Jackson Jambalaya

Update (11:20 AM): Supreme Court ordered SOS to respond by 5:00 PM tomorrow. 

It is always the simple things that are overlooked yet often come into play.  Such may be the case in the medical marijuana fight.  Mayor Hawkins-Butler and the City of Madison filed an emergency petition against Secretary of State Michael Watson yesterday in the Mississippi Supreme Court that seeks to declare the initiative invalid.  The 34-page petition revolves around one central point: the Secretary of State improperly certified the petition for Initiative 65 in 2019 by ignoring the Mississippi Constitution's requirement that each congressional district can only contribute 20% of the required signatures for an initiative.  It is a case of simple math.  Does 1/4 = 1/5?

The Peacocks. It was a nice little story. Gave everyone an excuse to get their hate out for the Queen and take up for the little guy, not to mention, Christmas. Well, this correspondent decided to file a public records request with the City of Madison for everything on this address after receiving numerous tips about that particular victim. The response was 67 pages of documents. Needless to say, this is not the first time there has been some drama at 425 Church Street in Madison.

Madison police have responded to 14 calls at that address since 2008. You read that right: 14. Mrs. Cheeks stated in numerous media reports she has rented the home for five years. There are various reasons for the calls. Four 911 calls were for emergency medical services. The call logs are posted below. Other incidents were:

*March 9, 2007: Mrs. Cheeks called the police after neighbor's dog bit her daughter. Child was taken to MEA.

*December 4, 2008: "Welfare check requested by DHS supposed to be a 1 yr old and 4 yr old at residence without gas or heat.

*March 29, 2009: Blower stolen from driveway.

*October 20, 2009: "verbal dispute between father and son"

*January 19, 2011: Verbal dispute. "Caller advised her son arguing over an Ipod.

*April 30, 2011: Jered Meeks complained about credit card fraud.

*July 11, 2011: Armed robbery. Credit card stolen. Melvin and Wanda Cheeks came to police department five days later and stated they think the story was made up by their son. They claimed he owed them $1,800 and fabricated the entire incident to avoid repayment. They claimed the son, Adrian, had bi-polar disorder although he has not been "diagnosed with anything" and they fear Adrian is trying to set them up for some "type of altercation to make it look like their fault."

*April 13, 2010: City sent a cease and desist letter to quit using home for commercial business in violation of city ordinances.

*October 10, 2008: city revoked certificate of occupancy after city claimed landlord failed to obtain rental inspection, property licensing permit, and a home occupation permit.

*November 10, 2011: Suspect standing in middle of street "waving a gun and has pointed at people and taunting people" Log says it was a "toy gun".

Only question I will ask is what took them so long to wind up on tv? It doesn't take a genius to figure out the neighbors are probably sick of all of these calls. Several sources in the county, not the city, knew the address immediately when I mentioned it to them. It would not be surprising if the neighbors are looking to report the residents for any violation just to get rid of them.

One final question: Will the Downtown Jackson Commissioner start up a Madison Trash blog since his office is now in Madison?

The Madison Board of Alderman unanimously passed a resolution last night calling for the resignation of District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson. The resolution states:

" WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Madison are also residents and taxpayers of Madison County, Mississippi, and have a vested interest in the administration of county affairs, especially as it relates to expenditure of public funds and allocation of such funds to infrastructure improvements throughout the county; and
WHEREAS, District 2 of Madison County is primarily located within the City of Madison; and
WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Madison residing in District 2 have a right to expect active and vigorous representation regarding the use of County funds and the fair allocation of public benefit resulting from such expenditures; and
WHEREAS, the actions and lack of action by District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson have caused public concern regarding the quality of representation the citizens of District 2 in the City have received; and
WHEREAS, such actions include but are not limited to:
(A)Proposing the largest tax increase in the history of Madison County, without the required legal notice;
(B)Resisting a full performance audit of questionable engineering fees, including subcontracts and allegedly inflated fees for administration of such subcontracts;
(C)Supporting payment of engineering fees for study, design and redesign of projects which are not practically or financially feasible;
(D)Public misrepresentation to citizens and municipal officials regarding the use of proceeds from a fifty million dollar bond issue in an effort to generate support for such issue, then supporting the use of such proceeds in a manner contrary to his earlier assurances;

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF THE CITY OF MADISON, MISSISSIPPI that the City of Madison, Mississippi, does hereby call upon Madison County District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson to resign from his post in order to allow the citizens of District 2, and specifically those citizens residing in the City of Madison, to elect a supervisor who will vigorously support the interests of District 2."

Copy of resolution

The resolution was signed by Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler.