V14n50 - Beyond Detention

vol. 14 no. 50

FREE

August 17 - 23, 2016 | daily news at jfp.ms

Beyond

Detention Exploring Smarter,

Cheaper Alternatives to Locking Kids Up Dreher, pp 16 - 20

Ratting Out the DA Ladd, p 11

Ray’s Smokehouse: A Family Affair Dutton, Washington, p 22

From Rhythm to the Blues Smith, p 27

District 72 Election Tuesday, Aug. 23 Interviews at jfp.ms/2016elections

- AUGUST 19 -

THURSDAY

8/18

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

FRIDAY

8/19

DOWNRIGHT 10 P.M.

SATURDAY

8/20

THE CONGRESS 10 P.M.

SUNDAY

8/21

BEER BUCKET SPECIAL (5 Beers for $8.75)

ALL DAY LONG!

MONDAY

8/22

OPEN MIC NIGHT

$5 APPETIZERS (D O ) INE IN

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TUESDAY

LADY L & THE RIVER CITY BAND - AUGUST 20 -

DJ GLENN W/ DJ 3E - AUGUST 21 -

SERVICE INDUSTRY NIGHT 10-UNTIL CLOSE

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AND DRINK SPECIALS

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

10pm - 12am

2

ALL STADIUM SEATING Listings for Fri. 8/19 – Thurs. 8/25

UPCOMING SHOWS

Ben-Hur

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Jason Bourne PG13

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Kubo and the Two Strings PG 3-D Kubo and the Two Strings PG Hell or High Water R Pete’s Dragon (2016)

Nine Lives

Nerve

PG R PG13

Ice Age: Collision Course PG Star Trek Beyond PG13 Lights Out

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Ghostbusters (2016) PG13

Florence Foster Jenkins PG13

The Secret Life of Pets PG

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The Legend of Tarzan PG13

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Suicide Squad PG13

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Movieline: 355-9311

Imani Khayyam

JACKSONIAN Sarah Asmus

B

eneath her professional exterior, Sarah Asmus, 38, is an avid lover of art who enjoys things such as gardening and cooking. Her life motto is short, sweet and to the point: You get what you look for.

A native of Meridian, Asmus graduated from the Mississippi University for Women in 2000 with her bachelor’s degree in English education. She currently works as a content writer and editor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Since moving to Jackson, Asmus says she has enjoyed her time in the capital city.

Asmus likes that so many young people are here. “It makes it easy to know what’s going on and to know that someone you know or want to know is going to be there,” she says.

“It’s a small-town city. Everybody is at home here,” she adds.

She likes to visit local art shows and music events in the community and eat out at local restaurants, with Steve’s Downtown Deli as her go-to place for lunch during the week.

At UMMC, Asmus uses her love of writing to connect people with information they need in a way they can understand it.

“I work on the website,” she says. “My focus is on the health-care side of things. I work with doctors who need some information updated or added to the website. I take the information they give me, which is sometimes very technical and medical heavy, and work to boil it down into information that people need.”

contents

In her spare time, Asmus does stand-up comedy at several venues in the Jackson area.

She hosts open-mic nights, alongside several other local comedic groups such as Jackson Comedy at Offbeat and One Block East.

“Jackson needs a comedy scene,” she says.

“We’ve got a good comedy scene already, and it’s starting to grow. We’re just trying to go a little further and go through different parts of town with different people.”

Asmus uses comedy as a way to express of her creativity. Her passion for doing stand-up is also inspired from her love of English.

“Comedy is just fun. It’s a form of writing,” she says. “My comedy jokes are mostly about me. I just make up nonsense.” Her recommendation for the best form of comedy is inspired from a 2005 documentary on comedy called “The Aristocrats.”

“It’s a good study of how different people can tell the same joke,” Asmus says. “It’s good with styles and writing, too.”

Asmus performs open-mic shows in Jackson regularly at Offbeat on every last Tuesday of each month at 9 p.m. and at One Block East every second Thursday of each month at 8 p.m. “We’ve got a pretty good group that comes in regularly, but it’s always nice to see new folks,” Asmus says about open-mic nights.

“The comics are real dedicated in what they do. It’s hit-or-miss with any open mic, but it’s always fun. It’s a real supportive environment, just like Jackson.”

—Tiffanie Herron

cover illustrated by Zeakky

6 ............................................ Talks 14 ................................. editorial 15 ..................................... opinion 16 ............................. Cover Story 22 .......................................... food 24 ........................................ 8 Days 25 ....................................... Events 25 ...................................... sports 27 ........................................ music 27 ........................ music listings 29 ..................................... Puzzles 31 ........................................ astro

9 Election 2016: Building Walls or Voting for Unity?

The Supreme Court’s 4-4 standstill decision on immigration deferral has led families and workers back into the shadows, unsure of their futures. Local advocacy organizations encourage voter registration for an ‘Immigrant-Friendly President.’

22 Family Matters in Food

Read about how Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill came to be.

27 Rhythm and Blues

“With all the musical heritage we have in Jackson as it relates to Farish Street, Malaco Records, Ace Records and Trumpet Records, it just makes sense for people to be able to come to the capital city and learn about the rich history here, as well.”

—Alex Thomas, “Jackson R&B Fest: Bringing It to You”

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

4 ....................... PUBLISHER’s Note

Courtesy Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival/ Tate K. Nations‘; IMANI KHAYYAM; flickr/Lilian Zepeda

August 17 - 23, 2016 | Vol. 14 No. 50

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PUBLISHER’s note

by Todd Stauffer, Publisher

Jackson Teens Need Mentors, Opportunity

I

’ve had the privilege of having a “fly-onthe-wall” perspective of the work that the JFP editorial team has been doing, with a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network to look into juvenile-justice issues and solutions. Coupled with the findings of the state-commissioned BOTEC Analysis study that came out this year, the work is starting to present an interesting picture of things that can be done to help our youth find a better path to the future.

I’ve also been Donna Ladd’s driver and valet on a few trips to different parts of the country, where we’ve seen youth media projects in action—trips that informed the Mississippi Youth Media Project (“YMP”) this June and July in its own offices in the Capital Towers building overlooking downtown Jackson. Seeing how that project was able to affect teens—from the skyline views to the Google-ish decor to the opportunity to work on digital video, podcasting and web publishing projects—has been enlightening.

That included a teenager from a tough background who had negative experiences in juvenile detention, and is now carrying a camera and learning to do publishable illustrations, not to mention market his work.

It boils down to something simple, and yet all too often misunderstood or misconstrued. The word I’m looking for is “opportunity.” As in, you’ve got to create some opportunities for young people if you want them to take advantage of them.

As you’ll see in this week’s cover story, Arielle Dreher spent time in Seattle, Wash., this summer to report on programs that offer alternatives to incarceration when young people start to get in trouble, or when they experience violent situations themselves.

Counseling, art programs, diversion programs—alternatives that aren’t just ankle bracelets, but purposeful efforts to keep minor “offenders” out of the criminal-justice system. Proximity to that system, according

to the BOTEC report, is one of two primary predictors of future criminal behavior (the other is missing school or dropping out).

The cover story tells one part of the solution—how to work with juveniles to keep them out of the system wherever possible. Another part of the solution is to offer not just equal opportunity but equitable opportunity. That means recognizing that underprivileged kids need even more of a boost to take advantage of potential life-changing

For some kids, it’s an outlet that gives them a purpose. skills training, both in areas such as digital media arts as well as in “soft skills” training that leads to an understanding of the modern workplace and how to successfully negotiate professional life.

At SpyHop (spyhop.org) in Salt Lake City, Utah, Donna and I got a tour of an amazing “youth digital media center” facility.

With a weekly radio show, film classes, music studio production facilities, digital design and game design—when we saw this place, we knew this was something that Jackson needed. It served as part of the model for the YMP as it now stands and, we hope, grows.

Projects like these make a concerted effort to reach out to kids who may not have the opportunity otherwise to touch some of this equipment, or collaborate with others as part of a team with a purpose of producing good work. Learning to understand how

stories are structured and how the words or photos or video or audio get from concept to final product is an invaluable addition to academic studies. And, for some kids, it’s an outlet that gives them a purpose, or a career path, or a diversion from harsh realities or boredom or worse.

BOTEC also warns that many of the kids who needs these opportunities to put them on a different path don’t get access to them. They don’t hear about them, or companies and providers fear young people who’ve been in trouble. Our experience, though, is that those young people can be the hungriest, and most grateful, for a chance to learn real, marketable skills. They just need some help connecting with the right training.

Not every kid needs or wants a digital media education—some prefer vocational training, or speech and leadership training, or athletics or music or fine art. But most kids need something outside of core academics, and, in my opinion, it’s incumbent upon the community to provide those things. That’s particularly true where communities have been deprived those programs and resources in the past—that’s the equity part.

I’m reminded how state GOP officials reacted to the Capitol Improvement District in 2016 legislative session. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves essentially telling Jackson it needs to cut crime in the capital city before the State was willing to allocated more of the city’s own tax collections to the city’s infrastructure needs—mostly focusing on infrastructure that supports state buildings.

It was a cynical gambit and a lame excuse, but it does present a question. If Reeves and other state GOP officials really want to see crime come down in the capital city, are they ready to allocate resources to both academic education, early-education and afterschool programs, and to equitably encourage 21st-century extra-curricular programs such as youth digital media projects? How about

reform of the youth criminal-justice system so that it no longer helps create worse criminals and expends more tax dollars later?

The answer is likely a resounding “no”—unless the implementation of those reforms would include a fat ideological payout in the form of some sort of privatization.

Failed economic policies and an unwillingness to invest in infrastructure and education in this state seem to benefit some of these leaders individually, while leaving Mississippi on the bottom in terms of economic growth.

The only clear solution on that front is to get Mississippi some new leadership.

But, in the meantime, we can’t wait for gravy-trainers like Reeves and Gov. Phil Bryant to solve much of anything. We know we’re on our own in cities like Jackson and in the nonprofit sphere. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try.

The BOTEC reports (paid for by the state, incidentally) point to the notion that only about 225 kids in Jackson are in danger of becoming particularly violence criminals.

Many more kids, obviously, will have some encounter with police or “criminal justice.”

How we shape those systems now— and how we provide alternatives and opportunities that train and build up our young Jacksonians—will have a direct effect on how many fewer of those kids become hardened criminals and how many get the chance to develop an awareness, interest and skill set in more productive pursuits. It will also save innocent lives.

In that vein, I want to congratulate our editorial team—Sierra Mannie, Arielle Dreher, Donna Ladd, Tim Summers Jr. and Onelia Hawa—on great work in this space, from in-depth reporting to public events pursuing some of these solutions. Donna Ladd has helmed this action, and we hope you’ll keep reading, watching and support these efforts. See jfp.ms/preventingviolence to read the full archive.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

contributors

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Kvng Zeakyy

Arielle Dreher

Tim Summers Jr.

Tiffanie Herron

Brooke Dutton

Latasha Willis

Mary Osborne

Myron Cathey

Kvng Zeakyy, 17, is a student at the Youth Media Project and now a JFP intern, actively pursuing a music career. He plans to challenge people’s perspectives of young adults from Washington Addition and better the lives of people in his community. He illustrated the cover.

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 the cover story.

City Reporter Tim Summers Jr. enjoys loud live music, teaching his cat to fetch, long city council meetings and FOIA requests.

Send him story ideas at tim@ jacksonfreepress.com. He wrote about conditions at HenleyYoung Juvenile Justice Center.

Former Editorial Intern Tiffanie Herron is an alumna of Jackson State University. She is currently a graduate student studying literature. She enjoys the life of an otaku playing video games and watching anime. She wrote about Jacksonian Sarah Asmus.

Former Editorial Intern Brooke Dutton is a senior at Mississippi State University studying public relations and marketing. She has an Aussiedoodle named Callaghan and is addicted to good music and DIY projects. She wrote about Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill.

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

She helped compile event listings.

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

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

5

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

“I see this litigation as a challenge to our Legislature to find the resources we need to continue to expand mental services.”

Joyce Helmick, president of Mississippi Association of Educators, addresses teacher retention p 11

Jim Hood on the DOJ lawsuit filed against the state for overusing institutionalization in the adult mental health-care system.

Imani Khayyam

Tuesday, August 9

Local organization WATCH D.O.G.S. organizes Jackson Public Schools elementary students and their fathers to participate in the Million Father March.

Wednesday, August 10

Donald Trump blames faulty interpretations and media bias for an uproar over his comments about the Second Amendment and suggesting that gun owners could “do something” about Hillary Clinton if she is elected and appoints anti-gun judges to the Supreme Court. … Mike Hurst, director of The Mississippi Justice Institute, files a motion to intervene in an SPLC lawsuit on behalf of parents of students who attend two of the three charter schools now open in Jackson.

Thursday, August 11

Donald Trump accuses President Barack Obama of “literally” founding the Islamic State group and claims that Hillary Clinton is the group’s co-founder. …

The Justice Department files a complaint against the state of Mississippi for failing to provide adults with mental illness with necessary integrated, community-based mental health services.

Friday, August 12

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that HB 1523 will remain blocked while Gov. Phil Bryant appeals a judge’s ruling that the law is unconstitutional.

Saturday, August 13

Rioting breaks out in Milwaukee following the shooting death of a black man named Sylville Smith by a black police officer as Smith was fleeing a traffic stop. Police reports indicate Smith was armed.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

Sunday, August 14

Rioting continues in Milkwaukee following the shooting of Sylville Smith, resulting in six businesses being burned down and one person being shot.

Monday, August 15

The New York Times reports that handwritten ledgers found in the Ukraine show $12.7 million in undisclosed payments to Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, from the pro-Russia party founded by the country’s former president Viktor Yanukovych.

6

Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

Johnnie McDaniels, the executive director of the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, explained that a new agreement puts Youth Court Judge William Skinner, the county and the facility administrators on the same page about policies such as the maximum population and length of stay for children in the facility.

Youth Judge Now Adhering to Fed Regs

by Tim Summers Jr.

F

or the last two years, the Hinds County Youth Court handcuffed children while they waited their turn to appear before Judge William Skinner II in direct violation of a federal consent decree.

In 2012, Hinds County settled a federal lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi over conditions at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center.

The agreement, known as a consent decree with federal monitor Leonard Dixon overseeing it, outlines required policies

JXN LIT

by Micah Smith

W

ith the number of great authors visiting Jackson for the second annual Mississippi Book Festival in town at the Mississippi Capitol, you’ll forgive us for having books on the brain. While our city and state have inspired plenty of great literature over the years, we thought of a few other literary classics that could use a local touch.

such as limits on length of stay and proper medical and mental-health care.

However, the youth-court director, Judge Skinner, was not a party to the 2012 agreement. But now, all parties involved, including the judge, have entered into a new agreement.

The new version states that discordant policies like the restraints are no longer standard practice, and Henley-Young can only detain a maximum of 32 children and none of those for more than 21 days without alternative plans.

‘Must Be Handcuffed’

Until this agreement, Judge Skinner was adamantly in favor of restraints of the children, regardless of their offense.

“All youths detained at the Henley Young Juvenile Justice Center held for court appearance(s) before this Court must be handcuffed while being held in the holding tank and prior to entry to the courtroom for their respective court appearance,” Skinner’s detention guidelines standing order from April 15, 2014, more REGS, see page 8

“Phil B.’s Hate of Gay” by E.L. James

“1884” by George Orwell

“At the Fountains of Madison”

by H.P. Lovecraft

“Their Eyes ing Were Watch College Football” by Zora Neale Hurston

“Waterbill Down” by Richard Adams

“As I Lay Dying of Heat Exhaustion”

by William Faulkner

“Of Rats and Men”

by John Steinbeck

“To Fill a Hole with Dirt” by Harper Lee

“Gone with the Spend: A Budgetary Tale” by Margaret Mitchell

7

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

TALK | city

JUVY REGS from page 6 stated (emphasis judge’s own).

The order, included in a June 22, 2016, motion to hold the judge in contempt of the federal consent decree, stated that the policy was in place to “ensure that the court is not to be delayed.”

The consent decree, updated and reaffirmed by all the parties involved earlier this year except for the youth-court judge, states that “mechanical restraints shall not be used to punish youth or for the convenience of the staff.”

Until April, the youth-court judge was not even a member of the lawsuit, which caused friction between the limits placed on Henley-Young’s administrators and the ability of the judge to rule as he saw fit. In their motion to intervene in the lawsuit in April, Skinner’s attorney states that “the existing parties to the litigation do not adequately protect the Hinds County Youth Court’s interests.”

Skinner did not respond to attempts to contact him by phone or email.

After months of talks, all the parties involved reached a compromise in the new Memorandum of Understanding finalized June 27.

“There is a youth-court judge and a youth court that happens to be housed in the same building as a detention center, but those are separate operations,” Hinds

County Board of Supervisors attorney Pieter Teeuwissen said during a phone interview on Aug. 10. “Now, ideally, those operations would complement each other.”

Joi Owens, an attorney with Disability Rights Mississippi, is also hopeful.

“Everyone is on the same page, and I think that’s one of the reasons we wanted to be really specific because this is now going on for several years, and we are finally in a place where we have an administration in place that is working with all parties,” Owens said during an Aug. 2 interview.

“The goal was for all of us to come together, to get on the same page, so hopefully we can get Henley-Young to where we need to be to provide the appropriate services for the kids there,” Owens said.

‘So Far, So Good’

Henley-Young Executive Director Johnnie McDaniels said that with Judge Skinner’s cooperation, the facility can now work with the youth court to follow the policies outlined in the consent decree. That includes keeping the maximum population for the facility at 32 children and holding none of the young people past the 21-day limit without transfer plans, as Skinner often did.

“Whenever you put new kinds of directions in place, you have to make sure that everybody is interpreting it the same way,” McDaniels said. “The judge (Skinner) has been receptive. We have involved the federal monitor when he and I weren’t

totally on the same page, just to kind of have a neutral referee to say this is what this means. So far, so good.”

McDaniels said the detention center communicates with the youth court to coordinate a treatment plan for the children who have to spend more than 21 days in confinement, usually organizing an arrangement for transfer to another facility.

“If they know that they are going to sentence a kid for more than 21 days … that triggers us to know that after 21 days part of the agreement requires the county to look at other places to place that child so that they can get the services that they need,” McDaniels said.

He added that if the child cannot be placed until “a reasonable time” after the 21-day limit, then the juvenile might remain a few days later than the limit.

“That way we don’t have a kid sitting back there wondering what is going to happen to them,” McDaniels said.

The MOU also limits to 32 the number children that can be detained in Henley-Young.

McDaniels said that the number detained depends on the funding and that the limit was based on an affordable ratio of staff to children based on the current budget, which he said had increased over last year.

“Based on our staffing levels, we can properly care for 32 children,” McDaniels said. “For the last month or so the numbers have been down. When I say down I

say about maybe 15, we have had even less than that.”

“In my discussions with the federal monitor I said we are going to remain staffed and ready for 32,” McDaniels said, “because you never know when you are going to be hit with that number here.”

“I think the county understands that it has to be done,” McDaniels said, adding that may not always have been the case.

Email city reporter Tim Summers Jr. at tim@jacksonfreepress.com. Read more about juvenile detention and violence prevention at jfp.ms/preventingviolence.

Most viral stories at jfp.ms:

1. “If Donald and Melania Trump Were Black” by Duvalier Malone 2. “DA Files: Too Sweet Reverend Back in the News” by Donna Ladd and Tim Summers Jr. 3. “5th Circuit Denies Gov. Bryant’s Motion for Stay in HB 1523 Case” by Arielle Dreher 4. “Dak Prescott on NFL Debut, Coach Garrett, Poise and That DUI Charge” by Arielle Dreher 5. “Black, Gay and Christian: Balancing the Equality Scale” by Ryvell D. Fitzpatrick Join the conversation at jfp.ms

Most viral events at jfpevents.com:

1. Bright Lights, Belhaven Lights, Aug. 13 2. Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival, Aug. 19 3. Sippin’ Saturday, Aug. 13 4. Purple Rain: The Event Formerly Known as Storytellers Ball, Aug. 11 5. Celebrity Lip Sync Battle & Groove, Aug. 11 Find more events at jfpevents.com.

Stressful City Budget Talks Hit City Hall

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

8

metering systems that the City and contractor Siemens have worked to address.

Imani Khayyam

I

n preparation for an early September deadline to approve a balanced budget, the Jackson City Council is holding hearings with the heads of the various departments all week long, focusing on a required across-the-board cut to departments totaling $7.6 million.

On Monday, Michael Thomas, a specialist and financial adviser to the City, told the council that he believed it could balance the budget as well as renew the depleted reserve fund by cutting every department, sparing “core services” like the police and fire departments.

In the past, the City has used the general-fun reserve balances from previous years to shore up any budget shortfalls in the following year.

This year, with only $1.3 million left, the reserve-fund balance cannot be counted on to assist the city. The reduced amount of available funds for the next year’s budget is the result of decreased predicted revenue from the water-sewer fund due to issues with the billing and

Mayor Tony Yarber told the city council Tuesday during presentations from the different city departments that all have to inform employees about positions that have been cut by Aug. 25.

Thomas told the council that he expects the City to be able to rehabilitate

Jackson’s finances to the point that the current employee-furlough day could be eliminated by fiscal-year 2018. However, he emphasized, financial progress will remain elusive without fidelity by city managers to the new budget the mayor and council must hammer out by September.

During the presentations on the budgets for the mayor’s office, cuts to the department were not just in the budget.

The first loss for the City will be that of its chief administrative office, Gus McCoy. McCoy told the council Tuesday that while he appreciated the opportunities that his position had afforded him, that he would be taking a job in the private sector.

“It was a truly amazing experience that I did not take lightly,” McCoy said.

Mayor Tony Yarber said he would appoint an interim chief administrative officer for McCoy but that a permanent replacement would not be decided until after the “shenanigans” of the upcoming election in the spring.

McCoy said his office would be downsizing from 4 permanent positions to 3 for the next budget cycle, stating that the restructuring led to $73,000 in savings. The proposed budget amount for that office is currently $227,966 for the next year.

Also a part of the mayor’s office, the Office of Constituent Services told the council on Tuesday that while they were budgeted for 12 employees, they currently operate with only 10. To meet the necessary budgetary constraints for the next year, the office is set to cut two more positions, and their presentation states that with this restructuring their office will lower their budget by $156,178.81 to $598,777.

The proposed budget is not set in stone, and the council may change the budgeted amount if they so choose.

Watch jacksonfreepress.com for budget developments throughout the week and month.

— Tim Summers Jr.

TALK | immigration

Walls or Unity? GOTV for Mississippi Latinos Underway

by Onelia Hawa U.S.) by immigrant parents, really need to get involved by voting, too.”

Controversy over the executive orders first sparked back in February 2015, when Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit, United States v. Texas, in federal district court to block President Obama’s expanded DAPA and DACA initiatives, claiming that the initiatives violate the “Take Care Clause.”

“DAPA is a violation because it declares unlawful conduct to be lawful,” the American Immigration Council reports, and says that the programs impose a $130 loss per license issued in Texas.

The federal government responded

from all over the world, and the same study concluded that “Mississippi has 2,467 foreign students who contribute $42.3 million to state economy.”

Chandler says MIRA has saturated the Jackson metro area and is currently working on voter registration on the Gulf Coast as well as nearby Scott County, a large Hispanic and Latino immigrant community with several poultry plants that employ many of them. That county is approximately 35 miles east of Jackson.

“One of the problems we have in Mississippi is there has been a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric and racism and action from flickr/Lilian Zepeda

The futures of Latino families are on the line in the November election, and local immigration activities are registering people to vote to protect their rights.

in its U.S. v. Texas brief that the claims in the lawsuit “are nothing more than allegations of indirect or incidental effects from the (DAPA) Guidance, not invasions of any legally protected interest under the Constitution,” the American Immigration Council reports on immigrationpolicy.org. “Virtually any administration of federal law by a federal agency could have such effects.”

Mississippi taxpayers on average pay approximately $36.54 per inmate for each day’s detention of undocumented immigrants, according to a 2006 survey report from then then-State Auditor Phil Bryant, now the Republican governor, in Mississippi.

Voter Registration

MIRA representatives are actively encouraging voter registration by attending meetings, going door-to-door, and visiting churches and other places to find people who are U.S. citizens to register them to vote.

The American Immigration Council, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., found that “Latino-owned businesses in Mississippi have sales and receipts of $323.7 million.” Universities throughout the state welcome international students

some law enforcement that has basically driven undocumented immigrants, particularly the Latino population, into the shadows,” Chandler told the Jackson Free Press.

“When crimes are committed against (the immigrant community), individuals are reluctant to come forward and report them.”

Sen. Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, is the principal author of Senate Bill 2306, a piece of legislation written to prohibit the establishment of “sanctuary cities.” The law, which did not pass last session, would have encouraged “Mississippi law enforcement to assist federal agencies by legally detaining illegal aliens” and would have indemnified lawenforcement officers from state legal action if they enforced the law.

Such laws are dangerous, said John Camyilmaz, a European worker with a temporary U.S. working visa and a MIRA volunteer. “My experience in different countries is (that) anti-immigrant laws and decisions only help human traffickers to earn more money and exploit immigrant and non-immigrant workers,” he said. “There is more (of a) chance to exploit the working people.”

The American Immigration Council argues that police officers do not need to

turn their attention away from protecting the public to enforce federal immigration law, a view many law-enforcement leaders, including JPD Chief Lee Vance, share.

“The DAPA and DACA initiatives allow law enforcement officials to focus their attention on public-safety risks, while allowing noncitizens with significant family and community ties to the U.S. to obtain temporary, renewable deferrals of deportation,” it says on immigrationpolicy.org.

“When the parents are deported, often times the children become a ward of the state, and that’s a cost that the state will have to bear to see after these minors,” Rep. Kathy Sykes, D-Jackson, and chapter chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women, said about the Supreme Court’s standstill on immigration reform. “However, if the parents were allowed to stay here … then (parents) would do their duty and provide for their minor children.”

Benefiting The Community

The application process for DACA (I-821D, Consideration of DACA application) costs $465 and requires applicants to meet strict guidelines, including proof of identity; proof applicant came to the U.S. before 16th birthday; and proof of immigration, residence and student status.

An applicant must also complete a separate application for Employment Authorization (I-765) and worksheet (I-765WS) and mail it in with the Consideration of DACA application. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reviews the worksheet (I-765WS) to determine if the applicant has an economic need to work. It asks for the applicant’s current annual income, current annual expenses, and total current value of assets. It also requires an essay explaining the applicant’s financial situation and economic need for employment authorization.

DACA and DAPA applicants are not the only people benefiting from these programs, supporters say.

“Currently, 3.7 million undocumented immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents,” the American Immigration Council says on immigrationpolicy.org. The group argues that when immigrants are given temporary and renewable work approval and are welcomed into communities, cities and states benefit from additional tax revenue.

Applicants who have been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor or pose a threat to national security are not considered for DACA or DAPA.

Email bilingual Community Engagement Editor Onelia Hawa at onelia @jacksonfreepress.com and follow her on Twitter @oneliahawa.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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ike any church on Father’s Day, the sanctuary of Christ the King Church in Jackson was packed this past June with community members, including 60 or so children running around.

After the Spanish mass ended, a father ­­approached Father Jeremy Tobin, a Catholic priest and activist in Jackson, and started talking about President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive actions on deferred-action programs for undocumented immigrants.

“He was so excited that one of his kids could finally qualify,” Tobin told the Jackson Free Press about the father at a news conference at Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance in June. “We were (both) hoping for a successful outcome.”

“The thought of these families being broken up is unconscionable,” Tobin added.

Obama’s effort to keep families together and expand working rights to immigrants stalled in late June when the U. S. Supreme Court voted 4-4 on his executive actions to help undocumented immigrants, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (called DAPA and LPRs) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

DAPA and DACA programs do not provide a pathway to citizenship, but rather offer a renewable three-year work permit to DAPA applicants and a two-year work permit to DACA applicants. That would mean that undocumented immigrants qualifying for the programs would be exempt from immediate deportation.

The court’s indecision has left families, workers, and entrepreneurs across the nation in limbo and fear of being torn apart and from the country they now call home.

‘Immigrant-Friendly President’

Bill Chandler, the executive director of Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance in Jackson, says electing a president who is sympathetic to immigrants is the next step for families left in limbo by the Supreme Court decision, as well as the immigrant community as a whole.

The strong implication is that immigrants need to ensure that Donald Trump, who regularly takes anti-immigrant positions, is not elected, even though Chandler did not directly say call the Republican nominee by name. He did express the need to elect an “immigrant-friendly president,” and that to him in this election means Hillary Clinton, who supports Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

“Immigrant groups around the country are working hard to see that it happens,” Chandler says of the November election.

“Immigrants that are U.S. citizens, whether by naturalization or if they were born (in the

9

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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THE DA FILES

Twists, Turns, Rats and Secret Tapes

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No ‘Framed’ Evidence, Yet

Now, Hood wants defense attorney Waide off Smith’s case because, according to the motion, his office has a tape recording

of Smith talking to a confidential informant that allegedly proves that the DA had discussed his desires to get Butler off on wirefraud and embezzlement charges.

“As part of its case-in-chief in this matter,” the AG’s motion states, “the State intends to offer evidence that Smith had one or more conversations with Attorney Jim Waide regarding Smith’s attempts to assist Christopher Butler in connection with the pending charges against Butler.”

Butler, 39, is in the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond with a $500,000 bond since the State arrested him early this year for allegedly committing Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has revealed that his office his using secret tapes provided by a confidential informant against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith (pictured).

fraudulent white-collar crimes through his sales manager position at Mega Mattress in west Jackson. He is classified as a habitual offender due to past drug possession and sales convictions, and was out on bond for 2012 drug arrests by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Smith’s office repeatedly delayed that case and tried to drop the charges last year, but Judge Weill wouldn’t allow it based on insufficient information in the motions.

Smith has argued for months that the AG does not have the right to prosecute Butler for the Mega Mattress charges without his blessing as DA, and has repeatedly promised that he and his staff re-investigated the drug case against Butler and has information that could clear him because MBN framed him back in 2012. That alleged evidence has not gone public to date, however.

This week, Hood arraigned Butler for having a “burner” pre-pay cellphone in jail.

Waide filed a motion in response to the attempt to remove him on Aug. 15, saying that Smith will respond at the scheduled Aug. 18 hearing before Special Judge James Bell. He also promised his own round of

evidence: “Further, defense counsel requests a telephone conference with the Court in order to discuss production of certain witnesses and documents at the hearing.”

Reached Monday, Waide told the Jackson Free Press that he could not address the specifics of Hood’s statements about him until he is back before a judge. But Waide said that he wasn’t surprised at the motion’s language.

“Yes, I was expecting it, but it’s based on something they filed under seal,” he said. “I’m going to ask for a hearing this coming Thursday.”

Many documents are filed under seal in the case, which The Clarion-Ledger is suing to get open for public inspection.

Imani Khayyam/File Photo

ho’s ratting out the district attorney? That’s just one of many questions swirling around Attorney General Jim Hood’s arrest and investigation of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.

Hood revealed in court filings Friday, Aug. 12, that his office is using both confidential informants and secret recordings of the Hinds County district attorney in its quest to investigate Smith. If the district attorney is found guilty of the violations, he would have to leave office for inappropriate interference with the prosecution of two local men, drug felon-turned-mattress salesman Christopher Butler and Darnell Turner, a long-time campaign worker for powerful local men, including Smith, Frank Melton and Frank Bluntson. If guilty, Smith would also be banned from future public office.

Five of the six counts against Smith, based on a joint FBI-attorney general investigation, were for trying to help Butler, who was out bond for 2012 drug sales and possession—charges that former defense attorney Smith has worked to get dropped, even though he is tasked with prosecuting the cases. The State arrested Butler again early this year for wire fraud and embezzlement while on the job at Mega Mattress in west Jackson.

Hood and the FBI’s more shadowy investigative techniques were revealed in an Aug. 12 motion to disqualify Smith’s defense counsel, James Waide III, of Tupelo. Waide signed on as Smith’s attorney after the DA was arrested at his office on June 22 for six counts of improperly trying to help two men under indictment for various crimes.

In the six counts, the AG’s office accused Smith of various illegal “ex parte communication” with Butler and Turner, including jail visits, helping their defense attorneys and consulting with families on a defense plan. The Mississippi Bar also filed a complaint against Smith in July for improper behavior toward Hinds County Circuit Judge Melvin Priester Sr. and Senior Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green, both of whom have recused from his case along with other Hinds judges.

Smith has routinely made it clear during court hearings that he is trying to free Butler, and is casting his investigation and arrest as a personal vendetta by the attorney general’s office and Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill, who refused to drop the drug case against Butler last year.

About That Informant

The AG’s motion reveals one way it is surreptitiously investigating Smith in its discussion about Waide. “For example, in one recorded conversation between Smith and a confidential informant,” the motion states, “Smith stated the following: ‘So we got Jim Waide ...’ and ‘he [Waide] came down here straight from New Orleans when I called him. ...’”

The motion states that Smith also told the informant, “Oh, we going to get him [Butler] free now between me and Waide and all that, and then Dennis is doing his thing on the other one.”

The last name is not in the motion, but “Dennis” may be the attorney representing Turner in his arrests for aggravated assault and domestic violence—Dennis Sweet. Attorney Sanford Knott is representing Butler, and has not returned calls for comment about this and related cases in the last week.

Smith also took a call from Waide, the motion alleged, and afterward told the confidential informant, “That was Jim Waide,” and then Smith later said that “he said we have injunctive and declaratory relief,” which

Hood’s office believes was Waide.

The motions do not clarify whether the recordings of Smith’s comments about Waide and Butler are from a pre-planned wire or were provided to the attorney general’s office after the fact.

Smith’s statements to the informant are problematic on a number of levels, the attorney general argues in the motion.

“As these excerpts plainly reflect, Smith sought to have Waide represent Butler in a pending case, although Butler already had counsel (Knott). Since the Christopher Butler case is a central matter in the State’s case against Smith, Waide will be a necessary witness in the State’s case against his client, Smith,” the motion states.

“While other witnesses might be called to testify about Smith’s involvement in the Butler case, the State will put in issue the question whether Smith sought to engage Waide to represent Butler and, in that respect, Waide’s testimony is necessary to this prosecution and renders Waide disqualified under Rule 3.7.”

On Thursday, Aug. 18, the parties are expected to gather before Special Circuit Judge James D. Bell at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing on Smith’s “Motion for Immediate Dismissal Based Upon Admission of Mississippi Attorney General.” Smith has also filed motions seeking copies and transcripts of all sealed documents, as well as the appointment of a special prosecutor to replace the attorney general in the case.

Hood’s office filed a motion asking for this week’s hearing to be delayed pending a sealed motion about the grand jury.

In the motion to disqualify Waide from representing Smith, the AG argues that the attorney’s removal from the case is the right thing to do for Smith.

“The Court has a duty, just as the State of Mississippi does, to assure that Smith receives a fair trial and to assure that his selected attorney is free from conflicts that might impact on his client’s trial,” the motion states.

“Since Waide will be a witness in this case, he cannot separate his role of advocate for Smith form his role as witness—regardless of whether his testimony is favorable of adverse to Smith. For that reason, Rule 3.7 mandates that Waide be disqualified from representing Smith in this case.”

Waide and Smith’s response should come Thursday unless the hearing is delayed.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

by Donna Ladd

Additional reporting by Tim Summers Jr. Read more about the investigation and indictments of DA Robert Smith and associates at jfp. ms/DAFiles. Email Donna Ladd at donna@ jacksonfreepress.com and Tim Summers Jr. 11 at tim@jacksonfreepress.com.

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12

DISH | special election

#MSLeg Special Election Aug. 23

Kennedy: ‘Caring, Capable, Committed’ to District 72

Four candidates are vying to replace wRep. Kimberly Campbell in the Mississippi Legislature. Vote 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. See jfp.ms/2016elections for interviews with all candidates and more election information.

by Arielle Dreher

I’m really at a point where I can be totally effective at the Capitol. I know this past legislative session was very chaotic for a lot

mediate needs or concerns or issues in our public schools.

I’ve also heard funding for roads and bridges. … We have to remind people that Jackson is the capital city; we have to take care of our capital, but I do have a plan to introduce and to give funds appropriated for the capital city.

Other immediate issues (are) women’s security, and that means a number of things.

That means equal pay for women; it also means providing better opportunity for women to better position themselves to take care of their families. Right now in Jackson, over 40 percent of the households are led by women, and so we definitely have to do our Imani Khayyam

Why are you running for the District 72 seat?

of people, but … it caught people’s attention and made them wake up and pay more attention to what happens at the state capitol and how it affects their everyday life. I’ve always been vocal about the issues and how they affect not just me but people who feel voiceless.

I knew that with attorney Kimberly Campbell resigning from this seat, that the next person to hold that seat needed to be someone who cared, needed to be someone who is capable and needed to be someone who is committed.

When I say “care,” I mean care for people. “Capable” means being effective; I’ve proven that through the number of organiza-

Theresa G. Kennedy works as a program manager at the Greater Jackson Arts Council and is running for the District 72 House of Representatives seat.

tions I’ve participated in and things I’ve done on my own as a community stakeholder.

Then “committed” to being that advocate for better public schools, committed to being a better advocate for women’s security, committed to being an advocate for criminal justice reform, committed to being an advocate for equal pay for women, committed to being an advocate for funding for roads and bridges.

Those are things that definitely speak to what I care about and then even just my experience in being out in the community has brought me to know those things (are) of concern to people out in the community.

What does District 72 needs the most?

Better public schools. And that speaks to a number of issues when I say better public schools. That means fully funding MAEP (the Mississippi Adequate Education Program), that means contracts for assistant teachers, that means making kindergarten mandatory, and so those are just some im-

part in making sure that women are better positioned to take advantage of opportunities so they can better provide for their families.

Also women’s security means when those federal dollars come down from D.C. for childcare assistance that the money is put into that program so that women can better take advantage of the program. Women’s security means women being able to make choices about their body as it affects our body … not legislators.

How would you go about working on those issues in the House?

I would craft legislation that (reflects the) concerns of constituents. All through that process, I’m advocating. I’m definitely utilizing those persons in the Hinds County delegation; I want to connect with them and we all be on the same accord on what we’re trying to see happen in Jackson that impacts Jackson and the metro Jackson area. And it’s going to definitely take a person who knows how to be effectively communicate. It’s going to take a person who doesn’t mind asking

questions.

Which committees do you want to be on in the Legislature?

If I had all the power, I would definitely appoint myself to Ways and Means and the Appropriations committees; I think any legislator would want to serve on those two committees. But bringing it back to home and the district, those committees that would definitely impact the district would be Tourism—coming up with creative ways to garner and generate more revenue for metro Jackson. Also Education, I would want to serve on that committee. Transportation, Corrections, Universities and Colleges and Agriculture would probably be last.

Beyond women’s issues, what other policy areas does the Legislature need to look at?

I do stand for the right to organize unions. … Workforce development and job creation: there’s a program going on right now, being funded through the Women’s Fund of Mississippi, that supports women who are wanting to go back to school to get more education or learn an advanced skill, and I would love to advocate for that.

I want to advocate or push for funding for the minority-contracting disparity study.

Funding for the study would provide some hard evidence to support what people have believed: that there are X number of businesses out there that could do business with the state versus the number of businesses that are doing biz with the state to give a hard look at what do we have available and what’s been happening. Or what has not been happening.

What separates you from other people running for this seat?

First and foremost … I’m caring, capable and committed. … I’ve been in the community working. It’s been more so just my service to humanity. There’s a quote I learned years ago that really speaks to all that I’ve been about, and that is, “Service is the rent that we pay while here on Earth.” Shirley Chisholm said that, who by the way was the first woman to ever run for president.

But that speaks to why we’re here. It’s not really all about self. It’s about making the world a better place, better than it was before us, so making it better for those that come behind us, and I want to do my part.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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heresa G. Kennedy can’t go far for long before coming home to Mississippi. She has never lived out of the state for more than a year, on purpose, she says.

“I want(ed) to be a part of the change that I want to see in my home state; I wanted to see people that look like me in office and help those persons who look like me or who thought like me, who shared some of the same values as me, run for office,” she told the Jackson Free Press.

Born in Pascagoula and raised in Moss Point, Kennedy had a vision for her life from a young age, the youngest of four (sort of, she has a twin brother) and the only girl: she wanted to open her own business one day.

After graduating from Moss Point High School, Kennedy attended Alcorn State University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in business administration and then getting her master’s in agricultural economics, finishing in 2006.

During her master’s studies, Kennedy interned at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., for two consecutive summers. After graduating, she went to work for eight months in South Carolina for First South Bank and then came back to Mississippi to work in Jackson.

She has been here ever since. Kennedy started an online retail business called Red August in 2010 and her own consulting firm, 5520, soon after. She helped organize Six in the City, a pop-up shop that organized and brought together female-owned businesses, including Red August, in Jackson.

She has since dissolved Red August, due to other increasing obligations.

In 2014, after working for Mayor Tony Yarber’s campaign, she joined his administration as a deputy director of marketing and now works as the program manager of the quality of life program for the Greater Jackson Arts Council. Her job entails an array of duties including, producing the We Are Jackson magazine and organizing Food Truck Fridays.

“I did realize that when I gave a parttime effort I got a part-time return,” Kennedy says of her experience with Red August.

“But when I gave a full-time effort, I got a full-time return.”

Kennedy, who just turned 37 and is a Democrat, lives in Ridgeland in a house she bought in her mid-20s when she moved to Jackson.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The District 72 special election is next Tuesday, Aug. 23. For more candidate interviews, visit jfp.ms/2016elections.

13

From a War Zone to Pink Skies

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hen I was younger, I saw the world as a perfect place. The world was like a playground to me. I thought that I didn’t have to worry about anything as I sat on the couch every day and watched cartoons like “Kim Possible” and “DragonBall Z.” I would wake up each morning and say that I live in this perfect world and then go eat some of my favorite cereal, Frosted Flakes.

I thought there was no such thing as pain, as I went outside to play with kids I called “friends,” having the greatest times of our childhood.

I had the mentality that everything was going to be perfect. My mother never told me about the real world when I was young. She thought I wasn’t ready for it because I was immature and lazy. I always went with this motto.

I believed in living my life to the fullest. I ignored my mother and did things I shouldn’t have done. I would come home late, spend my money on junk and toys, and mainly get in trouble in school.

When I turned 10, everything changed. I started to realize the friends I had back then aren’t who I thought who they were. I felt alone with no one to talk to. My mother wasn’t the nicest any more; she went hard on me. I remember my mother telling me, “One day you gone learn about the real world.” And I had to learn the hard way. I was losing friends and family.

I remember what my momma told me: “In the real world, nobody cares about you so you got to make it in this world. You will have people pushing you left and right except up.”

It felt so different, as if I lost sight of hope and everything that I liked about the world. I was seeing people crying as they saw their sons or husbands inside a casket. The Iraq War was a tragic time for the world as we watched the news and learned of the deaths of innocents.

I had more responsibilities then I ever had. I had to watch what I bought because life was getting tougher. I had chores like cleaning my room, kitchen, living room and the bathroom. I had to think more about school and my grades. Even school was getting harder. I was getting bullied everyday. I just told myself: “This isn’t what I imagined. Life was supposed to be perfect and happy, not heartbreaking with twist and turns.”

Imagine your mother being brutally honest about everything she told you about the world and the people who live in it. It was heartbreaking because I thought the world was sunshine and rainbows, but it was more like dark skies and lightning. Life wasn’t important to me anymore.

Now that I’m 16, I see the world as a war zone. You’re walking in a neighborhood looking around praying that you don’t die.

Now I think about death every day, just thinking about what happened if that was me. Now I wake up and say, “What kind of a world do we live in?” I used to wake up to sunshine, and now I see dark skies and rain in my eyes. I walk and see thugs and homeless people. And in their eyes, they just want to die and take the pain away.

I realize that you have to watch who you hang out with because your closest friend can be your worst enemy. The world is cold and ruthless, and you’re not safe anywhere! I remember what my momma told me, about people not caring, pushing me left and right, but not up. Right then, I knew one day I was going to be on my own. Because in this world the only people who can change us is us.

But one thing I’ve always liked about the world is its beauty. The skies are blue and pink. The palm trees, the landmarks, everything I notice about the world are beautiful but with an ugly truth.

My question to myself is, when I turn 50, will I look at the world the same? I hope it will change. One day it will.

Kenytta Brown is a junior at Lanier High School. He plans to work on his soccer career and get into journalism in the future, and hopefully attend the 14 University of Mississippi. He was a Youth Media Project student this summer.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

“What kind of a world do we live in?”

Face, Vote the Truth About Juvy Detention

W

ith so much knowledge at our disposal, we are running out of excuses not to fix juvenile justice in Hinds County.

The research closest to our “Preventing Violence” series comes through the series of reports from Los Angeles-based firm BOTEC Analysis Group. A state-city collaboration made the study possible. Jackson’s own Sen. John Horhn pushed the Mississippi Legislature to fund the study in 2014. The attorney general contracted for the crime study and then released it earlier this year to Mayor Tony Yarber’s Criminal Justice Reform Task Force.

In these detailed reports, BOTEC researchers outline the roles that education, poverty, culture and the spiraling cycle of early and continuous recidivism play in the workings of Jackson’s juvenilejustice system. Evidence-based findings create a clear sense of how to tackle the problems that face our community, lower crime, make residents safer and even save money and improve economic development by taking proven steps to prevent crime.

These solutions are more concrete and dependable than the old adage that “the family is at fault,” which is used frequently to explain away the perhaps more subtle ingredients that form the foundation for the next generation of criminals.

For change to come to Mississippi youth courts, juvenile chancellors and detention center administrators, it must begin with the philosophy of citizens. Admitting that juvenile detention does not address the core issues behind youth “delinquency” is the first step toward effective alternatives.

Of course, the natural question that follows is who will pay for those alternatives. We encourage the funding bodies, like county and state governments, to seriously consider alternatives to juvenile detention, if not for philosophical reasons than for the obvious: Alternatives to juvenile detention are cheaper no matter how you cut it. And as BOTEC teaches, sending kids to juvenile detention makes them more likely to commit violent crime later.

In Seattle, as Arielle Dreher reports in this issues, the cost to run a program that has diverted about 3,000 young people from the juvenile-justice system is the same as incarcerating eight children in a year. While Seattle’s counties have more funding, the model is replicable here; alternatives cost less everywhere. The futures that young people look forward to in this state are largely in the hands of those who sign the checks. It is also in the hands of those who vote for the people who sign the checks.

The state has been working toward alternatives to juvenile detention for some time and has even invested in studying its root causes. By this time next year, the state will better regulate juvenile-detention facilities, thanks to legislative action. Now is the perfect time for the state and the counties to work together to create actual alternatives—far beyond ankle bracelets—that keep kids out of the system.

We must target our votes to candidates who understand the poor economics and dangers of continuing our current approach to juvenile detention. Whether it’s in next Tuesday’s special election for District 72 or in November, vote for candidates who are ready to actually make communities safer.

CORRECTION: In last week’s issue, the headline and story, “DA Files: ‘Too Sweet’ Reverend, Old Faces Back in News,” had the incorrect nickname spelled as “Two Sweet.” We apologize for the error.

Kevin Fong

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Within Our Lifetime

EDITORIAL Assistant Editor Amber Helsel Reporters Arielle Dreher,Tim Summers Jr. Education Reporting Fellow Sierra Mannie JFP Daily Editor Dustin Cardon Music Editor Micah Smith Engagement Editor Onelia Hawa Events Listings Editor Latasha Willis Editorial Assistant Adria Walker Writers Bryan Flynn, Genevieve Legacy, Danie Matthews, LaTonya Miller, Greg Pigott, Julie Skipper Editorial Interns Morgan Gallon, Onelia Hawa, Tiffanie Heron, Christopher Peace, De’Aris Rhymes, Amber Taylor, Shelby Scott Harris, Kelsee Davis, Brooke Dutton Consulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY Art Director Kristin Brenemen Advertising Designer Zilpha Young Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam ADVERTISING SALES Advertising Director Kimberly Griffin Sales and Marketing Consultant Myron Cathey Sales Assistant Mary Osborne BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS Distribution Manager Richard Laswell Distribution Raymond Carmeans, Clint Dear, Michael McDonald, Ruby Parks Assistant to the CEO Inga-Lill Sjostrom Operations Consultant David Joseph ONLINE Web Editor Dustin Cardon Web Designer Montroe Headd

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I

recently spent three days in St. Louis with 10 brilliant people from the Within Our Lifetime Network strategizing on how to end racism. While we had planned this gathering months in advance, we could not have predicted the juxtaposition of recent events with the purpose of our meeting.

On the night we arrived, a Baton Rouge policeman killed Alton Sterling. The following night, an officer in Falcon Heights, Minn., killed Philando Castile. On our final night, a sniper in Dallas killed officers Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens and Michael Smith.

As we engaged in the head work of rapid-response protocols, intersectional-demonstration projects and root-cause analyses, our hearts felt heavy with or mission’s urgency.

“How can people not speak against a culture that doesn’t value life?� asked Ms. Lila Cabbil, director of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute. “Silence equals violence.�

Mama Lila’s words transported me back 25 years, to a similar mantra—�Silence equals death.� We used this mantra when we took to the streets to fight indifference and ignorance surrounding the AIDS epidemic.

As a newborn activist, I remember being consumed by anger and desperation.

With peers dying around me, I felt desperate. By my 30th birthday, I had lost more than 100 friends to the epidemic.

The events in Baton Rouge, Dallas and Falcon Heights have now mainstreamed the epidemic of racism and violence. Can any reasonable individual in the United States deny its existence? The question now posed before you is: What will you do to end racism within our lifetime?

If you don’t identify as a person of color, consider your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues of color. If you don’t identify as black or brown— and I’m specifically addressing my Asian and Pacific Islander friends—please wake up! Regardless of one’s background and social status, this epidemic touches everyone, and our lives are at risk.

Consider this. As a father of two young Latino men, I worry every day for their safety. Days after the Orlando shooting, while I was still freaked out, the police confronted my sons. At 10:30 on a Tuesday morning, they were in a local school parking lot, where Rafa was teaching Santi how to drive their 2005 Honda Civic stick shift. An elderly Asian man called 911, suspecting that they had stolen the car. Police arrived prepared for confrontation. While the situation resolved peacefully, my worst fears could have been realized. In just one ill-timed moment, both of my sons could have been taken from me.

The urgency and desperation I felt in 1990 returned. Only this time, it was ten-fold.

If you know Rafa and Santi, or young people like them, the time for silence and inactivity is over. If you don’t know where to start, I invite you to consider taking a threepronged approach.  Take action with your head. Seek multiple perspectives, especially from those with whom you disagree. If you find yourselves judging or questioning the motives of “those people� (whether they are Muslims, people of color, immigrants or white supremacists), turn to wonder and ask, “I wonder what caused those people to feel that way?� Empower yourself with a wealth of knowledge to deepen your understanding of their stories. If you need some resources, please contact me.

Take action with your heart. Seek friends and family with whom you feel safe. Be generous with your affirmations and check-ins.

And know that love heals. Van Jones said, “We need to get ourselves spiritually fit— meditate, seek counsel, get some help and healing to be the change we want to see in the world.� This will only happen if we lead with our hearts. Acknowledging feelings as well as thoughts will allow the experience to sink in. Like many, if you are afraid to face the grief, sadness, despair, anger and even hate, you can do so in the company of friends. Together, we can face our own shadows with hope and love.

Take action with your gut. Do something. Gather your friends and family for a meal and discussion on this question: “What can we do to end racism in our lifetime?� Put a #blacklivesmatter or #withinourlifetime sign in your window or car to make a stand to end racism. Donate time and money to a local or national cause for racial healing and racial justice. Hug a stranger, especially if he or she is black or a cop.

Grace Lee Boggs wrote, “These are the times to grow our souls. ... Each of us needs to be awakened to a personal and compassionate recognition of the inseparable interconnection between our minds, hearts, and bodies—and between ourselves and all other selves. We need to stop being a passive observer of the suffering and start identifying with the sufferers.�

Join me in this journey. Grow your soul. Open your heart. Claim the urgency of this moment. Only together, we can end racism within our lifetime.

Kevin Fong, who lives in San Francisco, is a nationally recognized and respected facilitator, trainer and speaker in leadership and executive development and organizational systems, philosophy and design.

“Silence equals violence.�

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

e’s out on the street.

He comes home sometimes. He has that little anklet, he doesn’t care.

It makes no difference to him. He’s afraid of nothing.”

The mother of a Jackson teenage boy told her story to BOTEC Analysis researchers in 2014 as part of a state-funded study on Jackson crime. The “anklet” is an electronic homing device placed on the teen so he wouldn’t have to go into the criminal-justice system.

“The judge told him he can go home, be on house arrest, or he’ll be picked up. But first (the judge) told him, you need to charge this thing (the ankle bracelet) up. You’re not charging it. You know what my son’s response was? He went off on that (expletive) judge.

He doesn’t care. He cares about nothing,” his mother continued.

Another Jackson mother expressed frustration at her son’s experiences with Jackson’s juvenile-justice system after he hit his teacher after she shoved him.

“And so they took him and brought him to the jail and put a simple assault charge on.

They gave him probation time. And he supposed to be in a program that supposed to come and pick him up every day,” she said.

“I haven’t seen them, yet ….”

Her son was supposed to be in an adolescent opportunity program, historically Mississippi’s most successful alternative to juvenile detention in the state. AOPs lost funding this summer, however, because the state’s programs were mainly using TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds that the federal government says cannot go to “juvenile justice” costs any longer.

BOTEC researchers interviewed Jack16 son youth in the juvenile-justice system in

2014, asking them about their experiences with AOPs or ankle bracelets. Most youth reported “generally negative” sentiments. “‘I’m here because I have to be, and because I don’t want to have to go be locked up for a longer time,’ was a typical answer to the question: ‘Do you think that AOP has been helpful to you, kept you out of trouble?’” the BOTEC report on youth says.

The report, released in January 2016,

ton state—and the Seattle area specifically—on the map for its unique and continuous efforts to look to alternative programs, using juvenile detention only as a last resort. One of those programs started with only art in mind.

Getting Creative Washington Hall sits just a few blocks away from the King County Juvenile Detention Center. The historic concert hall, built

Beyond Detention Exploring Smarter, Cheaper Alternatives to Locking Kids Up

by Arielle Dreher

recommends alternative programming that involve “restorative justice” models, which BOTEC says uses a communication-based approach to identify the root causes of misbehavior or Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, or PBIS, strategies are much more effective at preventing antisocial and criminal behavior in youth than involvement in the juvenile justice system as it currently exists in Jackson. Some states used this research quicker than others and began implementing alternative programming in the last five years.

Changes to state laws, appropriate funding in the right places, community input and collaboration have managed to put Washing-

in 1908, has seen the likes of Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix perform within its walls.

One night earlier this year, community members, family members and even probation counselors, attorneys and judges walked into the hall and began a role play they likely were not expecting.

A group of teens in the Creative Justice program, mainly youth facing charges in the juvenile court process or on probation, decided to have a role-play performance to culminate their time in the program. Some of the teens dressed as prison guards and reenacted being processed in the detention center. They snapped attendees’ mugshots and made them stand in

line. Later, teens poured out stories and truth in the form of poetry and musical performances.

Aaron Counts, one of the program’s directors, said it was a powerful evening. “(With) the in-person experience and show, they (the teens) really got into the idea of playing the guard,” he said.

Creative Justice is an art-based alternative to juvenile detention. It is a eight- or 12-week program, where teens involved with the King County juvenile-justice system meet twice or three times a week for a couple hours with their mentor, a local artist who is engaged with the community. The young people create art and discuss issues with the criminal-justice system, share stories, or discuss system change and how that can be reflected in art. The program was originally developed as a response to the disproportionate number of youth of color entering the juvenile-justice system.

“How can we address it (that problem) through arts?” Counts said. “And you know, arts is a great way to get at a lot of those issues but not just in terms of altering the experience for young people, but also, how can we use the arts to sort of nudge the system in a different direction too?”

Counts brings in lead artists, four per year, who mentor participants and address how racism, sexism and economic oppression play out in institutional systems. In that safe environment, young people create art to explore those issues and build their own peer group community with similar experiences.

At the end of the program, the group produces a culminating project, and depending on what type of artist the mentor is—from a musician to a poet to a visual artist— and what more ALTERNATIVES, see page 18

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ALTERNATIVES from page 16

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

More Than Fresh Paint

Pam Jones, the director of the county’s juvenile detention division, runs the detention facility in King County, Wash. The facility has converted an entire living unit of the detention center into a short-term housing facility and center for young people brought to the justice center due to complaints or charges relating to domestic family violence. In July, Jones walks down a few flights of steps to the underbelly of the detention center.

“We had to take a wall down,” Jones says walking into the new FIRS space, in order to put in a door. The walls of the new Family Intervention Restorative Services, which is called FIRS for short, are brightly painted inside and the mood is more cheery than throughout the rest of the center.

King County is the largest county in Washington state, with a racial makeup closer to Rankin County here but with a population of over 2 million people.

As the state’s largest county, the juveniledetention division naturally gets a lot of action and attention. The county can afford several alternatives to detention, diverting kids away from the building on Alder Street.

While some alternatives would be challenging for counties in other states to replicate, others don’t even require building anything new. Coordination among several city agencies 18 and departments as well as the willingness to

with rugs and lounge chairs. The back hallway has more rooms that haven’t been painted yet. The rooms still look like jail cells with metal latrines and bunk beds, but with bright bedspreads and pillows on the bunks—a sign the space is not supposed to feel like kid jail.

A young man sits in the middle of the room at a round table with a counselor who is wearing what looks like a white lab coat. They speak in low tones, and two young workers, from the nonprofit, in matching t-shirt uniforms, lead a short tour.

The counselor has finished speaking and leaves, and the boy he doesn’t look around before heading to the room he has chosen as his own. He just turns on his heel, his socks sliding across the floor, and seems to dive headfirst into his room. The door bounces to a close behind him, like the doors that protect pizzas and breakfast sandwiches in the frozen-food aisle, and then it’s silent.

Timothy Augero

the teens want to do, the final project could be anything from a mixtape to an interactive theater production to a book of poetry written entirely by the participants.

The program is not technically courtsanctioned, so probation officers or defense attorneys refer young participants, Counts said. He and his artists do a lot of outreach and recruiting. It is important that youth cannot be penalized for choosing not to participate or dropping out, Counts says, because they didn’t want to become another tool used to detain or punish youth in the community.

Creative Justice is funded through the public arts department of King County’s arts and cultural services wing, called 4Culture, and through National Endowment for the Arts grants but not through the juvenile court’s funding for alternative programs. Counts said they’ve been careful about taking money from the court on purpose.

“It becomes a different relationship when someone is telling you (that you) have to be somewhere, right?” he said. “So you’re not going to get your best creative work, you’re not going to be as open to a bigger discussion. Your attendance might be better, but apart from that, we really believe that the community has the best ideas about addressing its needs, and if we are just another branch of the same system, how can we be different?”

In its first year, 48 young people participated in the program, and as a result of participation, 33 charges were dropped for some of the youth.

convert an unnecessary wing of the detention center into a respite center for youth facing familial domestic violence charges is something that could be replicated elsewhere, Jones said. FIRS works due to the willingness of the prosecutor’s office to not charge the youth for assault as long as they sign a safety plan and contract instead.

Paul Daniels, a juvenile-court services manager in King County, says the goal is always to reunite the family in a safe way, and as long as the youth agrees to participate in FIRS, the youth’s charges go away.

The entrance to the FIRS wing of the detention center looks like a simple waiting room with two chairs, but once inside, you can tell they’ve worked hard, aesthetically at least, to ensure youth who enter this wing know they aren’t being locked up. Outside this wing, a metal detector is a little farther up the hallway providing a security checkpoint into

Creative Justice is an art-based alternative program in King County, which allows youth to express themselves creatively at the direction of an artist mentor.

Youth are not forced to participate in the program or penalized if they drop out.

other parts of the detention center.

Inside the FIRS wing bricks and doors are covered in a brightly painted landscape: trees, rivers and a brilliant sunset. The old cell doors are barely noticeable behind fresh paint.

FIRS is for youth who commit misdemeanors or even some felony assaults that are related to familial domestic violence, targeting what King County found recently as the most commonly reported new offense youth commit, Daniels said.

FIRS uses social workers from the county’s Step-Up staff, a national family-violence intervention program and initiative as well as juvenile-probation counselors and staff from their nonprofit partner, Pioneer Human Services, which provides the staff inside the FIRS wing. Jones said, ideally, FIRS wouldn’t have to be in the detention center, but she said it is also easier for law enforcement who are already used to bringing youth to this building in the first place. Daniels agreed, saying that with logistics and the tight budget that the program operates on, having it reside in the detention center for now helps save money.

The main space looks like a living room,

Beyond ‘Catch and Release’

Jackson lacks the programming options that King County offers, and one could argue that it is largely a funding problem. Beyond sitting in Henley-Young, young people in the juvenile-justice system in Jackson only have , or more accurately had, the option of AOPs. However, as Jones and other King County staff found, it is possible to use existing spaces—and staff—to keep kids out of cells and help them receive the care, and counseling they need.

King County is a Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative site, like five counties in Mississippi, which means they follow a specific philosophy and protocol to ensure that youth are adjudicated fairly even from the point of intake. As of 2012, King County had reduced their average daily population of detained youth by 63 percent, the 2014 JDAI annual report shows. Before using JDAI strategies, the county’s ADP was 188 kids, and by 2012, it was 70. One JDAI alternative strategy, replicated by several detention centers not just in Washington state but around the country, is electronic home monitoring: an ankle bracelet that tracks a youth’s location.

Jones said that offering that as the only option is not enough and that alternative programming and even programming for youth that have to be in the detention center longer term needs to add value to the kids’ lives or else they will feel disconnected.

“Don’t let alternatives just be ankle bracelets,” she said in July.

Daniels and Ryan Pinto, who is also a juvenile-court services manager in King County, both agree that money and staffing aren’t enough to sustain alternatives, however.

It takes more effort to keep programs evolving and to maintain the changed norms that alternative programs create.

“JDAI is great, but it’s important to build the infrastructure behind them,” Pinto said in July. “For example, if Pam left, where would they be?”

King County’s menu of detention alternatives has helped keep the number of juveniles in long-term detention fairly low.

“No system can rely on the existence of one person,” Daniels said. “It’s about changing the management and getting people to buy into those philosophies.”

This year, King County’s detention facility’s average daily population has been around 50 kids so far. On Aug. 15, there were 53 kids in secure detention, with 23 kids in alternatives.

These numbers do not include the thousands of youth served by the county’s diversion programs and other alternatives. Around 600 kids are on probation in the county.

For perspective, in 2011, before HenleyYoung was under a consent decree to dramatically change practices at the facility, there were 37 kids held at Henley-Young when the Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi filed their lawsuit. Hinds, however, only has a population of 245,000 compared to King County’s over 2 million.

All the King County administrators admit that there is still work to be done and freely admit that kids still sit too long. Outside Daniels’ and Pintos’ office, a sign reads, “Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.”

Jackson youth and parents involved with the juvenile-justice system describe their kids’ first and second offenses as “catch and release.”

When juveniles are brought to Henley-Young, for instance, it’s a familiar experience for lots of youth.

“I see my friends in there, you know, my cousins, whatever,” a young man told BOTEC researchers in 2014. “I go in for three days, a weekend, my first couple times … it was straight (fine).”

Youth here often sit in detention even after committing minor offenses because there are few other options—beyond ankle bracelets—for the youth court to choose.

From a policy perspective, Washington state is a few steps ahead of Mississippi. Since that state adopted the Juvenile Justice Act of 1977, it has implemented and adopted “diversion”—a program that allows the juvenile court to divert youth offending for the more ALTERNATIVES, see page 20

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ALTERNATIVES from page 18

up fast and skeptical of the criminal-justice system. “I was out here hustling, so I had no trust for the police, no trust for prosecutors or any judges—I hated those people,” he said.

So when Satterberg approached Wheeler, Davis and other community leaders about starting the program that would not only divert youth from the detention center and the formal diversion program but also be free and wipe their charges clean, Davis says he was “flabbergasted.”

Five years later, the 180 Program is still going strong. It’s a four-hour, seminar-style course, held on Saturdays once a month at the Seattle University Law School, which allows the program to meet there for free. Youth referred from the prosecutor’s office only have

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

courtesy Dominique Davis

they need, and in most cases, help them get back in school. Youth who went through the program recidivated at a statistically lower rate than a comparison group used in King first or second time to meet with a board of County’s budget office’s study of the program. community members, pay a fine, participate Davis attributes this success to the heavy comin counseling and perform community service munity involvement in the program. to keep their records clean. The law there

Pierce County, next door to King County, forced counties to start looking at alternatives with similar demographics and a population to detention several decades ago, but the opof 843,000, has worked hard over the past tion to participate in diversion still lies with few years to bring down its detention rates. the prosecuting attorney’s office.

The site uses the Annie E. Casey Founda The diversion program isn’t perfect, but tion’s JDAI model, too, and saw their ADP Jimmy Hung, the deputy prosecuting attorney drop by 77 percent after they implemented in the King County prosecuting attorney’s ofJDAI alternatives to detention. The county fice said the idea behind the diversion program has also found that much like King County, is acknowledging that while most kids growing while they were able to lower detention rates up will likely do something rapidly, youth of color were still that could be charged as a grossly overrepresented in their crime, only some will get justice systems. caught. Diversion is a way to

Pierce County is a 75hold kids that do get caught percent “white alone” county, for crimes accountable without census data show, with about them incurring a criminal his7 percent African American tory for their futures. Hung representation. In 2015, howsaid his office looks at several ever, 80 percent of the youth diversion options for a youth re-committed to the county’s before ever filing charges. juvenile-justice system were Af One of the downsides to rican American. King County diversion is that it costs money. has a similar problem. All good Youth used to have to pay $263 research shows that juvenile arto participate in the diversion rest and incarceration disproporprogram, but recently, that cost tionately affects black youth. has been dropped to around

In Jackson, young people $100, Hung said. Washington who have been through the justate’s youth-court proceedings venile-justice system as well as are much more advanced due those who work within the systo the 1977 legislation as well. tem all seemed to agree on one Youth court in Seattle is open thing in 2014—the juvenileto the public and convictions justice system as a whole isn’t are public record. Diversion working. That is especially true meetings, however, are confor its inability “to rehabilitate fidential the King County those young people who were website states, so that a young arrested, adjudicated, incarcerDominique Davis, or “Coach Dom,” runs the 180 Program to person can truly have no ated and reintroduced to school help wipe youth offenders clean of first and second offenses conviction or criminal record and community,” the BOTEC and keep them out of the juvenile-justice system. once he or she completes the study says. program. The cost of diversion

BOTEC warned that one can be difficult for families, Hung said, and to attend once to get charges—usually misde- of two primary indicators of a young person other programs, like the 180 Program, can meanors or low-level offenses—wiped clean. turning to violent crime is previous contact help combat the pricetag hurdle.

Both Hung and Davis insist that it is not a with police and the criminal-justice system; “scared straight”-style program; researchers say the other was dropping out or missing too Not ‘Scared Straight’ that threatening young people into avoiding much of school.

It all started at a high school football game crime is seldom effective.

“Well, if you assume the whole point of when King County’s head prosecuting attorney Speakers include people from the com- the police, the youth court, and Henley-Young in juvenile court, Dan Satterberg, met Doug munity, many of whom have experienced the is to ‘graduate’ youth to the ‘college’ of adult Wheeler and had an informal conversation criminal justice system: some who have been prison … you know, it’s working perfectly,” about how to keep youth of color out of the in jail or prison, some addicts who got clean one Jacksonian told BOTEC researchers. juvenile justice system, especially when they and other community stakeholders. They give were entering with low level misdemeanors.

10-minute testimonials as a part of the seminar, Eliminating Racial Bias

Wheeler sat down with community lead- followed by breakout groups and small group Kevin Williams, who has been in Pierce ers, including the current program director sessions.

County juvenile-court work for well over 10 Dominique Davis, and came up with the 180 What sets the program apart is two-fold: years and is the probation manager there, Program, which now helps diverts hundreds of parents can come with their kids; and all of saw his county transition from using punitive youth from the system each year. The program Davis’ staff are trained in restorative justice, measures in juvenile justice—which meant a started in 2011 as a partnership between the trauma-based care and motivational interview- dorm-style jail used to house kids mainly with King County prosecuting attorney’s office and ing in order to lead the discussions. Those probation violations in the early 2000s that Rainier Valley 98118 Leaders Roundtable. mentors are called community ambassadors. the county decided to close.

Davis, a local middle school track coach Davis says the real work starts after the “In 2004,I remember it clearly because and trainer, who goes by Coach Dom, leads four-hour seminar, in what he calls Beyond I was a juvenile probation counselor at the the program today. He grew up on the streets 180, when community ambassadors follow up time,” Williams said.

20 of Seattle, leaving home at age 13. He grew with youth, making sure they get the services “We showed up to work on Monday,

and the building was closed.”

Pierce County now is working to continue to reduce the number of commitments of youth to its detention center, as well as lowering the racial disparities that continue.

Williams said he and his team are working to increase the participation of African American youth in the county’s various alternative programs, like the evening reporting center.

“It’s an issue we’re consistently wrestling with,” Williams said in July.

“If you look at any data in the system on the offender side or the civil stuff, African American kids are way more likely to be a part of our system and go deeper into it compared to their counterparts.”

King County admits to similar racial bias in its system as well, and court administrators and attorneys said it is an issue they are constantly talking about and working on.

Beyond equity issues, alternative programming across the board is much cheaper than detention, and that is a fact all stakeholders can agree on without dispute.

When asked if alternatives in Pierce County, including the evening reporting center which is a partnership with the local YMCA (similar to the AOP program in Mississippi) are cheaper than holding kids in detention, Williams didn’t hesitate. “No doubt, no doubt,” he said confidently.

In King County, the 180 Program gets its operational funding from the King County prosecutor’s office (while the community leaders’ roundtable applies for additional grant funds for work done after the seminar).

The program costs $150,000 per year, which might seem like a lot but is pocket change compared to the costs of kids being detained in the facility on Alder Street. Hung said the cost of housing one kid in secure detention for a year in Washington is around $100,000. So for the cost of housing eight kids in detention for one year, the 180 Program has diverted almost 3,000 kids away from the juvenile justice system entirely.

Hung says the prosecuting attorney’s willingness to participate in the program is crucial and key for similar programs to work in other counties or start at all. Two studies of the 180 Program have shown that it is more effective for youth of color, namely black youth. While cooperation from administrators, judges and prosecuting attorneys is crucial, Davis and Counts both agree that community is at the heart of reducing juvenile incarceration.

“Community has to heal community— not no government entity, not no guy, with a PhD or some kind of degree ... not no outside organization that somebody contracts and brings into the ’hood to come in and deal with our kids,” Davis said. “It has to be people from the community that look like the people in the community, that live around the people in the community, that work around them and go to church around them and know that community and have experienced some of the same things that they’re experiencing.”

For more stories about juvenile justice in Mississippi, visit jfp.ms/preventingviolence. This ongoing project is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network.

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LIFE&STYLE | food&drink

A Family Affair

by Brooke Dutton and Da’Niecia Washington

I

n the small dining area of Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill, a pedestal fan in the corner blows cool air into the room.

Laughter rings out from behind the

their own restaurant. In 2014, they opened Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill, which was given its name in honor of their children.

“The catering got so busy,” Cayson Imani Khayyam

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill serves dishes such as burgers and wings.

22

kitchen door of the restaurant.

Raymond Kennedy and Natasha Cayson, two Jackson natives, are the co-owners of Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill.

The two started dating after they met in 2009 at a club with friends, but they didn’t get involved in the restaurant business right away. Cayson, who already had one son, Brandon, from a previous relationship, did not know much about cooking when she and Kennedy began dating.

Soon after the two began their relationship, Kennedy decided he needed to teach her everything his mom, Christine Kennedy-Brown, and his grandmother, Lois Gene Frazier-Kennedy, had taught him about cooking.

Since then, Kennedy, who they consider to be Brandon’s stepfather, and Cayson have had kids of their own, and they enjoy cooking for their family together.

Kennedy and Cayson’s career in the food industry started when Kennedy began cooking for big family events, which eventually led to other catering opportunities. It didn’t take long for his food became popular in the Jackson area, and the amount of catering requests continued to grow.

When the owner of The Green Room offered to let the couple use the bar’s kitchen to enhance their catering business, Kennedy and Cayson immediately accepted his offer. Because of the improved workspace, they were able to increase their workload and take their catering business to the next level.

Kennedy and Cayson decided to expand the business once again by opening

says. When asked about the process of opening Ray’s and creating the menu, she says: “It was all trial and error, and we took it one step at a time. It was just trying stuff and seeing what was the most popular. People said what they liked the most.”

Kennedy and Cayson say they opened the restaurant so they could leave a legacy for their kids and hopefully give them a sense of pride in their family and community.

Over the last four years, Ray’s has become popular among locals for their food and low cost.

“We want our customers to feel welcomed with great customer service and to know they’re going to be served great food,” Cayson says.

After going through the process of starting the catering business and opening a restaurant, Kennedy says that the key to opening a successful restaurant for any new business owner is “remaining patient, handling negative commentary as areas that need improvement and staying consistent.”

Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill has menu items such as shrimp, ribeye steaks and Kennedy’s personal favorite, the chicken Philly with bacon and jalapeños.

Kennedy also says he will make anything the customer desires if he has the right ingredients on hand.

Ray’s Smokehouse and Grill (369 W. Northside Drive, Suite A) is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. For more information, call 769-233-7110.

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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FRIDAY 8/19

FRIDAY 8/20

TUESDAY 8/23

Kairos of Mississippi Benefit Golf Tourney is at the Lake Caroline Golf Course in Madison

Super Mario Blockers Roller Derby is at Mississippi Trade Mart.

The Jackson Audubon Society Quarterly Chapter Meeting is at Eudora Welty Library.

BEST BETS Jan. 20 - 27, 2016

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WEDNESDAY 8/17

History Is Lunch: J. Lee Annis Jr. is at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). The author discusses his book, “Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi.” Sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998. … Author Troy M. Carnes signs copies of “Dudgeons and Daggers” at 5 p.m. at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). $19.99 book; call 601-366-7619; lemuriabooks.com.

Lanita Smith, winner of the 2015 Guitar Center SingerSongriter Discovery Program, performs for the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival, Aug. 19-20 at the Jackson Convention Complex.

THURSDAY 8/18

Candlewick Press

Museum After Hours: Back to School is at 5:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Includes a pop-up exhibition of artwork in chalk on blackboards, dining, games, music from Hartle Road and Calvin Johnson, a performance from Mississippi Improv Alliance and more.

For all ages. Free with cash bar and food for sale; call 601960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

and the Time, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Bobby Rush, Lanita Smith and more. Additional date: Aug. 20, 6-11 p.m. Admission: $40 for Aug. 19, $55 for Aug. 20; call 800-745-3000; jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.

MONDAY 8/22

SATURDAY 8/20

The Mississippi Book Festival begins at 9 a.m. at the Mississippi State Capitol (400 High St.). The event includes exhibitors, authors, story-telling for children, food trucks and more. Free; call 769-717-2648; msbookfestival.com. …

The Teen & Parent Summit is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the King Edward Hotel (235 W. Capitol St.). The keynote

by Micah Smith speaker is minister and musician Marquis Powell. Registration required. Free; call 601-896-2509; jacksonfreepress.com email evajustice5@hotmail.com; Fax: 601-510-9019 bbgdf.org. … The 2016 Dog Daily updates at Days of Summer is from 10 a.m. jfpevents.com to 3 p.m. at Pelahatchie Shore Park (North Shore Parkway and Pelahatchie Shore Drive, Brandon). Community Animal Rescue & Adoption (CARA) is the host. Includes a pet parade, a silent auction, music, children’s activities, food, educational seminars, dog agility demonstrations and more. Free admission with a donation of a bag of dog food, $5 carnival; call 601-613-5223; carams.org.

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

events@

Newberry Medal-winning author Kate DiCamillo is a featured guest at this year’s Mississippi Book Festival, which takes place Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Mississippi State Capitol.

FRIDAY 8/19

The Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival is from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). This year’s headliners include T-Pain on Aug. 19 and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds Aug. 20.

24 The lineup also includes Lalah Hathaway, Morris Day

SUNDAY 8/21

The event includes $1 oysters, music, free birthday cake and an oyster-eating contest at 5 p.m. Food for sale; call 601-982-2899; saltinerestaurant.com.

Saltine’s Two-Year Anniversary is from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Saltine Oyster Bar (622 Duling Ave., Suite 201).

“The Reunion” Dinner Theater is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Char (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). The Detectives present the four-act comedy “whodunnit.” Includes a three-course dinner. For ages 18 and up. Reservations required. $49; call 601-291-7444; thedetectives.biz.

TUESDAY 8/23

Music in the City is at 5:15 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). In Trustmark Grand Hall.

Enjoy a cash bar at 5:15 p.m., and music from Jason Mathena, Tracy Carter and John Paul at 5:45 p.m. Free, donations welcome; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org. … “The Importance of Being Earnest” Dinner Theater is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Biaggi’s (970 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland).

Mississippi Murder Mysteries presents Oscar Wilde’s comedic play in partnership with Wanderers Playing Company.

Reservations required. $48; fringedinnertheatre.com.

WEDNESDAY 8/24

The Social Suite is at 6 p.m. at ISH Grill and Bar (5105 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road). On second and fourth Wednesdays. Enjoy drinks, an appetizer menu, cigars and networking. Business groups and entrepreneurs are encouraged to participate. No cover until 9 p.m., then $5; call 769257-2723; email event11eleven@gmail.com.

JFP-SPONSORED

KIDS

SPORTS & WELLNESS

CONCERTS & FESTIVALS

Mississippi Book Festival Aug. 20, 9 a.m., at Mississippi State Capitol (400 High St.). The literary event includes exhibitors, guest authors, storytelling for children, food trucks and more. Free; call 769-717-2648; msbookfestival.com.

Look and Learn with Hoot Aug. 19, 10:30 a.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.).

Kids ages 5 and under and their parents enjoy a hands-on art activity and story time. Dress for mess. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

2016 Dog Days of Summer Aug. 20, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at Pelahatchie Shore Park (North Shore Parkway and Pelahatchie Shore Drive, Brandon).

Community Animal Rescue & Adoption (CARA) is the host. Includes a pet parade, a silent auction, music, children’s activities, food, educational seminars, dog agility demonstrations and more. Free admission with a donation of a bag of dog food, $5 carnival; call 601-613-5223; carams.org.

Black Rose Youth Theatre Ensemble Fall Orientation Aug. 20, at Black Rose Theatre (103 Black St., Brandon). BRYTE students meet throughout the year to learn the basics of theatre. $100 per semester; call 601-825-1293; blackrosetheatre.org.

Kairos of Mississippi Benefit Golf Tourney Aug. 19, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Lake Caroline Golf Course (118 Caroline Club Circle, Madison).

Includes refreshments, prizes and lunch after the tournament. Proceeds go toward Kairos’ prison ministry. Registration required. $100 per person or $380 per team; call 601-896-6543; kairosmississippi.org.

Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival Aug. 19-20, 6-11 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). This year’s headliners include T-Pain on Aug. 19 and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds Aug. 20. The lineup also includes Lalah Hathaway, Morris Day and the Time, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Bobby Rush and more.

Doors open at 5 p.m. $40 for Aug. 19, $55 for Aug. 20; jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.

History Is Lunch: J. Lee Annis Jr. Aug. 17, noon, at William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). The author discusses his book, “Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi.” Sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998.

Jackson Professional Group Membership Open House Aug. 18, 5:30-8 p.m., at Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Learn more about the organization with the goal of bringing together young minority professionals in the metro area. Free admission, $25 to join; call 960-1500; email jacksonprofessionalgroup@gmail.com.

Giving Hope a Home Aug. 18, 6-8 p.m., at 2615 N. State St. The American Cancer Society is the host. Enjoy a night filled with food trucks, music and more. Includes lighting luminaries to celebrate the future site of the Gertrude C. Ford Hope Lodge for cancer patients. Free, donations welcome; main.acsevents.org/givinghopeahomems.

Events at King Edward Hotel (235 W. Capitol St.) • SHERO Banquet Aug. 20, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. The theme is “It’s a Family Affair.” The keynote speaker is author Juanita Washington Britton. $25; call 601-896-2509; bbgdf.org.

• Teen & Parent Summit Aug. 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Butterflies by Grace Defined by Faith is the host.

The keynote speaker is minister and musician Marquis Powell. Registration required. Free; call 601-896-2509; bbgdf.org.

Energizer Saturdays Aug. 20, 9 p.m., at Mediterranean Fish and Grill (The Med) (Northpark Mall, 1200 E. County Line Road, Ridgeland).

Includes drink specials until 10 p.m., giveaways, and music from Jameka Franklin, Meika Shante’ and the Soundcheck Band. For ages 21 and up. $10 cover; call 769-486-2175 (texts preferred); email energizerent@gmail.com.

WIN (Women’s Information Network) Monthly Meeting Aug. 23, noon, at River Hills Club (3600 Ridgewood Road). The meeting for professional women is on fourth Tuesdays. Includes lunch and a speaker. RSVP. $19; call 987-4450; email dgreen@greaterjacksonpartnership.com.

Jackson Audubon Society Quarterly Chapter Meeting Aug. 23, 6:30 p.m., at Eudora Welty Library (300 N. State St.). Dr. Dave King of the Corps of Engineers Environmental Lab gives an introduction to identifying shorebirds and their migration. Visitors and new members welcome.

Free; call 832-6788; jacksonaudubonsociety.org.

Getting Government Grants Aug. 24, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., at Mississippi Center for Nonprofits (201 W. Capitol St., Suite 700). Learn the process for developing proposals for government support.

Registration required. $199, $139 members; call 601-968-0061; msnonprofits.org.

SLATE

the best in sports over the next seven days

by Bryan Flynn If this is indeed the final Olympics for Michael Phelps, his performance in Rio has left little doubt that he is the best swimmer of all time. The argument could be made that Phelps is the best Olympian of all time.

Thursday, Aug. 18 Olympics (7-11 p.m., NBC): Tune into the Rio Olympics primetime viewing to watch the men’s 200-meter, shot put and 1,500-meter, along with men’s beach volleyball, women’s diving and the women’s 400-meter hurdle.

Friday, Aug. 19 NFL (7-10 p.m., NFLN): Dak Prescott gets his second chance to impress the Dallas Cowboys and their fans as the team hosts the Miami Dolphins and former UM tackle Laremy Tunsil.

Saturday, Aug. 20 NFL (7-10 p.m., FOX): The New Orleans Saints hit the road looking for their first preseason win against the Houston Texans.

Sunday, Aug. 21 Olympics (6-9:30 p.m., NBC): Relive the highlights from all the unforgettable action from the Rio Olympics and stay to watch the closing ceremony, as Tokyo begins to ready for 2020.

FOOD & DRINK ‘sipp Sourced with Chef Nick Wallace Aug. 18, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Aug. 18, 5:30 p.m., Aug. 19-20, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Food prices vary; call 601-9601515; msmuseumart.org.

Food Truck Friday at The Mustard Seed Aug. 19, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at The Mustard Seed (1085 Luckney Road, Brandon). Purchase food from 2 for 7 Kitchen, Capitol Coney Island and more. Food for sale; call 601-992-3556.

Taste of West Jackson Aug. 20, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at Claiborne Park (785 Claiborne Ave.). The crowd and a panel of judges choose their favorite entries from restaurants such as Stamp’s Superburger, Country Fisherman, Johnny T’s, Taqueria la Reata and more. Includes music and children’s activities.

Call 354-9903; find the event on Facebook.

Monday, Aug. 22 College football (6-7 p.m., ESPNU): It doesn’t matter which of the 14 teams you root for—ESPN is breaking down the 2016 season with the SEC College Football Preview.

Tuesday, Aug. 23 Baseball (6:30-8:30 p.m., ESPN): An August tradition continues in the Little League World Series, as one team’s dream ends in this elimination game.

Wednesday, Aug. 24 College football (7-8 p.m., ESPNU): Get ready for the college-football season with the 2016 College Football Preview, covering everything from opening weekend to the potential playoff teams.

In two years, Phelps might decide that he wants to add to his 28 overall medals and 23 gold medals. He will be 35 by the time the Tokyo Olympics start, but anything is possible if he trains hard.

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

Super Mario Blockers Roller Derby Aug. 20, 7 p.m., at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). Includes a roller-derby match, half-time games, raffle prizes, concessions and more. Admission TBA; find the event on Facebook.

Mississippi Community Symphonic Band Concert Aug. 20, 3 p.m., at Christ United Methodist Church (6000 Old Canton Road). Free; call 769218-0828 or 601-594-0055; mcsb.us.

LITERARY & SIGNINGS “Dudgeons and Daggers” Aug. 17, 5 p.m., at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). Troy M. Carnes signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $19.99 book; call 601-366-7619; lemuriabooks.com.

Meredith Etc. Literary Event Aug. 19, 9 a.m.-10 a.m., at Highland View Apartments Community Center (1521 W. Highland Drive). Authors Mary Haralson Coleman and Starkishia read excerpts of their book “Mary’s Story & Song” and sign copies.

Free admission, books for sale ($10.98-$20.98); call 601-353-0469; meredithetc.com.

Jackson Friends of the Library 2016 Book Sale Aug. 20, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Aug. 21, 1-4 p.m., at Eudora Welty Library (300 N. State St.). The book sale coincides with the Mississippi Book Festival. The Teacher Happy Hour is from 9-10 a.m.

Free admission, book price range of $1-$5; email jacksonfriendsofthelibrary@gmail.com.

Thacker Mountain Radio Hour at the Mississippi Book Festival Aug. 20, 7 p.m., at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). Jim Dees and the Yalobushwackers host the event which includes an interview with featured author Julia Reed and music from Jesse Robinson and Sweet Crude. $10 admission, free with book festival badge; find the event on Facebook.

CREATIVE CLASSES Events at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.) • Creative Healing Studio Aug. 17, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Licensed art therapist Susan Ainlay Anand is the facilitator. The bi-monthly art therapy program is for cancer patients and survivors. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

• Art in Mind Aug. 24, 10:30 a.m.-noon. The art exploration program is for people with Alzhiemer’s disease. Registration required. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

EXHIBIT OPENINGS

“The Reunion” Dinner Theater Aug. 22, 7-9 p.m., at Char (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). Includes a three-course dinner. For ages 18 and up. Reservations required. $49; call 601-2917444; thedetectives.biz.

Museum After Hours: Back to School Aug. 18, 5:30 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Includes a pop-up exhibition of artwork in chalk on blackboards, dining, games, music from Hartle Road and Calvin Johnson, a performance from Mississippi Improv Allianc, a ‘sipp-Sourced pop-up menu from Chef Nick Wallace and more. For all ages.

Free with cash bar and food for sale; call 9601515; msmuseumart.org.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” Dinner Theater Aug. 23, 7-9 p.m., at Biaggi’s (970 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). Mississippi Murder Mysteries presents the play in partnership with Wanderers Playing Company. Reservations required. $48; fringedinnertheatre.com.

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.

STAGE & SCREEN

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

COMMUNITY

Mississippi Boychoir Auditions Mondays-Fridays through Aug. 31, at Jackson and Vicksburg. Boys in elementary, middle and high school may audition. Appointment required. Free; call 601-6657374; email mississippiboychoir@comcast.net.

Moman & Harris 5K Run/Walk and Health Fair Aug. 20, 7 a.m., at New Hope Baptist Church (5202 Watkins Drive). This year’s race is a Grand Prix qualifier. Includes a run/walk, one-mile fun run and a Tot Trot for ages 2-5. The health fair is from 8:30-11 a.m. Fees vary for race, free health fair; call 601-366-7002; newhope-baptist.org.

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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DIVERSIONS | music

MUSIC | live

Jackson R&B Fest: Bringing It to You

Aug. 17 - Wednesday

W

hile working as a music program development manager for the Mississippi Development Authority, helping to create the Mississippi Blues Trail, Jackson native Alex Thomas noticed an unfortunate trend in his home state’s music tourism.

Most international travelers and blues fans would fly into Memphis, taking several days there to visit Graceland and other attractions before visiting Clarksdale or Indianola for a short time, he says. Then, they would leave Mississippi entirely, either heading back toward Memphis or making the drive to New Orleans.

“Jackson was being bypassed,” he says.

“With all the musical heritage we have in Jackson as it relates to Farish Street, Malaco Records, Ace Records and Trumpet Records, it just makes sense for people to be able to come to the capital city and learn about the rich history here, as well.”

In fall 2012, he left his job to launch his artist management and event company, Blue South Entertainment, but it wasn’t long before the MDA approached him again to create a festival that would draw music fans into Jackson, where they could learn about the city’s heritage while also discovering the music that artists are making here now. In 2013, Thomas became the festival coordinator for the first Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival.

While the festival still features plenty of blues acts, Thomas says they also made the decision to bring in more R&B, pop and hip-hop after the first year to reach a wider audience. The fourth year of the festival takes place Aug. 19-20 and moves from the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum to the Jackson Convention Complex, where there will be five stages for music.

The City with Soul Stage features headliners such as Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, T-Pain, Tamia and Morris Day & the Time;

the Farish Street Stage features well-known acts, including Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Lalah Hathaway and BJ the Chicago Kid; the Highway 49 Blues Stage features artists such as Bobby Rush and Latimore; the Capitol Street Stage features acts such as Lanita Smith, Tawanna Shaunte and Kerry Thomas; and the State Street Soul Lounge showcases local artists such as Love Notez, Tiger Rogers and Adib Sabir.

Thomas says Jackson musicians make up about 50 percent of the lineup each year and have been vital to the success of the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival.

“A lot of times what happens is that you have a big event and focus on the major talent that comes in, but if you don’t help bring up your own local talent, they get stuck, or they fall by the wayside,” he says. “I think this gives them an opportunity to add to their resume … and perform alongside some A-listers. That goes a long way when they’re trying to promote themselves at other festivals outside of Jackson.”

Thomas says one of the best parts of the festival has been delivering some of the largest names to come through the capital in recent years, including Buddy Guy, Dr. John and the Nite Trippers, Ziggy Marley, the Isley Brothers and Chaka Khan. For him, it’s also about giving Jacksonians the opportunity to see the iconic artists of previous generations.

“Every day is not promised,” he says.

“We lost a legend this year with Prince. These artists are not around forever. People in Mississippi who don’t generally get a chance to travel to other places to see concerts and shows—we’re bringing it to them.”

The Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival is from 5 to 11 p.m., Friday, Aug. 19-20, at the Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). Admission is $40 on Friday, Aug. 19, and $55 on Saturday, Aug. 20. Visit jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.

Aug. 18 - Thursday Canton Square - Larry Brewer 6-9 p.m.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Doc 36 Skatepark - Yung Jewelz, Alexander FRESCO, Deelo Rap$, Casper Marlo & Cord Short 9 p.m. $10 Fenian’s - Dead Irish Blues Fitzgerald’s - Sonny Brooks, Rick Moreira & Chris Link 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Brian Jones Georgia Blue, Madison - Aaron Coker Hal & Mal’s - Brotherly Love free Iron Horse Grill - Ben Peyton 6 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Sid Thompson & DoubleShotz 6:30 p.m. free MS Museum of Art - Museum After Hours feat. Hartle Road & Calvin Johnson 5:30 p.m. free, all ages Pelican Cove - Steele Heart 6:30 p.m.

Shucker’s - Road Hogs 7:30 p.m. free Sylvia’s - Thursday Night Live feat.

The Blues Man & Sunshine McGhee 9 p.m. free Table 100 - Charles Scott 5 p.m.; Andy Henderson 6-9 p.m.

Aug. 19 - Friday Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar, Vicksburg - Smackwater 8 p.m. free Big Sleepy’s - Stonewalls, Alex Fraser & the Vagrant Family Band & Codetta South 8 p.m. $5 all ages Burgers & Blues - 3 Hour Tour 6 p.m.

Char - Ronnie Brown 6 p.m.

F. Jones Corner - Fred T & the Band midnight $10 Fenian’s - Blind Dog Otis Fitzgerald’s - Hunter Gibson & Ronnie McGee (Dueling Pianos) 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Shaun Patterson Georgia Blue, Madison - Skip & Mike The Hideaway - Pop Fiction 9 p.m. $10 Iron Horse Grill - Southern Komfort Brass Band 9 p.m.

Aug. 20 - Saturday Ameristar Bottleneck, Vicksburg Eddie Cotton 8 p.m. $10 Burgers & Blues - Brian Smith & Shaun Patterson 6 p.m.

Crawfish Barn, Pearl - Don Evans & Marty Smith 6-9 p.m.

F. Jones Corner - Press Play 601 midnight $10 Fenian’s - Joe Carroll Georgia Blue, Flowood - Brandon Greer

Table 100 - Tommie Vaughn 6-9:30 p.m.

WonderLust - Drag Performance & Dance Party feat. DJ Taboo 8 p.m.-3 a.m. free before 10 p.m.

Aug. 21 - Sunday Char - Big Easy Three 11 a.m.; Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fenian’s - Jason Bailey The Hideaway - Mike & Marty’s Jam Session Kathryn’s - Faze 4 6 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Road Hogs noon; Acoustic Crossroads 5 p.m.

Shucker’s - The Axe-identals (deck) 3:30 p.m. free Table 100 - Dan Michael Colbert 6-9 p.m.

Wellington’s - Andy Hardwick 11 a.m.

Aug. 22 - Monday Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

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

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

Kathryn’s - Stevie Cain 6:30 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Richard Lee Davis 6:30 p.m.

Table 100 - Andrew Pates 6-9 p.m.

Aug. 23 - Tuesday

Stevie Cain Georgia Blue, Madison - Jim Tomlinson Hal & Mal’s - Joshua Steven Ward Duo free; Thacker Mountain Radio Hour feat. Jesse Robinson & Sweet Crude 7:30 p.m. $10 The Hideaway - Carter Road 9 p.m. $10 Iron Horse Grill - Dee Pro Band 9 p.m.

Jackson Convention Complex Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival feat. Babyface, Bone Thugs-NHarmony, Lanita Smith & more 6-11 p.m. $55 Kathryn’s - Fade2Blue 7 p.m. free M Bar - Saturday Night Live feat. DJ Shanomak free Martin’s - The Congress 10 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Andy Tanas 2 p.m.; May Day 7 p.m.

Pop’s Saloon - Dr. Zarr’s Amazing Funk Monster Shucker’s - Andrew Pates 3:30 p.m. free; Southsoul 8 p.m. $5; Todd Smith 10 p.m. free

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

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

Kathryn’s - Steele Heart 6:30 p.m. free Margarita’s - John Mora 6 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Grosshart & Gaines 6:30 p.m.

Table 100 - Chalmers Davis 6-9 p.m.

Aug. 17 - Wednesday Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgerald’s - Sonny Brooks, Rick Moreira & Chris Link 7:30 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s - New Bourbon Street Jazz Band free Kathryn’s - Dylan Moss Band 6:30 p.m. free Kemistry - Open Mic Night 9 p.m.

601-665-2073 Pelican Cove - Ron Etheridge 6:30 p.m.

Shucker’s - Lovin Ledbetter 7:30 p.m. free Table 100 - Raphael Semmes Jazz Trio 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Charles Scott 5-9 p.m.

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

8/17 - Def Leppard & REO Speedwagon - Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, Birmingham 8/18 - Boosie Badazz - The Lyric, Oxford 8/19 - Mannie Fresh - Republic New Orleans 8/19 - Billy Currington - IP Casino, Resort & Spa, Biloxi 8/20 - Boyfriend - Tipitina’s, New Orleans 8/21 - Jill Scott - Baton Rouge River Center

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

Courtesy Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival/ Tate K. Nations

(Left to right) Ernie Isley, Festival Coordinator Alex Thomas and Ronald Isley pose at the 2015 Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival, which takes place Aug. 19-20 at the Jackson Convention Complex this year.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgerald’s - Johnny Crocker 7:30 p.m.

Kathryn’s - Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 6:30 p.m. free Kemistry - Open Mic Night 9 p.m.

601-665-2073 Offbeat - Count Bass D, Ray Kincaid & DJ Sandpaper 7 p.m. $5 Pelican Cove - Barry Leach 6:30 p.m.

Shucker’s - Silverado 7:30 p.m. free Table 100 - Charles Scott 5-9 p.m.

Jackson Convention Complex Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival feat. T-Pain, Lalah Hathaway, Goapele & more 6-11 p.m. $40 Kathryn’s - Amanda Jones & the Pieces 7 p.m. free M Bar - Flirt Fridays feat. DJ T. Lewis free Martin’s - Downright 10 p.m.

Ole Tavern - Lady L & the River City Band Pelican Cove - Sofa Kings 7 p.m.

Pop’s Saloon - Trademark Shucker’s - Crocker & Reynolds 5:30 p.m. free; Southsoul 8 p.m. $5; Jonathan Alexander (deck) 10 p.m. free Table 100 - Charles Scott 5 p.m.; Tommie Vaughn 6-9:30 p.m.

WonderLust - DJ Taboo 8 p.m.-2 a.m.

Courtesy Stevie Cain

by Micah Smith

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

27

CALLING ALL TEENS! NCADD

Teen Symposium: “What’s Your Direct Message on Underage Drinking and Prescription Drug Abuse?”

9 AM - 27 Aug 2016

!"#$%&' * BREAKFAST * LUNCH * * DINNER *

Saturday August 27, 2016 9am-2pm Eagle Ridge Conference Center Free Admission For teens ages 13-18 Lunch is provided

Call NCADD to register: 601-899-5880 Spaces Limited

P R I M O S C A F E. C O M

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

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28

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BY MATT JONES

47 Climactic intro?

49 Impact, e.g.

50 Hipster feature, maybe 53 Compound with a doubly-linked carbon atom 55 Hajj 61 Disco or Big Band 62 Love by the Louvre 63 Message with a subject line 64 “Arabian Nights” creature 65 Bindi Irwin’s mom 66 “With parsley,” on French menus 67 Cartridge contents 68 Cohort of Roger, George, Pierce, Timothy, and Daniel 69 VicuÒa’s home

31 Approach bedtime 32 Observant 34 “Diary ___ Wimpy Kid” 36 2006 Winter Olympics host 37 Eur. country with a king 40 Cap’n O.G. ___ (literacy-promoting cat and host of 1980s “ABC Weekend Specials”) 41 Chuck Connors TV western, with “The” 46 “Tap takeover” unit 48 Bygone medicated shampoo brand 51 “I smell ___”

52 “Blue” singer LeAnn 54 Last of the Greeks?

55 “Frasier” actress Gilpin 56 Manganese follower 57 Psychic radiance 58 Joker, e.g.

59 Cannes presentation 60 Some family speakers at a notable June 2016 funeral ©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

Last Week’s Answers

For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800 655-6548. Reference puzzle #785.

Down

“Get Up! (Get On Up)” —even though you wanna get down.

1 Coeur d’___, Idaho 6 Twin sister and bandmate of 29-Down 10 Dandyish dude 13 Comparatively untested 14 Certain ski lifts 16 Penny name 17 “Oh, that’s a horrible pun” reaction 18 Surname in the “Cats” credits 19 25%, for the generous 20 Southern city and production site for the Manhattan Project 23 Kermit sipping tea with the

caption “But that’s none of my business,” e.g.

24 Credited in a footnote 25 Red Muppet who’s always 3 1/2 years old 28 Digging 30 Author of “J’accuse” 33 Liam of “Taken” 35 Grabs a bite 38 ___ du pays (homesickness) 39 “Please keep in touch!”, somewhat quaintly 42 Prefix for cycle or brow 43 Real estate measurement 44 “This Is Spinal Tap” director Rob 45 Coral color

BY MATT JONES Last Week’s Answers

“Song Sudoku” Solve this as you would a regular sudoku, except using the nine given letters instead of numbers.

When you’re done, each row, column, and 3x3 box will contain each of the nine given letters exactly one time. In addition, one row or column will reveal, either backward or forward, the name of a famous song. psychosudoku@gmail.com

Mississippi honey iced coffee roasted by Cups IN Mississippi C U P SE SP R E SSO C A F E . C O M

St. Alexis has an annual Circulation Day. It looks like a church rummage sale but we give everything away, putting things back in ‘circulation’ to bene�it others.

650 E.South Street • Jackson • 601.944.0415 Sunday Services: 10:00am & 6:00pm

St. Alexis

Episcopal Church

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

Across

1 Jason’s ship, in myth 2 Spencer of “Good Morning America” 3 “Return of the Jedi” critter 4 Closest 5 He said “I can’t hear you, Bert, I’ve got a banana in my ear” 6 FC Barcelona goalkeeper MarcAndre ter ___ 7 Fit for the job 8 Shower apparel?

9 Rice-___ (“The San Francisco Treat”) 10 “Blueberry Hill” singer 11 Award bestowed by the Village Voice 12 “Looney Tunes” Casanova ___ Le Pew 15 “Leave it,” to a typesetter 21 Key of Beethoven’s Ninth 22 “Oh really? ___ who?”

25 Become, finally 26 “Jurassic Park III” star Tea 27 Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith movie of 1997 29 Twin sister and bandmate of 6-Across

29

EG H T

NEVER A COVER!

COMING UP _________________________

WEDNESDAY 8/17

WEDNESDAY 8/17

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

THURSDAY 8/18

OH, JEREMIAH

BROTHERLY LOVE

FRIDAY 8/19

_________________________

9P M

JOSHUA STEVEN WARD DUO Free!

SATURDAY 8/20

JOE

CARROLL 9P M

S UNDAY 8/21

JASON BAILEY 8PM

M ONDAY 8/22

KARAOKE WITH

MATT COLLETTE

9P M - 1A M

TUESDAY 8/23

OPEN MIC WITH

August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

THURSDAY 8/18

Free! Early Show _________________________

BLIND DOG OTIS

30

Friday, August 26

DEAD IRISH BLUES 8PM

MATT NOOE 9P M

WINNER: Best Open Mic Night Best Place to Drink Cheap Best of Jackson 2016

Restaurant Open as Usual

Best of Jackson 2016

Saturday, August 27

INDUSTRY HAPPY HOUR Daily 11pm -2am

DAILY 12pm BEER- 7pm SPECIALS

POOL LEAGUE Mon - Fri Night

Thursday, August 11

SATURDAY 8/20

BEN MARNEY

& HOMECOOKIN’ REUNION

Thursday, September 8

THE WEEKS

fides + dream cult

jackson natives, rock & rollers

_________________________

Friday, September 9

MONDAY 8/22

BEN FORD album release

CENTRAL MS BLUES SOCIETY PRESENTS:

BLUE MONDAY

kody gautier + mckenzie lockhart

Sunday, September 11

Restaurant - 7 - 10pm $3 Members $5 Non-Members

THE MELVINS

TUESDAY 8/23

Tuesday, September 13

helms alee

_________________________

PUB QUIZ

w/ Jimmy Quinn Restaurant - 7:30pm - $2 to Play

_________________________

WEDNESDAY 8/24

NEW BOURBON STREET JAZZ BAND Free!

_________________________ OFFICIAL

HOUSE VODKA

901 E FORTIFICATION STREET WWW.FENIANSPUB.COM

Downtown Jackson, MS

601.948.0888 200 S. Commerce St.

We’re still #1!

Best Place to Play Pool

sam mooney

FRIDAY 8/19

Visit HalandMals.com for a full menu and concert schedule

601-948-0055

-Pool Is Cool-

Restaurant Open as Usual

_________________________

O RO M

E RE N

seattle grunge

INDIGO GIRLS minton sparks

just ced! announ

Friday, October 7

THEsextet HIP ABDUCTION afro-pop, indie rock band Wednesday, October 19 MICHAEL MCDERMOTT dysfunctional prophet who spins stories through his songs

just ced! announ

just ced! announ

Sunday,November July 31 7 Monday,

SHAUN MARTIN & Wednesday, October 5 MARK LETTIERI

multi-grammy award winning keyboardist & guitarist of snarky puppy, erykah badu & kirk franklin

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BULLE TIN BOARD: Classifieds As low as $20!

In my opinion, you need to bask in the glorious fury of at least one brainstorm—preferably multiple brainstorms over the course of the next two weeks. What can you do to ensure that happens? How might you generate a flood of new ideas about how to live your life and understand the nature of reality? Here are some suggestions: Read books about creativity. Hang around with original thinkers and sly provocateurs. Insert yourself into situations that will strip you of your boring certainties. And take this vow: “I hereby unleash the primal power of my liberated imagination.�

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

When you were a child, did you play with imaginary friends? During your adolescence, did you nurture a fantasy relationship with a pretend boyfriend or girlfriend?

Since you reached adulthood, have you ever enjoyed consorting with muses or guardian angels or ancestral spirits? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are in a good position to take full advantage of the subtle opportunities and cryptic invitations that are coming your way. Unexpected sources are poised to provide unlikely inspirations in unprecedented ways.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

When you were born, you already carried the seeds of gifts you would someday be able to provide—specific influences or teachings or blessings that only you, of all the people who have ever lived, could offer the world.

How are you doing in your quest to fulfill this potential?

Here’s what I suspect: Your seeds have been ripening slowly and surely. But in the coming months, they could ripen at a more rapid pace. Whether they actually do or not may depend on your willingness to take on more responsibilities—interesting responsibilities, to be sure—but bigger than you’re used to.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

I suspect that you will soon be culminating a labor of love you’ve been nurturing and refining for many moons. How should you celebrate? Maybe with some champagne and caviar? If you’d like to include bubbly in your revels, a good choice might be 2004 Belle Epoque Rose. Its floral aroma and crispy mouth-feel rouse a sense of jubilation as they synergize the flavors of blood orange, pomegranate and strawberry. As for caviar: Consider the smooth, aromatic and elegant roe of the albino beluga sturgeon from the unpolluted areas of the Caspian Sea near Iran. But before I finish this oracle, let me also add that a better way to honor your accomplishment might be to take the money you’d spend on champagne and caviar, and instead use it as seed money for your next big project.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Some species of weeds become even more robust and entrenched as they develop resistances to the pesticides that are designed to eradicate them. This is one example of how fighting a problem can make the problem worse— especially if you attack too furiously or use the wrong weapons. I invite you to consider the possibility that this might be a useful metaphor for you to contemplate in the coming weeks. Your desire to solve a knotty dilemma or shed a bad influence is admirable. Just make sure you choose a strategy that actually works.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to compose an essay on at least one of the following themes: 1. “How I Fed and Fed My Demons Until They Gorged Themselves to Death.� 2. “How I Exploited My Nightmares in Ways That Made Me Smarter and Cuter.�

3. “How I Quietly and Heroically Transformed a Sticky Problem into a Sleek Opportunity.� 4. “How I Helped Myself by Helping Other People.� For extra credit, Capricorn—and to earn the right to trade an unholy duty for a holy one—write about all four subjects.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

I suspect that in the coming months, you will be drawn to wandering through the frontiers and exploring the unknown. Experimentation will come naturally. Places and situations you have previously considered to be off-limits may be downright comfortable. In fact, it’s possible that you will have to escape your safety zones in order to fully be yourself. Got all that? Now here’s the kicker. In the coming weeks, everything I just described

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ARIES (March 21-April 19):

REAL ESTATE

Print and Digital Marketing Representative We’re looking to add a special new member to the JFP/BOOM Jackson sales team. You should have sales or customer service (retail, restaurant) experience, along with a drive to build your career while helping local businesses get ahead in the Jackson Metro.

You must be personable, outgoing, persistent, and willing to learn. Commission-driven position with a paid training period and access to benefits; potential $3,000-$5,000/mo and beyond! Write todd@jacksonfreepress.com with cover letter and resume.

Copy Editor / Proofreader / Factchecker We are seeking a detail-oriented and fact-obsessed person to do copy-editing, proofreading and factchecking for the JFP. You must love the hunt for mistakes in copy, as well as have no fear of the telephone. Must be a fast editor, extremely reliable and have stellar time-management skills. Position will start about 10 hours a week. We will give you a copy-editing test before scheduling an interview. Write amber@jacksonfreepress.com to schedule a test time. No phone calls.

will be especially apropos for your closest relationships.

Are you interested in redefining and reconfiguring the ways that togetherness works for you?

If you’re playing the card game known as bridge, you’re lucky if you are dealt a hand that has no cards of a particular suit. This enables you, right from the beginning, to capture tricks using the trump suit. In other words, the lack of a certain resource gives you a distinct advantage. Let’s apply this metaphor to your immediate future, Pisces. I’m guessing that you will benefit from what may seem to be an inadequacy or deficit. An absence will be a useful asset.

Can you imagine feeling at home in the world no matter where you are? If you eventually master this art, outer circumstances won’t distort your relationship with yourself. No matter how crazy or chaotic the people around you might be, you will remain rooted in your unshakable sense of purpose; you will respond to any given situation in ways that make you both calm and alert, amused and curious, compassionate for the suffering of others and determined to do what’s best for you. If you think these are goals worth seeking, you can make dramatic progress toward them in the coming weeks.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

As I tried to meditate on your horoscope, my next-door neighbor was wielding a weed-whacker to trim her lawn, and the voices in my head were shouting extra loud. So I decided to drive down to the marsh to get some high-quality silence. When I arrived at the trail head, I found an older man in ragged clothes leaning against the fence. Nearby was a grocery cart full of what I assumed were all his earthly belongings. “Doing nothing is a very difficult art,� he croaked as I slipped by him, “because you’re never really sure when you are done.� I immediately recognized that his wisdom might be useful to you. You are, after all, in the last few days of your recharging process. It’s still a good idea for you to lie low and be extra calm and vegetate luxuriously.

But when should you rise up and leap into action again? Here’s my guess: Get one more dose of intense stillness and silence.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

My readers have a range of approaches for working with the counsel I offer. Some study the horoscopes for both their sun signs and rising signs, then create do-it-yourself blends of the two. Others prefer to wait until the week is over before consulting what I’ve written. They don’t want my oracles to influence their future behavior, but enjoy evaluating their recent past in light of my analysis. Then there are the folks who read all 12 of my horoscopes. They refuse to be hemmed in by just one forecast, and want to be free to explore multiple options. I encourage you to try experiments like these in the coming days. The moment is ripe to cultivate more of your own unique strategies for using and interpreting the information you absorb—both from me and from everyone else you listen to.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Have you been drinking a lot of liquids? Are you spending extra time soaking in hot baths and swimming in bodies of water that rejuvenate you? Have you been opening your soul to raw truths that dissolve your fixations and to beauty that makes you cry and to love that moves you to sing? I hope you’re reverently attending to these fluidic needs. I hope you’re giving your deepest yearnings free play and your freshest emotions lots of room to unfold. Smart, well-lubricated intimacy is a luxurious necessity, my dear. Stay very, very wet.

Homework: What’s the situation in your life where it’s hardest for you to be loving?

Practice being a master of compassion there in the coming week.

1728 Edgewood St. 1728 Edgewood St. • Jackson, Ms. 39202 House has a newly renovated, larger than normal kitchen, huge laundry/storage room, screened in side porch and front porch with a single car garage. Rent is $1,395/month and $1,395 deposit. This one REALLY will not last long! Call 601-291-0820

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD:

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

Deadline: Mondays at Noon.

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August 17 - 23, 2016 • jfp.ms

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

31

Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant and Grill

2 for 1 Margaritas Everyday!

2016 BEST OF JACKSON WINNER:

BEST THAI RESTAURANT

2 for 1 16 oz. draft beer 4:00 - 7:00 pm Free meal for your birthday!

(must have party of 4 or more and proof of ID, drinks excluded)

Taco Tuesday - $1 Tacos all day

MONDAY - THURSDAY

House Wine BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

Domestic Beer $1 OFF

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Behind the McDonalds in Madison Station

601.790.7999

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