WAPT/16 coverage

WAPT had me and Harvey Johnson (former Jackson mayor) on for "political analysis" Tuesday evening.

A lot is said off-air as one might imagine.

Harvey is licking his chops to run against Melton in the next mayoral election. I said at least three times when asked by the anchors what the election meant for the current Mayor "Frank Melton loses." And I believe that in large measure because Sheriff Malcolm McMillin is still standing.

But in four years, expect to see Tyrone Lewis again and the Sheriff looking for some well-deserved rest.

Also expect DA Fay Peterson to fight hard for her political life in a run-off. Harvey Johnson seemed to intimate that she was probably safe. I am not so sure.

Frank Melton

Jackson, MS. mayor has been acquitted of charges stemming from bashing the living daylights out of a "crack house" and using children to do most of the bashing. Like many of us believed, a Jackson jury wouldn't find him guilty, hating crack houses like we do.

Even so, this man is out of control. He is high-profile and busy, and Jacksonians apparently love it. Meanwhile, crime on his watch is substantially up and businesses are leaving town. There is no revival of spirits concerning the city, only a revival of the Buford Pusser reputation of its mayor.

I am a Jacksonian, and I am staying put. But no one questions any longer those who high tail it out of town to the burbs. If there are fools, it is probably those of us who stay while a council member talked this morning about raising millage to finally fix the problem. The problem is a mayor without a leadership clue. Raise billions more and apply it to our "problems" and that won't be fixed.

All this makes good TV for Geraldo, but a bad future for The Bold New City. And don't be fooled, his embarrassing antics are hardly over. Egocentricity finds a way...

Oh joy! Melton out...

And this may well be a result of incompetency at the level of the judge...stay tuned.

Frank Melton, Jackson, MS mayor - off to jail

Is this pitiful, or what. Please, resign.

UPDATE: I have never been one to say "I told you so" but way back when Kane Ditto was mayor I called Frank Melton a "loose cannon" in a column. He fired back on his "Bottom Line" segment on WLBT and belittled my humble perspective.

Now, it is his loose living (alleged violation of probation) that is getting him in trouble. Mores the pity. I pray for him even though I didn't vote for him (and relatively few in Jackson can say that!) We need someone with his passion but with a far more disciplined lifestyle. Alas, more Mississippi embarrassment to have to live with...

Melton - total embarrassment

And I mean, total:

Mayor Frank Melton, the subject of an arrest warrant for allegedly violating terms of his probation, will likely remain in a Jackson hospital this weekend after complaining of chest pains, his attorney said Friday.

Melton, 57, who had double bypass heart surgery last month, has been on probation because of misdemeanor weapons charges. If the allegations stand, Melton could go to jail.

Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson that he plans to allow Melton to conclude his hospital stay before arresting him. More, here.

Pitiful. But one can imagine why an extended stay in sickbay is the preferred option. Years ago I wrote in a column that Mr. Melton was a "loose cannon." I was roundly chastised, not the least by him on his "Bottom Line" special on WLBT. And now...