Jackson Free Press

Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Dewayne Thomas may offer a decision on the city's temporary restraining order against the Upper Level Club this week, possibly paving the way for a permanent injunction against the business that will shut it down for good.

With 21 reported incidents in and around the club over the last two years, the city obviously feels it had a worthy argument about the place being a public nuisance, even though attorneys for the club say most of the incidents happen off the club's grounds. But in its rush to antagonize one of the most popular clubs in the Jackson area, the city is losing sight of all the other businesses that would love to have a fraction of the attention the JPD is giving the Upper Level.

The owners of some businesses in the city's Washington Addition neighborhood claim that drug dealers vigorously patrol their doorways, and that the owners are too terrified to do anything about it. If police respond to a call, they will likely pull up and talk to the owner, giving any dealers a fairly good sense of who called them. Fear of retaliation comes naturally.

A constant patrol of the vicinity by police officers, however, would keep dealers on the move and business owners blameless. It's not like the city doesn't have a reliable list of places to target with attention. Owners are sometimes quite open about the nature of their loiterers, and in some cases, history offers its own suggestions. Take the Dairy Bar, the infamous site of the 1992 murder of Robert Sheppard. Sheppard was one of Mayor Frank Melton's young mentees before he was shot and killed, so it's not like Melton doesn't know another place beyond the Upper Level with a violent crime problem.

The city is indeed short of cops, but perhaps a mild focus on the city's squeakiest of wheels would improve upon the city's dismal arrest record for charges of drug distribution. In 2007, for example, the city reported no arrests for drug distribution, only possession.

Upper Level attorney Chokwe Lumumba raised the issue about scapegoats during the early part of the hearing last week. He alluded that closing the Upper Level might look good to city voters who want to see the city administration take strong steps toward fighting crime.

It's easy for the city to stomp and howl and make a case on TV against the Upper Level, but at this point, it's looking more like a dog-and-pony show, unless the chief, or Melton, or somebody, spits up proof of the employees actively promoting crime at the business. In the meantime, give some attention to the people who are screaming for it.