Jackson Free Press

On Oct. 1, Mayor Frank Melton announced that he was dissolving the city's Crime Prevention Unit with only days' notice. Charging that the members were not doing their jobs—despite the workers collecting hundreds of hours in comp time—Melton dismissed the division as inefficient, vowing to replace them "within days" with his Quality of Life Division, staffed with volunteers.

Crime Prevention Unit employees, like many city employees, are protected by Civil Service, and on Dec. 8 members of that unit pled their case at a Civil Service Commission hearing.

The former employees claim the city violated several of their rights when they were abruptly dumped from city payrolls.

City attorneys are battling the charges, not directly, but by stalling the process. The city refused to provide the information requested by attorney Sharon Gipson, who is representing the former employees, in time for the Dec. 8 hearing, in violation of public records law, forcing Judge Breland Hilburn to move the hearing to a later date.

Pursuant to the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983, government agencies have 14 working days to comply with info requests by forking over either the information or at least a reason why the information was withheld.

The city was already in violation of this law back in December. Today, however, in late February, one former Crime Prevention Unit employee says the city is still stalling.

"Our attorney says the city still hasn't given us the information. I guess they plan to delay it as long as they can," Sharon Sims said.

Judge Hilburn could not be reached in time to comment on just how long he would allow the city to delay the civil service hearing. City Attorney Sarah O'Reilly Evans did not return calls for comment.

Previous Comments

ID

65372

Comment

whywhy, I don't know what you're doing, but you're posting multiple posts that have nothing to do with the article above it, and a full article from a newspaper that is a copyright violation. You are in violation of our User Agreement.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-02-27T17:49:33-06:00

ID

65373

Comment

WELL! SUE ME, I NEED TO TELL MY STORY.

Author

whywhy

Date

2006-02-27T17:52:26-06:00

ID

65374

Comment

I'm not going to sue you, but I will suspend you if you don't follow my site's rules. However, in the interim, I suggest you go start a forum post, but do not post full-length articles or include personal addresses of people. Go here and start your own, bearing the User Agreement in mind: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/forums/index.php

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-02-27T17:54:22-06:00

ID

65375

Comment

THE ADDRESS IS MINDS, AND I DID'NT KNOW HOW TO START A FORUMS. I'M TALKING ABOUT MY SON MICHAEL WASHINGTON. IF I DEFINED YOU I'M SORRY, LIKE I SAID MY STORY GOT TO BE TOLD.

Author

whywhy

Date

2006-02-27T17:59:05-06:00

ID

65376

Comment

It is easy to start a forum thread. Follow the thread. Go here and then click "post new topic." It's no harder than registering for this site. http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/forums/forum.php?which=politicsforum

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-02-27T18:03:44-06:00

ID

65377

Comment

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=8689_0_4_0_C

Author

whywhy

Date

2006-02-27T18:05:41-06:00

ID

65378

Comment

DON'T WORRIE; YOU CAN withdraw MY association, AND THIS IS NOT THE FREE PRESS.

Author

whywhy

Date

2006-02-27T18:06:06-06:00

ID

65379

Comment

whywhy, even "free press" has rules. I gave you a way to post here, so that you don't hijack a different topic. These are the same rules for everyone. It is not hard to start your own thread. It is your choice whether you want to do that.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-02-27T18:08:59-06:00

ID

65380

Comment

whywhy, nobody's going to see your post in this thread anyway because it's about a completely unrelated article. If you put it in a new forum topic, folks will actually be able to find it. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-02-27T18:24:24-06:00