Jackson Free Press

We need your help, JFP Nation. Our 9th birthday issue publishes this week, and we want to include favorite JFP-related moments (funny or serious) from staffers, readers, freelancers, etc. Please post below. We'll put what we can in the print edition. Thanks, all!

1. When the JFP broke the news that the feds had indicted Mayor Frank Melton (for something we discovered/broke in the first place.)
2. The first time James Meredith visited our office unannounced.
3. When Stephen Barnette temporarily "fixed" our power back in the early years so we could get the final pages to the printer (it was about 7 a.m.; all-nighters in those days!)

Previous Commentsshow

Another one for me: a certain local young lawyer showing up as a robot at our Best of Jackson party on Millsaps Avenue. And probably my all-time favorite if I had to pick: When the Sonic BOOM drum line surprised the Best of Jackson party at the art museum by suddenly marching into the crowd. Right before they started I asked the band director, "Do you want me to announce that everyone should move?" He replied with a smile: "They'll move." And, boy, did they.

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

Here are some that have come in separately this morning: Andrea Thomas: My first Best of Jackson, party was so0o0o..... much fun! That was the night I really realized "This is where I belong!" A company that can play just as hard as they work, oh yeah this is the place for me! Darren Schwindaman: Free beers & hot dogs at WC Don's first night I freelanced...was a great welcome back to Jackson after Katrina. Ronni Mott: My favorite moment was when I found out my story about Heather Spencer had won first place in the Green Eyeshade Awards last year. First, I had put an enormous amount of energy and work into the story. Second, it was a validation of a latent talent that I had only been nurturing for a a few years. Writing remains a challenge; I always feel like I'm behind the eight ball in terms of education and experience. Knowing that I can do award-winning work, however, has me constantly striving to do more of it. As an editor, I want to see others get there, too. Whether or not I win more awards is secondary to the journey of writing and editing itself. Donna Ladd: The first time James Meredith showed up for a visit unannounced. … or … When we broke the news that the feds had indicted Frank Melton. Brooke Kelly (Summer 2010, Summer 2011 Intern): One of my favorite JFP moments was covering the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Canton with three other interns during Summer 2010. I had my first hot air ballon ride, and we helped the crew deflate and pack up the balloon we rode in. To get the air out of the balloon we had to lay down and roll around on top of it, and it was just a fun day.

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

And on a more serious note for me: The day U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton called me to tell me that he was about to indict James Ford Seale for killing Charles Moore and Henry Dee, but I couldn't report it, yet. Second to that was the time many months before that he called to tell me that my series of stories on the Dee-Moore case were helping him line up evidence against Seale. He was calling to make sure he had all of them, he said. And along the same vein, when I was sitting in a panel at an AAN convention (I think in Portland) when news came that the jury had found Seale guilty, and I had to leave the room to take the call. Then everyone gathered around high-fiving and such. It was a great journalistic moment. OK, it's really hard to pick. ;-)

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

My favorite moment was when I went to my first Best of Jackson party. It was the same one that the Sonic Boom showed up at. The celebration made me very proud of my city.

LatashaWillis

Sep 12 2011

Oh, and that amazing Christmas karaoke that Todd and I hosted at Hal & Mal's when the local National Guard battalion was having their holiday after-party so we joined forces for a boisterous party. If you were there when a group of them (and all of us) sang "God Bless the USA" with the whole place standing on stairs, bar stools and the like, you would know why. If you weren't, it probably sounds hokey. Of course, the part when the colonel (in full dress uniform) and I let a long, winding conga line through the entire bar-restaurant was pretty cool, too.

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

So hard to choose... Covering the arraignment of Frank Melton during his federal trial, I somehow made it on the front row next to Sheriff (and also then police chief) McMillin. I'll never forget walking into the courthouse behind Melton and how tired he looked. I clearly remember going to the William F. Winter Archives building in late July 2008 with just a list of men and the dates of the murders in which they had been convicted. Sitting with the microfilm reels, every time I found a new article, my stomach tightened. By the time I walked out of the building, I knew we had something interesting about domestic murderers being pardoned by the governor.

Sophie

Sep 12 2011

Yes, good ones, Sophie. Your work at the archives broke a huge story about Barbour, which even had reverberations in his short-lived campaign for president. That's what good journalism is, right there. Digging. I thought of another one that I can't even go into great detail about (I have several of those). I will never forget the day a boxful of documents arrived that helped me break open an important local story. We get a lot of documents in unmarked envelopes, but this box of docs was a gift from heaven (actually, another state) that I'd been needing. I immediately dragged my copier to a friend's house and made copies to send to friends in five different states. Hopefully, more details about that one will be in the book someday! And there was another one, code name Tubman Tour aka Underground Railroad. About three people will know what I'm talking about on that one. At least for now. But they'll appreciate it.

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

Via email: Kimberly Griffin, advertising director: First BOOM fashion show. Jeff Good slinging drinks, David Waugh working the runway and an after party featuring DJ Phingaprint. Priceless. Callie Daniels, intern, summer 2011: What I miss about the JFP is the inspirational and challenging writer's workshop that I took about every Thursday over the summer.

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

My favorite memories are the life changing dialogues that happen on this discussion board. I've been in tears. I've laughed hysterically. I've been so pissed I had to log off. I've felt it all. This site tends to separate the weak from the strong and I love it for just that. Happy 9th! PS. The first chick ball I ever went to with my Chees'n Chicas also goes down in the record books for favorite memory!!! I also wrote my first piece about domestic violence that year too. It was my first time admitting to myself that I was a victim.

Queen601

Sep 12 2011

My favorite coverage without a doubt was the coverage of the greatest entertainer Jackson has ever seen? Frank Melon. He had star written all over him. His work as Police Chief and Mayor of Jackson was the most electrifying and comical happenings of the last 40 years. I know it's early but I can't imagine his acts being eclipsed easily for another half century. Certainly not eclipsed by any natural and/or extemporaneous acts. Even Hollywood would require planning, staging and retakes to equal Frank's natural acts. Those Naked Gun movies take a second seat to Frank's performances, in my opinion. I can't really decide which specific act did the most for my funny bone: the showing up at a citizen's house with those big guns and his personal body guards; calling a nice editor out of his name; wishing death or great injury on a female reporter; those mobile command drives or rides he used to take nightly after getting liquored up, those illegal searches he used to perform without probable cause or any legal cause whatsoever, that beautiful grin he naturally beamed before and after every screw up, Team Melton tearing down Welsh's house, throwing down a certain alternative newspaper and stomping it before a crowd of teenagers looking on, et al. Frank had it going on and he knew it. I loved the great humanity and common goodness in Frank Melton despite all his obvious flaws. As far as I'm concerned he was a rare star who should have spent all of his time mentoring and teaching children to dream big. He was fantastic in that role. Like most of us, however, he had other ambitions, and no amount of failures or successes mattered. He followed his ambition and dreams. Who could blame a person for that? Jackson voted for him because he was a dreamer and wanted to be a part of it. The JFP's coverage angered many citizens. However, the coverage captured his complexity. He was complex, good, bad and in between. And so it was!

Walt

Sep 12 2011

Alexis Goodman, summer intern 2010: My favorite JFP Moment was the magician at the ChickBall!

DonnaLadd

Sep 12 2011

A great JFP memory from old-timer, the mysterious Doctor S. He was there from day one! The Doctor, now on a Miskatonic University expedition at the South Pole, should have given his favorite JFP memories, which include all-nighters at the first two offices, the infamous Miss S (no relation) and her cat cronies, and the thrill of seeing the very first JFP and seeing the first college football preview. But you know, communications are spotty between here and Antarctica this time of year.

DonnaLadd

Sep 14 2011

There are quite a couple: 1. Having the ability to speak with like minded folks in such a "conservative" state. 2. seeing some of my comments printed in the JFP 3. The JFP Best of Jackson Awards.

Duan C.

Sep 15 2011

Here's intern Dustin Cardon's: "My favorite JFP moment was learning hands-on about narrative news writing and telling the human side of a story for the first time by visiting Grace House and writing all the details about the things I saw and people I met while I was there." BTW, we've just offered Dustin a job as our new copy/web editor. Welcome, Dustin!

DonnaLadd

Sep 16 2011

I remember those days fondly, Anne. That was in summer 2001, just after we moved back to Mississippi. I had my Packard fellowship to study the discriminatory aspects of school discipline and zero tolerance. I hired you as my first assistant here (lucky me!). That was in the one-bedroom apartment I had rented as my office (housing seemed cheap after NYC!), and where we started the JFP. That document you're talking about was actually the results of a feasibility study for another alternative newspaper I had been involved with; it was very helpful in the beginning as we started our market research and business plan. I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for the memory! I've said before that we didn't get serious about starting the paper until after 9/11. That's when we decided to really dig in and put down roots, and do something that matters.

DonnaLadd

Sep 19 2011

Jordan Lashley, summer intern 2010: "I would have to say my favorite memory from the JFP this summer was the Mad Men Summer Boom party. That was so much fun!"

DonnaLadd

Sep 19 2011