Joe Don Baker Wept

David Weigel | April 20, 2007

The Jackson Free Press has updates on Frank Melton, the mayor who likes to accompany cops on raids and drive around threatening people.

 

On the same night that Melton and his associates allegedly demolished the Ridgeway duplex, they conducted a raid on the Upper Level night club, which Melton has shut down many times in the past. Prosecutors said they had video of Melton carrying a “walking-tall stick” in the club, and Recio and Wright were both carrying MP5 submachine guns, just as witnesses described them at Ridgeway.

When Upper Level manager Tonarri Moore refused to stop photographing police as they moved through the club, they arrested him for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and abusive language. They handcuffed Moore and took him outside, witnesses say, where a group of young men filed off the MCC and beat and kicked him, witnesses say, to the point that he had to be taken to the hospital.

 

Previous Meltonalia here. It's even odds on whether Melton will fill out his term.

Comments

|4.20.07 @ 10:55AM|#

"You're under arrest for resisting arrest!"

Baylen|4.20.07 @ 10:59AM|#

What's it gonna be, Fletch?

|4.20.07 @ 10:59AM|#

It's good to be the king.

|4.20.07 @ 11:00AM|#

You left out my favorite part:

Melton was carrying a "Walking Tall" stick-... After one of his bodyguards broke down the back door of the duplex, Melton immediately started swinging the club, breaking the windows on the front and the sides of the house. He left for medical attention after he cut his hand on one of the windows, but the group returned an hour later.

Kind of hard to be a bad-ass swinging your Walking Tall stick when an inatimate window does more damage to you then the perp you're after.

|4.20.07 @ 11:07AM|#

Its nice when politicians make the effort to make their corruption interesting.

|4.20.07 @ 11:10AM|#

I couldn't help but overhearing something about South American extradition?!!??

eb|4.20.07 @ 12:04PM|#

I was visiting MS last year and noticed Melton in the news a lot. After some questioning around I found that a lot of people see him as a hero (Evidently Jackson has fallen on hard times with high crime rates.)

I did stay long enough or really try to learn more but he does have a lot of supporters around the state.

The Wine Commonsewer|4.20.07 @ 12:06PM|#

Bolick was right, it is Grassroots Tyranny that poses the greatest threat, which is why I keep a low profile around here. Don't need the county to come calling asking where the permits are for the new water heater.

|4.20.07 @ 12:12PM|#

To bad he didn't get a nice shard of glass right in the juggler vein. I can read the headline now. "Stuck Pig bleeds like stuck pig after being more stupid and destructive than a pig" Piggy pics @ 11

We can only hope he is rushing to the next crime scene without his seatbelt on.

|4.20.07 @ 12:23PM|#

Can someone help me reconcile my desire to have people like this shot, and my opposition to the death penalty?

|4.20.07 @ 1:16PM|#

The problem is that most people seem to have this attitude:

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/OPINION02/704170321/1009/OPINION02

Which is why the problems of unnecessary SWAT raids (among other drug war abuses) continue unabated.

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|4.20.07 @ 2:18PM|#

The problem is that most people seem to have this attitude:

Legal? Nah. Moral? Nah. Ethical? Nah.

BUT WE LOVE HIM!

|4.20.07 @ 3:47PM|#

Jackson hopes to be a shithole when it grows up. Something to aspire too I reckon.

Single Issue Voter|4.20.07 @ 7:05PM|#

Jackson is a beautiful city.Nice architecture and lots of character.

Jim Bob|4.20.07 @ 10:51PM|#

MITCHELL!

Brian Sorgatz|4.21.07 @ 2:11AM|#

MITCHELL!

GERONIMO!