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JACKSONIAN BLAIR NEELLEY

W hen you first walk into the Prin-cess Salon, bright pink walls and giant posters of Disney princess-es surround you. In the center of

it all is Blair Neelley. An official godmother of the Bippity Boppity Boutique at Disney World, Neelley runs the Princess Salon inside of Southern Salon (606 Springridge Road) in Clinton. A Terry, Miss., native, Neelley spends her days surrounded by princesses, watching Disney movies and making young girls feel special. Neelley began her career with Disney as a character performer at Disney World in Florida in 2013. She’s a certified barber and says she knew when applying that she wanted to do hair and makeup. She came back to the metro area at the end of that summer for school. In the fall of 2015, Neelley moved back to Florida to work in the World of Disney store at Disney World, where she did princess transfor-mations as a fairy godmother in training. After moving back to the Jackson area, she started her business inside of Southern Salon’s spare room apart from the main salon. In her salon, Neelley offers her own ver-sion of the princess transformations, painting nails, doing hair or makeup for $10. She also has the complete transformation package for $30, with includes a special hair clip and a princess sash. She works on girls from ages 4 to 12 and says that she prefers to work on them one-on-one to make the experience more per-

sonal. Neelley doesn’t use hot tools on the girls’ hair and keeps the makeup at the minimum such as a light lip gloss—something simple but easy to clean. “It’s more about the experience and making them feel like a real princess,” she says. “It’s something that’s quick, easy, fun.” Girls can come around to her salon while their mothers are getting their hair cut, and Neelley says that she will keep them enter-tained, even if that doesn’t include a transfor-mation. Her salon is stocked with DVDs and coloring books and even has a small kid-friend-ly table where she sits with the girls while they wait. “They see their moms getting their hair done and their makeup done, and they think ‘I want to be like mommy’, and now they can,” Neelley says. “It’s just enough to make them feel good, like ‘I look like mommy. I get to do what she does.’” Neelley jokes that her favorite princess is Sofia the First because they both have brown hair and blue eyes. When she’s not doing trans-formations, she studies communications at Mississippi College. Her goals for the future are to open her own full-service salon and offer pedicures and facials, to move up in the fairy godmother world into the Magic Castle at Dis-ney World and to work at every Disney park and cruise in the world. “I’m just a big kid at heart, and I love the princesses, and this just gives me a way to do what I love,” she says. “I wanted to take something that I like and make a business out of it.” —Maya Miller

APRIL 6 - 12, 2016 | VOL. 14 NO. 31

4 ....................... PUBLISHER’S NOTE6 ............................................ TALKS12 ................................ EDITORIAL13 .................................... OPINION15 ............................ COVER STORY18 ........ BEST OF JACKSON POPUP24 .......................... FOOD & DRINK26 ....................................... 8 DAYS27 ...................................... EVENTS27 ..................................... SPORTS28 ....................................... MUSIC29 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS31 .......................................... ARTS33 .................................... PUZZLES35 ....................................... ASTRO 35 ............................. CLASSIFIEDS

cover photo of Jeremy Baugh by Chauncey MangumC O N T E N T S

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6 Knee DeepThe City of Jackson isn’t earning much revenue from the controversial contract with Siemens right now.

24 Learn what’s happening in Jackson’s food scene.

31 A Play About Rothko“When actors talk about finding the role, they’re finding the role in themselves. I’m working to realize the (Mark) Rothko in me. We’ve done invaluable work so far because all of the research and saturation gives you texture and roots and tone, layers of richness. A play about a great painter has to have many layers.” —John Maxwell, “Seeing ‘Red’”

4

G ov. Phil Bryant, in signing HB 1523, has cemented his legacy. He stands squarely on the wrong side of history with the big-

oted governors of Mississippi’s past, firm in his determination to uphold the “freedom” of his perceived constituency to act publicly upon their biases and discomfort instead of showing guts and leadership by protecting the lawfully held civil rights of a minority in his state. And he has locked arms with the forces of fear, judgment and isolationism that have driven Mississippi’s “best and brightest” from the state in search of more welcoming places that champion mutual respect, support self-expression and encourage understanding. Bryant’s decision is wrong. It’s bad for people, and it’s bad for business. First, let’s be brutally clear about what the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act” does: It codifies protections for citizens (let’s call them “first-class citizens”) who desire to discriminate against certain other citizens (call them “second-class citizens”) because the first-class citizens hold a “belief or con-viction” that the second-class citizen (a) is lawfully married to the wrong person, (b) is lawfully having sex with the wrong person or (c) doesn’t identify appropriately with their “immutable biological sex” they were noted to have “at the time of birth.” The act allows government workers to refuse to fulfill their sworn duty to serve American citizens in this state because that worker feels uncomfortable doing so based on a personal opinion of the citizen he or she is asked to serve. Likewise, people who provide an ac-commodation through a business that is open to the public will be able to do the same thing—deny that accommodation because they’re uncomfortable with the individual customer in question.

We’ve been down this road before—in 1963, President Kennedy called for legisla-tion “giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments,” a goal realized in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Despite white people’s “strongly held con-victions” that people of color shouldn’t be served in their stores and restaurants, acting on such “convictions” was determined to be

unlawful and unconstitutional. Today, most people would rightly say that not serving or helping someone be-cause of their race or ethnicity or gender—or who they love—is un-American. (Those who would disagree are, hopefully, offering us a last hurrah in their lost cause this po-litical season.) In today’s economy, the most highly sought workers can choose where to live, and the work follows them. Austin, Port-land, Denver, Miami, New York, Atlanta and many other cities that promote diversity, inclusion and self-expression are thriving—while Phil Bryant presides over the slowest-growing state economy in the union. He’s been warned. On the same day he signed the bill, Paypal announced that it was cancelling a planned expansion in North Carolina due to a similar law. National cor-porations, organizations and people have lined up to castigate North Carolina’s GOP for its bigotry. The same national shaming and over-

all business morass that North Carolina is facing is in Mississippi’s immediate future. Now, it will be even tougher to entice top businesses and a modern workforce to the Magnolia State. The day before Bryant signed the bill, the Mississippi Manufacturers Association recommended that he veto it. The MISSIS-SIPPI MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIA-TION. While passage of this law may not slow the flow of cash the MMA sends to the

mostly-GOP politicians that it bankrolls, the fact that it felt the need to come out against this bill should signal to Bryant and ilk that this is really bad for business. Local employers Nissan and Toyota both came out against the law, as did Tyson Foods. The Mississippi Economic Council recommended against it, as did global brands such as GE and Levi-Strauss. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson issued a long statement after Bryant announced he’d signed the bill warning about what is likely to happen as a result of it. “The effect of sign-ing this bill could be far-reaching and gravely damaging to our state,” Thompson wrote. “Industries that are considering bring-ing jobs to our state and talented individuals considering bringing their skills to our state could decide to turn their backs on Missis-sippi just as the Governor and State Legis-lature have turned their backs on our own citizens and neighbors. Much needed federal funding for things like transportation, infra-structure, and agriculture might be jeopar-

dized now that this ill-advised and, indeed, discriminatory bill has been signed into law in Mississippi.” So what’s the way forward? We need to hold Mississippi’s GOP leadership account-able. House Speaker Philip Gunn, princi-pal author of the bill, needs to be defeated in future elections. Time to send him to the private sector. While Gov. Bryant has shown little true acumen for political office outside of his lackluster results in the governor’s mansion over two terms, if he sets his sights on a U.S. Senate seat or similar, a coalition of business leaders and people dedicated to personal lib-erty and a strong Mississippi economy—re-gardless of party—need to rally to his defeat. Until this law is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court or a similar mechanism, those of us who feel viscerally how wrong it is can work together. I believe we can lift up the existing “If You’re Buying, We’re Selling” campaign to make it clear to people who have marriages or loving relationships that are defined outside the scope of this legis-lation that they can find services and busi-nesses where they feel safe and accepted. The Jackson Free Press will work to help with that in the coming weeks and months. Businesses must work together with organizations and individuals to express our full support for the American ideal of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We can’t let the fearful and intolerant stop progress and codify intolerance. The last thing that we can accept in Mississippi is the loss of more young, cre-ative minds who represent a bright future for a beautiful state with a troubled past. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and work hard to let the world know that there’s more to the Hospitality State than its inhospitable elected officials. If you’re buying, we’re selling. Todd Stauffer is the president and pub-lisher of the Jackson Free Press.

CONTRIBUTORS

Phil Bryant and Mississippi GOP: Bad for Businessby Todd Stauffer, PublisherPUBLISHER’S note

Education Reporting Fellow Sier-ra Mannie is a University of Mis-sissippi whose opinions of the Ancient Greeks can’t be trusted nearly as much as her opinions of Beyoncé. She wrote about line-jumping in the Madison County Public School District.

Chauncy Magnum is a student at Mississippi State University. He started doing photography four years ago. His specialties are portraits, weddings and fashion. Overall, he’s just a country boy with a camera. He took the cover photo.

City Reporter Tim Summers Jr. enjoys loud live music, teach-ing his cat to fetch, long city council meetings and FOIA requests. Send him story ideas at tim@jacksonfreepress.com. He wrote about a shortfall in the city’s sewage revenue.

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@ jacksonfreepress.com. She wrote about HB1523, campaign money and parental rights.

Deputy News Editor Maya Miller writes about crime, music and art. She enjoys news podcasts and books about civil-rights history. Send her crime and news tips to maya@jack-sonfreepress.com. She wrote about police pursuits.

Freelance writer Genevieve Leg-acy is an artist, writer and com-munity development consultant. She lives in Brandon with her husband and youngest son. She wrote about New Stage The-atre’s production of “Red.”

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 photos for the cover story.

Music Editor Micah Smith is a longtime fan of music, comedy and all things “nerd.” He is mar-ried to a great lady, has two dog-children named Kirby and Zelda, and plays in the band Empty Atlas. He interviewed Sunny Ortiz of Widespread Panic.

The last thing we can accept is the loss of more young, creative minds.

Sierra Mannie Arielle Dreher Maya Miller Genevieve Legacy

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6

The City of Jackson is almost 12 percent behind projected revenue for water and sewer for this fi scal year, and the administration is

considering potential litigation involving

one of the vendors, it said Monday. Deputy Director of Administration Michelle Day presented a detailed account of the water, sewer and sanitation fund to the Jackson City Council at its April 4 Budget Committee meeting. “So to date, for water (and) sewer, based on an $80-million pro-

jected revenue budget, we’ve collected $20,447,783,” Day said Monday. “And that’s about 30 percent of that budget. Ideally, around this time of the year, we should have collected $33,809,594. We

should have collected 42 percent of the projected revenue.” Day pointed to a detailed list of ac-counts receivable for the water-sewer fund, which is $6.9 million, or 33 percent, short of where it should be at this point in the fi -nancial year. Day said that this shortfall will continue unless steps are taken.

“And if we continue to collect at this rate, that number will grow as we get to the end of the year if we don’t make some changes,” Day said. Day explained both in person and in a April 4, 2016, memo to Mayor Tony Yarber that the report given to the council was derived from data acquired from the city’s fi nancial system, the Water Sewer Business Administration (that handles billing), and Siemens, the project contrac-tor for the metering and billing upgrades that have taken place over the last year. “The challenge that we have had is from the water billing administration, when those collections are uploaded to our fi nancial system,” Day said. “It deposits those revenues into one cash account. So all of our solid waste and water-sewer collections up to this point have been one pot of money.” “So what we have had to do as a depart-ment is go back and reconcile that informa-tion,” Day explained. This reconciliation is manual and takes some time, she said. Day also mentioned in her memo that “although we have performed a sig-nifi cant amount of analysis of the data included in this report, it should be noted that data uploaded from October through January has not been completely verifi ed and will require manual adjustments.”

Wednesday, March 30 Members of the Jackson Munici-pal Airport Authority and its support-ers gather in the Mississippi Capitol to voice their opposition to Senate Bill 2162. … Minneapolis prosecutor Mike Freeman announces that two white police offi cers involved in the fa-tal shooting of a black man last fall will not face criminal charges.

Thursday, March 31 U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan overturns Mississippi’s ban on allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

Friday, April 1 Jackson Public Schools announces that one of the water fountains in Lee Elementary tested for lead above “regula-tory levels”. … City of Jackson workers, Mississippi Alliance of State Workers, Communications Workers of America members, the Black Caucus of the Young Democrats of America and community organizers hold a rally outside City Hall to protest a city-mandated monthly fur-lough day.

Saturday, April 2 Mississippi House leaders announce that they are giving up on a plan to in-crease money for roads through a series of tax changes.

Sunday, April 3 American College of Cardiology conducts a workplace exercise challenge using pedometers and social media in a global competition involving almost 70,000 employees in 64 countries.

Monday, April 4 The Mississippi Legislature sends House Bill 1523 to Gov. Phil Bryant. ... Human Rights Campaign, ACLU of Mississippi and Planned Parenthood Southeast lead a rally outside the Gov-ernor’s Mansion in downtown Jackson, calling on Gov. Phil Bryant to veto House Bill 1523.

Tuesday, April 5 Gov. Phil Bryant signs House Bill 1523 into law. … China bans most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country’s main exports, in re-sponse to North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests. Get breaking news and event/party invites at jfpdaily.com. Subscribe free.

by Tim Summers Jr.

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Council President Melvin Priester Jr., along with other council members, wants to look at the water-sewer revenue out in the open.

Q: How are you observing #ConfederateHeritageMonth?

A: @aj_the_seeker: by celebrating Islamic Heritage Month instead #jackson@daws970: By visiting the graves of my ancestors who were Confederate soldiers. Saying a few prayers in their honor.@newt1989: Educating people who still think

the Civil War was not about slavery. #Justthefacts@MayaLMiller: brushing up on my black history and reading about the powerful female pioneers of Freedom Summer

Carol Andersen: At the Mississippi Humanities Council, by encouraging Mississippians to read the 1861 Mississippi

Declaration of Secession.

Jonathan Odell: I’m honoring my Jones County ancestors who refused to enlist in a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fi ght.

7

J ust before midnight on March 21, Lonnie Blue Jr. was heading home from his job at the Nissan plant in Canton. About the same time, less

than 10 miles away, Officer Aaron Wilbanks from the Clinton Police Department re-sponded to a shoplifting call from the Wal-mart in Clinton. Wilbanks, as the patrol officer on duty, pursued the driver, Donnell Johnson, who fled in a car with improper tags into Jackson city limits, zigzagging at high speeds through residential neighbor-hoods and quiet areas of west Jackson. Other officers from CPD joined Wil-banks’ pursuit through the dark streets, until Johnson veered into the oncoming lane and struck Blue’s car in West Jackson. Blue died on the scene. He was 34. Police pursuits take nearly one life a day in the United States, data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin-istration shows. Of these, one out of ev-ery three deaths is an innocent bystander or motorist. The recent death of Blue has set off Jackson residents, as well as back-lash from public officials including Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, Ward 4 Councilman De’Keither Stamps and Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance who has expressed his concerns and disagreement with pursuing suspects over misdemean-or offenses.

For $588.88 in Merchandise Johnson, and his two passengers, James Earl Williams and Ashley Travis, were known to shoplift from the Clin-

ton Walmart, employee statements in the police report indicate. That night, a Walmart employee saw Johnson and Travis push a computer in a shopping cart through an empty lane past an un-manned register and walk out the door.

Another loss-prevention employee fol-lowed them into the parking lot and was able to grab a couple of the stolen items, a wireless boom box and a pair of headphones totaling $159.76, before the suspects jumped into the car and fled. When police recovered the stolen items

after the crash, an HP laptop and a pair of headphones, they noted that the elec-tronics cost a total of $588.88. Officers, citizens and experts all agree that the best way to end dangerous police pursuits is to terminate the pursuit, but the

idea of allowing criminals to run free after committing crimes doesn’t sit well. Kevin Lavine, a criminologist and criminal-justice professor at Jackson State University, has worked in law enforcement in some capacity for 27 years, from being a military police officer, to working at JPD

and with the Mississippi Gaming Com-mission. He says pursuits can be a necessary evil, but must be conducted responsibly. Lavine said each department must hold officers to certain standards, and while there are no official state or fed-eral guidelines on pursuits, police could prevent countless deaths by adopting standard operations and procedures. He says the most common practice in such cases is to reduce officer speed or back off completely and communicate with the leading department or the depart-ment residing over that jurisdiction. He said pursuit policies are purely admin-istrative, meaning they are set by indi-vidual jurisdictions, although the Inter-national Association of Chiefs of Police offers suggestions. It is up to the department whether to punish an officer who breaks policy, and Lavine stresses that there must be some sort of repercussion on the back end. “If it comes to court, this is what the prosecutor is going to ask: What is your pursuit policy? It’s in black and white,” he said. In the Jackson Police Department police pursuit policy, it states, “Officers shall initiate and continue vehicle pursuits only when the related offense is a violent felony and when the benefit apprehension outweighs the risk of injury or death.” The policy outlines the definition of a fel-ony, which includes kidnapping, murder, armed robbery, forcible sexual assault and carjacking. The pursuit supervisor can

8

GOFUNDME.

The death of west Jackson resident Lonnie Blue Jr. has raised questions about stricter pursuit policies and whether police chases are worth it.

Siemens and the City What part is missing? “A thorough rec-onciliation with the Siemens representative is necessary and cannot begin until the week of April 11, when the Siemens representative is available,” Day wrote. Mayor Yarber made it clear Monday that he wanted the committee to enter into an executive session to discuss a “potential legal matter” involving the revenue data that would be discussed. He asked the city attorney, Monica Joiner, to address the com-mittee, and she said that the litigation under discussion was “related to a specific vendor.” Neither mentioned Siemens or any other vendor specifically. “Alignment of account numbers used for the interface between the City of Jack-

son’s new billing system and its general ac-counting system caused initial challenges in identifying revenue,” Siemens representative Amanda Naiman said in an email to the Jackson Free Press on April 5, responding to a phone call. “Siemens assigned an account-ing employee to work with the City’s ac-counting department, and the issue has since been resolved.” Budget Committee Chairman De’Keither Stamps, of Ward 4, attempted to enter the documents passed out, including a copy of the revenue spreadsheets, into the “confidential file.” Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon stopped him, pointing out that the committee had not yet decided to enter into executive session. Council President Melvin Priester Jr. agreed with Barrett-Simon. “I’m uncomfortable with going into ex-ecutive session at this time, and I think that the people of the city need to know where

we are financially, particularly with the num-bers,” Priester said. “I think we at least have the obligation to go through what our reve-nue and expenses numbers are and how they stand publicly.” Yarber held his ground on the need for the executive session. “There is a reason why we are talking about a difference between $20 million col-lected and what should have been collected at $33 million,” Yarber said. “We don’t have any problem with talking about the revenue or the collection or any of that out loud.” “But,” Yarber added, “what I don’t want to have happen is for us to speak too much about why the numbers are the way they are and potentially give away legal strategy if there is to be some legal action.” In her memo to the mayor, Day ad-dressed the source of the discrepancy. “In my opinion,” the document states, “the negative impact of the installa-

Experts on Police Pursuits: Another Wayby Maya Miller

TALK | CITY

tion of the new water meters com-bined with the implementation of the water billing system have hindered our collections by approximately $13 (million).” She broke that total down into $9 million lost through meter malfunction and $4 million through “inadequate system integration.” Siemens was the company the City contracted to handle both the meter installa-tion and integration of a new billing system, although they hired subcontractors to carry out some of the work. The problem is that the City is locked into a contract that might prove difficult, as the mayor pointed out at a town hall-style meeting he held at Christ United Method-ist on March 29. People in the audience had asked him about the issues with billing, and some had even yelled “fire them!” from the back of the room. “The real issue is, and I heard some-body say ‘fire them,’ the problem with firing

right now, is that we are almost $90 million in the hole with a bond. And to fire Siemens now, we are left carrying the bag.” ‘Working to Clean That Up’ But the problem may go beyond Siemens and the new billing system. On March 31, Chief Administrative Officer Gus McCoy sent a memo to the city coun-cil in which he listed the reasons that the City of Jackson was unable to file its audit for last year. It was not clear from the letter exactly which firm was assisting the City with the audit. However, the letter did state that “with respect to water and sewer revenues” the audit firm was “unable to verify the ac-counts receivable balance.” As Day men-tioned to the Budget Committee, “depos-its for water, sewer and sanitation revenues must be segregated in the accounting system in order that they may be properly

posted.” Lastly, the audit firm was “unable to reconcile deposits as reported by our system vs. bank statements.” As a result of these findings, McCoy stated in the memo that the administration “is in the process of reconciling the accounts receivable balances.” Siemens, for its part, will be sending a “dedicated employee to the City in order to assist in segregating the deposits for water, sewer and sanitation revenues.” The City stated that it would also “be able to file the audit in a timely manner with the Office of the State.” Council President Priester said Tues-day that he was still looking through the numbers as he is given them from the ad-ministration. “What’s really causing the situation?” Priester said during an April 5 phone inter-view. “Let’s hammer out what the numbers really are. I don’t have confidence as we sit here on April 5, 2016, that we have truly rec-

onciled our numbers from last fiscal year or through the last five months of this year.” “So step one is just reach agreement that the numbers are correct and the numbers are set. Step two is to really, generally be honest with ourselves about why the numbers are what they are, and what we are going to do to fix the numbers.” Priester continued: “I can’t tell you how good or bad because the numbers have not been packaged in the most user-friendly manner. What I am still doing is piecing to-gether the numbers, and we are still working to clean that up.” “I am still just trying to make all the numbers line up.” The Yarber administration could not be reached for further comment Tuesday. Email city reporter Tim Summers, Jr. at tim@jackson-freepress.com See more local news at jfp.ms/localnews. 9

TALK | city

immediately terminate the pursuit if it does not conform to the policy. As of press time, requests for Clin-ton Police Department’s pursuit policy have not been answered.

Alternatives to Pursuits Lavine said that while policies are important, it’s equally vital that there be an open line of communication be-tween agencies. In last month’s pursuit into west Jackson, both departments had differing stories of who contacted whom during and after the chase. JPD stands by Chief Vance’s statement that JPD contacted Clinton first. Clinton says JPD knew the chase was going on. In the video, released days after the crash, JPD can be seen zooming by, but going in the opposite direction. Having a widespread information system that includes photo informa-tion and charges for suspects as well as a database for crimes can curtail these problems, Lavine said. He said the state could end the tragedy of deaths by police pursuits having an open online information system between depart-ments, enforcing stricter policies or cre-ating state guidelines. “Will it stop it? No, but it will give us a tool to cut down on these reckless crimes,” Lavine said. Gareth Jones, a member of the Spe-cial Investigations Unit in Toronto in Canada, has investigated police conduct, including injuries that occur as a result of

police pursuits since the 1990s. He told the Jackson Free Press that police policies nationwide are becoming more restrictive because departments are beginning to re-alize that it isn’t ideal to chase someone for a relatively minor offense if it means someone may end up dead. “For something less serious than that (shoplifting) then why are you en-gaging in a high-speed pursuit in the first place?” Jones said during a phone inter-view. “Does the danger created by the pursuit outweigh the need to apprehend the offender? That’s the basis of most po-lice pursuit policies.” Alternatives to police pursuits include air support with helicopters, tire-deflation devices, stationary road-blocks and a new tagging service called StarChase. StarChase allows officers to fire a GPS device onto the vehicle that allows officers to fall back on the pursuit and track the suspect until in a safer location. StarChase has its prob-lems, though, as sometimes the device will not deploy or adequately stick to the vehicle. “Really, the best alternative to a pursuit, (and) I know it’s trite to say so, is not to have one in the first place unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Jones said. Read more coverage of police pursuits at jfp.ms/policechases. Email Deputy News Editor Maya Miller story ideas or crime tips at maya@jack-sonfreepress.com. Follow her on twitter @MayaLMiller.

T he Jackson City Council was presented with a proposed contract at its regular meet-ing Tuesday night for Trilogy

Engineering to complete a corrosion control study over the next several months. The plan is a required part of the Mississippi State Health Depart-ment’s compliance plan to assist the city in reducing the amount of lead found in the drinking water below the actionable level of 0.015 ppb. The contract would cost the city almost $300,000, which the City plans to pay with assistance from an emergen-cy loan facilitated by the MSDH.

New Data Portal Unveiled Mayor Tony Yarber’s favorite part of the new data portal opened to the public Monday is the live

tracking of infrastructure construction projects, including pothole repair. “You can look by project type, you can look and see by what ward you are in, and you can even look and see what stage each particular project is in,” Yarber said. “You are able to see what all the 1-percent stuff is doing, and this is the be-ginning,” Yarber said, referring to the use of the 1-percent sales tax targeted to infrastructure. The information available at the moment was only “year one” data from the project that would be updated to include “year two” soon,” Yarber said. The City has created a governance committee, made up of city officials and members of the community, that has created a list of 25 data sets that were most pressing for the public. These data sets have had priority for being integrated into the website. Public Works and police data are high priorities, along with an up-dated list of 311 hotline requests and follow-ups to those requests. Justin Bruce, director of innovation and performance, explained that the data sets would continue to be updated. He said that at the moment about 25 percent of the data is automatically updated to the site, and the goal for him is to have 80 percent of the data from the City to be updated without human interference by the fall.

New Water Engineering Contract, Data Portal Opens by Tim Summers Jr.

Mayor Tony Yarber presented the new City of Jackson data portal Monday, April 4.

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G ov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 into law early Tuesday, which will allow businesses, circuit clerks and medical professionals to recuse

themselves from offering services and not be liable by the state for doing so based on a re-ligious belief that marriage is “between one man and one woman.” Bryant announced the news on Twit-ter in an “official statement” that said the bill “merely reinforces the rights which currently exist to the exercise of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” Even before Bryant signed the bill, House Bill 1523 had fostered an outcry from the state’s business community as well as advocates and organizations that say it legalizes discrimination. Mississippi Demo-cratic Congressman Bennie G. Thompson released a statement decrying the bill and the effect it will have on the state. He said that business development and jobs would suffer as a result of such legislation. “Industries that are considering bring-ing jobs to our state and talented individuals considering bringing their skills to our state could decide to turn their backs on Missis-sippi just as the Governor and State Legis-lature have turned their backs on our own citizens and neighbors,” Thompson said in a statement just after Bryant signed the bill. Thompson said the bill will only con-tinue to have a bad effect on the state. “For example, the NCAA has already placed the state of Mississippi under a post-season ban because the state still flies a flag bearing the emblem of the confederacy. Now, the state has upped the ante and ad-opted a bill that has the potential of legalizing discrimination. Who knows what penalties

and consequences this law will bring from the NCAA and any of a number of other governing bodies with interests in the state?” Thompson said in his statement. The Mississippi House of Representa-tives had tabled the motion to reconsider on HB 1523 Monday afternoon, sending the bill to Gov. Bryant’s desk. House Demo-crats used all five minutes of their opposi-tion speaking time against the bill. Longtime Rep. Stephen Holland, D-Plantersville, said there was “zero reason” for a bill like this.

“This is the most hateful bill that I’ve seen in my career in the Legislature,” Hol-land told the House. “If you table (the mo-tion to reconsider on) this bill, you’re doing one thing: you are doing nothing but dis-criminating.” Bryant had five days to sign the bill into law, veto it or do nothing, but he chose to act less than 24 hours later. Monday evening, organizations, advocates and Mississippians from across the state protested the bill in front of the governor’s mansion. “No hate in our state, no state in our state! Hospitality—not hostility, hospitali-ty—not hostility!” they chanted. Chad Griffin, the president of the Hu-man Rights Campaign headquartered in Washington, D.C., addressed the crowd at the rally, saying that hate and discrimination is bad for business. Griffin said Monday that Bryant’s decision on the bill will mark his ca-reer as governor. “This governor will forever be re-membered in history for what he does on HB1523,” Griffin said. “He can either go down in history along with a line of other

southern governors in the Civil Rights Movement in the ’50s or ’60s who chose to stand on the wrong side of history, or he can do the right thing,” he said. Griffin pointed to two recent examples of Republican governors in conservative states that have chosen to veto anti-LGBT bills. In South Dakota, Gov. Dennis Daugaard ve-toed a bill that would have forced transgen-der students to use bathrooms that matched their birth gender. Griffin told the crowd that Gov. Daugaard had conversations and

met with transgender students and advocates before he decided to veto the bill. In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a “religious liberty” bill in March, after big cor-porations like Coca-Cola and the NFL came out against the bill. In this state, the Mississippi Manu-facturers Association and the Mississippi Economic Council both came out against House Bill 1523. Nissan, Tyson Foods, Le-vis, GE and other large corporations have released statements that decry legislation that discriminates like HB 1523. House Bill 1523 will not technically be-come law until July 1. Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Jody Owens said the bill is unconstitutional on several levels. “You will see several lawsuits filed before it becomes law if the governor signs it,” Ow-ens told the Jackson Free Press Monday. The bill not only defines a religious belief that marriage should be between “one man and one woman” but it also says “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a mar-riage.” Owens said the bill allows discrimina-tion by landlords, businesses and doctors—

all measures that are unconstitutional. Owens said the bill fits Mississippi’s tendency to take things a step further in leg-islation. “It’s a total infringement on every part of one’s life, the body making these judg-ments can be a school, city, employer or a church,” Owens said. “It’s promoting discrimination in that there can be no penalty from the state.” Legal director at the Human Rights Campaign Sarah Warbelow said that HB 1523 pulls language from various pieces of legislation across the country, including specific, more narrow bills that target adop-tion agencies or the transgender commu-nity. Most of these bills have been vetoed or deemed illegal. “Nothing like this bill (HB1523)has ever passed in any other state,” Warbelow told the Jackson Free Press.

Anti-Abortion Bill Heads to Governor An anti-abortion bill that has already been ruled unconstitutional by courts in Kansas and Oklahoma is on its way to Gov. Phil Bryant. The “Mississippi Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act” would outlaw what the Center for Re-productive Rights calls the “most commonly used method of ending a pregnancy in the second trimester.” The center released a statement de-nouncing House Bill 519 and calling on Gov. Bryant to veto it. “Mississippi women need safe and legal care when they have made the decision to end a pregnancy, not unconstitutional bans aimed at criminalizing their doctors,” Aman-da Allen, the senior state legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. Felicia Brown-Williams, director of public policy at Planned Parenthood South-east, said at the Monday rally against House Bill 1523 that her employer opposes the bill. “Our legislators are playing doctor,” she said. The bill would provide protection for injunctive relief and civil damages “against a person who has performed or attempted to perform a dismemberment abortion.” West Virginia Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a similar measure last month while courts in Kansas and Oklahoma have rules similar measures unconstitutional. For more legislative coverage, subscribe free to jfpdaily.com. Follow state government report-er Arielle Dreher on Twitter at arielle_amara.

by Arielle Dreher

LEGISLATURE | WEEK 13

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Protesters rallied against HB 1523 on Monday, April 4, outside Gov. Phil Bryant’s mansion, right after the House of Representatives sent the bill to the governor.

SB 2921:

SB 2238:

SB 2162:

SB 2438:

HB1381:

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J ohnny’s parents divorced just before his fourth birthday. He lived with his mother, but his dad had visita-tion rights—until he was arrested

for public intoxication while taking care of Johnny*. What followed was a long, repetitive cy-cle. Johnny’s mother tried to repeatedly limit his father’s visitation rights as he went in and out of drug and alcohol rehabilitation cen-ters. This continued until Johnny’s mother

tried to terminate his fathers’ parental rights. Johnny’s mother had remarried, and her new husband wanted to adopt Johnny, and the lower court originally ruled to terminate Johnny’s father’s parental rights. But the Mississippi Supreme Court re-versed the ruling. Terminating parental rights in the state comes with a list of prerequisites, and the high court ruled that in Johnny’s case, Chism v. Bright, his mother had not met the first prequisite spelled out in Mississippi law says that “a child has been removed from the home of its natural parents and cannot be re-turned to the home of his natural parents.” In Johnny’s case, this requirement would not be met unless his mother died, so it seemed almost impossible by the Missis-sippi Supreme Court’s review to grant John-ny’s mother her request. In an even more recent case, Pritchett v. Pritchett, the Su-preme Court ruled that a mother could not terminate a father’s parental rights because he was not granted legal representation or transportation to court hearings while in an MDOC facility, despite three letters request-ing services. The father had been convicted of fondling his niece, but the Supreme Court would not terminate his parental rights. Judges, attorneys and advocates noticed

the state’s problem, and a task force worked on legislation to fix the state’s deadlock on terminating parental rights—while not ig-noring the critical need for parents who are in danger of having their rights terminated to have access to legal representation. House Bill 1240 helps clarify and determine specific grounds for terminating parental rights and sets forth procedures about when reunifica-tion of a family is required in the state. House Bill 772 addresses parental rep-resentation and clarifies which state offices are responsible for providing counsel to par-ents in danger of losing their rights. That bill guarantees that parents whose parental rights are threatened have the right to representation by an attorney from the State Public Defender. Carlyn Hicks, who has represented parents for three and a half years for Mission First, a Christian mission organization that has a legal aid arm Hicks works in, supports both House Bill 1240 and House Bill 772, which clarifies a parent’s right to representa-tion. Hicks said an unintended consequence of the Chism case was that it put a stalemate on proceedings in parental-rights cases, but House Bill 1240 would help judges clarify and make appropriate recommendations for terminating parental rights because it lists specific grounds and application of the cur-rent law. “Up until now, you may have had [courts] operating differently in different counties, it is such a final proceeding, we want to make sure that parents have the right to and the opportunity to be heard and have a fair trial of sorts for those proceed-ings,” Hicks said. Terminating parental rights should al-ways be the last resort, Hicks said. Sen. Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, said the same on the Senate floor last week, when the bill pro-voked a long debate and eventually passed. Most senators agreed on the floor that reuniting children with their parents and families should be and always is the goal—but at the same time, judges in the state are not ruling on these types of cases in a uni-form way. Tindell said that the Senate could not afford to wait another year and put more children potentially in harm’s way. “Vote for this bill and give those chil-dren a chance and remember that we have other bills going through this Legislature (like HB 772),” Tindell told the Senate. Hicks said parental representation and rights cases will be much more consistent when both bills become law. *Johnny is the name used in the court order and is not the boy’s real name. Comment at jfp.ms/state.

Parental Rights, RepresentationGets a Capitol Spotlightby Arielle Dreher

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Carlyn Hicks, a parent attorney, supports HB 1240 and HB 772, which will clarify parental representation and termination of parental rights law in the state.

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Minority Whip Leader David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, (left) and House Speaker Philip

Politicians for Sale? The Funders of the House Leadership’s 2015 Campaignsby Arielle Dreher and Kendall Hardy

T he Republican supermajority in the House has changed its dynamics this term, and the Democrats chose Rep. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, to be their minority whip leader. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, has been a representative since 2004 and was elected speaker in 2012. Baria has been at the Legislature since 2008, where he

served his first term as a senator and then successfully ran for a House of Representatives seat. A look at both candidates 2015 campaign-finance reports—specifically their campaign contributions—show how state PAC dollars follow power, while individual contributions sustain minority candidates. Half of Gunn’s 2015 campaign fund contributions came from Mississippi PACs. Well over half of Baria’s contributions came from Mississippi individuals. Below are some of the highlights of the 2015 Election Cycle Campaign Finance reports of two leaders who are on opposite sides of controversial bills like HB 1523.

REP. DAVID BARIA’S 2015 CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REPORTS

$29,010.69$0

IN-STATE CONTRIBUTIONS

$5,375$250

$13,350$39,763

$58,738

OUT-OF-STATE CONTRIBUTIONS:

$550$2,521.31

$5,050

$8,121.31

$16,017

$78,388.08

TOP DONORS IN 2015:$5,000

$5,000$5,000

$2,521$2,500

$2,500$2,000

$1,500

SPEAKER PHILIP GUNN’S 2015 CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REPORTS

$297,193.62$14,628.57

IN-STATE CONTRIBUTIONS

$13,250 $16,000

$64,000$193,500

$286,750

OUT-OF-STATE CONTRIBUTIONS:

$4,750$2,000

$37,500$50,000

$94,250

$2,960

$384,160

TOP DONORS IN 2015:$25,000

$25,000 $20,500

$16,000$13,500

$10,000$10,000

$10,000

$

$

$

$

LEGISLATURE | WEEK 13

*ACTUAL NON-ITEMIZED CONTRIBUTION NUMBERS COULD BE MORE OR LESS DEPENDING ON HOW CANDIDATES REPORTED TOTALS ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS

ALL NUMBERS BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF 2015 CAMPAIGN FINANCE RECORDS FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S WEBSITE.

Mayor Yarber, Please Lead on Transparency

W e are pleased to report that we are seeing some, at least marginal, im-provements in the way the City of Jackson is handling access to

information. We applaud the new portal the mayor introduced this week, which promises to display a lot of city information so any citizen can download it, at no cost and with no hassle or disapproving responses from public servants on the other end of the information. This is certainly a baby step in the right di-rection. Of course, the next big step is to ensure that every piece of information possible is put on that website. And perhaps mostly important-ly, we want to see evidence from every person in a leadership role with the city—from the mayor to the city attorneys to the department heads—that they understand that the public and the media have the immediate right to almost every document, email and other correspondence that passes through the City, and that we have the right to attend most every meeting. They must also refrain from going into ex-ecutive session just because they might be sued later. That’s not reason enough. What is needed every day on the city and state levels, as well as with public organizations such as the Levee Board, airport commission and others, is a welcoming attitude that demon-strates an understanding that the public is sup-posed to be part of the process as it’s unfolding, not brought in to see a perfect presentation at

the end. Yes, that means we may say or write something unfl attering or challenging, but we get to as taxpayers. On the state level, it almost seems hope-less with a number of the top leaders. The spokespeople for men like Phil Bryant and Tate Reeves—in those cases, both ironically former Clarion-Ledger reporters—only provide real access to media they believe will be friendly to their bosses and ask softball questions. And on controversial issues, like HB 1523, they don’t even bother to actually email state-ments anymore. Bryant, or probably his spokes-man Clay Chandler, announced he had signed the anti-LGBT bill in a statement on a Twitter—that actually had to be retyped into a story. In 2016. Obviously, many public servants use such trickery to keep critical or questioning media at arm’s length. They don’t want to answer hard questions, and they want to control the narra-tive, only speaking through statement, demand-ing advance questions (which we don’t provide) or simply freezing out media who don’t adhere to a compliant form of “access journalism” that under-serves the public and limits information. The public needs to demand better of elect-ed offi cials and their staffers. And if they con-tinue to try to freeze out the public, we should unite and turn them out of offi ce. They don’t deserve to be paid by the taxpayers if they try to freeze us out. That is not their right.

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.

Mississippi Godd*mn

I recently married my partner of nine years in California, and I wrote an essay for The Advocate about the love and support I felt from my extended family in Mississippi, many of whom I never imagined would ever accept my sexual orientation, let alone celebrate my marriage. My family has taught me that

having patience and faith in the people you love can sometimes be rewarded. But when it comes to the erosion of the rights of LGBT people in places like Mississippi, we can’t afford to be patient. We need to take swift, decisive ac-tion, to raise our voices together with our allies and condemn the hate propagat-ed by laws like House Bill 1523, which strips LGBT people of any protections from discrimination under the auspices of protecting the “religious freedom” of bigots. As Nina Simone once sang, “Do things gradually, do it slow/But bring more tragedy, do it slow/Why don’t you see it? Why don’t you feel it? /I don’t know, I don’t know.” The name of this essay is “Mississippi Godd*mn,” and I mean every word of it. I’m angry. I’m hurt. And I’m afraid. I’m not afraid for myself; I’m afraid for the kids growing up in my neighborhood, riding their bikes down to the stop sign on Belle Glade, playing baseball off Lakeland, driving out to the reservoir with their parents on the weekends for catfi sh. I’m afraid for the 4 percent of them that will identify as LGBT, and I’m afraid for the 96 percent that won’t. Be-cause I know that so many of them are being raised to be afraid, to fear the pos-sibility that they might some day be attracted to a member of the same gender, or discover they were born in the wrong body. Because I know that those kids will try to stamp out that fear by lashing out at each other, by calling each other faggots at Jackson Preparatory School, by shoving each other into lockers at Murrah High School, by throwing rocks at each other in the courtyard at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. Because some of them will grow up to be politicians like GOP Sen. Jennifer Branning, who introduced the de-plorable House Bill 1523, or Gov. Phil Bryant, who signed the legislation this week. History will remember these names. And I hope it will also remember politicians like Sen. Willie Simmons who had the bravery to empathize with the LGBT community, asking the fl oor, “Can’t you see how some might look at this legislation as being discriminatory?” and not-ing that “This measure we have before us runs the risk of sending the wrong message not to us … but to the greater Mississippi and the larger world.” I would add that the message is already out there; this bill just con-fi rms it for anyone who suspected gay people may not be entirely welcome in Mississippi. Well, here is my message to all of the anti-gay bigots pushing forward this kind of transparent, discriminatory legislation: You can’t get rid of us that easily. You may have succeeded in making me into an expatriate at 16, when I left home in search of a community where I could be myself, but the next generation won’t be scared off so easily. Because they have access to more information than any generation before them, and knowledge makes them brave. They know that they were born gay, or bi, or trans, and that they were born beautiful. They won’t be shamed and marginalized as easily as I was, because they see you for what you are: a pack of cowards. I know what it’s like to be afraid, but I will channel my fear not toward building walls between people but by tearing them down. You will have no choice but to accept us someday, because we will always be your neighbors, your parents, your brothers, your sisters and your children. And in the meantime, I don’t care if you accept us, and your personal beliefs do not give you license to turn us into second-class citizens. I understand that you’re afraid of us, and I’m sure many of you will have to live with that fear for the rest of your lives. But in the words of Nina Simone, “You don’t have to live next to me/Just give me my equality.”

Jackson native Kit Williamson is an actor and award-winning fi lmmaker best known for playing Ed Gifford on the fi nal two seasons of “Mad Men” and creating the Emmy-nominated LGBT web series “EastSiders,” now available on Vimeo On Demand. He is also a former intern at the Jackson Free Press.

“You don’t have to live next to me/

Just give me my equality.”

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M ississippi has this unfortunate stigma of being last at most everything. Well everything ex-cept discrimination, of course.

Is this stigma actually true? I don’t know, but if one were looking from the outside in, it’s easy to assume such a stigma to be accurate.

I am a proud Mississippian, born and raised. However, after undergrad, I wasn’t proud enough to stay in Mississippi. When applying to various law schools, I made the decision to apply to neither the University of Mississippi nor Mississippi College. Not because they are bad schools, but because I wanted to get the hell out of Mississippi.

The reason I left was partly because I wanted to experience something new and partly because I wanted to get away from the seemingly discrimina-tory culture that harbored a backward way of thinking. I grew up in a Mississippi culture, or “tradition” as those in support call it, that stared at me with disdain and animosity if I went on a date with a white wom-an. I would also see similar stares at those in the LGBT community.

This same culture should take some credit for the passage of the “religious conscience” legislation, House Bill 1523. This so-called religious-freedom bill arguably could be described as a new form of Jim Crow leg-islation—“separate but equal” doesn’t seem that bad on paper, right? On its surface, the bill appears to harmlessly promote an indi-vidual’s religious freedom, but similar to Jim Crow legislation of yesteryear, or voter ID legislation of today, the bill gives permission to discriminate, targeting LGBT Mississippi-ans. This new Jim Crow legislation, I mean HB 1523, allows statewide discrimination from individuals, businesses and even gov-ernment employees if the discrimination, I mean act, is based on religious ideologies about marriage, sexuality and gender.

The bill essentially states that the gov-ernment cannot penalize an individual, or-ganization or business for acting according to their “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Yes, in 2016, the Mississippi Legislature is still passing such legislation, and Gov. Ross Barnett, I mean Phil Bryant, signed it. The question is, who or what is to blame for such bigotry still reigning supreme in the Missis-sippi legislation process in 2016? The answer is Leslie McLemore II.

Me, along with many others, should re-ceive part of the blame for this resurgence of discrimination and bigotry across our state. I left, I got educated, and I didn’t come back. I chose DC Day Parties (Where my BBPs

at?), happy hours and close proximity to the White House over helping Mississippi join the 21st century and proclaim zero tolerance to lawful discrimination.

Since my departure, I have rarely come back to visit, while simultaneously speaking ill and writing sarcastic/tasteless Facebook statuses about the state where I was born and raised. Instead of helping cure the disease, I have become a part of the illness. Yes, her faults are many, but Mississippi has found ways to progress, which should be rightfully highlighted. Take the passage of HB 1523. For a long time, the black community wasn’t exactly an ally of the LGBT community. In-grained biblical teachings have taught many in the black community that LGBT mem-bers shouldn’t have the same rights many of

us enjoy. Well, funny how

times have changed. Many of the legislators who pub-licly opposed HB 1523 were African American. Black Senate Democrats, like Sen. John Horhn of Jackson and Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, questioned the true in-tention of the bill as they pointed to other instances where religion was used as

a basis for discrimination, specifically the “separate but equal” and “Black Code” laws of the past. Opposition like this is a positive step in the right direction of progression and inclusion for all Mississippians.

Unlike the missed opportunities during the labor movement that could have brought working-class people of all races and creeds together, here is our chance as Mississippians to stand together and fight for a better, more inclusive, progressive Mississippi.

We have the numbers. About 40 per-cent of the registered voters in Mississippi are African American. Hell, if you combine that with progressive white voters, the statewide elections should be a purple dogfight until the last ballot is cast. Based on Mississippi’s voting electorate, there should be a com-petitive fight for voter rights, LGBT rights, women’s rights, economic inclusion, climate change, drug sentencing and many more is-sues that would bring Mississippi toward the 21st century. However, Mississippi’s brain drain of young people like me, combined with a lackluster “get out the vote” effort and laziness, has left Mississippi’s statewide elections laughably one sided. We are all to blame for Mississippi’s 2016 lawful discrimi-nation, including Leslie McLemore II.

Leslie B. McLemore II is a Jackson native, now in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Jackson State University, North Carolina Cen-tral University School of Law and American University Washington College of Law.

Blame Me for HB 1523, the New Jim Crow Legislation

LESLIE MCLEMORE II

Editor-in-Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

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I wasn’t proud

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Jeremy Baugh was in history class at Ridgeland High School one January day in 2010 when the classroom phone rang. The front office was calling him down, his teacher said. He was supposed to take his stuff. He grabbed his backpack and left. Baugh, heavy-set with a bright, friendly

face, was popular. He was on the basketball team, in the choir and had been voted Class Favorite at this school in the bustling suburb of Jackson. “I looked at my high school like my family,” Baugh said in February. So Baugh ambled confidently down the staircase and along the hall to the rotunda, which was busy—it was around lunchtime. He didn’t know he was trespassing. When he got to the front office, Jeremy saw his mother flanked by two school police officers and the principal. Mike Kent, Madison County School District’s superintendent at the time, walked in the door and said that Jeremy’s mother, Aurora Baugh, had falsely signed papers saying she was a resident of Ridgeland, Jeremy said. The police handcuffed her and led her outside to the police car. One officer protested, asking the superintendent if the whole spectacle was necessary, Jeremy said. The officer said that his mother was cooperating. Baugh watched, dumbstruck, as they led his mother away. Then, an office secretary broke the silence. “She told me I had to vacate the premises in the next 30 minutes to an hour,” Baugh said. “I remember thinking: ‘My caretaker is clearly in jail. How am I supposed to vacate the premises?” Later, Baugh says, his mother told him they had called her to let her know they would arrest her, but that if she didn’t come to the school to meet them, they would arrest her son, too, for trespassing at Ridgeland High School, be-cause he wasn’t legally enrolled. Crossing the Line Baugh says his mom had considered sending him to Chastain Middle School in Jackson Public Schools, their home district. At the time, Chastain was a “successful” school, a Level 3 out of 5 on its state report card for the 2006-2007 school year. She changed her mind after hearing rumors of violence at the school. She would have loved to relocate the family to Ridgeland, a suburb of Jackson, where the schools were

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MJeremy Baugh, 23, currently attends Mississippi State University. In 2010, Jeremy was forcibly withdrawn from Ridgeland High School after

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consistently rated Level 5, “superior schools.” The Baugh family lived almost flush against the Jackson side of County Line Road that separated the city from Ridgeland, a rela-tively diverse and more working-class corner of wealthier Madison County. But she couldn’t afford it. Baugh’s story is not unique. Many par-ents in urban areas, met with the spatial and academic barrier of their zip codes, have no choice but to send their children to the public school available to them within their school districts, regardless of its performance. But an increasing number of parents are finding a way out. Private schools have long been one option for parents with enough means, while 2.57 million kids nationally attended charter schools (free public schools run by private operators) in 2014, up from 1.29 million in 2008. Nationally, crossing district lines is a rising trend, too. More and more black and Hispanic families are moving to inner-ring and even outer-ring suburbs, once bastions of the white and wealthy. States like New Jersey have even made it easier for families to send their children to better schools in other districts without having to move. In Mississippi, where the first two charter schools only opened last year, district line-jumping is common, parents and dis-trict officials say. It’s also usually illegal. The Hechinger Report previously reported that wealthy districts across the country have in-creasingly cracked down in recent years, and Mississippi is no different. In Baugh’s case, charters didn’t exist in Mississippi yet, and private school was too expensive for his family. So his mother was one of the many parents who broke the law to send him to school in a district where he did not reside. Mississippi currently operates under a “voluntary interdistrict” model for enroll-ment across district lines, meaning that stu-dents may transfer to schools in districts in which they don’t live at the discretion of the school boards of the districts involved. It would have been easier for Jeremy if the schools available to him within his origi-nal district had been at least 30 miles away, or Jeremy’s mother had been a Madison County School District employee; in those situations, his enrollment at Ridgeland schools would have been legally protected. Otherwise, both state law and municipal or-dinances impede interdistrict enrollment. Current Madison County School Dis-trict Superintendent Ronnie McGehee, who was not there when Jeremy’s mother was arrested, says the Madison County School District does allow special affidavits for par-ents and students in certain situations—like staying with a relative while they’re between homes, for instance. McGehee says these af-fidavits are thoroughly verified, but the dis-

trict is generous with them and has granted “thousands.” Still, affidavits are only granted to those students who are under the roof of a family member or other adult guardian who lives within the district. I went to Ridgeland public schools. Jer-emy and I were in the same grade, but before his mom got in trouble, I didn’t know that he lived in Jackson. Many black students knew

someone who lived out of district, and most of us still had family ties to the city. But we were all Titans: band members, cheerlead-ers, athletes, eggheads. We made friends. We were kids trying to learn, like everyone else. Whether or not they attended legally, however, the rising number of black and non-white Latino families in Madison County and in the public schools was fu-eling a resistance. The very public arrest of Jeremy Baugh’s mother was only one way the old guard was fighting against the rapid integration of the suburbs. The other was an attempt to extract the newcomers altogether. In Ridgeland’s Best Interests A 1992 Mississippi Department of Education policy dictates that public-educa-tion students must attend the public schools available to them within their school district. But three months before Mrs. Baugh’s arrest, on Nov. 3, 2009, the City of Ridgeland ap-

proved an ordinance that went further to protect schools against outsiders. It prohib-ited “misrepresentations of residence.” Lying, leasing property or helping anyone do those things for the purpose of school enrollment could draw a fine of up to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail, or both. Baugh says his mother spent almost a week in jail. She had to pay a $5,500 fine

for forging the signature of an individual she claimed was her landlord in Ridgeland. When asked what spurred the develop-ment of that ordinance, Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee said in a phone interview with the Jackson Free Press that it was the best move for Ridgeland at the time. “The citizens and business owners felt that the residency ordinance would best serve the interests of the city,” he said. The increased penalties for illegal school enrollment came against a backdrop of other moves in the city that some believe are about targeting and removing the rising number of black and Hispanic students. In 2015, some Ridgeland residents filed a complaint against the city with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, accusing it of violating the Federal Fair Housing Law by rezoning por-tions of the city that housed primarily black and Hispanic residents. The complaint al-leges that McGee “implemented an aggres-

sive code enforcement regime” in 2010 to condemn apartments largely inhabited by black and Latino residents; the complaint also says that during this time, city officials attempted to redevelop and rezone southeast Ridgeland to remove apartments and hous-ing mostly occupied by minorities. The Dec. 3, 2015, HUD complaint to Ridgeland stated: “The Department alleges

that the Respondent, the City of Ridge-land, Mississippi, is engaging in unlawful discrimination based on race in its ongoing ‘amortization,’ condemnation, and threat-ened removal of five apartment complexes and rezoning of approximately nine apart-ment complex buildings to lower density re-quirements as a result of the enactment of its 2014 Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. There is no alternative plan for the residents of these buildings.” This year, Ridgeland residents Tiaquon-ta Fuller, Shedrick Day and Shamel Smalls, all residents of a southeast Ridgeland apart-ment complex, filed a lawsuit against the City of Ridgeland with similar complaints. The lawsuit relied heavily on comments made during city community-awareness committee meetings and the mayor’s emails about a perceived relationship between

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Ridgeland’s apartment complexes and de-clining student achievement at the public schools and lowered property values. In one email quoted in a Feb. 12, 2016, complaint on behalf of the three plaintiffs, McGee allegedly responded to complaints from “parents, faculty and PTO leaders about the changes we are experienc-ing within our school system” by saying that the city was “very aggressively developing a strategy for near-term improvements that involves redevelopment of older apartments into single-family housing.” Mayor McGee was not available for comment on the lawsuit by press time. Many of the complaints sent to Mc-Gee and quoted in the lawsuit spoke about the changing perception of the schools, al-though achievement hadn’t lagged even as the demographics changed. “The fact that Ann Smith is Title 1 is embarrassing,” one Ridgeland citizen wrote in a 2009 e-mail to McGee. Ann Smith is Ridgeland’s lower elementary school. “I know a lot of factors go into this, and the blame if applicable cannot be laid at any one doorstep,” the email stated, “but it seems to me that this all starts with the apartment dwellers. Ridgeland has too many apartments something [sic] should be done IMMEDIATELY to reduce them. The schools in Ridgeland are deteriorating, and that will result in poor home values which leads to the City’s decline.” Other emails quoted in the com-plaint contain similar sentiments. “In our research for the upcoming school bond issue, we have come across an alarming statistic. The Ridgeland School de-mographics have changed significantly over the last 5 years,” another 2009 email from a Ridgeland constituent read. “We hope that you as city leaders are aware of this current trend. If the city delays action, Ridgeland

will become the new Northeast Jackson.” The lawsuit suggests that, for some constituents, the changing racial makeup was a concern. The Feb. 12, 2016, com-plaint quotes Superintendent Kent from community-awareness committee min-utes: “In 2000-2001, there were the fol-lowing students at Ridgeland High School: 416 white/214 black/38 other. There is a continuous dropping of the white demo-graphic for the last 10 years. The best op-portunity to change this fact was when the

new school opened.” Kent declined comment for this story. A senior planner of a community de-velopment group told Alan Hart, director of Community Development for the City of Ridgeland, in 2007 that “County Line Road would serve as a strong buffer, like the Natchez Trace does” and that “the percep-tion of property above the Trace is that it is protected from Jackson’s rot,” according to the Feb. 12 complaint. “No apartments mean no migration from Jackson by a race running from their own people,” a 2010 email to McGee reads. “[M]oving into white neighborhoods spells trouble, especially rental properties and apartments. Where they go, trouble follows, always has and always will.” To which McGee allegedly responded:

“I vigorously fought those apartments and tried to be sure that properties were not re-zoned for apartments for many years … what you don’t know is that I am also work-ing to get rid of a large number of apart-ments right now.” On March 14, 2016, the U.S. District Court, where the lawsuit is filed, granted the City of Ridgeland an extension of time to answer the complaint until April 4. That day, the City requested an additional four days until Friday, April 8, for its response to

the lawsuit, citing a death in the family. Author and University of Mississippi sociology professor Dr. James Thomas says that Ridgeland’s fight against the encroach-ment of black and Hispanic families is just the latest chapter in the state’s conflicts over race. “The whole formation of suburbs can be thought of as a form of dealing with racial anxiety,” he said in an interview. “In the ’30s and ’40s, you had mass migrations of black people to urban areas, and many cities began developing addi-tional measures of control over where blacks could relocate. Even in the North, cities had means of making sure that white spaces sort of remained white,” he added. “There’s ac-tually a threshold: when we survey people, there is a threshold at which not just white, but also black residents believe that when a

certain neighborhood has a certain percent-age of black residents, they believe it’s be-coming a bad neighborhood, and they sell their homes and move. For whites, when the neighborhood is 20- to 25-percent black, that’s when they sell their homes and move. For blacks, it’s when the neighborhood is 50-percent black.” Lee Boozer, former principal of Ridge-land High School, also appears in the Fuller, lawsuit against Ridgeland, for comments he made at a community meeting. “…What is going down is the image. The schools are scoring high. The image of the demograph-ics is what needs to be battled,” he said. ‘Ratchet Ridgeland’ “Ratchet Ridgeland?” 66-year-old Lee Boozer, my former principal, asks me on the phone, laughing. “I’d never heard that one. What’s ‘ratchet?’” “It’s what people say when they want to say ‘ghetto,’ except, you know, allitera-tive,” I said. It was also the nickname for Ridgeland that students got from kids at Madison Central. “I don’t know why or where that came from,” he told me. “I have said that the perception from the real-estate market, real-estate agents, have not always been what I thought it needed to be in Ridge-land because from the beginning, for some reason, we were kind of under the—I don’t know how to word it—but there seemed to be an image problem from the get-go,” he told me. Ridgeland High School, which serves students in 9th through 12th grades, opened in 2002, relieving Rosa Scott High School and Madison Central High School of its population of Ridgeland residents. Boozer

20

Change in Ridgeland Population over Ten Years

Change in Ridgeland Population over Ten Years

2000

- 15

,382

2000

- 31

3

2000

- 3,

703

2010

- 13

,823

2010

- 1,

133

2010

- 7,

823

WHITE48.3%

BLACK48%

HISPANIC2.1%

Jackson Residents

2010

WHITE57.5%

BLACK33%

HISPANIC4.7%

Ridgeland Residents

2010

RIDGELAND POPULATION STATISTICS

“If the city delays action, Ridgeland will become the new Northeast Jackson.”

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was its first principal, until he retired four years ago. A strident Crimson Tide fan amid the Mississippi State-University of Mis-sissippi-Southern Miss triumvirate that claimed the loyalty of most of the faculty, Mr. Boozer was very nice—the type of Alabama fan who’d just listen to Paul Fine-baum instead of feel the need to call in to his show. Mr. Boozer was principal during Jeremy’s—and my—11th-grade year at Ridgeland High School. I never noticed a growing number of black and Hispanic kids around me in high school, when I was jammed into an accelerated and AP class cohort that consisted mostly of white girls with whom I had shared Accelerated Reader point competitiveness and gifted class teachers throughout elementary and middle school. Baugh says the day his mom got arrested, Boozer tried to help him understand. “I was mad at Mr. Boozer, but it was out of his hands,” Baugh said. “(Madison County officials) were doing a whole on-line investigation on my mother; they were doing a whole surveillance on her, and we didn’t even know about it.” “I always tried to be up front and honest,” Boozer said. “I tried to tell him the circumstances and the situation as what it was. Because Mrs. Baugh was up there quite often, and she had told us one thing, and on a number of occasions, and we found out that those stories that she told us were not accurate. I tried to explain that to Jeremy. “And it was a situation where we were having lots of problems at that time with parents trying to give false documents to us. And it was a major problem. We were getting lots of complaints from people that lived in Ridgeland that didn’t understand why people who lived out of the Madison zone were able to attend.” Mr. Boozer, who is white, said it was pretty easy to tell that there was a residency discrepancy happening, and that parents within the community would basically snitch on each other. “They would pull in behind people with Hinds County tags, or their child would come home and mention some-thing to them or in some situations, a student would get mad at another student and turn them in. So there were multiple ways that we found out,” Boozer said. “Of course, you had to prove two or three utility bills and proof of residency and documentation—it was kind of over the top, what we had to have—but every school in the Madison County School District has those same rules.” Baugh said his principal told him they wanted to make an example out of someone. “In so many words, he was tell-

ing me I was the example,” Boozer said. “That situation kind of set the tone, as terrible as it was for that family,” Boozer said. “It kind of set the tone that Madison County and Ridgeland High School take this very seriously, and this is something that could happen to you.” Boozer says that after the incident, the school saw families suddenly withdrawing their students. But Boozer says he never felt as if Ridgeland’s racial diversity was a bad thing at all.

“While you were there, we preached (to people) that I felt like other folks could learn from us,” Boozer said. “We had a very diverse staff and student body. Kids loved each other and got along. I would not have given anything for that. But for some reason, you still heard the things like what you just said—‘ratchet Ridgeland,’ and I don’t even know what that was—and I never could understand it. It was there, and it was there from the beginning.” Current principal Eric Brooks, who is black, suggests that this outside perception

of Ridgeland and its students’ academic achievement persists to this day. “Right now, RHS is a B school,” Brooks told the Jackson Free Press. “People who make these comments about the perception of Ridgeland, their kids go to JA (Jackson Academy) and MRA (Madison-Ridgeland Academy). They live on the west side of town.” Brooks also says that as far as test scores go, Ridgeland High School per-forms about as well as it always has.

“With these new assessments, we haven’t dipped any further than other schools. Across the board, if we’ve dipped, other people have dipped, too,” he said. Baugh believes race is the reason his card was pulled. “That’s all I thought, when I got kicked out of school, I thought to my-self—they’re trying to erase black people out of Ridgeland,” he said. ‘She Was Just Being a Mother’ After Ridgeland kicked him out, Jer-

emy returned to Jackson Public Schools. He applied and got into Bailey Magnet School, but felt out of place there because the style of teaching was “just different.” So he transferred to Callaway, the high school for students who lived in his district in Jackson. Re-adjusting was hard, he said, because he had missed the entire month of January while he dealt with the arrest of his mother, who spent a week in jail, and searching for a new school. Callaway wasn’t like Ridgeland. “It’s because these schools don’t have the re-sources to teach these children,” Baugh said. “In Ridgeland, we were learning how to be leaders and business owners and how to succeed in that manner. In JPS, they were all about structure. You have to sit in this seat, you have to walk in this line, and to me, that’s teaching you how to do maintenance jobs, factory jobs, something like that. It just wasn’t the same.” At Callaway, Jeremy said, it felt like teachers spent more time worried about fights than helping them learn. “Nothing bad about the school,” he added. “Being in JPS gave me character and the skills I need to survive in that kind of a world and environment, so I picked up some skills.” During his junior year, Jeremy ap-plied to a variety of private schools in the area. He was accepted at and graduated from the private Veritas School, but after his first application had been rejected. “But when they found out I had played basketball, the coach told me they would only award me a scholarship if I went there and played every single sport,” Jeremy said. Representatives of the former Veritas School, which closed in 2015, could not be reached for comment. When I called Aurora Baugh on the phone to ask her about the arrest, she told me she didn’t want to relive the past. Her son remembers the way it hu-miliated his mother, how the news media back then followed her to her job, pester-ing her for comments. Baugh, who now attends Mississippi State University, talks about the emotional impact the event had on his mother more than the effect on him. “Even now, she really doesn’t go to Ridgeland like that at all. She doesn’t drive out that way,” he said. “She went to jail, she did that. It didn’t faze her any. She paid the $5,000 fine off. “It just bothered her at the time it made her look like a criminal, when really, she was just being a mother.” Sierra Mannie is an education report-ing fellow for the Jackson Free Press and The Hechinger Report. Read more at jfp.ms/education.22

Gene McGee is the current mayor of Ridgeland. McGee and the City of Ridgeland have seen recent involvement with lawsuits alleging unfair and racially discriminatory housing actions. McGee has been mayor of Ridgeland since 1989.

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A ndré brought dinner to the ta-ble. Swallowing hard when I saw the meal, I tried my best to look nonchalant and be open and

ready for a new taste. Just out of the oven, they looked rather unoffending. Steam-ing a little, they were about the size, shape and color of a couple of volleyballs. This was a traditional Alsatian meal, André told us with pride—one that his mother, a marvelous cook by all accounts, used to make for him when he was a child. “You can’t find this much anymore,” André said. “I saw it at a local butcher’s when we were picking up supplies for the house.” We were spending a few days in the mountains of Northern Alsace in the Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord (Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park). The park abuts the Palatinate Forest in southwestern Germany and is about an hour’s drive north of Strasbourg, France. Low but steep-sided mountains, many with sandstone outcroppings pro-truding from their eroded surfaces, com-pose the area. People can still explore the haunted ruins of old castles on the out-croppings. The soils are sandy, and many of the trees are pines, as well as some hard-woods. Timber is an important industry in the area, as evidenced from the num-ber of lumber mills we saw as we drove through the small villages and the huge stockpiles of neatly cut wood for use in heating homes. Mixed into this scene are chipped and moss-covered concrete bun-kers and gun installations that were part

of the Maginot line. With the rain, the whole area had a gloomy, spooky feel. There were seven of us in this little rented house: André and his wife, Nicole,

and their two daughters, Elinor and Alix, ages 10 and 7, respectively, and me, my wife and 12-year-old daughter. André was cooking the first night. When I had asked what we were having, he said “estomac de porc farci.” My French isn’t great, but I caught the word “porc” which is “pork” in English, and I knew that “farci” meant

stuffed. Stuffed pork didn’t sound so bad, but the first word bothered me. My heart skipped a beat, my stomach gurgled, and a little bile crept into the back of my throat

when I realized that he was indeed serving stuffed pig stomach. “Stuffed with what?” I asked myself, and then determined that I wasn’t going to ask until after I ate it. I was doomed, though, and I knew it. We made a big deal with our children when they were young that whatever a host serves you, you will eat and will be happy

about it. I knew my children would nev-er let me live this down if I choked. My oldest daughter spent her last year of high school living with a family in a rural town in Ecuador, and it became a family joke to serve her dinner without telling her what it was until after she ate it. She related, with some pride, that she could eat everything they served, includ-ing fried Guinea pig, except for the dish made from horse’s hooves. “It was way too gelatinous” she said in a voice tinged with regret. The actual eating of estomac de porc farci was anticlimactic. The stuffing, which was made from leeks, potatoes, on-ions, some minced pork, and other herbs and spices, was pretty good. The stomach itself seemed a little tough and chewy and not very tasty. Everyone passed their piece of the stomach to André until he said he had enough. My daughter had a second helping of the stuffing. As André ate the dish, he seemed to relax, and his eyes drifted off as remem-bered his childhood. André wanting to share his heritage and upbringing with his American friends as well as his fam-ily made him vulnerable when he cooked and served a meal that was important to him. The good-natured teasing and the squealing and wonder of the children when he cut into the pork stomach was worth a dozen excellent meals in an ex-pensive restaurant. The meal was magical—not the food particularly, but the camaraderie of a shared experience.

Dining With Dignity Carlyn Hicks of Jackson Foodies, Chef Nick Wallace of the Mississippi Museum of Art, Mangia Bene co-owner Jeff Good and other Jackson locals are teaming up to organize a spe-cial event at Stewpot Communi-ty Services this fall. Dining with Dignity, which will take place Nov. 20, will provide a five-star dining experience for people that homelessness has affected. “The Jackson Foodies want-ed to be able to combine our love of food with fellowship and service in a special event to com-memorate our group’s one-year anniversary and our relationship

with Jackson restaurant owners,” Hicks said. Jackson Foodies plans to host anywhere between 150 to 200 people at Stewpot. Wal-lace will prepare the food for the event, and Good will provide the wait staff. To raise money for it, Jackson Foodies has launched GoFundMe campaign Feed JXN with the aim of raising $5,000 for the dinner, in addition to hair-cutting and styling and wardrobe services that other Jackson busi-nesses will provide. The Feed JXN GoFundMe page is at gofundme.com/feed-jxn. Businesses and individuals who would like to give an in-kind

donation for Dining with Digni-ty can email feedjxn@gmail.com. For more information, follow Jackson Foodies on Facebook.

Campbell’s Bakery Mitchell Moore, owner of Campbell’s Bakery, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the second location of his shop (123 Jones St., Madison) on March 31. The new location has been in business for about two months. The Madison Campbell’s of-fers most of the same items as the Fondren Campbell’s, but with a few special additions such as a larger breakfast menu, a variety of espresso drinks and a frozen

blended-coffee creation called Café Freddo, which is available in six different flavors. The Madison location also provides a special cinnamon roll smorgasbord every Saturday, fea-turing classic and orange-flavored cinnamon rolls and bacon and pecan sticky buns. The new loca-tion also opens an hour earlier on Saturdays at 9 a.m. For more information, call the Madison location of Campbell’s Bakery at 769-300-2790. Send business tips to dustin@jacksonfreepress.com. Read more lo-cal business coverage at jfp.ms/busi-ness. See more food coverage at jfp.ms/food.

Camaraderie and Traditionby R.H. Coupe

Food News by Dustin Cardon, dustin@jacksonfreepress.com

LIFE&STYLE | food&drink

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(Left to right) Alix Schmitt, Denver Coupe and Eleonore Schmitt watch as André Schmitt carves the estomac de porc farci.

Chef Nick Wallace of the Mississippi Museum of Art

dinner for Jackson homeless at Stewpot Community Services at the Dining with Dignity event.

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WEDNESDAY 4/6 The Wood Brothers perform at 7:30 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). Smokey & the Mirror also per-forms. $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 877-987-6487; email arden@arden-land.net; ardenland.net.

THURSDAY 4/7 Fondren’s First Thursday is at 5 p.m. in Fondren. Stu-dio Chane hosts the monthly neighborhood event, and the main focus will be the arts for 2016. Includes shopping, food vendors, music and more. Free; call 601-720-2426; fft.city. … Walk Against Traffick is from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Fon-dren. Proceeds from the sixth annual walk go toward fighting child sex trafficking. Fundraising minimum of $100 encour-aged; call 601-942-0429; email hardplacesdrew@gmail.com; walkagainsttraffick.org or hardplacescommunity.org.

FRIDAY 4/8 Party of the (Mid) Century Benefit is at 7 p.m., at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). In-cludes dinner, live theater that includes the portrayal of artist Mark Rothko, music and signature cocktails. Ben-

efits the museum’s exhibitions, programs and community outreach. $150; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

SATURDAY 4/9 The Township Jazz Festival is from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Township at Colony Park (1037 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). Mike Burton, Bernard Harris, Breeze Cayolle, The Vamps, the Southern Komfort Brass Band and more perform. Free; call 601-856-6001; townshipjazzfestival.com. … Chamber IV: Concert in the Chapel is at 7:30 p.m. at Tougaloo College (500 W. County Line Road, Tougaloo) in Woodworth Chapel. Soprano Deanna Tisdale is the guest performer as the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents Schubert’s Salve Regina. The MSO also plays selections from Beethoven and Wagner. $16; call 960-1515; msorchestra.com.

S U N D AY 4/10 Stay Humble Hustle Hard is at 5 to 11 p.m. at Off-beat (151 Wesley Ave.). Enjoy music from J. Skyy, Alexander FRESCO, Loudpack Weezy and $kinny Bragg. $10; call 376-9404; follow 3rd Eye Booking Company on Facebook.

MONDAY 4/11 The Bell’s Brewery Release Party is from 5 to 8 p.m. at LD’s BeerRun (5006 Parkway Drive). Meet representatives and purchase products from the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based

brewing company, which is new to the state of Mississippi. Beers for sale on draft and in packages. Includes free swag. Prices vary; call 769-208-8686; find the event on Facebook.

TUESDAY 4/12 Widespread Panic performs at 7:30 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The rock band from Athens, Ga., performs in conjunction with the BankPlus Concert Series. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Additional date: April 13, 7:30 p.m. $45.5-$75.5; call 601-292-7121; email jordan@ardenland.net; ardenland.net. … “Red” is at 7:30 p.m. at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is about the internal struggles of artist Mark Rothko. Additional dates: April 13-16, 7:30 p.m., April 17, 2 p.m., April 19-23, 7:30 p.m., April 24, 2 p.m., $28, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

WEDNESDAY 4/13 Jackson 2000 April Luncheon is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Policy and advocacy consultant Cassandra Welchlin speaks on the topic, “Security and Childcare for Women and Children.” Attire is casual or business casual. RSVP. $12, $10 members; call 960-1500; email todd@jacksonfreepress.com; jackson2000.org. … Author Erik Larson signs copies of “Dead Wake” at 6 p.m. at Bellwether Church (4624 Old Canton Road). Includes a reading. $16 book; email info@le-muriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com. … Late Night Featur-ing ZOOGMA is at 10 p.m. at Hal & Mal’s (200 S. Com-merce St.). The electronic rock band with southern roots is known for energetic performances that incorporate special light effects. Doors open at 9 p.m. $15; call 601-292-7121; email jane@halandmals.com; ardenland.net.

FRIDAY 4/8Midnight Modern! is at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

THURSDAY 4/7M.O. Walsh signs copies of “My Sunshine Away” at Lemuria Books.

TUESDAY 4/12Student Composers Concert XVI is at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts.

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(Left to right) Oliver Wood, Chris Wood and Jano Rix of the Wood Brothers perform Wednesday, April 6, at Duling Hall.

BY MICAH SMITH

EVENTS@JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM

FAX: 601-510-9019DAILY UPDATES AT

JFPEVENTS.COM

Brian “Breeze” Cayolle performs for the Township Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 9, at the Township at Colony Park in Ridgeland.

Fondren’s First Thursday April 7, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., in Fondren. Studio Chane hosts the month-ly neighborhood event. Includes shopping, food vendors, live music, open houses, a pet adoption drive and more. Free; call 601-720-2426; fft.city.

Jackson 2000 April Luncheon April 13, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Policy and advocacy consultant Cassandra Welchlin speaks on the topic, “Security and Childcare for Women and Children.” Attire is casual or business casual. RSVP. $12, $10 mem-bers; call 960-1500; email todd@jacksonfreepress.com; jackson2000.org.

MDOT’s Eighth Annual Safety Fair April 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mis-sissippi St.). MDOT offers activities to increase awareness of child passenger safety, dangers of dis-tracted driving and more. Includes child safety seat inspections, bike helmet giveawaysand more. Free; call 354-7051; gomdot.com/safety-fair.

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

April 6, 6 p.m. Michael Ray Charles speaks on the topic, “Images and Thoughts of Otherness.” Free; call 601-974-1000; millsaps.edu.

April 8, 7 p.m. Includes dinner, live theater that includes the portrayal of artist Mark Rothko, music and signature cocktails. Benefits the museum’s exhibitions, programs and community outreach. $150; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Millsaps Friday Forum April 8, noon, at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). In room AC 215. The panel discussion on journalism and social change with Leslie McLem-ore, Fred Anklam, Hank Klibanoff and. Charles Overby of the Overby Center for Southern Jour-nalism and Politics is the moderator. Free; call 601-974-1061; millsaps.edu.

April 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Mississippi College (200 S. Capitol St., Clinton). At SWOR Auditorium, Nelson Hall. Includes performances, a fashion show, food and a student art exhibit. Proceeds go to international student scholarships. On campus: $10, $5 faculty, $3 students; $10 online; $15 at the door; call 925-3000; email cbach@mc.edu.

April 9, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., at Christ United Methodist Church (6000 Old Canton Road). The keynote speaker is Elizabeth Scaife, director of training at Shared Hope International. Registra-tion required. $30; call 956-6974; email clayson@christunitedjxn.org; christunitedjxn.org.

Dialogues April 12, 6-8 p.m., at Eudora Welty Library (300 N. State St.). Attendees discuss race, reconciliation and responsibility. Free; call 668-2102; email redeaglegallery@bellsouth.net.

April 9, 11 a.m., at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). Educator and geo-science enthusiast Dixie Houchen guides visitors through a hands-on activity with sandwich cookies to demonstrate the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. Included with admission ($6, $5 seniors, $4 ages 3-18, free for members and children under three); call 601-576-6000; mdwfp.com/museum.

KidFest! Ridgeland April 9-10, April 16-17, at Freedom Ridge Park (235 W. School St., Ridgeland). Includes big top acts, an activity tent, music, food, animated characters and more. $12 at the gate ($2 coupon available online), children under 2 free; call 601-853-2011; kidfestridgeland.com.

April 7, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Tougaloo College (500 W. County Line Road, Tougaloo). In Warren Hall. Includes samples, resorces, screenings and hourly giveaways. Free; call 601-977-7818; email rharper@tougaloo.edu.

April 7, 5-9 p.m., in Fon-dren. Proceeds from the sixth annual walk go toward fighting child sex trafficking. Fundraising minimum of $100 encouraged; call 942-0429; walkagainsttraffick.org.

April 9, 8 a.m., at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Check-in is at 6 a.m. The annual walk to fight breast cancer is a fund-raiser for the Central Mississippi Steel Magnolias Affiliate of Susan G. Komen. $20-$40; call 601-932-3999; komencentralms.org.

April 9, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., at Mississippi Basketball and Athletics (2240 Westbrook Drive). Teams must register. Also includes individual basketball shooting contests and a mobile clinic. Canned food donations welcome. Free admission; registra-tion: $50 for adult teams (ages 19 and up), $25 for youth teams (ages 8-18); call 601-815-9000; email evers-williamsinstitute@umc.edu.

“Red” April 12-16, 7:30 p.m., April 17, 2 p.m., April 19-23, 7:30 p.m., April 24, 2 p.m., at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is about the internal struggles of artist Mark Rothko. $28, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

April 6, 7:30 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). Smokey & The Mirror also performs. $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 877-987-6487; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

April 7, 7 p.m., at The Church Triumphant Global (6531 Dogwood View Parkway). Gospel record-ing artists and BET “Sunday’s Best” contestants” Alexis Speight and Alvin Garrett perform. A portion of proceeds goes to the Thurgood Mar-shall College Fund. Free; call 601-977-0007; triumphant.tv.

April 12, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In the recital room. The Belhaven Composers Forum hosts the interactive showcase of new works from Belhaven student composers. Free; call 601-974-6494; belhaven.edu.

April 9, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., at Township at Colony Park (1037 Highland Col-ony Parkway, Ridgeland). Mike Burton, Bernard Harris, Breeze Cayolle, The Vamps, the Southern Komfort Brass Band and more perform. Free; call 601-856-6001; townshipjazzfestival.com.

April 9, 7:30 p.m., at Tougaloo College (500 W. County Line Road, Tougaloo). In Woodworth Chapel. Soprano Deanna Tisdale is the guest performer as the Mis-sissippi Symphony Orchestra presents Schubert’s Salve Regina and selections from Beethoven and Wagner. $16; call 960-1515; msorchestra.com.

(200 Commerce St.)April 9, 8 p.m. Victoria Holmes

also performs. $7 in advance, $10 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

April 12, 10 p.m. The Werks is a rock and funk band from Ohio. $15; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

April 13, 10 p.m. The electronic rock band with southern roots is known for energetic performances that incorporate special light effects. $15; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

(255 E. Pascagoula St.)

April 12, 5-6:30 p.m. The concert is outdoors by the fountains. Tupelo natives Judson and Joel Vance make up the southern rock duo Rooster Blues. Free; ardenland.net.

April 12-13, 7:30 p.m. The rock band from Athens, Ga., performs in conjunction with the BankPlus Concert Series. $45.5-$75.5; call 601-292-7121; email jordan@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

April 13, 5-6:30 p.m. The concert is outdoors by the fountains. The Jackson-area jazz band’s members include Owen Rockwell, Jason Math-ena and Lucas Pettey. Free; ardenland.net.

April 7, 5 p.m., at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). M.O. Walsh signs books. $16 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

April 13, 6 p.m., at Bellwether Church (4624 Old Canton Road). Erik Larson signs copies and reads. $16 book; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

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

Theatre April 8, 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. In the BancorpSouth Classroom. Meet director John Logan and the cast of the play about artist Mark Rothko. Free; call 960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

April 8, 11:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Includes live music, midnight snacks and a view-ing of the “When Modern Was Contemporary” exhibit, which hangs through Oct. 30. Included with exhibit admission ($12, $10 seniors, $6 students, free for museum members); call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

April 9-15, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., at Eudora Welty House and Museum (1119 Pinehurst Place). Includes tours, a birthday celebration, a pop-up art gallery, a spring plant sale, a picnic and more. Free; call 353-7762; eudoraweltyhouse.com.

THURSDAY, APRIL 7Golf (2-6:30 p.m., ESPN): Watch the opening-round coverage of the Masters Tournament, as Jordan Spieth defends his title while Tiger Woods is out for the second time in three years.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8College baseball (6:30-10 p.m., SECN+): UM looks to rebound from losing their series against MSU with a win against Arkansas.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9College baseball (6-9 p.m., SECN+): Mississippi State hits the road to face Florida in a matchup of top college-baseball teams.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10Golf (1-6 p.m., CBS): Check out the final-round coverage of the 2016 Masters, as the top players make a move for the green jacket.

MONDAY, APRIL 11MLB (6-10 p.m., ESPN): The York Mets look to return to the World Series as they begin a matchup with the Miami Marlins early in the season.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12NBA (6-9 p.m., TNT): If the San Antonio Spurs haven’t lost at home yet, all that stands between them and the NBA’s first 41-0 home record is the

.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13College baseball (6:30-10 p.m., SECN+): Southern Miss travels north to Oxford to take on UM a week after the teams battled in Pearl. A series win against Florida would be huge for Mississippi State. The Gators are ranked third in the USA Today Top 25 and are a perfect 20-0 at home.

After taking two of three games from rival University of Mississippi, Mississippi State’s baseball team should be moving up in the polls. In the last USA Today poll, the Bulldogs ranked 12th and the Rebels ranked 11th.

27

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.

SLATE

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

the best in sports over the next seven daysby Bryan Flynn

28

A fter three decades of music, more than 3 million albums sold and attendance records at venues such as the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colo., and

the University of New Orleans’ Lakefront Are-na, it’s clear that Widespread Panic has changed quite a bit since vocalist John Bell and late gui-tarist Michael Houser first began writing songs in their dorm at the University of Georgia. Today, the band consists of keyboardist John “JoJo” Hermann, who joined in 1992, guitarist Jimmy Herring, who joined in 2006, four years after Houser died of pancreatic can-cer, and drummer Duane Trucks, who became an official member in February 2016 follow-ing original drummer Todd Nance’s departure. Then, there are the three remaining founders of Widespread—Bell, bassist Dave Schools and percussionist Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz. While Ortiz is a pivotal part of the legend-ary Athens, Ga.-based jam band, he was the last addition to the original lineup in 1986. There was even a time just before Widespread that he almost gave up music entirely. “We’ll call it a ‘transition phase,’” Ortiz says with a laugh. “I was in the middle of transition-ing from the Southwest to the East Coast, and you know, I didn’t really know if I wanted to pursue music anymore. I’d been living in Austin for about 10 years, playing in different bands, different styles of music, everything. My buddy owned a club here in Athens, Georgia, for three years, and I’ve known this guy since 1969, so we stayed in contact. He always had said when

he moved to Georgia, ‘Man, you need to move here. You need to come here. You’ll love it.’” Ortiz would tell his friend that he was just too busy to visit. However, once he made the decision to leave Austin, he didn’t really know where else he wanted to be. “Why not?” he told his friend, and he headed for Athens. He soon connected with the fledgling Widespread Panic and sat in with them just to see how it would go. By the time the band recorded its 1988 debut album, “Space Wranglers,” Ortiz had become a permanent member. “I always loved the whole jazz realm of things, and when I met these guys, they were right there, and they didn’t know it,” Ortiz says. “They were into the experimental music, as well, but in a different style, so to speak. So when I hooked up with these guys, they didn’t know who I was from Adam that night I sat in with them. But they opened their arms to me and said, ‘Yeah, man, come out and play.’ It was kind of special. I’m not going to use the word ‘magi-cal,’ but it was special.” While Ortiz has received attention for his mastery of the marimbas, congas and all kinds of hand percussion throughout his music career, the drums were his first love. Initially, he only switched because he had trouble finding gigs behind a drum kit, but he ultimately chose to remain a percussionist. “What intrigued me the most are the layers a percussion player can create,” Ortiz says. “He can do one track of congas, go back and overdub a tambourine, overdub a cowbell part, overdub

a timpani part and overdub a marimba part. You’re just versatile, you know. You’re multi-tal-ented; you can play all those instruments, but if the time came to do a solo, you could do a solo on that instrument. It’s like with Will Ferrell, ‘more cowbell,’ that whole Saturday Night Live skit. You can go crazy on a cowbell just like you can go crazy on a clave.” Ortiz and his Widespread cohorts have continually released new music over the years between their 60 to 70 tour dates annually—much more manageable than the 200-plus per-formances per year of their early days. Widespread Panic is currently touring to support its 12th studio album, “Street Dogs,” which hit shelves Sept. 25, 2015, and peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard 200. While Ortiz says it’s great to see that fans are enjoying the album, “those are just numbers.” “I think every artist has boundaries that they want to (surpass), whereas for us, all we wanted to be able to do was express our music how we express it,” he says. “A lot of people strive for perfectness and getting the top 10, top sales, top this or top that, but our biggest thing from the get-go—and this is what I appreciate most about the boys—is that all of us are just lucky enough to be able to do what we always dreamed about doing.” Widespread Panic performs at 7:30 p.m., April 12-13, at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). Doors open at 6:30 p.m. both nights. Tickets range from $45.50 to $75.50. For more information, visit ardenland.net.

(Left to right) Dave Schools, Duane Trucks, John Bell, Domingo Ortiz, John Hermann and Jimmy Herring of Widespread Panic perform April 12-13 at Thalia Mara Hall.

Zoogma performs for a post-show event at Hal & Mal’s on April 13.

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DIVERSIONS | music

The ‘Sunny’ Side of Widespreadby Micah Smith

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F inancier Roy R. Neuberger’s philosophy that the con-temporary world should buy the artwork of contempo-rary artists led him to collect the art his own generation made, from artists such as Jackson Pollock, Georgia

O’Keefe and Jacob Lawrence, before they became revered or even remotely famous. “When I started, I felt that in a small way I could render a service, because I would be able to help artists who were young and struggling,” he stated in a blurb about the exhibit on neuberger.org. His belief that living artists should be supported changed the mentality of art collecting in the U.S. He purchased art, not as pieces to be hoarded or used as investments, but to be preserved and shared, simultaneously providing a way for new or little-known artists to continue creating. A taste of this collection will arrive soon in Missis-sippi. The traveling exhibit “When Modern Was Contem-porary” is on loan to the Mississippi Museum of Art from the Neuberger Museum of Art in New York. The Missis-sippi Museum of Art is the first stop on the collection’s country-wide tour. With everything from landscapes to sculptures and drip paintings, the selections in the exhibit are a testament to Neuberger’s eye. Nearly every piece is considered a masterpiece, just as the overwhelming ma-jority of the artists are some of the greatest America has ever been given. No longer contemporary art, this histori-cal collection shows the diversity of our backgrounds and the unity of our creative souls. “When we fill an exhibit space, we like to bring in work that maybe (hasn’t been seen)

in Mississippi,” Julian Rankin, the museum’s marketing di-rector, says about why it chose that particular exhibit. The exhibit will have work from 52 artists, including Marsden Hartley, Joseph Stella, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Romaire Bearden. This particular exhibit shows the progression of the 20th-century American art world, from early stages reflect-ing European tradition to the first forays into Abstract Ex-pressionism. Jacob Lawrence, widely regarded as one of the best-known 20th-century African American painters, used

cubism as a way to show the struggles of African Americans as they suffered in Harlem during the Great Depression. Though French art influenced many Cubist artists, the colors and shapes of Harlem influenced Lawrence. In his work, “In the evening evangelists preach and sing on street corners,” a man dressed in blue kneels on a street corner sing-ing. A cross, Bible and a collection plate sit beside him, and a crowd of people watch. The figures are black, and their clothes are mostly primary colors with the exception of green. A companion display, “Reflections,” will showcase art from the museum’s collection, including Mississippi artists Fred Mitchell, Andrew Bucci and Dusti Bongé. It shows the development and influence of abstract art and what the art-ists contributed to their sociopolitical environment. Both ex-hibits reflect the strain on social relationship during growing industrialism and world wars, the effect of which can be seen in the development of these modern art forms. The event opens with the “Party of the (Mid) Century” on April 8. The event, which was inspired by Truman Capote’s “Party of the Century,” will have a curated dinner, live theater, music and cocktails. Art in Flesh, which is a group of makeup artists, will do body painting that night. The event is formal at-tire, and masks are encouraged. Tickets are $150 with patron and sponsor commitments available. The event begins at 7 p.m. “When Modern Was Contemporary” will be on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.) from April 9 through Oct. 30. For more information, call 601-960-1515 or visit msmuseumart.org.

DIVERSIONS | arts

Showcasing a Centuryby Benjamin Hollingsworth

The Mississippi Museum of Art’s newest exhibit, “When Modern Was Contemporary,” will exhibit 20th century art from artists such as Alexander Calder.

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O n the second day of rehearsal for “Red,” John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play about modern art-ist Mark Rothko, energies at New

Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.) are high. Props for the play—a half-finished chair, an electric hotplate and a large pot, paint buckets and rags, two sturdy worktables on rollers—make the rehearsal space feel like an artist’s studio. At one point, New Stage Artis-tic Director Francine Thomas Reynolds and cast members John Maxwell and Cliff Miller take a break to talk about the play and the process of putting up the show. “A two-man show is a lot of work for two people,” Reynolds says. “A lot of work for one person,” Miller says. “It’s Rothko’s show.” “Maybe in a sense, but not really,” Max-well counters. “We both have to depend on each other.” It may be early in the three-week re-hearsal schedule, but the process began months ago when Reynolds held auditions and cast Maxwell in the role of Mark Rothko and Miller in the role of Ken, Rothko’s as-

sistant in the play. More recently, she’s been working on the set design for “Red.” She’s spent the last couple days researching and discussing it with Maxwell and Miller. Reynolds says “Red” is based on real events, which she says makes it fascinating to research and to figure out what really hap-pened and what was invented for the play. “We’ve been talking about what’s real and what’s myth around this event in Roth-ko’s career as an artist and how these actors

will become these people,” Reynolds says. For his part, Miller, who lives in New York City, went to the Bowery to see the building that housed Rothko’s studio in the 1950s. Now that Miller is in Jackson, he

says he is appreciating the time and space to ground himself in the role. “For this play in particular, it’s wonderful to live in New York and to be able to walk to 222 Bowery and see the space,” he says. “Taking that tour, getting an understanding of the energy and pulse of the environment Rothko created in (and) then coming to Jackson is an ideal circum-stance. There’s space to think here—space you can’t have in New York City. I’m really grateful for this opportunity.”

Both actors have been studying the script and learning their parts somewhat ahead of schedule—there’s a lot of work to do before rehearsals begin. They know their lines, but Maxwell says they may still need a

little prompting; they aren’t “cold off-book,” as he calls it. “It’s taken a while to enter into the world of this play,” he says. “When actors talk about finding the role, they’re finding the role in themselves. I’m working to real-ize the Rothko in me. We’ve done invaluable work so far because all of the research and saturation gives you texture and roots and tone, layers of richness. A play about a great painter has to have many layers.” A play about a great painter in his studio has to include paint and the act of painting, as well. Maxwell and Miller, in their respec-tive roles, will take up brushes and paint a 6-feet-by-6-feet canvas during every perfor-mance. Reynolds says it’s one of the great things about the play. Maxwell says: “We started painting our characters yesterday; it’s a different genre, but you’re still painting. So we’re mixing the paint and putting stuff together; we haven’t started putting it on canvas yet—we’ll do that tomorrow.” New Stage Theatre’s production of “Red,” which is April 12-24, is presented in partner-ship with the Mississippi Museum of Art and will accompany the museum’s upcoming exhi-bition, “When Modern was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collec-tion,” which will be on view at the museum from April 9 to Oct. 30. Show times for the play April 12-16 and 19-23 are at 7:30 p.m., and show times for April 17 and 24 are 2 p.m. For more information, visit newstagetheatre.com or call 601-948-3533.

Seeing ‘Red’by Genevieve Legacy

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In New Stage Theatre’s “Red,” Cliff Miller (left) plays Ken, Mark Rothko’s assistant, and John Maxwell (right) plays Rothko.

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