Jackson Free Press

Richard Fausett of the Los Angeles Times has published his story about Mayor Frank Melton. It starts:

Sometime before sunset, Mayor Frank Melton roared into a Kroger parking lot in the ungainly box-on-wheels that has become his signature vehicle. Technically, it's known as a "Mobile Command Center" — a tricked-out RV that was once used for SWAT team operations. Tonight, Melton was riding shotgun in the thing, with cop cars in front and TV news vans behind. As the entourage rolled to a stop, an onlooker asked the mayor what he was up to.

"I'm gettin' ready," he drawled, "to raise hell."

Melton hopped out of his RV and sauntered into the store for some grape soda, a 9-millimeter Glock on his hip.

And another money quote:

"All he wants to do is play cops — just ignorant stuff," said Hinds County Dist. Atty. Faye Peterson, who has been feuding publicly with Melton. "It looks good, but it's not effective law enforcement."

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Previous Comments

ID

122722

Comment

Fascinating piece. You'd almost think he was human.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-07-29T17:16:16-06:00

ID

122723

Comment

It's hard enough for people to have anything good to say about the south without this dumba$$ going around pretending to be something that he's not. Even though the journalists from around the country are very mild with their portrayal of Frank, people are still laughing at his ignorant games and intense hunger for the spotlight. He STILL has not solved anything (the crime problem that he was going to get rid of in ninety days). He has lost repsect, and now the whole world is laughing at him.

Author

rufus

Date

2006-07-29T17:36:41-06:00

ID

122724

Comment

There is one thing that Melton has not done that would surprise everyone...................................STEP DOWN!

Author

lance

Date

2006-07-29T17:40:49-06:00

ID

122725

Comment

"Vidal Sullivan was arrested three days later in a second manhunt. This one was conducted by five U.S. marshals." See, it does take real, live, trained law enforcement to catch criminals! haha

Author

Jo-D

Date

2006-07-30T10:14:55-06:00

ID

122726

Comment

He stopped another teenager ambling down the sidewalk in an oversized Tupac T-shirt. "Pull ya pants up on ya ass," Melton said. "Get them pants up." This one comment speaks to my concerns the best. Melton considers himself a worthy arbiter of commonsense...gaurdian of an ideal. His beliefs on how ones life should appear extend into his exercise of power. This is very much like that historically black business college who won't allow dreads or braids. They are taking their cues from a particular cultural ideal that says "You shouldn't wear baggy pants, you shouldn't stay out late and go to dance parties, you shouldn't be listening to rap music, graffiti is blight, take pills for your discomforts, drink grape soda with genetically-modified corn syrup and you might as well be happy about it because we hold the power and we're not giving you any unless you straighten up and "act right". or perhaps i'm reaching...

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2006-07-30T13:16:05-06:00

ID

122727

Comment

I think you're reaching there, Daniel. :) All Melton did was tell him to pull his pants up, not conform to some hypothetical cultural norm.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-07-30T16:05:40-06:00

ID

122728

Comment

I don't like the idea of Melton cursing at the children. What kind of example does that set? Of course, cursing at them pales in comparison to letting them ride in the Batmobile where they become a moving target. Do these kids ask permission before they go riding off with someone for several hours? Daniel, I understand the whole one-thought-leads-to-another-thought thing. I do it all the time. I don't like baggy pants, but I still believe in freedom of expression. Hey, trends come and go, like parachute pants.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-07-30T19:31:44-06:00

ID

122729

Comment

Frank really enjoys the spotlight. He puts on a real show and I have the feeling that the journalist was really enjoying him at the total cost of the City. So, melton knows all of the criminals. What exactly has his interactions with them done to promote this City or to decrease criminal activity? Again, the tough questions were not asked and if so, they were not printed. So Franks boys from Wood St. were just sitting there waiting for the command unit to pull up?? This was staged! He is a master of theatrics and media-tricks; somehow missed his calling for fantacy land. Frank said that he was a Social Worker before coming to Jackson. At what point did he do Social Work and why didn't he have "any money" if he was part owner of a successful TV station in Texas when he arrived in Jackson "with a baby in her arms and one on the way." This just doesn't make any sense and I am so tired of this foolishness.

Author

justjess

Date

2006-07-31T12:08:41-06:00

ID

122730

Comment

At what point did he do Social Work and why didn't he have "any money" if he was part owner of a successful TV station in Texas when he arrived in Jackson "with a baby in her arms and one on the way." -justjess EXACTLY! Melton has lied so much until I even question the fact that he even has a wife and family in Texas. He told the Madison Herald that he livea at home until he was 41. He said that he has been in Jackson since the late seventies (I know, he also said that he came here in the nineties) this would make him around seventy years old. He said that he "borrowed" around 18 million from his friends and a bank and paid it back in less than two years. He said that he would solve the crime problem within ninety days from taking office. He denied knowing that some of his "guests" at his house had warrants, but he had a warrant on Batman that no one knew about. You're right justjess.............I am so tired of the foolishness.

Author

lance

Date

2006-07-31T14:09:22-06:00

ID

122731

Comment

And I'm still trying to figure out what a broke Frank told a banker that convinced any banker to loan him the thousands or millions to buy WLBT. You see I and many folks I know graduated with advanced degrees from colleges and walked our broke black butts in many banks and couldn't get a penny to open up an office. Some of my friends had graduated from Harvard Law and Medical School and it made no difference at all. We could have had a letter from God guaranteeing payment and it wouldn't have made any difference. No collateral, no loan is what we were told. Frank is special. He could quit this job and get even richer by just telling black and poor people how we can get millions in loans to start a business without any collateral.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2006-07-31T15:29:03-06:00

ID

122732

Comment

i will post more detail later but frank was given 10 percent ownership by his employer buford television of tyler so that wlbt could satisfy the fcc' s desire to keep wlbt a minority owned station even after bufords purchase. the other owners were charles young and aaron henry who combined with frank caused there to be 51% minority ownership. buford i believe had the 49%. i believe the money frank borrowed was in fact guarenteed by buford. frank started out as weatheman in tyler and move up the ranks. he was the right man at the right time for buford when it acquired ownership of wlbt.more to come

Author

chimneyville

Date

2006-07-31T15:46:38-06:00

ID

122733

Comment

Thanks Chimneyville. I was, as usual, being sarcastic and mildly serious. I believe Frank told Donna he came here broke and purchased WLBT. I know part of the story and would appreciate any new details you're willing to share. I'm not surprised people or entities find him amusing. I believe I read an article in the New York Times or Miami Herald while in Miami last week about Frank. I believe he was termed in the article "crazy Frank or crazy Mayor." He's putting us on the map, just like he said he would, "You will see crime fighting like you have never seen it before."

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2006-07-31T16:01:05-06:00

ID

122734

Comment

Frank's a figurehead? That would make sense.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-07-31T16:44:58-06:00

ID

122735

Comment

Thanks chimmneyville for that enlighting news. It did not make any sense that a "broke" individual could convince a banker to step out on a limb like that. Melton probably has never wanted for anything and not gotten it, even the job as mayor. Melton would have a lot more respect from the people that he is trying to impress if he would just be honest. Nobody likes a liar. This only leads me to believe that Melton does not want anyone to succeed. He is only giving out part of his success story and really believes that we are foolish enough to think that he has the Midas touch.

Author

lance

Date

2006-07-31T18:19:22-06:00

ID

122736

Comment

Yeah, if that is Melton's "true story" why the BS? Makes no sense, adds nothing to his story, and is really unimpressive no matter how you cut it. He sure goes to great lengths to hide it.

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-07-31T18:35:09-06:00

ID

122737

Comment

Ok Chimneyville, lets do the math and factckeck again. If melton was given 10% of the TV Station in Texas to satisfy the minority condition of the contract, then it means that 90% was still owned by his White conterparts. Young and Henry made up 41% (added to melton's 10) made the 51% investment and the station could continue to claim its Black majority share holder reputation. If melton sold his 10%. wouldn't it be reasonable to think that the Tyler Texas folks got their part of the loot? This money story is very strange. The MBN case against melton might supply all of the pieces to this missing puzzle.

Author

justjess

Date

2006-08-02T13:46:09-06:00

ID

122738

Comment

i still need to get back to my source materials but i think what melton got was 10 percent of tv-3 and not 10 percent of buford television,which owned multiple affiliates.buford had less than 49 percent ownership of wlbt but combined with melton who was also an employee of buford had voting control over the company.

Author

chimneyville

Date

2006-08-02T14:46:53-06:00

ID

122739

Comment

the reason i even deign to post this stuff is to point out a certain hypocricy on the part of melton who has often scoffed at affirmative action(on the bottom line and on the campign trail)and the citys mbe policy while never openly admitting that the wealth he obtained occurred in no small measure due to his being the right black person at the right time for buford television's successful acquisition of a lucrative nbc affiliate ---all under the guise of preserving minority ownership of a tv station whose control had heretofore been one of mississippis most signifigant civil rights battles.

Author

chimneyville

Date

2006-08-02T15:00:52-06:00

ID

122740

Comment

Melton called the Charles Evers' Radio Talk Show last night. He thanked Charles for the "good advice" and continued to sing praises for Charles. It was two steps from being sickening. He "Mayor Evered" Charles to death. Frank bragged about "just getting off the phone with Magic Johnson." According to Frank, Magic will build a theatre for Jackson families, a skating rink for black folks and a skateboard rink for white folks. He went on to explain that White kids love to skateboard. He then told the listening audience that he had over a billion dollars worth of business coming to Jackson. Frank repeated those bogus national crime stats, i.e., 300,000 murders......." He really needs to be checked on this. He further reported that "They treated me like a dog in Washington." I chuckled and thought: Isn't this how you treat people? melton dogged the NAACP and the ACLU. Charles Evers, who admits to loving "God and money," and makes no bones about the limit he has gone and will go to get it, plays an interesting role with melton. It was evident that melton was trying to keep Evers at bay when he asked to meet with Jimmy Hiedal after saying that he had some "rich Republican friends" who could put money in Jackson. What a relationship!

Author

justjess

Date

2006-08-03T09:31:43-06:00

ID

122741

Comment

"...a skating rink for black folks and a skateboard rink for white folks." Niiiiiiiiiiiice. Will they come equipped with drinking fountains out back in case a white kid ever gets a hankering for roller skating? Or vice versa?

Author

millhouse

Date

2006-08-03T09:42:05-06:00

ID

122742

Comment

I'm sure the anti-Brown Society over at the Jackson Advocate loves all this separatist talk. Nice.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-03T10:12:43-06:00

ID

122743

Comment

Everybody notice that, today, he plans to raise taxes again. Will he have withdrawn that idea by tomorrow like he did in the span of 48 hours last year?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-03T10:13:14-06:00

ID

122744

Comment

This is a search for Mayor Melton on Google News today. I am linking to page 8. Search any of the pages and you will see hundreds of media outlets picked up the ACLU story. In fact I wonder if a media outlet didn't run this story? How much worst can he make us look?

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-08-03T10:25:12-06:00

ID

122745

Comment

"Everybody notice that, today, he plans to raise taxes again. Will he have withdrawn that idea by tomorrow like he did in the span of 48 hours last year?" - ladd I'm just worried this will run the rest of the tax base out of town. As it is, I feel I pay an insane amount of property taxes... Factor in the tag and Jackson's just going to become too damned expensive for those that own property. You'd think they'd want to urge ownership which, in theory, chould reduce the crime problem. Raising taxes is not the solution... Encouraging development and property ownership are the way to increase tax base. DON'T PUNISH THE PEOPLE THAT STILL HAVE AN IOTA OF FAITH IN THIS TOWN, MELTON! DON'T PUNISH THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE NO OTHER RESOURCES! What an idiot!

Author

kaust

Date

2006-08-03T10:35:10-06:00

ID

122746

Comment

There are people who believe to their core that some of Mr. Melton's biggest supporters put him there to make the city look bad and weaken us, so that the suburbs (and suburban developers) can succeed in getting people to leave the city. I like to think that is not the case, but sometimes it almost seems the only thing to explain his bizarre attempts to make Jackson look like a hellhole. He's been doing it for years. I have a tape of a "public service announcement" that he put on WLBT years ago to scare the hell out of people about crime. We really need to get that on the site for people to watch. With due respect to all of you who thought he was such a folk hero, I have never seen or read anything he's done in the past that makes me understand the adoration for him (even though I understand the in-person charm offensive better after spending time with him). It says a lot about how certain people know how to push certain buttons and get people to act against their best interest. I suspect a lot of it had to do with him being a black man who said so many things white people wanted to hear. Then he put together a coalition of people, black and white, many of whom benefit off divisions. It's not like this is a new strategy—there were African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement that "supported" the Klan because they, too, wanted people separate. And the Jackson Advocate was about separatism back then, too. I think Mr. Melton is quickly getting to the point, though, that more people are putting up force fields against his tricks as they see how little substance there is behind the promises and proclamations and sound bites. As for taxes, when is The Clarion-Ledger going to point out that the last mayor was lowering crime and NOT raising taxes? This mayor—their man—has blown the budget, and crime has gone up.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-03T10:52:28-06:00