Jackson Free Press

Download audio of Melton press conference on 12.30.08 (.wav, 15.42MB)
Full JFP Melton Archive/Blog

Jackson Mayor Frank Melton slammed both the Jackson community and his own administration in dealing with the city's crime issue today. "On the issue of crime … the community has been a failure," Melton said at a 10 a.m. press conference. "The administration has been somewhat of a failure in dealing with this issue, and we're going to have to do a much better job, and I'm getting ready to take a series of dramatic steps that we should have taken 20 years ago, and it's going to be very sensitive and I want people to be prepared for it.

Melton blamed the city's rising crime and murder rate on city residents' inability to step up "and do something with their livesԗand pointed specifically to the African American community.

"They have to make an investment in their own growth," Melton said. "A young lady with five children, who all have five different fathers—that's not America."

Melton said he was going to move the city in a dramatic new direction by governing through veto power and executive ordinance in upcoming months. It is a declaration he has made more than once during his four-year term as mayor—usually after the council shot down one of his more favored proposals.

When asked for examples of the "dramatic steps" he plans, Melton pointed to baggy pants as a top target of his passion for fighting crime. "We're going to start today with the dress ordinance. It'll be a 4-to-3 vote. I'm going to veto that, and I'll have the three votes to sustain my position, and we'll move on."

Melton was referring to a dress code desired by Councilman Kenneth Stokes mandating that men wear their pants in an acceptable position, which City Council tabled for further study today. His only example of his "dramatic steps" plan seemed to say more about his unfamiliarity with the city's governing process, even after more than three years in office. He admitted his foggy understanding of the issue when told that he would not be able to override the council's "no" vote on the ordinance with a veto.

"They keep trying to explain that to me," Melton said, referring to city attorney Sarah O'Reilly-Evans. He then pointed out that he would lean heavily on the use of executive order, particularly regarding issues lingering in committee.

"Rules say that things can't sit in committee for more than three meetings, but we've had stuff sitting in there since 2005. It's ridiculous," he said.

Melton then repeated that his administration has "been a failure," and that things haven't worked out the way he wanted it to because his he'd had his hands "tied behind my back" since he took office.

"You know I would never do anything to hurt another human being, physically, emotionally or anything. That's not my style, but it seems a brick wall has been thrown up on everything I've tried to do in this community," Melton said, and then referred to a few of his legally questionable past dealings with city strip clubs, novelty book stores and nightspots, some of which closed down—but more of which sued the city and were eventually left alone.

Melton said he was still running for mayor next year, despite his admitted failures, providing that a jury does not convict him of constitutional violations regarding the illegal destruction of a home on Ridgeway Street in August 2006, as first reported by the Jackson Free Press.

"I want to run because if I had to get up in the morning and had nothing to do, I'd be dead in six months," Melton said, and emphasized again that none of his behavior was through "evil intentԗthe basis for his defense team's argument in the 2007 state trial for the same Ridgeway Street demolition. Melton's attorney Dale Danks successfully convinced a Hinds County jury to acquit Melton that year for the destruction of the occupied duplex and the arrest of its mentally ill occupant because the home, to paraphrase Danks, deserved it.

Melton insisted in the days leading up to the 2007 trial that the building was the site of drug sales, though no drugs or drug paraphernalia were recovered at the time of the 2006 demolition.

The mayor admitted that a "cloud" of legal woes would always be hanging over his head "because I'm going to do what I feel is right."

"I think when you look at the mistakes I've made you will not find one single mistake that was made for my benefit. Those mistakes were all made to help somebody else. That's just me, and I'm not going to change and I will pay whatever price I need to pay to make sure the community gets back on the right footing," he said.

Melton's ultimate price could be up to 25 years in federal prison if the jury convicts him in his upcoming Jan. 5 trial.

Previous Commentsshow

This is precisely the crisis of leadership not only in the Mayor's office in Jackson, but at the governor's mansion also. Just because you say or think you mean well doesn't make up for sheer ineptitude. Melton's legal troubles aren't the result of him trying to help people, but from his lack of understanding essential details of his job, like economic development, community development, policy development, and public relations. The fact that he doesn't understand veto and over-riding powers shows that he is not qualified to be mayor of the state's capital city. It baffles my mind that this man got elected in the first place. Yet, I can look around at several areas in this city and state and see the same type of ineptitude and inaptitude in leadership positions. If we want this state to move forward and address critical issues that plague us, we are gonna have to have better, more capable leadership, not ideologues and cult of personality types. Blackwatch!!!!!!

Renaldo Bryant

Dec 30 2008

It takes a man of truly breathtaking stupidity to think that sagging pants are the reason why the city's murder rate has nearly doubled under his administration. In 2005, the year in which Melton took office, there were 38 murders in Jackson. This year, in the third year of his disastrous administration, there have been 73. In the meantime, Melton dismantled Comstat, which has been used by cities New York, Chicago, and L.A. to greatly reduce their crime rates. The police department has lost--what?--a fifth of the force? JPD's morale has been abysmal, as they watch men like Michael Recio rise through the ranks for enabling Melton's antics while everything around them goes to hell. But yes, the pants. That's the problem. p.s.: Regarding the demolition, they actually did find a piece of paraphernalia, namely one straight-shooter crack pipe. No drugs. No evidence of distribution. If the Ridgeway duplex was such an epicenter of drug activity, gathering evidence should have been easy. Didn't Wright have his little drug informer hanging out in the bushes across the street all day and night? Regardless, I think it's safe to say that though the facts are stubborn things, they are not as stubborn as Frank E. Melton.

Brian C Johnson

Dec 30 2008

In a way, this bold pants initiative really brings Jackson full circle. Didn't Melton win office largely on the basis of his folksy Bottom Line commentary? "Pull your pants up and give the earring back to your sister." Ah, clever stuff that. Turns out it was the only card in the deck, however. This is the man you elected Jackson. If you'll excuse me, I'm now going to step away from the computer and go spit on the ground.

Brian C Johnson

Dec 30 2008

Brian, we're going to post the audio of the press conference. You'll love it. It was remarkable that the only "dramatic step" he could name was the clearly unconstitutional baggy-pants ordinance. And I assume you caught the part where crime is up because his hands have been tied (by all the annoying laws and law-enforcers, we can assume). It's always someone else's fault. Meantime, young men—many of whom he knows—are blowing each other away here while he's been playing his reindeer games (my seasonal phrase for his silly shenanigans) and pitting them against each other. Because, you know, it's OK to be a criminal if you're his criminal. Or him. Oh, and when I walked in today, he turned and looked at me, surprised. (I hadn't seen him in a while.) He laughed and said loudly, "I thought I ran you out of town." I smiled back sweetly and said, "No, but you tried."

DonnaLadd

Dec 30 2008

And you're right: He's *exactly* the person he's always been, and clearly was during the campaign, and for many years past (remember those nonsensical "Bottom Line" videos and transcripts we had?). I try to tell people over and over again that the community must do some soul-searching on how easily it allowed itself to be fooled. This is way bigger than Melton; what is more important is why/how a community could be so fooled by someone making such absurd promises.

DonnaLadd

Dec 30 2008

Audio of Melton press conference now added above.

DonnaLadd

Dec 30 2008

Melton admits his administration's efforts to fight crime is a failure. For once, truer words could not have been spoken. One thought about those "dramatic steps" that should've been taken 20 years ago: why weren't those steps taken three years ago?

golden eagle

Dec 30 2008

I try to tell people over and over again that the community must do some soul-searching on how easily it allowed itself to be fooled. Nearly four years ago the people of Jackson were being hit with the constant drumbeat by the local media that crime was out of control and that HJ's administration wasn't getting the job done. The voters were hammered to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand. Let's hope they don't make that mistake again.

Jeff Lucas

Dec 31 2008

I won't be able to listen to the audio until tonight, but I greatly look forward to it. New Year's will have to wait until I've had some Melton time. He is perhaps the most fascinating and infuriating man I've ever encountered. I would gladly spend a weekend listening to him talk about his experiences and thoughts. But he was a horrible, horrible choice for mayor. I guess he never got around to filing that long-threatened law suit, Donna? Chuckle. I completely agree with you that the--cough--bottom line for Jackson is how it was seduced into electing Melton in the first place. And you are absolutely right, Jeff, that local media cheered him all the way to victory. The JFP was the only media source in town that said, "Um, wait a minute. No really, please pay attention to what you're doing!" Donna's column "Jackson, We Have a Problem" should be required reading for all Jacksonians. Ultimately, I think that racism had a lot to do with why Melton was elected. I think that both black and white people got played by the media and by Melton, who was able to say and do things that the community would no longer tolerate from a white man. I don't mean that people thought this way explicitly. Rather, it's the deep furrows of culture that none of us can quite trace, pulling both blacks and whites in subtle ways that feel like instinct. But it's really history embodied. Racism is not an attitude but rather a structure.

Brian C Johnson

Dec 31 2008

Donna, This may have been suggested or even carried out, but I think that it might make for an entertaining and perhaps powerful piece of journalism to simply publish a numbered list of Melton's promises. The promises could be in quotes and include when and where he said it, and a check mark under a column labeled" "kept" "broken" "pie in the sky" etc. That would easily take up a two-page spread, if not a whole issue. Just a thought. Keep up the outstanding work.

EveryOtherMan

Dec 31 2008

Thanks, Every. Let us get through the trial (if it happens now), and see what we can do. I've also been asked to publish an extended Melton family/friends tree, which I'll do at some point. I kind of have to figure how to do it online.

DonnaLadd

Dec 31 2008

Sounds like a job for the iTodd. If he's not building sophisticated Flash illustrations for you, it's time to beat him with a shoe. Gently. But beating all the same.

Brian C Johnson

Dec 31 2008

I've also been asked to publish an extended Melton family/friends tree, which I'll do at some point. I kind of have to figure how to do it online. If you can pull this off (and I have no doubts that you can), you deserve an award for it.

golden eagle

Dec 31 2008