Jackson Free Press

Former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. just responded to a Sen. John Horhn attack ad with this statement posted on his Facebook page. It is repasted here verbatim:

STATEMENT OF HARVEY JOHNSON CONCERNING FALSE AND MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENT OF JOHN HORHN Senator John Horhn mailed and passed out to voters a postcard falsely stating that I was responsible for increasing water bills by 100% while in office. The truth is this: During my last term as mayor the City imposed a modest water rate hike of 12 percent in 2011, the first increase in six years. After I left office last July, the Mayor and the City Council increased water rates by 29 percent and sewer rates by 108 percent. If I had been in office last year I would not have increased rates that dramatically at one time. Just two days before the mailer was dropped, Senator Horhn, at a mayoral forum conducted by the Working Together Jackson organization, pledged to refrain from attacks on his opponents. Clearly, he should have come clean at that event by admitting that his next order of business when he walked out the door would be to launch a false attack on me.

In a separate flyer, Horhn promotes himself as a "fit, strong and robust black man who's ready to take this city forward" and criticizes his various opponents. That one is posted below as well as the flyer mentioned above.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16845/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16846/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16847/

Lawmakers cautioned the audience at the Mississippi Association of Educators event Friday about the state’s attack against the public school system.

“And it’s not an assault without significant resources. They’re sincere in their efforts to do what they can to undermine the efforts of public educators,” said Rep. Kevin Horan, D-Grenada.

MAE awarded Horan the “Humanized Education” award alongside Pastor Marcus Dudley for both men’s work supporting public education and setting an example to others in their communities.

The group of educators also gave Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, the “Friend of Education” award for the years he’s spent fighting for public education in the Legislature. Brown served as the House Education Committee chairman for seven years.

Brown urged educators and advocates to become more active in supporting candidates who believe in the public school system.

“I’m sorry you don’t like (politics), but that’s just the way it is,” Brown said. He added that turning the state around in regards to education must happen through state government and through elected officials. “Elections matter,” he said. “We don’t govern you. You govern us.”

Brown is running for Public Service Commission this year. Horan said he hopes to live up to Brown’s legacy by continuing to advocate for public education during his service in the Legislature.

“Being in favor of quality public education just comes second nature, because that’s the way I was raised, and unfortunately people who are policy makers in this state just don’t feel that way,” Horan said.

MAE also recognized achievement in educator associations across the state in several categories. The group honored Jackson Association of Educators for its instructional and professional development, its system for filing grievances, and its support of political candidates.

Two education students who have the intent to teach in Mississippi, Miranda Williams and Trenton Miller, received $1,000 scholarships.

Members of the JFP's editorial and design staff have won numerous honors in the 66th Annual Green Eyeshade award, including our first ever "Best in Division" award, receiving the top honor among all non-daily print publications in the contest.

Time once again for your Thursday, College football look back and look forward. [New to the JFP print edition is a look back at last week’s action][1], so this week will be more of a detailed look forward. There are several prospects for our weekly big winner. Mississippi State is 4-0 for the first time since 1999, Ole Miss is 3-1 and beating teams they should beat on their schedule, and Millsaps is a perfect 3-0 coming off a bye week.

This weekend, I've seen a lot of excuses for Donald Trump's bigotry and xenophobia from his supporters, who don't seem to have many reasons for supporting him other than they are sick and tired of the way things are now. One gentleman showed up on my Facebook page to defend supporting Trump, saying it's not about bigotry and calling me "intolerant toward those holding different opinions" because I was willing to call out Trump's blatant bigotry.

I looked at his Facebook page, and he had reposted a letter to the RNC supposedly explaining why Trump supporters are fed up. The gist of it was about getting rid of "rabid, messy, mean raccoons":

You’ve been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. You want them gone immediately…You call the city and four different exterminators, but nobody could handle the job. There is this one guy however, who guarantees you he will get rid of them, so you hire him. You don’t care if the guy smells, you don’t care if the guy swears, you don’t care how many times he’s been married, you don’t care if he was friends with liberals, you don’t care if he has plumber’s crack…you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He’s the guy. He’s the best. Period. Here’s why we want Trump: Yes he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac, but we don’t care. The country is a mess because politicians have become too self-serving. The Republican Party is two-faced & gutless. Illegal aliens have been allowed to invade our nation. We want it all fixed! We don’t care that Trump is crude, we don’t care that he insults people, we don’t care that he had been friendly with Hillary, we don’t care that he has changed positions, we don’t care that he’s been married three times, we don’t care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell, we don’t care that he doesn’t know the name of some Muslim terrorist.

When I asked the gentleman on my Facebook page (whom I don't know) who he thought the "raccoons" are, he said he "assumed" that the piece he was reposting meant "illegal immigrants"—perhaps not knowing that he is speaking of human beings that Trump has said the most horrible things about, especially the darkish ones south of the U.S. border. He also added: "Not agreeing on issues or politicians or political parties is one thing but when either side turns to vile hate towards others that don't agree with them then that is bigotry."

I'm seeing this argument all the time now from Trump supporters: It is just as "racist" — ??? — to point out someone's bigotry as it is to be the bigot, at least according to their twisted rationalization. In addition to being incredibly absurd logic, this is a straight-up defense of …

Seven matches to predict are left on the card , and each one could be considered a main-event level match. If you missed the predictions for the three kickoff-show matches, and the three matches I would start WrestleMania 33 with, you can read all about them here.

“SmackDown” Commissioner Shane McMahon settles his beef with the “Phenomenal One,” A.J. Styles. If you haven’t seen Styles wrestle, go to YouTube and watch some of his matches. He really is phenomenal.

Even though McMahon has worked just two matches since returning to his father’s company, this match will be watchable because of Styles. You could give him a broken mop, and he somehow could get a four-star match out it.

The confusing part of this match is the lack of a gimmick. McMahon is normally in a cage match, no-holds barred one or a street fight-type one—any type of match with something for him to try to kill himself, like jumping off Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 32.

Really, Shane McMahon has a death wish. He has done some insane things you can find all over the Internet. Be sure to check out the concussion he got in a match with Kurt Angle.

Styles even brought up the fact this match has no gimmick at the go-home show for “SmackDown Live.” If it is going to be a wrestling match, he will dominate the whole way. But the fact Styles mentioned the lack of a cage or weapons makes me wonder if a late stipulation will be added to this match.

The match should finish with Styles getting the win but start the tease of a McMahon heel turn. Shane is the only beloved McMahon. So Styles slowly pushing McMahon to perform heel actions as a way to get back at him will be great TV.

Former best friends clash when U.S. Championship holder Chris Jericho battles Kevin Owens. This could be the best match on the card, but it won’t go on last because it isn’t a world-title match and will be needed to pick up the middle of the show.

Jericho is doing some of his best work at the age of 46 and shows no signs of stopping. He can still pull out the moves he did back in WCW and is able to put on top matches with younger guys.

Even at this stage in his career, the crowd still loves Y2J. Here is a list of things Jericho has recently gotten over (getting over means the fans cheer or boo depending on what is trying to be accomplished) with the fans: scarves, a potted plant, saying, “stupid idiot,” telling people they are going to get (insanely long pause) it, a clipboard, a pen, the list of Jericho and the festival of friendship.

If you haven’t enjoyed the gift of Jericho, go to YouTube and drink it in, man.

There isn’t anything Jericho can’t turn to …

The oldest and largest youth football organization Pop Warner has decided to limit contact during practices. In an effort to make youth football safer the organization will only allow contact drills to one-third of practice time.

Lost in some of the Rand/Medicare/Taxes discussion of Rep. Paul Ryan was a glib line that he's now offered a few times on the stump, taking President Obama's "You Didn't Build That" line out of context to suggest that Obama was saying that small businesses didn't build their businesses.

The irony is two-fold (a.) Ryan has spent his adult entire career working in government in Washington, aside from a year he listed as a "marketing consultant" for his family's company and (b.) his family business, Ryan Incorporated, began in the 1800s building railroads for the government, switched to roads and highways (for the) government in the 20th century, had a hand in building O'Hare in Chicago, and more recently has made a a fair bit of scratch on defense contracts. In other words, the family fortune has done just fine by way of the government and, particularly, the infrastructure that Obama was talking about when Ryan misquoted him.

A current search of Defense Department contracts suggests that “Ryan Incorporated Central” has had at least 22 defense contracts with the federal government since 1996, including one from 1996 worth $5.6 million. … Mr. Anti-Spending secured millions in earmarks for his home state of Wisconsin, including, among other things, $3.3 million for highway projects. And Ryan voted to preserve $40 billion in special subsidies for big oil, an industry in which, it so happens, Ryan and his wife hold ownership stakes.

Speaking of his wife, Janna Ryan was a D.C. lobbyist before she became the "stay at home mom" that she has been introduced as -- for big pharma, big oil, "nuclear waste issues," health insurance and the cigar lobby, as they fought to keep the same warnings off cigars that cigarettes have.

Ouch. After GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan cited Rage Against the Machine as on eof his favoriate bands, Rage's guitarist Tom Morello responded in an op-ed on the Rolling Stone webiste.. Morello started with the money quote: "Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

Here's more:

Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!

Seriously, Ryan. This reminds me of when the Reagan campaign tried to misappropriate Springsteen's "Born in the USA," helped along with a naive George Will. Message to politicians: listen to the lyrics, fools.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)

As if it's not bad enough that Rep. Todd Akin believes that women who are legitimately raped (I cringe to put those two words together), he was also part of a House Republican effort to redefine rape. The point, Mother Jones reports, was to keep federal funding for abortion away from teenagers, arguing that they might pretend they were raped by an older man (statutory rape, which is very common) in order to get the money because the right didn't want to "federally fund the abortion of tens of thousands of healthy babies of healthy moms, based solely on the age of their mothers."

More from that piece:

The implication of his position is that if you were raped and became pregnant, you must have actually wanted it—it wasn't really rape.

This isn't the first time Akin has expressed fringe views about rape in the context of the abortion debate. Last year, Akin, vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and most of the House GOP co-sponsored a bill that would have narrowed the already-narrow exceptions to the laws banning federal funding for abortion—from all cases of rape to cases of "forcible rape."

Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad, says the House GOP. After I reported on the "forcible rape" language in January 2011, a wave of outcry from abortion-rights, progressive, and women's groups led the Republicans to remove it. But a few months later, in a congressional committee report, Republicans wrote that they believed the bill would continue to have the same effect despite the absence of the "forcible" language.

So, what we have here, are a bunch of dudes in Congress once again trying to decide what happens to women and what to do about it. Anyone else OK with that?

A major sinkhole on Old Canton Road at Crane Boulevard that became a whipping post in the mayoral election is being repaired starting today.

The city sent out this alert this morning:

Traffic Alert

The City of Jackson Department of Public Works announces that it has closed Old Canton Road at Crane Blvd to through traffic. An emergency repair to a major sewer line at that intersection will begin today. Work should continue for approximately two weeks.

Motorists are urged to observe all traffic control devices. Detour signs are posted.

Also, someone posted this on the Nextdoor Fondren list on Monday:

someone posted this on the Fondren list Monday:

I posted the sinkhole on 311. Within hours, this was the response: PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR DAN GAILLET RESPONDS: This project is much bigger than meets the eye and will be part of the nearly $16 million in sewer improvements that will begin this summer. This project in particular is one of approximately nearly 20+ projects that we have in this, or much worse condition. This project involves not only repairing the collapse at the intersection of Crane/Old Canton, but includes the improvement of an additional 1200 feet of line up and down Crane Blvd to ensure that this type of collapse does not reoccur. The City has made the first important fix on Crane Blvd in stopping the wastewater from flowing into the creek with improvements to the existing manhole and broken line at the manhole. Unfortunately, with the size of the line, the depths at which it is, and the cost of the ultimate repair, this is not an “easy fix”. Public Works is as anxious as anyone and can sympathize with the frustration of not getting this repair done in a timely manner. However, we would ask for the Public’s indulgence and patience as we work towards rectifying this problem permanently.

This is encouraging.

The Association of Alternative Newsmedia has announced its award finalists for stories published in 2012.

Just in, verbatim:

Oxford, MS Unanimously Passes Pro-LGBT Resolution

Third Mississippi city to pass resolution recognizing the role LGBT people play in thriving communities

WASHINGTON - Tonight Oxford, Mississippi unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the dignity and worth of all city residents - including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). Oxford joins two other Mississippi cities - Starkville and Hattiesburg - which both passed similar resolutions earlier this year.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

“Like so many cities across America, Oxford, Mississippi has made clear that all its residents deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and equality, regardless of who they are or who they love. Today the Oxford Board of Alderman proudly affirmed the city’s support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and moved Mississippi forward on the road to equality.”

“Diversity is what made and continues to make this country amazing. It strengthens and enhances the experiences of everyone, to understand that it is our differences from which we learn and make us stronger,” said Alderman Jay Hughes. “At a time when signals from some parts of the State seem to be focused on exclusion, I am absolutely honored and proud to be in a community that embraces inclusion of everyone, to make Oxford the great place that it is. Tolerance and acceptance creates the strongest bonds between neighbors, and I am proud to be on the right side of history in reaffirming Oxford’s long-standing commitment to that most fundamental principle.”

Public opinion on equality in Mississippi is far ahead of law in the state. A poll conducted last summer found that nearly 60 percent of Mississippians under the age of 30 support marriage equality, while 64 percent of residents back workplace non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

Tyrone Hendrix's campaign issued the following verbatim news release this morning:

JACKSON, MS — South Jackson native Tyrone Hendrix has formally announced his candidacy for the vacated Ward Six City Council seat.

A grassroots organizer for nonprofits and political campaigns, Hendrix has been dedicated to organizing around social and economic issues, and supporting candidates who are committed to improving the communities in which we live. Hendrix's political involvement includes working with former candidate for Mayor of Jackson, Jonathan Lee; former gubernatorial candidate and Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree; and President Barack Obama. Hendrix also served as state director for Organizing for America (OFA), the grassroots effort that grew out of the 2008 Obama campaign.

“I’ve known from a very young age that I wanted to feel like I was making a positive impact on society, and I found my calling as an organizer. My organizing career began working in low to moderate income communities, helping them to harness their collective power to affect change,” said Hendrix.

“I grew up in South Jackson, went to school here, and spent almost every evening of my teenage years playing basketball at the Southwest YMCA on Flowers Drive. My wife and I have chosen to raise our children here, and we experience the same challenges that everyone in this community faces. I am running for city council because we believe in the people and potential of our community,” he continued.

Tyrone Hendrix is managing partner of Hendrix & Dometz Organizational Solutions, LLC. He is a graduate of Forest Hill High School and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Jackson State University. Tyrone and his wife Ercilla Dometz-Hendrix have two children, Farah and Tyrone II.

The Special Election for the Ward Six city council seat is June 17, 2014. In the event a candidate does not receive 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff election July 1, 2014.

The Mississippi State Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Jim Hood's request for an explanation of their March decision in the case of Michelle Byrom, Tom Freeland of the North Mississippi Commenter reports.

Byrom had been on a death row for participating in the murder of her abusive husband. However, evidence came to light that raised strong doubts about the extent of Byrom's participation in the crime and the state's high court declined to schedule her execution and ordered a new trial with a new judge.

Hood, a former prosecutor and the state's only statewide Democratic official, blew a gasket and demanded that justices explain their rationale.

Not only did justices not bend to Hood's request on the Byrom case, just for good measure they also threw out the death sentence of a man named Roger Lee Gillett and ordered him re-sentenced.

The Associated Press reports: "Gillett was convicted in 2007 in Forrest County on two counts of capital murder for his role in the deaths of a Hattiesburg couple and the transporting of their bodies to Kansas in a freezer. While in custody in Kansas, he attempted to escape. That crime was one of the aggravating factors prosecutors presented jurors to support the death penalty.

"The Supreme Court, in its 6-3 decision Thursday, says not every escape is considered a crime of violence under Kansas law. Therefore, wrote Justice Ann Lamar, the Kansas crime cannot be used to support a death sentence in Mississippi."

During the last couple weeks of talking about the Confederacy (and the state flag that celebrates it), we've encountered any number of historic inaccuracies in the arguments of those who don't want to change our state flag.

One of them is that (a) not many white Mississippians even owned slaves and (b) that only 6 to 10 percent of Confederate soldiers owned slaves.

Here are the problems with that argument as the chart and link before bring into full relief. As you can see in this excellent MPB documentary, many Confederates soldiers were just 17 or 18 years old. But many of the soldiers' families owned at least one or two slaves.

Based on 1860 Census results, 49 percent of Mississippi households owned slaves at the start of the Civil War, and more than half the population of our state—55 percent—were slaves. Slavery was massive here and directed affected nearly half the white families in Mississippi, including some who weren't as wealthy as the planters who owned many slaves (and who were at first exempt from fighting in the Civil War when the Confederacy instituted a draft, but that's another subject).

The chart below shows the number of slaves in all of the states that existed at the start of the Civil War.

Also, read my column this week, "Driving Old Dixie Down," for many links to historic sources about Mississippi and other Confederate states at the start of the war, including extensive evidence of why the Confederacy formed: in order to have a strong central federal government to force slaves on any new states, and to ensure that it got its runaway slaves back.

http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/02/21958/

The Rankin County School District is under fire for one teacher's disparaging comments against atheism. The American Humanist Association's legal center sent the district a letter on Tuesday detailing a complaint from a student and her parent that said the student's history teacher, who is also a pastor at a Baptist Church, has made several jabs at atheism in comments made in class throughout the year.

Northwest Rankin High School, where this history teacher teaches, has had trouble with the First Amendment before. A few months ago, the district came to a settlement with a former student who sued and won after she was forced to attend a blatantly Christian assembly during school hours.

The letter is not a lawsuit, but it asks the district to comply with the Establishment Clause and provide written notices to all faculty reminding them to not make remarks "promoting religion and disparaging atheism." The American Humanist Association has asked for a response from the district within a week. The seven-page letter details parts of the Constitution and legal history that could be argued to prove the teacher's comments unconstitutional.

Monica Miller, an attorney at the association's legal center wrote, "Good faith is not a defense to contempt and you are court-ordered to ensure that your employees are complying with the Consent Decree and Establishment Clause."

The American Humanist Association provided counsel to Magdalene Bedi, the Northwest Rankin High School student who sued and won after being forced to attend a Christian assembly in 2013. The district must pay damages to Bedi for additional violations since they violated two consent decrees after she filed her original lawsuit.

The first month of the NFL season is in the books and it has been a strange four weeks so far. At the quarter turn mark several of last year's playoff teams have started slowly or darn right awful. It is widely know that each year, nearly half the playoff teams from the year before fail to make the playoffs. Here is a quick look at last year's playoff teams.

The 2017 SWAC Baseball Tournament kicks off Wednesday, May 17, in New Orleans at the MLB Urban Youth Academy for the third straight year. Jackson State University is the No. 1 seed out of the East Division, and Alcorn State University is the No. 4 seed from the East.

Jackson State and Alcorn State are in opposite brackets of the double-elimination tournament. Grambling State University is the No. 1 seed out of the West Division and opens the tournament against Alcorn. GSU is opposite from JSU in the bracket.

Mississippi Valley State University failed to make the tournament, as it finished fifth in the East Division, and only the top four teams from both divisions make it in. The University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff failed to make the tournament out of the West.

JSU opens the games on Wednesday against No. 4 seed out of the West, Southern University, at 3 p.m. The Tigers own the best record in the SWAC at 36-15-1 overall and 20-4 in conference play.

Jackson State surprisingly didn’t win any individual postseason SWAC awards but did place four players on the First Team All-SWAC and one player on the Second Team All-SWAC. As a team, the Tigers have the best batting average at .322 and ERA at 3.46 in the conference.

First Team All-SWAC third baseman Jesus Santana is tied for first in the conference in home runs with nine and RBI with 62. He is fifth in the conference in doubles with 15 and total bases with 99.

Outfielder Lamar Briggs, who is second in the league in batting average with .379, first in the SWAC in hits with 77 and tied for first in doubles with 17, joins Santana on the first team. He is fourth in the conference in runs with 46, RBI with 45 and total bases with 102.

Bryce Brown joins Briggs as first-team outfielder and is third in the SWAC in batting average with a .368. Starting pitcher Miguel Yrigoyen is the final Tiger to make the first team All-SWAC. He is 9-2 in 12 appearances this season with a 2.93 ERA and 62 strikeouts.

Outfielder C.J. Newsome is the lone JSU player on the second-team All-SWAC. He is eighth in the conference in batting average with a .342 average, second in triples with 5 and third in stolen bases with 23.

Southern placed one player on the second-team All-SWAC in designated hitter John Pope. The Jaguars enter the tournament with a 16-25 overall record and 10-14 conference record. SU is seventh in the SWAC in team batting average at .253 and third in team ERA at 5.72.

JSU will face either the No. 2 seed out of the West, Texas Southern University, or the No. 3 seed out of the East, Alabama A&M University, on the second day. The games on day two start at 9 a.m. with the loser of the