Jackson Jambalaya

File this post under the "You can't make this up" classification.  A newspaperman gave an escaped killer a ride last week in South Mississippi without realizing who he was.  Greene County Herald Publisher Russell Turner reported:

State inmate Michael ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ Wilson was captured Saturday night, bringing an end to a massive manhunt that tied up a lot of law enforcement manpower and had people across South Mississippi on pins and needles for several days. Everyone in Greene County was watching the situation closely and there was a tremendous amount of banter about the escape on the streets and on social media.

A lot of the discussion focused on the fact that Wilson was able to con multiple people into giving him a ride, effectively making his escape possible. As many of you know, ‘yours truly’ was one of those people.

I picked the man up from in front of my home and drove him to Greene County Hospital and dropped him off. I have relayed that story dozens upon dozens of times since then with many people questioning why I would do such a thing. There have also been similar discussions on social media, all of which I avoided. The simple fact of that matter is that I had my reasons. People can choose to argue whether those reasons were right or wrong, wise or stupid. I can’t control that and it doesn’t really bother me that I have made such a good target for jeering (some lighthearted, some not so much).....

 I have made myself sick multiple times a day since last Thursday contemplating what could have happened if it had been my wife or daughter that stumbled upon Floyd rather than me. I am grateful and relieved that nobody was seriously hurt, because Floyd was desperate and dangerous and this could have certainly had many different, tragic outcomes.... Rest of column.

Mr. Turner then spent the rest of his column criticizing MDOC and Greene County officials for creating an absymal state of affairs at the county jail.