to the Jackson contract.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Thanks for the acknowledgement!
I have a lot of differences with the mayor- but his handling of this makes me respect him.
Posters of this girl need to be held up at every event that Lamumba speaks and signs should ne placed on ever pothole covered street. He should never be allowed to forget or 'move on' from this tragedy. This failure is now his legacy.
I agree, this is a refreshing change by a leader of Jackson. Now if our councilman Foote could make a statement.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s a limit to how much a city can be sued, but no such limit is in place for a contractor.
yates does over $2 billion a year in revenue 11:19pm, with multiple projects in multiple states and countries. They are one of the largest contractors in the country. Your reasoning is moronic.
Yates daughter and son in law also live in NE Jackson so you'd think they would have an interest here.
6 am - Wrong - the MS Legislature decided years ago her life (and yours) was worth a million dollars - if they will pay the cap.
when is the last time a politician, D or R, stepped up to the plate and admitted fault? He’s not personally responsible but it’s evident through actions like this that he’s doing something and trying and eventually will change the culture of Jackson. He’s being a leader- whether you agree with him or not.
Where is Ashby Foote regarding this issue? I’ve seen no statement from him. I’ve seen no remorse or sorrow for his role his local government. He’s the councilman for this district and he should have been standing beside the mayor. At least the mayor was big enough to take responsibility and apologize. Ashby Foote is no where to be seen. He’s absolutely worthless as a councilman. This will be his last term as his inability to even speak on this issue is the last straw for many residents of NE Jackson.
And just a reminder to all, LoMumble had a chance to meet face to face with a President who loves to build. Instead of having a sit down with the President and making a case for the City of Jackson, he decided to throw in with a group of poverty pimps and snub the president and governor. Neither President Trump or Governor Bryant were hurt politically by their actions. The only people hurt were the constituents of the City of Jackson.
I think LaMumba is over-estimating the power of simply being honest. It will not bring back Franny. His conscious choice to focus on radical African nationalism over simple infrastructure upkeep has cost someone their life.
A man owns up to his sh*t as Mayor and this idiot has to find a f*ckin way to racialize. I bet the person that made this post is the love child of Byron De La Beckwith and Sam Bowers!
Looks like the gullible have showed up en masse here at JJ.
The presser only took place because Mayor Gum Flap wanted to publicly finger Superior/Yates as, in his and Miller's opinion, also a responsible party.
All he did was serve notice to Superior/Yates that should the Fortners sue the city that Jackson will in turn sue Superior/Yates for any monetary judgement in favor of the Fortners.
Lumumba doesn't have an altruistic bone in his body but does has the fools here duped.
6:55am: Personal injuries are capped for $500K for Government entities - Miss Code Ann 11-46-15.
Don't be doing the happy dance just yet. His Honor took days before issuing a statement of any substance, and that was likely only after significant pressure was applied, including by this blog, thanks to KF.
Time will tell if there will be any positive and significant changes made. Until then, his statement is just political damage control.
Keep the pressure on.
How could the mayor do anything but stand up and accept responsibility?
His affirmative action officer left a death trap in the road due to apathy.
I could elaborate further but I have had real problems in Jackson and one like this showed up and plain told me she was not even going to take a report on what was a felony, would not get out of her car and acted like I was stupid.
No one likes an opportunist during time of tragedy? That is literary all this website does...
Serve notice to Yates 7:51am? I am pretty sure they are aware a lawsuit is coming. Just the day before, Kenny Bush (yates in house attorney) incorrectly stated that Yates had turned over this section of road to the city. He lied and the mayor called him out for it. He served notice that the city wasn't going to let the yates PR machine point fingers and blame, when they should be pointing at themselves.
5:41, 7:16 - talk is cheap and Baby Chok does a lot of it, however there's no action that follows. I bet his tone will change once the paper starts flying.
Let's see...that's five zero zero comma zero zero zero and no one hundredths...
Going to be extremely difficult for Jackson to prove that Yates' work product was the cause of the accident. "Turned over" or not.
All this talk about who doing the right thing, who's going to be sued, & who's is more upset about this is just hot air. Nothing will take away the grief or sorrow of this tragedy. Nothing. We must all endure this to some degree or another. I weep for the family. I weep for the city. I weep for all of the bloggers who try to find some sense out of all of this. No one is going to be hurt by any lawsuit. Don't you know the city & Yates have business insurance for time such as this. You can't even get revenge, what are you are going to do beat the hell out of the man hole cover. Just, hug you spouse, kids, parents, grand parents & grandkids extra today & every day, Love on them when you can because no ONE is promised one minute in this world.
That is literary all this website does...
That is literally my favorite phrase of the day........
Why did it take the Mayor this long to issue some sort of statement acknowledging responsibility, particularly responsibility for infrastructure and response?
11:19, here is the real actual reason it takes a long time, based on actual facts not your snide opinion. City advertises for bids, awards a contract to Superior. City takes five months to give a notice to proceed. Contractor starts - five different roads included in contract. Starts work on road number four (Ridgewood) only to discover city's consultant, IMS, did not account for the multiple curbs at sidewalks that had to be removed and rebuilt.
City has to develop new plans for a change order and negotiate costs. City has to go to some 30 property owners and negotiate temporary easements to enter property, remove driveways and rebuild driveways. Once lawyers finish negotiating easements, contractor allowed to come back on site and complete contract.
Your swipe at other state contract ignores the fact that contractor is plenty big enough to handle dozens of major contracts at the sae time. This little $5 million (total for all roads) contract was a drop in the pervible bucket for them while doing several !20 -$30 million projects in the mid-Mississippi area. I imagine if truth be known. the delay caused by city's consultants error was a much bigger hinderence to contractor than it was to city or citizens.
it's the contractors' faults
no, heavy rains that morning dislodged the cover
wait, the city is responsible for not responding when told of the issue
wait, JPD is not trained to identify if a manhole cover is in place or not. public works did not respond
it's the contractor's fault
Yates employees really shouldn't be commenting 9:01am...especially since you are obviously so close to the project. It doesn't surprise me that you throw in bragging about how big yates is and that this was just some piss ant project that the city PM screwed up. This little nothing project killed someone and will cost and cost and cost.
meanwhile, Jackson Academy cancels all exams to defuse the outrage and grief of such a senseless and stupid loss. It seems that living in a fortress really doesn't do much for the arteries that feed it. You would think that such an expensive school would do more in its immediate local to protect the commute of it's students, but alas, what happens outside the castle walls isn't their concern.
Let's make the wild, nonsensical assumption that Yates, as a corporate decision, said, "heh-heh-heh...let's leave a manhole uncovered over on X Road and kill someone this week..." The fact remains that just an hour or two before the tragedy, a Jackson Police officer (serve and protect, etc., etc.) looked right down into the mf'ing hole and an hour or two later, with the city clearly having notice made to a party and department with the authority to address public danger, a child died. There just aren't too many ways to spin this thing. If Fortners are as decent as are being reported, maybe they will show a little mercy because I doubt any Plaintiff's attorney will. If the city has an insurance company, and that insurance company has at least one brain cell among its entire claims department, the check has already been cut for the max.
All that said, however, the mayor saying the city is responsible doesn't mean much from a liability standpoint, although it might mean something as far as jury sentiment. Juries find facts, but judges apply the law and a statement made with no authority to financially bind the entity (or its insurance company) is meaningless.
9:27, I bet Jackson Academy teaches its students the difference between "local" and "locale."
9:46, a tort claim against a political subdivision is tried non-jury.
Has consideration been given to metal thieves that sell scrap to recyclers been considered? It would be interesting to see if any manholes have been sold for scrap recently. Will the metal recyclers open up their records to see how many manholes they have bought recently. Copper thieves don't care if its copper, iron , steel, or aluminum if they can make a quick buck.
9:27 - I can't even begin commenting on your asinine post. It's not JA's responsibility to maintain roads. That's the City of Jackson's responsibility, paid for by guess what? The taxes paid by the parents of the students who live in Jackson. If you don't think the citizens of NE Jackson have been on their elected officials for YEARS to fix these road then you are truly an idiot. JA can cancel all the exams they want. It's their school. Take your jealousy elsewhere.
For those too lazy to look up the law. I believe most covers include the city name:
Manhole Covers and Political Subdivision Property
For manhole covers and other similar types of utility access covers, including storm drain covers, or any metal property clearly identified as belonging to a political subdivision of the state or a municipality, a Dealer may only purchase the property from the political subdivision, the municipal utility, or the manufacturer. Any Purchaser who purchases in bulk shall have 24 hours to determine if prohibited property is included in the purchase; if such is included, the Purchaser shall notify law enforcement no later than 24 hours.
9:27 AM - For more than 10 days, I have personally called, faxed, and emailed the appropriate departments at the city to put up a warning sign that the inside, northbound lane of Ridgewood Road (immediately in front of JA) is closed due to a pothole issue.
I haven't driven past JA in several days, but all my efforts were met with indifference. By and large, City employees just don't give a crap. They know they'll never be fired for incompetence.
By the way, what's the name of the JPD officer who responded to the call at 9:30 the morning of the tragedy?
Uh oh, someone penned recycler. Honey, make some fresh popcorn.
To May 22, 2018 at 10:16 AM,
Ah, OK. I would say that makes the mayor's statement even less relevant from a liability standpoint. Of course, it will be a Mississippi court, so it is a roll-the-dice thing.
As to metal thieves, while there would be some obvious criminal charges, I would suggest that anyone stealing manhole covers isn't a much of pocket, assuming there is even a pocket, to go after. Has there been any factual info released as to why this particular manhole did not have its cover?
From what I've read, the JPD at the scene of an accident caused by the same hole an hour or two prior to the accident puts the city as the current leader in the "who is going get the blame" race. If the JPD did report it to another city department and that department also failed in its duty, it is still the city. For any tort claims people: any quirky/statutory way to stretch such a scenario into two (or more) claims vs one, or has that lid, unlike Jackson manholes, been throughly secured?
Why the continued conversation about "metal thieves"?
I simply can't comprehend the disconnects that posters have.
What difference does a metal thief's existence have, when there was no metal stolen? The cover was in every video, picture and statement. It's not missing, ie - not stolen.
It was dislodged and in one picture less than a foot away from the manhole.
I am no fan of Mayor Lumumba. However, in all fairness I give him credit for this statement and not hiding behind platitudes.
It is very easy to take responsibility for something knowing there will not be anything done about it.
The cop does not have to worry as the mayor has already covered for her.
The mayor does not have to worry as he is now being praised for taking responsibility for it knowing there will not be anything come of it.
The construction company does not have to worry as the manhole cover was right there beside the manhole.
May 22, 2018 at 11:28 AM, wrote:
"It was dislodged and in one picture less than a foot away from the manhole."
If this is accurate at the time of the first accident (the one with JPD at the scene an hour or two before the girl was killed), the city wins the blame race and deservedly so. And before anyone gets picky, if the cover was in reasonable sight of the hole, I wouldn't see it making a difference whether it was a foot, a yard or 10 feet away.
The metal thieves theory needs to end. Not only because the manhole was seen located off and a distance away from the hole....but for the very reason that it is highly unlikely anyone would steal it. This is based mainly on the fact it isn't worth the trouble how hard up for cash anyone is. Even if you could find a recycler that would accept it....its cast iron. It weighs 110-120 pounds. Recyclers will only give 2 cents a pound. That's $2.05-$2.10 for the manhole cover.
People who steal items for recycling, including manhole covers, aren't the sharpest crayons in the box.
They likely wouldn't realize that they would only get $2-$3 per cover until they showed up at the recyclers.
I drove by the scene of the accident on Saturday morning on my way to a function. The suspect manhole location had orange barrels and yellow tape around it. I did notice the forensic white paint marks that indicated the location of the corners of the vehicle. Granted I was driving past the scene at about 20 mph and only got a quick look, but I seem to recall that the location of the manhole and the vehicle markings were very close to each other. Given a speed of 35 mph, that works out to travelling 51 feet per second. Now I also own a first generation Mazda MX-5 (It aint a Mx-3 Mr. Fish) very similar to the one in the accident. They are very balanced cars, near 50-50 weight distribution front to rear. I didn't see a lot of abrasion on the hood of the car in the news videos. I did see complete failure of the "A" pillar or what is referred to as the windshield post. Nowhere in the video coverage did I see the rear trunk area. Basically, we had a 2,400 pound vehicle, sliding on a plate of glass (being the windshield)on a very smooth fresh surface of new asphalt....that by some accounts may have been wet. Something is not adding up. I did notice a fellow in one of the news coverage videos walking with a part of the broken manhole frame casting. Simple physics would indicate that part of the puzzle would be located downrange the direction of travel of the traffic IF someone previously hit the manhole travelling north in a northbound lane and broke the casting. So it wouldn't be south of the suspect manhole laying in the street for the driver to try and make an evasive maneuver (swerve) and hit. Put your drone up in the air Kingfish, we need still photos of the scene. Regardless, such a senseless tragedy that Mayor McCheese has owned up to basically admitting "the shake machine is broke", you had higher expectations?
9:25, sorry. Not a Yates employee. Not in any of their companies, subsidiaries, or other operations. Yes, I have an awful lot of details and facts because I have been close to this project for quite a while, and have read all the previous comments, news articles, etc about this particular project. Put them all together and you can get the entire picture. In fact, I wrote a similar piece a few months ago when someone made the same stupid comment that Yates had left the project to go do some big state project.
The fault on this project as to the time was the failure of IMS to properly prepare bid documents. By the time the construction was started, IMS was pitched to the curb. So, city had to pick up the slack and prepare documents for all the sidewalks and driveways. Drive up the road and see all the 30' or so new concrete drives - those were not included in the original bid document. And IMS had not obtained the temp easements.
Not talking about the specifics of the manhole cover/rim - a whole separate story with just as many false assumptions being made here by folks who have no factual knowledge. While I am not a part of the contract, I do have the factual knowledge of the time delay. Therefore, I don't shy away from speaking. Obviously you are one of those that don't worry about talking about crap that you don't know anything about.
1:21 - you are one of the few that have even bothered to look at the real facts - rather than discussing cover thieves (when there was no manhole cover missing), or covers not being installed, etc. Or the even more stupid folks who ask why the city didn't move the manholes to the center line, or off to the side of the street - obviously folks who failed out of engineering school early and didn't realize the manholes are access routes to a sewer or storm drain line several feet below the street. But forget those drain lines - lets just move the manholes to make the street safer!
The contractor had a week earlier raised the manholes throughout the length of the reconstructed street. They do this by welding a cast iron ring on top of the existing manhole which has been adjusted to be level with the new asphalt.
The man in the TV video is a section of the ring that had broken off - and it can be seen in the tv news report where the ring was broken and part of it (the part in the man's hand) was missing.
The way a cover could get knocked off, or turned sideways as the earlier driver had reported, was because the ring had broken and therefore there was nothing to hold the cover in place. It appears that a manufacturing defect in the ring that had been installed several days earlier caused it to fracture allowing the cover to become dislocated.
Fault: Maybe with the manufacturer of the ring. Appears as well to be with the police officer who 'replaced' the cover on a broken/missing ring and didn't stay in place until someone could come place proper warning barrels around the broken structure.
1:21
After viewing a couple of videos on youtube showing vehicles whose tire encounters and uncovered manhole, I can easily assume that the RF tire of the red car "hooked" in the manhole and all of the forward energy was stopped in an approx. 3ft area of the manhole.
The RF wheel is obviously misaligned in the pictures and I can't determine how much RF suspension damage occurred, but it appears that it was a violent upending and the car vectored 90* from its travel path (up) and then gravity pulled it back down. Most of the forward momentum was eaten up by the energy to pick the car up, which, in turn, reduced the vector further down the street. The RF wheel acted like a fulcrum to which the energy transferred directions.
In other words, the RF tire hooked the manhole effectively cartwheeling the car in the air and slamming down on a more DS angle.
It appears that ** a manufacturing defect ** in the ring that had been installed several days earlier caused it to fracture allowing the cover to become dislocated.
100% speculation.
2:53--- I'm not buying a "manufacturing defect" in the manhole extension ring. 3:29-----plausible but border line Seinfeld "Keith Hernandez Magic Loogie" episode. I think we could all agree that a cursory inspection of the wheels and tires on the MX-5 Miata would certainly tell the tale of what really happened. A really hard bend in the wheel towards the center would indicate hitting the lidless manhole opening. However, severe curb rash on the outside edge of the front wheel might suggest an evasive maneuver where the tire failed on the wheel by folding under, and once the edge of the wheel made contact with the street under a severe steering angle, over it went.
Probably not relevant but when they first widened that stretch in the 70’s they put the manhole in the line of the tires not centered. After rains when cars would go over it just right, the manhole covers would fire into the underbody of cars and total them. It caused a car to go through the Best family fence one time.
Incompetence abounds and the apathy is real in Jackson.
How many lives and wrecks with daily frustation frustration because the Water Works Curve
was built wrong and allowed to not be corrected?
Water works curve isn't the fault of the city of Jackson it's interstate. That's not county or city.
I am so fed up with reading articles about Jax’s road issue. How long have theses stories been in the press? Pave the roads, fix or correct issues, and be done with it. I think this recent death makes it a budget priority. How many tires, alignment and accident problems does it take for Jackson to get off its ass and correct theses problems. The death was senseless, period. Put a team out to triage the most dangerous areas and begin fixing the problem immediately. Dear heavens, other cities build highways in less time than it takes Jackson to fill a pothole.
8:11 a.m. How do you know Superior did not turn the completed job over to the city, as Mr. Bush said. Do you work for the City in the department working with Superior? It seems to me that everyone pointing fingers at Superior, the City, the policewoman, and anyone else involved should step back, and let the investigative process take its course.
4:16 - not 100%. Yes, some speculation, but more based on evidence than most of the comments here and elsewhere.
Fact 1) manhole riser ring installed a week plus earlier; was intact at that point; manhole cover in place for several days
Fact 2) manhole covers cannot turn sideways with the ring intact. Constructed with a shelf inside and with cover being round it is physically impossible to turn as the lady claims existed a couple of hours earlier
Fact 3) from investigation of site, a large piece of the manhole ring was broken and found separated from the piece still intact with the manhole
Fact 4) manhole ring remaining connected to manhole shows where broken
Issue: What can cause a cast iron piece of steel approximately 3" high and 3/4" thick fracture, after one week of use?
Yes. Speculation. But not 100%. Unlike the 'manhole thieves', or the 'missing cover' theorists - are you questioning the percentage of their speculation?
Do you have a better theory of how a cast iron piece of steel could be found in two pieces, one attached to the manhole and the other separated from the ring?
I thought the accident occurred on her way to graduation rehearsal at Christ United Methodist church , but the lane where the markers are would be for traffic driving away from Old Canton Road. Did she swerve into the other lane?
@8:27 - Irony here is she was likely looking for the smoothest ride there. Down Ridgewood (newly paved), right on Beasley-Adkins (newly paved)to Old Canton. Take a left and you're there.
The loss of this beautiful young lady with so much talent and promise is a great tragedy to her family and all those privileged to have known her.
It is a loss to all of us as she had already begun to make a positive contribution to society.
That once the problem was discovered, measures should have been made that could have prevented this tragedy is undeniable and the Mayor did the right thing to acknowledge that fact. I hope those who dropped the ball in marking the danger will be appropriately disciplined. I would hope they are already feeling guilt ridden for their ignorance or laziness in responding.
To further prevent even shredding of tires is for the accident scene investigators and should include an examination of how the project was described in the bid letting and details of project completion so as to improve the process if needed.
I appreciate the comments by those of you who have knowledge of road construction trying to enlighten those who are quick to cast blame.
Those of you casting blame without facts or the imagination to think beyond your individual emotional priorities are no different from the ones who were too ignorant or intellectually lazy to evaluate the potential dangers of acting without thinking things through. Your brains are wired the same.
@10:46 am. I'm so hoping that if you had been at the funeral for the amazing gift of a girl who lost her life through no fault of her own in this hot mess, you would not be requesting some"fresh popcorn", you'd be on your knees praying for those that lost that light. This is truly a tragedy for many, as she had a love for life, acceptance, and justice that could have made a difference, if only the streets had been halfway fixed. Anyone "turning over the keys' then assigning blame to those that accepted them is an ass. Sorry, but that's the truth. Stand behind your work instead of passing off the blame. How could the city have known the work done was so shoddy or be responsible for the consequences of an incompetent company? I hold Jackson to the fire for many things, but seriously - blaming the city for an incredibly inept job is a cop out of the highest measure. Blaming the process for getting city bids (wink, wink, who do you know), is worthy of blame as people are raking in money doing work they have no experience doing. The whole thing makes me sick.
I've never seen a more honest and precious outpouring of love and support than I have from the JA, UMMC, and metro community and many others who grieve this precious child. I agree that much of the news that makes this blog deserves the scorn and scandal it stirs up - it's great to have so much nastiness exposed, but please don't diminish this loss by comparing it to a movie/event to sit back and watch. That's truly a sad, sad frame of mind if you can be so blasé about such a tragedy. I hope you never have to live through such a loss, or you will regret that comment. Let's hold those who allowed this to happen responsible. Peace and prayers to all who are suffering right now. If you want a glimpse into her brilliance and soul - watch this English project she created that was given as a challenge for her class and she nailed it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcG8RB7Wwp8
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