Along with a few of his police bodyguards Mayor Frank Melton of Jackson, Mississippi has been indicted on Federal civil rights violations. It seems that in his zeal to curb drug crime, Melton forced some local youngsters at gunpoint to take a sledgehammer to a private residence that Melton claimed was a drug house.
One little problem, Melton had no court order and no right to destroy a private residence. Yet he and his rogue police bodyguards illegally entered this private residence and wrecked the place anyway.
The federal indictment alleges that on Aug. 26, 2006, the defendants invited several young men into the police department's mobile command unit. The group drove to a home on Ridgeway Street, where Wright allegedly ordered the occupants outside at gunpoint.
"Thereafter, Mayor Melton allegedly knocked out several windows of the home with a large stick and ordered the young men accompanying him to destroy the home using sledgehammers while Wright and Recio stood guard," the Justice Department statement said.
They call Melton's style of crime fighting "unorthodox" as he cruises the streets in a special "mobile command center" and he carries guns around like he was himself a police man. Naturally, his unconcern over private property rights, his kidnapping of these "several young men" and his storm trooper tactics are causing him a spot of trouble these days.
OK, OK, its all rather interesting. The stories have all sorts of details about this odd little incident. Well, all but the fact that Melton is a Democrat. It seems that this little factoid was "not germane" to the story as far as the Associated Press is concerned. (And neither was it pertinent in their short treatment of the story, apparently.) PRNewswire didn't mention the party, either. Unsurprisingly, local TV station WJTV of Jackson missed it and so did WLBT. The Clarion Ledger never mention it either, but then they are the local paper and it would be assumed that their readers are already informed of the party of their own mayor.
Mayor Jackson has been jailed for his antics before (hence the mug shot that accompanies this story), so it is no surprise that he is in Dutch with the law again. The larger question is why people continue to vote for this man?
One can only imagine how the AP, for one, would be crowing the party of this mayor should he have been a Republican. It would be "Gun Slinging Republican Mayor Indicted," for sure.
Anyway, this story may go larger today so let's see how many news outlets remember that Mayor Melton does, indeed, belong to a political party and that his party is Democrat?
(Image credit: the Jackson Free Press)
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Reason profiled this thug
July 10, 2008 - 03:54 ET by sarcasmoLast October, comparing him to the politician he defeated (who actually balanced budgets). And somehow, despite a typically tight libertarian budget, Reason was able to mention the fact that he's a Democrat.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Missing D
July 10, 2008 - 06:25 ET by jaywlI finally figured out the missing D's. This guy is so loony-tunes it occurred to me that he HAD to be a conservative wacko gun-slinging Republican. Of course! It is clear then that these guys we keep seeing have pulled the wool over us, again. What they do is get elected as democrats. That way when they are arrested for theft, morals, etc. the press would unfairly indict the Democrats. But the Press has seen through the ruse and thwarted deceiving the conspirators by not posting their party affiliation! You have to get up pretty early to fool those guys.
→ An MSM Imus moment
July 10, 2008 - 06:48 ET by Cool Arrow“Well, there you go,” “Now we know.” - Don Imus
Perhaps the MSM should be given a pass in this instance, given they are so dilligent at reporting the rare exception (Republican Black) and asuming we all know the rule (Democrat Black).
Point is, the MSM is so invested in the Democrat concept that all true African Americans are Democrat, and all others are Uncle Toms, that they think we should follow their rule of "common knowledge"
LYDSEXICS UNTIE
list?
July 10, 2008 - 08:45 ET by EdfromvaIs there a compiled list anywhere of all the political leaders who have gotten in trouble, yet the MSM conveniently omitted their party? Either "D" or "R" - I would love to see exactly how great the D to R disparity is and how long the list is. As often as it seems to be happening lately, if someone is keeping a tally they've been pretty busy. :)
Yet, Rudy Guliani was "too
July 10, 2008 - 09:09 ET by zfYet, Rudy Guliani was "too tough" on crime in NYC. But this guy is just "unorthodox."
He may have had a good
July 10, 2008 - 09:18 ET by Dan The Man 2He may have had a good reason to tear the building down, however he should have done it through legal means. Because he is a D he will get off.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
He may have had 'good reason'
July 10, 2008 - 13:27 ET by c5thenBut because he is a liberal, he felt that he could do whatever he wanted because he was 'the boss' and above the law. I've seen it many many times and not just with liberals (although they tend toward tyranny and autocratic thoughts more often).
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
More missing D's
July 10, 2008 - 12:24 ET by SpoonNewsbusters covered a story back in 2007 on democrat congressional candidate Gary Dodds, http://newsbusters.org/people/gary-dodds
And here he is back in the news...
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/GJNEWS_01/478439&SearchID=73323347266347
Hmmm... still no (D).
I did a site search for "gary dodds" and got sick of not seeing the (D) after 5 stories. Interestingly, though, was the eighth story down. First line on a 'joke controversy' story -- "...Fergus Cullen, the chair of the state's Republican Party..."
How con-veeeeeeen-ient.
Ground Truth From Jackson
July 10, 2008 - 15:56 ET by bulldog515First of all, it was in fact a drug house and Ridgway street is worse than some third world countries. The local news agencies are not covering up for Frank Melton. They continually write negative articles about him and editorialize against him. Nobody "continues to vote for him" is is alleged in this article. He is in his first term and WILL not be reelected. He has a long history in the Jackson area, first as the CEO of WLBT news and as the director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, where he was appointed by (D) Gov Ronnie Musgrove. He was always a decent and level-headed guy, until he was elected Mayor of Jackson and went absolutely crazy.