Jackson Jambalaya

Beyond Therapy offering parenting classes

2012-01-31T16:14:00.000-06:00

Beyond Therapy Pediatric Group in Ridgeland is offering parenting classes on Friday's from 11:30 to 1:00 on topics ranging from sibling rivalry, anxiety, phobias, developmental problems, to austism-spectrum issues. Open this post for more information:

Feb. 3 "These Kids Are Driving Me Crazy!!" Open to the general public, this is a class on the management of sibling rivalry.

* Feb. 10 "Mommy, I'm Scared! How to get your child to try new things." This class designed for parents whose children have anxiety for some reason: generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, specific phobias, selective mutism, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, Asperger's Disorder, High Functioning Autism, or Sensory Processing Dysfunction. We will discuss the behavioral concepts of shaping and chaining using positive reinforcement of successive approximations.

*Feb. 17: "My Child Won't Mind! What Do I Do?" This class is open to the general public, suitable for parents whose children are ages 3-6yr or children with developmental disabilities under 10yr. The lecture covers general principles of behavior management with cartoons interjected so we can laugh at ourselves!

* Feb. 24: "Why Is My Child Acting This Way?" This class is for parents of children under 12yr who have ADHD, Asperger's Disorder, or other impairments of Executive Function. Information will be given regarding the nature of Executive Function, reasons why traditional behavior programs usually do not work, and how to coach children to exhibit the correct behavior.

Classes cost $20. Reservations can be made with payment by phone. While walk-ins are accepted, space is limited to 20 people. Bring your own lunch and drink. Childcare is not provided. All classes are in Beyond Therapy meeting room. Beyond Therapy is at 115 W. Jackson Street in Ridgeland (next to Ely's Restaurant)(601) 853-9747 www.bptherapygroup.com

You can' t make this up.

2012-01-31T07:18:00.004-06:00

The probation officer for Doug Hindman was indicted and convicted a year after he requested termination for Mr. Hindman's probation when it was only 50% completed.

A Hinds County grand jury indicted Gerald Jones, Jr. on June 2, 201 for three counts of embezzlement and three counts of extortion. The indictment charged Mr. Jones with selling early releases from probation. It seems Mr. Jones was pretty cheap as the indictment alleges he charged $150, $200, and $50 for the three cases cited. Judge Swan Yerger approved a plea agreement on October 20, 2010. Mr. Jones was sentenced to one year of house arrest under MDOC supervision and had to pay $660 in restitution per month.

Mr. Jones was the probation officer for Doug Hindman. Mr. Hindman was busted for exploitation of a child in 2006 in a joint sting operation between NBC and the Hinds County Sheriff's office. A Hinds County Grand Jury indicted him for exploitation of a child in 2007. His attorney, Cynthia Stewart, made a plea agreement with the prosecutor, Rebecca Mansell, that reduced the charge to cyberstalking. The court ordered Mr. Hindman to pay a $10,000 fine, suspended a prison sentence of two years, and placed him on probation for five years. Earlier post containing court file and chat log

Mr. Jones filed a petition to terminate his probation on July 28, 2009 after he had completed only 50% of his probation. Special Circuit Judge Breland Hilburn approved the petition and terminated Mr. Hindman's probation. Then of course there is this passage published by the New York Times last week:

"Maggi and I wanted to begin by thanking you and Marsha for a lovely and special lunch at the Mansion last Tuesday,” began a letter to the governor by a family friend of Doug Hindman, one pardon applicant. “It was very interesting to see the historical quilt upstairs.”

So lets get this straight. The HCSO busts Doug Hindman trying to hook up with what he thought was a 13 year-old girl. He is indicted for exploitation of a child. An Ed Peters crony representing Mr. Hindman and a prosecutor involved in some questionable cases cut a deal reducing his charge to a lesser felony and resulting in no jail time for Mr. Hindman. Then a crooked probation officer gets his probation terminated after its only halfway completed. Then Governor Barbour pardons him after a "lovely and special lunch".

Welcome to the Mississippi criminal justice system.

Governor Bryant asks court to dismiss him from pardon lawsuit

2012-01-30T18:31:00.003-06:00

Another chapter was written in Pardongate today as Governor Phil Bryant filed a motion to dismiss in Hinds County Circuit Court today in response to the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Jim Hood. Mr. Hood seeks to block many of the pardons issued by then-Governor Haley Barbour.

The Governor in essence said this is not his fight, leave him out of it. He argued there was no remedy that could be obtained from him, he did not take part in the process of granting the pardons, and has no liability under any reading of the law.

Pardonees file request for emergency stay with Mississippi Supreme Court

2012-01-30T15:09:00.004-06:00

Note: If you are suddenly having problems accessing this site, comment or email me. Ever since scribd went to HTML5 it causes problems for blogger in IE.

Am uploading appeal right now. When post when done. Attorney Tom Fortner filed suit on behalf of Charles Hooker, David Gatlin, Nathan Kern, and Anthony McCray. Mr. Fortner also asked for an emergency hearing. Here is the petition:

Copy of petition and exhibits

Davis: I'm gay & I'm here to stay BUT the kinfolk deal with Sluggo & Doug Davis is on hold

2012-01-30T14:16:00.008-06:00

Southaven Mayor Greg Davis refused to step down today, said people are trying to use his homosexuality against him, and took no questions in a very short press conference today. WREG reported:

"Southaven Mayor Greg Davis says he is not resigning.

Davis made the statements in a very short press conference held at Southaven City Hall.

Davis says some have used his announcement that he is gay against him, "It deeply hurts that some have taken that very personal struggle and manipulated it and twisted it maliciously into something that was never intended."

Davis has not been seen in weeks, his attorney says he has been seeking medical treatment.

The State of Mississippi originally ordered Davis to repay $170,700 in expenses billed to the city unless he could provide specific receipts.

The $170,000 comes from several years of receipts which state auditors say are not appropriate.

Questions about his expenses arose last April when Davis spent two weeks and more than $27,000 at Psychological Counseling Services in Scottsdale, Arizona." Link to video

Meanwhile, that little story about the city purchasing ten acres for $1.9 million from the Mayor's cousins is now on hold. The story on WREG (some of which looks very familiar) has some new revelations as the reporter took my advice and looked at the settlement statement:

"Southaven aldermen say a plan to buy 10 acres of land for a new senior center are on hold.

It comes amid concerns from some people that the planned sale is a sweetheart deal between the sellers and Mayor Greg Davis.

On one side of the deal is the buyer, the city of Southaven, and the embattled mayor.

The seller is a limited liability company. Two of its members are the mayor’s distant cousins, DeSoto County Chancery Court Clerk Sluggo Davis and his son, former State Senator Doug Davis....

But Sluggo Davis insists everything is above-board when it comes to the agreement that the city purchase the ten acres for a proposed senior center. In December Southaven’s Board of Aldermen followed the mayor’s recommendation and voted to buy the property for $1.95 million. Mayor Davis told the board the land was appraised at $2.6 million.

“No, we have not seen the appraisal,” admitted Alderman Ronnie Hale. He was one of two aldermen who voted no on the purchase which is set to close in mid-2012.

With Mayor Greg Davis now under federal investigation for his spending of taxpayer money, Hale says the sale will not go through until aldermen see that appraisal.

“The fact that we've been lied to in the past it's just not prudent for us to move forward on the project until we know all the details,” said Hale.

Adding fuel to the fire, the county’s most recent appraisal in 2006 valued the land at $315,000.

Sluggo Davis said he and a partner, Alvin Gilless, bought the ten acres for $1.3 million in 2005. A settlement statement provided by Davis backed-up his claim.

WREG On Your Side Investigators asked him about the $2.6 million appraisal cited by the mayor. Sluggo Davis said he’s never had the land appraised, never seen the appraisal, and doesn’t know who did it.

So does he believe the property is worth what the mayor claims?

“It's been on the market and hadn't bought it,” said Davis.

Southaven’s city administrators said he didn’t have a copy of the appraisal either.

We asked DeSoto County Tax Assessor Parker Pickle why the county’s appraisal is $1 million less than what Davis paid. He was unaware of the sale price." Rest of story and video

Here's some advice for the city: pay someone to appraise the property. The appraisal should be done by the buyer or lender, never the seller. As for the Mayor, no one is attacking you for being gay, they are attacking you for your endless attempts to steal public money, set up sweetheart deals with your family and friends, and the general smell of corruption around you that grows stronger and stronger. You're the one that made Jay Leno, not your critics.

earlier post

Cottonmouth: he funny.

2012-01-30T08:21:00.004-06:00

Cottonmouth is at it again. The mouthpiece for Mississippi Democrats went into hysterics last week over PERS yet again. Senator Fillingane filed a bill about PERS. What sent Cottonchicken over the edge was some language about mortgage-backed securities (MBS):

"My favorite part, though, is the language that would let PERS retirement funds be invested in mortgage-backed securities (see lines 1241-1243). You may recall mortgage-backed securities as the investment vehicle that nearly ended America in 2008."

Um, no Cottonchicken. It was not the MBS's that nearly ended America, it was the fact the credit ratings agencies were grading them AAA instead of what they should have been - B,C or junk. Text of bill. The language merely authorizes PERS to purchase a long and diverse list of securities, of which MBS's are merely one item. However, once again, Cottonchicken has no clue about what he is talking about because PERS HAS BEEN PURCHASING MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES for quite some time.

Here is the report from the August meeting of the PERS investment committee. Look at Page 10 of this report on the PIMCO II fund. 25% of the fund is........ mortgage-backed securities. Page 14 of this report shows the fund at the time of the committee meeting had a balance just over $27 million. OH MY GOSH!!! HELLLLPPPP!!!! RUN FOR THE DELTA!!!!!!!!! PERS has mortgage-backed securities in its portfolio!!!!

Of course, I'm not too surprised at his ignorance as he once said to me on his blog that reading PERS reports, reading the audits, and going to the committee meetings did not make one an expert. Well, I can understand that coming from a lawyer as when you get so used to manipulating facts for a courtroom you can forget sometimes there is such a thing as actual truth. The truth is MBS's are a legitimate form of investment, as his hero Cecil Brown would tell him. Just as any other investment, their rate of return, risk, and the exposure of PERS is what matters but don't expect such ideas to enter the head of Cottonchicken.

By the way Kingfish, why do you call him Cottonchicken? Well, it seems Cottonchicken will not allow my comments on his website anymore. He's been shrieking about the hiring of Nathan Wells for $112,000 as Speaker Phillip Gunn's policy director. The Dems even sent out a press release on the hiring. Well, I'm going to give you guys some good advice. If you are going to play this game, please get everyone on the same page as EVERY DEMOCRAT ON THE COMMITTEE VOTED FOR THE HIRING OF MR. WELLS. Don't believe me? Here is the video.

If you are going to oppose the hire, then make sure your team does not vote for it. Such basic facts of politics unfortunately seem to escape Cole and Cottonchicken, which might explain why the Mississippi Democratic Party is in such sad shape. This isn't even bad liberal spin, its just plain pitiful. I repeatedly tried to point out the fact the Democrats voted for it unanimously every time Cottonchicken raised it but none of my comments, which contained no fowl language, were approved. Mr. Cottonchicken since then refuses to approve my comments. Apparently our learned lawyer who supposedly believes in free speech and informed debate is an intellectual coward. If this is the form Democratic opposition will take, Mississippi Republicans are going to be in charge for a very long time.

Note: Oh yes, Earle Banks made the statement about hiring Mr. Wells. First, he didn't check his own committee. Second, this is the same Mr. Banks that held a press conference raising hell over the Jackson water bonds, saying he was tired of voting for them only to have Haley and Tate rejecting them. Only problem was, Mr. Banks voted against them.

More dollars for Davis

2012-01-29T09:20:00.002-06:00

The Commercial Appeal found more sweetheart deals between Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, developers, and city land deals. Won't spoil the fun for you, so read here. This thing is about to blow up.

Haley speaks

2012-01-29T09:09:00.003-06:00

CNN's John King interviewed Governor Barbour about the pardons a few days ago:

Latest crime stats

2012-01-29T08:05:00.002-06:00

FINALLY. Jackson finally updated the crime stats on its website. Here they are.

Jackson crime reports for week ending January 8, 2012.

Jackson major crimes overview for week ending January 8, 2012.

Pages 5-6 are the pages to read in the overview report. Frankly it is so early in the year the percentages don't mean anything. Here are the other cities:

City of Madison crime reports through January 26, 2012.

Byram crime reports through January 21, 2012

Notice anything?

2012-01-28T20:14:00.002-06:00

Here is a list of the news articles in the Desoto Times. List Notice anything about it?

NY Times reports more details on the pardons

2012-01-28T07:51:00.004-06:00

The New York Times published a new story on the Barbour pardons last night. Some excerpts:

"Many of those pardoned appear to have no special connections. Others with political ties made persuasive cases that they had led chastened lives and earned a second chance. Applications contained letters from pastors, teachers and counselors attesting to genuine redemption.

Yet in a state with the highest poverty rate in the nation, where nearly 70 percent of convicts are black, official redemption appears to have been attained disproportionately by white people and the well connected. ...

In some of the appeals for clemency, personal connections to Mr. Barbour were unabashedly made. “Maggi and I wanted to begin by thanking you and Marsha for a lovely and special lunch at the Mansion last Tuesday,” began a letter to the governor by a family friend of Doug Hindman, one pardon applicant. “It was very interesting to see the historical quilt upstairs.” ....

Many of the applications contain the type of recommendations that a poor person could be hard-pressed to collect: character references from state legislators or local elected officials. .....

Mr. Bonds pointed out in his own letter that he was the nephew of “one of the largest cotton farmers in Mississippi,” Don Waller, who also wrote a letter on his behalf. Mr. Waller is the brother of William L. Waller, a former governor who died in November.

John Champion, the district attorney, said that knowing Mr. Bonds’s family, “I suspected all along that they were going to attempt to get him a pardon.” He added, “I know that he has political connections...." Rest of article

Happy Birthday KIM Waaaaaaaaaaade!!!

2012-01-27T19:24:00.000-06:00

Yup. Today is KIM Waaaaaaaaaaade's birthday. Best wishes.

Perverted Justice: The perfect name for the 2006 sting operation.

2012-01-27T08:09:00.004-06:00

Same song, second verse. No suspects caught in the 2006 Perverted Justice/NBC sting in Byram and prosecuted in Rankin and Madison counties served a day in jail. JJ reported yesteday none of the suspects prosecuted in Hinds County served a day in jail after posting bond. The suspects caught in the sting were prosecuted in their home counties. Perverted Justice volunteers pose as underage children in internet chat rooms. The suspects then travel to a home to meet who they think is a child. Unfortunately for the suspects, they usually find NBC and a few police officers waiting for them.

Herman Langham, III was charged with cyberstalking on January 4, 2010 in a bill of information. He waived indictment and was represented by Tommy Mayfield, former Ed Peters prosecutor. The case was non-adjudicated. If the defendant meets several conditions, the arrest can be expunged as he was never convicted. Judge Samac Richardson sentenced Mr. Langham to five years of supervised probation.

Kevin Bradley Gilmore was indicted by a Rankin County grand jury in 2007 for exploitation of a child. The indictment states he did

"willfully, unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly entice, induce, persuade, seduce, solicit advise coerce and/or order, an undercover operative, who Kevin Bradley Gilmore believed to be a 13 year old female child, utilizing the screen name of Katiekat1393, utilizing a computer located in the residence... and a telephone, to meet him for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct, all within the jurisdiction of this Court and inviolation of Section 97-5-33(6) Mississippi Code..."

Mr. Gilmore was represented by a public defender and pleaded guilty. Rankin County Circuit Judge William Chapman III imposed a suspended fifteen year prison sentence, five years of supervised probation, and a $5,000 fine. He is listed on the Mississippi sex offender registry.

Then here is my personal favorite. Geoffery Simmons. He was indicted by a Madison County grand jury in 2007. The indictment states he did

"willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly entice, induce, persuade, seduce, solicit advice coerce and/or order, an undercover operative, who Geoffery Scott Simmons believed to be a 13 year old female child, utilizing the screen name of Jillianna, to meet him at .... for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct, all within the jurisdiction of this court and in violation of Section 97-5-33(6) Mississippi Code.."

Well, what happens next is Cynthia Stewart enters an appearance as attorney for Mr. Simmons. He pleaded not guilty. Judge Samac Richardson set his bond at only $10,000*, the lowest of any of the reported cases. District Attorney David Clark personally filed a motion to nolle prosequi on December 27, 2007, three days before he left office. A motion to nolle prosequi is the prosecution withdrawing the case. The motion states "the Defendant will become a full-time member of the United States Navy and the interest of justice would be served by dismissing the within charge."

There is no record at the District Attorney or Circuit Clerk's office of two other suspects arrested in the sting, Johnny Chain of Florence and Cuong Ngo of Brandon.

Only one person out of twelve suspects arrested in the sting operation were convicted of exploitation of a child and served time in jail- and he was in Greene County. One was dismissed. One was plea-bargained down to cyberstalking and later pardoned. Two were reduced to cyberstalking but were non-adjudicated and thus never convicted of anything (One was expunged.). Two were convicted of exploitation of a child but received suspended sentences. Two have no record of a prosecution. One had the file returned to the Sheriff for more information (probably something wrong with the arrest itself).*

*Trying to find out what happened to Laurence Morris of Brookhaven. Bonds: Pillow was $25,000 (Hinds), Gilmore was $50,000 (Judge Chapman), Hindman was $50,000 (Hinds)

Earlier posts:
Judge Green expunges Pillow arrest, no other Hinds County pervs go to jail in 2006 sting
The REST of the story on the Hindman case
Check out this pardon

Travelstead indicted.

2012-01-26T15:54:00.003-06:00

Update: WLBT reported this story last night.

A Hinds County Grand Jury indicted Cameron Travelstead in December 2011. Mr. Travelstead was arrested in February 2010 for possession of child pornography. The defendant was 20 years old at the time of his arrest. He was arrested again this morning in execution of the indictment.

Mr. Travelstead was active in the youth ministry at First Baptist Church and taught the fourth grade class in the AWANA program. Earlier post about Travelstead arrest and connection to FBC. JJ can also report although Mr. Travelstead was arrested in February 2010, the file was not given to the District Attorney until July 2011. The grand jury indicted him on December 8, 2011 (Keep in mind the grand jury only meets every two months.). JJ will post the indictment when it is available. The arrest and indictment has been confirmed with the Hinds County Sheriff's office.

MDOT freezes all new funding for Southaven

2012-01-26T11:02:00.001-06:00

The Commercial Appeal reports MDOT froze all funding for new projects in Southaven until the State Auditor completes his investigation:

"The Mississippi Department of Transportation has frozen funding for all new MDOT projects in Southaven because of the ongoing auditor's investigation into Mayor Greg Davis' spending.

"We are trying to be good stewards of taxpayer money, so until the city gets a clean bill of health from the state auditor's office, the funding will be delayed," said Randy Battey, assistant chief engineer of operations for MDOT." Rest of article

Judge Green expunges Pillow arrest. No Hinds County pervs go to jail in 2006 NBC sting

2012-01-26T00:01:00.004-06:00

Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green expunged an arrest of cyberstalking from the record of David Pillow on January 17, 2012. Mr. Pillow was arrested in 2006 for exploitation of a child in a sting operation conducted by NBC Dateline and the Hinds County Sheriff's office. Hinds County deputies arrested twelve men in the sting. Chat logs JJ also learned none of the four individuals arrested in the sting operation in Hinds County were sentenced to jail.

JJ obtained a copy of the original affidavit that served as the basis for the arrest warrant even though the record has been expunged. The affidavit alleges Mr. Pillow "did knowingly willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously, entice and solicit sex from an undercover operative, msbeckyblue, posing as a 12 year female, for the purpose of meeting and engaging in sexually explicit conduct." Investigator Latasha Holmes signed the affidavit on July 12, 2006. The bench warrant issued that day charged Mr. Pillow with "exploitation of a child".

The charge was reduced to cyberstalking on November 27, 2006. The court ordered Mr. Pillow to pay $10,000 in fines and imposed supervised probation for two years as part of nonadjudication. Mr. Pillow's lawyer was Cynthia Stewart. The order to expunge states the case was "nonadjudicated". Nonadjudication is a process where the defendant is conviction is witheld by the judge. If he meets certain conditions, the arrest is removed from his record. Section 99-15-26 of the Mississippi Code

Doug Hindman was also arrested in the same sting operation. Cynthia Stewart represented him as well and managed to get his charge reduced from exploitation of a child to cyberstalking. The court issued the same sentence to Mr. Hindman: $10,000 in fines and suspended a two-year prison term. He was pardoned by Governor Barbour. It should be pointed out that at one time Ms. Stewart and Faye Peterson were prosecutors under then-District Attorney Ed Peters. Earlier post about Hindman pardon. Includes court file and chat logs.

Johnny Oliver Smith was arrested in the sting but his file was sent back to the Sheriff's office for more information. No further action was taken.

Roberto Oropeza-Rosas was arrested and charged with exploitation of a child. He was convicted and received a suspended sentence of ten years. Since he was an illegal alien, he was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security and deported back to Mexico.

Thus, not one single arrest of Hinds County residents made in the Perverted Justice/HCSO sting resulted in anyone serving any time in jail after conviction. None of them appear on a sex offender registry. Then-District Attorney Faye Peterson attempted to explain away the reduction of charges in the Hindman and Pillow cases in an interview with the Jackson Free Press:

"Asked why her office reduced the charge against Hindman, District Attorney Faye Peterson indicated that the law itself was insufficient to convict Hindman of the original charge. "The statute had a defect in it," Peterson said. The flaw was that statute Hindman was charged under required that the "victim" had to be an actual child, not an adult posing as a child.

"We were in uncharted territory," Peterson said.

The Legislature has since amended the statute to correct the flaw, Peterson said, but Hindman was arrested under the previous, flawed law." Article

Just one problem with this statement. Its not true. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed in 2011 a conviction from the same sting operation, Shaffer v. State of Mississippi. Justin Shaffer was arrested on July 8, 2006 for the same crime thing as Hindman: chatting with someone he thought was a 13-year old who was actually someone working for Perverted Justice. He, like Hindman, went to meet "Chloe" at a home in Byram and was arrested by Hinds County Deputies. He was charged with Exploitation of a Child, the same statute used to charge Doug Hindman, and was convicted in Greene County (HCSO turned the cases over to the perv's home county). The law, the one Faye Peterson said was flawed, stated:

"No person shall, by any means including computer, knowingly entice, induce,
persuade, seduce, solicit, advise, coerce, or order a child to meet with the
defendant or any other person for purpose of engaging in sexually explicit
conduct."

Mr. Shaffer appealed, arguing the "victim" was not actually under the age of eighteen. The Court of Appeals agreed, reversed the conviction, imposed a conviction of attempted exploitation, and remanded to the trial court for re-sentencing. Court of Appeals opinion. The Mississippi Supreme Court disagreed with the decision and affirmed the trial court on October 27, 2011. Opinion.

Mr. Shaeffer argued to the Mississippi Supreme Court he could not be guilty of child-exploitation because no child had been involved in the sting." The Court disagreed and said "solicitation is sufficient to violate the statute" and that "the act of solicitation does not require that the thing solicited even exists."

Justice Kitchens dissented, but then gave the prosecution an additional way to convict Mr. Shaeffer: the general attempt statute. Section 97-1-7 of the Mississippi Code states:

"Every person who shall design and endeavor to commit an offense, and shall do any overt act toward the commission thereof, but shall fail therein, or shall be prevented from committing the same, on conviction thereof, shall, where no provision is made by law for the punishment of such offense, be punished as follows: If the offense attempted to be committed be capital, such offense shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years; if the offense attempted be punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or by fine and imprisonment in the county jail, then the attempt to commit such offense shall be punished for a period or for an amount not greater than is prescribed for the actual commission of the offense so attempted."

Mr. Shaffer is currently serving 25 years in prison. Justin Shaffer's chat logs

JJ is examining the files from those arrested from other counties and will publish the information in a later post. Many of these adjudications were covered by the media several years ago. All of them are now wrapped up and given the recent attention given to the Hindman pardon, its probably not a bad idea to report what happened with all of the other cases. Unfortunately for Hinds County residents, child molesters caught by NBC and law enforcement entered the Faye Peterson catch and release program.

FOOD FIGHT!!!

2012-01-25T20:14:00.003-06:00

NMC criticizes the JFP's coverage of the pardon hearing Monday. Her Laddness shows up in the comments and the fun begins. Link to NMC post. I won't make any comments about the article as here is my coverage. It says all that needs to be said from my side of the aisle. They have their way of covering these events, I have mine. Y'all are perfectly capable of doing your own thinking.

This can't be good.

2012-01-25T12:38:00.001-06:00

Big day for the Clarion-Ledger coming up on February 2.

Hinds judges recuse themselves, Top court appoints Judge Zebert to hears JJ's motion to intervene

2012-01-25T10:56:00.005-06:00

The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed retired Chancellor Thomas Zebert on December 16, 2011 to hear the motion to intervene filed by this website against Motorola and Hinds County. Attorney Curt Crowley filed a motion for recusal on December 8, 2011 in Hinds County Chancery Court on behalf of this website in Motorola v. Hinds County. Jackson Jambalaya filed a motion to intervene on May 24, 2011 seeking a copy of the settlement agreement between Hinds County and Motorola. JJ filed the motion for recusal after numerous efforts to obtain a hearing date from the court were unsuccessful. Judge Zebert adjudicated a similar matter between Hinds County and Motorola two years ago. Post on Hinds/Motorola public records lawsuit

The order states

"This matter is before the Court upon request by the Chancellors... for the appointment of a Special Judge to preside over the preceedings... this request being necessitated by the recusal of the Judges for said Court by virtue of an Order of Recusal executed on December 12, 2011.

Having fully considered this matter, the Court finds that the request is proper pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. Section 9-1-105.

It is therefore ordered and adjudged that Honorable Thomas I. Zebert, Senior Status Judge, be, and he is, hereby specially appointed as Special Judge to preside and conduct proceedings in the above referenced case.."

Earlier post on motion and background of case

Did another Davis break the law?

2012-01-24T08:24:00.003-06:00

JJ reported last week the details of a questionable land deal in Southaven between the city and the Mayor's cousins. Former Senator Doug Davis and Chancery Clerk W.E. Davis are members of an LLC that is selling a ten-acre tract of land to the city for $1.9 million. The land was assessed at only $315,300 in 2006 and a deed of trust was issued on the property by the LLC in 2005 for $200,000. Earlier post

JJ pointed out Saturday the former Senator never disclosed on his statement of economic interest his membership in the LLC as required by law. Failure to disclose such ownership is punishable by a $10,000 fine per violation. The Senator did not disclose his ownership in his 2009 filing. JJ reviewed the statements for W.E. Davis and discovered Mr. Davis did not disclose his ownership in EADS LLC in 2009 as required by law although his filings in 2010 and 2011 do show his membership. The Secretary of State's website states Mr. Davis has been a member of the LLC since 2006.

Judge Green to Jim Hood: Ten more days (Complete video of hearing)

2012-01-23T17:48:00.013-06:00

Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green extended the temporary restraining order* granted to Attorney General Jim Hood another ten days and required ten inmates now free to call in every day. Judge Green issued the tro on January 11 blocking the state from releasing any convicted felons pardoned by Governor Barbour. The Attorney General asked Judge Green to invalidate most of the pardons granted by former Governor Barbour. Judge Green set the next hearing on February 3, 2012 at 1:00 PM.

The courtroom was a who's who of the top defense lawyer in Mississippi. Ed Blackmon, Bill Kirksey, John Collette, Cynthia Stewart, Jane Tucker, Tom Fortner, and more were all there. Lobbyists crowded the audience, unable to resist the political drama Haley's pardons created as a horde of deputies kept order. Ironically the safest place in Jackson at 3:00 PM today was Judge Green's courtroom.

The hearing began with Tom Fortner telling the court he represented Nathan Kern, Anthony McCray, David Gatlin, and Charles Hooker. All were pardoned by Governor Barbour and the subject of Jim Hood's motion. Judge Green surprised the courtroom by telling Mr. Fortner he had not notified the court he was representing them. Mr. Fortner informed the court he had filed notice with the circuit clerk on January 20 and emailed a copy to Judge Green's adiminstrator. Didn't matter. Judge Green rebuked him "Counsel, that is not the way you serve the court is by email not to a court administrator. She's not here. So may I have a copy of what you allegedly filed?" Apparently filing notices and motions with the circuit clerk is not considered a proper court filing in Judge Green's courtroom. One prominent defense lawyer said after the hearing the new rule is to serve Judge Green no matter where she is, even if out eating dinner.

Mr. Fortner had filed a motion asking the court to transfer the case back to Judge Weill, claiming Judge Green had removed the case after it was randomly assigned to junior circuit judge. Mr. Fortner also alleged the Attorney General had a conflict of interest, claiming AG lawyers helped prepare the notices and processed the pardon applications and later suing their own client- the Governor.

The lawyer for the Attorney General addressed the court (5:00 clip 1). Although four pardonees appeared in court, Joseph Ozment did not appear and the AG said he had not been found. The AG sought to amend the motion to block the pardons by adding five more convicts: Kirby Glenn Tate, Aaron Brown, Joshua Howard, Azikiwe Kambule, and Katharine Robinson. These individuals were John Does in the original motion. Judge Green allowed the amendment. Sylvia Owen (rep. Tate), Cynthia Stewart, and Ed Blackmon objected to no avail. Ed Blackmon told the court he had a hearing for habeas corpus on Thursday in Yazoo City. Ms. Owen said the same thing about her client but in Sunflower County. Both challenged the jurisdiction of the court but again did so in vain.

Judge Green again took it upon herself to lecture the attorneys present(24:50 of clip 1): "All of you know how to practice law. And I would expect this court to listen to what you have to say and talk through the motions, and those motions have to be proffered before the court. Now I am good, but I am not so good (FIGJAM)that you can come the day of the hearing and start throwing motions in baskets, the day before the hearing through emails. This hearing was conducted on the 9th, we are now on the 23rd, with everyone having an opporotunity that if everyone wanted the court to consider their motions, they would have properly done so. I have allowed the amendments to the original complaint..."

Judge Green later said the case was a "simple issue" (7:45 of clip 3). The issue is whether the constitution has been complied with. It is my understanding that the only persons who will be addressed are persons who are fully and completely pardons. The hearing today was for those persons who were ordered to appear.... The only question before this court is whether the conditions for felony conviction and publication has been met. It doesn't change with which circuit judge hears the case... It will not become a case about this judge..."

Mr. Fortner raised the issue of whether a conflict of interest existed (18:20 in clip 3). Mr. Fortner pointed out in his brief the AG advised MDOC and participated in the publication of the notices, arguing the AG "assumed responsibility to publish them in the first place." He compared it to a law firm representing both sides of a dispute. The AG called it a "thinly veiled attempt" to divert the court's attention. The AG said each lawyer assigned to an agency represented that agency, not the AG. Judge Green rejected Fortner's argument and said the responsibility for publishing the notice rested with the "applicant" and that the Attorney General is "authorized to raise ANY issues of constitutionality". She further told Mr. Fortner his motion was "without merit".

Here are the tweets from the hearing as it took place.. Note: Governor Barbour's lawyer filed an amicus curiae brief.

*Rule 65(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil procedure state: "A temporary restraining order may be granted, without notice to the adverse party or his attorney if (1) it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage will result to the applicant before the adverse party or his attorney can be heard in opposition, and (2) the applicant's attorney certifies to the court in writing the efforts, if any, which have been made to give the notice and reasons supporting his claim that notice should not be required. Every temporary restraining order granted without notice shall be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance; shall be filed forthwith in the clerk's office and entered of record; shall define the injury and state why it is irreparable and why the order was granted without notice; and shall expire by its terms within such time after entry, not to exceed ten days, as the court fixes (except in domestic relations cases, when the ten-day limitation shall not apply), unless within the time so fixed the order for good cause shown is extended for a like period"

Judge Green issued the original order without notice to several parties as allowed by the rule and they only had ten days to file anything. The AG complaining it didn't have time to read these when it was the one who asked for the emergency TRO was rich.

Watch the first five minutes of the first one. Tells you all you need to know about how the hearing went.

Part 2. Judge Green schedules hearing on Feb. 3. Watch exchange between Judge Green and Fortner.

Part 3.

Part 4.

Save this mutt.

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: THANKS. She found a home and its one of the readers of this site. So thank you. Those of you that responded, I forwarded all of your emails to the foster mom, who is a vet student at MSU. Y'all came through, good job.

OK folks, save this boxer. 8 month old, female, purebred Boxer needs a new home! She is neglected, so lacks manners, still a baby. Email me at kingfish1935@gmail.com if interested. She will be spayed before adoption.

Did Jim Hood think before he started suing?

2012-01-23T09:18:00.004-06:00

Attorney Tom Fortner filed two motions to dismiss Jim Hood's challenge to Haley's pardons. It seems Jim Hood's lawyers advised Haley on how to proceed with the pardons and thus might have a conflict of interest.

NMC had a good post on this matter yesterday and managed to obtain copies of the two motions. Good reading. Funny how Judge Tomie Green yanked the case from Jeff Weill, who received the case via random assignment. NMC's post. There is also a good discussion in the comments.

My two cents: Fortner raises good points. This is what happens when the AG handles the legal matters for all other state agencies. Hood can't tell them how to do it, process part of the paperwork, then challenge in court when he was part of the process. If Green upholds Hood's challenge, don't be surprised if Hood loses on the appeal.

Latest meeting of Madison BOS.

2012-01-23T08:57:00.003-06:00

Here is the video of the latest meeting of the Madison County BOS. Interesting they suddenly have a $1.4 million deficit. Well, when you are blowing over $20,000 a month on a lawyer, millions on engineering fees, nearly a hundred thousand dollars of year on a lobbyist, it should not come as a surprise that they are running out of money. Article

Rezoning discussion on Livingston Township

Rezoning discussion continued

same

Discussion of Grenada Railway Line

Sure hate it when this happens

2012-01-22T12:12:00.001-06:00

From Reunion last week:

WLBT: Harvey announces his opposition to Byram-Clinton corridor

2012-01-22T09:49:00.004-06:00

WLBT followed up a report on JJ last week about Mayor Harvey Johnson's opposition to the Byram-Clinton corridor project. The county has already purchased land, rights of way, started construction, and spent $6 million of $33 million obtained in federal grants. Project has been on the board since 1993 so Harvey has had 2 1/2 terms to let everyone know he is against the project, which he has not done.

Now Harvey starts screaming he is against the project and wants to reroute it through Jackson. Of course, Harvey leaves out the fact Hinds County would have to repay the money to the federal government and then reapply for grant money for the new route. Ah, that must be it, the county is actually doing something and not planning it to death or making excuses so voila, Harvey is suddenly against it. Here is the video of Cheryl's story:

Sweetheart deals in Southaven? (UPDATED)

2012-01-20T21:41:00.014-06:00

Updated with GIS map and tax assessment information.

The Southaven Board of Aldermen voted 4-2 on December 6, 2011 to purchase a ten-acre tract of land from EADS LLC for $1.9 million to construct a Senior Citizen Center. Just one little problem with the transaction- the Mayor's two cousins, Desoto County Chancery Clerk E.A. "Sluggo" Davis and his son, former State Senator Doug Davis, are the sellers. The minutes state:

"Next, Mayor Davis reported on the real estate contract to purchase the 10 acres for the Senior Adult Building and Park Expansion, north of Fire Station 4 on Getwell. The price is $1.95 million dollars. The appraisal came in at $2.6 million dollars. He stated that he recommends that the City go ahead and enter into an agreement to purchase this land. Alderman Guy made the motion to sign the contract to purchase the 10 acres of land. Motion was seconded by Alderman Huling. Mayor Davis opened the floor for discussion. Mayor Davis reported that the contract calls to close the deal sometime mid next year (2012)." Minutes

The minutes are silent on the identity of the seller but the Commercial Appeal reported:

"Aldermen voted 4-2 Tuesday evening to approve a contract to buy 10 acres for $1.9 million from EADS LLC, a Hernando-based limited-liability company of which DeSoto County Chancery Court Clerk W. E. "Sluggo" Davis is an officer/director, according to public records.

Davis is a cousin of Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, but the mayor said by e-mail that he didn't know if his cousin was involved in the company's operation, adding that he felt it wasn't a conflict of interest since the mayor did not vote on the matter." Article

It should be pointed out the Mayor did not recuse himself from the discussion of the purchase but instead recommended the purchase. Longtime readers of this blog know what happened next: The Kingfish checked the land records. Needless to say, the transactions surrounding this particular tract of land contain some troubling details.

W.E. Davis and Alvin Gilless purchased the land on April 26, 2005 from Billy Todd Homes. The warranty deed does not mention the true purchase price but the partners issued a deed of trust to Billy Todd Homes for $200,000 on the same day. The loan was paid off and satisfied two years later. Davis, Gillis, and the other partners transferred the land to EADS, LLC on January 12, 2006. The settlement statement for the transaction will reveal the true purchase price EADS LLC paid for the property. The Desoto Tax Assessor's website states the appraised value of the property is $315,300.

These documents and the Secretary of State's office do not list Doug Davis as a member of EADS LLC. However, a deed showing a transfer of another tract of land from EADS, LLC to W.E. Davis on February 7, 2008 lists five members of the LLC and their signatures: Alvin Gilless, A. Edward Gilless, Angela G. Campbell, W.E. Davis, and Douglas E. Davis (the former Senator). The deed states each one is a "member". The former Senator did not mention any ownership or connection to EADS LLC in his statement of economic interest he is required to file with the Ethics Commission each year he was in office. Failure to list such ownership, if it indeed exists, is punishable by a $10,000 fine.

Editorial Comment: That was the news, now for the opinion. The media, the State Auditor, and even the FBI are apparently no deterrence to this out of control Mayor. It is simply mind-boggling Mayor Davis would even think of completing this transaction after the disgrace he brought to the City of Southaven and himself. At a minimum, the Mayor should have recused himself from any discussion of purchasing land from his cousins. Unfortunately for Southaven residents, Mr. Davis's moral compass disappeared in Canada as he repeatedly proves himself unfit for office.

Then there is the transaction itself. Odds are EADS LLC purchased the land for $200,000. However, in the middle of a real estate bust, the Davis family expects us to believe the land somehow appreciated up to 1,000% in five years. Yes, there is an appraisal for $2.6 million but appraisals are not exactly hard to manipulate- if one is so inclined. It is also a little unusual for the assessed value to be 16% of the sales price or 12% of the appraised value.

What is more troubling is not one single member of the Board of Alderman thought there was anything wrong with purchasing land from the Mayor's cousins nor did they ask to see the settlement statement when EADS LLC or the original partners purchased the land. Apparently it is too much to ask for the city attorney to perform an actual title search.

The Auditor and FBI should expand their investigation from sex toys and gay sex shops to sweetheart land deals with family members as the corruption of Mayor Greg Davis is unfortunately not an isolated gene in the Davis family. As a chancery clerk and former senator, the other Davis's are certainly familiar with terms such as "conflict of interest" and appearance of impropriety". One can only imagine how many other landmines the Davis family has set for Southaven.

Davis listed as member of LLC:

Sale of land to Davis & Gilless from Billy Todd Homes in 2005

Deed of trust for $200,000

Transfer of 10 acre tract from partners to EADS LLC

The list is out!!!

2012-01-20T13:48:00.001-06:00

Speaker Phillip Gunn announced his committee assignments today. Fairly diverse group and there were a few surprises. Here it is. Enjoy.

Energy & natural gas

2012-01-20T07:38:00.004-06:00

CNBC's Jim Cramer, yes, Jim Cramer, has an interesting discussion on the United States becoming an energy exporter and the rest of our energy policy:

We need a laugh

2012-01-19T22:07:00.000-06:00

The REST of the story on the Hindman prosecution.

2012-01-19T08:29:00.006-06:00

The record will read Governor Haley Barbour pardoned Douglas Hindman for cyberstalking. However, there is more to the record than just this pardon or the conviction. Mr. Hindman was busted in a sting operation back in 2006 for trying to meet a 13-year old girl for the purpose of having sex. JJ reviewed the file and found some more interesting details about the case. The file is posted below. Earlier post, chat logs, WLBT 2007 story

Mr. Hindman was indicted on February 8, 2007 for the charge of "exploitation of a child". The indictment states that during the week of July 7, 2006, he

"wilfully, unlawfully, and feloniously by any means including computer knowingly entice, induce, persuade, seduce, solicit, coerce, or order an undercover operative posing as a child to meet with the said Douglas Hunter Hindman or any other person, for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct, in violation of Section 97-5-33, Mississippi Code of 1972".

Assistant District Attorney Allyson Nelson signed the indictment. Mr. Hindman paid a $50,000 bond and was represented by Joe Holloman. Judge Swan Yerger adjudicated the case. The charge was reduced to cyberstalking in a plea bargain. The plea bargain Mr. Hindman signed imposed a $5,000 fine, a suspended jail sentence of two years, and a probation term of five years.

What are the difference between the two charges since they are both felonies? The law states anyone found guilty of exploitation of a child is a felon "and upon conviction shall pay a fine of not more than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) and shall be imprisoned for not less than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years. Then there is the matter of the convict having to register as a sex offender. Cyberstalking carries a much weaker penalty: fine less than $5,000 and/or prison sentence less than two years.

There is one little fact I have not published yet: the prosecutor who agreed to this plea bargain. Rebecca Mansell. Yup. The same one that has been reversed five times by the Mississippi Supreme Court for um, "prosecutorial misconduct" as one commenter called it on this website.* The same prosecutor that carried Tim Johnson's lunch bucket in Madison County and prosecuted the whistleblower of the bogus charity (Fine Arts Institute of Mississippi) with which he was connected. Frankly, I said it she was the prosecutor before I even looked at this file and sure enough, I was right. The probation period was terminated when it was only 50% completed.

Then-District Attorney Faye Peterson defended the plea bargain and her prosecutors in a 2007 interview with the Jackson Free Press:

"One of the men caught in the sting, 32-year-old Douglas Hindman of Jackson, attempted to flee the house when he spotted a deputy outside. Deputies arrested him a few blocks away. Originally charged with felony child exploitation, Hindman eventually pled guilty to cyber stalking, a felony that is not a sexual crime, and is currently on five years' probation. As part of the plea agreement, Hindman's two-year sentence was suspended, he had to pay a $5,000 fine, and another $5,000 to a crime-victims unit. With no sex-crime record, Hindman, son of a prominent Jackson family, does not have to register as a sex offender.

Asked why her office reduced the charge against Hindman, District Attorney Faye Peterson indicated that the law itself was insufficient to convict Hindman of the original charge. "The statute had a defect in it," Peterson said. The flaw was that statute Hindman was charged under required that the "victim" had to be an actual child, not an adult posing as a child.

"We were in uncharted territory," Peterson said.

The Legislature has since amended the statute to correct the flaw, Peterson said, but Hindman was arrested under the previous, flawed law." Article

Just one problem. The former District Attorney was um, slightly in error. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed in 2011 a conviction from the same sting operation, Shaffer v. State of Mississippi. Justin Shaffer was arrested on July 8, 2006 for the same crime thing as Hindman: chatting with someone he thought was a 13-year old who was actually someone working for Perverted Justice. He, like Hindman, went to meet "Chloe" at a home in Byram and was arrested by Hinds County Deputies. He was charged with Exploitation of a Child, the same statute used to charge Doug Hindman, and was convicted in Greene County (HCSO turned the cases over to the perv's home county). The law, the one Faye Peterson said was flawed, stated:

"No person shall, by any means including computer, knowingly entice, induce,
persuade, seduce, solicit, advise, coerce, or order a child to meet with the
defendant or any other person for purpose of engaging in sexually explicit
conduct."

Mr. Shaffer appealed, arguing the "victim" was not actually under the age of eighteen. The Court of Appeals agreed, reversed the conviction, imposed a conviction of attempted exploitation, and remanded to the trial court for resentencing. Court of Appeals opinion.
The Mississippi Supreme Court disagreed with the decision and affirmed the trial court on October 27, 2011. Opinion.

Mr. Shaeffer argued to the Mississippi Supreme Court he could not be guilty of child-exploitation because no child had been involved in the sting." The Court disagreed and said "solicitation is sufficient to violate the statute" and that "the act of solicitation does not require that the thing solicited even exists."

Justice Kitchens dissented, but then gave the prosecution an additional way to convict Mr. Shaeffer: the general attempt statute. Section 97-1-7 of the Mississippi Code states:

"Every person who shall design and endeavor to commit an offense, and shall do any overt act toward the commission thereof, but shall fail therein, or shall be prevented from committing the same, on conviction thereof, shall, where no provision is made by law for the punishment of such offense, be punished as follows: If the offense attempted to be committed be capital, such offense shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years; if the offense attempted be punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or by fine and imprisonment in the county jail, then the attempt to commit such offense shall be punished for a period or for an amount not greater than is prescribed for the actual commission of the offense so attempted."

Editorial comment: Faye Peterson and Rebecca Mansell could have prosecuted Mr. Hindman under the general attempt statute if the exploitation of a child statue was flawed and would have prevented a prosecution of Mr. Hindman. The fact remains, the law, as determined last year by the Mississippi Supreme Court would have still allowed for the prosecution of Mr. Hindman for trying to exploit a child. Pretty sad that Greene County knew the law better than Hinds County at the time. Perhaps Ms. Peterson and her lackey can explain to their cheerleaders at the JFP why they let someone like Mr. Hindman off of the hook instead of prosecuting him to the furthest extent of the law. This case is simply disgusting from start to finish.

*Davis v. State, 970 So.2d 164, 171-72 (Miss.App. 2006)
Bailey v. State, 952 So.2d 225, 234-35 (Miss.App. 2006)
King v. State, 994 So.2d 890 (Miss.App. 2008)
McGee v. State, 953 So.2d 241 (Miss.App. 2005) aff’d 953 So.2d 211 (Miss. 2007)
Thomas v. State, 19 So.3d 130 (Miss. App. 2009)

Note: A message has been left with MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps about this file as the probation period was terminated after 50% was completed.

Remembering Stuart Irby

2012-01-18T19:38:00.003-06:00

Local filmmaker Amile Wilson penned this memorial of Stuart Irby.

The city of Jackson lost a great friend in Stuart Irby. For the last few years Stuart has struggled living in the foggy haze of brain damage. There is a certain torment that comes from living in this fog and an even deeper one knowing that you're living in it. Stuart is finally at rest.

Whatever has happened in the past few months or years, Stuart was a major asset to Jackson who has supported and preserved not only hundreds (possibly thousands) of jobs for Mississippians but whose generosity knew few bounds. The Symphony, theatre, art, Belhaven University, his church and most recognizable non-profits throughout the community benefited greatly from his charity. Hundreds of thousands of dollars supported the arts, education, medical research, and community development - all at the hands of Stuart.

No matter what your career, your hobby, or your social status, odds are that if you are a Jackson resident, you, someone you care about, or some cause near and dear to your heart was aided (sometimes entirely funded) by Stuart. His loss is truly a loss to the community and we all owe him a debt.

Stuart was a personal friend and his family has been an integral part of my life since grade school. The personal support of Stuart and his brother Charles has unquestionably helped me get to where I am today. Stuart's generosity will always be remembered.

Now the best thing we can do is remember the legacy of charity and culture that he left behind, pray for children who have suffered much already and now face the loss of their father, and pray for our community which has lost one of it's greatest benefactors and supporters.

Amile Wilson

There are no new details about this tragedy. Visitation is tomorrow from 4-8 at Wright & Ferguson. The funeral will be a private ceremony. Any similar memorials will be posted if anyone wishes to submit them. I have updated the page for all Irby posts. KF

Harvey trying to kill Byram-Clinton corridor project. Meanwhile Peggy nails it.

2012-01-18T12:49:00.003-06:00

Watch the video posted below. Supervisor Peggy Hobson-Calhoun makes a good speech about how Mayor Johnson is trying to harm economic development in Hinds County and mentions the crime problems and yes, "black flight" in Jackson.

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson is trying to stop the Byram-Clinton corridor project. The project is a creation of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and has been in the works for nearly twenty years. The project will create a corridor much like Highland Colony Parkway from I-55 to I-20. The road will pass through Byram, Clinton, and Bolton. Hinds County has received $33 million in grants for the project and spent approximately $6 million from the grants.

Supervisors Kenneth Stokes and Peggy Hobson-Calhoun mentioned a recent meeting with Mayor Johnson at the regular session of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors yesterday. Kenneth Stokes acted as Harvey's mouthpiece and opposed the project. Supervisor Hobson-Calhoun defended the project in a ten minute speech yesterday and said Mayor Johnson said he would get a petition signed by 1,500 voters to force a bond vote if any bonds were issued to fund the project. She also said he had a "long list of objections" to the project. Sources informed this correspondent Mayor Johnson wants the project rerouted through Jackson and that the Mayor sees the projects as a competitor of the Highway 80 revitalization project.

Here is the unedited video. Phil has a few things to say about Mayor Johnson at 9:30. Stokes at 13:00 starts talking about Mayor Harvey trying to kill project and make compromises with Jackson.

Editorial comment: This is Harvey Johnson at his absolute worst. This project has been in the works for nearly twenty years. Harvey knew about this project yet waited until grants were awarded and constructed started to announce his opposition. The Mayor economic paranoia sees Hinds County the same as he sees Madison and Rankin: competitors that are not competitors but the enemy. The project is a good chance to develop a good part of Hinds County but the Mayor apparently only thinks Jackson should enjoy any economic development. Perhaps the county should remind the Mayor who houses his criminals and provides a few other services he likes to enjoy at the county's expense. The Mayor is extremely short-sighted and would rather destroy Hinds County than see it succeed if it meant Hinds went down the tubes with Jackson. Keep in mind if Hinds reroutes the project to go through Jackson, it probably loses all funding and has to reapply.

Did not see this story covered in ANY of the local media- mainstream or alternative. Of course, that would have meant portraying Harvey in a negative light.

Farewell to Stuart Irby.

2012-01-18T00:09:00.004-06:00

By now you've all heard the news. Stuart M. Irby, Sr. hanged himself Tuesday night. Frankly I don't know what to say or where to start. There are some people really hurting right now. Siblings lost their brother. A little boy lost his father and another son and daughter lost their father as well. Stuart fought his demons for years and suffered brain damage in that horrific accident. One hoped last week's events would be the last chapter written for some time but unfortunately, such was not to be. Pray for his family and friends as they deal with this loss. I don't have much else to say as I'm pretty floored by the news tonight.

Stuart Irby Found Dead

2012-01-17T21:54:00.001-06:00

Initial reports state suicide by hanging. Details to follow.

Remembering the war

2012-01-17T08:18:00.001-06:00

Since our state, in its infinite wisdom, saw fit to honor Robert E. Lee yesterday, here is a video of the reunion of Union and Confederate soldiers 50 years after the end of The War.

It's now official

2012-01-17T08:11:00.004-06:00

From MDOC's website:

Phase II is almost here.

2012-01-17T07:43:00.002-06:00

Forgot to add to my last Hinds County post that Hinds is almost ready to go live with Phase II E911 service. Hinds County has completed all mapping and provided the necessary information to ATT (the vendor). Phase II allows 911 service to use GPS to locate your cellphone if you call 911 on your cellphone and can't give directions. Half of Mississippi counties already provide the service. It should be operational in Hinds County any week now.

Tomorrow night it starts: SPAMALOT!!!

2012-01-16T20:55:00.001-06:00

Get your tickets here

This post is a paid advertisement.

Latest from House Management Committee (Video)

2012-01-16T20:30:00.005-06:00

The House Management Committee met again last week to begin reviewing and revising policies of the House of Representatives. The committee approved the hiring of Nathan Wells as Policy Director for the Speaker, Andrew Ketchings as Clerk, and Ed Perry as an extra clerk on a temporary basis. Earlier post with video No important decisions after the hiring decisions but several important updates were provided.

JJ is covering this committee during the session to provide you with an in-depth look at what is truly a first in Mississippi history: the transition of the House from Democrat to Republican control. Most of this is inside baseball for the politicos and the lobbyists. Enjoy.

Clip 2: The committee reviews the travel policy. The House suspended all travel by members and employees in May 2010 due to budget shortfalls. The committee will likely return to the old policy. Several members said it was a good policy but had been ignored by previous leadership. The old policy was trips had to be approved by the Speaker or Pro-Tem and each member was limited to $1,200 in expenses per year. The committee did not vote on it at this meeting but the comments make it clear to see that is where it is going.

Part 3. I skipped over the office space discussion. That was over an hour long. Discussion of sexual harassment policies. Yup, The committee appointed a three-person subcommittee to review and update the House's sexual harassment policies. Needless to say, the subcommittee is probably going to recommend sexual harassment training for all members and employees (keep the jokes to yourself, please) as well as updating the policy. Speaker Pro-Tem Snowden said it was "overdue".

4:00. Discussion begins on employees. Funny part is when Representative Bennett mentions how they met employees who didn't even know who their supervisors were. He said he would then ask them "well, who do you call when you are sick? They would say 'I don't know'". Very interesting.

New section on PERS

2012-01-16T12:32:00.001-06:00

Here is the link to the PERS section. I collected all post on PERS and put them on one page so you could avoid the search engine demons. Enjoy.

And the Democrats try to tie it to pardons.

2012-01-16T08:56:00.004-06:00

The Democrats just issued the following press release calling the bill to limit attorney's fees a retaliatory measure against Attorney General Jim Hood:

"Jackson, MS- In response to Attorney General Jim Hood’s efforts to stop former Gov. Haley Barbour’s release of over 200 Mississippi felons, including murderers, rapists and child sex offenders, a Republican senator has introduced a barrage of retaliatory legislation.

On Friday, two days after Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green temporarily blocked the pardons of 21 current and former inmates at the request of Hood, Senator Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) introduced Senate Bills 2084 and 2102, bills aimed at limiting the powers of the Attorney General to hire outside legal counsel to prosecute complex claims on behalf of the State.

“This retaliatory stunt couldn’t come at a worse time,” said Rep. Bob Evans (D-Monticello). “At this moment, General Hood is working to recover tens of millions owed to the state’s retirement system, now is not the time to tie his hands.”

Democrats say S. B. 2084 and 2102 are aimed at keeping the Attorney General’s Office from recovering taxpayer money for egregious acts against the State. During his most recent term of office, Hood recovered over $500 million on behalf of Mississippi taxpayers in civil litigation that didn’t cost taxpayers a dime.

At issue is the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office’s ability to contract with outside counsel to represent the state for costly recovery actions. The practice has been the target of United States Chamber of Commerce funded entities such as the American Legislative Exchange Council for almost a decade. Fillingane, like a number of his Republican colleagues, is a member of ALEC.

“We were able to kill these efforts in the House during the last term,” Evans said. “But the Republicans are determined to make sure Jim Hood is blocked from making their big business cronies pay when they do bad things to the State of Mississippi.”

Ironically, Fillingane, as former Chair of the Senate Judiciary A Committee, killed at least three bills that would have provided “sunshine” on the Mississippi pardon system now under scrutiny by news outlets nation-wide.

Evans said, "This is simple retaliation against the only statewide official who has taken action to protect Mississippians from Republican recklessness.” Evans added, “Senator Fillingane failed Mississippi victims and families when he killed these bills before. We can’t afford to let him compound the problem by grounding our chief law enforcement officer.”

PRESS NOTES:

S.B. 2739 in 2009; S.B. 2130 and 2170 in 2010; S.B. 2118 in 2011 were killed in the Fillingane Committee.

As a private attorney, Fillingane urged the Miss. Supreme Court to allow a felon convicted of robbery and drug sale to be allowed visitation of his child, over the unwed mother’s objection in Christian v. Wheat, 876 So.2d 341 (Miss. 2004). The Court rejected his plea.

For more information on ALEC:
http://www.thenation.com/article/161978/alec-exposed
www.alecexposed.org
www.alec.org

Editorial comment: Um, 5% of $30 million is...... $1.5 million, exclusive of costs. Please, send some of that retaliation my way. And the attorneys are limited to FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS in fees EXCLUSIVE of costs. Dammit, I want some retaliation.

Bill to limit outside attorney's fees filed.

2012-01-16T08:25:00.007-06:00

Republican Senator Joey Fillingange didn't waste any time filing a bill to change the way Jim Hood does business. SB#2102 will place limits on the fees attorneys can receive in contingency fee contracts with the state. Current law does not place any limits on attorney's fees in such suits. Section 1(c)provides the proposed guidelines:

1. 25% of any portion of a recovery not exceeding $10 Million PLUS
2. 20% of any portion of a recovery between $10 million & $15 million PLUS
3. 15% of any portion of a recovery between $15 million & $20 million PLUS
4. 10% of any recovery between $20 million and $25 million PLUS
5. 5% of any recover over $25 million.

The bill also limits the fees to $50 million excluding actual and reasonable costs and regardless of the number of attorneys involved in the litigation.
The bill mandates a government attorney "with supervisory capacity shall be personally involved in overseeing the litigation" and will have veto power over any decisions made by "outside counsel". Copies of the contracts between the private attorneys and the A.G. shall be posted on the his website within five days after the contract is executed. Payments of contingency fees would be posted on the website within 15 days after payment as well.

The bill has been referred to Senate Judiciary "Committee".

Editorial comment: This bill is high on the list of Republican objectives and its no surprise this bill was filed on the first day. This bill will probably move like a freight train through the Legislature to the Governor's desk.

In honor of Dr. King.

2012-01-16T08:06:00.003-06:00

Today is a holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. I've collected some clips and posted them here for your enjoyment.

Interview on Meet the Press after Selma.

Here is one interview with Dr. King where he rebuts Malcolm X's criticism of his philosophy and work.

Then there is the "I have a dream" speech. Yup, I'm posting this here and daring the King estate to sue me for infringement.

No comment.

2012-01-15T19:40:00.002-06:00

This video was taken right before the first meeting of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors this year.

The Supervisor is Kenneth Stokes. It was his first meeting as a Supervisor. The gentleman speaking to him is Jamie Travis, Airwave's attorney. Mr. Travis didn't waste any time rushing up to Mr. Stokes and introducing himself before the meeting. Found it amusing was all.

Looks like paywalls are coming to the Clarion-Ledger

2012-01-14T11:45:00.002-06:00

Jim Romenesko published on his blog an email providing details on Gannett's plans to move its content behind a paywall:

"A reader who forwarded this Gannett document emails: “Below are some details about Gannett’s paywall. Our publisher told us we’ll be rolling one out in the coming months.”

From: xxxx
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
To: xxxxx
Subject: Consumer FAQ

Attached is the Consumer FAQ. This should be used to address questions you receive from the marketplace regarding the new subscription model. Please let me know if there are questions that come up that are not addressed in this document.

Thanks for your patience.

Mike

New Subscription Model
FAQ for Consumers

Beginning February 1, we will implement a new subscription model. Subscribers will have access to all of our content. That means you will be able to access our content where and how you want it — through all platforms, including web, mobile, smart phone, tablet and delivery of the print on the days you select.

If you choose not to subscribe, digital access will be limited to a small number of articles a month.

Why are you making this change?
Today, readers access our unique, high quality local content in a number of ways. This full access subscription model creates a structure to allow readers to choose how to read our news and information.

In conjunction with this effort, we are also investing in the unique local content we deliver across all platforms including tablet, mobile, and new technologies as they come to market.

What are the benefits of this new full access model?
Subscribers can access content anywhere and anytime using digital platforms. The content accessed through the Web, mobile, and tablet will be frequently updated and will provide coverage of breaking news and events through articles and photos as well as provide content that cannot be included in print, such as databases, streaming video, blogs and chats. The subscription pricing is aligned with content value. Unlike in the past, subscriptions remain active during vacation periods. You will be able to continue accessing the content while traveling, including viewing a digital replica of the print edition. If the subscription also includes home delivery of the newspaper, you will be credited a portion of the subscription which relates to the delivery expense for the print edition..." Rest of email and post

Gannett has NOT announced any such plans for the Clarion-Ledger BUT it doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. I can't say I have a problem with this as I thought it was a big mistake for the newspaper to give away its content for free online while it tried to make money off the increasingly obsolete model of print copy.

Homeward bound

2012-01-13T17:27:00.003-06:00

Updated: Its now official on MDOC's website

Karen Irby is now home. Let the feeding frenzy begin.

House hires Policy Director & cuts Pro-Tem's pay. (Video)

2012-01-13T09:33:00.007-06:00

The House Management Committee voted unanimously yesterday to hire a House Clerk, Policy Director for the Speaker, and on a temporary basis a former clerk to assist in the transition.

The committee voted to pay Andrew Ketchings an annual salary of $112,500. Speaker Pro-Tem said the salary would be approximately $30,000 less than the salary of his predecessor, Don Richardson. Speaker Philip Gunn said the compensation was based upon his salary at the Department of Banking and Finance. The committee set the Speaker Pro-Tem's salary at $15,000 per year. The previous Pro-Tem, Representative J.P. Compretta was paid $90,000 per year.

The committee also voted to hire former clerk Ed Perry to assist Mr. Ketchings in the transition at a rate of $2,300 per week for a period up to two months. Speaker Gunn said the sixty day period was a maximum and Mr. Perry's duty could be less than the sixty days. The maximum compensation would be nearly $20,000. The Speaker pointed out the savings from the new comp plan for the clerk was for four years. If the projections are accurate, the House would save $110,000 over four years even with Mr. Perry's employment. The

The committee then voted unanimously to hire Nathan Wells as policy director at an annual salary of $110,000. Representative Bennett said it would "take the partisanship out of the clerk's job". Speaker Gunn said the previous clerk had a dual capacity as he would "assign bills" and then "advise the Speaker" and thus was seen as being "tied in to the Speaker." Speaker Gunn said Mr. Ketchings needed to be a clerk for "everybody...He needs to run the clerk's office and that is part of the justification for reducing the clerk's salary." Mr. Wells duties will include advising the Speaker, formulating policy, and acting as a liaison to Representatives. It was also pointed out by several committee members the Lieutenant Governor and Governor both have policy directors. No Democrats spoke against the employment of Mr. Wells. It was also pointed out the House was paying a consultant in past terms to perform these duties at a rate of $60 per hour.

Relevant points in clip: 7:39: Discussion of clerk's salary. 9:00: Discussion of hiring of Mr. Perry. 17:00: Discussion of hiring of policy director. Its a pretty good discussion and will give you a better idea than what has been reported by the media of why Mr. Wells was hired.

Editorial comment: Over at Democrat mouthpiece Cottonmouth blog, Mr. Cottonmouth curiously omits the fact the Democrats voted for this hire and the House was paying a consultant $60 per hour. he also says Speaker Gunn hired Mr. Wells although it was the Republicans AND Democrats who hired him.The House was also paying the Pro-Tem $90,000 a year for the last term as well. Don't see Cottonmouth saying anything about that. Anyone surprised? Such is par for the course over there.

CNBC Food Fight!!!

2012-01-13T09:05:00.001-06:00

Santelli: Give me a $2 calculator and I'll take on your 1,000 economists. Here is the video.

Democrats call for shortened session

2012-01-13T07:53:00.004-06:00

The newly-formed Democratic Trust sent out the following press release yesterday:

Jackson, MS- Brandon Jones, chairman of the newly formed Mississippi Democratic Trust, is recommending a cost saving proposal for the Mississippi Legislature.

In conferences with legislators, Jones has urged support for shortening the legislative session. Jones said, “During this budget crisis, it is important that lawmakers be more accountable than ever. Shortening the legislative session by ninety days would create an estimated $825,000 in cost savings that Mississippi needs for other critical programs.” Jones continued, “We are calling on the leadership in both chambers to make an immediate declaration to shorten the session and save taxpayer dollars.”

On November 8, 2007, then Lt. Governor Phil Bryant called on colleagues to shorten the 125 day session by 35 days to save an estimated $825,000. On January 10, 2008, Governor Haley Barbour and Senate President Pro Tempore Billy Hewes joined in the call for a shortened session. The resolution that eventually passed the Senate instead shortened the session to 104 days. The savings were estimated to be $500,000, according to Senator Hewes.

In an April 27, 2011 press release, Lt. Gov. Bryant reiterated his pledge as follows:

“In preparation for the next 120-day legislative session, the legislature did receive 9% more to cover the costs of the longer session. Just as I did four years ago, I would recommend to the new Legislature shortening the session to 90 days, thereby saving additional money to the taxpayer."

###

The Mississippi Democratic Trust seeks to help elect Democratic candidates who will provide sensible and responsible leadership for Mississippi. The Trust supports effective policies to address legitimate economic, education, healthcare, and public safety issues in our State.

Brandon Jones, Chairman
Mississippi Democratic Trust"

Editorial comment: Hmmm.... I don't recall Mr. Jones calling for shortened sessions when he was drawing a paycheck as a member of the legislature.

Word on the street is..........

2012-01-12T22:14:00.003-06:00

John Bell going to run for Mayor against Mary.

One question about the pardons.

2012-01-12T21:22:00.001-06:00

Were any father-rapers on the list?

Check out this pardon.

2012-01-12T08:02:00.006-06:00

Here is one guy who got a pardon. Douglas Hindman.

Check out the chat logs for this guy. Here is the original WLBT story in 2007.

Rankin County School Board opposes secession (Video)

2012-01-12T07:20:00.003-06:00

Post includes complete video of meeting and minutes from November 2011 meeting.

Meeting starts at 3:30. Board deals with Mayor Rhoads' comments about creating a separate school district at 12:00. Board voted unanimously to oppose such action even though no formal request was made. School Board President Anne Sturdivant later said such a move would deprive the district of 48% of its revenue.

Board goes into executive session then returns to open meeting. Meeting only lasted for three minutes after they returned. Oh I love it, Liesmand and Santelli are going at it right now. Going to have a good video to post later.

Here are the minutes from November. Nothing exciting in them but here is a partial list of the relevant documents:

Page 6: Personnel changes
Page 10: Several field trip requests (Note to NW Rankin Middle: field trip to Atlanta but NO trip to the aquarium? Just the largest and best one in the country but a trip to a baseball game is schedule. )
Page 40: Statement of cash balances for schools
Page 51: Discussion and quotes for fire extinguishers & inspections

Haley responds

2012-01-11T18:09:00.002-06:00

The former Governor sent the following press release:

Some people have misunderstood the clemency process and think that all or most of the individuals who received clemency from former Gov. Haley Barbour were in jail at the time of their release. Approximately 90 percent of these individuals were no longer in custody, and a majority of them had been out for years. The pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases. The 26 people released from custody due to clemency is just slightly more than one-tenth of 1 percent of those incarcerated.

Half of the people who were incarcerated and released were placed on indefinite suspension due to medical reasons because their health care expenses while incarcerated were costing the state so much money. These individuals suffer from severe chronic illnesses, are on dialysis, in wheelchairs or are bedridden. They are not threats to society but if any of them commits an offense – even a misdemeanor – they’ll be returned to custody to serve out their term.

Of the inmates released for medical reasons, a small number were placed on house arrest, and all still remain under the supervision of the Department of Corrections.

In Custody at Time of Release: 26 (12%)
* Medical Release/Remain Under MDOC Supervision (13)
* Suspended Sentence/ Remain Under MDOC Supervision (3)

Previously Completed Incarceration at Time of Clemency :189 (88 percent)

Total: 215

Source: Mississippi Department of Corrections

The pardon porcupine gets stickier

2012-01-11T16:28:00.006-06:00

NMC found another pardon that well, I won't spoil the surprise. Just click and read. If you get caught drinking and driving, just do it again.

Meanwhile Attorney General Jim Hood is seeking an injunction to block some of the pardons. Nice Haley, you are giving Democrats the opportunity to appear tough on crime.

However, that is not all. The Dedousis family has created a Facebook page, Victims of Mississippi Pardons. I don't think this is going away.

Homeland Security Deputy Director indicted

2012-01-11T06:13:00.004-06:00

A Hinds County grand jury indicted Byron Thompson of one count of embezzlement on December 8, 2011. Mr. Thompson is the Deputy Director for the Mississippi Department of Homeland Security. He is free on $5,000 bond.

The indictment charges Mr. Thompson with using a state-owner car and a fuelman card for his own personal use. The complaint was filed after State Auditor Stacy Pickering made a demand of $6,565 on the defendant in 2010 to repay the money. Mr. Pickering issued a press release concerning the matter in August 2010:

The State Auditor’s Office has issued a demand against DPS official Byron Thompson in the amount of $6,565.71 to the State of Mississippi following an investigation by the State Auditor’s Office into his personal use of a state-owned vehicle. Thompson, Search and Rescue Coordinator for the Mississippi Homeland Security, used a state vehicle for personal use between August 2009– May 2010.

“State owned vehicles are to be used for official state business and not personal use,” said State Auditor Stacey Pickering. “Personal use is different than traveling in a state car to a meeting, convention or to the office. Special agents analyzed this individual’s time sheets, fuel purchase reports and schedules to determine when he was officially ‘on the clock’ and when it was obvious he was using his state-owned vehicle for personal use that is clearly a violation of State Law.”

Mississippi Code Section 25-1-79 clearly prohibits personal use in a state-owned vehicle for any purpose other than the official business of the State of Mississippi. Personal use is not to be confused with allowable uses of state-owned vehicles as outlined in the Department of Finance and Administration’s Fleet Manual. Personal travel, such as vacations, out of town trips while off duty, transportation of family members, etc., is prohibited.

Here's another one.

2012-01-10T16:56:00.001-06:00

Woman kills her husband, gets a conditional indefinite suspension of sentence.

Karen Irby commuted to 3 years of house arrest.

2012-01-10T16:14:00.008-06:00

Collection of all posts on Irby case

BREAKING: Family not notified. Spoke to the wife of John Dedousis, Elaine. She authorized me to state the family was not notifed by the Governor's office and they only found out a few minutes before we spoke even though they were on the list to be contacted by the state. Mr. Dedousis said "I am speechless. I'm appalled. Its amazing what political connections can do. The family plans on taking some form of action which will be decided upon in the next 24 hours."

Original post: You read right. Karen Irby's sentence is commuted to three years of house arrest.Here is the list. Its on page 7.

Kitchens: Governor is "insane" for pardoning Gatlin

2012-01-10T15:33:00.004-06:00

Former Madison-Rankin District Attorney John Kitchens sent this website a copy of a letter he sent to MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps opposing any mercy for David Gatlin. Mr. Kitchens stated in an email to this correspondent "Haley Barbour is insane for granting a pardon to this criminal." David Gatlin pleaded guilty to simple murder, aggravated assault, and burglary in the murder of his wife.

Mr. Gatlin rented a car in Georgia, traveled to Mississippi, and spent the night in a motel in the Jackson area in 1993. Mr. Gatlin then went to the home of Randy Walker, forced Mr. Walker at gunpoint to go back to the bedroom where a dressed Tammy Ellis Gatlin stood holding her baby. David Gatlin shot his wife with a .380 and then shot Randy Walker. Randy Walker survived, Tammy Gatlin did not. Mr. Gatlin served as a trustee in the Governor's Mansion. Mr. Kitchens asked Commissioner Epps in his letter to terminate his trustee status.

The Bryant team

2012-01-10T10:56:00.003-06:00

The Governor named his team yesterday. His "cabinet" will be:

Bureau of Narcotics: Marshall L Fisher, Executive Director
Corrections: Chris Epps, Commissioner
MEMA: Robert Latham, Executive Director
Employment Security: Mark Henry, Executive Director
Environmental Quality: Trudy Fisher, Executive Director
Finance and Administration: Kevin Upchurch, Executive Director
Human Services: Rickey Berry, Executive Director
Medicaid: Dr. David Dzielak, Executive Director
Marine Resources: Dr. Bill Walker, Executive Director
Public Safety: Albert Santa Cruz, Commissioner
MDA: Jim Barksdale
Chief of Staff: Kirk Sims
Communications Director: Mick Bullock

Some old, some new as the Governor kept some agency heads and replaced others. No word yet on Banking & Finance. What is interesting is who is not on the list. Its rather surprising, to say the least.

Israeli reception for Governor Bryant last night (Video)

2012-01-10T08:49:00.005-06:00

The Israeli Consulate hosted a reception for Governor Bryant at the Fairview Inn last night. Jackson Jambalaya was present and videotaped the evening for you. Here is the video. Enjoy.

Clip 1: Welcoming remarks by Rebecca Laskin, Laskin Therapy Group,Dr. Luke Gergen, and Cheryl Katz at 8:30, Congressman Harper at 16:00

Clip 2 starts with Senator Wicker, Governor Bryant speaks at 6:30.

Good job Bama.

2012-01-09T22:42:00.003-06:00

They kicked our ass fair and square I and I do mean kick our ass. I had to listen to LSU fans bad-mouth Saban, who I've always respected. Well, my fellow Tigers, I hoped you learned something. I wrote 4 years ago on this site Miles was not a championship coach. I tend to save such judgments til after the season is over. I'm drunk off my ass but that's ok, I give Nick all the credit.

By the way, thank you Les. You had a qb on track to be First Team All SEC. But nooooooo, because he looked dumb against a Saban defense like so many other qb's have, you sat his ass on the bench and screwed us with Jefferson tonight. At least Shula in Super Bowl 3 had the sense to put a Unitas with a bad arm in the game in the fourth quarter. Instead we got Jefferson playing all the way until the end even after it was clear he was unable to perform tonight.

I've always given Nick credit for his ability, intellect, and passion to win a game. LSU fans were making fun of his being nervous today, they call him Little Napoleon (Scott McKay). What I see is a guy who HATES to lose, who fights like hell after he does. You had a coach who was the DC for one of the top defenses in NFL history (93 browns, his staff was Bates, Schwartz, Ferentz) now mad after what happened in November and who was not going to be outcoached or prepared for the game. There is a certain contingent on LSU boards who have shut down anyone who says Saban is a very good coach and a true intellect of the game. I've heard both coaches numerous times in private. They are both the same in terms of competitive in nature. They both love to recruit and are good at it. They both can spot coaching talent and hire it but Saban is a little better coach than Miles and proved it tonight.

Having said that, congrats to the Tide. They beat my Tigers' ass, made them quit, and dominated them. Before you Bama fans get TOO cocky, just remember how Nebraska made you feel in the Orange Bowl one year. Bear wasn't too proud, was he?

I won't be surprised if LSU wins the national championship next year. Schedule favors them and history is littered with champions who lost games such as this one who came back and won the next year. Remember the Redskins after the 73-0 game or the Duke Blue Devils against UNLV?

Anyway, I will say it, Roll Tide.

Oh, and MVP for Bama: Jordan Jefferson.

Tuesday morning, 8:30 AM: Now Jefferson is actually saying he played fine and it was the other teammate's fault. And those of you saying Lee threw picks against Bama, well, Saban made Eli, Greene, and Rothlesberger look bad. Does that mean you wouldn't start them again?

IT'S ON!!!!!!!

2012-01-09T19:04:00.002-06:00

Game thread. Have fun. LSU by ten.

Pregame

2012-01-09T13:30:00.000-06:00

Stupid crook story

2012-01-09T11:33:00.001-06:00

WAPT reported an escapee from the Hinds County jail is back in custody:

HINDS COUNTY, Miss. -- An escaped inmate is back in the custody of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department after he escaped Saturday.

Investigators said Robert Arnold Morgan escaped from custody about 11:45 a.m.

He was seen getting into a vehicle headed toward State Street. He was captured Saturday afternoon and is now facing additional charges.

His mother is in custody, too, and could face charges for helping him in his escape."

What is stupid about this? His parole paperwork has already been processed and is waiting to be signed. Yup, he was getting out anyway. Not anymore.

She's back

2012-01-09T09:38:00.003-06:00

and in the French Quarter signing autographs:

Bama going down TONIGHT!!!

2012-01-09T07:59:00.003-06:00

Consider this the thread for tonight's game.

McCartney: Miles is LSU's "Bo"

2012-01-09T07:40:00.002-06:00

Yahoo Sports published a nice article about Coach Miles. Long read but definitely some enjoyable passages. Article

Plunging into the Deep Web

2012-01-08T22:44:00.003-06:00

Ever wondered if there was more to the internet? Well, there is...... if you have the time, patience, and um, inclination to dig into the Deep Web.

"So if the Internet as you know it is an iceberg, the smallest part of that iceberg, the visible portion, is where you have been surfing your entire life. You visit websites, click links, use search engines to research topics of interest and generally just make your way around the visible Web. But below that visible portion, there is a much larger compilation of destinations beyond the reach of most Internet users. This portion, the Deep Web, is much harder for the average person to access and even harder to navigate. Much of the criminal activity that happens on the Deep Web is cloaked in anonymity, shrouded in secrecy or somehow hidden from the prying eyes that would love to put an end to this virtual land of OZ. Essentially what I’m saying is this: You may be familiar with the Internet, maybe even the darker side of the Internet. You may know how to find pornography for free, download music illegally, use a torrent program to download pirated movies and other media or purchase prescription pills from some online pharmacy. But if you haven’t visited the Deep Web, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Sure, there are research papers and legitimate and interesting pieces of content to view on The Other Side but there’s also some pretty nefarious happenings there.

How do you connect to the Deep Web?: Though the Deep Web may be beyond those of you with little in the way of technical and Web savvy, it’s not impossible, nor even extremely difficult to visit. First, you’ll need to download Tor, the software that allows you to access the Deep Web. Tor is designed to provide Internet users with as close to complete anonymity as possible. The Tor website describes their software and their mission as follows.

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.

You can use Tor on virtually any PC, Mac or even mobile devices like the iPhone and Android-operated smartphones. But, if, like me, you’re using Firefox, you next need to install the Torbutton. With the Tor software up and running and the Torbutton installed, you’ll see a small onion logo near the address bar of your browser. If you’re correctly logged in to the Tor network, you can click this button and begin to explore the Deep Web. This collection of Deep Web links should get you started. But, keep in mind, you won’t be able to maneuver in this new land quite as easily as you did back on the visible Web. There is no Google-like search engine of these sites that I’m aware of at the moment. Instead, it’s a collection of Wikis and BBS-like sites that aggregate links to other locations on the Deep Web. These sites generally have bizarre, unmemorable domain names like SdddEEDOHIIDdddgmomionw.onion. That’s right, instead of .com, these domains generally end in the .onion suffix. And because you’ll never remember how you got to where you are if you spend any significant time here, it’s best to save URLs or bookmark your way through this journey. Article on Deep Web, Wikipedia entry , Tutorial

Here are a couple of interesting posts made on Tigerdroppings by posters, including a warning:

"Take this for what it is worth...

I highly suggest you do not "delve" into the deep web. Most of it is complete bullshit and conspiracy theories, but there is some very legit and some very disturbing things. Those that actually use the deep web for nefarious reasons are highly capable of doing a litany of things to your computer and ultimately with that information, to you. While this thread is entertaining, this really isn't something you should play with.

Most of the stuff you guys are interested in can be found on the regular web with some diligent searches, so why go some place where you will be subjected to the dregs of society? Do you really want to see some poor child being victimized? Do you really want to observe a drug marketplace? Do you really want to possibly get in the cross hairs of some of these people?

Ignorance is bliss. Leave this type of surfing to the degenerate mongoloids of the world, and the decent people who hunt them.

It's mostly bullshit. The stuff that isn't bullshit is the stuff that you wouldn't be interested in or stuff that is really not meant for decent people.

There is a ton of scientific data that is basically stored on massive servers that can be accessed. This information has nothing to do with ET, Elliott, or Drew Barrymore before she got hooked on booze. It's scientific data, ie, shit that unless you know what you are looking at, you have no clue what you are looking at.

Of course there is plenty of music and movies, but if I wanted to create a bunch of slave computers, what better way than to embed something in Lil Wayne's latest mix tape?

Like I said, it's mostly bullshit. Kids/low level hackers doing rudimentary hacking to steal passwords and CC information. That should be the least of your concern. Getting dotted by someone that has much larger aspirations and ability could easily take advantage of your dumb ass. You just wanted to get the latest glee sound track and read about ET banging a hybrid unicorn and next thing you know...

The really big fish can walk through your firewall, sit in your living room, then proceed to take a shit on your bread rack. It's really not worth this risk. Like I said, take it for what it's worth and do as you will..."

Democrats slam GOP over Barbour pardon

2012-01-08T19:50:00.002-06:00

Mississippi Democrats issued a press release today condemning Republicans for a pardon issued by Governor Barbour:

On the Sunday before his term expires, Governor Haley Barbour has pardoned David Glenn Gatlin, a man convicted of murder, aggravated assault, and burglary in 1993. Gatlin, who has served as a trustee in the Governor’s mansion, was convicted of killing his wife, Tammy Ellis Gatlin.

House Democratic Caucus Leader Bobby Moak (Bogue Chitto) said, “The Republican party needs to lead and re-think its catch and release program. Law enforcement picks these violent criminals up and Republicans let them go.” Moak added, “This is the latest in a long line of irresponsible decisions by a party that claims to stand for law and order.”

WLBT story on pardon

“I know that people will say that lame duck pardons are a political tradition but this is one tradition that needs to go away. The people of Mississippi and their justice system deserve better. In the past we have tried to limit this authority by allowing law enforcement and victims’ families the opportunity to have their voice heard on these decisions that bypass the parole board. It’s time to make these changes,” Moak said.

WSJ: Convention centers gone wild

2012-01-08T11:01:00.002-06:00

The Wall Street Journal published a column by Steve Malanga that has a few things to say about the epidemic of cities bitten by the convention center bug:

"For two decades, America's convention center business has been declining, resulting in a nationwide surplus of empty meeting facilities, struggling convention halls and vacant hotel rooms. How have governments responded to this glut? By building more convention centers, of course, financed by debt backed by new taxes and fees on already struggling taxpayers.

Back in 2007, before the recession began, a report from Destination Marketing Association International described America's convention industry as a "buyer's market" suffering excess capacity. It's only gotten worse, attracting just 86 million attendees in 2010, compared to 126 million in 2000. Meanwhile, the amount of convention space angling for business has increased to 70 million square feet, up from 53 million in 2000 and 40 million two decades ago.

That's largely because governments refuse to stop making convention centers bigger and hotels even more dazzling, arguing that whatever business remains will flow to the places with the fanciest amenities. To finance these risky projects—which the private sector won't build by itself—cities float debt backed by new taxes and fees on already struggling taxpayers. As Charles Chieppo, a former board member of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, lamented last year, "Logic rarely has a place in the convention business."

Take Illinois, an industry leader,where officials have invested heavily to keep Chicago's McCormick Place, long one of the three most-used centers in the nation, on top. They spent $1 billion in the early 1990s to build a 840,000-square foot expansion financed by fees on auto rentals, a hotel tax and a surcharge on restaurant meals in downtown Chicago. In 2007 they opened a new building, McCormick West, at a cost of an additional $900 million. The result? According to the Chicago Tribune, the center operates at 55% capacity.

Then there's Boston, perhaps the quintessential example of a city that interprets failure in the convention business as a license to spend more on it. Massachusetts officials shelled out $230 million to renovate Hynes Convention Center in the late 1980s. When the makeover produced virtually no economic bounce, officials decided that the city needed a new, $800 million center financed by a hotel occupancy excise tax, a rental-car surcharge, and the sale of taxi medallions. Opened in 2004, that new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was projected (by consultants hired by the state) to have Boston renting some 670,000 additional hotel rooms annually within five years. Instead, Beantown saw just 310,000 additional hotel room rentals in 2009.

Now Massachusetts officials want to spend $2 billion to double the size of the Boston Convention Center and add a hotel. Of course, they predict that the expanded facilities would bring an additional $222 million into the local economy each year, including 140,000 hotel room rentals. Even with these bullish projections, officials claim that the hotel would need $200 million in public subsidies.

"The whole thing is a racket," Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby recently observed. "Once again the politicos will expand their empire. Once again crony capitalism will enrich a handful of wired business operators. And once again Joe and Jane Taxpayer will pay through the nose. How many times must we see this movie before we finally shut it off?"

Many times, if officials in Baltimore have their way. Several years ago they built a $300 million city-owned hotel, (the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel) to boost the fortunes of the city's struggling convention center. Having opened in 2008, the hotel lost $11 million last year. Now the city is considering a public-private expansion plan that would add a downtown arena, an additional convention hotel, and 400,000 feet of new convention space at the cost of $400 million in public money.

The list goes on—everywhere from Columbus, Ohio, to Dallas, Austin, Phoenix and places in between. One problem is that optimistic projections about new facilities fail to account for how other cities are expanding, too. Why did Minneapolis struggle to hit projected targets after it enlarged its convention center in 2002? "Other cities expanded right along with us,'' Minneapolis's convention center director, Jeff Johnson, said this year.

The surest sign that taxpayers should be leery of such public investments is that officials have changed their sales pitch. Convention and meeting centers shouldn't be judged, they now say, by how many hotel rooms, restaurants, and local attractions they help fill. That's "narrow-minded thinking," said James Rooney of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority this year. Instead, as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has said, expanding a convention center can "demonstrate to the world that we have unlimited confidence in our city and what it can do, not only as a convention destination but as the center of the most important trends in hospitality, science, health and education."

This new metric—a city's amorphous brand value—is little more than a convenient way to ignore the failure of publicly sponsored facilities to live up to exaggerated projections. But as far as city officials are concerned, that failure is nothing that hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars can't fix." Column

Check out the letter to the editor in this weekend's edition defending the Boston convention center:

When there's an old and tired argument to be made, it's always convenient to leave out a few facts and dismiss new perspectives ("Have We Got a Convention Center to Sell You!," by Steven Malanga, Cross Country, Dec. 31). So let me offer a few: Boston invested $850 million in a new convention center that opened in 2004. Since then, Boston has hosted 1,808 events, produced 3.9 million hotel-room nights and generated $3.9 billion in audited economic impact for the region. These activities support 5,500 hospitality-related jobs in Massachusetts. Not a bad taxpayer return on this investment.

Further, we are not changing our "sales pitch." In addition to our traditional tourism metrics, we have expanded our thinking to include the value that our region's medical and life sciences industries will receive when Boston hosts 24 major medical/life sciences events in 2012, including the world's largest biotechnology industry gathering, BIO 2012.

Conventions are organized for knowledge exchange and commerce. So why, as Mr. Malanga suggests, would we restrict ourselves to measuring the value of meetings in terms of how many hotel-room nights are generated or what some consultant said about that in 1997?

James E. Rooney
Executive Director
Massachusetts Convention Center Authority

First meeting of House Management Committee (Video)

2012-01-07T10:19:00.003-06:00

This post is for the political junkies out there. Here is the video of the first meeting of the House Management Committee. The committee is responsible for operating the House of Representatives and setting all policies. It sets the budget, approves expenses, and makes personnel decisions. Its the nuts and bolts of the chamber. Speaker Pro-Tem Greg Snowden chairs the committee.

Not much happened at the first meeting. Subcommittees such as budget and personnel were established. Pretty much inside baseball for the lobbyists and politicos who keep up with this fort of thing.

Roster of committee members:

Rep. Richard Bennett (R-Long Beach)
Rep. Credell Calhoun (D-Jackson)
Rep. Angela Cockerham (D-Magnolia)
Rep. John Hines (D-Greenville)
Rep. Rita Martinson (R-Madison)
Rep. Willie Perkins (D-Greenwood)
Rep. Margaret Rogers (R-New Albany)
Rep. Ray Rogers (R-Pearl)
Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn)
Rep. Hank Zuber (R-Ocean Springs)

Vann Leonard pleads guilty...... again

2012-01-06T18:18:00.002-06:00

Vann Leonard appeared in federal court to plead guilty....again. The U.S. Attorney charged Mr. Leonard with several counts of fraud and wire fraud on December 16, 2011. The bill of information (posted below) alleges the Ridgeland attorney embezzled substantial sums of money belong to clients from his escrow account. U.S. Magistrate Linda Anderson issued a detention order (posted below) yesterday for Mr. Leonard, stating there was a "serious risk that the defendant will not appear".

Mr. Leonard faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine of $250,000. The court continued the sentencing to a later date. The court also ordered Mr. Leonard to forfeit $440,000 as it was proceeds derived from the illegal activity. What is interesting is the detention order states Mr. Leonard "is currently detained in state custody on contempt charges, to be followed by a pending sentence of imprisonment from the Northern District of Mississippi."

Mr. Leonard has resided at the Rankin County jail since May 2011 after Chancery Judge Grant incarcerated him after finding him in contempt of court. Mr. Leonard was accused of embezzling from the Downing estate and did not return the money in question when ordered to so by Judge Grant. Mr. Leonard pleaded guilty a year ago to embezzling $327,000 from the bankruptcy estate of Shirley Douglas in the Northern District of Mississippi (Federal). Mr. Leonard remained free pending sentencing until jailed by Judge Grant. Mr. Leonard's federal sentence will apparently not being to run until he is released from the Rankin County jail. Mr. Leonard was indicted last month by a Rankin County grand jury for embezzlement in the Downing estate. Earlier post

Earlier posts about Vann Leonard case:
Richard Schwartz settles
Vann Leonard now in federal custody
Vann Leonard Update
Client accuses Vann Leonard of stealing $200,000 after conviction
Bar files suit to take over Leonard's practice. Finally
Richard Schwartz..but, but but, its not my fault.
$362,342 judgment awarded against Vann Leonard
Rankin County Justice served on Vann Leonard
Vann Leonard pleads guilty
Vann Leonard accused of stealing from another client
Trustee accuses Schwartz and Leonard of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars

Lt. Governor announces chairmen

2012-01-06T10:41:00.003-06:00

Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves announced announced his slate of committee chairmen this morning. Here are the major committees:

Appropriations: Bucke Clark
Finance: Joey Filingane
Highways & Transportation: Willie Simmons
Judiciary A: Briggs Hobson
Judiciary B: Hob Byran (yes, you read that right)
Legislative Reapportionment & Congressional Redistricting: Merle Flowers
Public Health & Welfare: Dean Kirby

Here is the press release sent out by his office:

(Jackson, MS) – Flanked by Senators in the Capitol rotunda today, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves announced his committee chairmen.

“I am very proud of the leadership team we have assembled. It’s bi-partisan, inclusive, and represents all areas of the state,” Reeves said. “I am ready to get to work, and I have full confidence that there will be a cooperative spirit among these leaders to serve the citizens of Mississippi well.”

The following is a list of the Lt. Governor’s Committee’s listed in alphabetical order including the Chairman and Vice Chairman:

Accountability Efficiency and Transparency
Nancy Collins Chairman
J.P. Wilemon Vice Chairman

Agriculture
Billy Hudson Chairman
Russell Jolly Vice Chairman

Appropriations
Buck Clarke Chairman
Terry Burton Vice Chairman

Business and Financial Institutions
Gary Jackson Chairman
J.P. Wilemon Vice Chairman

Compilation, Revision and Publication
Derrick Simmons Chairman
Dean Kirby Vice Chairman

Congressional Redistricting
Merle Flowers Chairman
Chris McDaniel Vice Chairman

Constitution
Michael Watson Chairman
Will Longwitz Vice Chairman

Corrections
Sampson Jackson Chairman
Lydia Chassanoil Vice Chairman

County Affairs
Nickey Browning Chairman
Billy Hudson Vice Chairman

Drug Policy
David Jordan Chairman
Michael Watson Vice Chairman

Economic Development
John Horn Chairman
Steve Hale Vice Chairman

Education
Gray Tollison Chairman
Nancy Collins Vice Chairman

Elections
Chris McDaniel Chairman
David Blount Vice Chairman\

Energy
Merle Flowers Chairman
Giles Ward Vice Chairman

Enrolled Bills
Alice Harden Chairman
Kelvin Butler Vice Chairman

Environmental Protection Conservation and Water Resources
Tommy Gollott Chairman
Deborah Dawkins Vice Chairman

Ethics
Bennie Turner Chairman
Gary Jackson Vice Chairman

Executive Contingent Fund
Robert Jackson Chairman
Gray Tollison Vice Chairman

Finance
Joey Fillingane Chairman
Merle Flowers Vice Chairman

Forestry
Melanie Sojourner Chairman
Giles Ward Vice Chairman

Highways and Transportation
Willie Simmons Chairman
Perry Lee Vice Chairman

Housing
Hillman Frazier Chairman
Chris Massey Vice Chairman

Insurance
Videt Carmichael Chairman
Rita Parks Vice Chairman

Interstate and Federal Co-op
Kenny Wayne Jones Chairman
Sampson Jackson Vice Chairman

Investigate State Offices
Albert Butler Chairman
Videt Carmichael Vice Chairman

Judiciary A
Briggs Hopson Chairman
Bennie Turner Vice Chairman

Judiciary B
Hob Bryan Chairman
Chris McDaniel Vice Chairman

Labor
Kelvin Butler Chairman
Robert Jackson Vice Chairman

Legislative Reapportionment and Congressional Redistricting
Merle Flowers Chairman

Local and Private
Perry Lee Chairman
Tony Smith Vice Chairman

Municipalities
J.P. Wilemon Chairman
Bill Stone Vice Chairman

Ports and Marine Resources
Brice Wiggins Chairman

Public Health and Welfare
Dean Kirby Chairman
Hob Bryan Vice Chairman

Public Property
David Blount Chairman
Sally Doty Vice Chairman

State Library
Deborah Dawkins Chairman
Albert Butler Vice Chairman

Tourism
Lydia Chassanoil Chairman
Sean Tindal Vice Chairman

Universities and Colleges
Terry Burton Chairman
John Polk Vice Chairman

Veterans and Military Affairs
Haskins Montgomery Chairman
Philip Moran Vice Chairman

Wildlife Fisheries and Parks
Giles Ward Chairman
Angela Hill Vice Chairman

Text of Lieutenant Governor's speech

2012-01-06T10:20:00.001-06:00

Here are Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves' prepared remarks for his inaugural speech yesterday:

Thank you, Thank you! What a great day in Mississippi. Congratulations to Delbert Hosemann, Jim Hood, Stacey Pickering, Lynn Fitch, Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Chaney who took their oaths alongside me here today.

Voters placed their confidence in everyone elected in this chamber to keep Mississippi on a path to a brighter future. They want better-paying jobs, better schools and a safe place to raise their children. Speaking of children, I’d be remiss if I did not mention my family who is here with me today. During my first campaign for State Treasurer I said that my wife Elee was my biggest asset, but my friends kept telling me that she was my ONLY asset. Our family has grown since then. Many of you know my girls Tyler and Emma and we have another little girl on the way. It’s my hope that the work we do together in this building will make their future and the future for all Mississippi kids brighter than ever.

And I believe we can accomplish that. We need to continue to improve the climate for companies to bring highly-skilled jobs to Mississippi – keeping taxes low and providing the best in workforce training opportunities. We need to look at innovative ways to provide quality education through our public schools, community colleges and universities. And we need to ensure our law enforcement has the tools needed to keep our families safe.

We can move toward these goals, but it will not be easy. Our state’s economy – like the nation’s – is struggling. Revenues are coming in at slightly higher-than-expected levels, but that could change over the course of the next six months. Most economists, including our state economist, believe revenues will continue to be sluggish and won't return to pre-recession levels until FY 2014 or 2015. Caution should be the standard as we design a budget for the next fiscal year.

We will need to budget conservatively and look for more ways to save money. We should pass legislation requiring agency heads to find more efficiencies in government. And that is why I created a new committee in the Senate named Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency – whose charge will be to help accomplish this. By right-sizing government and holding down the state’s debt, we can make Mississippi a more attractive place to do business. In all things we do we should remember that government does not create jobs, instead we should strive to provide an environment that encourages the private sector to invest capital and create jobs.

We have seen great success in economic development over the past eight years. Mississippians are making solar panels in Senatobia and Hattiesburg. They’re making jet engines in Batesville and defense systems in Columbus and on the Gulf Coast. And, of course, Mississippians are now making cars in Canton AND Blue Springs.

But we cannot let these successes lull us into a false sense of confidence. Our neighboring states have taken notice of our accomplishments, and they are positioning themselves to be more competitive and to attract the higher paying and highly skilled jobs that we want here.

We cannot lose our intensity and focus on economic development. A big part of that is workforce training. We have to keep upgrading the skills of our workforce. A well-trained workforce is the key to recruiting better jobs for Mississippi. And with good jobs, we can keep our children at home to raise their families.

Like many of you, Elee and I grew up in small Mississippi towns … went to a Mississippi college … graduated and got great Mississippi jobs … got married and started raising Mississippi kids. Most Mississippians want to do just that. But not all of them have that option. Our job is to change that.

Everyone in this Chamber knows someone who moved to Texas or Georgia or Florida or somewhere else to get a better career. We need to reverse that trend. Too many Mississippi teens do not see college as part of their future, and we need to change that mindset.

We will start by improving the education attainment level of our students. We have to make sure that we’re providing access to a quality education for all of our people. Black, white, rich and poor. We have to improve the early education curriculum to get children off to the best start possible. We have to put college within reach of every child who needs it.

We all want these things to happen for every citizen in Mississippi. So, whether you serve in the Senate or the House … whether you are from the Hills or the Delta, the Pine Belt or the Coast, working together we can accomplish our goals.

I look forward to working with Governor-elect Bryant, Speaker Gunn and each of you to keep Mississippi on that path to that brighter future. God bless you and may God bless the State of Mississippi.

Latest from 2 Gutta

2012-01-06T10:15:00.003-06:00

Here is 2 Gutta's latest video.

City of Madison assumes control of the Ark

2012-01-05T12:50:00.001-06:00

The City of Madison sent out the following press release concerning the Ark:

Kennie had his coming-out party Monday (Video)

2012-01-05T09:07:00.004-06:00

Not your typical boring Hinds BOS meeting. I tried to point out for you where the good exchanges took place in the video. Enjoy.

Meeting starts at 7:05. Graham elected Board President at 10:00. 14:55: Stokes asks how many parks Hinds County has. Yup. Wasted no time and went right for..... the parks. Sheriff Lewis presents new policy manuals to Board at 17:00. Stokes asks at 23:00 about interfund advances. Deputy Chancery Clerk Greta Lovell gives a good explanation how it works. Stokes questions whether it is "sound fiscal policy". Stokes voted no on every one.

1:52. Supervisors look at borrowing nearly half a million dollars from the E911 fund. Stokes questions it. Stokes asks if EOC Director is in favor of it. Um, Kennie, Mr. Lewis is an employee of the board who does what they say. Stokes then raises the specter of bankruptcy if something happens. Mr. Fisher says "That was fresh to hear after four years of saying the same thing." The Board passes a motion by Mr. Stokes at 12:50 to broadcast the meetings on public access channel (Don't worry, I'll still post videos here.).

15:10: Stokes then addresses the budget. Very interesting and worth watching as he expounds on the need for a reserve of 5% and how the county has to quit wasting money. Stokes was surprised the budget was only a little over $50 million. Stokes takes issue with Public Safety and Courts eating up $30 million of the budget. "We can not have good government without having a reserve". The reserve is less than half a million dollars. Stokes recommended having 5% reserve or at least $2 million. Stokes said the board needed to make "hard decisions". Mr. Fisher chimed in and said the issue was "the discipline of the board" and made a few comments. Stokes then comes back at 28:00 and mentions how many deputies are used at the front doors of the courthouses. 29:20: Sheriff Lewis responds to Stokes. Sheriff said the county had 250,000 residents and 900 square miles.

Sheriff Lewis continues his response to Mr. Stokes in Part 3. The Sheriff said he had 500 employees (including the jail). Stokes fires back and says HCSO doesn't have to cover Jackson and Harvey won't allow them to do so. Mr. Stokes said "there ain't no crime in the country. If you think the crime in the country is the same as crime in Jackson, they sleepwalkin'".

Almost time

2012-01-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

Hederman out, Nosef in as GOP Chairman

2012-01-04T18:47:00.002-06:00

Governor Bryant sent out the following email to the Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party:

Dear State Executive Committee Members:

I am honored to have been elected to serve as the 64th Governor of Mississippi. I hope all of you will plan to attend the festivities planned for January 10th in Jackson. It will be a time for both celebration and preparation as we get ready for the job ahead of us.

The well being of our State Republican Party is very important to me. I am eager to build on the successes of Governor Barbour as well as Chairmen Jim Herring, Brad White, and Arnie Hederman. I plan to be very engaged in the activities of the Party and help strengthen it for the next generation.

Chairman Hederman told me he plans to step down and vacate the Chairmanship at the next State Executive Committee meeting on January 11, 2012 at 10 a.m. I want to thank Chairman Hederman on a historically successful year for our Party. His excellent work will benefit our Party for years to come.

I am writing to let you know that I am supporting Joe Nosef to be the new Chairman of our Party, and I hope you will consider supporting Joe, too. Joe served as Chief Counsel to Governor Barbour during his first term and as my chief of staff during the first year I served as Lt. Governor.

He was Campaign Manager for Governor Barbour's successful reelection campaign and has helped in numerous campaigns over the last 25 years. Those are just some of the reasons I believe Joe has the qualities necessary to lead our Party as we face the new opportunities and challenges ahead.

Thank you for your service to our Party and our state. I look forward to working with all of you in the future and to seeing you next week in Jackson.

Sincerely,
Phil Bryant

Leg Lagniappe

2012-01-04T18:00:00.001-06:00

Latest from Legislature

House adjourned until 1:45 & Senate 10:00 AM tomorrow. Senate Rules Committee meets today at 4:00. Bennet, Ray, & Martinson elected to House Management Committee. More to follow. Scuttlebutt on chairmanships: Flowers to Public Health, Filingane to Finance, Buck to Appropriations. No word on House Chairmanships. All of this is unconfirmed and can easily change so take it for what its worth. JCVB has a reception at 5:00 PM at the Convention Center. No rooms available for overnight stay.

She's baaaaaa-aaack!!!

2012-01-04T12:30:00.001-06:00

Yup. Check out the new manager of Cannon Nissan in the newspaper today:

Look familiar? Try here and here.

Steadivest properties auctioned off

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

Properties owned by the Steadivest companies will be sold at auction. The properties are listed below.

U. S. Bankruptcy Auction
Steadivest, LLC Case No. 09-01013EE
Steadivest Development, LLC f/k/a Jackson Property Liquidators, LLC
Case No. 09-01823EE
Steadivest Capital, LLC f/k/a Tactical Financial Solutions, LLC
Case No. 09-01824EE
MTW Investment Financing, LLC Case No. 09-01825EE

Online Only Bidding Beginning Monday,
January 9, 2012and Ending Thursday,
January 19, 2012 @ 1:00 PM

2913 Greenview Drive, Jackson, Ms 39212
114 Mason Boulevard, Jackson, Ms 39212
375 Mason Boulevard, Jackson, Ms 39212
3228 Whitten, Jackson, Ms 39212
1027 Walnut Street, Jackson, Ms 39212
3443 W. Capitol Street, Jackson, Ms 39212
3637 Warner Avenue, Jackson, Ms 39214
303 Wacaster Street, Jackson, Ms 39209
704 Westmont Drive, Jackson, Ms 39209
2857 Greenwood Avenue, Jackson, Ms 39212
318 Fairhill Drive, Jackson, Ms 39212
632 W. Hillsdale Drive, Jackson, Ms 39209
221,223, & 225 Delaware Avenue, Jackson, Ms 39201(Vacant Lots)
321 Broadview Street, Jackson, Ms 39209

Contact Taylor Auctions.

Sheriff Tyrone Lewis announces new command staff (Video)

2012-01-04T07:56:00.003-06:00

Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis announced his new command staff at his first press conference yesterday at the Hinds County Extension Center. Sheriff Lewis said the department was "top-heavy" and released several officials yesterday. The Sheriff said the changes would make the department more "efficient" and economical. All deputies had to reapply to the department (This was done when Sheriff McMillin assumed office.).

Sheriff Lewis said Chris Picou of Richland is the new Chief Deputy. Chief Deputy Picou is known for his work in K-9 units and drug interdiction. Sheriff Lewis said he was abolishing the position of Undersheriff and instead was making the Chief Deputy his second-in command. Mr. Picou has been in law enforcement for twenty-two years and was the Sheriff's "right hand" during the transition phase. The command staff is:

Perry Martin, Deputy Chief, Community Service
Ken Magee, Deputy Chief, Enforcement
Joe Austin, Deputy Chief, Support Services
Markas Marbury, Captain, Patrol
Joseph Daughtry, Captain, Community Service
Michael Ivy, Captain, Corrections
Steve Baily, Captain, Investigations,
Dana Price & Kamau Franklin: Legal Counsel

One observation I made yesterday was Sheriff Lewis "broke out" the corrections division. It now has its own policy and personnel manuals and is a separate division. The Sheriff said corrections is "governed in a totally different manner" and will be under a different set of rules. Sheriff Lewis said an audit of the entire department was initiated yesterday.

This correspondent asked the Sheriff if videocameras were going to be placed in the cars. The Sheriff acknowledged the cars did not currently possess such technology but his goal was to install them in all cars. The Sheriff also said deputies would probably still be allowed to work private details although the amount of hours allowed will be reviewed.

Starts at 3:00. Media questions start at 17:00.

Stokes wants to cut Sheriff's budget then sounds like a conservative (Video)

2012-01-03T16:24:00.004-06:00

Here is the video of Sheriff Tyrone Lewis and Supervisor Kenneth Stokes after the meeting of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors today. Supervisor Stokes said the county had no money and needed to cut money from the Sheriff's budget. The Sheriff had a few remarks to say about it and pointed out after a question from me the so-called $21 million budget included expenses for operating the jail. Mr. Stokes states in the clip below "there is no crime out in the country" and that if Hinds was spending so much money housing Jackson criminals, then Harvey needed to either pay Hinds more money or build his own jail. Believe it or not, you will be surprised at some of Stokes' remarks about how the county budget is managed.Starting at 2:20 he has some money quotes. Enjoy.

Good Luck to Tyrone Lewis.

2012-01-03T07:18:00.002-06:00

Its a new day in Hinds County as we get a new Sheriff. Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish the new Sheriff well. Yes, this website has criticized him in the past and stands by those comments, even the ones that were more of a jackassery nature. The campaigns are over and now the real job of governing begins. When the new Sheriff does a good job, JJ will be the first to congratulate him. We are all in this together and need Tyrone Lewis to succeed.

I suspect Mr. Lewis will realize at some point he is bigger than some of those who supported him and now think they have the keys to the office. The same thing happened in Madison County when a certain Mayor backed a certain candidate for Supervisor who realized the same after a few months in office and we all know how that turned out. Hope you're remember that, Chokwe. All Mr. Lewis has to do is do a good job and he won't need your support in the future. Considering less than 40,000 Hinds County residents are not served by a municipal police department, it will be interesting to see how Mr. Lewis reshuffles the deck in Raymond. Having said that, good luck.

Moak named head of House Democrats

2012-01-03T06:59:00.004-06:00

Mississippi House Democrats sent out the following press release last night:

"Jackson, MS- Members of the fifty-eight person Mississippi House Democratic Caucus met today to select a new slate of leaders for the 2012 Legislative Session. Succeeding Rep. Tyrone Ellis as Caucus Leader will be Rep. Bobby Moak of Bogue Chitto. Serving as Deputy Leader will be Rep. Bryant Clark of Pickens. Floor leaders were selected based on Mississippi’s three Supreme Court districts. These include Rep. David Baria of Bay St. Louis, Rep. Kelvin Buck of Holly Springs, and Rep. Adrienne Wooten of Ridgeland. Members decided that the fourth floor leader will be selected by the Caucus Leader at a later date.

“As in previous elections, the vote in November sent a clear message that you have to pay attention to what Mississippians are saying. Our Caucus takes the lessons of November seriously and we are looking forward to the opportunity to work with our Republican colleagues toward real solutions,” Moak said.

In outlining the Caucus platform for the session, Moak said, “Democrats in the House are committed to putting Mississippians back to work. This means building on our proven track record of attracting world-class employers to Mississippi and working to ensure that our small businesses have the tools they need to be successful.” Moak added, “We also know that Mississippi’s economic future rests on our ability to provide a quality education for our young people. As we begin work on what promises to be another difficult budget, we will continuously be reminding our colleagues that Mississippi’s best economic development tool is its education system.”

SPRING BREAK!!!

2012-01-02T10:24:00.004-06:00

Here is the social calender for the Legislature in January. It will be updated as needed. Enjoy.

January

4: Christian Action Commission Legislative Prayer Breakfast, JCVB Welcome Reception
5: Ms. Economic Council Capital Day, Capital Gala & Swearing in for officials
9: SOS Delbert Hoseman Legislative Reception (5:30)
11: Ms. Assn. of Supervisors and Ms. Planning and Development Assn. (6:00)
12: MAE Luncheon for all freshman legislators, Jim Barksdale & the Parents Campaign, Stennis Space Day (8:30 AM), Ms. Assn. of Nurse Anesthesists
17: Ms. Hospital Assn. Health Advocacy Day Program, Ms. Gulf Coast Reception (5:30)
19: Ms. Primary Health Care Assn. (5:30)
23: Ms. Farm Bureau (5:30)
24: Bishop Hope Morgan Ward's Legislative Breakfast (7:00 AM), Ms. Assn. of Community & Junior Colleges (11:00 AM), Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center Assn. (5:30)
25: MCHS Centennial Recognition Day (11:30), Ms. Children's Home Services (5:30)
26: Ms. Dental Assn. (7:30 AM)
27: Governor's Prayer Luncheon (11:30 AM)

Thanks BCS for screwing up a good thing.

2012-01-02T08:37:00.003-06:00

LSU website And the Valley Shook took a few shots at the BCS that are right on the money. I thought it would be appropriate to post it today as today used to be my holy day of the year: Watch the minor bowls in the morning, the Rose and Fiesta in the afternoon, then the Orange and Sugar at night. Now they are completely screwed up. We have to watch each major bowl on a different night- as if most of us can take off three or four nights in a row during the week to watch football games. Then the match-ups suck: Virginia Tech v. Meechigan? Please. Arkansas would've sold the place out but noooooo.... we have a rule that prohibits the best teams from the same conference from being in the BCS if there are too many of them. Think of it as the BCS affirmative action plan, something liberals should love. Anyway, I digress. Here AVS goes:

"Conference titles used to matter. Teams used to schedule tough cross-regional games with frequency. Now, thanks to the BCS, they don't. The BCS claims to make the regular season more meaningful, but under the BCS, college football's regular season has become less meaningful. The quality of out of conference schedules have steadily declined under the BCS as teams have learned it is more important to not lose than to go out and prove your worth. The BCS has consistently rewarded teams, as it has this year, for avoiding tough games....

The biggest loser of the BCS era has arguably been the Orange Bowl, which has a litany of terrible games, thanks to its ACC tie-in. Hey, at least this game isn't Louisville v. Wake Forest again. But it's not just the matchups, it's the schedule. January 1 used to be my favorite holiday. You'd sit in front of the TV all day with your family and watch a cornucopia of college football. I'm okay with moving the title game to different day, but each BCS game? By stretching out the schedule like that, the juice has gone out of the non-title BCS games. Worse yet, it has ruined January 1st to such a point that hockey has moved in on college football's turf, and they schedule their showcase event on New Year's Day. That's right, the BCS is so stupid that it allowed college football to be outsmarted by the NHL. Let that sink in.

BCS rules prevent more than two schools from a conference going to the BCS bowls, which tied the Sugar Bowl's hands. The Sugar Bowl passed over teams ranked 6 through 9 to take a #11 vs. #13 matchup. By rule, the Sugar Bowl couldn't take Arkansas or South Carolina (or Georgia). So the Sugar Bowl reached out and picked Michigan, who didn't even make the Big Ten title game. Michigan St finished ahead of Michigan in the Big Ten and beat them head to head, and wasn't even allowed to be considered for the bowl by rule. Think about that, Michigan St was punished for having a BETTER SEASON than Michigan. Michigan demonstrated, on the field, that they were the inferior team to Michigan St, and because they missed the title game of their conference, the BCS rewarded them. The regular season, once again, didn't matter. More people would be making a stink about this if it, but this was, by far, the less objectionable selection...." Column

Almost there

2012-01-01T21:03:00.001-06:00

Less than four weeks to go:

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T00:13:00.000-06:00

Iowa thread

2011-12-31T08:57:00.003-06:00

Here are some of the latest videos from Iowa. Enjoy. ;-)

>

This one is a parody and pretty funny:

Does any of this sound familiar?

2011-12-31T08:11:00.004-06:00

"Recently released results from the Baltimore Convention Center Hotel show rising room receipts in 2010 were not enough to cover a $11.5 million loss, the fourth consecutive year of red ink for the property heralded as the savior of the city’s still sagging convention business.

The hotel also failed to meet projections consultants used to sell the deal to the City Council in 2005. This year the hotel collected 27 percent less than projected for each room sold and fell 36 percent below projections for the crucial Revenue Per Room statistic, or REVPAR, which often determines a hotel’s potential for profitability....

Heywood Sanders, an urban planning professor from the University of San Antonio Texas, said significantly missing projections used to forecast debt service on the $305 million bonds sold to finance construction of the project could indicate the corporation which runs the hotel might have trouble meeting interest payments in the future.

“The fact is that the hotel is only selling three-quarters of the rooms that the consultants projected at this point,” Sanders said.

Along with failing to meet projections, Sanders said that his analysis of the most recent financial statements raises questions about the project’s ability to make interest payments on the bonds without dipping into reserves.....

Thus far the hotel has racked up a $42 million deficit in roughly three-and-a-half years of operation.

The hotel was approved in 2005 by the City Council after the Baltimore Development Corporation convinced a divided council the project was crucial to making the city’s Convention Center more competitive. However, since the hotel opened, the city's Convention Center business has dropped.

Besides depreciation, the project adds property taxes it does not have to pay, the result of tiff or tax property deferment to its revenues, a move which actually adds a paper gain to the hotel’s results...." Article

Bring in the New Year at Olga's

2011-12-30T10:30:00.004-06:00

Enjoy New Year's Eve at Olga's. Olga's will offer two seatings at 6:00 & 9:30. The first seating is a three-course dinner at $45 per person with live piano music. The second seating offers a limited menu. A $10 cover charge includes champagne toast, party favors, and music by Ronnie McGee & The Boys. Call 601-366-1366 for reservations (Required).

This post is a paid advertisement.

The latest from 2 Gutta. Enjoy.

2011-12-30T06:42:00.001-06:00

Warning: Explicit language.

City & JRA had no marketing study on hotel?

2011-12-30T06:32:00.002-06:00

Ted Carter reports in the Mississippi Business Journal:

"A Jackson Redevelopment Authority board so eager to get a developer on board to build Jackson’s $96 million convention hotel met the day before Thanksgiving to issue a request for proposals with a reply period cut down from 30 to 15 days.

But when a second developer entered the picture — Journeyman Austin Holdings of Austin, Texas — board members got cold feet and decided Dec. 16 to bag proposals from both Journeyman Austin and Transcontinental Realty Investors, a Dallas real estate investment trust with which two Jackson mayoral administrations, including Harvey Johnson’s, have sought to negotiate a public-private development. Authority members say they needed more time to scrutinize the proposals and could not do so within the tight timeframe they were working under.

This time around, Johnson brought a deal close to completion only to see it scrapped in the late going. He vowed last week to renew efforts to get a deal done. “Getting a convention center hotel is still a priority for this administration and we will continue to work to make it a reality,” Johnson said in a statement issued by spokesman Chris Mims..."

Regular readers of JJ are familiar with the hotel saga. There is an interesting tidbit of information at the end of the story. Apparently the city and JRA never looked at a marketing study:

"City officials were prepared to proceed with the TCI partnership despite not having a market feasibility study done on its behalf. TCI said a market study performed for it by PKF provided assurances that hotel revenues could cover the hotel’s bond debt.

Now, however, city officials are saying the Jackson Redevelopment Authority was responsible for having the hotel market examined and determining whether a convention hotel could pay for itself. “We relied on JRA and its board to vet the deal,” Johnson said in the statement his office issued.

The JRA never commissioned a market feasibility study. The study for which it contracted with H.C. Johnson Consulting of Chicago assessed marketing opportunities and suggested market strategies, say representatives of both the firm and Redevelopment Authority." Rest of article

So does this mean Harvey was pushing a deal that awarded millions of dollars in fees to his um, associates, while not even "vetting" the deal? Is the Mayor once again placing the blame for TCI somewhere else? I seem to remember the Mayor pushing the deal as hard as he could. Did I miss something here?

Meanwhile Westin announces they will build a hotel on the site of the Mississippi Valley Title building with little public money. Nice.

Nice.

2011-12-29T13:08:00.001-06:00

Kenneth Stokes missed his own swearing-in ceremony. I swear he will miss his own death.

Pro-Tem going to be Brown

2011-12-29T07:29:00.002-06:00

"COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) - State Senator Terry Brown (R-17) of Columbus is likely to become the next Senate President Pro Tempore.

According to sources close to Lt. Governor-elect Tate Reeves, Brown is his choice to take the position, now held by Sen. Billy Hewes.

While not official, since Brown must be elected by the majority (GOP) party caucus and confirmed by the entire senate, it appears, with the backing of the Lt. Governor-elect, that he'll move into the spot when the senate reconvenes in 2012." Article

Supposedly it came down to Dean Kirby or Terry Brown. The other gentleman from Columbus made good after all. ;-) No word yet on what the chairmanship assignments will be. One little question speculated about by insiders is what do do about Hob Bryan. You see,he is considered soooooo much smarter than most of the Senate. There is one school of thought that he should be given a committee, you know, bring him in the fold, keep him happy sort of thing since he can be such a dangerous opponent. Then there is the other school which is treat him like any other Democrat and put him out in the cold.

My advice? Yes, he is very smart, yes, he has a great deal of procedural and institutional knowledge that enables him to run rings around his opponents. Yes, he can be very vindictive. However, the Lieutenant Governor-elect should put him on the outside. The Bryant team played the get along game last year and for their troubles they got to see Mr. Bryan dominate Terry Burton and the rest of the redistricting committee to the point where Phil had to fight to kill his own committee's plan. A source of no small embarrassment to the Republican Party. They can engage in detente with Mr. Bryan all they want. They give him a chairmanship and engage in other acts of so-called smart politics. All to the applause of most of the media. The problem is Mr. Bryan is very mercurial and well, will get his panties in a wad over a real or imagined slight and turn on his Republican benefactors in a heartbeat. They will regret the day they decided to be statesmen. Better to treat him as the rest of the Democrats. Treat him with respect, treat him as a fellow Senator, but make him earn any favors before he receives them. If statesmen the new leadership wants to be, there are better Democrats appoint.

Canton Estates files new eviction suit over video

2011-12-28T11:06:00.004-06:00

Warning: Video is very disturbing. The "N" word is used repeatedly.

Canton Estates Apartments sued to evict the parent of a participant in a very disturbing rap video posted on Youtube. The lawsuit was filed in Madison County Court in November against the parent of a participant in a very disturbing rap video seen on Youtube. The video included the frequent use of firearms and several small children were present in the video. The apartment complex filed several eviction actions in Madison County Justice Court in October but withdrew the lawsuits.

The video is rather shocking in nature, as 25-30 black youths and children lip-synced "Welcome to my Hood". Guns repeatedly brandished. Small children always present throughout the video. Roughly half the youths in the video are shirtless. The song uses the word "nigga" over and over. Canton Estates is owned by North Mart Corporation, which is in turn operated by Bruce and Carol Kirkland. The same Bruce Kirkland who owns Baymeadow Apartments in Ridgeland. Canton Estates is also listed by HUD as a recipient of Section 8 payments.

The complaint names Jennifer Williams and her son Clyde Jones as the defendants. It states they produced a video that used the Canton Estates signs, repeatedly waved deadly weapons in the air in a "threatening manner", used vulgar and abusive language in the video, and the "use of intimidation". The complaint states their lease was terminated but they refuse to vacate the premises.

This correspondent obtained through a public records request copies of emails between HUD and Canton Estates (See documents posted below). HUD inquired about the video in an email to Canton Estates on June 16:

"A Youtube video is circulating around town that was filmed at Canton Estates- rather disturbing that it was staged with guns withe the large clips in the video. Please review the video and lets talk. Thanks"

Canton Estates replied:

"I have spoken with the Manager of the complex who was not aware of the video and who is appalled that it occurred. ... It appears that the police cars used in the video were actually called to the complex to break up the loitering. We are in touch with the Madison County Sheriff Department and other residents to continue our investigation. Management will take immediate action to those residents involved in this disturbance."

Local attorney Damon Stevenson represented the defendants and told several tv stations police were present to "supervise". It would appear Mr. Stevenson is not telling the truth as sources at the Madison County Sheriff Department have confirmed the information provided to HUD by Canton Estates. HUD sent another email on June 28:

"Management has asked me for an update on your investigation. I would appreciate any information that you have."

Canton Estates replied it had "identified eight residents in the video" and was preparing "termination notices." Canton did file termination notices but the sweet and innocent residents lawyered up as Mr. Stephenson sent a letter to the manager on July 25, 2011:

"As you should be aware, my clients received a 30 day notice of lease termination on June 30, 2011. The letter stated my clients and/or members of their household violated the lease agreement due to certain members of their household being identified in a video titled "Welcome to my Hood."

While my clients and their family members deny any wrongdoing, my office is interested in knowing why only certain individuals received lease termination letters when the video featured "an exorbitant number of individuals." Additionally, my office has seen no proof that "weapons" were real and not props. Your letter states the video was filmed without the knowledge or permission of management. However, nothing in the lease agreement states that the use of recording equipment requires prior management approval..."

My office is only attempting to put you on notice that we do not believe any of my clients have committed a substantial breach of their lease agreement and therefore my clients do not intend to vacate their apartment units or increase their monthly rents. Please understand that ANY attempt to prevent my clients from exercising their lawful right to enjoy the use and possession of their apartment units without a valid court order will result in immediate legal action from my office against Canton Estates Apartments...."

The hearing is set for January 11 at 9:00 AM. Judge Ratcliffe will preside.

Justice Court complaints. Withdrawn.

Part II of earlier complaints.

Editorial comment: The media covered this story after it was posted on this website but lets just say the coverage was not exactly critical in nature. Here is one reporter who contemplates auditioning for groupie: WAPT story. David Kenney over at WLBT was not much better. Funny how they didn't ask the yewts to reproduce the "fake" guns. I'll say it right now, Mr. Stevenson is lying and those were real guns in the video. They also couldn't wait to report they were no longer facing eviction.