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JACKSONIAN AUSTIN WILKES

M adison-based hip-hop artist Austin Wilkes, known to fans as Mildred Noor, entered the music world with a bit of an awkward conver-

sation. After he earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Mississippi in May 2015, completed a summer internship with Sen. Thad Cochran and re-ceived an offer for a full-time job, Wilkes’ par-ents asked the question that haunts all recent college graduates. Wilkes says: “It’s hard gradu-ating, and your parents put all this money be-hind you to get your degree, and then they go, ‘All right, so what do you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to be a rapper.’” At the same time, his decision was a long time coming. He’d been interested in music ever since he picked up a recorder for the first time in third grade, shortly after moving to Madison from Jackson, where Wilkes had lived following the family’s move from his birthplace, Arlington, Texas. He continued pursuing mu-sic when he joined band in sixth grade, playing tuba. He began writing songs with his friends in eighth grade, but he never recorded his work in a studio until his debut mixtape, “No Direc-tion,” which he released in October 2015. “I’ve been pretty much practicing on a craft that I didn’t know I was going to pursue,” Wilkes says. “Now that I’ve actually decided to pursue it, I have about 10 years in writing lyr-ics and making music. … It just feels like wait-ing allowed me to get everything done that I

wanted to do, that I needed to do.” Waiting also influenced what his music would eventually sound like. Wilkes enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2009 and studied there for two years before transferring to UM. He says the artists he was exposed to at both universities inspired the sound—and title—of “No Direction.” He isn’t even necessarily catering to hip-hop fans with his songs, he says, but music fans in gen-eral. “I feel like there was no set genre for the music—a little hip-hop, a little R&B, some trap rap songs,” Wilkes says. “But pretty much, there was no direction. I knew I liked to make music, but I didn’t know exactly what path I wanted to take my music on.” Wilkes, 24, is finalizing his follow-up project as Mildred Noor, “Six Acres,” which he hopes to release Feb. 29. He says this will be a more personal introduction to him as an artist and person, complete with improved recording quality, but “No Directions” has opened doors for his music. In less than a year of perform-ing, Wilkes has been a featured artist for the inaugural 3rd Eye Music Festival and Jackson Indie Music Week. He will also perform with LV Baby, Sir Flywalker and several other popu-lar regional rappers at Offbeat on Feb. 28. “I’m getting a lot of different opportuni-ties to motivate me,” Wilkes says. “I feel like I’m starting young, starting early, but I’m get-ting great feedback, and there’s no reason why I should quit as far as I can see.” —Micah Smith

FEBRUARY 17 - 23, 2016 | VOL. 14 NO. 24

4 ....................... PUBLISHER’S NOTE

6 ............................................ TALKS

12 ................................ EDITORIAL

13 .................................... OPINION

15 ............................ COVER STORY

22 ............................ FOOD&DRINK

22 .......................................... ARTS

24 ....................................... 8 DAYS

25 ...................................... EVENTS

25 ..................................... SPORTS

27 ....................................... MUSIC

27 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS

29 .................................... PUZZLES

31 ....................................... ASTRO

cover photo of City worker filling a potholeby Imani Khayyam C O N T E N T S

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10 A new bill could help stem the food deserts that plague Mississippi.

13 “What (Bernie) Sanders means by that nebulous word (socialist) seems to be a strong belief in what Lincoln called a ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.’” —Joe Atkins, “For the People”

27 Sarah Restuccio was 17 when she appeared on “American Idol.” Now, she’s reinvented herself as country hip-hop artist Sarah Ross.

4

“D o you all have a problem with potholes there?” My mom asked me that ques-tion when I called her on

Valentine’s Day, lamenting the state of the streets in south Florida where she lives. “Yeah, they’re pretty bad,” I replied, aware that my response was something of an understatement. At the end of our street is a pothole so big that I’ve actually reported it to 3-1-1 (it’s been only a few weeks, so I still hope for a fix soon); it’s easily 4 feet across, and when filled with water, it’s at least shin deep. In the evenings, when our neighbors park in front of their houses, it’s essentially impossible to turn into our street without plopping right into this pothole. The Honda Insight we drive has reg-ular-profile tires and some ground effects appropriate to a hybrid; it bottoms out ev-ery time I go (gingerly!) through there. Our Miata—much less anything with low-profile sport tires—might honestly not make it through that pothole without a blown tire, bent rim or worse. (Some friends coming to visit make a point of going around the block to get to us.) Not to mention, like so many deep potholes in Jackson, it has no warning or barriers to warn drivers. Are potholes the worst problem we face in Jackson? No. But they represent a pretty big problem for more than one reason. It may feel a little whiny to worry about pot-holes when we’ve got serious sewer and water infrastructure issues, but there’s a little con-text to consider. First, potholes are a safety issue and a transportation issue. In terms of safety risks, things seem to be getting worse over the past few years, possibly because water has taken precedence, and the 1-percent tax program has been in limbo. Maybe I’m just paying more attention to it—but there seems to be a lot of orange

cones and sawhorses that aren’t even in the hole they’re supposed to protect us against; it feels like nobody has the job of even driving through the city and looking for dangerous spots to flag. People’s cars are getting banged up, affecting their finances—given the state of public transportation in Jackson, that could mean not being able to get to work for many people who can’t afford fixes. Second, potholes (and other woes) can affect investment. As Duane O’Neill of the

Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership points out in this week’s cover feature (and other city leaders and economic-development folks have mentioned to me personally), pothole-riddled streets can be a problem for recruit-ing businesses. When you have to map your route for the smoothest ride while showing prospects around town, you’re hurting your chances to create new jobs. (Yes, New Orleans has bad roads, too, so I’m not discounting the possibility that one way to deal with the roads might just be more open containers, street festivals and brass bands on the corner. Couldn’t hurt.) Third, potholes wouldn’t be as frustrat-ing if they didn’t feel like “more of the same” when it comes to our infrastructure woes. It’s clear to me that the $91 million Siemens contract for water and sewer repairs has been a huge lost opportunity for Jackson’s citizens. (As far as I can tell, Siemens and some of the

contractors and subcontractors did just fine for themselves, at our expense.) After spending three times what San Francisco spent on each new water meter, and millions to overhaul the software, the experience for the consumer is worse and more expensive. I’m still getting estimated water bills weeks after they are supposed to arrive. And those estimates are easily 60 per-cent to 100 percent higher than what I was billed under the old system, when someone was actually reading the meters! Who is accountable for the billing is-sue? Who can fix it? When? Now, we’ve got the 1-percent sales tax dollars that are supposed to go to streets and bridges, among other infrastructure. The first-year money technically kicked in back in May 2015, but it took half a year before a program manager was hired and projects started to get budgeted. By May 2016, the City expects to have spent a little over $13 million on infrastructure improvements, city spokeswoman Shelia Byrd told me today. To make that happen, the next three months will need to be a whirlwind of proj-ects to meet that goal, given the state of some of the “first year” projects. For instance, none of the major street-reconstruction projects on the city’s list (Medgar Evers, State Street, Mill Street, Lynch Street and Riverside Drive in two phases) has their cost and scope final-ized, although some are in different phases of being advertised and consulted on. Only eight of the total 38 initiatives among the “year one” projects have city council approval, according to a document the City provided us. Hopefully, many of those will start this spring. Jackson is big in terms of square miles; we have more space to manage than much more populous cities such as Oakland and Cleveland. As you’ll read this week, we have two crews patching potholes, and one of them is a crew with shovels and a pickup

truck. Which, to my mind, presents the question—I wonder if we could proactively hire and manage a few more crews and a few more pickup trucks so they can get more done faster? Certainly, one approach is to contract for a project manager, scope each project, contract it out, receive the bids, fight it out in council, court and press … and then, if we’re lucky, bring on some of these fabulous subcontractors who have helped spend the Siemen’s project money. That, so far, is how the Yarber adminis-tration seems to spool up these big projects. But, unlike the Siemens “performance” contract, to me it seems that the 1-percent sales-tax dollars present the very real oppor-tunity for the City of Jackson to build some internal capacity and to fill some jobs in the Public Works department. I, for one, would love to see this ex-tra tax burden on Jacksonians’ and Jackson businesses translate not only into filled pot-holes, manicured exits and smoother streets, but also into some honest middle-class jobs for Jackson-based workers who can then use some of that money to reinvest in their homes, families and neighborhoods. As we consider the prospects of spend-ing an extra $15 million or more per year on infrastructure, let’s remember that $14 million divided by $40,000 is 350 decent jobs—with a million left for admin. Those jobs could lead to a better city for all Jack-sonians—including commuters, investors, visitors, business owners—who could bring more money to the city. That’s real infra-structure investment, which we sorely need. Let’s DO this. Not just talk about it. Not just write it down. Not just contract it out. Just for starters, how about we hire some more folks, fill some more trucks with asphalt … and get some more streets fixed? Todd Stauffer is the president and pub-lisher of the Jackson Free Press. Email him at todd@jacksonfreepress.com.

CONTRIBUTORS

What If We Could Fill Potholes ... With Jobs?by Todd Stauffer, PublisherPUBLISHER’S note

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 in the issue.

Deputy News Editor Maya Miller, a Jackson State University grad-uate, enjoys running the ever-so popular Netflix marathon and all things social media. Email news tips to her at maya@jacksonfree press.com. She helped coordi-nate the news section.

News Reporter Arielle Dreher is working on finding some new hobbies and adopting an otter from the Jackson Zoo. Email her story ideas at arielle@jackson freepress.com. She wrote about the Mississippi Legislature, food deserts, among other topics.

Education Reporting Fellow Sierra Mannie is a University of Mississippi graduate whose opinions of the Ancient Greeks can’t be trusted nearly as well as her opinions of Beyoncé. She wrote about the Senate and House education bills.

Onelia Hawa is an average 20-something-year-old Atlanta native and a journalism and nonprofit graduate from USM. She is bi-lingual, a foodie, activ-ist and lover of all things Frida Khalo. She wrote about Fon-dren Fro-Yo.

Freelance writer Julie Skipper practices law by day and gets out and about around Jackson as much as possible the rest of the time. She fancies art, fashion and travel. She wrote about Hal & Mal’s Arts & Apps event.

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 Sarah Ross.

Sales and Marketing Con-sultant Myron Cathey is from Senatobia. He is a graduate of Jackson State University and enjoys traveling, music and spending time with family and friends.

Let’s DO this. Not just talk

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6

Like a sadder version of Las Vegas, the signs towering above Jackson’s payday-loan shops and check-cashing joints seem designed to entice mo-

torists in the city’s major thoroughfares. In some cases, the businesses’ color schemes mimic those of cheap fast-food restaurants. And, ironically, several of the businesses happen to operate out of repurposed fast-food restaurants.

The signs make statements that often are alliterative (e.g. “Quick Cash”), rhyme (e.g. “Fast Cash”), or straight and to the point (e.g. “Check Cashing” and “Payday Loans”). Because of the principles of sup-ply and demand, one might argue that the concentration of these kinds of businesses—which say they offer customers the conve-

nience of a microloan in exchange for not looking at their credit history for a premi-um—is a sign of an economy working the way it should.

De’Keither Stamps, who represents Ward 4 and serves as chairman of the Bud-get Committee, argues the converse. In his view, these businesses depress the economic potential in the city. Wearing a purple golf shirt buttoned to the neck in his City Hall office looking out onto President Street, Stamps said the “fringe economy” is hold-ing Jackson back.

“We’ve got to figure out what we’re go-ing to do to change the economics of the city so that people can afford other types of retail and businesses,” Stamps said.

The councilman’s view is also rooted

in supply-and-demand theory: In es-sence, the more money people spend on payday-loan and check-cashing fees, the less they have to help bolster the City’s treasury by purchasing goods and services.

That’s why Stamps is pushing for a one-year moratorium on future growth of such businesses. His proposed ordinance, which would deny business licenses to new payday-loan and check-cashing locations as well as pawn shops and liquor stores. Stamps said the ordinance would also include a financial-literacy component, which he be-lieves could help end the intergenerational cycle of relying on high-interest financial services instead of traditional banks.

Wednesday, February 10 Jackson police arrest two teenagers for a recent string of armed robberies, including of Beatty Street Grocery, Nail City and Waffle House.

Thursday, February 11 Mississippi prosecutors file a crimi-nal charge in federal court against Robert Simmons, alleging he kicked back part of his consulting fees on three separate con-tracts to former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps.

Friday, February 12 Dana Larkin, executive director of the Mississippi Campaign for Teen Preg-nancy Prevention, tells parents during a public forum at Koinonia Coffeehouse that they should talk to their children about sex when they are between 11 and 15 years old. … South Korea shuts down an inter-Korean factory park that North Korea had been using to fund its nuclear and missile programs, and begins talks on deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

Saturday, February 13 Antonin Scalia, an influential con-servative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, dies of natural causes, leaving the high court without its conservative ma-jority and setting up an ideological con-frontation over his successor.

Sunday, February 14 A wildfire burns more than 4,400 acres of land in the Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge in south Mississippi, and in an Alabama marsh. … Bahrain arrests four American journalists covering the an-niversary of its 2011 uprising amid a long crackdown on dissent in the Gulf nation.

Monday, February 15 Senate Republicans unite behind Ma-jority Leader Mitch McConnell in insist-ing that President Barack Obama’s succes-sor fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. … The World Health Organization announces that it may be necessary to use controversial methods like genetically modified mosqui-toes to wipe out the insects spreading the Zika virus across the Americas.

Tuesday, February 16 Justice Dawn H. Beam of Sumrall is sworn in as Mississippi’s newest State Supreme Court Justice. Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

by R.L. Nave

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A short strip of Ellis Avenue in west Jackson is home to more than a dozen businesses that offer short-term loans or check-cashing services. Jackson Ward 4 City Councilman De’Keither Stamps proposes a halt on the expansion of these businesses, which he believes suck money out of the local economy and keep people in cycles of poverty.

Vol. 13, Issue 20, Jan. 28-Feb. 4, 2015, “The Best

of the Rest”: Best Act of Public Service: Ron ‘Robin Hood For Potholes’ Chane

Fixes Jackson Roads

Vol. 13, Issue 25, March 4-10, 2015, “If People Were Honest When Painting a Mural”:

If artists were brutally honest in their murals of Jackson, they’d have

lots of potholes in them.

Vol. 13, Issue 36, May 20-26, 2015, “Classes JPS Should Teach”: Divination 103-JAX: Reading the City’s Future from Its Potholes

Vol. 13, Issue 37, May 27-June 2, 2015, “Pothole Parade”: The Jackson Free Press

would like to see a “Sinkhole Surfers: Hanging 10 on 10th Street: float in the Mal’s St.

Paddy’s Parade (now Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade & Festival).

Vol. 13, Issue 39, June 3-9, 2015, “#PotholesMatter”: Build a Jackson-centric

Large Hadron Collider in a sinkhole. Have a potluck

with pothole soup.

Vol. 13, Issue 52, Sept. 2-8, 2015, Jackson Haikus:

Don’t exaggerateJackson potholes aren’t that bad

Where did my car go?

by Amber Helsel

Potholes seem to be a never-ending problem in Jackson, do what do you do to lighten the mood? Tell jokes. Here’s some of our best ones from the last year.

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In Jackson, more than 30 percent of people live below the poverty line compared to 22 percent of people across Mississippi, itself the poorest state in the nation. But under the Mississippi Check Cashers Act, people can borrow up to $410 from payday lenders. State law allows the loan company to charge $20 or less per $100 on loans of up $250. For loans between $251 and $500, lender can charge up to $21.95 per $100. “For example, a borrower writes a $500 check, pays the $90 fee, and receives $410 in cash. It is illegal to write a check for more than $500,” according to a factsheet from

the state banking department. Charles Lee, director of consumer protection at the Mississippi Center for Justice, explains: “People use what’s closest to them. If that’s the closest financial—quote—institution to where they live, that’s what they’ll use.” A Growing Trend If Stamps’ proposal sounds radical, it isn’t. As of 2010, the Mississippi cities of By-ram, Canton, Clinton, Flowood, Jackson, Laurel, Pearl, Rankin County, Ridgeland, Starkville, and West Point had either im-posed moratoria or restricted the businesses with zoning regulations. Nationwide, more than 120 cities have imposed similar restrictions, information

from the Washington, D.C.-based Con-sumer Federation of America shows. If Jackson follows through, it would be the latest blow to a high-cost lending in-

dustry already reeling from regulatory crack-downs from the federal government as well as the state of Mississippi, which holds the distinction as home of the most payday-loan

companies per capita in America. In 2014, the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance ordered All American Checking, a Madison-based payday lender, to end a practice that the department said was tantamount to illegal rollovers of payday loans. Mississippi law re-quires customers to pay loans in full before taking out a new loan. State regulators said All American un-lawfully allowed customers to pay the fees, but delay paying the principal. All America sued the state in federal court in Jackson on Jan. 29, saying the state’s regulatory actions could unlawfully shutter the business. Dale Danks Jr., an attorney for the company, did not return a phone message. In response to a follow-up email,

Money was front of mind over the last week in the Mississippi Leg-islature as Senate and House ap-propriations committees began

budget hearings for state agencies last week. Several agencies are grappling with the 1.5 percent tax cut to all agencies (not including large agencies like Education and Medicaid) that Gov. Phil Bryant announced in mid-January when tax collections were falling short of projections. Agencies came to the Capitol last week for what has become the norm in terms of budget requests: Don’t cut us; give us more cash please. Several state agencies have dealt with budget cuts in recent years without having to cut personnel, but the hearings showed that more cuts might force state agencies to lay off state workers. The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is struggling with turnover for its on-the-ground employees. Executive Director Diana Mikula told the House Appropria-tions Special Committee on Public Health last Wednesday that direct-care workers in the department—who work directly with the mentally ill—have an annual turnover rate of 48 percent. The department is at-tempting to implement employee train-ing, but Mikula said that several direct-care workers have other jobs. The department continues to transition patients to home and community-based ser-vices, but Mikula said that she cannot meet the demand of those requiring such services without the funding. Currently, 2,293 Mis-sissippians benefit from home and commu-nity-based services, the type of treatment proven to successfully treat mentally illness (unlike institutionalization), but there is a long wait list. Mikula told the committee that 1,780 people are on the waiting list for

wraparound services in the state. “We have more people living in the community than we ever have in the past in Mississippi,” Mikula said. “... (But) we have moved about all the individuals that we can

to relocate and meet their needs.” Like several state agencies, the Depart-ment of Mental Health receives a certain amount of federal funding as long as the state funds the department up to a certain amount. The Department of Mental Health is embroiled in a 2010 lawsuit filed on behalf of children in the state who are institutional-ized at high rates, despite research that shows they need home and community based ser-vices instead. Mikula said her department is still in discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice about how to resolve the lawsuit, despite reports that negotiations had reached an impasse called by the U.S. Department of Justice and plaintiffs in December. “We are still having negotiations with

DOJ, we’re still talking to them and getting calls … we’ve been giving them updates about our expansion of community-based services,” Mikula said. The state must provide funding up to

a certain level in order for the department to function as it has been. In one part of the Department of Mental Health’s budget, it would lose $8 million in federal funding without its Medicaid match. The state Division of Medicaid, which represents one of the state’s largest budgets, addressed the House Appropriations Sub-committee on Public Health last week. Exec-utive director David Dzielak asked the com-mittee for $1.017 billion for fiscal-year 2016, which is a smaller request than the agency’s initial Legislative Budget Office request. Committee members expressed con-cern over the number of Mississippians enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP benefits, which the majority of the division’s fund-ing goes toward. The transition to managed

care—meaning Medicaid and CHIP ben-eficiaries get a health plan through United Healthcare or Magnolia Health—seemed at first to lead to a dip in enrollment statewide. At the start of 2014, 714,338 Mississippians were on Medicaid or CHIP benefits, and by March 2015, the enrollment hit its high point at 796,103. In 2015, however, the numbers seemed to dwindle. Dzielak attributed this down-tick to the possible number of new enrollees who were new to the system and were not aware that they had to re-enroll in the pro-gram. January’s enrollment numbers prove he might be right. After a downward trend in enrollment since March 2015, January Medicaid and CHIP numbers saw a jump to 777,866 enrollees, about where the state was in October 2014. “As they (first-time enrollees) went and tried to access healthcare and they find out that their status wasn’t active, then they went back and reapplied,” Dzielak said. “We think that is why there was a decline and also now why they’re might an uptick.” Appropriations hearings continued this week for several House subcommittees. The Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Division of Family and Children’s Services presented their budget requests to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Health on Feb. 15. The Mississippi Division of Family and Children’s Services told the committee that it needs the funding to get started—and to avoid federal receivership. The division asked for $34.4 million, which would provide funding for an infrastructure of social work-ers that have yet to be hired. Comment at jfp.ms. Read more legislative coverage at jfp.ms/msleg. Email reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com.

Off to the Races … and the Chopping Blockby Arielle Dreher

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LEGISLATURE: Week 6

Diana Mikula, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, addressed the Legislative

September 2015. she wants $69.17 million for her department for

The “fringe economy” is holding

Jackson back.

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TALK | education

J ust three months after Initiative 42 failed in the November election, the Mississippi Legislature has already seen an explosion of controversial

education bills—with school consolidation leading the pack. Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, is a for-mer Democrat and public-education pro-ponent who is acting as the front man in education battles in the Senate. He authored seven involuntary school-consolidation bills this session despite failed attempts at passing some of those same bills in the last two legis-lative sessions. Following former Gov. Haley Barbour’s lead, Tollison told The Hechinger Report in 2015 that maintaining money saved by administrative cost reductions could go back into classrooms. In 2010, Augenblick, Palaich and As-sociates, an education consulting firm, rec-ommended the consolidation of 18 Missis-sippi school districts. The report predicted $12.5 million to $13.8 million in savings, but made clear that this would not serve to reduce state aid to school districts. Though some Mississippi school dis-tricts have seen success with consolidation, there is a lack of substantial data showing that consolidation in rural areas positively affects student achievement. Mississippi Department of Education data show that after consolidation in July 2014, 22 percent of Sunflower County Consolidated School Districts students failed a standardized reading assessment in May of the next school year. Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, says mass consolidation in Mississippi has occurred so far without evidence that it will lead to scholastic achievement. Blackmon has authored a bill that re-quires the analysis of the effect of consolida-

tion on districts after a period of three years. “These districts seem arbitrarily consol-idated,” Blackmon said in an interview. “It is represented that it (consolidation) will save money and increase test scores, and I just wanted to be able to effectively evaluate it. A 2011 report by the National Educa-tion Policy Center recommends that instead of prescribing involuntary consolidation as a cure-all solution, states should decide con-solidate on a case-by-case basis. “[I]mpov-

erished school districts often benefit from smaller schools and districts,” the report states, adding that “irreversible damage can occur” with consolidation. The report also specifically warns that the claim that school districts are saving money by reducing the number of superin-tendents is a “dangerous oversimplification.”

“It’s important to keep in mind that ev-ery bit of this consolidation conversation has been around consolidation of administrative functions and not consolidation of schools,” former Mississippi Superintendent of Edu-cation Tom Burnham told the Jackson Free Press in 2010. If involuntarily consolidated districts don’t reflect substantial gains in accountabil-ity and accreditation, Blackmon’s bill will require that those school districts be released

into their own autonomous districts once more.

Coming for Evolution Creationism is having a moment in the Mississippi Legislature. Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune, in-

troduced House Bill 50, with the support of several House Republicans, to support teach-ers in discussing the religious version of the origin of humanity in science classes. The bill seeks to “create an environ-ment that encourages students to explore scientific questions,” but not necessarily with the use of accepted scientific methods. The bill would prohibit the state Board of Education, local school board, public school superintendent, public-school administrator or principal from intervening in a classroom where the teacher is allowing students to ex-plore creationism. The sponsors are quick to clarify in the bill that its intentions are specific to science curriculum and not intended to “promote any religious or non-religious doctrine,” though the bill calls “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning” as topics “that may cause debate and disputation.” “Obviously, it’s a horrible idea,” said Dr. Paul Lago, biology department chairman at the University of Mississippi. “It’s OK to encourage discussion in gen-eral, but eventually you have to get around to evidence, and that’s the key,” Lago said. “Science is science, and religion is religion, and both merit study, but you should not be studying science in religion class and religion in science class. If I’m teaching a course in cell biology, I shouldn’t be talking about pho-tography. It doesn’t make any sense.” “It seems to me when bills like this get passed, it’s a recipe for setting back education several steps,” Lago added. “It would be very sad if they did that.” Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and The Hech-inger Report. Email her at sierra@jacksonfree-press.com.

Danks referred a reporter to the com-plaint, saying, “At this time, I do not feel it is proper to discuss matters concerning All American Check Cashing’s motion against the Mississippi Banking Commission.” All American’s complaint against Char-lotte Corley, the state banking commission-er and other individuals, states that in June 2014, banking department agents showed up at six All American locations, including its corporate headquarters in Madison. The company said the agents used “heavy-handed and unnecessary tactics” and forced their way into back rooms and bathrooms to present employees with a questionnaire about the company’s lending practices. “These heavy-handed tactics were in-

tended to cause and, indeed, did cause fear in All American’s employees,” the com-plaint states. Officials with the state banking de-partment also did not respond to a phone message. A hearing is set in the matter for Feb. 12. Not Without a Fight The payday-loan industry, which as-serts that its products simply help people with limited options out of jams for a small fee, will not fade into oblivion without a fight, however. The Community Financial Services Association of America, the group’s national lobbying organization, argues on its website that the “payday loan industry makes sig-

nificant contributions to the U.S. and state economies employing more than 50,000 Americans who earn $2 billion in wages and generating more than $2.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.” The organization has an influential lobbying presence, both in Washington, D.C., as well as in state capitals. During the 2014 election cycle, the CFSA spent $161,500 on campaigns and $1.5 million lobbying, data from the Center for Respon-sive Politics show. Since 2000, the CFSA has spent almost $21 million on political races in U.S. states, including Mississippi, where candidates receive contributions of between $250 and $1,000, according to the Helena, Mont.-based National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Felicia Lyles, vice president and regional branch administrator for HOPE Enterprise Corp., which operates credit unions that offer alternatives to payday loans, believes some consumers are making better deci-sions in eschewing payday loans in recent years. Even though HOPE and other banks increasingly offer alternative loan products and financial education to their customers, Lyles, who has worked for HOPE for nine years, said despite all that high-interest lend-ers continue to thrive. “If all financial institutions offered so-lutions and alternatives, that’s how (they) can put the predatory lenders out of busi-ness,” Lyles said. Comment at www.jfp.ms.

Legislators Determined to Tinker with Public Ed by Sierra Mannie

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Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, has introduced seven involuntary consolidation bills in the Senate so far this session.

The map of food deserts in Mississippi is staggering. At least a third of the state has regions considered “low-income census tracts” where a signifi-

cant number of the residents are more than a mile (in urban settings) or 10 miles (in rural settings) from the nearest supermarket. In Hinds County, the entire northwest part of the county is considered a food desert. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets the definitions for food deserts, which are tracked in order to illuminate where low-income areas of states, counties or neighbor-hoods need help accessing healthy food. Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, in-troduced legislation in the 2015 session that would have provided tax incentives for grocery stores to enter communities con-sidered to be “food deserts” by the USDA’s standards. The bill, backed by several Senate Democrats, passed through the Senate and then died on the House calendar. This year, Blount is reintroducing the legislation, and Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Jackson, is introducing the same bill in the House of Representatives. The bill would authorize a job tax-cred-

it for supermarkets with a $4 million cap. Blount said he first introduced the legislation last year when the Kroger in south Jackson announced it was closing in 2015. “People in low-income areas need access to quality

grocery stores,” Blount said. Hunger Free Jackson held its first an-nual conference last week, and leaders in food networks that provide food to low-ac-cess areas of the state discussed strategies and

ways to increase access to good, quality food. Blount and Dortch’s bills would not just ap-ply to the Jackson area, although food deserts affect two parts of Hinds County, the USDA data shows. The northwest corner of Hinds County and the Interstate 220 corridor are considered food deserts in the county. Speaking at the Hunger Free Jackson conference, Catherine Montgomery, a pro-gram manager at the Mississippi Food Net-work, said the root of most problems with food in the state is access. She helps run a summer program for the network, providing food for children who are usually on the free-and-reduced lunch program during the school year and might go without food in the summer. “We can put a site in a county and think it’s going to be very successful, but if a child has to cross a road or walk far, they’re not going to get to that site,” she said. “So it’s important that we provide enough access to these families.”

Rural Health Clinic Access Rural parts of the state with little access to healthcare could benefit from two

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TALK | state

Urban, Rural Areas Need Food Stores, Health Clinics by Arielle Dreher

by R.L. Nave

R esidents along a section of Eubanks Creek in Fondren are a step closer to getting relief from flooding and high-cost flood insur-ance. In the past year, developers, architects and city officials have analyzed the creek for solutions.

Venyu, a Louisiana-based company remodeling the former McRae’s Department Store into a data center and telehealth center at Meadow-brook at State Street, paid the costs for engineering studies, which sought to analyze whether the creek’s boundaries needed updating. The creek runs east to west behind the future Venyu site. Roy Decker, a principal in Duvall Decker Architects, said the creek has not been maintained over the years, which contributed to the flooding. Creek channels should be cleared of debris regularly so that the water flows freely instead of backing up. In the assessment, Bill Colson of Aqua Engineering Services redrew outdated FEMA floodplain maps for the area; Colson’s updated maps show that flooding can be reduced an average of 3.2 feet. In January, the Federal Emergency Management Association granted conditional approval to those maps, clearing the way for the City to start construction work, which could include the removal of the Seminole Street Bridge, also behind the old McRae’s. Jackson taxpayers, through the 1-percent sales tax, will help defray the costs of the $1 million to $1.5 million construction price tag. Once the work is complete, if FEMA signs off, hundreds of homeowners could see a reduction in their flood-insurance rates. “It’s a really good example of the city working with a private owner. It’s a good example of how this should work,” Decker told the Jackson Free Press.

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TALK | crime

Expert: Parent-blaming Does Little to Prevent Crimeby Sierra Mannie and R.L. Nave

“T ruancy.” “Property crime.” “Loitering.” “Curfew.” “Bas-ketball goals in the street.” “Sagging pants.”

Tyrone Hendrix, the Jackson city coun-cilman who represents Ward 6, had just led participants, most of whom are over age 35, in a Feb. 11 crime forum in a free-association exercise at Wingfield High School. The first task was to name problems and then start talking about solutions. Sagging pants, which is perfectly lawful

despite several efforts over the years, includ-ing by Ward 2 City Councilman Kenneth Stokes, to criminalize the fashion trend, led much discussion. Although major crimes are trending downward in south Jackson and throughout the City, several recent high-profile incidents have citizens on edge about kids committing crime. On Feb. 11, the brass of the Jackson Police Department an-nounced the arrest of two teens they believe to be responsible for a string of armed rob-beries at local businesses. Those suspects are 17 and 19 years old;

JPD Chief Lee Vance told the south Jackson audience that his officers encounter kids as young as 12 and 13. “We need to get our kids under control,” Vance said, drawing grunts of agreement from members of the Wingfield audience. It was a similar sentiment expressed by Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, in a bill she often presents, including this session, that would bring more mandates to public schools. Her reasoning in the bill includes: “That many African American parents in this day and age, regardless of their socio-economic standard, are facing the same problems and that their children are out of control; That substance abuse, Internet por-nography, rude defiant behavior and author-ity issues are a few of the challenges African-American parents and communities face each day; consequences of their behavior.” Overwhelmingly, parent-blaming was the most frequent mantra of the evening, with visible frustration over the need for families to keep their kids out of trouble—a common refrain by people of all races, but usually directed at families of color. But Cassio Batteast, parent and the executive director of KINGS Leadership in-stitute, has long worked with young men of color in the criminal-justice system. He says that the reason people blame parents is be-cause it’s easy. “It’s not anything that I haven’t heard before,” Batteast said in a later inter-view. “We have to understand that white youth experience the same peer pressure that black students do. To say that phones and television cause school districts not to be suc-cessful is a blank argument.” Batteast warned that family-blaming is a way to avoid finding real solutions. “When you don’t have solutions, you pass the buck. So legislators aren’t going to talk about pro-grams you don’t have in the school system that provides parents with opportunities for engagement,” he said. Some of the forum’s participants did interject that a lot of parents need help from the community. James Coleman II, whose

family lives off McDowell Road in the Sun-crest neighborhood, said he and his wife have helped organize trips for about 600 children through a program called God’s Haven. “There are issues with parents (who) don’t have enough time to see what their kids are doing,” Coleman told the JFP. Willie Killins, the principal at Wing-field, said dealing with problems at students’ homes isn’t always as simple as calling mom and dad. Killins said schools should help families with capacity building. Right now, Killins said Wingfield par-ents have access to a computer where they can apply for jobs and check email during the school week; he hopes to open a Satur-day computer lab specifically for parents. “In urban communities, we’ve gotten decades behind where we need to be. We can build that back up,” Killins told the Jackson Free Press after the event. Batteast warns the public not to think of crime as a race problem, but to under-stand it’s about young people growing up in poverty and hopelessness. “Low-income parents don’t have a voice. And it’s easy to pick a fight with those who don’t have a voice,” Batteast says. “From educators, to law enforcement officers, to principals, to legislators—blam-ing parents alone is a cop-out. Economics plays a major role in the lack of resources for parents. Wealthy kids aren’t smarter than low-income kids. “They just have more opportunities.”Comment at www.jfp.ms/jxncrime. Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and The Hechinger Report. Email her at sierra@jacksonfreepress.com.

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Cassio Batteast warns that blaming parents for youth crime is the easy way out. Instead, tackle poverty and provide real opportunities. He is pictured with his nephews, Malik (left) and Lequarius (right) Roberson.

bills that would update an old part of Mississippi’s healthcare law currently preventing some for-profit healthcare clinics from moving into the state. In rural health clinics, a nurse prac-titioner can practice on his or her own as long as their collaborative doctor is 15 miles away. Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, in-troduced two bills to change this rule, so that nurse practitioners can collaborate with doctors anywhere in the state. Hill said with modern technology and tele-medicine, this rule change makes sense and is timely for such a rural state. “We don’t have the luxury of wait-ing; we need to get business develop-ment and healthcare development to come to Mississippi,” she told the Jack-son Free Press. Zach Allen, one of Hill’s constitu-ents in Picayune, works for the Chil-dren’s International Medical Group, which would like to expand in Missis-sippi but cannot cost-effectively do so with the current law. The group cannot build a clinic more than 15 miles past a consulting doctor currently, and finan-cially, this does not make sense because the group would have to bring in a pe-diatrician to each clinic. Pediatrician salaries are costly, compared to setting up clinics with nurse practitioners in rural areas who can consult with doctors from any dis-tance away. Allen’s group specializes in clinics that have nurse practitioners or pediatricians. There are 34 counties in Mississippi that do not have pediatri-cians, a Mississippi State study found. “Mississippi is the only state with a rule this restrictive,” Allen said. “We have two new clinics in the pipeline, and I had to put them in Louisiana.” Allen said this legislation should not be a political issue and appeals to both political parties because changing the 15-mile rule would promote private business development in the state as well as bring healthcare to rural areas with no previous access to pediatric care. The Children’s International Medical Group clinics accept Medicare and Medicaid patients, as well, so expansion into rural areas would not curb some from access to healthcare. Sen. Hill said her legislation will not result in any detrimental outcomes for patients at all—the bills also do not require tax cuts or cost taxpayers. “It’s about access, convenience and people not having transportation to drive long distances to see one doctor or pediatrician,” Hill said. Comment at jfp.ms. For more legis-lative coverage visit jfp.ms/msleg.

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Lawmakers: Sound Smarter About Education

I n January, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves used Mississippi Department of Education data to conclude that lower-performing school districts spend their education funding on administrative costs rather

than on instruction. Thus, Reeves oddly concluded, that must be the reason they performed worse than A and B school districts. It is a leap in logic to say that districts in more affl uent areas perform better with less public dol-lars; thus, that’s all the funds poorer districts need. Besides, it’s not based in fact. A 2013 PEER report revealed that only 10 Mississippi school districts spend less than 60 percent of their total budget, from federal to local contributions, on instruc-tional costs. Then, last week Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, told the Senate he had “no doubt” that the appointment, rather than the election of school superintendents, would positively affect student achievement. Then, he told the Senate that he had no data—but he was confi dent about it anyway. It is diffi cult to believe that legislators are truly invested in providing solutions for schools when they allow ideology rather than evidence, faulty logic rather than critical analysis, and agenda rather than altruism to guide their decision-making skills regarding the state of Mississippi’s public schools. It is diffi cult to believe that legislators share those same sentiments when they take resources and a compassionate ear away from the educators and administrators who work to educate kids even as schools and neighborhoods fall apart around them. Then they tell the very educators who struggle to provide textbooks and school supplies for chil-

dren from poor families that they do not deserve more money due to the unfounded claims that “no evidence” exists that proves that money affects stu-dent achievement. And it’s remarkable that legislators fi rst brand education as a “political” issue and then try to pass laws that say the very people in the education trenches every day cannot legally talk about what they believe is best for those children. An investment in education is an investment in the strength of the public good. More than 90 percent of Mississippi’s children attend public schools, all of which have the potential to produce an intelligent and thriving citizenship that will en-sure a similarly successful future for this great state. Education should not be the battleground for ideological arguments. Anecdotal evidence falters in the face of data and evidence, which legislators should consider in the face of the crisis of poverty in Mississippi, which still robs children of the equality of opportunity that allows them more chances to be healthier and more successful adults. Children liv-ing in poverty need additional resources just to keep up, much less excel. It may be inconvenient to Tate Reeves and Gray Tollison’s politics, but it is fact. But dangerously, legislators scratch at the sur-face of data, rather than applying information to the depth of nuance it deserves. This cherry-pick-ing can shortchange schools of more than money, which they already lack—but progress, which the state desperately needs. It also, ironically, sends a sadly anti-intellectual message to kids that if they don’t like something, just dismiss it as “political.”

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.

Muzzling Mississippi’s Educators

G oing into last November’s elections, Mississippi educators were hoping for real leadership. Instead, what they got was more of the same. The best example of this is House Education Chairman John Moore’s bill to silence educators, which he fi led last year and again this year. This

is a blatant attempt to tell educators, especially superintendents: “Keep your mouth shut. Don’t challenge us.” This session, House Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden fi led a similar bill. Snowden, as you may remember, authored the confusing legislative alternative to Initiative 42.

Moore’s bill is the more onerous of the two, leveling $10,000 fi nes and re-voking teacher licenses. But without any provision for who can fi le a complaint, or to whom, it appears the education chairman’s bill is reactionary and not well thought out. Snowden’s bill, while similar, is not as toxic and is more measured. It only has fi nes of $100 for the fi rst offense and $250 for each further offense, to be investigated by the secretary of state’s offi ce. Complaints can be fi led by “any state or federal oversight, enforcement or regulatory governmental enmity,” which includes those poor, harassed legislators.

Both authors claim the bills are not about stifl ing free speech, but about making sure educators are about the business of educating and not using school time, facilities or materials for partisan politics. And, honestly, that is a valid point. Teachers should not use class time for anything non-educational. And, of course, school materials should not be used for personal or political purposes. But these bills go well beyond fl yers and phone calls. They would prohibit talking to fellow teachers at lunch, or the playground, or on duty about anything that can be construed as political or policy, or even voicing a political opinion on Facebook during a school break. Teachers can’t discuss who they prefer for gover-nor, or why they may oppose a bond issue, nor can they encourage each other to meet with a local legislator about changing state testing. School administrators, while working after school at ball games or other activities, would be prohibited from discussing the latest state standards proposal of the Legislature or whether or not funding for students with special needs is appropriate. Likewise, both bills require the school superintendent and school board to be totally neutral publicly, except for their own personal campaigns. The bills prohibit political signs and the so-licitation of students and employees to become involved in political activity. Goodbye Teenage Republicans and Democrats, because we don’t need to get young people involved in the political process anyway. And no one has asked how this affects char-ter schools, which Moore and Snowden both tout as a form of public schools. Would they fall under this since they accept state funds? Didn’t a group of charter students and faculty members come to the state capital during “normal operating hours” to lobby support for school choice? Moore was quoted as being very enthusiastic with these groups; would he be so if a local school in Rankin County bussed a fi fth-grade class to the capital to push for more school funding? The truth, and hypocrisy, of the matter is that this is about stifl ing speech that the Legislature disagrees with. The campaign to pass Initiative 42 was the most organized educators in Mississippi had been in 30 years. And legislators, who often forget they serve at the will of the voters and instead act as if they are members of the aristocracy, were taken aback when educators had the audacity to challenge their votes. Due to teachers’ strikes 30 years ago, we now have leg-islation saying that educators taking part in an illegal strike are to be dismissed and may not be rehired by any public school district in the state unless a court fi nds the rehiring to be a “public necessity.” This action had the intended effect, as teachers haven’t even sniffed of another strike. The Mississippi Association of Educators, then the largest teacher group in the state, has fallen from a position of power to near irrelevance. And the voice of educators has gone from a shout in the halls of the Capitol to little more than a whisper. And even that is too loud for some legislators.

Shannon Eubanks is the principal of the Enterprise Attendance Center in Brookhaven. Opinions stated here are his own.

This is about stifl ing speech the Legislature disagrees with.

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OXFORD—Southerners are friend-ly folk, so Bernie Sanders is going to hear a lot of “Y’all come!” as he takes his populist presidential cam-

paign to Dixie. The question is: Will they mean it?

The Brooklyn-bred son of a Polish Jew and current Vermont senator scored a lop-sided victory in the recent New Hampshire primary and what he correctly called a “vir-tual tie” in the Iowa caucuses.

However, he faces his toughest challenge in South Carolina’s Feb. 20 Demo-cratic primary as well as in the subsequent March 1 “Super Tuesday” primaries across the South, and in Mississippi’s on March 8.

Sanders brings a strong pro-working-class message with him to the South. However, his Democratic opponent has the Clinton brand name that still reso-nates with African Ameri-cans, a powerful force in the Democratic leadership and among the party’s most loyal Southern voters.

The reality behind that brand name, sadly, is that the Clinton legacy—certainly Bill’s—has left more harm than good for Af-rican Americans and the working class.

Polls show why Sanders is giving Clin-ton a run for her money (and there’s a lot of that money!). According to the CBS News/New York Times, a strong majority of all Americans support raising the minimum wage; believe U.S. corporations have too much power; support more even distribu-tion of wealth in the country; oppose cuts in Social Security; and support workers’ right to join a union.

In other words, most Americans stand with Bernie Sanders on these issues and in opposition to most Republican politicians.

Sanders calls himself a “Democratic So-cialist,” the first major politician in U.S. his-tory since Eugene Debs (way back in 1920) to use the term “socialist” in a serious bid for the presidency. What Sanders means by that nebulous word seems to be a strong belief in what Lincoln called a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

So far this election, voters don’t seem bothered by the term.

The big question for Hillary Clinton is: What does she believe? As The Economist once noted, “No one knows what she really believes.” The former secretary of state and U.S. senator once supported the NAFTA-like Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agree-ment, which promises to further enrich her Wall Street friends but at the expense of workers. Now she opposes it.

On the campaign trail, she has been

mildly critical of Wall Street—a reaction to the Amos-like Bernie Sanders’ fiery con-demnation of the princes of greed. Yet she remains close to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, a major financial supporter, and she and her husband benefitted from hun-dreds of millions of dollars Blankfein’s firm and other financial giants steered their and their foundation’s way.

That Clinton brand I discussed ear-lier was shaken in 2008 after Bill’s attacks

against Barack Obama in that year’s election, but Hillary looks to the South and its primaries as what has been called her “firewall.”

Closer scrutiny of both Clintons shows little substantial support of black communities. Hillary Clinton was a forceful advocate of her husband’s welfare reform measures in the 1990s as a way to get “deadbeats” off the gov-

ernment dole. Bill Clinton’s welfare reform did nothing to alleviate poverty, but it did do something Republicans love: cut the federal deficit. Hillary Clinton today talks about criminal justice reform, yet she has never acknowledged how Bill Clinton’s Violent Crime and Enforcement Act in 1994 made black communities targets in the “get tough on crime” campaign while marching untold numbers of black males off to prison for mi-nor crimes.

Democrat and economic populist John Bel Edwards’ victory in Louisiana’s recent gubernatorial race should be a harbinger to Clinton that Southerners—like the nation as a whole—are tired of the status quo. They’re not seeing benefits from Wall Street profits. As important as the social triggers of abor-tion, gender and gay rights may be to many, the economy is the issue to most in 2016.

Bernie Sanders has already made seri-ous inroads into Clinton strongholds like women voters as well as black voters. And what’s ironical for a 74-year-old politician is his strongest constituency is young vot-ers, many of them strapped by college debt and uncertain job prospects. Hillary Clin-ton’s biggest weapon in her arsenal may be money, but Sanders’ grassroots fundraising is even challenging her on that front.

In many ways, this is an election about money. Those who have it wield lots of power. However, if this country is still the democracy we’d like to think it is, so do the people who don’t have it.

Joe Atkins is a veteran journalist, colum-nist and professor of journalism at the Univer-sity of Mississippi. His blog is laborsouth.blogspot.com. Email him at jbatkins@olemiss.edu.

Bernie Sanders: For the People

JOE ATKINS

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O P E N F O R B U S I N E S S

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Chris Lewis checks his driver’s side mirror be-fore hopping down from his pickup truck. He grabs an orange and white folding barricade from the bed and sets it up 20 feet away and starts directing the ve-

hicles zooming by to the right. Lewis is the acting road superinten-dent for the city’s public-works depart-ment, which includes overseeing pothole-patching operations. Brown-skinned with a short, gray beard, Lewis resembles the late “60 Minutes” journalist Ed Bradley. In place of Bradley’s trademark gold hoop ear-ring, Lewis wears a black Bluetooth device in his right ear. His bosses at the City’s Department of Public Works told Lewis not to be in-terviewed, he says; he’s to drive a Jackson Free Press reporter and photographer to several work sites so we can observe. On the ride over from the public-works maintenance department, we mostly ride in silence except for the soft hum of old-school gospel tunes such as the Williams Brothers’ 1986 hit “Sweep Around Your Own Front Door.” In Jackson’s war against potholes, Lewis would be akin to a sergeant, com-manding two teams and fi ve men total.

When his Bluetooth lights up with a call from a superior, many of his answers are “yes, sir” and “no, sir.” Generally speaking, the dividing line between the north and south crews is Fortifi cation Street, itself one of the more representative symbols of pothole despair in Jackson until a major re-construction commenced in 2012. This cold January morning is an ex-ception. The work order is to patch three holes off the Pearl Street exit from In-terstate 55, where the road forks toward the Mississippi State Fair-grounds. On a map, it is simply called Access Road, and the City is unclear whether the state or the city is responsible for its maintenance. Heavy traffi c volume fl ying off I-55 com-bined with water coming down a hill cre-ated the holes, which have elicited enough complaints to the City that public works sent one of Lewis’ teams to make repairs. Called “The Patcher,” the massive truck evokes the anatomy of an insect with distinct mandible, head, thorax and ab-domen-like sections. The truck, procured about six months earlier, is designed as a

one-man truck, but the crew consists of two people for safety reasons. Inside the cab, a husky guy’s face is behind a large clipboard, while a skinnier man wearing a backward baseball cap operates the controls. The Patcher approaches a teardrop-shaped hole about 2 feet wide and deep enough that if it fi lled with water, and an adult stepped in it, water would reach her

ankle. First, the pneu-matic arm sends a puff of air into the pothole to clear it of debris. Next, the mechanical arm sprays a mist of emulsion—a petro-leum-based tar that will harden when it cools and bind to the gravel—into the hole like spray-on adhesive. In the next step, the arm spits out gray-

colored rock chips less than a dime in a di-ameter and roars like a 50-foot-tall vacuum cleaner. Filling the fi rst hole takes about 25 minutes. When it’s fi nished, the machine again blasts the edges with air, creating a corona of rock debris around the patch-work. The crew repeats the process with a smaller fi ssure about 40 feet back from the fi rst hole. Then it repeats the process again near the bottom of the road, near where it

intersects with Greymont Avenue. Satisfi ed with the progress of the team, Lewis climbs back into the truck. The South team is scheduled to be in the Queens neighborhood, but Lewis is told of a problem at the asphalt plant off Gal-latin, so he heads over to check it out.

Dangerous and Costly Counting potholes is like counting the members of a rebel force, close to im-possible. For starters, Jackson has 1,200 miles of road, which is the same distance between Mississippi’s capital and New York City, and lost more than 20,000 residents between 1990 and 2011, U.S. Census re-cords show. By area, Mississippi’s capital city is bigger than Sacramento and Tallahassee, the government seats of California and Florida, respectively. In fact, Jackson is the 90th largest city in the United States, and bigger than the more populous cities of Se-attle, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Baltimore. Jackson’s population decline, com-bined with a road-maintenance budget that had, until recently, not grown more than $1 million since anyone can remem-ber, means that many of Jackson’s streets have some sort of blemish. Compounding

Febr

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The City Battles Nature, Resourcesby R.L. Nave

Where the Potholes End

The City allocated just over $2 million to streets in the recent budget, but sinkholes, utility cuts, cracks, ruts, and potholes come in every shape, size and depth imaginable.

Counting potholes is like counting the members of

a rebel force.

the degradation of the streets is the fact that the City is fighting two other battles, against failing water and sewer infrastruc-ture. Moisture is to pavement what pot-holes are to vehicle tires and suspension components: anathema. City officials estimate Jackson needs to raise close to $750 million for all of the capital city’s infrastructure needs. When it comes to paved streets, to which the City allocated just over $2 million in the re-cent budget, pile on heavy traffic, and the results are a lot of sinkholes, utility cuts, cracks, ruts, and potholes that come in ev-ery shape, sizes and depth imaginable. In recent months, city residents have seen a spate of high-profile pothole-related incidents that include a Jackson police cruiser that crashed after hitting a pothole, a night where eight or nine cars hit a pot-hole on Woodrow Wilson near a water leak and a TV news story about a child who fell into a water-filled “pothole”—which was actually a sinkhole created by a utility failure deep under the street. Potholes are caused by a combination of water, expand-ing soil and constant traffic. To people in Jackson, who have to battle blown tires, crooked front-end align-ments and nearly drowned children, the distinction between potholes, sinkholes

and utility cuts are meaningless. They’re dangerous and costly, and they want the city to fix them. Duane O’Neill, president of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, said the condition of Jackson’s infrastruc-ture can affect economic development. In fact, when the chamber wants to woo businesses to the area, choosing to the least pothole-pocked route to show visitors around comes into play, he said. “Anytime you’re trying to sell someone, you have to be upfront and honest. And the honest answer is we got behind, and we have a plan to rectify that, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” O’Neill said. That plan involves spending from the 1-percent local-option sales tax. Jack-son voters approved the tax in early 2014, but the City only received approval from an oversight commission in spring 2015 to begin spending money; the City says a little over $13 million from the fund will be committed in the first year, from May 2015 to May 2016. City officials estimated that between $15 million to $20 million will be spent per year for a five-year period representing a total of about $90 million.

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Ron Chane, the “Pothole Robin Hood,” took asphalt from a Mississippi

neighborhood before the City told him he’d better stop.

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In December, the City hired Jackson-based IMS Engineers to develop a master plan for and over projects in years two through five of the sales-tax program. City officials say the 1-percent money will not go toward quick-fix pothole patch-ing, but will pooled with other funding sources to address some of the most visible trouble spots. Three major road renova-tion projects are outlined for the first year

of the sales-tax: North State Street, Lynch Street and Riverside Drive. In October, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Jackson a $16.5 million grant for the North State Street project. At the Feb. 9 meeting of the Jackson City Council, a Jackson State University student named Devon Curtis pressed of-ficials during the public-comment period about the condition of City streets. “It’s because of disinvestment, and when you haven’t invested in 25 (to) 30 years, this work doesn’t happen because you want it to,” Mayor Tony Yarber told Curtis. But asking residents to be patient with potholes is a bit like asking the people of Flint, Mich., to have patience while gov-ernment officials try to make their water safe to drink again. Elections can be won and lost because of infrastructure-related maladies, which become fodder for public mockery. In 2013, Jackson business owner Ron Chane made national news as a “pot-hole Robin Hood” when he stole asphalt from a Mississippi Department of Trans-portation depot to fill potholes around his Belhaven neighborhood.

“What motivated me was knowing the only option was to complain about it or do something about it,” Chane recalls. Chane abruptly ended his crusade af-ter a media firestorm and political pressure from then-Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, who said through a media statement at the time that, “We do not accept any use of the city’s resources without going through the proper legal channels.”

Nonetheless, Chane says public-works crews eventually came along and fixed his amateur patch job. Chane, who says he recently shelled out $2,000 in front-end work on his car that he blames on the con-dition of City streets, says that three years since that episode, the number of potholes has increased, at least in Belhaven. “At this point, I think it’s fair to say that the pothole problem is far worse than any time in the past,” he said. Chane said he recently observed a pub-lic-works crew fix a large hole in front of a Fondren business, which drew a crowd of awestruck pedestrians. “Nobody should stand in awe because somebody is filling a pothole. That should be standard.”

What’s the 3-1-1? Jackson launched 3-1-1, a public-service request hotline, in April 2011 for residents to report everything from dead animals to leaky fire hydrants to potholes. When someone calls 311 to report a pothole, an operator enters into the system usually under the street name; that be-comes what public works personnel call a work order.

Each day, the pothole crews pull up the 311 system and select work orders that can be based on a number of factors, in-cluding risk to public safety and number of complaints, said Leroy Lee, manager of the Division of Infrastructure Management under the public-works department and one of Chris Lewis’ supervisors. Lee, who has managed the division for two years, and Lewis provide direction, but

where the crews work is mostly left to the discretion of the crews. Another thing that happens is that a citizen will report a pot-hole when it’s actually a sinkhole, caused by the rupture of a water or sewer line under the street, which over time can cause the pavement to cave in. “The community doesn’t see a utility cut or a sinkhole,” Lee said. “They see a pothole.” That’s why residents may see a pothole crew show up at a job site but leave because sinkholes require heavy equipment and more work that the patch crews can do. Lee’s voice is deep, and he keeps his answers succinct, referring questions about road design to engineers and eschewing questions about whether his department has adequate funding. He admits that the maintenance division has several positions that need to be filled—City officials have said that more than 100 vacancies exist in the public-works department, where some wages started at the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour until the City Council boosted the minimum in 2014—and that in the past, crews have worked hours be-yond the current schedule of Monday

through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Asked what qualities Lee seeks in po-tential employees, he offers, plainly: “Hard working and dedication.”

Alternate Routes Although 3-1-1 is the City’s preferred method for receiving complaints, more informal, but equally effective methods in-clude Facebook and Twitter direct messag-ing elected officials, including Yarber and the city council. City council members have no execu-tive power so they can’t pick up the phone and get a pothole fixed. But, because they’re more accessible than the mayor’s office, council members act as conduits for people who live in their wards. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote asks constituents to send photos of potholes, which his assistant, Lee Morris, sends along to the department of public works. “Sometimes, they’re very responsive, and we get a quick (response) and some-times it seems like it takes a long time for them to get them fixed,” Foote said, refer-ring to potholes. Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hen-drix, whose south Jackson district includes Mayor Yarber’s home, says his office gets a fair amount of email, and uses a Facebook group called South Jackson Connected. Enough people bend Hendrix’s ear at the supermarket that his wife, Ercilla, won’t let him go if they’re in a hurry. Hendrix is dubious of the ability of the 3-1-1 system to address the volume of complaints that pour in about infrastructure problems, so his office enters complaints on constitu-ents’ behalf directly into 3-1-1 so that he can track them. From there, he sends a message to the mayor’s constituent-services office and a public-works manager such as Leroy Lee. “We follow up every day until some-thing is done. We advocate. We push. We shame at public meetings. We scream in order to get our constituents issues resolved quickly,” Hendrix said. “The most diligent resident will, of course, get the most attention. The most organized neighborhood association will get the most attention or the most orga-nized council member (will get attention). It comes down to being an advocate for the people you represent.” In Hendrix’s view, potholes are a so-cioeconomic issue. Coincidentally, his in-terview with the Jackson Free Press took place the same day the City Council met to consider a ordinance that would ban the expansion of payday loan and check-cashing stores, which charge customers fees for quick access to cash for emergencies like car repairs.

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Referring to the damage that a pothole can do to a car, Hendrix said: “Two hours and 50 bucks—for a lot of people, it can be life changing.” Carl Case is all too familiar with the scenario Hendrix paints. On the night of Dec. 10, Case had finished up a fi-nal exam at Millsaps College where he’s studying for his master’s in business ad-ministration and was headed to celebrate with friends. As he drove down Wood-row Wilson, where a water main erupted months ago and the flowing water has damaged the street, he hit a hole that blew out his tire and bent his rim. “The way they had it set up, they were pointing you to the pothole,” Case says, re-ferring to the orange barrels that lined the street ostensibly as a safety precaution. Thanks to the bent rim, Case couldn’t get his tire off so he called his auto club. In the meantime, he also talked to a WLBT news crew along with eight or nine other motorists who also had blowouts. In all, he spent an hour outside, missed his outing with friends and, the next day, had to shell out $50 for a new tire. He may also need a new rim. Citizens whose cars are damaged by potholes can file a claim with the City’s risk-management division, which is part of the city attorney’s office, not public works, and it’s not very well publicized. “I would think there would have been some kind of warning. I don’t know if they knew about it or even cared,” Case said. A JFP staffer who suffered pothole damage costing $300 filed a claim about a month ago, which is still pending.

Pothole Science Today, the stretch of Woodrow Wil-son is closed to traffic. The pothole Case hit in December was caused by a water-line rupture that gushed for weeks. Because of its proximity to University of Mississippi Medical Center, City officials could not simply shut off the main.

There are a number of different kinds of potholes and several different ways to fix them, depending where you live. Dave Bergner, a retired public-works superinten-dent in Arizona, seems surprised that Jack-son has a problem with potholes. Most of the problem spots, he said, are in northern states that experience the freeze-thaw cycle in which water freezes, causing asphalt to expand and break up. During thawing, the water erodes the pavement even further. Jackson has its own unique geological feature—namely, the heavy soil known as Yazoo Clay that fills with moisture in the same manner as freezing water. When it dries, it contracts, causing roads and home foundations to shift. In addition, the water table in Jackson is high, meaning there’s a lot of water close to the surface. “For pavement and roadways, water is similar to (how) unprotected metal will cause rust. Water on wood causes wood rot. Water can cause a lot of damage. When it gets below subsurface, it cant escape (and) you see a lot of rutting and breaking away the pavement,” Bergner said in a telephone interview. Naturally, climate and topography also comes into play. In addition to its eter-nal fight against Yazoo Clay, Jackson some-times experiences freezes, exacerbating the pothole situation. For instance, Denver is flat and gets a lot of snow. When it melts, water cannot run off fast enough, said Pat Kennedy, a engineering supervisor at Den-ver Street Maintenance in Colorado. “It starts with one small hole,” he said. Patching will hold up for a few days, but a better longer-term solution involves cut-ting a rectangle around the problem spot then filling it with the asphalt. Other factors in fighting the war on potholes involves using the right mix of tar and asphalt based on the temperature ranges of a given surface. Kennedy said the best way to fight potholes is to engineer the roads so water drains off and doesn’t create soft spots. Other, costlier, methods include in-stalling drainage pipes under the road sur-face topped with rock or gravel or elevating the roadway with a slight crown to help the water drain, which is expensive. Another solution is to apply a tar-like crack seal every two or three years, which also helps as does resurfacing the streets on a regular basis. The rock solution is better than as-phalt, even though the City has another pothole patcher on the way that will use asphalt instead of rock chips. The older the street, the more prone to potholes they are, Kennedy said. “It becomes a futile effort after a time,” Kennedy said of patch jobs. “It’s like scraping the rust away from your car or painting over it. Likewise, not going down and correcting the problem

you’re just going to be repeating it over and over again.”

A Lower-Tech Approach Chris Lewis’ south Jackson pothole crew is scheduled to work in the Queens neighborhood, but is stuck in line at the asphalt plant off Gallatin.

There, Jackson’s truck is in a line of dump trucks that, during busy periods, can be backed up onto Gallatin. The Dickerson & Bowen plant is one of two places to buy asphalt in the Jackson area. The other is in Flowood. Yellow-hued gravel, piled taller than Jackson City Hall, goes up a conveyer into a massive oven that resembles a large barbecue grill where it mixes with emul-sion, which gives asphalt its blackness, and goes into silos. Trucks pull up under the designated silo, and the requested amount of asphalt drops from a chute at a temperature of around 400 degrees. Unlike the patching machine working in downtown, the south-of-Fortification crew is noticeably less high-tech. It consists of a pickup truck pulling an open trailer that carries the asphalt and tools. Lewis trails the crew down Gallatin and west along U.S. 80 to avoid the inter-state, arriving on pothole-riddled work site on Queen Anne Lane. Younger and energetic, the crew members bounce from the truck, lower the tailgate and get to work. One of the work-ers, wearing a Department of Public Works uniform with a bright yellow-green mesh safety vest, manually picks several large pieces of rock out of the targeted hole. A second worker uses a push broom to clean

the debris from the hole. Once sufficiently clean, another crew member uses a regular household broom to drizzle a thin tar to outline the hole. Then, they go to work. Steam wafting from each scoop, asphalt is shoveled in a line on the edge of the hole and inside be-fore another worker spreads it evenly over

the hole. The third worker uses a hand tamper, a tool with a long handle with a metal plate attached to the end, to flatten the still hot asphalt. Like the three-man weave in basket-ball, this is pothole-filling fundamentals: sweep, spread, and tamp, all the way of the block. After 25 minutes, 14 black patches pock the block-long stretch of road; their durability hinges on the amount of precipi-tation and other moisture that seeps into the cracks, whether Jackson has a freeze and for how long, and how many vehicles drive other them. Lee, the city’s maintenance manage-ment, shows up and looks on. “As you see, this isn’t the first time we’ve been here,” Lee says, pointing to faint craters in the pavement, some which can also be seen using Google Map’s satellite-view. A man driving a dark wine-colored Jaguar wearing black and red Atlanta Braves cap approaches the site and, to no one in particular, states with a twinge of anger in his voice, “I had a blowout right there” and speeds off. As Lewis makes a U-turn to and pulls off, he drives over the newly repaired road, proving that driving over patched potholes doesn’t feel that different than driving over potholes. Comment at www.jfp.ms/potholes. Send city story tips to news@jacksonfreepress.com.20

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Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hendrix is dubious of the ability of the 3-1-1 system to address the volume of complaints that pour in about infrastructure problems, so he enters constituents’ calls directly into 3-1-1 so he can track them.

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W hen customers walk into Fondren Fro-Yo, which recently opened in the Jack-son neighborhood, bright colors, de-signs and topping dispensers surround

them. The business, which is Jackson’s first indepen-dently owned one of its kind, has seating both inside and outside depending on the weather, and familiar songs play softly in the background. Located off Old Canton Road, Fondren Fro-Yo sits at the entrance of the neighborhood and occupies a once-desolate side of Old Canton Road. The space that Fondren Fro-Yo now occupies pre-viously housed GLO Design Studio. After owner An-thony Ritter moved GLO upstairs five years ago, the space transformed into an office and storage area, but none of the business ventures was a good fit for the area. Then, last summer, came the idea for Fondren Fro-Yo. Pop Culture Pops was interested in the space for their storefront; however, after the business got the space in the Pix/Capri Theatre, Ritter had the idea of bringing frozen yogurt to Jackson. “We wanted to bring something to that all of Brandon, Flowood and Madison already have,” Ritter says. “We don’t have anything in Jackson like this.” Betsy Mullins, Ritter’s business partner for Fon-dren Fro-Yo and a pastry chef by trade, says: “It’s defi-

nitely been a learning experience and will continue to be one for sure, but I’m excited to take on that responsibility.” The shop had its grand opening on Wednes-day, Feb. 3, and debuted signature flavors such as strawberry, cheesecake, triple chocolate, Tahitian va-nilla, California tart, sea-salt-caramel pretzel and Va-lencia orange sorbet. The yogurt dispensers also offer a swirl option combination for selected flavors. The flavors change weekly. Of the two cases of cups ready for filling, at least 350 fro-yo fans snacked at Fondren Froyo on its opening day. The self-serve topping bar offers assorted treats such as coconut shavings, Nerds candy, M&Ms, marshmallows, kiwi pieces, strawberry, several syrups, among many others. “We would eventually like to do more gourmet toppings and smoothies with the dif-ferent yogurts,” Mullins says. This winter, Fondren Fro-Yo (2951 Old Canton Road is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; however, once the time changes on March 13, the business will be open until 9 p.m., and possibly on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For updates, photos, and directions, find Fondren Fro-Yo on Facebook and Instagram or visit fondrenfroyo.com.

I n the South, we’re all about tradition and family. Passing on memories and values is deeply ingrained in our culture, but often, we pass along those intangibles

by way of physical objects, like my grand-mother’s vintage mink fur I’ve inherited and fondly wear, or the tacky Christmas decorations my grandfather made that I hang with excitement each year, or by ritu-als such as the family attending a Christmas Eve service together each year. Our Jackson community is full of shared traditions that bind us together and create a shared common identity. For in-stance, I think about the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade (now the Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade & Festival), which over the years has come to symbolize, to me, so much of what’s great about Jackson. And, appropriately enough, the parade and Hal & Mal’s itself come from and are being carried on by a family—brothers Malcolm White and the late Hal White, and, now, their progeny. I’m friends with Brandi White Lee, Hal’s daughter, and her husband P.J., who are among those I’ll deem the next-genera-tion Hal & Mal’s gang. I’m also hugely sup-portive and proud of Mississippi’s strong creative economy. So in November, when I

saw an event in the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series featured a panel about the creative economy with Nell Linton Knox and Ellen Rodgers Johnson, who published a book, “Studio Jackson: Creative Culture in the Mississippi Capital” (The History Press, $23), in 2014, and also Malcolm and artists

Jerrod Partridge, Elizabeth Robinson, and Tony Davenport, I was eager to attend. During the evening’s discussion, Mal-colm talked some about the history of Hal

& Mal’s and its connection to not only music and food, but also visual artists. He mentioned that back in the day, he and Hal would invite local artists to show their work in the restaurant on a regular basis, and how the mutual support of artists and their ven-ture was important to creating Hal & Mal’s identity and sense of place in the commu-nity, as well as its revenue. Not long after that, I learned that Hal & Mal’s was reviving that tradition. A new series of events, which Lee spearheaded, dubbed Arts & Apps, highlight different musicians and artists for an evening. One particularly busy workday in November ended with my law partner concluding that a drink was in order, and it just so hap-pened to be the night of that month’s Arts & Apps. So off we went, with family join-ing us once we got there. Walking into the restaurant, I found local artist Ellen Langford set up at her easel, painting the band for that night, The Hustlers, and selling works on paper. It quickly became clear that this art-and-music event tradition is rooted in the Hal & Mal’s ethos of bringing together art and music in a friendly and family-oriented at-mosphere. Kids were welcome, the music

was low-key enough to be able to facilitate conversation, and people circulated from table to table, visiting old friends, mak-ing new ones and enjoying dinner. And since the event ended early, it was a good weeknight-friendly outing for those with work or school the next day. In short, it was a great time. I’m so glad to be a part of a community where traditions like that can be born and nurtured and celebrated. The December edition was Dec.16 and was a special holiday fête with double the artists and music. During happy hour, which was from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., artists Rebecca Wilkinson and Teresa Haygood were paired with music from Mark Roemer and Jamie Weems, and Mallory Palmertree from Electric Dagger also showcased her work with music from Joe McCullough. The March 12 event is the first one of 2016. It is from 7 p.m. to 9 :30 p.m., and features Ginger Williams-Cook as the art-ist. At press time, the music for the night had not been chosen. Kudos to Hal & Mal’s for continuing traditions of art and family. Go check it out. Attending Arts & Apps may become a tra-dition of your own. For more information, visit halandmals.com.

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WEDNESDAY 2/17 History Is Lunch is at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). noon. Clay Williams presents “The End of Spanish Rule and Beginning of Mississippi Territory.” Free; call 601-576-6998. … “Annie” is at 7:30 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The musical is based on the classic comic strip about an orphan who goes from rags to riches. $25-$85; call 800-745-3000; jacksonbroadway.com.

THURSDAY 2/18 Networking in the Neighborhood is from 5 to 7 p.m. at Workplace Solutions Barefield (251 W. South St.). The Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership is the host. Open to all metro-area professionals. Includes a cash bar, water and soft drinks. Free; call 601-948-7575; email dgreen@greaterjacksonpartnership.com. … The Mississippi Chambre Music Guild’s Fanfare Festival is at

various metro Jackson locations. The festival is from Feb. 18-21 and features chamber music from amateur and profession musicians. The Gaudete Brass Quintet headlines the event along with the Metropolitan Cham-ber Orchestra. Visit the website for details and a full schedule of events. Admission varies, some events free; call 601-594-2902; mscmg.net.

FRIDAY 2/19 The Millsaps Friday Forum is at 4:30 p.m. at the Mill-saps College Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.) in the recital hall. The speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, who will give a reading and conduct a discussion along with author Katy Simpson Smith. Free; call 601-974-1000; millsaps.edu. … Rodney Perry Live is from 8 to 11 p.m. at The Hideaway (Deville Plaza, 5100 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road). The comic and host of Bounce TV’s “Off the Chain” has appeared on “The Mo’Nique Show,” “Madea’s Big Happy Family” and more. Local comedian Rita B. also performs. For ages 21 and up. $20 in advance, $25 at the door; call 601-709-7894 or 601-941-2423.

SATURDAY 2/20 Ignite the Night is from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Mississippi Chil-dren’s Museum (2145 High-land Drive). The theme for the adults-only event is “Primetime Rewind.” Guests enjoy cuisine, games, raffles and music with a classic television twist. $75; call 601-981-5469; mississippichil-drensmuseum.com.

SUNDAY 2/21 The Paul Porter Experience performs at 5 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The red carpet is at 4 p.m. Performers include Paul Porter, Ruben Studdard, Le’Andria Johnson, the Mississippi Mass Choir and the Canton Spirituals. $25-$50; call 800-745-3000.

MONDAY 2/22 The Ridgeland Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Banquet is at 6:30 p.m. at the Country Club of Jackson (345 St. Andrews Drive). The event includes dinner, awards and music. Performers include Mary Wilson of The Su-premes, Raphael Semmes and the Mississippi Live Ensemble. Wear business attire. RSVP. $65, sponsorships available; call 601-991-9996; ridgelandchamber.com.

TUESDAY 2/23 Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series—Hammers & Reeds: A University of Idaho Faculty Ensemble is at 7 p.m. at the Mill-saps College Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). Jovanni-Rey de Pedro, Javier Rodriguez and Shawn L. Cope-land make up the trio. They perform songs from Beethoven, Glinka, Nansi Carroll and more. $10; call 601-974-1130; millsaps.edu/conted. … Melissa Etheridge performs at 7:30 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). $39.5-$59.5; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

WEDNESDAY 2/24 The Planet Deep South Colloquium begins at 8 a.m. at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). Scholars, artists and students discuss the future of south-ern black and Pan African culture. Registration required. Additional dates: Feb. 25-27, 8 a.m. Free; call 601-979-1563; jsums.edu/hamerinstitute. … “Doctor Faustus” is at 7:30 p.m. at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive) in Flexible Theatre. Addi-tional dates: Feb. 25-26, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 27, 2 p.m. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Belhaven students and employees; call 601-965-7026; belhaven.edu.

SATURDAY 2/20Teaching History in Mississippi: The 2016 Teaching Institute is at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

FRIDAY 2/20“The Dance of the Lion King” is at Thalia Mara Hall.

SUNDAY 2/21Feed the City, Feed the State is at Battlefield Park.

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Actor Connor Bingham stars in “Doctor Faustus” Feb. 24-27 at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts.

BY MICAH SMITH

EVENTS@JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM

FAX: 601-510-9019DAILY UPDATES AT

JFPEVENTS.COMThe Paul Porter Experience performs Sunday, Feb. 21, at Thalia Mara Hall.

Networking in the Neighborhood Feb. 18, 5-7 p.m., at Workplace Solutions Barefield (251 W. South St.). The Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership is the host. Open to all metro-area professionals. Includes a cash bar, water and soft drinks. Free; call 601-948-7575; email dgreen@greaterjacksonpartnership.com.

Mississippi Chambre Music Guild’s Fanfare Festival Feb. 18-21, at various metro Jackson loca-tions. Includes chamber music from amateur and profession musicians. The Gaudete Brass Quintet headlines the event along with the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. Visit the website for details. Admission varies, some events free; call 601-594-2902; email info@mscmg.net; mscmg.net.

Ignite the Night Feb. 20, 7-11 p.m., at Mississippi Children’s Museum (2145 Highland Drive). The theme for the annual adults-only event is “Prime-time Rewind.” Guests enjoy cuisine, games, raffles and music with a classic television twist. $75; call 981-5469; mississippichildrensmuseum.com.

Women in Higher Education Mississippi Net-work Conference Feb. 18, 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Feb. 19, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. The purpose of the event is to identify, develop, advance and support women in higher education in Mississippi. Registration required. $95 registration, $10 optional member-ship fee; call 601-979-0552; jsums.edu/whemn.

Teen Dating Violence Summit Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at King Edward Hotel (235 W. Capitol St.). Butterflies by Grace Defined by Faith is the host. The keynote speaker is activist Damien Thaddeus Jones. Also includes food, breakout sessions for teens and parents, and a performance from Shirley Hopkins. Free with registration; call 601-896-2509; butterfliesbygracedefinedbyfaith.org.

Teaching History in Mississippi: The 2016 Teaching Institute Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). In Trustmark Grand Hall. The workshop is for history and social studies teachers, and includes hands-on actitvities, discussions and lunch. Pre-registration suggested. Space limited. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

The Cancer League Gala Feb. 20, 6:30-11:59 p.m., at The South Warehouse (627 E. Silas Brown St.). This year’s honoree is Lori Newcomb. Includes casino games, music from Almost Famous, an auction, gourmet hors d’oeuvres with beer and wine parings, and tributes to those who battled cancer. For ages 21 and up. $150, $250 couples; call 601-321-5500; cancerleaguegala.org.

Feed the City, Feed the State Feb. 21, 2 a.m.-6 p.m., at Battlefield Park (953 Porter St.). Weight loss inspiration, actor and hip-hop artist Douglas “Rfd Pioneer” Lacey hosts. Includes food, a docu-mentary and video shooting, and music from Ron Tha DJ. Free; call 832-409-0430.

Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series—Hammers & Reeds: A University of Idaho Faculty Ensemble Feb. 23, 7 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Aca-demic Complex (1701 N. State St.). Jovanni-Rey de Pedro, Javier Rodriguez and Shawn L. Cope-land perform Beethoven, Glinka, Nansi Carroll and more. $10; call 974-1130; millsaps.edu.

Planet Deep South Colloquium Feb. 24-27, 8 a.m., at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). The theme is “Speculative Cultural Production and Africanisms in the American Black South.” Scholars, artists and students discuss the future of southern black and Pan African culture. Registration required. Free; call 601-979-1563; jsums.edu/hamerinstitute.

Events at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.)

Feb. 19, 10:30 a.m. This educational opportunity for ages 5 and under and their parents features a hands-on art activity and story time. Please dress for mess. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

8-10 Feb. 21, 2-4 p.m. Lesley Collins guides families in conversations around works from the permanent collection and related studio projects. $10; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Events at Mississippi Children’s Museum (2145 Highland Drive)

Feb. 21, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Make your own sculptures and prints in Inspiration Studios. Included with admission ($10, children under 12 months free); call 601-981-5469; mississippichildrensmuseum.com.

Tuesdays-Saturdays through Feb. 29. Children in grades K-12 read and vote for their favorite books. Facilitators announce the winners at the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival in April. Included with admission ($10, children under 12 months free); call 601-981-5469; mschildrensmuseum.org.

‘sipp Sourced with Chef Nick Wallace Feb. 18, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Feb. 18, 5:30 p.m., Feb. 19-Feb. 20, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Order from a pop-up menu featuring products from Mississippi sources. Food prices vary; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

-tes” Super Conference Feb. 20, 7:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m., at Jackson Marriott (200 E. Amite St.). The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi hosts. Includes speakers, cooking demonstrations, and more. Reg-istration required. $25, $40 for two, $10 ages 12 and under; call 877-DFM-CURE; msdiabetes.org.

Polarpalooza Feb. 20, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., at Town of Livingston (Highway 463 and Highway 22, Madison). Includes the Nate Rogers Race for the Laces 5K and the Polar Plunge, chili samples, children’s activities, and music from

Jason Miller Band, Hannah Belle and Young Valley. Benefits Special Olympics Mississippi. $11 admission ($10 at the gate), ages 6 and under free, $35 Nate Rogers 5K and/or Polar Plunge; $15 Fun Run, $100 per cookoff team; call 898-0212; polarpaloozafest.org.

Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m., at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). Members of the City of Jackson Department of Parks and Recreation’s Champion Dance Program and the Montage Theatre of Dance perform. $15-$25; call 601-857-3266 or 800-745-3000.

“Yazoo Revisited: Integration and Segrega-tion in a Deep Southern Town” Documen-tary Screening Feb. 18, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). In the JSU Student Center Theater. Includes a discussion and Q&A with film-maker David Rae Morris. Free; call 601-979-3935; davidraemorris.com.

Events at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.)Feb. 18, 7:30

p.m. Marbin also performs. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

Feb. 20, 9 p.m. Dream Cult and the Gills also perform. $5 in advance, $10 at the door; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

Mind Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m. The Mississippi Opera hosts the concert featuring show tunes. $20; call 601-960-2300; msopera.org.

Events at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.)

Feb. 21, 5 p.m. The red carpet event is at 4 p.m. Performers include Paul Porter, Ruben Studdard, Le’Andria Johnson, the Mississippi Mass Choir and the Canton Spirituals. $25-$50; call 800-745-3000.

Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. The award-winning singer-songwriter performs songs from her album, “This Is M.E.” $39.5-$59.5; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

(Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202)

Religious World” Feb. 17, 5 p.m. Dennis Cov-ington signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $26 book; call 601-366-7619; lemuriabooks.com.

Feb. 18, 5 p.m. Joseph T. Reiff signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $35 book; call 601-366-7619; lemuriabooks.com.

Millsaps Friday Forum Feb. 19, 4:30 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). In the recital hall. The speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, who will give a reading and conduct a discussion along with author Katy Simpson Smith. Free; call 601-974-1000; millsaps.edu.

Events at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.)

Feb. 18, 5:30-10 p.m. Exhibitors include Thim-blepress and the Purple Word Center for Book and Paper Arts. Visitors also get to make their own prints. Cash bar and food for sale. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Anderson Tuesdays-Saturdays through March 6, in Barksdale Galleries. See 30 of the late art-ist’s Horn Island watercolor painting from the museum’s permanent collection. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Spaytacular Under the Sea Feb. 20, 6-10 p.m., at Table 100 (100 Ridge Way, Flowood). News anchor Andrew Harrison of WJTV is the emcee. Includes a buffet dinner, a silent auction and a costume contest. Proceeds benefit Mississippi Spay and Neuter - The Big Fix Clinic. For ages 21 and up. $50, $75 sponsor ticket, $500 VIP table of eight; call 601-420-4202; msspan.org.

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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.

THURSDAY, FEB. 18 College basketball (6-8 p.m., SECN): The No. 14 MSU host the No. 16 Lady Wildcats in a big SEC matchup.

FRIDAY, FEB. 19 College basketball (9-11 p.m., ESPNU): This game is worth a watch to see what the Monmouth bench comes up with as it hosts Iona in a battle of top teams in the MAAC.

SATURDAY, FEB. 20 College basketball (4-6 p.m., SECN): The Rebels hit the road with a chance to gain ground in SEC play against one of the worst teams in the conference, Auburn.

SUNDAY, FEB. 21 NASCAR (Noon-5 p.m., Fox): It’s the Super Bowl of NASCAR as the Daytona 500 sees the 58th annual run-ning of the Great American Race.

MONDAY, FEB. 22 NBA (7-9:30 p.m., NBATV): Here is a chance to check out the Golden State Warriors as they travel east to take on the Atlanta Hawks.

TUESDAY, FEB. 23 College basketball (8-10 p.m., SECN): The University of Mississippi has another big chance to climb the SEC as it hosts the worst team in the conference, Missouri.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24 College basketball (6-8 p.m., ESPN2): If MSU wants even a chance at the NIT, the Bulldogs need to start winning games, and a road win at A&M would go a long way. The Warriors are a game ahead of the ’96 Bulls. Golden State has a 48-4 re-cord to Chicago’s 47-5 after 52 games.

SLATE

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

As the NBA returns from the All-Star break, one thing worth watching is if the Golden State Warriors can break the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls’ record for most wins. The Bulls went 72-10 in their record-breaking season.

the best in sports over the next seven daysby Bryan Flynn

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S arah Restuccio was only 17 years old when she appeared on Season 12 of Fox’s soon-to-end singing show, “American Idol,” but she made

an impression. After Restuccio delivered a rendition of Carrie Underwood’s “Mama’s Song,” judge Randy Jackson asked to hear another. She responded with a performance of “Super Bass” by judge Nicki Minaj, who beamed as the young girl who grew up in Hammonton, N.J., rapped her hit song. Jackson’s response: a mixture of confusion and fascination.

While Restuccio was cut from the

show during Hollywood Week, that first introduction to her musical duality turned out to be a pretty accurate depiction of what was to come. Now, three years later, she performs under the moniker Sarah Ross, and blending sweet country melo-dies with swift hip-hop verses has become her calling card.

Ross says: “I took the words from Nikki Minaj when she told me, ‘Don’t change for anyone. Be who you want to be.’ That’s what I try to do with the whole rap thing, keeping that in my music. It doesn’t interest everyone, but I love it, so I think that’s all that matters.”

Her love of both genres precedes her TV appearance, though. She fell in love with country music by listening to it with her family, and she latched onto hip-hop throughout school. Ross

says she doesn’t want to take away from country, but melding the two styles is a fair representation of what many mod-ern music fans like.

“I see people and friends my age and what they listen to,” she says. “One sta-tion in their car is country, one station is rock, one station is rap, and it’s all over the place. I always want (country) to keep its roots, but I know the genre is chang-ing. I feel like I’m just trying to stay ahead of the game and going for what the next best thing would be.”

Evolving from Sarah Restuccio to Sar-ah Ross was a quick transition for the young singer. Only a few weeks after her stint on “American Idol,” Shannon Houchins, founder of Average Joes Entertainment Group, asked to meet with Ross in Nashville. That same day, she entered the studio for the first time. She released her debut EP, “Calm Before the Storm,” with the label in July 2015 and says she’s preparing to hit the studio again soon.

“With my EP, I feel like it was super dynamic,” Ross says. “I go from ‘Hap-py Hour’ being a ballad to ‘Shotgun’ being intense and kind of like a ‘Dude, watch out,’ song. But I honestly think how (a release) varies gives people a lot of different looks at an artist. So I think staying with one specific style but continuing to put a variety of different things on my next EP would make a difference.”

In the past year, she has performed around the coun-

try alongside labelmates Colt Ford and The Lacs, the latter of whom will per-form with Ross at her stop in Jackson on Friday, Feb. 19. Touring has allowed her to travel to states that she’s never been to before, she says, even if her music made it there first.

“The craziest thing for me is, of course, working with Colt and The Lacs, they have fans high and low, everywhere—hardcore, die-hard fans,” Ross says. “So going to these places with them, it’s just cool that (audi-ences) know some of my music. I’m not going to lie, every time I’m onstage and play with those guys somewhere and people know my song ‘Shotgun,’ I want to cry.”

Sarah Ross performs at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, at Pop’s Saloon (2636 S. Gallatin St., 601-961-4747). For more information, visit sarahrossmusic.com. 27

Sarah Ross, Reintroducedby Micah Smith

Country-rap artist Sarah Ross performs Friday, Feb. 19, at Pop’s Saloon.

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THE PALETTE CAFÉ

MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM of ART

380 SOUTH LAMAR STREET 601.960.1515 @MSMUSEUMART.ORG380 SOUTH LAMAR STREET 601.960.1515 @MSMUSEUMART.ORG380 SOUTH LAMAR STREET 601.960.1515 @MSMUSEUMART.ORG380 SOUTH LAMAR STREET 601.960.1515 @MSMUSEUMART.ORG

www.mschildrensmuseum.com

SATURDAY, FEB 20, 2016 7:00 PMFundraiser for the Mississippi Children’s Museum

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PRESENTS

RewindRewindRewindPRIME TIME

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St. AlexisEpiscopal Church

What�  do�  you�  like�  about�  St.�  Alexis?Kelsey�  Stone�  says�  “�  If�  you’re�  looking�  for�  a�  church�  community�  that�  

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