Jackson Free Press

It's been a tough week or so over at Frank Melton's house. First, we broke the news online on Dec. 4 that the young man he is accused of mentoring into helping destroy a Ridgeway Street duplex was arrested for armed carjacking (link). The last time Michael Taylor—who lived in Melton's home until a few weeks ago, was arrested, in late 2005, he was 16 and accused of robbing a barbershop at gunpoint. Then on Aug. 15, the mayor drew the felony for Taylor because investigators say Melton and his bodyguards told him to use a sledgehammer to destroy private property.

Then, this Monday, WAPT reported that Jeremy Bibbs had been arrested for having a gun on a college campus. This young man has lived with Melton since he was arrested for dealing crack when he was a football star at Northwest Rankin. Melton stepped in and bargained with the Rankin County district attorney so that Bibbs would not have to go to prison—he was facing 30 years and a $1 million fine if convicted. The DA agreed to a plea that would allow Bibbs to go on probation if he went to a six-month boot camp and then lived under Melton's supervision.

Meantime, when I was in Melton's home in April several times, Bibbs was there. So were numerous weapons (that we now know Melton was carrying illegally then, without a permit). So were a number of young men both accused of crimes and on probation. One of them was Christopher Walker, Melton's star witness in the Albert Donelson murder trial, whom the D.A. couldn't put on the stand because Melton's largesse—from a credit card in his name, to an apartment, to a car, to cash—tainted him as a witness. Even if it wasn't his intention, it could easily look to a jury as if Melton had paid Walker off. The defense protested, and the prosecution had to remove him from the witness list. Later, the feds would revoke his probation for failing drug tests—during that same period of time.

In addition, men who've long frequented Melton's home—such as Anthony Staffney—were coming and going freely from the mayor's home this year, not to mention City Hall, where Melton was illegally wearing his guns in holsters under his clothes. Staffney had just been acquitted himself for the murder of Carey Bias after a witness recanted.

Melton has claimed that he is under constant danger and needs to carry weapons to protect himself. Meantime, he was putting minors like Michael Taylor on the Mobile Command Center with him and driving them around on "manhunts" for accused criminals such as Vidal Sullivan (whom Melton last year called "the most dangerous man in Jackson").

My primary worry here is the effect that Melton's style of crime-fighting and helping kids may be having on them—and, ultimately, the community as they take what they learn back into the world.

I'm not saying that Melton is purposefully training them to be criminals (although the Ridgeway incident sure the hell seems close). I am more concerned that he has no clue how to help young people other than by throwing money, cars and credit cards their direction, and picking out a handful at a time to be part of his household and his entourage.

The evening after the Donelsons were acquitted, I was in Melton's home, along with a number of the young men. I watched about five of them as they chatted together and made dinner. All these kids were in high school, they were friendly, and they seemed well-adjusted. The scene was almost Rockwell-esque.

But even those young men told me that all the storms swirling around Melton give them pause. They said they sometimes get spooked at the idea of who might be trying to scale the fence to get at Melton, and that some of the young men he brings in are intimidating to them.

Certainly, the mixed messages Melton sends about telling the truth and following the law must confuse them. I'm no child psychologist, but it doesn't take one to see the eerie similiarity between Melton getting arrested for illegally toting a gun onto a college campus, after being warned by the attorney general not to, and then Bibbs' assumption that he could get away with carrying a gun onto his college campus, after the Rankin County D.A. told him he could go to prison for 16 years if he violated terms of his probation.

Likewise in the case of Michael Taylor, who has lived with Melton and been protected by him. When deputies tried to arrest him after TV cameras spotted him openly attending a barbeque at Melton's house while on the lam, Melton drove him away and didn't hand him over until later after the sheriff insisted. These kids drive an expensive black sports car to school; why would Taylor see the need to carjack a young woman—and then toy with her and try to sell it back to her?

Because, perhaps, he thought he could get away with it? Because he, and his mentor, are above the law? Because he has been chosen by Melton to be helped; therefore, he gets special treatment? A young person from the Wood Street area asked me recently: How does Frank Melton pick the kids he chooses to take in? What about all the rest of us?

Melton himself admits that his mentoring roster has seen a heartbreaking number of dismal failures: arrests, murders, even a gun suicide in his home at one point, he said.

Meantime, few authorities seem concerned about how effective Melton's mentoring is, or isn't. The Mississippi Department of Human Services just shrugs its collective shoulders, saying the boys' parents let them stay there, after all, and agency head Col. Don Taylor goes on talk radio to defend his "friend Frank" against scrutiny.

Regardless of how well-meaning the mayor is, the truth is that he may be really bad at this helping-kids thing. The most important thing that mentors do is to lead by example—and Melton's example is one of dishonesty, arrogance, disrespect for laws and a real bad case of attention deficit disorder.

It's time the people of Jackson ask ourselves a serious question: Do we care enough about the troubled young men of Jackson to start being concerned about what happens to them? And if so, should we pay closer attention to what is occurring on the other side of the revolving door at 2 Carter's Grove?

Previous Commentsshow

At the Chamber of Commerce Annual Luncheon today, Eddie Maloney, Out going President for the Metro-Jackson Chamber of Commerce singled out Marcus Ward. He then said the following: "Marcus Ward, tell FRANK THANKS FOR A QUIET YEAR." THE AUDIENCE WAS SILENCED AND YOU COULD HEAR A RAT pi$$ on cotton in China. I really hate to keep bringing up former Mayor Johnson's name but in a speech he gave to the citizens of Jackson years ago he said, "Cities near and around Jackson should begin to put up picket fences and become neighborly because if Jackson falls, so will everyone else." It was so strange hearing these Johnson words spoken so eloquently years ago be repeated by Maloney. The desease that Melton infected black folks with has spred to the community at large. He coudln't keep hurting black folks and not reach the whoole community. So ladd, I believe that there are some people in Jackson who are beginning to see the ELEPHANT under the green on the poole table.

justjess

Dec 13 2006

"Marcus Ward, tell FRANK THANKS FOR A QUIET YEAR." THE AUDIENCE WAS SILENCED AND YOU COULD HEAR A RAT pi$$ on cotton in China. I was afraid you were going to say that everyone roared with laughter. Good to hear the response. There's nothing funny about this mess. I agree with you. The elephant is becoming increasingly visible.

DonnaLadd

Dec 13 2006

Good to see Eric Stringfellow (of 100 Black Men to help young men) today starting to notice as well that there may well be serious problems at 2 Carter's Grove: It's also probably a good idea for the mayor to get out of the de facto boarding home business, especially for those who consistently find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Michael Taylor, 17, recently arrested on a carjacking charge, lived with Melton for nearly a year. Taylor was free on bond for a 1995 armed robbery at the time of the alleged carjacking. And Hinds County prosecutors believe Taylor was among those with Melton and his bodyguards when they allegedly damaged a duplex on Ridgeway Street. Melton has said he believes Taylor is worth saving, and he is absolutely correct. But running a halfway house is a full-time job, and currently there is a real question about what kind of influence Melton has had on young men like Taylor. Melton was elected as Jackson's mayor, and neither Melton nor the city needs this kind of continued distraction, which can also serve to erode credibility. Let's encourage Melton to focus on his real job as the city's chief executive, which includes working with council members and within the established system - before the Teflon dries up.

DonnaLadd

Dec 14 2006

Oh good Lord. Someone just pointed out that Stringfellow says Taylor's armed robbery happened in *1995*—he would have been 6! That would also been a helluva long bond, eh? 2005, gentleman. It's also interesting that he doesn't say that Melton and his bodyguards are under indictment, in part, for telling him to commit a felony. He wasn't just "among those" who did it. I just don't understand this level of vagueness. Why not just speak the truth straight ahead instead of tiptoeing around it? It's good to see The Clarion-Ledger figuring out how bad of an endorsemnt their edit-boyz made, but jeez. It's also intriguing to "encourage Melton to focus on his real job"—what is his "real job" if not making the city run efficiently. He. can't. do. that. He just took $200,000 from street repairs to tear down an apartment complex in order to get on the evening news. Melton needs to leave this office, or be removed somehow. The city cannot afford two-and-a-half more years of this incompetent idiocy.

DonnaLadd

Dec 14 2006

Why are you surprised Ms Ladd? Stringfellow is consistently for no standards, no discipline, no punishment and has been so over the years. He focuses too much on being too nice, getting along, and reaching consensus. There is no right or wrong way with him, its always the path of least resistance in determining what he thinks is right.

Kingfish

Dec 14 2006

I don't think that's true, 'Fish. You're over-reaching with such an empathic statement. Criticize, but criticize on the merits.

DonnaLadd

Dec 14 2006

You know, I guess an upside of Melton getting elected mayor is that it helped forced the mainstream media to actually pay attention to the kinds of stuff he's been doing for years. It's not like there was any scrutiny to speak of when he was at MBN. I wish we'd been up and running better then. But, hey. Of course, the city is paying a price for this reckoning, but we just have to be determined to come out strong, and smarter, on the other side. And demanding better media coverage of things that actually affect the community. It's a small consolation, but other cities are going through this with their disengaged corporate media as well. I'd be hard-pressed to believe that another metropolitan daily could be *worse* than ours, however. The stories they withheld during the mayoral campaign last year alone are enough to get them into the Bad Newspaper Hall of Fame.

DonnaLadd

Dec 14 2006

I can see where you would say that Ms Ladd. However, I've been reading him since he first started his column many moons ago. Kill your baby after its born? No problem. String agrees with the judge who doesn't even give the mother a slap on the wrist for killing her infant. Get caught cheating and having a cheating ring at Madison Central? String will write that you shouldn't really be punished because he is sure the students involved learned a lesson. Refuse to deliver much needed to supplies to soldiers in a dangerous environment that need them desperately, thus committing mutiny? String will write a column defending mutiny. If you think I'm being too harsh on String, when it comes to your pet issue, Mr Melton, he has been pretty soft on him as well. He stands for no discipline, no consequences, and no punishment for anything. Always has. Always will. His idea of right and wrong is what rocks the boat the least.

Kingfish

Dec 14 2006

I just ran into this in my second interview with Mr. Melton—verbatim from him: The worst thing I’ve ever had anyone tell me in what I do, Donna, I had somebody tell me when all this controversy was going on (past accusations of molestation), they said, “Frank, what you need to do is fund an agency to keep these boys. Just pay for it. Get a house, and let somebody else come in there.” And I thought that’s the last damn thing these kids need because most of them have already been bounced from foster home to foster home. This year, Donna, is the first year in my 24 years in Jackson that I’ve ever had anyone working in my house. Jeremy Bibbs, you know the kid (from Northwest Rankin) I’m working with, his mother comes in on Thursday and Fridays and helps with the kids’ clothes and does a little cleaning up. But I have never wanted anybody else around these kids because they’ve been bounced around so much. For me to hire a maid and turn my kids over to a maid, they’re not in any better shape. I’m responsible for them; I decided I would take care of them, and we’ve gone through some very interesting things together. I’ve got a new 16-year-old you’ll get a chance to meet—Jeremy, I don’t even know his last damned name—but he’s been there a couple weeks. A boy comes over the other night to my side of the house, I mean just in tears. His mother is on the phone strung out on cocaine. She’s gone, telling this 16-year-old kid about all of her problems and how she wants to go get some and she needs to do this and that, and I think that’s fine, and I think she needs to go and do it. But don’t put this on this kid who is trying to go to Lanier. This kid gets up every morning, Kamikaze, at 6:30. He’s ironing his clothes; he’s ready to go to school. He’s going through that three-month phase where all he does is eat. I’m serious, Donna. When they first come to my house because they’re not used to being around food, they eat and gain about 25 pounds. Then they settle down because they know the food is going to be there, it’s not going anywhere. But they’re so unaccustomed to being around food that they just eat, eat, eat, eat, eat until they just decide that it’s going to be here. Then they get on kind of a regular schedule.

DonnaLadd

Dec 14 2006

I'd like to know more about the suicide that happened at Frank's house. Kim Wade mentioned it about a month or two ago and that was the first I ever heard of it. When did it happen?

golden eagle

Dec 15 2006

Donna 1:37 post is why I have sympathy for Frank. He seems to really care.

Ray Carter

Dec 15 2006