Ridgeway resident Evans Welch (right) says he never asked Mayor Frank Melton for help before Melton destroyed his duplex in 2006. Photo by Jaro Vacek
Evans Welch disputes Mayor Frank Melton's claims that he asked the mayor for help before the 2006 demolition of the duplex he rented. Melton, who faces three felony charges for his role in the incident, has argued in court hearings and filings that Welch, a diagnosed schizophrenic, contacted him multiple times, requesting help with the drug activity at his home.
At his parent's house Friday, the Jackson Free Press asked Welch whether he had asked the mayor for help.
"I deny it," Welch said. "That man tore up my house on his own."
Welch declined to comment further.
At a Nov. 10 pre-trial hearing, Melton's attorney John Reeves said that he planned to introduce evidence that Welch contacted Melton for help on the same day as the Ridgeway incident. In a Dec. 8 motion, Reeves again suggested that Welch had asked for the mayor's assistance.
"Mayor Melton's defense is in part that the tenant and the Mayor had a previously established relationship, the tenant reached out to the Mayor for help, and the Mayor responded to the location after being notified that drugs were again being sold on the premises," Reeves wrote.
Melton's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 5.
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