Jackson Free Press

When the phone rang at Hal & Mal's at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 19, manager Jane Halbert answered.

The voice on the other end of the line said they were with the local energy provider Entergy, and that there had been a hiccup in the restaurant and bar's payment process. The power would be turned off, the voice said, if Halbert didn't make a $1,500 payment by the close of the business day 
at 5 p.m.

With less than an hour to pull the funds together, Halbert sprang into action and headed to Walgreens, where the Entergy "representative" had told her to purchase a Green Dot Moneypak, a method to send money quickly from one place to another, similar to a Moneygram. When Halbert called the number back to double-check where she was supposed to send the money, the voicemail she reached was not an Entergy employee. Halbert got suspicious and stopped the transaction.

That's how close the Jackson hot spot came to getting scammed by con artists who have taken advantage of dozens of restaurants and bars across Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

"It's a good scam, and it got really close to working," Hal & Mal's Manager P.J. Lee said. "If you are in the restaurant business, the last thing you want to hear at 4 p.m. on a Friday is that your power is about to be cut off for the rest of the weekend."

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's office last week issued a warning about the scam, saying the scammers contacted at least three Jackson restaurants last week, without listing the names.

Lee explained that the restaurant business, which can see fewer customers during the dog days of summer, is a perfect target for someone saying they are from the energy company.

"I can't speak for everybody, but summertime is traditionally slower for us," said Lee, who took over the restaurant after the passing of Hal White. "If money is going to be tight, and you are going to have a check that doesn't go through, it's going to be in the summer. I'm just glad Jane figured it out when she did."

On its website, Entergy issued a warning to customers June 28, saying the scammers were apparently working their way through states in which the energy giant operates. It warned customers to never give out personal information or credit card numbers over the telephone, and that all authentic Entergy calls regarding a pending disconnect would be recorded, not from live customer-service representatives.

Calls to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's office for comment on this story were not returned.

Nissan Plans Expansion

In a joint announcement with Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, officials from Canton's Nissan plant announced to expand its vehicle-assembly facility.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Madison County will use $100 million in taxable economic-development bonds to construct new buildings for suppliers of the plant, which will allow Nissan to keep the debt from those projects off of its balance sheet. That will enable the Japanese auto giant to retain borrowing capacity for other purposes.

After the bonds are repaid, Nissan or the companies housed in those buildings could choose to purchase the buildings from the county.

In January, Nissan said it would begin production of the Murano crossover vehicle by 2014. At the time, the company said the additional work should add 400 jobs to the Canton workforce, bringing its total to 5,600.

The addition of the Murano will bring the total number of models in production in Canton to seven, including the Titan, the Frontier, the NV van, the Armada, the Xterra and the Altima.

Assault Rifles in Ridgeland

Startup gun maker TALON Ordnance announced Friday it will open a facility in Ridgeland to produce AR-15-style semi-automatic sporting rifles.

The company told the Mississippi Business Journal it plans to hire 10 employees initially, and create as many as 50 more jobs "in the near future."

The facility will be located in the Interstate 220 Highland Colony Business Park at 106 Business Park Drive.

TALON's announcement came at the State Capitol Friday, July 26, in front of a crowd that included Gov. Phil Bryant and Mississippi Speaker of the House Phil Gunn. Gunn penned an open letter to gun manufacturers in February, inviting them to set up shop in Mississippi.

C Spire Wireless Offers Web Filter

Cell-phone service provider C Spire Wireless recently unveiled a free adult-content filter for its wireless devices.

The company's website advertises the blocker as a way to restrict inappropriate content for any C Spire device that uses the C Spire Network for Internet access.

C Spire customers who want to add the blockers can text BLOCK to 7372 to add the filter. If the text comes from the account holder, all devices on the account will receive the blocker. The company says the blocker won't work properly if the device uses a Wi-Fi network, because the adult-content filter would be subject to the filters of that network and not the C Spire Network.