V14n42 - Uneasy Riders

vol. 14 no. 42

Uneasy

FREE

June 22 - 28, 2016 | daily news at jfp.ms

Riders

JATRAN Users Face

‘Layers of Discrimination’ Summers Summers Jr., Jr., pp pp 18 18 -- 20 20

How How ALEC ALEC Influences Influences Legislation Legislation Dreher Dreher pp 88

‘The ‘The Taste’ Taste’ of of Latin Latin Cuisine Cuisine Hawa, Hawa, pp 22 22

This This Week Week in in Sports Sports Flynn, Flynn, pp 25 25

New Men’s Sex Pill Makes Viagra Obsolete Scientific advance made just for older men.

Works on both men’s physical ability and their desire in bed.

By Harlan S. Waxman Health News Syndicate New York – If you’re like the rest of us guys over 50; you probably already know the truth… “Viagra® doesn’t work! Simply getting an erection doesn’t fix the problem” says Dr. Bassam Damaj, chief scientific officer at the world famous Innovus Pharma Laboratories.

As we get older, we need more help in bed. Not only does our desire fade; but erections can be soft or feeble, one of the main complaints with Viagra®.

Besides, Viagra® is expensive… costing as much as $50.00 a pill.

Plus, it does nothing to stimulate your brain to want sex. “I don’t care what you take, if you aren’t interested in sex, you can’t get or keep an erection.

It’s physiologically impossible,” said Dr. Damaj.

MADE JUST FOR MEN OVER 50 But now, for the first time ever, there’s a pill made just for older men. It’s called Vesele®. A new pill that helps you get an erection by stimulating your body and your brainwaves. So Vesele® can work even when nothing else worked before.

The new men’s pill is not a drug. It’s something completely different Because you don’t need a prescription for Vesele®, sales are exploding. The maker just can’t produce enough of it to keep up with demand. Even doctors are having a tough time getting their hands on it.

So what’s all the fuss about?

WORKS ON YOUR HEAD AND YOUR BODY

THE SCIENCE OF SEX The study asked men, 45 to 65 years old to take the main ingredient in Vesele® once a day.

Then they were instructed not to change the way they eat or exercise but to take Vesele® twice a day. What happened next was remarkable.

Virtually every man in the study who took Vesele® twice a day reported a huge difference in their desire for sex. In layman’s terms, they were horny again. They also experienced harder erections that lasted for almost 20 minutes. The placebo controlled group (who received sugar pills) mostly saw no difference.

Satisfaction—Increase from 41.4% to 88.1% Frequency—Increase from 44.9% to 79.5% Desire—Increase from 47.9% to 82% Hardness—Increase from 36.2% to 85.7% Duration—Increase from 35% to 79.5% Hardness—Increase from 36.2% to 85.7% Ability to Satisfy—Increase from 44.1% to 83.3% AN UNEXPECTED BONUS: The study results even showed an impressive increase in the energy, brain-power and memory of the participants.

SUPPLY LIMITED BY OVERWHELMING DEMAND “Once we saw the results we knew we had a game-changer said Dr. Damaj. We get hundreds of calls a day from people begging us for a bottle. It’s been crazy. We try to meet the crushing demand for Vesele®.”

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

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HERE’S WHAT MEN ARE SAYING • I’m ready to go sexually and mentally.

• More frequent erections in the night (while sleeping) and in the morning.

• I have seen a change in sexual desire.

• Typically take 1 each morning and 1 each night.

Great stamina results!

• An increased intensity in orgasms.

• My focus (mental) has really improved… Huge improvement.

• Amazing orgasms!

• I really did notice a great improvement in my ability.

HOW TO GET VESELE® This is the first official public release of Vesele® since its news release. In order to get the word out about Vesele®, Innovus Pharma is offering special introductory discounts to all who call.

THE BRAIN/ERECTION CONNECTION

In a 16-week clinical study; scientists from the U.S.A. joined forces to prove Nitric Oxide’s effects on the cardio vascular system. They showed that Nitric Oxide could not only increase your ability to get an erection, it would also work on your brainwaves to stimulate your desire for sex. The results were remarkable and published in the world’s most respected medical journals.

achieving and maintaining an erection and the results are remarkable” said Dr. Damaj. (His findings are illustrated in the charts below.)

JAW-DROPPING CLINICAL PROOF

The new formula takes on erectile problems with a whole new twist. It doesn’t just address the physical problems of getting older; it works on the mental part of sex too. Unlike Viagra®, the new pill stimulates your sexual brain chemistry as well. Actually helping you regain the passion and burning desire you had for your partner again. So you will want sex with the hunger and stamina of a 25-year-old.

Vesele takes off where Viagra® only begins. Thanks to a discovery made by 3 Nobel-Prize winning scientists; Vesele® has become the first ever patented supplement to harden you and your libido. So you regain your desire as well as the ability to act on it.

New men’s pill overwhelms your senses with sexual desire as well as firmer, long-lasting erections. There’s never been anything like it before.

DOCTOR: “VESELE® PASSED THE TEST” “As a doctor, I’ve studied the effectiveness of Nitric Oxide on the body and the brain. I’m impressed by the way it increases cerebral and penile blood flow. The result is evident in the creation of Vesele®. It’s sure-fire proof that the mind/body connection is unbeatable when

A special phone hotline has been set up for readers in your area; to take advantage of special discounts during this ordering opportunity. Special discounts will be available starting today at 6:00am.

The discounts will automatically be applied to all callers. The Special TOLL-FREE Hotline number is 1-800-305-1487 and will be open 24-hours a day.

Only 300 bottles of Vesele® are currently available in your region. Consumers who miss out on our current product inventory will have to wait until more become available. But this could take weeks.

The maker advises your best chance is to call 1-800-305-1487 early.

THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE. RESULTS NOT TYPICAL.

Imani Khayyam

JACKSONIAN Jordan Jefferson

F

or Jordan Jefferson, who graduated as the valedictorian from Callaway High School in May, time management has been a critical skill in his daily life. Jefferson juggled duties as president of the Callaway High School Honor Society and participated in the school’s football, soccer, track and powerlifting teams during his time there.

Jefferson, 18, was originally born in Tulsa, Okla., but spent his early years in Kansas and then Byram before his family moved to north Jackson 10 years ago. He lives with his mother, Tiffany Jefferson, his 6-year-old brother, Jones, and his 4-year-old sister, Kennedy.

In addition to serving as president of the Callaway High School Honor Society, Jefferson was vice president of the student body.

Jefferson first became involved with the honor society two years ago at the suggestion of his AP U.S. history and government teacher Willie Brady Jr., who mentored Jefferson. His primary duties included leading and organizing events and helping other members with their grades and community-service projects.

In addition to his studies, Jefferson has played football for seven years, soccer for four years, and has been doing track for five years and power lifting for three years.

Jefferson recently received a full scholarship to Jackson State University, where he hopes to join the school’s football team as a running back or wide receiver. He plans to major in mass communications and pursue a

contents

career as a television news anchor.

“I want to be able to talk to the world about things I don’t usually get to talk about, like the true stories behind crimes, or deaths involving black people that a lot of people either don’t talk or hear about,” Jefferson says.

Dance has also been a large part of Jefferson’s life since he was 4 years old. He has learned tap dancing, ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, jazz and other styles over the years.

Jefferson became a member of Dance Works Studio in Byram in 2007 and the Montage dance program at Hinds Community College in Raymond, where his mother works as a dance instructor, in 2004 and remains a member of the group now. He plans to get involved with a dance group at Jackson State when classes start this year and will also continue to work with Dance Works.

Jefferson will also serve as a student ambassador for Jackson State, tasked with introducing new and prospective students to the campus and its facilities.

In his valedictorian speech at his graduation ceremony, Jefferson stressed to his fellow students the importance of not fearing failure in anything they aspire to.

“I feel failure is really just a payment for opportunity and success,” Jefferson said in his speech. “Opportunity is something you create from your failures, so the thing to do is to hurry up and fail, so you can start succeeding.”

—Dustin Cardon

cover photo of JATRAN Bus

by Imani Khayyam

6 ............................................ Talks 14 ................................. editorial 15 ..................................... opinion 18 ............................. Cover Story 22 .......................................... food 24 ........................................ 8 Days 25 ....................................... Events 25 ...................................... sports 27 ........................................ music 27 ........................ music listings 29 ..................................... Puzzles 31 ........................................ astro

9 Taking Charge

Read how one small school district came up with a plan to improve its facilities and boost student achievement.

15 Coming Out

“I couldn’t know it then, but that feeling that I was ‘congregating’ with people like me would lead me to the belief that a gay bar was the closest thing we, as a people, had for a church.”

—Eddie Outlaw, “To Fetch a Pail of Water”

27 Going With the Grey Read about Shadz of Grey before they perform at Pelican Grill on June 24.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

4 ............................. Editor’s Note

courtesy Shadz of Grey; courtesy Eddie Outlaw; courtesy Yazoo County School District

June 22 - 28, 2016 | Vol. 14 No. 42

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editor’s note

by Donna Ladd, Editor-in-Chief

Of Love and Orlando

T

he day before a gunman massacred 49 mostly Latino men and women at the gay club, Pulse, in Orlando, I was wandering through the Brooklyn Pride festival in New York City. It was right around the corner from my rented apartment in Park Slope where I stayed to do more crime-solutions reporting.

I smiled when I saw police officers on duty who I kind of suspect are LGBT: one a young woman with hipster pink hair over her NYPD uniform and another uniformed largish man with telling tattoos showing on the backs of his arms. The woman was carrying a bag with a rainbow flag tucked into it. New York is certainly a city that celebrates diversity; however else one finds to criticize it, its police department openly embraces its diverse members, from Muslim, to Hispanic, to LGBT, in dedicated Twitter feeds to fraternal organizations with members from its various identity groups.

It’s a refreshing tossed-salad approach.

The next day, I woke up in Brooklyn to the heart-wrenching news about the tragedy at Pulse. As the news came in, it quickly became apparent that not only had a man raised Muslim shot up an LGBT nightclub, but most of the victims were Latino. It was an intersectional tragedy, and America isn’t all that great as a collective with dealing with situations and people that don’t fit into blackand-white categories—Democrat or Republican, he or she, women’s or men’s room.

Face it, we’re a binary nation, and one in which too many people plough straight into a tragedy looking to blame “the other,” whomever that happens to be for the blamer.

Donald Trump fired off one of the earliest shockers by mid-day on Sunday while bulletfilled bodies were still lying inside the Pulse building. He famously thanked his supporters for the “congrats” on being right about radical Islamic terrorists—offensive political self-congratulation. This is the man who

thinks a “wall” will keep us safe, which is inaccurate on multiple levels. How, could a wall keep out (a) a Muslim from abroad or especially (b) one who is as American as Donald Trump is because he was born here?

But this isn’t about bashing Donald Trump; he doesn’t need my help making a buffoon out of himself of late, even questioning the Mexican heritage of a U.S. judge assigned to the Trump University case. (If you hadn’t noticed: That is garden-variety bigotry and racism. He’s made public hate fulness cool again for many. Argh.)

What I’ve thought a lot about since the tragedy is just how American it was. Sure, American because most nations with stronger gun laws don’t have these kinds of routine shootings with semiautomatic guns not designed for hobbyist use (or by lone-wolf terrorists who hate the world and themselves). It’s especially American because it was so intersectional, or melting pot, or perhaps “tossed salad,” to use the phrase that denotes our nation’s special mix of people who are trying to live together without melting together, and losing, their identities.

America is great precisely because we live together in diversity and varied beliefs.

Many people came here to escape religious oppression; much of that oppression was Christian versus another type of Christian.

Our Constitution was written to guarantee freedoms to people regardless of our beliefs, not because of them. (And, gradually, our civil-rights laws and court decisions have been moving those rights to all Americans, not just white men who first claimed them.)

The tragedy of Pulse, beyond the loss

of precious life, was that it struck so many difficult chords. The shooter himself came from a fundamentalist upbringing where, it seems, his teachings were lacking at best, and he was probably forced to bury his own identity. Like too many angry, disenchanted young male Americans, from Dylann Roof to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, he grabbed hold to a fake type of fundamentalist faith and bigotry as at least an excuse for the blood and mayhem. He attacked a club full of happy people enjoying themselves, most of whom were Hispanic or Latino—another marginalized and disparaged group for too many in Trump’s America.

He used a gun that should not be available at the local sportinggoods store, or be advertised in Sunday circulars.

He said he was inspired by one of the most radical of today’s terrorist groups, ISIS, whether he really was or not. He killed indiscriminately and went down trying to kill more people.

Then, of course, the hatred poured forth, culminating in that God-forsaken “God Hates Fag” group showing up at the various funerals, and shielded from view by theater folks wearing huge angel wings. The week really displayed the best and worst of America.

Because this is so complicated, as America is, there is no one and no easy answer. The most simple one is that “love conquers fear”—as the black rubber bracelet I bought from the Human Rights Campaign at Brooklyn Pride advises. Love. It’s a simple word, but one that is hard to carry out. Real love is non-judgmental and filled with compassion and a desire to help and support. It is what the best, and more sincere, of all faiths

The volume of hatred is way too high.

not only espouse, but feel and follow.

And it’s something that our binary nation has gotten too far away from in our rush to demonize “the other,” left or right, as we saw in the primary season. The volume of hatred is way too high, and it will continue to result in death if we don’t figure out how to turn it down together. Every Trump tweet about “the other,” every time someone bashes a member of another group for no reason but the fact that they’re group members, every time someone “likes” a nasty post, we add another log to the fire of hatred.

Not to mention, each cherrypicking of a “terrorist” with Muslim beliefs to tar an entire faith just helps increase the likelihood of another attack, by proving the radicals’ theories right about Americans (who they will see back as one big group that hates them).

It’s not easy, but we really must be getting to the nadir of how much public hate a supposedly “free” nation can stand. And here’s the thing: It’s not on someone else to fix it. It’s on each of us. Every single one of us needs to reject the binary B.S., and tap into the love that whatever faith we embrace teaches, or just that inside our hearts, and spread light and love. Stop the stereotyping of “the other” because it is all false and egofilled. There is nothing large about stooping to playing so small as to be a public and proud bigot spouting hate all the time.

We can shift America if we are willing to. The Pulse tragedy, like all the similar events before it, should be a bright-line moment, a tipping point. We must demand the sick, hateful politics of personal and group destruction stop and refuse to partake in them or vote for people who do.

We can decide right now in this moment to honor every person who has lost a life in all the hate and mayhem by deciding to do the million little (and larger) things to stop it. Love does conquer fear. So don’t be afraid to play your own little part.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

contributors

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Imani Khayyam

Tim Summers Jr.

Dustin Cardon

Sierra Mannie

Onelia Hawa

Micah Smith

Latasha Willis

Mary Osborne

Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam is an art lover and a native of Jackson. He loves to be behind the camera and capture the true essence of his subjects. He took the cover photo and many photos in the issue.

City Reporter Tim Summers Jr. enjoys loud live music, teaching his cat to fetch, long city council meetings and FOIA requests. Send him story ideas at tim@jacksonfreepress.com.

He wrote the cover story on JATRAN and the ADA.

Web Editor Dustin Cardon is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi.

He enjoys reading fantasy novels and wants to write them himself one day. He wrote the Jacksonian on Jordan Jefferson.

Education Reporting Fellow Sierra Mannie is a University of Mississippi whose opinions of the Ancient Greeks can’t be trusted nearly as much as her opinions of Beyoncé. She wrote about renovations in the Yazoo County School District.

Editorial intern Onelia Hawa is an average 20-something-yearold Atlanta native, journalism and nonprofit graduate from USM. She is bilingual, a massive foodie, activist and lover of all things Frida Kahlo. She wrote about El Sabor Latin Cuisine.

Music Editor Micah Smith is married to a great lady, has two dog-children named Kirby and Zelda, and plays in the band Empty Atlas. Send gig info to music@jacksonfreepress.com.

He wrote about Shadz of Grey.

Events Editor Latasha Willis is a native Jacksonian, a freelance graphic designer and the mother of one cat. See her design portfolio at latashawillis. com. She helped compile event listings.

Sales Assistant Mary Osborne is a Lanier Bulldog by birthright and a JSU Tiger by choice. She is the mother of Lindon “Joc” Dixon. Her hobbies include hosting and producing “The Freeda Love Show,” which airs on PEG 18.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

YOUR FUTURE IS BRIGHTER AT MC.

5

“I am proud of our state’s kindergarten teachers and school leaders for their hard work and dedication to equipping their students with the literacy skills they will need for success in school.”

Mississippi’s mental-health system remains on shaky ground, p 11

–State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright on the state’s kindergarten students who scored above the 530 kindergarten readiness benchmark this spring

Tuesday, June 14

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant orders flags to fly at half-staff on state property until sunset Thursday to honor those killed or wounded in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

Thursday, June 16

WalletHub’s “2016 State’s with Best and Worst Economies” report ranks Mississippi last, largely due to the state’s GDP decline in 2015 and high percentage of people living below the poverty level. … Empower Mississippi, an education “choice” nonprofit organization, names Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves the “Education Reformer of the Year” for his work on several education bills in the past legislative session, after helping fund his campaign.

Friday, June 17

Koinonia Coffee House owner Lee Harper announces during the weekly Friday Forum that the establishment will close at the end of the month.

Saturday, June 18

Belgian authorities raid dozens of homes and arrest 12 suspects in a major anti-terror investigation they say required “immediate intervention” because of fears of imminent attacks during an international soccer game.

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes wants the City to lower its required budget reserve as well as ban Confederate flags from City-owned cemeteries.

requirements,” Mayor Tony Yarber said.

“This is not an executive branch versus a legislative branch issue,” Yarber said. “This is our obligation together to fix.”

No Rebel Flag in Cemeteries?

Councilman Stokes also proposed an ordinance banning the Confederate flags from City of Jackson-owned cemeteries.

A representative from the legal office said they were still researching whether the proposal was “legally sufficient as it is.”

“I probably am one of the first people to have ever voted against the state flag,

here years ago we did,” Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said.

“But this is such a personal thing, and I wonder how many it actually affects, both black and white.”

Council President Priester asked Stokes if he would have a problem with delaying consideration on the ordinance to the next meeting.

“I have no problem,” Stokes said. “However the ordinance needs to be massaged, more CITY, see page 8

Pothole potluck

Monday marked the 2016 Summer Solstice, and that means it’s time for cookouts at the park and nights chowing down poolside.

Check out these dishes that you can bring to the first annual JFP Pothole Potluck, coming to a street near you all Summer ‘16:

Rocky Road Ice Cream Fortification Fondue County Line Crème Brulee Pearl Street Pepperoni Pizza Robin Drive Ravioli

oto

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Monday, June 20

The Supreme Court rejects challenges to assault weapons bans in Connecticut and New York in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando that left 50 people dead. … Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is forced off of the Republican presidential contender’s team, amid reports that Trump only has just over a million dollars on hand. Hillary Clinton has more than $40 million in her war chest.

Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

W

ard 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes proposed an order last week revising the required reserve fund in the budget from the ordinance-mandated 7 percent to a lower number that the City of Jackson can reach in its current budget crisis.

“The budget folks are still trying to get some clarification and some answers, and we are going to put this into the budget committee and schedule a meeting so that when we change our reserve policy that we do it on the correct information,” Council President Melvin Priester Jr. said.

As a result of budget issues and shortfalls in revenue from the water-sewer fund, the mayoral administration was not able to maintain the ordinance-required 7 percent this budget year, prompting questions in past meetings whether the City was breaking its own laws. At last notice, City officials reported a general fund reserve of $1.3 million, far below the required $9.1 million.

“We can really not even have the reserve,” Stokes suggested. “Now it is good for bonds, and everything else, but I don’t think that this is an issue that should divide the city, the executive branch from the legislative branch.”

Priester thanked Stokes for “taking the bull by the horns,” and the mayor echoed the sentiment. “As the City begins to rebuild and replenish our financial situation, we (will) add incrementally to our reserve

file ph

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

Sunday, June 19

German prosecutors launch an investigation against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and another unnamed executive over allegations they didn’t inform investors soon enough about the company’s scandal over cars rigged to cheat on U.S. emissions tests.

by Tim Summers Jr.

Imani Khayyam

Wednesday, June 15

Planned Parenthood files a lawsuit against Mississippi over a new state law that will ban Medicaid from spending money with any abortion provider.

Councilman Stokes: Ban Confederate Flags and Decrease the Reserve Fund

Old Canton Crab Meadowbrook Marshallow Pie Capitol Street Saltine Crackers and Comeback Battlefield Park Bruschetta Northside Drive Nachos

Riverside Drive Rack of Lamb Ellis Avenue Egg Drop Soup Candlestick Crumble Cake King’s Highway Cake

The best buffet in Vicksburg just got better!

We are proud to announce the Heritage Buffet is Now Open.

Come out and see our all new facility which includes stunning views of the Mississippi River. You will also find some great new dishes to go along with your favorites like our crab legs and down home fried chicken.

Don’t forget to try out our new Salad and Desert Island so you can be good on one side and a little bad on the other!

4116 WASHINGTON ST VICKSBURG, MS 39180 | AMERISTAR.COM

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

©2016 Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

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TALK | state

Mississippi, Your ALEC is Showing

by Arielle Dreher

F

finding almost word-for-word ALEC language in Mississippi bills that died and current laws is not difficult.

For example, ALEC’s “Civic Literacy Act” model policy has appeared, except in 2012, in some slightly edited form, in introduced bills in Mississippi since 2008. The legislation is an attempt to require public schools to teach the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.

The only change Mississippi lawmakers made over the years was to add the Emancipation Proclamation to the list of required reading for students.

The bill was first introduced in 2008 by then-Sen. Bill Hewes, and in 2015, the same bill died in committee, like the majority of ALEC model policies introduced. The LID analysis of ALEC bills introduced in state legislatures showed that in the past five years at least, ALEC model policies had a 9-percent success rate nationally.

During a legislative session, thousands of bills are introduced that die in committee, and while many ALEC model bills have similar “Civic Literacy” stories, other ALEC model legislation and bill language have passed through the Legislature recently.

Mississippi’s Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act, which became state How ALEC Works law in 2015, contains several parts of ALEC’s “Spe Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, was recently cial Needs Scholarship Program Act” model legislaSen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, was named Mississippi’s ALEC state voted in as Mississippi’s ALEC state chairman. He tion. Similarly, the “Facilitating Business Rapid Rechairman after the 2016 legislative session. says that role rotates between the House and the sponse to State Declared Disasters Act” that became Senate. Harkins’ role as state chairman is to act as law in 2015 shares a majority of its language from the middleman between members, relaying information ALEC. He credited, instead, the growing majority of Repub- an ALEC template. about task-force meetings to Mississippi lawmakers who are licans first in the Senate, then in the House, leading to this Counting the ‘Frankenbills’ members at ALEC. Members who are lawmakers have to year’s supermajority.

“The fact that we have a large Republican majority of In the summer of 2015, data scientists collaborating on pay $50 a year to be a part of the organization. Private-sector memberships for companies to join start at $3,500 for non- representation in the House and the Senate, and there are a the “Data Science for Good” project compiled a database of profits and can cost up to $25,000. Harkins said the ALEC lot of members in there, which is why Mississippi may (have every piece of legislation introduced in state legislatures from process is about ideas, and that it is largely up to lawmakers a lot of ALEC bills),” Harkins said. “Over the last five years 2010 to 2015 (for some states, data went back to 2008), colto bring legislation back to the Capitol and introduce it. coming into the supermajority in the House and the Senate, lected by the Sunlight Foundation.

“It’s mainly ideas, to me, that’s what it is, and no one’s you’re actually able to get some legislation through.”

Then, they scraped template model legislation from ever told me, ‘Hey go file this bill in your state,’” Harkins told four large interest groups (including ALEC and ALICE), the Jackson Free Press. “I’ve just gone to the (ALEC) meet- From Model Policy to Law Model policies are usually distinguishable by their inings, and I’ve seen things where I’ve thought that may help more ALEC, see page 11 or that may work, and I’ll take the idea back. I’ve never in the troductions, but using some the University of Chicago study five years I’ve been in there, I’ve never had anybody at ALEC called the Legislative Influence Detector, or LID for short,

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

CITY from page 6

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that’s fine for me. But, you know, somewhere down the line, it is not OK for these Confederate flags to fly in the capital city, especially property that we own and are cutting.”

Priester, an attorney himself, said that the issue would come down to how the City addresses the “content neutral” element of the ban. “If we ban one specific type of flag, we might find ourselves in the position of having to ban all flags to be content neutral,” Priester said. “And that was the issue that legal expressed that they were still trying to work through.”

say, ‘here are the bills you need to file.’”

When asked about the high number of model ALEC bills introduced, Harkins said no coordination comes from

Stokes said the City maintains the cemetery, and to him, that meant that the council should decide. “So we should have the authority to say what goes in there and what doesn’t go in there.”

JATRAN Renamed Elport Chess

The Jackson City Council voted, unanimously, to rename the JATRAN Maintenance Facility after local civil-rights activist Elport Chess during its regular meeting on June 14.

“Mr. Elport Chess, a lifelong resident of Jackson, Mississippi, was drafted out of high school to serve during World War II,” the ordinance reads. After his service, Chess

Imani Khayyam

rom laws that allow tax breaks for out-of-state businesses to the state’s special-education voucher program, the Mississippi state Legislature has picked up and written into law model policy language from a national and controversial conservative organization, the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC for short. ALEC creates and distributes legislative templates to state legislatures through its members—state lawmakers— in order to further its national political goals.

ALEC creates model legislation through its task forces, which not only include lawmakers but also members from the private sector who pay for membership. ALEC claims to stay out of the social arena for model policies (no abortion, immigration or religious freedom policies) when it comes to policy, but the organization was responsible in part for the surge in “Stand Your Ground” gun laws, after copying the law in Florida that helped provide a defense to Trayvon Martin’s killer.

Mississippi has proved fertile ground for ALEC policies. From 2010 to 2015, Mississippi lawmakers introduced the most model policy bills from ALEC in the country, a University of Chicago “Data Science for Social Good” project found.

returned to Lanier High School in September 1947 to finish high school. It was during this time that Chess, a veteran, refused to sit in the back of the city bus that he rode to school, and as a result was beaten and jailed.

From September 1947 to January 1948, the ordinance states, “students living in Washington Addition and attending Lanier High School boycotted the bus transit system for the City of Jackson in protest to the treatment of Mr. Elport Chess and in disapproval of segregation.”

Some of the students that boycotted were in council chambers to express appreciation. “We don’t need to let this die in history,” Grace Sweet, who attended Lanier

during the protest, told the council. “And these are kids that did the walk.”

“The boycott lasted for weeks. The refused to ride the bus,” Sweet said, adding that they even walked in rain.

“We had spunk, and we tried to do something about this.”

The boycott worked, Sweet said, and the City fired the bus driver. And now the JATRAN maintenance building will hold a plaque denoting its new designation: The Elport Chess Building.

Email city reporter Tim Summers, Jr. at tim@jackson freepress.com See more local news at jfp.ms/localnews.

TALK | education

by Sierra Mannie

Y

azoo County School District Superintendent Becky Fischer said the lights in the high school in her district were so old, they could not even find bulbs for them when they went out. Electric equipment, decades old, fell repeatedly, meaning constant maintenance and repair for the district’s schools in a county where 36.2 percent of citizens live in poverty, 2010-2014 U.S. Census data show.

So this past February, the Yazoo County School District made a $4.2-million deal with Schneider Electric, a global company that specializes in automation and energy, to make its schools “greener” in savings and in energy consumption with an Energy Savings Performance Contract.

The U.S. Department of Energy describes the strategy as a way to “pay for today’s facility upgrades with tomorrow’s energy savings.”

With a projected 26-percent reduction in the district’s utility budget, the school will realize $2.5 million in savings in energy expenses over the 20-year course of the project, or $92,000 a year, Marcus Craig, the southeastern regional director for Schneider Electric, says.

Dr. Tom Taylor, assistant superintendent of the school district, said the local tax base raised taxes—for the first time in 12 years—by 4 percent in order to help fund the project.

“Schneider had tried to get into the Yazoo County District approximately five to six years ago, and the Board was not interested,” Fischer told the Jackson Free Press.

The board was at first hesitant to spend so much money on the project until they saw the savings they would incur with Schneider.

“We took our concerns to our school board and told them the opportunity we had with Schneider. There’s no way to go wrong. They guarantee an energy savings, or they will pay us. It’s a win-win. They

not only ask for continued improvement, but will demand that we continue to give our students and our faculty and our community the best that we have to offer,” Taylor said.

Repairs in Order

The replacements will prove to be sweeping improvements for the school district, which is currently dealing with 25-year-old dilapidated equipment that was constantly breaking down and incurring high maintenance costs, Craig says.

Schneider’s improvements for the school include replacing the chiller system with a VRF air-conditioning system. Their schools will enjoy the more energy-efficient individual room-by-room controls that would make classrooms more comfortable.

The company has replaced the boiler system at the high school and junior high, replaced the HVAC package unit and installed a centralized control system that could automate control for each school in the district. Craig says Schneider did interior lighting at the high school and junior high and upgraded fixtures to reduce water consumption. The LED exterior lighting installed at the high school would help improve safety at school.

Ryan Colker, presidential adviser at the National Institute of Building Sciences, says the impact of better facilities can be measured in several different ways, from test scores to student health to classroom attendance, to just helping reduce teacher stress.

“If you can improve the space in a classroom, it really sets up the opportunities to have students to focus on what’s being taught rather than distractions related to poor lighting or poor sound in the hopes of advancing achievement,” Colker said.

Courtesy of Yazoo County School District

Funding Woes Colker says another way better buildings affect student performance is the potential to put school funds back into classrooms. “If you have a well-functioning building, you can reduce the costs of capital improvements and other things that would divert funds from the educational mission of the classroom, like textbooks or teacher salaries or additional classroom equipment rather than focusing on the building components,” he said.

Taylor says a continued lack of funding over the last several years from the Mississippi Legislature means that his district has had to defer necessary long-term maintenance and construction costs for temporary fixes. But now, he says, with the Schneider plan, the district plans to have the project paid for in 15 years, but expects its impact to go on way past that period.

“We have an educational environment of rising costs, including underfunding or shrinking budgets,” Craig said. “What we helped Yazoo County schools do is help them tap a resource, an energy expense.

Yazoo County School District Superintendent Becky Fischer (right) and Most folks consider it a liability, but we made it an Assistant Superintendent Dr. Tom Taylor (left) say their district is thrilled asset.

If you can take an energy-efficiency project and about the renovations to the elementary, middle and high schools. drive savings, thereby reducing utility expenses and reducing maintenance costs, what you’ve done is crewere very excited, and after many meetings, we decided to go with ated a new revenue stream for a school.” them,” Fischer added.

Fischer and Taylor say that they and all of the community

The partnership between the two is important, both the dis- stakeholders were thrilled about the project, whose initial repairs betrict’s superintendents and Craig said. With budget cuts ahead for gan on April 6. “We needed the school to be something to be what school districts and increasing maintenance costs a guaranteed haz- the families, the kids and the staff could be proud of,” Fischer said. ard for outdated equipment, the rural district has taken steps toward a stitch in time that would not only save money, but make their Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for schools better and safer for students. the Jackson Free Press and The Hechinger Report. Read

“We feel once this project begins to take shape, our people will more at jfp.ms/education.

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TALK | health

The State of Mental Health in Mississippi

by Arielle Dreher

girl receiving treatment through Medicaid in Mississippi, Russum says, is a labyrinth, and Laila literally exhausted all of the options open to her. Russum said the news of budget cuts was devastating.

“They are eliminating beds when there aren’t enough to go around as it is,” she said.

other strategies is not possible. The state had to eliminate several beds in state hospitals with budget cuts. And while little to no research shows that institutionalization works to heal mental illness, the inability for the department to reinvest those dollars in other areas is just as painful.

The Mississippi Department of Mental Imani Khayyam

Diana Mikula, the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, says budget cuts mean an $8.3 million less than the department had in fiscal-year 2016.

Chop, Chop on the Budget Block

Mississippi’s mental-health system is mainly run through the Mississippi Department of Health, which certifies private and public mental health-care providers, rapidresponse teams of mental health-care professionals and public community mental-health centers around the state.

Like most state agencies, the department took a cut this year of $8.3 million, and while that might seem par for the course, any deeper cut to the state’s mental health department hurt, mainly because reinvestment in

ALEC from page 8 using a genetic algorithm, the team created LID, which matches short strings of words from model legislation to state bills. (Their research also shows how bills borrow language from other state bills as well). LID data can help detect parts from several pieces of model legislation that can be written into, what data scientist Joe Walsh, one of the mentors on the project, called “Frankenbills” that pull language from several pieces of model legislation.

Both ALEC and ALICE highly influence Mississippi, LID data shows, although the former organization has much more influence due to increasing Republican control of the statehouse. ALEC is a nonprofit lawmaker membership organization dedicated to “limited government, free markets and federalism,” its website states.

Health has less than two months’ worth of reserve cash on hand, due to filling budget holes during the past year.

Cuts mean longer wait times for services around the state, and in some cases, having to pay for treatment that the state previously covered, starting July 1. Two of the state hospitals will have to cut 67 male chemical-dependency units, which served more than 700 people in fiscal-year 2015.

In a budget hearing with the Legislative Black Caucus earlier this month, Executive Director Diana Mikula told lawmakers that

In an April interview, Molly Drenkard, ALEC’s director of media relations, said that the primary purpose of ALEC is education. Lawmakers who are ALEC members can attend task-force meetings where they exchange ideas with lawmakers from other states, policy or think-tank groups, and members from the business community.

At task-force meetings, lawmakers draft model policies for discussion in the larger ALEC meetings, where those model policies are discussed, amended and voted on and approved by the ALEC board of directors. House Speaker Philip Gunn, who did not respond to interview requests in time for this story, is on that board. Every five years, the organization reviews its policies to see if it is time to update them.

Other research is consistent with LID’s findings that more and more state legislation reflects model policies written by interest groups. Joshua Jansa, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, has studied the role interest groups play on policymaking. In his 2015 paper, “Interest Group Influ-

the loss of chemical-dependency units means more pressure on the community mentalhealth centers, which can offer primary residential treatment for males across the state.

“However, this service will no longer be free; it will be on a sliding fee scale,” Mikula told lawmakers. “But the majority of people can be served in the community mental-health centers.”

South Mississippi State Hospital will have to close five psychiatric beds, which helped serve 80 people per year. Lawmakers asked how that service would affect those in the state who need mental-health services.

“Is there any concern that people who are suffering from mental illness, that because there aren’t beds or beds have been cut, for them to end up incarcerated in county jails versus being able to get mental health treatment?” Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, asked Mikula.

Mikula said South Mississippi State Hospital patients in need of mental psychiatric treatment would have to wait longer to access the services they need due to the cuts. “And of course a judge will have to determine where that individual will wait,” Mikula said. “There are options for counties, they can wait in crisis stabilization units, run by community mental health facilities … or in hospitals.”

‘We’re Not Doing It’

While the department had to cut several institutional services, funding for community-based services avoided the chopping block, and Mikula thanked lawmakers for recognizing how important those funds are.

The Legislature appropriated $16.1 million in the department’s fiscal-year 2017 budget to address the expansion of communitymore HEALTH, see page 13

ence in Policy Diffusion Networks,” Jansa looked at states’ Stand Your Ground legislation modeled after ALEC’s policy and anti-abortion policies developed by Americans United for Life. Jansa said copying legislation around specific issues from interest groups is an easy thing for lawmakers, especially those who don’t have time or resources to write their own bills. Jansa said one of the biggest takeaways from his study was realizing the nationwide effect interest groups can have by writing policies themselves.

“Groups like ALEC are helping create a national agenda, since they’re on the conservative side, for conservatives or for Republicans,” Jansa told the Jackson Free Press.

“Republicans across the country, no matter where they are at can pull these bills off the shelf and introduce them and get the ball rolling in their state—and all of the red states start looking like each other.”

Comment at jfp.ms. Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com.

11 June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

L

aila* was 8 years old when she came to live with her stepmother, father and two stepsiblings in Perry County. Laila had a difficult, probably abusive childhood and has since been diagnosed with several mental-health disorders, which caused her to act out at school, get kicked out and eventually cycle through every mental-health program the state can offer her.

Laila’s family wanted to keep her close to home, but has been forced to send her to several residential treatment facilities because infrequent home-based services did not work to stabilize her, and no one seemed to be able to work with her consistently enough to use the proper therapy she needs to treat her post traumatic stress disorder or the medication necessary to treat bipolar disorder at such a young age.

Ramona Russum, Laila’s stepmother, thought she was doing the right thing by taking Laila to see a therapist initially, but after she realized that the girl would not be able to see her counselor on a regular basis, she switched gears.

Three years later, Laila has been through every available cycle of services, treatment centers and state hospitals in and outside the state, all the while never really getting better.

“I felt like this child was a living guinea pig,” Russum told the Jackson Free Press. “There’s a lack of qualified healthcare providers.”

Laila has been in Brentwood Behavioral Healthcare seven times, Pine Grove Behavioral Services twice, tried Mississippi Youth Program Around the Clock, or MYPAC, services and six court-ordered commitments to the state hospital in just three years. She is only 11, and Russum said no treatment facility or program has served to successfully stabilize Laila.

The mental health-care system for a

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HEALTH from page 11

J.H. v. Barbour

In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law sued several state officers, asking Mississippi “to create and provide the intensive home and community-based mental

2015. But then nothing happened—until recently. Plaintiffs in the case filed a motion May 25 asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Parker to proceed with the case and allow for discovery. The lawsuit sat for years while the state bargained with the feds to work on a deal that never came to pass.

The original complaint said thousands of children were separated from their families and treated for their mental illness in hospitals and institutions out of the home.

“Children in Mississippi with behavioral and emotional problems face a rigid, facility-based mental health system that both ignores and exacerbates their needs. In order to access intensive mental health services in Mississippi, children must either deteriorate to the point of crisis required for involuntary hospitalization, or submit to unnecessary inImani Khayyam/file photo

based services in the state in order to comply with the 2009 Olmstead U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which required states “to provide community-based treatment for persons with mental disabilities when the State’s treatment professionals determine that such placement is appropriate, the affected persons do not oppose such treatment, and the placement can be reasonably accommodated, taking into account the resources available to the State and the needs of others with mental disabilities.”

While level-funding is important, the state has been in legal hot water since 2010 for violating the Olmstead ruling and the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment part of the Medicaid law in the federal Social Security Act, which ensures that youth under age 21 with Medicaid have access to preventive health-care services, including mental-health care.

Mississippi technically spends 59 percent of its mental-health budget on community-based treatment, fiscal-year 2013 data show from NRI show, and senior director at NRI Ted Lutterman said fiscal-year 2014 data reveals the same pattern for Mississippi: spending: more on community-based treatment but overall much less proportionally than other states spend.

However, this number is significantly lower than other states. Oklahoma and Kansas, for example, both spend 73 percent of their state mental-health budgets on community-based treatment versus psychiatric hospital spending. Mississippi spends 40 percent of its mental-health funds on the state psychiatric hospital, a number that advocates say is way too high to provide the type of services Olmstead requires.

Joy Hogge, executive director of Families as Allies, also addressed the Legislative Black Caucus in early June, warning lawmakers about the J.H. v. Barbour lawsuit brought against the State for not providing appropriate or adequate mental-health services for youth. Hogge stressed the importance of good mental-health services in the community versus institutionalization.

“When someone goes to an institution, especially a child, they end up losing out on a whole lot of things that any normal human being needs, like living with their family, being raised by their parents, going to school, all of those kinds of things,” Hogge told lawmakers last week. “The reality is that Mississippi over-relies on residential and institutional care.”

The solution, Hogge said, is already written into state law, which created a statewide system of care. Hogge presented lawmakers with a copy of the law last week, which outlines how the state is supposed to provide “child-centered” and “community-

based” services for youth in the state.

“This is going to take all of the state agencies working together, all of you guys, me, families working together to fix this,” Hogge told lawmakers. “That law says how we should do that, and we’re not doing it.”

In fiscal-year 2015, 35,221 youth were served by the 14 community mental health centers across the state, and 3,221 were served certified nonprofit providers. In the same year, 416 youth were served at state hospitals, the DMH annual report shows.

Joy Hogge is the executive director of Families as Allies, and she reminded lawmakers this month that Mississippi passed a system of care law in 2010 to address mental-health problems throughout the state.

health services they need and to which they are entitled” for youth entitled to services under Olmstead and EPSDT. The Department of Justice got involved in the case, investigating the state’s mental-health system and issuing a damning letter that said the state failed to comply with Olmstead standards, which categorized unjustified isolation as discrimination based on disability.

The letter stated: “‘I’m really wanting to get out.’ These words were spoken to DOJ civil rights investigators by a person confined to a Mississippi facility. They illustrate the urgency of our findings. Thousands of Mississippi residents with mental illness or developmental disabilities are institutionalized.

“While confined in these institutions, they are segregated from non-disabled persons and lead lives of limited choice or independence. They are deprived of meaningful opportunities to choose friends, participate in employment, or make choices about activities, food or living arrangements.”

Four years later, negotiations and attempts at a settlement between the state, the Department of Justice and plaintiffs in the lawsuit ended in an impasse in December

stitutionalization,” the 2010 complaint says.

Vanessa Carroll, one of the plaintiff attorneys at Southern Poverty Law Center, said the state’s mental-health system has not changed for children since the lawsuit was filed. “The State has elected to expand an already-excessive number of institutional beds, while intensive home- and communitybased services remain under-developed and largely unavailable,” she said in a statement.

“Consequently, children with significant behavioral and emotional disorders continue to face the same dilemma that existed at the time this suit was filed.”

Rosie D: A Cautionary Tale

The Olmstead Supreme Court ruling emphasized the importance of communitybased services, affirming years of research that show the advantages of such services over institutionalization.

Mississippi is not the only state that is dealing or has dealt with Olmstead challenges. Massachusetts settled their version of J.H. v. Barbour, Rosie D. v. Romney, in 2006. Plaintiffs in that case, led by the Center for Public Representation, sued the state

for violating EPDST part of the Medicaid law, which allows children to access mentalhealth services with Medicaid funding.

The judge overwhelmingly ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, and an overhaul of the state’s mental-health system ensued. Its system is still court-monitored today.

Dr. Barbara Burns, a researcher and professor at Duke University who served as an expert witness in the Rosie D case, says leadership is the first step to changing a state’s mental health-care system. Research, she says, also proves that institutionalization is not the evidence-based approach to treating those with mental-health issues.

“There is no evidence whatsoever on hospitalization and almost no evidence on residential treatment centers and some for group homes,” Burns told the Jackson Free Press.

Burns said community-based services, like multi-systemic therapy teams that go to client’s houses every day for six to eight weeks, are a completely different way of viewing the system—and they’re more cost effective, research shows. Steven Schwartz, litigation director of the Center for Public Representation, agrees. He said in the Rosie D case, the law seemed to be in strong favor of the children his staff represented.

“Any state that is threatened with or sued under EPDST has got to understand that there’s a significant risk of liability for them,” Schwartz told the Jackson Free Press.

In order to comply with the Rosie D suit, Massachusetts changed five big-picture aspects of its system, Schwartz said. They developed seven specific treatment programs or services that were community or homebased, received federal Medicaid approval with funding mechanisms in place to pay for the services, planned for training with future program staff, developed services with community partners and nonprofits and began collecting data on each service and patient.

Laila is now in the state’s custody and has been since June 2015. The judge is hesitant to restore custody to Russum and her husband, because she said, Laila is still not stable, although her hygiene habits have improved and she suffers from “less clinical depression” than last year. Her behavioral and emotional wellness, however, still fluctuate.

For now she’s at a residential treatment facility, but Russum laments that what started as getting help for a troubled child has turned into a revolving door of different services that don’t seem to work.

“Here I am thinking we have done everything right, but even the best care available is nowhere near enough,” Russum said.

“And that’s what’s scary: is that how many other kids are not getting the help and the services they need?”

*Name has been changed to protect the child’s identity.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

TALK | health

Comment at jfp.ms. Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com. 13

Equal-Opportunity Bullets

I

have a confession. I hate all guns. I hate every gun from an AR-15 to a B.B. gun to a SuperSoaker. I have even grown a slight disdain for my once-favorite video games like “Call of Duty” or “Goldeneye.”

I am well aware that I’m an anomaly or a glitch in the Matrix. America’s “gun freedom” is worshiped and has become synonymous with other “freedom” propaganda like “religious freedom.”

However, if one peeked through the veil of gun freedom rhetoric, he or she may take issue with our gun culture and discover it to be a bullet-riddled illness that has plagued this country for generations. Unlike our country’s history, which is marked by discrimination and exclusivity, bullets seem to have this undeniable talent for equality and inclusivity. Sure, the shooter in Orlando was a homophobic bigot, but the bullets he used to bring terror and death didn’t care if its victims were gay, straight, black, white, Muslim or Christian.

When mass shootings occur, the common-sense solutions such as mental health-care reform, extensive background checks and an assault-weapons ban to combat such tragic events are resurrected like a biblical figure that shall remain nameless. We know the arguments and counterarguments to these solutions.

Using mass shootings as an agent for change clearly doesn’t work. If 20 6- to 7-year-old kids killed at a school in Newtown, Conn., couldn’t impede the Gun Lobby influence, the Orlando massacre probably won’t have much success, either. Congress loves the kids! LGBT folks? Meh. Our country’s gun problems are rightfully highlighted when mass shootings occur. However, the day-to-day gun violence, particularly in urban communities, is often ignored on the national stage, partly because of the victims’ socioeconomic status and partly because it is a seemingly daily occurrence in areas like Chicago. Lack of economic and educational opportunities breed gang-related nefarious activities, those activities breed gang violence, and gang violence breeds the necessity for illegal guns. Economic and educational opportunity aside, there are other ways to combat the illegal gun problem facing various pockets of urban areas, including minimizing the infiltration of those weapons.

That solution would call for a greater emphasis on catching illegal gun sellers, tracking guns with better technology and most importantly, slowing down the billion-dollar manufacturing of the weapons. Logically, slowing down gun manufacturing, along with putting a complete halt on assault-weapon manufacturing, would create a domino effect, thus making it difficult to obtain illegal weaponry. Of course, the day the National Rifle Association allows a precipitous drop in gun manufacturing is the day Jackson’s streets are pothole free.

As long as the gun culture is ingrained in American society, organizations like the NRA will remain as American as apple pie. The gun culture was birthed by historical American conflicts, which is ironic considering that more Americans have died from guns since 1970 than have died in all the wars in U.S. history since the American Revolution. After such conflicts end, the Second Amendment is always there to carry the gun-culture torch like the Olympic Flame. It is defined as the right to bear arms against a “well-regulated militia,” a phrase that plays to the paranoia of a large amount of American citizens. It has led many reasonable Americans to believe their guns are the last line of defense between them and government tyranny.

The twisting and turning of the Second Amendment by special-interest groups and politicians for monetary reasons have convinced many that guns and God belong side-by-side as the true beacon of American freedom.

So, unless the gun culture is addressed with very real and very open discussion and dialogue, equal-opportunity bullets will continue to rain down upon gay, straight, black, white, Muslim and Christian American citizens.

Leslie B. McLemore II is a Jackson native, now in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Jackson State University, North Carolina Central University School of 14 Law and American University Washington College of Law. June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

The day the NRA allows a ... drop in gun manufacturing is the day Jackson’s streets are pothole free.

It’s Time to Fight for Disability Rights

A

t its core, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act is about discrimination.

The federal act was passed in 1990, and Title II “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities.” Cities and states were and are required to follow the law, still today. The intention of ADA is to ensure that those with disabilities—from mental illness to physical handicaps—are able to access public services, programs and activities.

That’s where the City and State come in.

ADA compliance was and is a slow process for states and cities, alike. Throughout the ’90s, the federal government worked with states and municipalities to address discrimination and care for those in communities with disabilities.

Then in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Olmstead case that not only are those with disabilities supposed to have access to the same services as everyone else; they also needed to be integrated into communities as a first and best choice— not shipped off to institutions.

There’s a reason for this. Research shows over and over again that institutionalization and hospitalization do nothing to help those with disabilities improve their conditions or enhance their quality of life. Community-based services are supposed to be the remedy for, and a better alternative.

States and municipalities that didn’t follow Olmstead began to face lawsuits, and the U.S. Department of Justice launched an effort to enforce the ruling in 2009.

Mississippi and Jackson are both subjects in

litigation as a result. The state is facing an Olmstead and ADA lawsuit and has been since 2010, for failing to provide enough community- and home-based services for children with mentalhealth needs.

Jackson is the subject of an ADA-compliance lawsuit and is still under a consent decree to provide public transit for those who live in the city with disabilities— service that must be at the same level as those who do not have disabilities.

Technically, the State and the City are long overdue in properly applying ADA regulations and Olmstead standards in their systems of care.

No signs of change seemed apparent until lawsuits hit, anyway, but now, at least in Jackson’s case, a consent decree should mean change that matters, change that’s life-giving and essential for some people in our city.

We need to address the City’s inability to accommodate community members with disabilities.

Public transit is a good place to start because due to our lackluster and lagging infrastructure, some citizens with disabilities are completely dependent on JATRAN to make it to their medical appointments, in addition to access to their everyday needs such as groceries. For many Jacksonians, if JATRAN fails, so do their opportunities for independence.

The City and the State are both in obvious budget crunches, but if we don’t look in the mirror and address the problems in front of us, it could mean costly litigation in the future and—more importantly—affect local lives, silence voices and end with people ignored and forgotten.

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

Eddie Outlaw To Fetch A Pail Of Water

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his summer marks 25 years since I came out of the closet. Today, coming out happens so often in the world of the Hollywood A-listers, athletes, journalists and elected officials that it hardly makes news. Harvey Milk said we must come out and, while not everyone can right now, plenty visible folks are twirling out of the closet, wire hangers and all.

Back in the summer of ’91, all we had was Pedro on “The Real World” and the occasional queer best friend in TV and movies. Hell, as far as I knew, I was the only homosexual to come out of Humphreys County. That’s one of the worst things about being a gay kid: the solitude in which you live. If you can’t point to something that “looks like you,” then you’re forced to look inward for comfort.

Or, at least I did. I spent many a fearful night alone, not because I was longing for someone to love me, but because I didn’t feel that I belonged anywhere.

Imagine how I felt at 19, standing in a bar full of my people for the first time. No, wait. First try to imagine the courage it took to accept the invitation from a friend to come along to that gay bar.

I’d just told a friend that I “thought I was gay.” That was a big step for me. Saying those words out loud for the first time—to a living breathing human—was indeed very liberating, but I wasn’t ready to do high kicks in the food court at the mall just yet. In my mind, saying those words was just the first step of many steps that led me to shouting from the proverbial rooftop today.

I left that conversation without quantifying that it was just between us. Soon, to my dismay, a small gaggle of queens was standing on my doorstep asking if I’d let them take me for my first trip to a gay bar.

“We have one of those!?!” I asked innocently.

Congregating with other gays was on my list of steps, but I hadn’t even begun to think that far ahead. I had just moved from “I might be bisexual” to “I think I’m gay,” and now they wanted me to skip important steps like “brush up on gay slang” and “perfect the gay face.”

After several minutes of brow beating at the hands of this group of homos, I said yes. Then, we discussed outfits. I figured my extensive library of music from all the typical divas—on cassette, no less—and a love for theatrics qualified me to jump ahead a bit.

Later that night, said gaggle of gays came to pick me up. While one smoothed my hair flip and another re-knotted my woven leather belt, each took turns dolling out advice.

“Don’t drink from an opened beer given by a stranger,” one said cautiously. “Unless you want to get dosed.”

“Dosed?” I asked.

“We go to the bathroom in pairs.” My friend said, while rolling up my sleeves.

“What are we, girls, now?” I asked.

He smirked. “Eddie, we pair up so nothing screwy happens in the bathroom.”

“OK ... “ I muttered, wondering what could possibly happen at a urinal—in a gay bar—that required backup.

Another cocked a brow and caught my attention. “Do not, under any circumstance, take off your shirt.”

“Obviously!” I returned. I was no supermodel, and God knows I had body issues that very nearly made it impossible to trust myself when shopping. “Why on earth would I take off my shirt?” I asked.

“That’s what trashy queens and muscle-heads do,” he replied. He then advised me that I was a “twink” and “preppy,” so I

“This is where I belong,” I thought to myself. “We are everywhere.”

should align myself accordingly.

“But I just started growing my hair out,” I implored.

“Why on earth?!!” said one of the queens, appearing to clutch a string of imaginary pearls.

“I like Dan Cortez’s hair,” I said matterof-factly. “I’m going with the ‘grunge’ thing that’s happening now.” The Seattle music scene was coming into its own and, like a visionary, I had predicted flannel and ripped jeans as the future. “I’m even thinking of getting my ears pierced,” I added.

“No ma’am!” squealed the gaggle, in unison—like they’d rehearsed it.

“Eddie, honey, let me be frank: You are transitioning,” he said while doing flamboyant air-quotes. “You are not a coffee shopopen-mic-night-garage-band type. You are a sweet boy from the Delta who just happens to be preppy. Trust me.”

I was, at once, flattered and insulted.

Adopting “grunge” wasn’t just a fashion statement for me. I was trying to get away from that former self that hid in a flock of preps, blending in and playing along. I wanted to be different while setting out in my new life.

“Eddie, you’ll see when you get there,” he said, sensing my unease. “Stick with me, kid. We can’t have you looking like you just rolled off the turnip wagon, now can we?”

I was shocked. Not at the part where he implied I was a country bumpkin who

didn’t know how to act. I was taken aback that there were “types” of homosexuals.

I naively thought that the gay community was just that: a community. Not another version of high school where you had to worry about what table to sit at or what clique to run with.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked.

He looked even more sympathetic and narrowed in on my naïveté. “Nelly, you’re not to leave my side tonight,” he demanded.

“You’re too gullible for your own good.”

Then added, “Thank God we found you when we did!” and they all cackled.

I couldn’t help but think that, without these new friends, I’d have stumbled into a pack of “math and science nerds” or “band geeks.” Thank God, indeed.

We made the drive into Jackson as Erasure blared from the speakers of the teal green Honda Accord. The driver steered off Interstate 55 and onto High Street.

Moments later, we were on the west end of downtown, pulling into a gravel lot. The bar was called Jack and Jill’s, and it was in a two-story building on the far end of Capitol Street across from the then-boarded-up King Edward Hotel.

A long line had formed at a gate that led to the courtyard just outside the bar. My heart fluttered when I heard the bass booming from inside. I looked at all the people in line and wondered how many more of these people like me were inside.

This was the first time I felt hopeful about being out. This was the first time I whispered to myself, almost like a prayer, “What if I find ‘the one’ tonight?”

For years to come, I still got that giddy feeling while standing in line outside a gay bar. I never went in search of drugs or for the liquor; I was never caught up in the social structure or politics of the scene. I was always there, ever hopeful that my future love was waiting for me. I hate to make a “Sex and the City” reference here—although Jackson was as close as I’d ever been to New York City, so it might as well have been—but I’ve always been the Charlotte: ever hopeful, always looking and naïve to the core.

I couldn’t know it then, but that feeling that I was “congregating” with people like me would lead me to the belief that a gay bar was the closest thing we, as a people, had for a church. It was the summer of ’91, and being gay was only just becoming acceptable.

I stood on my toes, trying to look beyond the line onto the patio, and the courtyard looked to be full of my people. My heart swelled with pride.

“This is where I belong,” I thought to myself. “We are everywhere.”

Eddie Outlaw is co-owner of the William Wallace Salon in Fondren and spends most of his time trying not to embarrass his sweet Delta 15 mother on social media.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

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Uneasy Riders

People with Disabilities Face

‘Layers of Discrimination’ O

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

n Sundays, Dr. Scott Crawford rides his power wheelchair down Meadowbrook Road to church, usually in the road and against the flow of traffic.

The city’s public-transit service, JATRAN, does not run on Sundays, and, as of June 20, the service is running without six of its routes due to vehicle maintenance on 13 buses in the fleet. National Express, the company that manages maintenance on the buses, stated in a release that the routes will return as soon as vehicles become available.

This puts disabled residents in a difficult position, because every day can soon come to look just like Sunday without public transit: a long ride on a dangerous road.

Occasionally, a police patrol vehicle tries to warn Crawford and guide him back onto the sidewalk, which has utility poles placed periodically smack-dab in the middle of the walkway and no ramps to allow for wheelchair-to-sidewalk access.

“It happened about six weeks ago, when I was trying to go to church,” Crawford said during an interview at his home on June 15 of the police intervention.

“There’s no JATRAN on Sunday, at all, nothing. So therefore there is no paratransit.

So I ride my chair.”

Even though the public-transit system cannot serve Crawford on Sunday, the sidewalks do him no good if he can’t get to them.

“There is a sidewalk on Meadowbrook, but it is not accessible,” Crawford said. “We never brought it into compliance with ADA when we were supposed to, by 1995.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a civil-rights bill, dictated antidiscriminatory policies for government and private entities to create accessibility for persons with disabilites. Some roads in Jackson lack the necessary ramps, if they even have sidewalks at all.

Riding a wheelchair in the street, of course, is potentially life-threatening. Smart Growth America, an advocacy group out of Washington, D.C., pushes for long-term 18 civic planning or, as its website states, “works

with communities to fight sprawl and save money.” In a 2014 report on pedestrian fatalities, “Dangerous by Design 2014,” the group reports that in Jackson in the nine years between 2003 and 2012, there were 96 pedestrian deaths, compared to a total of 1,098 traffic deaths.

To Crawford, it is indeed a civil-rights struggle, and one that he compares to the lunch counter sit-ins of the 1960s. “This is my Woolworth counter,” Crawford said.

“And yeah, I know I could lose my life; they knew they could lose their lives.”

When Crawford cannot even reach the sidewalk, he uses the road—to raise awareness of a human-rights issue many people simply ignore.

“They don’t get it because they don’t see people like me rolling on the street,” Crawford said. “And they never will until they see people like me rolling down the street.”

Wholesale Discrimination

To Crawford, the lack of accessibility represents a culture unaware of the plight of their fellow citizens with disabilities.

More than just difficulty for citizens that use wheelchairs, it is wholesale, systematic discrimination.

“It is layer upon layer upon layer of discrimination, and it all intersects,” Crawford said. “Our society’s fundamental interdependency: If we are leaving someone behind, we are harming ourselves.”

Crawford, along with others, eventually grew tired of complaining to local authorities and in September 2008 entered into a federal lawsuit against the City of Jackson, demanding their rights under the ADA. After one year of litigation, the United States government, represented by lawyers from the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division, joined the fray in July 2009. With their assistance, the City and the plaintiffs reached an agreement, called a consent decree, outlining commitments the City must meet.

These guidelines include the creation of an ADA advisory board, an ADA coordinator position within City government,

Imani Khayyam

by Tim Summers, Jr.

Dr. Scott Crawford advocates for equal access for Jacksonians, from buses to sidewalks. He calls ignoring ADA laws a civil-rights violation.

and sets a structure for record-keeping.

It requires that the City “shall maintain in operative condition the accessibility features on all existing vehicles.” As Cityowned buses fall out of working condition, there are questions about how the City is adhering to its side of the agreement.

“It took two years to get the consent decree. Thankfully, the Department of Justice got involved. And that was a great thing, and I am very grateful,” Crawford said. “But it only lasted three years.”

The U.S. District Court of Southern Mississippi recently granted an extension of the consent decree until late 2016; however, some citizens with disabilities still report unfulfilled or “no-show” requests for paratransit, also known as the handilift service, which picks up citizens in a bus designed to carry people in wheelchairs.

Handilift’s Missed Riders Mick Hintz, one such citizen with disabilities, moved to Jackson a few months ago, and at the urging of Crawford, started keeping a log of his missed handilift appointments.

The handilift service is a separate small fleet of buses equipped with a mechanism to assist members of the disabled community through a scheduled reservation-based program. It includes a hotline and complaint process as well.

“I moved from Clinton to Jackson so that I could take advantage of public transportation,” Hintz said. “I’ve had more failures than successes with them.”

Hintz, who was waiting for a handilift appointment while on the phone for the June 8 interview, explained that out of all the problems with the service, price was not one of them. Disabled riders purchase $2 vouchers that they turn in for their rides, and if the service misses the appointment, the consent decree then grants the rider, still without a ride, vouchers as compensation.

“It’s about the same as riding the regular bus. I’m not complaining about the price,” Hintz said, pointing out that his problem was with the voucher penalty for missed appointments.

“It’s not enough of a penalty, in my opinion,” Hintz said. “It doesn’t pain them

“JATRAN has been a troubled service for a long time,” Director of Planning Eric Jefferson said.

ed public comments about the problem. We discuss them in our JATRAN advisory committee meetings every other month with the city and National Express—they come to the meetings too,” she said.

With the conditions of the buses deteriorating as quickly as public confidence, it is a wonder which will give first: the buses or the people’s patience.

“At one point, the drivers have been kind of refusing to take the buses out because they are in so ill repair: They don’t have air, the bus may not be working properly or whatever,” Cole said. “And the bus drivers have to ride on the bus, air or no air.”

‘No Sugar-Coating That’

“JATRAN, to be quite candid with you, is in a crisis,” Eric Jefferson, director of the City of Jackson’s planning department, said during a phone interview on June 15.

“There’s no sugar-coating that.”

The sour taste associated with JATRAN is all due to maintenance, or lack there of, in years past, Jefferson said.

“We have had issues because we’ve had a large number of downed buses, meaning buses that are out of service due to, in need of, major repairs. And that has kept us from making the full pullout to provide service on all routes with the kind of headway that folks are normally used to,” Jefferson said.

The JATRAN fleet consists of 48 buses, split into two categories: the larger, GILLIG-style buses and the smaller, paratransit buses used for the handilift service.

The maintenance of these is crucial, Jefferson said, because they need just about every bus to run in order to meet the route loads for the day.

“We need about 19 paratransit, essentially the entire paratransit fleet, to provide efficient, reliable service,” Jefferson said.

“And those are the smaller buses that we use to carry our (riders with disabilities) that request it, and that is provided on a demandresponse type basis. ”

Combine that with an aging fleet and a City budget in crisis, and the future of public transit in Jackson seems dicey.

“We have an older fleet. A lot of them are nearing the end of their useful life,” Jefferson said. “We are more prone to having breakdowns and failures because we have a significant number of buses that have a lot of vehicle miles on them and are aged.”

“So with an older vehicle you have to put a little more time and effort to prevent any major catastrophic failures. It’s like with a car, the older your car is the more likely you are to have problems that you wouldn’t have in the first three or four years, when it was new,” Jefferson said.

Attached to that maintenance is a dollar sign, one that carries more weight for the City these days as it faces a budget crisis.

“It is a huge burden,” Jefferson said of the wear-and-tear that the constant service entails, adding that now the problem is reaching new levels. “JATRAN has been a troubled service for a long time. We have had issues with buses breaking down regularly for a long time.

But where we are right now is, I believe, unprecedented because I have never heard of routes not being run because of buses being down.”

Jefferson said that the City has placed a priority on repairing the fleet, 13 of which are now out of service.

“But we are attempting to work with the contractor to get those buses into a state of good repair, and the contractor has been developing a strategic plan to outline the necessary steps and actions needed to make sure we are delivering a high-quality transportation service,” he said.

Jefferson said the problems with the air-conditioning indicated the problem with the past contractors that ran JATRAN. “We had a number of buses, particularly on our handilift vehicles that had been poorly maintained,” he said. “The air conditioner had been poorly maintained in the past.”

The new contractor, National Express, took the buses to “reputable” service locations, he added, “who, upon seeing the state of maintenance of air conditioning refused to touch them in some cases.

It was deplorable.”

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

“People are getting late pickups for their trips,” Cole said. “Now, since the seniorcitizens program has merged with JATRAN since October 1, so now they are picking up seniors to take them to the centers, to take them to their appointments as well.”

Because of the increased demand, and the lack of supply to meet it, wait times for paratransit can fluctuate. “They are supposed to be able to pick me up in a reasonable time to take me to my appointment,” Cole added. “I have to take whatever is available.”

“I missed a doctor’s appointment two weeks ago … supposed to be picked up at 12:55 for a 1:30 doctor’s appointment. I never did get picked up. They never showed up, and I just canceled it,” Cole said, which is unfortunate because, she explained, “for the most part, that’s my primary transportation, on the bus.”

Taxis offer another option for the disabled, Cole said, but at a much greater expense. “But by the time you get on a cab to get where you are going, you have spent about $15 to $30 to get where you are going. So rather than pay for a cab, $2 one way is more reasonable for the transportation.”

Cole, even as chairwoman of the advisory board, is at wit’s end with the City’s complaint process. “We have had meetings; we have gone down to City Hall and provid-

Imani Khayyam

enough when they fail to meet the requirements of the consent decree. If they had to pay me a hundred bucks every time, they’d be making pickups. They would be getting it right.”

“I wasn’t around to deal with JATRAN and the consent decree before National Express showed up, but apparently things have gotten a lot worse,” Hintz said.

National Express, the North American division of the multi-national public transit corporation of the same name, won the contract to manage the JATRAN system in October 2015.

Hintz decided to take action and joined the handilift advisory committee, a group that addresses the City’s ADA Committee, which in turn advises the city council on steps it can take to remove barriers between the disabled community and equal access to public transportation.

“The problem is that these older people complain verbally, and they are not online, they don’t have emails, they don’t do cell phones,” Hintz said. “I’m a young guy with computer skills, so I am going to start keeping track of every time I have a schedule whether it is made or missed. And they are missing more than they are making.”

The U.S. Census Bureau, in a 2010 paper, stated that 1.5 percent of the nation’s population age 18 to 64 years old uses a wheelchair to get around. Apply that percentage to Jackson’s Census-estimated 2010 total population, 173,593, trimmed out for those below and above the age limit, and the total estimated wheelchair riding population of Jackson is 973.

Parse out the same numbers for those 65 and older that are wheelchair-bound, 5.2 percent, and the population stays about the same at 902. That is an estimated total wheelchair population for Jackson six years ago of 1,875.

“We are all in the same boat. Everybody fights this,” Hintz said. “Everybody that has a disability that tries to use the public transportation has the same set of difficulties.”

Lee Cole, chairwoman of the ADA advisory council for the City of Jackson, said she does not believe the public-transit system complies with the ADA consent decree.

“They are not completely in compliance,” Cole said in a June 8 interview.

“There are issues and problems that people run into constantly with the scheduling and buses not being available to make the trip, buses breaking down. The big problem we have right now is no air-conditioning on the buses.”

Living without air conditioning in the South is no joke, not just an issue of sweat, but of safety.

“Some buses, there may be some air in the front of the bus, but the air conditioner in the back of the bus isn’t working,” Cole said.

JATRAN recently merged a seniorcitizens program with the handilift service, Cole said, increasing the load on the already-strained resources of the publictransit system.

more Uneasy, see page 20 19

Uneasy Riders,

from page 19

“Now that’s not National Express’s fault. These are problems coming from years of poor maintenance on the part of past contractors,” Jefferson said. “I can say that definitively.”

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

the City to pay a flat fee for maintenance, “presumably to save cost.”

“What these new people have said is that these buses that we are inheriting from the past operator are in terrible shape,” Priester said during a June 15 interview. “So that’s why all of the buses are breaking down.”

At the moment, the contractor absorbs the cost for the routine maintenance, Jefferson said, while the larger costs, like replacing a door, are passed through to the city council for final approval. In short, the City owns the Imani Khayyam

Change in Contract

Jefferson said the public-transit system will survive despite the current financial climate in the City.

“The mayor has defined public health and safety, in terms of the budget crisis, as far as public services we need to provide,” he said. “And while it might not necessarily seem to be obvious that public health and transit are related, they very much are because transit provides independence for people, and it also provides riders an opportunity to get to their health-care location.”

“Anytime they can’t depend on our transportation system to get them to those places,” Jefferson said, “we jeopardize people’s health, so it is important that we have a good working transportation system.” (Remember Lee Cole and her missed doctor’s appointment?)

“That’s embarrassing if you have people who can’t go and get, and you can’t even call it basic care, but specialist treatments,” Mayor Tony Yarber said during a June 15 interview. “People can’t even rely on us to get them to work.”

Yarber said that he had made solving the transit problems a top priority for his administrative heads.

“I tasked the Chief Administrative Office and the city planning director (Eric Jefferson) the other day with coming up with remedy,” Yarber said. “It may find us in some litigation, I don’t know, but at this point I don’t even care. We have to do what is best for these folks.”

If the City is committed to the transit system, and the poor maintenance in the past is the cause of our present problems, how is the new contractor different? Jefferson said it is all in the structure of the agreement between the new contractor, National Express, compared to the old set-up of JATRAN.

“We were advised at the time that the style of contract we had, which is basically what we call an administration contract, was where a contractor sends one guy in to oversee the operations,” Jefferson said of the 2015 model before the City switched to the present contractor.

“The City set up a shell corporation to basically be the agency, to be JATRAN. These were not city employees; these were employees of the shell corporation, kind of a semi-private, I guess we should say semi-public, operation, and so everything kind of got funneled through that shell corporation.”

The last contractor for the City’s JATRAN operation was PTM of Jackson, a local representative of Transdev North 20 America out of Lombard, Ill, Jefferson said.

In October 2015 the City switched contracts to National Express, effectively absorbing the administrative sections of JATRAN.

Media representatives from Transdev did not respond to inquiries by press time; JFP will update this story online if comments are received.

“So what we did was change the contracting model to where operations and maintenance, although it was a part of the shell corporation, now was the responsibility entirely of an outside contractor, and we brought the administrative side of it into the city,” Jefferson said.

Mayor Tony Yarber said on June 15 that the City’s inability to provide adequete public transport was “embarassing,” pledging to make it a top priority.

“That allowed us to reduce some of the personnel costs that we were experiencing through the shell corporation, having to pay for HR and other personnel that when you broke it out that way, you didn’t need to pay those people anymore.”

Molly Hart, manager for public relations and media for National Express, said that the company was in the process of addressing the maintenance issues.

“We took over the maintenance department of the buses. And, as you know, the buses aren’t in great working condition and weren’t when we walked in, in October.”

Hart said that the company performed an audit of the fleet, and many of the buses needed work, including transmissions and air conditioning systems.

“When we inherited this fleet, and in regards to the air conditioning, the previous company that used to oversee the buses didn’t put in the air conditioners the right way. So that is why the new vendors won’t touch it.”

Hart said the company did not have a timeline for the repairs. However, the buses that were operating did have functioning air conditioning.

City Council President Melvin Priester Jr., of Ward 2, said that the new model allows

buses, and National Express maintains them.

“The routine maintenance is their responsibility and is paid by them or absorbed by their payment structure,” Jefferson said. “When you get into major repairs like engines and replacing differentials, those are big-ticket items, those are things the City has to pay for not necessarily outside of the contract, but more as a pass-through.”

The City will keep a closer eye on the contractors now, Jefferson said.

“We’ve been meeting with them regularly to get reports from them on how their preventive maintenance is going,” he said. “We are also inspecting their preventive maintenance records to make sure they are providing it in the timely manner we expect.”

Jefferson said that there was a comparison to be made between the problems JATRAN faces and the infrastructure challenges the City deals with on a daily basis.

“The lack of maintenance or the lack of thought put into routine maintenance isn’t just limited to our streets,” Jefferson said. “Yeah, the underground utilities are a problem as well, but even our transportation system has suffered in that same way.”

For the Moment

As for the next steps that residents with disabilities can take to address the poor handilift services, Crawford said that the consent decree can only do so much.

“So what DOJ tends to do is pick high-priority cases that can be used as a warning to everyone else. And JATRAN’s consent decree was one of those times where we won the lottery,” Crawford said. “And that’s a good thing, but it isn’t enough.”

For Crawford, promises of vouchers are poor substitutes for missed pickups, for being left out late at night, or for having to ride in the road.

“ADA has weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that there are very poor consequences,” Crawford said. “The only real consequences is that the federal government could say we withdraw all federal aid to your location.”

The irony, then, is that the final punishment the DOJ wields ends up hurting those that the consent decree is designed to protect.

“In particular, it punishes the very folks that want access,” Crawford said.

“Without the federal funds, we can’t operate JATRAN. The feds know that, and to some degree the jurisdictions know that.”

“They know that the gun is up to the heads of the very disadvantaged people who are asking for compliance,” Crawford added, placing his index finger on his temple.

As for the buses, Jefferson said that the plan is to slowly replace the fleet and to watch over the contractor’s commitment to maintenance more closely. But with the GILLIP buses costing the city over $375,000 each, Jefferson said, finding available funds might be an issue.

The City did, however, recently purchase two new buses, although they are on-back order, but Jefferson said they expect them next year. “So we will be looking at replacing our fleet systematically over the course of the next few years so hopefully we can eliminate a lot of our older, high-mileage buses that are going to have constant problems in terms of maintenance.”

“They aren’t cheap,” Jefferson said.

“Some of our buses were not really the best buses to have for our infrastructure, for our road environment. They burn out fast. You have to put a lot more time and money into them. They are just too lightweight for the road conditions here.’

But for some, like Crawford, it would be simpler if the City would adhere to ADA regulations, like building accessible sidewalks. “Please, just for goodness-sake, follow the law,” he said.

Email city reporter Tim Summers, Jr. at tim@jacksonfreepress.com See more local news at jfp.ms/localnews.

WEDNESDAY 6/22

Pub Quiz W I T H A NDREW M C L ARTY 7:30P M

THURSDAY 6/23

SPIRITS

johnnytsbistroandblues.com 538 N. FARISH ST. DOWNTOWN JACKSON, MS

HISTORIC FARISH STREET DISTRICT

OPEN DAILY 4:30PM - 2AM

HAPPY HOUR Tuesday - Friday 4:30 pm - 7 pm 1/2 off drink menu.... 2 for 1 shots FREE FOOD

OF THE HOUSE 8PM

FRIDAY 6/24

JOE

CARROLL 9P M

SATURDAY 6/25

Interested in interviewing musicians, reviewing albums and networking within Jackson’s music community?

The Jackson Free Press is looking for

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interested in covering the city’s music scene.

Please e-mail inquiries to

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MUSIC_INT

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_________________________

WEDNESDAY 6/22

NEW BOURBON STREET JAZZ BAND

Thursday, June 23

Restaurant - 6 - 8:30 pm _________________________

THURSDAY 6/23

D’LO TRIO

Restaurant - 7 - 9 pm - Free _________________________

FRIDAY 6/24

ALEX FRASER & ALEX PIESCHEL Restaurant - 7 - 10 pm - Free

_________________________

SATURDAY 6/25

COWBOY MOUTH colin lake

unique style of rock n’ roll gumbo

Friday, June 24

FLOW TRIBE

new orleans’ own fine purveyors of backbone cracking music

CROOKED CREEK

Restaurant - 7 - 10 pm - Free _________________________

MONDAY 6/27

CENTRAL MS BLUES SOCIETY PRESENTS:

BLUE MONDAY Restaurant - 7 - 10pm

$3 Members $5 Non-Members _________________________

TUESDAY 6/28

PUB QUIZ w/ Jimmy Quinn

<< Directly following MS Craft Beer Festival >>

Friday, July 1 REVEREND HORTON HEAT unknown hinson, koffin kats, lincoln durham

rockabilly, psychobilly, country, surf, rock n’ roll

Saturday, July 16

LARRY RASPBERRY “rock & roll will make you rant & rave”

9P M

Restaurant - 7:30pm - $2 to Play _________________________

Thursday, July 21

M ONDAY 6/27

MARK ROEMER AND JAMIE WEEMS Restaurant - 6 - 8pm - Free

DIALOGUE chicago tribute band

KARAOKE WITH

MATT COLLETTE

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TUESDAY 6/28

OPEN MIC WITH

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WINNER: Best Open Mic Night Best Place to Drink Cheap

WEDNESDAY 6/29

_________________________

UPCOMING 7/16:

OYSTER OPEN Benefitting the Harold T. & Hal White Scholarship Fund Hinds Community College

1PM Shotgun Start Eagle Ridge Golf Course 1500 Raymond Lake Road, Raymond MS Entry Fee: $125.00 per person $250 per team For Info call: Hal & Mal’s 601.948.0888 Brandi Lee 601.906.3418 PJ Lee 601.260.7574

_________________________ OFFICIAL

HOUSE VODKA

901 E FORTIFICATION STREET

Visit HalandMals.com for a full menu and concert schedule

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Downtown Jackson, MS

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Sunday, July 24

CANDLEBOX

an intimate acoustic duo performance

Saturday, July 30 Mississippi Public Broadcasting Presents:

LISA MILLS

full band for amped & wired live taping

Sunday, July July 31 31 Sunday,

STAR & MICEY

memphis, tn indie/folk/pop outfit

JX//RX

COMPLETE SHOW LISTINGS & TICKETS

dulinghall.com

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

NEVER A COVER!

21

LIFE&STYLE | food&drink

Latin Flavors

by Onelia Hawa

U

pbeat Latin music fills the dining area at El Sabor Latin Cuisine in Ridgeland. Once you open the restaurant’s double-door entrance, you walk into a lofty, welcoming space adorned with pool tables, wooded dining furniture and bar, colorful Mexican fruit sodas and a checkered floor.

El Sabor, which translates to “The Taste,” is a hole-in-the-wall authentic Imani Khayyam

22

Latin American eatery located off Old Canton Road. It’s in a small Latinowned shopping complex, neighbored

by Panadería Mexico, a Mexican bakery, and La Morena, a Mexican restaurant.

El Sabor got its start just over a year ago in March 2015 when El Sabor’s owner, Gaspar Peréz, decided to partner with the previous location’s owner, who kept a Latin meat market. Peréz says plans fell through, and the meat-market owner left the business and returned to Mexico, leaving Peréz with his investment and first solo business venture.

“I changed the name (to El Sabor), and we started a Central and South American menu,” Peréz said. “We started this restaurant because almost all of the (Hispanic-inspired restaurants) in the area are Mexican. You’re not going to really find another restaurant in Jackson that serves Latin Americaninspired food.”

Peréz says he had no prior experience managing and owning his own restaurant, but he has worked in American restaurants for the past seven years, including Newk’s Eatery and Logan’s Roadhouse.

“I knew how the kitchen is basically run, but it is different when you have a boss versus when you are your own boss running a business,” Peréz says.

The restaurant is visually divided into different sections: the bar, dining

Imani Khayyam

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

Gaspar Peréz opened El Sabor Latin Cuisine in 2015.

area, the register, which sells calling cards for the majority-Latin community that frequents El Sabor, four pool tables and a wall lined with shelving for products used in the restaurant’s ethnic cooking.

The open kitchen behind the bar allows patrons drinking a beer and watching sports on the plasma TVs to see their food being made.

El Sabor translates to “The Taste,” which Peréz says lets every diner know they will leave having experienced the authentic flavor of what Latin American foods offer.

Peréz says the most popular plates the restaurant serves are Honduran, which include pollo con tajadas (fried chicken with fried plantains), baleadas (thick and fluffy tortillas filled with mashed fried beans and a variety of other fillings) and yucca con chicharrón (a starchy potato equivalent with pork belly). More favorites include traditional Mexican staples such as tortas (sandwiches), fajitas, carne asadas (sliced and charred flank steak), agua frescas (a sweetened drink blended with fruit, sugar and water) and enchiladas.

David Jimenez, 41, from South Mexico, has been coming to El Sabor since the restaurant opened. “(El Sabor) cooks exactly how I like it, with Latin flavor, and as if it was made at home,” Jimenez told the Jackson Free Press.

Peréz wants El Sabor to be the prime sports bar in Ridgeland. He plans to bring more TVs and chairs into the restaurant so guests can come

Fajitas are one of the popular dishes at El Sabor Latin Cuisine.

and eat a plate of food, drink a beer and watch sports.

El Sabor Latin Cuisine (6610 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, 769-251-1154) is open Sunday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, find the business on Facebook.

JFPmenus.com Paid advertising section. Call 601-362-6121 x11 to list your restaurant

BARS, PUBS & BURGERS

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Best Burger frequent finalist, plus plate lunches, live music and entertainment!

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Pub favorites meet Gulf Coast and Cajun specialties like red beans and rice, the Oyster Platter or daily specials.

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for an after-game pizza party!

Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Restaurant and Lounge 4PVUI 4UBUF 4U +BDLTPO t Lunch specials, pub appetizers or order from the full menu of po-boys and entrees. Full bar, beer selection.

Ole Tavern on George Street (FPSHF 4U +BDLTPO t Pub food with a southern flair: beer-battered onion rings, chicken & sausage gumbo, salads, sandwiches.

601.368.1919 SalandMookies.com 565 Taylor St, Jackson, MS 39216

MEDITERRANEAN/GREEK

Aladdin Mediterranean Grill -BLFMBOE %S +BDLTPO t

Delicious authentic dishes including lamb dishes, hummus, falafel, kababs, shwarma.

MEXICAN/LATIN

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Serving fresh, authentic Mexican food in Mississippi. We pride ourselves on fresh ingredients and authenticity as well as atmosphere and guest satisfaction.

Taqueria Valdez in Carniceria Valdez )XZ +BDLTPO t Delicious Mexican dishes including burritos, enchiladas, menudo and much more. Dine in or take out.

STEAK & SEAFOOD

Ellis Seafood .FBEPXCSPPL 3E +BDLTPO t

8 8PPESPX 8JMTPO "WF t &MMJT "WF Serving Jackson over 25 years with our freshly fried seafood and boiled cajun shrimp, snow crab legs, and seasonal crawfish.

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MONDAY - THURSDAY 11:00 - 2:00 pm 5:00 - 9:30 pm FRIDAY 11:00 - 2:00 pm 5:00 - 10:30

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Fresh seafood, powerful po-boys, lunch special, boiled seafood specials, full bar and drink specials all week!

Join us for Monday All-Night Happy Hour, Trivia Night on Tuesdays and bucket specials on Thursdays and Saturdays.

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June 22 - 28, 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ jfp.ms

Seafood, Steaks and Pasta

SUNDAY 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

23

THURSDAY 6/23

SATURDAY 6/25

SUNDAY 6/26

The Argentine and Chilean Wine Dinner is at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar.

The Sixth Annual Independence Showdown Battle of the Bands is at Newell Field.

The Pride Brunch is at The Iron Horse Grill.

BEST BETS June 22 - 29, 2016

(Left to right) Morgan Pennington and Winn McElroy of And the Echo perform for the Mississippi Pride Celebration, Saturday, June 25, at Smith Park.

History Is Lunch is at noon at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Authors Teena Horn, Alan Huffman and Johnny Jones discuss the book “Lines Were Drawn: Remembering Court-Ordered Integration at a Mississippi High School.” Free; call 601-576-6998.

THURSDAY 6/23

courtesy Janice Singleton

Physics for Poets is from 6 to 9 p.m. at Sneaky Beans (2914 N. State St.). Deejay duo Physics for Poets, which features Silent G and DJ Brik A Brak, reunite for a performance after a hiatus. Free; call 601-487-6349; find the event on Facebook. … Cowboy Mouth performs at 7:30 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The rock band from New Orleans performs. Colin Lake also performs. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7121 or 877-987-6487; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

are welcome and receive free admission (must sign up). $30 in advance, $35 day of event, $10 designated driver; combination ticket for concert: $40 in advance, $45 at the door; fondren.org/mscraftbeerfest.

Mississippi Comic Con is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). The twoday event includes vendors, artists, fan groups and special guests such as actor Ernie Hudson, actress Rochelle Davis, Johnny Yong Bosch and more. Additional date: June 26, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. $15, $5 ages 3-8, ages 2 and under free, $25 two-day pass; call 354-7051; mississippicomiccon.com. …

The Mississippi Pride Celebration is at 2 p.m. at Smith Park

by Micah Smith (302 E. Amite St.). Includes speakers, food trucks, vendors, a drag show, music from And the jacksonfreepress.com Echo and more in conjunction Fax: 601-510-9019 with Mississippi Pride Weekend.

Daily updates at Blankets, chairs and coolers weljfpevents.com come. For all ages. Free; mspride. org. … Author Janice Singleton signs copies of “Caught: From Correctional Officer to Federal Inmate” June 25, 2 p.m., at Barnes & Noble Booksellers (Renaissance, 1000 Highland Colony Pkwy., Suite 3009). $21.99 book; call 601-605-4028; barnesandnoble.com.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

events@

FRIDAY 6/24

The 2016 Mississippi Craft Beer Festival is from 5 to 9 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The VIP hour is from 5-6 pm., and the general public attends from 6-9 p.m.

Sample more than 100 beers from 28 breweries. Flow Tribe 24 performs at 9 p.m. (combination ticket available). Volunteers

SUNDAY 6/26

1966 Walk Against Fear. The purpose of the walk is to encourage African Americans to achieve their potential. Free; call 662-483-0656; email info@meredithcitizen.org.

MONDAY 6/27

SATURDAY 6/25

Author Janice Singleton signs copies of her book, “Caught: From Correctional Officer to Federal Inmate,” Saturday, June 25, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Ridgeland.

courtesy And The Echo

WEDNESDAY 6/22

The 2016 Walk for Good and Right is from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center (528 Bloom St.). The walk to the Mississippi State Capitol is in commemoration of freedom icon Dr. James Meredith’s

“The Reunion” Dinner Theater is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Char (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). The Detectives present the four-act comedy “whodunnit.” Includes a three-course meal. RSVP. $49; call 601-291-7444 or 601937-1752; thedetectives.biz.

TUESDAY 6/28

The Jackson Area Web & App Developers June Meetup—Meetup #38 is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Coalesce Cooperative Work Environment (109 N. State St.).

Includes refreshments, networking, announcements and a discussion surrounding a tech-based topic. The guest speaker is J.C. Hyatt, CEO of Good, an interface design agency in Jackson. Other speakers include William A. Kuriger Jr. and Nadir Dabit. Free; call 601-812-8166; meetup.com.

WEDNESDAY 6/29

History Is Lunch is at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). Richard Grant discusses his book “Dispatches from Pluto.”

Free; call 601-576-6998. … Lunch & Learn: Measuring Your Success is from noon to 1 p.m. at the Mississippi Center for Nonprofits (201 W. Capitol St., Suite 700).

Learn to write measurable goals and objectives to direct your organization’s programs and services. Light lunch included. Registration required. $29, $19 members; call 601-968-0061; msnonprofits.org.

Jackson 2000 Summer Social June 23, 5:307 p.m., at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.).

Includes food from Taste of the Island, beer and wine from Jackson Free Press and a live deejay.

Free; jackson2000.org.

COMMUNITY Minority Male Leadership Initiative Summer Fest June 24, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at Hinds Community College Academic/Technical Center (3925 Sunset Drive). Learn about the program that provides mentoring, tutoring and free services to African American male students attending the Jackson Campus of Hinds Community College.

SLATE

KIDS Art is Word June 24, 7-10 p.m., at Big Sleepy’s (208 W. Capitol St.). Inspire Jackson hosts the open mic for youth who are poets, musicians or performance artists. Includes music from DJ Spre.

If you are performing with a music track, please provide a flash drive. $5 cover, $3 to perform; call 863-9516; email bigxsleepy@gmail.com; facebook.com/inspirejacktown.

Summer Learning Family Fun Day June 25, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). Includes hands-on learning activities, appearances from PBS Kids characters, a performance from Ed Said, giveaways and a chance to the join the MPB Kids Club. Free; call 960-2321; mpbonline.org/summerlearning.

the best in sports over the next seven days

by Bryan Flynn

Guest Chef Series June 28, 6:30 p.m. at Saltine Oyster Bar (622 Duling Ave., Suite 201). Enjoy a multi-course dinner with beer pairings and coffee from chef Phillip Esteban of The Cork and Craft, brew master Derek Gallanosa and Mike Arquines of Mostra Coffee. RSVP. $60 dinner, $15 optional beer pairing; call 982-2899; saltinerestaurant.com.

SPORTS & WELLNESS Mississippi BMX Race June 25-26, at Mag Ridge BMX Track (338 N.E. Madison Drive, Ridgeland). Participants complete for the State Championship Qualifier National Gold Cup Qualifier.

Contestants must register. Free for spectators; contestants: $25 June 25, $35 June 26; call 601572-7716; facebook.com/magridgebmx.

CONCERTS & FESTIVALS

After 52 years of frustration, the city of Cleveland has a championship. The 1964 Cleveland Browns won the city’s last title with an NFL Championship before the start of the Super Bowl.

Cowboy Mouth June 23, 7:30 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The rock band from New Orleans performs. Colin Lake also performs. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 877-987-6487; ardenland.net.

Thursday, June 23 NBA (6-11 p.m., ESPN): The Philadelphia 76ers own the top pick, and historic franchises the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics draft second and third in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Sixth Annual Independence Showdown Battle of the Bands June 25, 5-9 p.m., at Newell Field (800 Riverside Drive). Marching bands from Mississippi, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana perform. Includes a performance from the Mississippi Alumni Allstar Band.

Tickets also sold at Jim Hill High School. $6-$15; call 879-4627; eventbrite.com.

Friday, June 24 College baseball (7-10 p.m., ESPN): Watch game 12 of the 2016 College World Series, as the tournament begins to set up the final three-game series for the title.

Saturday, June 25 Soccer (7-9 p.m., FX): The third place match in the Copa America Centenario sees the losers of the two semifinals games face off.

Sunday, June 26 Soccer (7-9 p.m., FS1): Watch the last game in the Copa America Centenario, as the winners of the semifinal matches battle for the title of this major competition.

Monday, June 27 College baseball (6-10 p.m., ESPN): Game one kicks off a best-of-three series for the championship in the 2016 College World Series.

Tuesday, June 28 College baseball (7-11 p.m., ESPN): Game two of the 2016 College World Series championship series is a must-win matchup for the loser of game one.

Wednesday, June 29 College baseball (7-11 p.m., ESPN): Watch the third and deciding game of the 2016 College World Series, if necessary, with a champion will be crowned at the end of this game.

The Golden State Warriors had as many losses in the playoffs as they did during the entire regular season: nine games. Golden State was looking for back-to-back NBA Championships before its finals meltdown.

Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.

Includes food, video games, prizes and more.

Registration required. Free; call 601-987-8109; hub.hindscc.edu/M2M. Mississippi Comic Con June 25, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., June 26, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). The two-day event includes vendors, artists, fan groups and special guests such as actor Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters”), actress Rochelle Davis (“Grotesque”), Johnny Yong Bosch (“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”) and more. $15, $5 ages 3-8, ages 2 and under free, $25 twoday pass; call 354-7051; mississippicomiccon.com.

“Life’s a Garden: Dig It!” Flower Show June 25, 2-5 p.m., at Madison Square Center for the Arts (2103 Main St., Madison). The Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc. hosts. See horticulture, floral design, art and photography exhibits. Includes workshops on floral design, bees and native plants.

Free; call 853-0291; gardenclubsofmississippi.org.

FOOD & DRINK Argentine and Chilean Wine Dinner June 23, 7 p.m., at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). Includes a five-course dinner with wines from Vine Connection. Melanie Malosky of Vine Connection is the speaker. RSVP. $65 per person; call 982-8111; email tanyab@bravobuzz.com; bravobuzz.com.

2016 Mississippi Craft Beer Festival June 24, 5-9 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The VIP hour is from 5-6 pm., and the general public attends from 6-9 p.m. Sample more than 100 beers from 28 breweries. Flow Tribe performs at 9 p.m. (combination ticket available). Volunteers are welcome and receive free admission (must sign up). $30 in advance, $35 day of event, $10 designated driver; combination ticket for concert: $40 in advance, $45 at the door; call 601-292-7121; fondren.org/mscraftbeerfest.

EXHIBIT OPENINGS Fun Fridays June 24, 10 a.m.-noon, at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). Enjoy games, crafts, investigations and activities built around the theme of the travelling exhibit, “Goosebumps: The Science of Fear.” $4-$6; call 601-576-6000; mdwfp.com/museum.

THURSDAY

OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL 5-9 P.M.

FRIDAY

6/24

KANSAS BIBLE COMPANY 10 P.M.

SUNDAY

6/26

BEER BUCKET SPECIAL (5 Beers for $8.75)

ALL DAY LONG! MONDAY

Mississippi Pride Celebration June 25, 2 p.m., at Smith Park (302 E. Amite St.). Includes speakers, food trucks, vendors, a drag show, music from And the Echo and more in conjunction with Pride Weekend. Blankets, chairs and coolers welcome. For all ages. Free; mspride.org.

Pride Brunch June 26, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at The Iron Horse Grill (320 W. Pearl St.). Includes music, a waffle and omelet bar, bottomless brunch drinks and more in conjunction with Pride Weekend.

Prices vary; call 601-398-0151; mspride.org.

6/27

OPEN MIC NIGHT

$5 APPETIZERS (DINE IN ONLY)

LGBT Pride Night at the Braves June 24, 7 p.m., at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl). Watch the game and enjoy fireworks in conjunction with Pride Weekend. Reserve discounted tickets for $6.50 online or purchase for $5 at Smoak Salon.

Call 888-BRAVES4; mspride.org/braves.php.

6/23

TUESDAY

6/28

SHRIMP BOIL 5 - 10 PM

$1 PBR & HIGHLIFE $2 MARGARITAS 10pm - 12am

UPCOMING SHOWS 7/1 - Honey Island Swamp Band

BE THE CHANGE 2016 Walk for Good and Right June 26, 2-6 p.m., at Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center (528 Bloom St.). The walk to the Mississippi State Capitol is in commemoration of civil right icon James Meredith’s 1966 Walk Against Fear. Free; email info@meredithcitizen.org.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

7/22 - The Dexateens w/ Special Guest 7/23 - Young Valley w/ Cory Taylor Cox

See Our New Menu

WWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

214 S. STATE ST. DOWNTOWN JACKSON

601.354.9712

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

JFP-SPONSORED

25

*/5&3/ JASPER WELSCH

"5 5)& +'1 %POµU GFUDI DPGGFF

Welcome to

Hone your skills, gain valuable experience and college credit*.

Set your hours, and attend free training workshops.

Jackson, Mississippi

Marketing and Sales Development Coordinator

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Jasper Welsch has recently retired from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency where he served as an aide and advisor to the Executive Director. He has over 30 years of experience in state and local government, including law enforcement, firefighting, infrastructure, training and logistics. During his career, he’s dealt with state and federal laws and regulations; he’s also knowledgeable in construction management, plan reviews, building and fire code compliance and financial accountability.

s .EWS 2EPORTING s -USIC !RTS #ULTURE 7RITING s 0HOTOGRAPHY s 'RAPHIC $ESIGN s 3OCIAL -EDIA s -ARKETING %VENTS

Jasper is our marketing and sales development coordinator as well as a loan officer. He provides our team with leadership development, regulatory insight and a lot of little-known history about Mississippi.

Call him today!

jasper.welsch@guarantytrust.com Cell 601-995-6404

Guaranty Trust NMLS #135462

*OUFSFTUFE

E-mail interns@jacksonfreepress.com, telling us why you want to intern with us and what makes you the ideal candidate. *College credit available to currently enrolled college students in select disciplines.

Jasper Welsch NMLS#1503830

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June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

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Going with the Grey

Music listings are due noon Monday to be included in print and online listings: music@jacksonfreepress.com.

JUNE 22 - Wednesday

by Danie Matthews

Courtesy Shadz of Grey

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgerald’s - Skip MacDonald & Mike Mathis 7:30 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s - New Bourbon Street Jazz 6-8:30 p.m. free Kathryn’s - Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 6:30 p.m. free Kemistry - Open Mic Night 9 p.m.

601-665-2073 Old Capitol Inn - Jason Turner 6 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Barry Leach 6 p.m.

Shucker’s - Jason Stogner 7:30 p.m.

June 23 - Thursday

(Left to right) Bud Burthold, John Mason, Ron Smith, Rick Porter and Richard Smith of Jackson-based cover band Shadz of Grey perform Friday, June 24, at Pelican Cove Grill in Ridgeland.

J

ackson may not have the size of Nashville or New Orleans, but that doesn’t mean the capital city is short on options for live music, including a massive community of cover bands.

Since April 2008, Shadz of Grey has taken the stage at countless restaurants, venues and private events, performing classic rock, pop and R&B for audiences in the Jackson metro area and beyond.

The first iteration of the group formed after bassist Ron Smith and vocalist-guitarist Rick Porter teamed up to perform for a cancer benefit and memorial concert.

The musicians clicked onstage, and a week later, Porter called to ask when they’d be playing again.

Smith says transitioning into a band came almost innately for them. He had been playing bass since high school, and Porter joined a rock band as a teenager, first playing trumpet, but found his fascination with the guitar increased exponentially.

As the duo continued performing together, lead guitarist Monte Lott, drummer Ken Shaw and keyboardist Richard Smith joined to form the official band. Their first performance as a quintet was at a 2008 Keller Williams Realty function, which Ron says went well enough to spur them on to further gigs. After the first show, drummer Steve Cook joined and played with the band for six years before Bud Burthold took over on drums about a year ago.

Ron’s wife, Phyllis, is responsible for pinning the cover band with the Shadz of Grey moniker.

“People think we got our name from the movie ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’” he says.

“We’re all older guys, and there’s so much gray in the band so it just worked.”

Ron says their choice of music is what has helped them find a home in the Jackson music scene. The band’s expansive set list includes a variety of hits from the 1960s up to

the early 2000s, including tracks from Eric Clapton, The Eagles and Delbert McClinton. Porter says he thinks of Shadz of Grey as a dance band; if the people can groove to it, they will play it.

“That tends to draw people because people were looking for music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. So we typically perform at venues that cater to those kinds of crowds like Pelican Cove, the Jackson Yacht Club, Kathryn’s and Burgers & Blues.”

While Shadz of Grey is no stranger to the local restaurant and bar scene, the band has also performed at countless festivals around the state, including the Muscadine Jubilee in Pelahatchie, WellsFest in Jackson, the Bryam Swinging Bridge Festival and the Great Delta Bear Affair in Rolling Fork, where the band has played for four consecutive years.

“It’s always fun when you have a venue, and they keep asking you to come back,” Ron says.

Although they don’t plan on making the jump to a world tour or signing any record deals, the musicians of Shadz of Grey say they’re grateful for the band’s longevity and the fans that have been receptive to their sound. Porter says their love for playing music is the real reason they’ve continued performing for the better part of a decade.

“We’ve been around in the Jackson music community for a long time, and we’ve found that it either works or it doesn’t work, and a lot of times that’s how it starts,” he says. “We love what we do. Jackson is a great music town, and it’s full of really outstanding musicians. We are very fortunate to have the music scene we do have. If you want to hear good music, it’s easy to go out here and do that.”

Shadz of Grey performs at 7 p.m., Friday, June 24, at Pelican Cove Grill (3999 Harbor Walk Drive, Ridgeland). For more information, find Shadz of Grey on Facebook.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Duling Hall - Cowboy Mouth w/ Colin Lake 7:30 p.m. $15 advance $20 door ardenland.net Fenian’s - Spirits of the House Fitzgerald’s - Doug Hurd & Chris Link 5 p.m.; Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Stace & Cassie Georgia Blue, Madison - Aaron Coker Hal & Mal’s - D’Lo Trio 7-9 p.m. free Iron Horse Grill - Jimmy “Duck” Holmes 6 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Dylan Moss Band 6:30 p.m. free Kemistry - Ladies Night feat. 360 Degrees 9 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Andy Tanas 6 p.m.

Shucker’s - Acoustic Crossroads 7:30 p.m.

Sneaky Beans - Physics for Poets 6 p.m.

Sylvia’s - Thursday Night Live feat.

The Blues Man & Sunshine McGhee 9 p.m. free

June 24 - Friday Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar, Vicksburg - Nu Corp 7 p.m.

Burgers & Blues - Acoustic Crossroads noon-3 p.m.; Jessie Howell 6 p.m.

Char - Ronnie Brown 6 p.m.

Duling Hall - Flow Tribe 9 p.m. $15 advance $20 door ardenland.net F. Jones Corner - Smoke Stack Lightning midnight $10 Fenian’s - Joe Carroll Fitzgerald’s - Don Evans & Marty Smith 5 p.m.; Travelin’ Jane 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Brian Jones Georgia Blue, Madison - Shaun Patterson Hal & Mal’s - Alex Fraser & Alex Pieschel 7-10 p.m. free The Hideaway - Pop Fiction 9 p.m. $10 Iron Horse Grill - Adib Sabir Trio 9 p.m.

ISH Grill & Bar - Time to Move 10 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Acoustic Crossroads 7 p.m. free

Kemistry - 360 Degrees & Eli 9 p.m.

Martin’s - Kansas Bible Company 10 p.m.

Ole Tavern - jj Thames Pelican Cove - Shadz of Grey 7 p.m.

Reed Pierce’s, Byram - Snazz 9 p.m. free Shucker’s - Andrew Pates 5:30 p.m.; Hunter & the Gators 8 p.m. $5; Brian Jones (deck) 10 p.m. free Table 100 - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

June 25 - Saturday Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar, Vicksburg - Nu Corp 8 p.m.

Big Sleepy’s - The Overnight Lows & Nossiens 8 p.m. $7 advance $10 door all ages Burgers & Blues - Travelin’ Jane 5:30 p.m.

Doc 36 Skatepark - G Money, Cadillac Pac, TDOTVDOT, Cool_EMG, Bruce Smith & KID 8:30 p.m. $10 F. Jones Corner - Fred T. & the Band midnight $10 Fenian’s - Risko Danza Georgia Blue, Flowood - Jason

June 26 - Sunday Big Sleepy’s - Phargo., If I Die in Mississippi & Satellite Company 8:30 p.m. $5 all ages Char - Big Easy Three 11 a.m.; Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

The Hideaway - Mike & Marty’s Jam Session Kathryn’s - Travelin’ Jane 6 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Patterson & Alexander noon; Waylon Halen 5 p.m.

Shucker’s - Acoustic Crossroads (deck) 3:30 p.m. free Sombra Mexican Kitchen - John Mora 11 a.m.

Table 100 - Raphael Semmes 11:30 a.m.

Wellington’s - Andy Hardwick 11 a.m.

June 27 - Monday Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgerald’s - Doug Hurd & Chris Link 7:30 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s - Central MS Blues Society (rest) 7 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Stevie Cain 6:30 p.m. free Martin’s - Open Mic Free Jam 10 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Chris Gill 6 p.m.

June 28 - Tuesday

jj Thames Turner Georgia Blue, Madison - Skip & Mike Hal & Mal’s - Crooked Creek 7-10 p.m. free The Hideaway - Miles Flatt 9 p.m. $10 Iron Horse Grill - Scott Albert Johnson 9 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Fade2Blue 7 p.m. free Kemistry - 360 Degrees 9 p.m.

M Bar - Saturday Night Live feat. DJ Shanomak free Newell Field - Independence Showdown Battle of the Bands 5 p.m.

Ole Tavern - Superhero Glow Party feat. DJ Rozz, Rob Roy, DJ Trix & DJ C3 9 p.m.

Pelican Cove - ReUnion 2 p.m.; Sid Thompson & DoubleShotz 7 p.m.

Reed Pierce’s, Byram - Snazz 9 p.m. free Shucker’s - Sofa Kings (deck) 3:30 p.m. free; Hunter & the Gators 8 p.m. $5; Chad Perry (deck) 10 p.m. free Smith Park - Mississippi Pride Celebration feat. And the Echo 2 p.m. free Table 100 - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fenian’s - Open Mic Fitzgerald’s - Hunter Gibson & Larry Brewer 7:30 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Xtremez 6:30 p.m. free Last Call Sports Grill - Top-Shelf Tuesdays feat. DJ Spoon 9 p.m.

Margarita’s - John Mora 6 p.m.

Mississippi Museum of Art - Music in the City feat. Shawn Leopard & John Paul 5:45 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Brian Jones 6 p.m.

The Penguin - Jazz Tuesday

June 29 - Wednesday Cerami’s - Jason Turner 6 p.m.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgerald’s - Steele Heart w/ Don Grant 7:30 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s - Mark Roemer & Jamie Weems 6-8 p.m. free Kathryn’s - The Owens Brothers 6:30 p.m. free Kemistry - Open Mic Night 9 p.m.

601-665-2073 Pelican Cove - Shaun Patterson 6 p.m.

Shucker’s - Chasin’ Dixie 7:30 p.m. free

Send music listings to Micah Smith at music@ jacksonfreepress.com by noon Monday.

6/23 - Rick Springfield - Champions Square, New Orleans 6/24 - Peter Frampton - Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino 6/24 - Old Crow Medicine Show - Iron City, Birmingham 6/25 - Brantley Gilbert - Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, Birmingham 6/26 - Gregg Allman - Memphis Botanic Garden 6/27 - Warped Tour feat. Sum 41, Yellowcard & more - Mardi Gras World, New Orleans

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

MUSIC | live

Courtesy jj THAMES

DIVERSIONS | music

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Beatty Street Grocery

Fantastic burgers, sandwiches, po-boys and hot dogs in an unassuming location for over 40 years. Eat where the locals eat and you will not be disappointed!

101 Beatty St., Jackson, MS 601-355-0514

to ďŹ nd out more about Beatty Street Grocery, visit

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4925 I 55 N, Suite 105 â&#x20AC;˘ Jackson, MS 39211 601-368-8623

Monday - Thursday: 11:00 am - 9:30 pm Friday : 11:00 am - 10:00 pm â&#x20AC;˘ Saturday: 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

M ON -FRI 11A-2P,5-10 P S AT 5-10 P 828 HWY 51, M ADISON â&#x20AC;˘ 601.853.0028

BY MATT JONES

46 48 Georgia / capital, / in slang 49 Firenze / flooder, / in Italy 51 Lyle who / was seen / on old TV / sitcoms 55 Star who / is not as / notable 57 Do a film / editor’s / job, once 58 Class of / numbers?

59 Make the / motor go / vroom in / neutral 61 Hunt who / saw cows / fly by in / “Twister” 62 Dress to / sing in a / chorale, / perhaps 65 Bowlful / you sink / chips in 67 Feeling / pleased 68 ___ a living 69 Defunct / GM brand 70 Monthly / payment, / perhaps 71 African / malaria / carrier 72 Lamb’s ma 73 “... ___ it seems”

26 “Now wait / for just / a moment ...”

28 Upscale / sugared / hybrids / that are / usually / flakier 29 Summary / of stats / in a boxy / display 33 Start of / “-lexia” or / “-peptics” 35 Disney’s / one-time / boss man / Michael 38 George’s / lyrical / brother 39 “I’ll pass” 40 It bears / nuts now / used in a / limited / variety / of Pepsi 47 Briskly, / in music 50 Nervous

52 Invoice / charger 53 Pacific / plus all / the rest 54 Care for 56 “Go ahead, / ask away!”

58 Run into 60 Hilltop / feature 63 Student / vehicle?

64 It comes / prior to / “automne” 66 “Annabel / Lee” poet ©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

Last Week’s Answers

For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800 655-6548. Reference puzzle #777.

BY MATT JONES

Down

“The Luck / Is Yours” —with the / help of a / numeral.

1 Capital / south of / Ecuador 5 Place to / do Zumba, / perhaps 8 Ebert or / Siskel’s / “ratings” / figures?

14 Autobio / by Turow / based at / Harvard 15 Edge of a / garment 16 Deletes 17 H.S. class / with lab / studies 18 “Sum,” as in / “... ergo sum” 19 Harriet / Tubman’s / new bill 20 Harold’s / titular / best bud 22 Abbr. in a / to-let ad 24 Speck in / one’s eye 25 Muscat’s / natives

27 Duncan’s / nemesis / in a Bard / tragedy 30 Genre of / Yanni or / crystal / healing 31 Actress / Sorvino 32 British / lexicon, / in brief 34 & 36. Guy who’d / sell you / Gruyere 36 37 How your / senator / signals / dissent 38 Tattoos, / in slang 41 & 42. Tonight 42 43 GQ staff, / briefly 44 Leaping / A. A. Milne / young ‘un 45 & 46. WWE Hall / of Famer / who’s now / “The Body ... / Politic?”

Last Week’s Answers

“Kaidoku”

Each of the 26 letters of the alphabet is represented in this grid by a number between 1 and 26. Using letter frequency, word-pattern recognition and the numbers as your guides, fill in the grid with well-known English words (HINT: since a Q is always followed by a U, try hunting down the Q first). Only lowercase, unhyphenated words are allowed in kaidoku, so you won’t see anything like STOCKHOLM or LONG-LOST in here (but you might see AFGHAN, since it has an uncapitalized meaning, too). Now stop wasting my precious time and SOLVE! psychosudoku@gmail.com

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June 22 - 28 , 2016 • jfp.ms

Across

1 Aim at, as / a target 2 Inter, or / put back / a casket 3 “Big Bang / Theory”’s / “grandma” / moniker / (i.e., as per / Sheldon) 4 “Farmer’s” / ref full / of facts 5 Letters / beneath / a four, on / a keypad 6 It opens / on every / January 7 “Humming” / part of a / tagline / for soup 8 Letters / like .doc, / but for a / Notepad / file ext.

9 Cut with / an axe in / a forest 10 Funk hit / for Bill / Withers 11 Sound of / droning / on and on, / on and on ...

12 Beavis’s / partner / in crime 13 Eye sore?

21 Punch by / a leftie / no boxer / expects 23 “Amen! You / ___!” (“Right on!”)

29

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CANCER (June 21-July 22):

My meditations have generated six metaphorical scenarios that will symbolize the contours of your life story during the next 15 months: 1. a claustrophobic tunnel that leads to a sparkling spa; 2. a 19th-century Victorian vase filled with 13 fresh wild orchids; 3. an immigrant who, after tenacious effort, receives a green card from her new home country; 4. an 11-year-old child capably playing a 315-year-old Stradivarius violin; 5. a menopausal empty-nester who falls in love with the work of an ecstatic poet; 6. a humble seeker who works hard to get the help necessary to defeat an old curse.

Joan Wasser is a Leo singer-songwriter who is known by her stage name Joan As Police Woman. In her song “The Magic,” she repeats one of the lyric lines 14 times: “I’m looking for the magic.” I propose that we make that your mantra in the coming weeks for two reasons.

First, practical business-as-usual will not provide the uncanny transformative power you need. Nor will rational analysis or habitual formulas. You will have to conjure, dig up or track down some real magic. My second reason for suggesting “I’m looking for the magic” as your mantra is this: You’re not yet ripe enough to secure the magic, but you can become ripe enough by being dogged in your pursuit of it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Renowned martial artist Bruce Lee described the opponent he was most wary of: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” In my astrological opinion, you should regard that as one of your keystone principles during the next 12 months. Your power and glory will come from honing one specific skill, not experimenting restlessly with many different skills. And the coming weeks will be en excellent time to set your intention.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

To celebrate my birthday, I’m taking time off from dreaming up original thoughts and creative spurs.

For this horoscope, I’m borrowing some of the BOLD Laws of author Dianna Kokoszka. They are in sweet alignment with your astrological omens for the next 13 months. Take it away, Dianna. 1. Focus on the solution, not the problem. 2. Complaining is a garbage magnet.

3. What you focus on expands. 4. Do what you have always done, and you will get what you have always gotten. 5. Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides. 6. Success is simple, but not easy. 7. Don’t listen to your drunk monkey. 8. Clarity is power. 9. Don’t mistake movement for achievement. 10. Spontaneity is a conditioned reflex. 11. People will grow into the conversations you create around them. 12. How you participate here is how you participate everywhere. 13.

Live your life by design, not by default.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

No pressure, no diamond. No grit, no pearl. No cocoon, no butterfly. All these clichés will be featured themes for you during the next 12 months. But I hope you will also come up with fresher ways to think about the power and value that can be generated by tough assignments. If you face your exotic dilemmas and unprecedented riddles armed with nothing more than your culture’s platitudes, you won’t be able to tap into the untamed creativity necessary to turn problems into opportunities. Here’s an example of the kind of original thinking you’ll thrive on: The more the growing chamomile plant is trodden upon, the faster it grows.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

The royal courts of Renaissance England often employed professional fools whose job it was to speak raw or controversial truths with comedic effect. According to the Royal Shakespeare Company, Queen Elizabeth once castigated her fool for being “insufficiently severe with her.” The modern-day ombudsman has some similarities to the fool’s function. He or she is hired by an organization to investigate complaints lodged by the public against the organization. Now would be an excellent time for you to have a fool or ombudsman in your own sphere, Sagittarius. You’ve got a lot of good inklings, but some of them need to be edited, critiqued or perhaps even satirized.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Capricorn journalist Katie Couric is a best-selling author who has interviewed five American presidents and had prominent jobs at three major TV networks. What’s her secret to success? She has testified that her goal is to be as ingratiating and charming as she can be without causing herself to throw up. I don’t often recommend this strategy for you, but I do now. The coming weeks will be prime time for you to expand your web of connections and energize your relationships with existing allies by being almost too nice. To get what you want, use politeness as your secret weapon.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

“The water cannot talk without the rocks,” says aphorist James Richardson. Does that sound like a metaphor you’d like to celebrate in the coming weeks? I hope so.

From what I can tell, you will be like a clean, clear stream rippling over a rocky patch of river bed. The not-really-allthat-bad news is that your flow may feel erratic and jerky.

The really good news is that you will be inspired to speak freely, articulately and with creative zing.

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Notices

Office Furniture Installers Part Time Office Furniture Installers wanted.

Experience in STEELCASE preferred. Contact Greg Mason at 601.473.4992 to apply.

Drivers needed J&d transit is hiring non-emergency transportation drivers. Must be at least 25 yrs old, Pass a drug screen, Have clean background, No more than 1 traffic ticket in past 3 yrsPlease come by 120 Southpointe Dr., Ste. D, Byram MS (601) 203-2136 Van Drivers Wanted in Jackson Local company is looking for drivers to transport railroad crews up to a 200 mile radius from Jackson. Must live within 20 miles of Jackson, be 21 years or older, valid driver’s license and a pre-employment drug screen is required. A company vehicle is provided, paid training, and benefits.

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IN THE CHANCERY COURT OF TENNESSEE FOR THE TWENTY-FIFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT, AT RIPLEY NO. 15343 COLTON WADE BROYLES and AMBER NICHOLE BROYLES vs.

MATTHEW AARON SMITH Colton Wade Broyles and Amber Nichole Broyles filed a petition seeking to terminate the parental rights of Matthew Aaron Smith to M.L.S., a minor born 26 September 2011, in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, alleging that the father of M.L.S. abandoned the child. Matthew Aaron Smith is ordered to respond to the Petition within thirty days of the final day of publication of this notice; a copy of the answer must be served upon Lewis Jenkins, Attorney, P.O. Box 220, Dyersburg, TN 38025-0220. A copy of the Petition may be obtained from the clerk of this Court. If Matthew Aaron Smith fails to respond as ordered, judgment by default will be entered for the relief demanded.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Every now and then you may benefit from being a bit juvenile, even childlike. You can release your dormant creativity by losing your adult composure and indulging in free-form play. In my astrological opinion, this is one of those phases for you. It’s high time to lose your cool in the best possible ways. You have a duty to explore the frontiers of spontaneity and indulge in I-don’t-givea-cluck exuberance. For the sake of your peace of soul and your physical health, you need to wriggle free of at least some of your grown-up responsibilities so you can romp and cavort and frolic.

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Post an ad at jfpclassifieds.com, call 601-362-6121, ext. 11 or fax to 601-510-9019.

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ARIES (March 21-April 19):

“The past lives on in art and memory,” writes author Margaret Drabble, “but it is not static: it shifts and changes as the present throws its shadow backwards.”

That’s a fertile thought for you to meditate on during the coming weeks, Aries. Why? Because your history will be in a state of dramatic fermentation. The old days and the old ways will be mutating every which way. I hope you will be motivated, as a result, to rework the story of your life with flair and verve.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

“Critics of text-messaging are wrong to think it’s a regressive form of communication,” writes poet Lily Akerman. “It demands so much concision, subtlety, psychological art— in fact, it’s more like pulling puppet strings than writing.”

I bring this thought to your attention, Taurus, because in my opinion, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to apply the metaphor of text messaging to pretty much everything you do. You will create interesting ripples of success as you practice the crafts of concision, subtlety and psychological art.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

During my careers as a writer and musician, many “experts” have advised me not to be so damn faithful to my muse. Having artistic integrity is a foolish indulgence that would ensure my eternal poverty, they have warned.

If I want to be successful, I’ve got to sell out; I must water down my unique message and pay homage to the generic formulas favored by celebrity artists. Luckily for me, I have ignored the experts. As a result, my soul has thrived and I eventually earned enough money from my art to avoid starvation. But does my path apply to you? Maybe; maybe not. What if, in your case, it would be better to sell out a little and be, say, just 75 percent faithful to your muse? The next 12 months will be an excellent time for you to figure this out once and for all.

Homework: What experience do you deny yourself even though it would be good for you and wouldn’t hurt anyone? Write a note giving yourself permission. Share at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

Healthy Food • Healthy Families • Healthy Connections

Saturdays 9am-1pm Lake Hico Park 4801 Watkins Dr. Jackson, MS

The Jump Start Jackson Farmers Market is sponsored by My Brother’s Keeper Inc., and the City Of Jackson and exists to provide Jackson residents the opportunity to purchase quality, affordable, healthy foods.

If you are a farmer, gardener or craftsman and would like booth space, contact:

Henry D. Fuller, MURP.: 601-957-7710 Ext 108 | hfuller@mbk-inc.org

This farmers market was supported by the U S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant 15MPPMS0055.

June 22 - 28, 2016 • jfp.ms

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