Dear Mayor Melton:
Two quick things:
1. While watching a middle-aged man run around at night in body armor and police drag was once amusing, it is now merely embarrassing.
You are not a policeman. You have never been a policeman. The citizens of Jackson did not elect you their policeman. We elected you our mayor.
Please act like one.
2. While bursting into gay bars and strip clubs with an entourage of heavily-armed body guards may snag a few headlines, your raids are not solving Jackson’s biggest problems.
The adults in these places may not be doing the same things they do on Sunday when they’re attending First Baptist Church, but at these clubs, they are doing whatever they’re doing off the streets and behind closed doors.
– They are not the bold thieves who, in broad daylight and along one of Jackson’s busiest streets, freely terrorize walkers in Parham Bridges Park.
– They are not the people who recently visited my neighborhood to shatter car windows and steal CD players.
– They are not the people who have been selling the same drugs on the same streets for so long that almost everyone (except, apparently, you) knows where they are and what they’re up to.
– They are not the people who have most of Jackson afraid to go downtown after sunset.
I understand that the folks in strip clubs and gay bars make easier targets (mostly because, when intimidated, they don’t often fight back).
But if you’re serious about making Jackson a better, safer place to live, you may want to spend less time lecturing strippers in their dressing rooms and spend more time in your office, developing a plan to improve city services and get crime off our streets.
Eager for the next election,
Mark
AMEN!
I can’t believe it. I knew he was radical, but I never thought he’d go THIS far.
I’m so glad I’m living in a civilized city. TORONTO.
Jackson is just beyond hope.
I really expected a lot more out of Melton b/c I know a bit about him.
I guess this nixes my plans to visit Club City Lights next time I’m back there. No. freakin’. way.
Frank Melton is a hero…he had the guts to stand up to criminals in our city. Ya’ll aren’t here and you don’t know what goes on beyond the shallow view of the media. No, he’s not perfect and he may not have gone about everything in the best way, but at least he did something. That’s more than anybody else has been doing. I’ve been a victim of rape and assault. Both times I contacted JPD and they failed to do ANYTHING. I’m not so lower class, uneducated person looking to blame; I know what they are and are not able to do and I also know when they’re just refusing to do their job because it’s inconvenient. In my mind if he’s willing to whip the PD into shape and actually do something to get criminals off our streets, then he has my full support. Don’t comment on something when you don’t know the whole story. You come live here then see if you don’t appreciate what they mayor has done for us.
Kitty Dixon wrote: “In my mind, if [Frank Melton] is willing to whip the PD into shape and actually do something to get criminals off the streets, then he has my full support.”
First things first: I am deeply sorry that you’ve experienced both rape and assault, Kitty, and my prayer is for your health and safety.
That said: while I receive comments here from around the globe, I actually *do* live in Jackson, MS … so my opinions about Frank Melton are not based on what the media presents or on hearsay. I’m right here in the City with Soul, so I know what Frank’s been up to.
It is frustrating to see criminals wandering the streets. We do need someone to do something.
I think it would be good, though, for our elected officials — like Mr. Melton — to find a way to rid the streets of criminals … without becoming criminals themselves.
If we can’t get rid of lawbreakers without breaking the law, we’re in a very bad situation, aren’t we?