Jackson Free Press

Former Jackson Chamber of Commerce President Jonathan Lee and Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba will square off in two debates this week, ahead of the May 21 runoff election that will put one of the two men into the Jackson mayors office.

The first is set for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Old Capitol Inn, and will not be broadcast on television. The second is Friday, May 17, downtown at the Mississippi College School of Law at 7 p.m.

It will be interesting to see the two go at it - mainly because they've stayed away from each other in past forums and debates, both focusing their efforts on their own message and their mutual disappointment with the administration of current mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.

Parents for Public Schools of Jackson is also hosting a mayoral candidate forum on Sunday, May 19 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. It will be held in the Community Room in the Jackson Medical Mall, and each candidate will present his educational platform and vision for public schools in the City of Jackson and answer questions from the audience. Parents, high school students and interested community members are encouraged to attend.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba has announced two more town hall meetings to discuss the need for the city to pass a 1-percent sales tax hike.

The first is set for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the E-Center on the campus of Jackson State University at 1230 Raymond Road. The second is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Word and Worship Church at 6286 Hanging Moss Rd.

The mayor has already hosted two such meetings in the past week, and called them "very well-attended and informative" at Tuesday's meeting of the City Council.

Jacksonians will vote on the referendum on Jan. 14, 2014.

We just received this release from Attorney General Jim Hood's office:

An undercover operation has resulted in several arrests and numerous businesses facing allegations of unauthorized dispensing of contact lenses, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Public Integrity Divisions, working with the Mississippi Optometry Board, conducted a two-month undercover investigation which resulted this week in seven arrests involving the owners and operators of S & K Fashion & Beauty Supply (Indianola), Fantasy City (Vicksburg) , Fantasy City #2 (Vicksburg), and Underground (Ridgeland). The defendants are accused of selling contact lenses to the public without licenses. Approximately 870 pairs of cosmetic contact lenses and over $1,000 were seized.

“This practice is particularly dangerous because contact lenses must fit properly,” said Attorney General Hood. “Without proper fitting by a licensed optometrist orophthalmologist, a number of eye issues may arise. Those issues could range from minor eye damage to a total loss of vision. Also, the quality of contact lenses may vary drastically and be unsafe for wearing. This is particularly a problem this time of year when people are wanting to enhance their costumes with a change in eye color.”

Those arrested and charged with the illegal sale of contact lenses without a license are:

Jeong Hyun, 42, Indianola , (Owner, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply) two counts of facilitation sale, 10/30/2013

Margaret Turner, 57, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count, 10/30/2013

Elle Turner, 42, Indianola, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count , 10/30/2013

Chong Heard, 65, Vicksburg, (Owner/operator Fantasy City #1, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13 Suncha Beech, 61, Vicksburg, (Operator, Fantasy City #2, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13

Michael Kang, 49, Ridgeland, (Owner/operator Underground #10, Ridgeland), one sale count, 10/29/13

If convicted each defendant faces up to one year behind bars and $1,000 in fines per count. As with all cases, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and will be prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Patrick Beasley.

The Jackson City Council really got the ball rolling on its new term Monday afternoon by kicking the can on two important issues - the confirmation of Lumumba's selection of fire and police chief - not one week, but two weeks down the road.

Council President Charles Tillman, Ward 4, set a public hearing for Thursday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. for citizens to come out and let their voices be heard on the appointment of Lindsey Horton and Willie Owens as police and fire chief, respectively. Mayor Chokwe Lumumba held a press conference to introduce the duo minutes before the council meeting began.

When asked by Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, Ward 7, why the delay of a vote was necessary, Tillman said he was going to "be accommodating" to the council members who were not present who said they wanted to be a part of the process.

The two absent members were Quentin Whitwell, Ward 1, who was attending a Mississippi Bar Association Convention and LaRita Cooper-Stokes, Ward 3, who does not attend special meetings of the council on principle.

Tillman ended the meeting by saying he should have his committee appointments done by next week, at the latest, and said he's excited about how efficient this council is going to be.

The good news: Tillman approved Cooper-Stokes' seating arrangement proposal, and the council now sits in the correct order - from 1 to 7 – except seats 4 and 5 are flipped so the president can sit in the middle. (So the order is now 1-2-3-5-4-6-7.) Perhaps next, the council can get its priorities in order.

Former mayoral candidate and Chokwe Lumumba supporter Regina Quinn contacted two of the three independent candidates asking them to drop out of the June 4 general election to select Jackson's next mayor.

Councilman Chokwe Lumumba won the Democratic runoff earlier this week, defeating businessman Jonathan Lee by more than 3,000 votes.

Friday morning, Quinn released this statement to the JFP:

"After witnessing the brutal run-off between Mr. Lee and Mr. Lumumba, I came to the conclusion that the City had had enough and needed to start the healing process sooner rather than later. Therefore, I contacted two of the three independent candidates to see if they agreed with me that it would be best for the City of Jackson to acknowledge that with 20,000 plus votes people had decided who they wanted as their next mayor, and that it was now time to start healing. If I erred, it was an error of the head but not of the heart."

"Apparently, the healing process will have to wait until June 4, 2013," she added.

The independent candidates are Francis P. Smith Jr., Cornelius Griggs and Richard C. Williams Jr.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has put out a flyer touting the economic impact the planned 2 Museums Project will have on the economies of the state and its capitol city.

The flyer says the Mississippi Development Authory's tourism division estimates that the two new museums will welcome approximately 180,000 visitors annually, creating $17.1 million in tourism expenditures, 231 direct tourism jobs in the three-county region with a $6.3 million payroll, 92 indirect jobs with a $3.3 million payroll and contributing $1.2 million to the state general fund.

Even before the museums open, it continues, MDA estimates the construction of the two museums will toal $50 million in brick and mortar impact, 500 direct and 275 indirect jobs totaling $37.2 million in payroll and add $2.4 million to the state general fund.

If those numbers are accurate and the state has a place to share it's history at the end of the four-year project, it should be worth the $70 million in bonds the state has already passed to begin construction.

The groundbreaking is set for 9 a.m., Oct. 24, 2013, at 200 North Street in downtown Jackson.

Somebody in City Hall is listening.

The city clerk's office has posted the agenda for next Tuesday's City Council meeting, and it looks like Mayor Chokwe Lumumba plans to present two new Jackson Redevelopment Authority board members for council approval.

The first is Kemba Ware, a Data Information Manager at Jackson State University, and the other is attorney Jennifer Johnson. It is unclear which wards they will represent, but as we profiled in this week's cover story, there are three spots open. Neither of the nominees could be reached late this afternoon.

Bishop Ronnie Crudup, the board's chairman, has been out of term since Aug. 13, 2011 and two other members, Brian Fenelon and John Reeves, have been out of term since Aug. 13, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

UPDATE: It looks like the JFP once endorsed Kemba Ware as a young influential in 2005, which you can read here. And it looks like Jennifer Johnson would represent Ward 7, if approved.

You knew we weren't going to make it through two days in a row without more sniping between Jackson's incumbent mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. and challenger Jonathan Lee.

On Wednesday, the Lee campaign circulated an e-mail declaring Jonathan the "hands-down winner" of Tuesday's night's debate, then made these charges against the Mayor:

• During his first two terms The City of Jackson was investigated for mismanaging $519,000 worth of federally funded grants.

• In 2008 The City of Jackson was forced to "repay more than $294,000 on a grant because the grant was not spent in the required time period. Another $29,412 had to be repaid for the same period." (Clarion Ledger, January 28, 2008) Again, an investigation that came as a result of the mismanagement of federally funded grants during Mayor Johnson's first two terms.

• It's taken 10 years to even begin repairs on Fortification Street (the City received $6.3 million to make improvements to Fortification Street in 2002). The Fortification Street project began in July 2012--approximately 10 months before Election Day, May 7, 2013.

The second accusation against Johnson over the $294,000 left on the table is accurate, according to a story the Clarion Ledger's archive. The story is about the money mismanagement of the Frank Melton administration, but mentions that many of the problems that mayor had were systemic from the Johnson years. It was an error that happened under Johnson that cost the city the grant money.

The e-mail went on to say that Johnson received $13,750 in campaign contributions from a prominent law firm, which was in turn "awarded" $170,000 worth of work as a part of the Siemens deal with the city to repair water infrastructure and another, who gave $16,500 in 2009, was given $100,000 for work in the Siemens deal.

The JFP is in the process of trying to procure a copy of Johnson's campaign finance reports from 2009.

Johnson's campaign issued this response around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

"It’s come to our attention that once again… Jonathan Lee is using deception and lies in an attempt to mislead the public. He recently released information about our record that is false and taken out of context.

"Instead of telling half truths about our campaign, Mr. Lee needs to focus on his own finances. The fact of the matter is Mr. Lee has had four default judgments entered against his business. And, he deliberately misled the public when he touted that he was a business owner. In fact, he mentioned it during his commercials, on his website, and through social media. The fact is, while he was in charge of his family business, Jonathan Lee ran it into the ground. Eventually, vendors had to file lawsuits, obtaining default judgments of more than $150,000, in order to recover the money that Mr. Lee’s company owed them. When the media found out about Mr. Lee’s mismanagement of his second generation company, Mr. Lee suddenly announced that he never …

It appears the Eastland Courthouse on East Capitol Street is getting a renovation and a re-purposing. The JFP received this press release (printed here, unedited) earlier this morning:

Tuesday, the developers of the historic Eastland Courthouse unveiled plans to renovate and reopen the 115,000 square foot building as a modern residential complex. With construction already underway, the development, named Capitol & West, is set to open in 2014 and will feature more than 50 residential units, a fine dining restaurant and bar, and first floor commercial space.

Capitol & West is located in the historic Smith Park Architectural District and is in the cultural, governmental, and business center of Downtown Jackson at 245 East Capitol Street.

“Capitol & West speaks to the soul of what this great city is about. This development’s uniqueness, high quality, and rich history set the standard for Downtown living. You can’t get this anywhere else. You have to come to Capitol & West,” said Jason Goree, lead developer.

The first unit buildout is expected to be completed in the spring of 2014 with the entire project completed later that fall. Residents will be able to choose from plans that include one-bedroom, two-bedroom and studio apartments with one to two baths. All apartments are retaining the fine materials and historical features significant to the building, but are being updated with contemporary finishings.

“We’re extremely excited about Capitol & West,” said David Pharr of Team Jackson. “This unique development is an important piece of the puzzle of Downtown’s resurgence. With more residents moving Downtown, it’s only a matter of time before more cultural amenities follow. Capitol & West is a big momentum boost.”

The total cost of the project is $20 million.

Capitol & West is being developed by local attorneys Tom Tardy, Marcy Croft, Jason Watkins, and Developer Jason Goree.

Duvall Decker is the architect of record.

Chris Albritton Construction Company, Inc. is the general contractor.

While working on a story on Tony Yarber's Jackson Crime Alignment, I got the pleasure of speaking with pastor Matt McGue of one of Jackson's newest churches, One Church.

I am admittedly not very religious, but there's something about McGue's message of inclusion that struck me as incredibly genuine.

There aren't too many pastors you can interview who will quote Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but McGue isn't like many pastors. His One Church is intent on becoming a multicultural, multiracial and multi ethnical house of worship, which is rare in this part of the country.

Our churches, much like the rest of our everyday lives, are still segregated – not by law, but by cultural barriers that have needed to be knocked down for years.

That'll change if McGue has his way. He moved here from North Carolina, after helping to start a similar church in Charlotte called Lifepoint. He brought his wife ("I'm glad she decided to come"), his son and his son's wife, who is a recent addition to the family.

They are meeting in the Ridgeland Recreational Center near Northpark Mall, and he says he's found a location he hopes will be the future home of a permanent church. It's too early to say where it is, but he's hoping to be able to make an announcement soon.

He said two things in the course of a 15-minute conversation that have stuck with me the last two days, but probably won't make a story about fighting crime: "The churches have been preaching a message of inclusion and racial harmony from segregated pulpits," and "I want to build a church in Jackson that looks like Heaven, with people from every tribe and nation."

What a message – and a breath of fresh air – for a city as ethnically and racially divided as Jackson.

Update: According to Jackson Director of Communications Chris Mims, Babe's was seeking $300,000 in damages. He added that the actual payout is likely to be around $105,000, give or take a few thousand dollars.

A lawsuit City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen called "the last lawsuit against the city from the Melton administration" has been decided in favor of Babes Showclub vs. the city of Jackson.

The adult entertainment venue is seeking damages for loss of revenue "in the hundreds of thousands." On Tuesday, the city council voted 5-2 to settle with the club, closing the door on the final civil lawsuit against the former administration.

The history:

The Jackson Police Department shut down Babe's Showclub, an adult entertainment venue in the 1100 block of West Street back in March of 2006 on the grounds the city had no record of Babe's adult entertainment renewal application.

Attorneys for Babes called the closure illegal, and local attorney Chris Ganner and Tampa, Fla., attorney Luke Lirot argued that the city had also squelched the owner's rights to appeal the closure.

Babes General Manager Bo Powell argued that his club had applied for its 2006 license in October 2005 and complained that the city's application process was "confusing." He also claimed that city officials, whether accidentally or intentionally, had misdirected his application efforts.

Powell re-applied for a temporary license, but the city said it couldn't legally give out temporary licenses, despite Babes' attorneys' protestations that a temporary license is the only kind Babes could get if the city didn't follow through with the licensing process on its end.

Powell testified that an employee filed an application with the city's sign and license division because no one was available in JPD to take the application. Two city employees in the sign and license division testified that they'd accepted a $200 license renewal fee and stamped the document as a receipt. City employee Yolanda Shaw said she told JPD that Babes had made the payment, though JPD license and permit officer Samuel Gardner claimed at the time he had no record of the application.

Gardner also said he'd told Babes two months later that they had no license registered, but Powell said he had no hint of the problem until police showed up to close his club down in March.

With less than two months left before Jacksonians head to the polls to decide the fate of a proposed 1-percent sales tax increase, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba is taking his message to the people.

Lumumba will host a town hall-style meeting at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1 at Pearl St. African Methodist Episcopal Church at 2519 Robinson St.

The Mayor will discuss the 1% sales tax proposal, and explain the use of the tax revenue to make infrastructure improvements. The meeting comes as Jackson's City Council debates whether to push the referendum vote to a later date in order to improve it's chances of passing with the 60 percent threshold it must have to become reality.

After dropping the opening game of the best-of-three College World Series Championship at Omaha, Neb. Monday night, Mississippi State will need to win two games in a row to capture the school's first national championship.

The Bulldogs (51-19) will face the UCLA Bruins (48-17) in Game 2 tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

UCLA starting pitcher Adam Plutko lifted the Bruins, scattering four hits over six innings of work before he left the game with the 3-1 lead. Including Monday night's win, the Bruins have only allowed seven runs in their past seven games combined.

Mississippi State will have to break that streak by getting some key hits, a feat they struggled with Monday night. The Bulldogs were sluggish out of the gate, and Plutko retired the first 10 hitters before Alex Detz singled with one out in the fourth inning.

Construction to replace a 90-year-old water line and three feet of Yazoo clay began today on West Street between Woodrow Wilson Avenue and Marshall Street.

The construction has forced the close of both southbound lanes from Woodrow Wilson Avenue to Millsaps Avenue, and one northbound lane in the same area. The city is suggesting vehicles over 12 feet wide take another route. Traffic is being detoured to State Street.

West Street sidewalks are also closed from Woodrow Wilson to Millsaps Avenue. Those sidewalks will be replaced during the process, but are not safe while construction is going on.

Neighborhood streets near the construction zone could be subject to closure as well, as crews will need to replace the water lines at each street as they get to them.

A press release from the city says the closures are expected to last two or three months. Once the work on the southbound side of the street is completed, similar restrictions will be put in place for the northbound side of the street.

Jackson State is off to a hot start again this season, and is the only remaining unbeaten team in SWAC play. This weekend's matchup with Grambling State, which has lost 13-straight SWAC games and 17-straight overall, shouldn't do anything to derail that.

But this game just got interesting, with news surfacing yesterday that Grambling's players boycotted practice a day after they walked out of a team meeting with the school's administration on Tuesday.

Among the gripes players have for administration is mistrust between the team and the coaching staff, and the fact that the team had to bus from Grambling to Indianapolis to receive a 48-0 beat-down from Alcorn State, while the Braves flew in and out for the contest.

Grambling fired coach Doug Williams last month after the team lost their first two games this season by a combined score of 71-19.

Mississippi State Sen. John Horhn was singing the praises of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and the Jackson City Council Wednesday afternoon, a day after they moved forward on a motion to put to referendum vote a proposed 1-percent sales tax. He released this statement:

"I would like to applaud the Jackson City Council for its vote to proceed with a referendum to add a 1-cent sales tax on certain items in order to pay for much-needed improvements to our water/sewer system and for street re-surfacing. While I am not an advocate of higher taxes, as the author of this important legislation two years ago, I have long-advocated that the measure should be put before voters for an up or down vote to let people decide for themselves whether the increase was worthy of their support. My only regret is that this decision wasn't reached sooner, and I hope that the Mayor and City Council's resistance in the past has not soured voters' interest in approving the sales tax Increase."

The referendum will be put to the people on Jan. 14, 2014.

The Committee to Elect Chokwe Lumumba, Jackson mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba's political action committee, shared its first campaign finance report with the Jackson Free Press this morning.

The report, which you can see here, was filed almost two full months late. But it is just the fourth report filed by the 14 candidates vying to be Jackson's next mayor. The others were filed by front-runners Jonathan Lee and Regina Quinn, as well as incumbent Harvey Johnson Jr.

Mr. Lumumba's campaign raised $22,141 in 2012, with $18,750 coming from major donors (gifts of over $250) and $3,391 coming from smaller donors. His biggest supporter is Jackson attorney Barry Wayne Howard of Jackson, who gave $10,000 to the PAC on May 14, 2012.

Other donors reaching or topping the $1,000 mark include Moore's Used Auto Sales, LLC on Gallatin Street ($1,000), Jackson attorney Winston J. Thompson ($1,200), Deerfield Pest Control, Inc. on West Mayes Street ($1,000), Jackson attorney Dennis Sweet III ($1,000), and Dr. Vonda Reeves-Darby ($1,000).

The campaign spent $19,026 and reported a total amount of cash-on-hand of $7,491 as of January 1, 2013.

In a response to a release from the city yesterday citing decreasing crime numbers you can read about here, the campaign to elect Regina Quinn put out this press release Thursday afternoon:

"Today the Jackson Police Department released statistics stating that overall crime is down 16.2%. As of December 2012, three months ago, the City of Jackson reported 66 homicides, compared to 54 in 2011. Police also said violent crimes were up in 2012, with rape and aggravated assault up 8 percent. The current administration emphasized the fact that property crimes were reduced. Yet, they have offered no strategy to deal with the constant increase in violent crimes in our capital city. What does it say about the quality of life in Jackson when the city boasts a decrease in property crime, and offers no solution to loss of 66 lives? Just this year alone, two young people lost their lives over a dice game. We must take control of crime, especially violent crime. I want you to trust that you can count on Regina Quinn to take Jackson in a New Direction."

A release also included a link to a WAPT report with some background on those homicide numbers. JPD has maintained that it cannot do much about murders aside from solving them, which they have become remarkably apt at doing. Nearly 65 percent of murders in Jackson were solved in 2012, 15 percent higher than the national average of 50, according to WAPT's report.

As we noted in Tuesday's story on campaign finance reform, mayoral candidate Regina Quinn did not file a campaign finance report by the Jan. 31, 2013 deadline. This means one of two things -- either she is either in violation of Mississippi sunshine laws regarding campaign finance transparency, or she didn't raise or spend over $200 in 2012 on her campaign.

This morning, another campaign told the JFP that a non-profit organization was founded under the name "Jackson United" to Elect Regina Quinn, Mayor. It was incorporated on June 18, 2012.

This afternoon, we discovered the incorporation document that shows that the non-profit was formed by Jackson attorney John Richard May, Jr. for the purposes of "Political Advocacy and Public Education."

Mississippi code prohibits incorporated committees and associations and incorporated companies and corporations from contributing more than $1,000 per year, directly or indirectly, to a candidate or the candidate's committee. They are also prohibited from contributing more than $1,000 annually to any political party.

The penalty for such action is a fine no less than $1,000 or more than $5,000 against the corporation.

It is unclear what, if any, contributions the non-profit organization has made at this time. May could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

A link to a copy of the filing for incorporation for "Jackson United" follows below.

Jackson United's incorporation documentation

Update: After a Tuesday afternoon request from the JFP for clarification on the law pertaining to incorporated entities and political campaigns, the office of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has attorneys looking into the legality of a campaign being set up as a non-profit organization. As of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, there was still no consensus. Stay tuned for more updates.

Jackson developer David Watkins is apparently not satisfied with losing control over the Farish Street renovation project, and is asking the Jackson Redevelopment Authority Board to reconsider their decision of two weeks ago to cut ties with the Farish Street Group, of which Watkins is the chief investor and developer.

You can read Watkins' letter to JRA Chairman Ronnie Crudup here.

This is the press release we just received from Watkins Development LLC:

---------------------Begin Press Release---------------------

The developer of the Farish Street entertainment district, Watkins Development LLC, has requested that the Jackson Redevelopment Authority (J.R.A.) reconsider their recent decision to cancel the leases and parcels in that area, where Watkins has spent millions of dollars on the historic urban renewal project. In a 10 page letter to the J.R.A., copied to the bulk of City government, Watkins legal counsel, Lance Stevens of Jackson, presents a lengthy historical account of the company’s accomplishments and unforeseen obstacles on the project, as well as the financial fallout which would accompany the developer’s ouster.

That letter is attached.

“We are encouraged by the new vision that Mayor Lumumba has brought to Jackson and feel certain that he will demand reconsideration of J.R.A.’s acts when our company is finally allowed to make a public or private presentation,” says David Watkins, the managing partner of Watkins Development.

The letter to J.R.A. references the fact that the leases were cancelled without consultation with Watkins’ group and without any presence at the meeting.

“The J.R.A. appears to be putting our fine city at risk–risk of destroying Farish Street’s hopes and risk of massive legal exposure–with their uninformed decision-making. They must be receiving no credible legal advice whatsoever,” says Watkins’ legal counsel, Lance Stevens. The letter to J.R.A. documents the $4.7 million that Watkins himself has invested in the property, while noting that the City and J.R.A., in particular, have not invested any money, despite scuttlebutt that City funds have been squandered.

“J.R.A. committed over $10 million in financing to the project and has utterly failed to contribute a nickel,” says Stevens. “The good news, however, is that with a timely reversal of their decision, the $5 million in tax credits can be salvaged, a protracted legal battle can be avoided and Farish Street can become our center for entertainment and local entrepreneurship."

The letter to J.R.A. documents that over $5 million in tax credits would be lost if Watkins Development is removed altogether from the project (as well as another $4 million in tax rebates), “dooming” the project, according to their counsel.