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416 George Street • Downtown Jackson MS • 601-960-2700BAR Hours: Monday - Friday 11am - 2am • Satuday 4pm - 2am

Bar hours: Monday - Friday 11am - 10pm • Saturday 4pm - 10pm

Prizes1st Prize: 7day trip to Hawaii & $1000

2nd Place: 3-Day trip to Las Veags

3rd Place: $500 cash

Door prize: Southern Beverage MP3 Tower

$2.00 Jagermeister and Fireball

shots all night!!

Annual Halloween Costume Contest

Saturday October 29

Live Music ByF*ckbag Jones, Jimmy Soft, & No Gag Refl ex

Wednesday, Oct 26thKaraoke

Thursday, Oct. 27thLadies Night--$5.00 cover/Ladies drink free

10oz. Ultra’s and well-drinks from 10-2

Friday, Oct. 28thTiger Highs & the OverNight Lows

Monday, Oct. 31stPub Quiz

Enter to win a 3-Day trip to Las Veags2 for 1 Bud Light and Budweiser

$2.00 Diamond Bear Draft, Shot Top Draft& Tall Grass Draft

Tuesday, Nov 1st Now available the 2012 Golden Tee

& New Internet JukeBox

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Cover illustration by Mike Day

LASH

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jacksonian

césar vázquez

4 ............. Editor’s Note

4 ................... Slowpoke

7 .......................... Talks

12 ................... Editorial

12 .................... Chatter

12 .................... Stiggers

13 .................. Opinion

22 ............... Diversions

24 ..... Zombie Survival

28 ..................... 8 Days

30 .............. JFP Events

32 ........................ Music

33 .......... Music Listing

35 ................. Astrology

36 ...................... Sports

38 ........................ Food

42 ......... FLY Shopping

October 26 - November 1, 2011 VOL . 10 NO . 7

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Farish, PleaseDeveloper David Watkins sees just one more hurdle to Farish Street’s opening: money.

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9No Child’s PlayA business study links the importance of early childhood education to economic progress.

Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, César Vázquez never thought he’d be working in the United States. The 25-year-old trav-eled a lot as a child, living for short amounts of time in Esfahan, Iran and Frankfurt, Ger-many. Vázquez has always liked to travel and experience different cultures, and that interest brought him to Mississippi two years ago. Due to his enjoyment of people and his interest in human rights, Vázquez decided he wanted to be an attorney. He graduated from the University of Nuevo Leon in Monterrey in 2009 where he specialized in labor law and in-ternational human rights. Vázquez is a licensed attorney in Mexico; however, he has lived in Jackson since graduating, and is employed as a legal assistant and translator at Elmore & As-sociates P.A. law fi rm downtown. Vázquez works to bridge the language gap between Mississippians and Hispanic immigrants. He speaks fl uent English as well as his native Spanish and caters to Mississippi’s growing Hispanic population, helping clients with limited English skills navigate the legal system. “Many of the people I work with have very little money or means to get the help they need,” he says. Some of Vázquez’s duties include assist-ing immigrants in the naturalization process, translating in courts, handling criminal chargesand fi ghting for workers’ compensation. He

also helps clients with day-to-day concerns such as doctor’s appointments, jail visits and meetings with attorneys. Vázquez is involved in a number of outreach programs through the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, headed by his sis-ter Karla Elmore Vázquez, who also holds a law degree from Mexico though she can’t practice law here, yet. César Vázquez publi-cizes Elmore & Associates in the Hispanic community and explains laws in Spanish-speaking churches. The transition from Mexico hasn’t been easy for him. “At fi rst, I worried that I couldn’t be an attorney here,” he says. “But then I started understanding that I can help my people, anyway.” Vázquez says he loves it here in Mississip-pi: “Jackson is a smaller town than Monterrey, much calmer. Most people are very friendly.” He says he enjoys experiencing a culture different from his own, while helping the His-panic population of Mississippi. He hopes to study law in Jackson soon. Vázquez also realizes that some people have negative perceptions of Hispanics, and he wants to change that. “I am an immigrant,” he says, “so I know how hard it is to transi-tion between cultures. I know how the people feel alone and helpless. I am here to help them, and they need all they can get.”

–Sadaaf Mamoon

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26Bite ThisNew Stage Theatre puts a newproduction of “Dracula” on stage just in time for Halloween.

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No Delays It’s time to make your plan for the Zombie Apocalypse. Bryan Flynn tells you what you’ll need to do.

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Robbie S. Ward

It’s easy to criticize. I know this intimately. In fact, I’m considering hiring a private de-tective to search for that half-full glass. I used to think that finding the proverbi-

al flies in life’s ointment was one of my greatest strengths. Give me a scenario, and I can find something that could go wrong, one barrier to overcome, one reason why it won’t work. That mind set served me well when I tested software and wrote user manuals. Finding and fixing potential “gotchas” made the products better, even if it didn’t do much for my social life: Engineers hate to be wrong. The editing process gives me ample op-portunity to find stuff that could be better. I try never to let my questions go unanswered, and I never assume that another reader will understand something that puzzles me. OK, call it ego, but my first working thesis for edit-ing is that if I don’t get it, neither will you. I can be overly tenacious for some writers. Tenacious probably isn’t the word they use. If I have one guilt-soothing thought about my talent for finding what’s wrong in-stead of what’s right, it’s that I know I am not alone. Certainly, when it comes to politicians, the entire country is quick to blame and slow to praise. Politics turns the bunch of us into glass-half-empty Negative Nancys. Granted, the president, Congress and even local politicians get some deserved hits. I don’t know about you, but when something goes wrong, I look for the guy in charge. I re-ally want to know, for example, whose good idea it is not to clamp down and tightly regu-late the financial industry. You know, the same financial industry that brought us the near col-lapse of the global economy. My heart is with the Occupy movement, although my back does better on my Posture-pedic. I love the Occupy Wall Street (and Mississippi) folks even as they lurch about try-ing to find their true north. I’ve been ranting about corporate greed for eons and can rattle off a near-alphabetical litany of Big Business’ ills brought to bear on unsuspecting citizens, from avarice to pollution to war profiteering. Ask me about the good things public corpo-rations have done lately, and I’ll need some time to ponder. And don’t get me started on Citizens United, one of the most egregious Supreme Court rulings ever. It says that cor-porations are people, too, and gives them the ability to fund candidates of their choice. We Americans need a heck of a kick in our collective pants to get us up off our comfy couches and into the street to protest. For con-servatives, the country delivered that kick when it elected its first African American president. Yeah, I know: The color of Barack Obama’s skin had nothing to do with it. Whatever. Still, no other single event has galvanized the politi-cal right as strongly that I can remember. And I’ve never seen a new political party spring up with the alacrity and money-might of the Tea Party. It is a force to be reckoned with. I also can’t remember a time when our two great parties were so thoroughly intractable. It

really makes no difference what side of the aisle you favor when both parties cross arms and turn backs, insisting that negotiation isn’t a possibility. That kind of behavior may work in hostage situations, but who exactly are the hostages here? Take your pick of the rhetoric: The hostages are the American people. But if we’re the hostages, who is asking for ransom? Obama has attempted appeasement and diplomacy. Give the man credit for trying, but like Yoda said, trying ain’t doing. And with their leader’s efforts bearing little fruit, Demo-crats are spinning on their self-made hamster wheels like emasculated lab rats. In the midst of the ubiquitous stalemates and hysteria, it’s easy to lose sight of progress. Especially when the GOP presidential hope-fuls work hard to present themselves as good looking enough for the prom and far right enough for Tea Party reactionaries. I was glad to see the president finally embracing the “Obamacare” moniker for the health-care reform bill—lest we forget, the centerpiece of his candidacy. His promise of universal health care is why Americans voted for him, but that was a couple years ago, and we’ve forgotten that in an unrelenting barrage of condemnation. Clearly, “Obamacare” is in-tended to act as a constant thorn in the paws of those who voted against him. “They call it ‘Obamacare,’” the president told an audience in St. Louis recently. “I do care, that’s right. The question is: Why don’t you care?” It’s a damned good question for those who would have millions of Americans suf-fer for lack of health care, as well as for those who trumpet its cost while ignoring the fact that the country pays for not having univer-sal care through absurd insurance premiums,

huge public-health costs and declining well-ness milestones at every turn. If we’re to live up to our “greatest country” rhetoric, we simply can’t do it by disregarding millions of sick and impoverished people. It doesn’t take a big leap to realize that as long as 46.2 million live in poverty (including one out of every five children), every citizen suf-fers. Mississippi has the highest rate of poverty in the country at 22.5 percent. Impoverished, sick people don’t contribute; impoverished, sick children don’t learn. And yes, I’ve heard the rants about how America’s poor aren’t really poor—not like the poor in India or Guatemala. Fine. You try to live on $11,139 (about $214 a week) in Amer-ica and tell me how it works out for you. The Affordable Care Act is a huge step toward achieving health equity for all citizens, despite its being imperfect, complicated and sprawling like our democracy. But the act has already provided Mississippians with peace of mind, eliminating lifetime limits and pre-ex-isting conditions for children. Kids can stay on their parents’ policies until they’re 26, and gramps can get his prescriptions filled at half off. Mississippi also has quietly taken millions in grants to improve its public-health infra-structure, build community health centers, expand its home visiting programs for at-risk families and much, much more. You won’t hear about any of this from the GOP or the Tea Party in Mississippi. It doesn’t serve their purpose. What I want to know is why the hell the Democratic Party isn’t shout-ing it to the rooftops. Maybe it’s because half the beneficiaries of the act are people of color. No. That can’t be the reason. I guess it’s just easier to criticize when your purpose is winning at all costs. Yeah, that’s it.

editor’snote by Ronni Mott, Managing Editor

Finding What’s Right

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Mike Day

At Hinds Community College, Mike Day won top cartoonist awards from the Mississippi Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. He was also a cartoonist for the Hattiesburg American. He illustrated the cover.

Amanda Barber

A Mississippi native and USM grad, journalist Robbie S. Ward also has a master’s in public policy and administration from Mississippi State and created the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival in Starkville. He blogs at starkvillecityjail.com. He wrote the cover story.

Amanda Barber is a student, guitarist, recycler, rain enthusiast, and all-around nice guy. She and her cat, Gauri Kaur Little Bunny Foo-Foo Ellen, live downtown. She wrote a music feature.

Andrea Thomas

Advertising Designer Andrea Thomas is a native of Ridgeland and is a recent Antonelli College graduate. She loves to sing, dance and write poetry in her free time. She has one message for the zombies: Bring it.

Steve Patrick

Steve Patrick is a cotton farmer in Madison County. His brief journey into journalism was to see Horrible Movie’s 40-year anniversary honored. He wrote a Halloween feature for this issue.

Andrew Ousley

Sadaaf Mamoon

Editorial intern Sadaaf Mamoon is a senior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. She loves film scores, Greek mythology and naming inanimate objects. Her spirit animal is a Pink Fairy Armadillo. She wrote the Jacksonian.

LaShanda Phillips

Editorial Assistant LaShanda Phillips is a recent graduate of Jackson State University. She is the third oldest of seven children. Her motto is: “Make-up is fantastic!” She wrote a FLY DIY feature and a food feature.

Laurel native Andrew Ousley lived in Scotland and Wyoming before moving to Jackson. Andrew frequently watches Modern Marvels alone on Friday nights. Andrew misses the days when you could win free Cokes under the cap. He wrote a Halloween feature.

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Jackson developer David Watkins seemed to quell concerns when he presented a list of tenants for the long-awaited $100 million Farish Street Entertainment

District project during a public presentation last week. The developer still needs approxi-mately $13 million to complete construction, however, for businesses to actually open. The Farish Street Group, a limited li-ability company Watkins Partners formed to oversee the project, has invested more than $9 million and secured a $4 million loan from the Mississippi Development Authority. The development was scheduled to open in sum-mer 2010, but that schedule is now pushed out to summer 2012. Watkins’ original plans called for the ten-ants to finance improvements to the interiors of their buildings. The developers have “white boxed” the buildings, meaning that the exteri-ors are complete, but the spaces lack amenities such as furnishings, kitchens and décor. Watkins said that the Farish Street Group will assume ownership of four clubs and finance the build-outs. The Oct. 19 public presentation of the district’s progress resembled a pep rally for Mississippi’s cultural heritage and the prom-ise of a development that could revitalize Jackson. Mississippi musicians—including Zac Harmon and members of the Williams Brothers Gospel Group—spoke about per-sonal connections to Farish Street as well as

plans to move into the district. Harmon plans to open a blues club on the corner of Griffith and Farish streets, and the Williams Brothers plan to open a record-ing studio in the second block of the district. Watkins said the district also has signed leases with a cigar bar and sports lounge and with former Cool Al’s owner Al Stamps for a restaurant. Other potential restaurants and clubs include Lumpkin’s BBQ, Wet Willie’s, Van Buren’s and Sage/The Raw Bar. The Far-

ish Street Group has secured a 15-year lease agreement with B.B. King’s Blues Club. Watkins said tenants would pay $8 to $12 per square foot for rent each month. Business owners will also pay a percentage of their gross income and a maintenance fee to pay for things like water, sewer, insurance, se-curity and utilities.

Farish: Must ‘Make a Profit’ by Lacey McLaughlin

n e w s , c u l t u r e & i r r e v e r e n c e

Wednesday, Oct. 19 The Obama administration says it will resume talks with North Korea in hopes of persuading the reclusive com-munist nation to abandon its nuclear program. … Lockheed Martin opens a new Mission Support Center in the for-mer WorldCom building in Clinton.

Thursday, Oct. 20 Former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi dies following an eight-month civil war to overthrow his regime. … Farish Street Entertainment District de-velopers say they still need $13 million to complete the interiors of buildings on the historic neighborhood’s first block.

Friday, Oct. 21 Herman Cain, contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination, tells an audience in Detroit that people living below the poverty line won’t pay the 9 percent flat tax under his 9-9-9 plan. … Former Sen. Trent Lott says he has sup-ported Mitt Romney’s presidential cam-paign since last year.

Saturday, Oct. 22 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wins re-election. Jindal, a Republican, raised $15 million for a campaign that attracted no Democratic challengers with statewide recognition. Republicans control all seven statewide elected posts and both cham-bers of Louisiana’s Legislature. … Sarah Palin wears blue suede shoes during her visit to Tupelo, Elvis Presley’s birthplace.

Sunday, Oct. 23 A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Turkey, killing more than 400 people.

Monday, Oct. 24 WikiLeaks suspends operations and may shut down by the end of the year. Several U.S.-based financial institutions blocked the website, which publishes leaked corporate and government infor-mation. … People as far south as northern Mississippi see the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. The colorful streaks in the sky result when the sun’s energy particles interact with the earth’s magnetic field, but they usually are not visible in the South.

Tuesday, Oct. 25 The John C. Stennis Space Center celebrates its 50th birthday. NASA an-nounced plans to build the rocket-test-ing site Oct. 25, 1961, five months after President John Kennedy announced his goal to send an American to the moon. Get news updates at jfpdaily.com.

The United States had an estimated 41 million potential trick-or-treaters in 2010—children 5 to 14. Of course, many other children—older than 14 and younger than 5—also go trick-or-treating.

SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2010 CENSUS,

“People don’t want a political party that rolls over and plays dead. We’re not going to do that anymore.” —Mississippi Democrat-ic Party Executive Director Ricky Cole, regarding the future of the party in the state.

Ocean Springs Mayor Connie

Moran wants your vote to be the state

treasurer. p 11

Delayed again: Developers now say that the first block of the Farish Street Entertainment District will come online summer 2012.

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Dress Up Time!It’s time to pull out all of the creativity stops and come up with a fabulous costume for Halloween. Like many of our favorite rituals, donning costumes to celebrate goes way, way back into our history. Legend says the Celts wore animal skins and heads to tell fortunes and mark the end of summer. But you won’t need to kill any woodland creatures. Here are a few ideas to spark your imagination, courtesy of a few JFP staffers’ fond (or not so fond) memories.

Be Christmas! Get a few friends to-gether and wrap yourself in tree lights and tinsel. Then go from outlet to outlet and plug yourself in.

—Elizabeth Waibel

Be a Hollywood celebrity and his or her malfunction, such as Lindsay Lo-han accompanied by a bag of flour.

—Holly Harlan

Be Chuck E. Cheese.—Kimberly Griffin

Paint your face like a cat or dog.—Erica Sutton

Be a sexy ladybug in short-shorts and fishnet hose.

—Andrea Thomas

Pick a planet and transform yourself to become its prince or princess, e.g., Princess Pluto.

—Kristin Brenemen

Black Widow, baby. —Donna Ladd

If all else fails, head to a costume shop for you or your kids’ alien or zombie duds.

—Latasha Willis

“We have to make a profit off of what we are doing in order to operate the street and do all the marketing,” Watkins said. “We are planning on spending a half mil-lion a year on advertising all over the world, and that doesn’t go very far.” Watkins Partners Vice President Jason Goree said B.B. King’s Blues Club is focused on opening a Las Vegas location and has ex-perienced setbacks. In February, the owner of B.B. King’s Blues Club at the Las Vegas Mi-rage Hotel and Casino filed for bankruptcy to restructure $3.7 million in debt and other liabilities, the Las Vegas Sun reported. “It’s not that they don’t have the money,” Goree said. “But now they are doing another building (in Las Vegas). They can raise their own money (to do the Farish Street build-out), but if they do it, it’s going to take longer. So what we have decided to do is try to help them come up with the money for this place so they can come here quicker.” Representatives from B.B. King’s Blues Club declined a request for an interview. Standing in his future club last week, Harmon shared stories about Farish Street, telling an audience of more than 100 that his father, George Harmon, owned a pharmacy on the street for more than six decades. He also shared plans for the mainstream blues club, which will draw musicians such as Tom-my Castro and Ronnie Baker Brookes. Harmon declined to speak about the de-tails of financing the club, however. “As far as the business goes, I don’t dis-cuss my business,” he told the Jackson Free Press. “We can talk about the club, what the club will look like, and we can talk about my career, but we can’t talk about the business.”

Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Enter-prises Corp., a nonprofit financial institu-tion, said his organization was committed to working with developers to obtain New Market Tax Credits and up to $14 million in financing. Watkins has obtained historic tax cred-its for the project, which requires all build-ings to keep their existing facades and struc-tural integrity. During the presentation, development partner Socrates Garrett suggested that the city consider offering public financing for the project. Watkins said he has not asked the city for financing, but it could be a possibility in the future. Watkins also announced long-term plans for the district last week, including some new projects. The second block will include a “busi-ness hub” for video and audio production, sound stages and a mixed-use residential building. The third block will include a gos-pel music museum, a boutique hotel and an eight-screen movie theater that will also serve dinner. “We just have to have a long view and make sure that we don’t let minor hiccups along the way turn us away from it,” Watkins said. “There is great enthusiasm and excite-ment, and it’s not just David Watkins and (Downtown Jackson Partners President) Ben Allen having a pep rally. We have people all over the world interested in this project. “It was a risky project from the be-ginning, but we know that because of the high risk and leverage, it’s going to have a high return.” Comment at www.jfp.ms.

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The 2010 Census found that more Americans are identifying as multi-racial than ever before. More than twice as many people reported their

race as both black and white in 2010 than did in 2000. The number of people who reported as both white and Asian increased by 87 percent during the same time period. Of all U.S. cities with more than 100,000 people, Jackson had the second-highest percentage of people who report-

ed their race as black; it ranked near the bottom in the percentage of people who reported as black in combination with an-other race. People of Hispanic or Latino origin made up about 2.7 percent of the state’s population, with more than twice as many people reporting as Hispanic or La-tino than in 2000. The median age of Mississippians is 36, younger than the national average of 37.2. Maine had the oldest population in the country, with a median age of 42.7. The Census Bureau has also released data on homeownership around the country. Mississippi has one of the highest rental vacancy rates in the country, with 11.6 percent of rental units vacant. Nearly 69.6 percent of the housing units in the state are owner-occupied, however, putting Mississippi above the national average 65.1 percent for owners who live in their homes. Comment at www.jfp.ms.

Census Snapshot: Multiracial Nationby Elizabeth Waibel

talk n e w s , c u l t u r e & i r r e v e r e n c e

FARISH, from page 6

FILE

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Founding Chapter, Parents for Public Schools, 1989200 N. Congress, Suite 500, Jackson, MS 39201

www.ppsjackson.org

When: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011

Time: 11:45 am

Where: Jackson Medical Mall Community Room

Reserve a $5 lunch by calling 601.969.6015 ext 301 or

e-mail lcockrell@parents4publicschools.org

LUNCH LUNCH BUNCH

A convention center and accompany-ing hotel may seem like a foolproof economic tool for many cities trying to boost tax revenue by bringing visi-

tors to their downtown area. The idea is that if you build it, tourists will simply come to the city eager to spend their disposable income. But an academic expert who has exten-sively studied this model says it is flawed. Har-vard-educated Heywood Sanders has research that doesn’t back up those claims. City leaders advocated for an adjoining hotel to foster economic growth long before completion of the Jackson Convention Cen-ter in 2009. But relying on future revenue projections and financing such lofty develop-ments can be a sticky situation. Cities such as Baltimore, Md., Savannah, Ga., and Denver, Colo., are building convention hotels—using similar public/private partnerships. In 2006, Mark Small, president of MJS Realty in Dallas, formed TCI-MS, a limited liability company, as a partnership with the publicly traded Transcontinen-tal Realty Investors, also based in Dallas, to purchase the property located between Pearl, Mill and Pascagoula streets in down-town Jackson for $1.5 million and to build the hotel. The company also used a $7 mil-lion Department of Housing and Urban Development grant, allocated through the city, to acquire the land. They agreed to pay the loan back with revenue generated from the hotel. TCI is closely connected with Basic Capital Management founder and former CEO Gene Phillips, whom former Mayor Frank Melton championed for high-priced development in Jackson. The JFP reported as early as April 2006 that Phillips has a his-tory of controversial business involvements. His company, Phillips Development, filed bankruptcy in 1973, showing $30 million in debt. A second company that Phillips chaired, Southmark Corp., went bankrupt in 1989 during the high-profile savings-and-loan scan-dal. The FBI also indicted Phillips in 2000 for his participation in an alleged Mafia bribery

scheme, but he was acquitted of those charges in 2002. In September, Standards & Poor’s gave TCI a “C” ranking, stating for the second quarter of 2011 TCI reported a net loss of 40.79 million. Small is still the president of MJS Reality, but he is no longer in charge of the Jackson project. Earlier this fall, TCI Vice President Alfred Crozier took a lead role in the project. The city is in the midst of securing a public-private ownership of the hotel with Transcontinental Investments. It seems that city and business developers all agree on one thing: The convention center needs a hotel. But just how to finance that hotel and who to trust to carry out the deal is an ongo-ing topic for debate. Earlier this month, Jackson City Coun-cil members expressed frustration over the lack of details they received on the financing structure for the hotel. But they expressed that frustration more than a week after passing a resolution that allows the city and TCI to issue $70.1 million in tax-exempt Gulf Op-portunity Zone bonds through the Jackson Redevelopment Authority and $22.5 million in taxable bonds to help pay for the project. Total funding for the hotel would be $96.1 million with the developers contribut-ing some private funds. The majority of the council’s questions involved the city buying back the land from the developers for $14 million. Those details are still being worked out, city spokesman Chris Mims said. Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. assured the council Oct. 3 that the city isn’t writing the developers a check for the property. The city will be responsible for paying 50 percent of the bond debt payments (totaling $96 million) through revenues the hotel gen-erates, and the developers will be responsible for the remaining 50 percent. In the event that the hotel does not generate enough revenue to pay off the debt service, the city and the developers will split any losses, city financial consultant Porter Bingham of Malachi Group told Jackson Redevelopment Authority board

members last week. Bingham predicted a law-suit could come into play if the developers do not pay their portion of the debt. Heywood Sanders, author of “Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit” (Uni-versity of Nebraska Press, 2008, $19.95), is critical of publicly financed convention cen-ters and hotels. He says that city leaders will typically voice overwhelming support for convention centers, saying it will save dy-ing downtowns. But his research has shown that convention centers only do about half the business they promise over the long run. That’s when the call for a hotel usually comes in as leaders cite the additional business they could have if they had a hotel, Sanders says. Over the last year, convention centers have seen business decline by 20 percent or more. Sanders, a University of Texas public administration professor who got his doctor-ate at Harvard University, says convention centers are “a flooded, oversupplied” market. “Lost business doesn’t mean that they would come if you had a hotel,” he said. “It just means that they chose not to come to Jackson. In this market environment, conven-tion center hotels are giving away their spaces for free in order to get business.” In a 2005 Brookings Institution report, “Space Available: The Realities of Conven-tion Centers as Economic Development,” Sanders found that from 1995 to 2005, public spending on convention hotels dou-bled to $2.4 billion while demand for con-ventions decreased. Sanders said events booked at conven-tion centers in the South have also declined. For example, the New Orleans convention center booked more than 800,000 events in 2007 compared to just 495,000 in 2010. The Jackson Convention Complex re-ported last year that attendance at the Jackson Convention Center increased over last year, with 146,635 people visiting the complex, compared to 128,590 visitors the previous year. The complex also extended its event days from 323 days in 2009 to 343 days in 2010. Kelvin Moore, general manager for the Jackson Convention Complex, has worked in several convention centers throughout the country. He disagrees with Sanders’ criticism and said that right now Jackson can’t compete with other cities without an adjoining conven-tion center hotel. He said that with the Farish Street Entertainment District coming online soon, Jackson could be a big attraction for visi-tors and conference organizers. “There are no blanket statements that I would say for every city that you go to,” Moore said. “Every market is unique. Every market has its individual circumstances. For Jackson, what I have been able to determine, for our downtown area and economic devel-opment strategy, the convention center is a fo-cal point of that. … A headquarter hotel for a convention is key.” Comment at www.jfp.ms.

Convention Hotel: Linchpin or Boondoggle?

The site for the proposed convention center hotel is between Pascagoula and Pearl streets.

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Early childhood education, the creative economy and interracial cooperation are crucial to Mississippi’s economic development, state business leaders say.

The Mississippi Economic Council, Momentum Mississippi and the Mississippi Partnership for Economic Development released their Blueprint Mississippi 2011 recommendations earlier this month. The groups’ other advice includes capitalizing on the state’s creative economy and improving interracial cooperation. Blake Wilson, president of the council, encouraged early childhood teachers to stay committed to their students at the Missis-sippi Early Childhood Association’s annual conference Oct. 14. “Mississippi is a state of limited resources, folks,” Wilson said. “We have to be faster, smarter, cheaper and better, and we have to celebrate small victories, even if the total victory isn’t won every year that we try to win it.” Wilson told the Jackson Free Press that education comes up consistently when he talks to business leaders, and 4th-grade testing scores are critical in determining whether chil-dren will succeed in the rest of school and en-ter the work force able to compete. Unfortu-nately, many young children—especially those living in poverty—do not get the educational

development they need at home to prepare for kindergarten. “The issue is that in today’s world, the family network in many, many families has disintegrated,” he said. “So, we have to have a different system to make sure children are being read to and given the basic skills that I received from my family.” Laurie Smith, executive director of Mis-sissippi Building Blocks and vice president for public policy at the Mississippi Early Child-hood Association, said Wilson helps business leaders understand the role early childhood education plays in the future work force. “Sometimes people think about early childhood as babysitting,” she said. “He sees it as an economic-development issue in that what we invest today is what we will have in our state later on.” Smith said that for now, with budgets for K-12 education already strained, improving existing child-care centers is more cost-effective than adding an extra grade in every elementary school. “Down the road, when our state starts to reap the benefit of that earlier investment, I think pre-K will naturally be the next step,” she said. Wilson agrees that funding is a hurdle for early childhood education proponents. The Mississippi Economic Council sup-

ports Mississippi Building Blocks, a program that helps improve existing child-care centers. While it’s a far cry from making pre-kindergar-ten available to every child under the age of 5 in the state, Wilson said improving existing child-care providers is a cost-effective way to give more children a better chance at success. Blueprint Mississippi also recommends supporting the state’s “creative economy” as defined in a recent report by the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Devel-opment Authority. The Blueprint recommendations sug-gest promoting entrepreneurship and small business growth among small creative firms, helping communities preserve their cultural heritage, using more art in business marketing and developing strategies to grow the state’s tourism industry. The creative economy is made up of any-one who is involved in a creative enterprise, including chefs, designers, performing artists and writers. It also includes people who might not normally be associated with the arts, such as the people who make stoves or print books, and do creative jobs in non-creative industries,

such as the person who designs logos for a fac-tory. The study found that Mississippi’s cre-ative economy provides jobs for about 60,000 Mississippians, making up about 3 percent of the state’s total economy. Blueprint Mississippi also recommends promoting diversity in the work force and in management throughout the state, and invest-ing in local projects to promote interracial co-operation. The recommendations place a spe-cial emphasis on youth programs to “ensure future generations of leadership are mindful of diverse perspectives.” The committees that worked on Blue-print Mississippi released their recommenda-tions before the full report to focus attention on their priorities ahead of the elections. Blueprint Mississippi will release its full report in January. Read more of the initial rec-ommendations at blueprintmississippi.com. Comment at www.jfp.ms.

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A Blueprint for Successby Elizabeth Waibel

Business leaders recommend that Mississippi invest in education, creativity and improving race relations.

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by Valerie Wells

Undocumented v. Illegal

The Society of Professional Journalists is urging reporters and editors to stop us-ing the phrases “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien.” At its annual convention

in New Orleans last month, SPJ delegates passed a resolution to ask journalists to apply the organization’s code of ethics when writing about undocumented workers. Editors also cringe at the informal use of the adjective “illegal” as a noun. Gram-matically, it’s wrong. Psychologically, it reveals a belief that some humans have no right to exist. One of the ideals expressed in the code is a journalist’s quest to be “honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and inter-preting information.” The reality, however, is that media outlets frequently use phrases such as “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien,” and they do so often to describe Latino un-documented immigrants. The SPJ diversity committee, which drafted and rewrote parts of the resolution, noted that the commonly used phrases are politically charged, offensive and bureaucratic. It’s also un-American to call another human being “illegal.” SPJ noted that a fun-damental principle in the U.S. Constitution is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law. Because only a judge decides who is guilty, reporters can’t blindly group a set of people as “illegal.” Journalists know to be careful when writing about an al-leged murderer. Editors take pains to ensure their publications or broadcasts don’t cross that line of accusing a suspect of a crime before he or she has gone to trial and been convicted. Why have so many in the journalism profession looked the other way when it comes to finding words to describe Latinos who might be here without the right documenta-tion? Is it sloppy journalism, lazy assumptions or simple prejudice? The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has spoken out against the increas-ing use of pejorative and inaccurate terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocu-mented people living in the United States.

The SPJ resolution calls for a continuous discussion and re-evaluation of the use of “ille-gal immigrant” in news stories. So how many times is it used in the media? This past week, a Google search shows that mainstream all-American newspapers and other news outlets used the term at least 11,000 times.

Granted, many of those references did pop up in opinion pieces from contributors who take pride in being rude and offensive, but a few straight news items show up as well. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, a Gannett-owned paper in New York, has a story on its website this week with this head-line: “Regents backing educational path to citizenship for illegal immigrant students.” It reads as an objective news story, but the slurs stand out. In another example, an Associated Press story about a man charged with posing as a sheriff’s deputy in Arkansas referred to the suspect as an “alleged illegal alien.” Alabama’s draconian immigration law has led to many news stories throwing the “il-legal immigrant” label around. AP stories ap-pearing in many Alabama newspapers repeat the phrase in reporting how police can arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immi-grant if they’re stopped for any other reason. If that’s what the officials are saying, should the reporter reword it, put it in quotes or challenge the prejudice? Editor’s note: The JFP has a long-running policy against these pejoratives.

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Who are you calling an illegal immigrant?

media eye

Connie Moran was six weeks into her first public-office position as the mayor of Ocean Springs when her world turned upside down. Hurricane Ka-

trina nearly destroyed her coastal town, dis-placing residents and razing homes. Lead-ing residents through the disaster and using it as an opportunity to reinvent her town are just a few of the experiences Moran, a Democrat, likes to talk about when she lists her qualifications to hold the office of state treasurer. The Ocean Springs native is run-ning against Republican Lynn Fitch in the treasurer’s race. She may not have as much name recognition as Fitch, who is the for-mer executive director of the state person-nel board, but Moran has a long list of qualifications. Moran earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in finance and inter-national commerce from Georgetown Uni-versity in Washington, D.C. In the 1990s, Moran served as managing director for the Mississippi European Office in Frankfurt, Germany, recruiting new business and industry to the state for the Mississippi Development Authority. She also worked as an econo-mist at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Moran, now 55, moved back to Ocean Springs in 2005, after her daughter, Mag-deleine, was born with autism and cerebral palsy. The divorced, single mother said her ex-periences in raising a special-needs child have made her an advocate for more public funding and resources for parents of disabled children.

What’s it like being a mom, a mayor and running for statewide office? Well, it’s a challenge. I am responsible still for the day-to-day operations of the city of Ocean Springs. When I am out of town, we have a mayor pro tem. Any time I leave the city, he is there, but they can reach me by phone. We just passed our budget, and that’s taken up a lot of time.

What does that budget look like? We have $14 million in our general fund. We cut 13 percent, but without any employee furloughs. The year before, we cut the budget by 16 percent, and we did not have any em-ployee furloughs at that time.

What are your thoughts on the state capitalizing on creative economy? I think that’s a perfect niche for Mis-sissippi to focus on. Ocean Springs has long been a creative community, starting with Wal-ter Anderson’s family in the 1920s. … What we are doing to support that is honor what people value as art. We have just renovated the community center where Anderson painted his murals. He painted them for $1, and now they are worth $30 million, and thousands of people come to view the murals. … There has been a lot of hands-on influence that myself and the board of alderman have had, … but we can’t do it all ourselves, so we partner with other civic organizations.

What will be the treasurer’s role in overseeing state bonds? The state bond commission is made up of three people: the governor, attorney gen-eral and state treasurer. They take a look at the bond projects that are passed and authorized by the Legislature. They determine which

projects are really necessary. … The bond commission has input on the types of projects that go forward, and that’s huge.

Do you think anything about the process should change? I think it’s a bit convoluted. Right now, the projects first go to the Mississippi Development Authority, and MDA passes a resolution with the projects that are then presented to the bond commission. It’s not a transparent process when you have some projects that the Legislature passes, and somehow, by the time it hits MDA, it is transformed into something else. The fact that the governor can pull something off the agenda without the other members hav-ing any say-so, I think that needs to change. That gives one person too much power.

Regarding the special session, some legislators complained that they did not receive notice before deciding whether to use taxpayer money to fund projects. That’s not unusual. I remember when I was running the state European office for MDA, we were very competitive to get the Mercedes-Benz project. We offered a very lucrative package to try and bring them to the state, and then suddenly, at the drop of a hat, the governor of Alabama called a special session and matched our project plus $80 million in incentives. In order to entice a project, it’s not uncommon for a governor to call a special session without any warning. It’s how the competitive economic-development game is played.

What about doing due diligence? After all, we are still haunted by the defunct beef plant. You don’t want to commit millions of taxpayer dollars flying by the seam of your pants. It comes back to local entities and the state doing due diligence on projects before jerking the chain of the Legislature to cough up cash. Comment at www.jfp.ms.

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candidatedish by Lacey McLaughlin

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Email letters to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019, or mail to P.O. Box 5067, Jackson, Miss., 39296. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Or write a 300-600-word “Your Turn” and send it by email, fax or mail above with a daytime phone number. All submissions are subject to fact checks.

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Chef Fat Meat: “Cream-O-Wheat Man, Brother Hustle, Bubba Robinski, Ernest ‘Monday Night Football Head’ Walker, Rev. Vegan and I had an important meeting at the Vegetarian Church, International. We

discovered some shocking information about hunger in America. According to the world Hunger Education Service, 17.2 million households or 14.5 percent (approximately one in seven) were hungry, the highest number ever recorded in the United States. Also, in 1 percent of households with children, one or more of the children experienced a whole lot of hunger in which meals were irregular and food intake was below levels considered adequate by caregivers. And for the unemployed, the saying ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat’ is now a stark reality. “Therefore, we the Ghetto Science Team Hunger Task Force won’t stand by and watch the poor and middle classes starve. The Cream-O-Wheat Food Bank Foundation and Bubba Robinski’s Feed Our Famished Families Coali-tion will combine forces to provide hot bowls of Cream-O-Wheat and hearty Soy Protein Imitation Sausage Biscuit Sandwiches for children, seniors and adults. Brother Hustle will use his mobile food service and ‘Juicy Juice on Ice’ truck to offer lunch treats and refreshing drinks for the hungry masses. Also, Rev. Vegan and I will team up at the Vegetarian Church’s soup kitchen to feed the people vegetable soup and ‘Fat Meat’ sandwiches during ‘Chef Fat Meat’s Double Dip Recession Supper.’ “So, if you’re affected by the recession, come and break bread with your friends from the Ghetto Science Team Hunger Task Force.”

o p i n i n g , g r o u s i n g & p o n t i f i c a t i n gjfp op/ed

KEN STIGGERS

EDITORIAL

Breaking Bread

We’ve said it before: It’s tough to be even marginally progressive in Mis-sissippi. It’s as if the DNA of old habits has gotten into our water, and it won’t work itself out. Politicians in our state, right and (so-called) left, think the only way to win elections here is to play to the ridicu-

lous-right on about every issue, the rest of us be damned. Even a moderate Mississippian is supposed to just understand that—wink, wink—the only way to get public education even marginally funded or keep the crazies from taking over the entire state is for all of us to hold our noses and vote for candidates on Election Day who pander to the most right-wing ideologues who then end up keeping the state on the bottom. Guess what? It’s not working. Note the crazies taking over the state as ev-eryone panders to the extremists behind the “personhood” initiative or we listen to our Democratic attorney general extol the virtues of the death penalty even as DNA is releasing innocent “killers” from Parchman. It is as if we’re supposed to turn our even remotely educated brains off on Election Day, and to hear Democratic Executive Director Rickey Cole tell it, we’re supposed to start sending lots of little checks to the Democratic Party that couldn’t figure out how to run someone for secretary of state or lieutenant gover-nor while its chairman was off fighting about his wife’s affair. Meantime, this state is perhaps poised to be majority moderate/progressive statewide and even in national elections due to a very simple (and complicated) fact: our racial demographics. At 37 percent, we have the highest proportion of black residents in the nation, and most of them vote Democratic—or would if inspired to turn out for progress. But, let’s be frank: The Democratic Party in Mississippi is a disaster. It re-lied almost solely on donations from trial lawyers until one of its own, Ronnie Musgrove, sold his party up the river on “tort reform,” which was anything but evidence-based. (Google our 2003 “Hoodwinked” story to get the real skinny on that scam.) Its candidates pander to the radical right almost as much as Phil Bryant does (OK, not quite that much). And worse, it does little if anything to figure out how to inspire a new generation of voters of all races who do not hate government, but who do not go along with pretending to be a wingnut to get votes (and many, thus, take their brains and leave the state). In the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry (of all people) drew 63 percent of voters under 30 in Mississippi to Bush’s 36 percent—the highest proportion of any southern state including Texas and Florida, where the below-30 crowd chose Kerry only 52-48 over Bush. If that wasn’t a call for Democrats to stop playing wink-wink politics, nothing was. What did state Dems do with that informa-tion? Ignored it. As they keep doing to educated progressives.

The Dems’ Missed Chances

KAMIKAZE

Good Food for Good Work

There’s not much going on in Jackson that I don’t know about. I try to stay up to speed on all of the good things that the city has to offer, but occasionally, I’ll run

across something that really sparks my interest. It might be something that I never knew about at all. And of course, when I’m turned on to great things, I want to pass that good news on. Most recently, I joined the board for the downtown YMCA. Now you may be saying to yourself, “That’s no big deal.” Everyone knows about the YMCA, right? It’s the place we go to work out, lose weight and maybe take a swim. What a lot of people don’t know is that the YMCA provides so much more. I was impressed when I went to check out the downtown facility. I thought it would be just a place with exercise and weight machines. My visit ended up being an experience that changed my perception of the YMCA forever. The facilities are truly family friendly. The “Y” has grown to include child care, camps for special-needs kids, child-abuse prevention ser-vices, job training and even supervised visitation services. The YMCA even has specialized pro-grams for kids and seniors. And here I thought that it was just a place to pump iron and shoot baskets with a few friends. What stood out to me most on my tour was what I learned next: The YMCA developed a “Safe Haven” program that provides a resource for children and adult victims of domestic vio-lence. And it’s located right in the downtown

area. But I can’t forget about the Farish Street YMCA, which is still near and dear to me because of my connection to the area. I know how vital that lifeline is to the people of that area. The YMCA has the same challenge of oth-er non-profit organizations—specifically, mon-ey—finding the funding to keep its many great programs afloat. The “Y” survives on grants and what we can give. Recently, I thought of a good way you guys can help. My good buddies Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal over at Sal & Mookie’s (565 Tay-lor St., 601-368-1919) were gracious enough to name one of their new signature pizzas in my honor. The Franklin Street is the latest menu item available to Jacksonians. It includes ground turkey, creamed spinach, artichoke spread, moz-zarella, sharp yellow cheddar, tomatoes and cre-ole seasoning. But here’s the important part: During October and November, when you purchase a Franklin Street pizza at Sal & Mookie’s, you’ll automatically donate $2 to both the downtown and Farish Street YMCAs. That’s a couple of bucks that can add up to help maintain some of those great programs I mentioned earlier. In my humble opinion, anything to help our kids and seniors is a good thing. So round up your family and your appetite, and head down to Sal & Mookie’s. Order the Franklin Street, and join in a delicious way to give back to our community. And that’s the truth ... shonuff.

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Wednesday, Oct. 26, marks the 40th day. The Occupy Wall Street pro-testers in Zuccotti Park and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have been

playing tug-of-war for control of New York City’s streets. And the wave has washed over the entire globe. That’s right, even to Antarc-tica and right here in Jackson. This is what a modern revolution looks like. “The book you’re holding carries a message that your first instinct will be to distrust. That message is, we can change the world.” So reads Kalle Lasn’s “Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America,” first published in 1999. Estonian-born, Canadian-dwelling Lasn is the guy behind the fusion of art and activism that is the Adbusters Media Foundation. Through print media, video and Inter-net, Adbusters has been proponents of “culture jamming” for more than two decades, cam-paigning with the serious intent to infiltrate the mainstream against over-consumption and consumerism. The style is punchy and clever, also highly organized and strategized. Culture-jammer highlights include the promotion of “TV Turnoff Week” (Lasn has cited TV as a major mental-health problem) or “Buy Noth-ing Day” for the day after Thanksgiving rather than participation in the start of the holiday over-spending sprees. While opposing over-reliance on TV, partially because of rampant advertising, ob-vious and covert, the Adbusters team real-izes the functionality of working from within. They create “subvertising” for billboards and TV, pleas for paradigm shifts to our mental environments, and ask viewers—perhaps too aggressively sometimes, with frightening or disturbing images—to question their values. Though some of their anti-consumerism commercials never hit airwaves, the implica-tions rippled and planted seeds. True to its method of challenging the dominant economic, political and social re-gime, Adbusters launched “Occupy Wall Street” back in July. The Occupy Wall Street website says it’s not directly affiliated with Ad-busters, although the flint for the fire came from the magazine when it called for “20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.” The Internet helped spread the word, but the inspired action came from elsewhere. American history already has instances of this sort, from Vietnam War protests to civil rights to art collectives. Occupy protesters and home-less people alike are shacking up in “tent cit-ies.” Citizens donate food, bedding and other amenities. Occupiers clean up after themselves, play drums and guitar, do yoga, paint signs. But unrest and dissatisfaction aren’t new. As a country, we’ve been quite perturbed about our military involvement in Iraq (which is now finally over?) and Afghanistan, and about perceived political misconduct in gen-eral. Why haven’t people mobilized to this

scale for other issues? In fact, they have, in a different zone of the spectrum with the Tea Party, for instance. Must be something in the air. Now it’s also called “Occupy Everything” and “Occupy Together.” One critique of the revolution is for being too ambiguous or too broad in its complaints. Many want to know what the Occupiers want. Yet the movement has enormous support. The general ideology revolves around a critique of greed and eco-nomic corruption—tax breaks for the rich-est and bank bailouts—and outsourcing and loss of jobs. Famous folks are in on this, too, including artists, musicians, writers and some politicians, for that matter. Occupy Writers touts a list of supporters as long as the Mag-na Carta including Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Salman Rushdie and Alice Walker. Occupiers are wearing costumes, too: “corporate zombies,” people wearing masks from mainstream movies like “V for Vendetta” or “Scream,” or big coin-head masks. Protest-ers are taping dollar bills over their mouths. Anything symbolic and subversive goes. Occupy Wall Street even has its own printing press. When barred from using elec-tronic microphones and amplification systems without a permit—in the aptly named Liberty Plaza—the Occupy participants didn’t miss a beat. They spread the word like the foot sol-diers they are: Hundreds of people—in uni-son—literally repeated the speakers’ words, becoming “human megaphones.” The movement is swiftly evolving and taking on the character of its respective cities. Some places seem more playful, musical and whimsical. Others are more straight-up busi-ness, meeting and making points. Some cities report incidents of police brutality, though most arrests are peaceful if they happen at all. In Jackson, folks have held “general as-sembly” meetings of about 50 to 100 people in Smith Park since mid-October. Last week, a smaller group protested in front of the Uni-versity of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and another group has protested on the Coast. No matter the size, active and outspoken ex-pression and support can unify. In a sense, as wealthy and obese as our “super-powerful” country is, we are starving. Not just from radical economic imbalance, but for art and imagination. We are in the midst of newly recycled creative energy: opposition to the status quo, real voice and volume. Class war isn’t new, either, but in his book, Lasn prophetically stated that there is “growing discomfort for the gulf between the worlds of the rich and the poor.” Guess the discomfort coin has finally landed on its head. Charlotte Blom lives and writes in Hattiesburg where she also teaches in a GED preparation program at the South Mississippi Planning and Development District.

What Revolution Looks Like

CHARLOTTE BLOM

CORRECTION: In “Doing It For Jackson” (Vol. 10, No. 6), we incorrectly said that the Mississippi Arts Hour airs on WLEZ FM. The program is now on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The Jackson Free Press apologizes for the error.

Editor in Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

EDITORIALManaging Editor Ronni Mott News Editor Lacey McLaughlinAssistant Editor Valerie WellsReporter Elizabeth Waibel

Events Editor Latasha WillisEditorial Assistant LaShanda Phillips

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Writers Torsheta Bowen, Quita Bride, Marika Cackett, Scott Dennis, Bryan Flynn,

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Editorial Interns Brittany Kilgore, Sadaaf Mamoon, Hannah Vick

Consulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris

ART AND PHOTOGRAPHYArt Director Kristin Brenemen

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Editorial Cartoonists Mike Day, Chris ZugaPhotographers Christina Cannon,

Jert-rutha Crawford, Tate K. Nations, Jerrick Smith, Amile Wilson,

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Annual Halloween Bash& Costume Contest

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28TH$10 cover | Chad Wesley Band Live!

Halloween Drink Specials!

Mu sic L i s t i n g sOCT 26 | Shaun Patterson 9:30p

OCT 27 | Aaron Coker 9:30pOCT 29 | Amazin’ Lazy Boi 9:30pNOV 01 | Open Mic w/ Kenny Davis

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601.978.18396270 Old Canton Rd. Jackson, MS 39211

A decade ago, Johnny DuPree, while running for re-election to the For-rest County Board of Supervisors, answered a phone call from then-

Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove asking for help with his campaign for governor. DuPree, cruising toward re-election in south Mississippi, helped shepherd Mus-grove to area high-school football games and African American churches. By this time, DuPree had lost his fi rst bid for mayor of Hattiesburg and hadn’t de-cided whether to try again. The University of Southern Mississippi graduate helped many Democratic candidates connect with voters in the area and contributed his con-nections to Musgrove’s successful 1999 campaign seemed like second nature. The county supervisor couldn’t have imagined the foreshadowing happening at the time. For a year and a half now, DuPree, 57, has made those same requests, asking for help from people throughout the state, looking to be elected governor of Missis-sippi this Nov. 8. “It was a unique coincidence,” DuPree said recently of helping Musgrove reach out to voters. He was traveling from a Jackson cam-paign fundraiser back home to Hattiesburg. “Now, we’re doing the same thing.” Times have changed for DuPree, the state Democratic Party and the overall po-litical landscape compared to a decade ago. One of the more obvious changes: The

nation elected its fi rst black president. For DuPree, he’s now fi nishing his third term as mayor of Hattiesburg. However, a key question remains un-answered: At a time when convincing white voters to support even white Democrats is diffi cult, does the Mississippi Democratic Party have the organization in place to help a black man become governor?

Dem Dysfunction? The quip by the late American cowboy

and humorist Will Rogers about his politics never goes stale. “I’m not a member of an organized political party,” he said. “I’m a Democrat.” To the chagrin of Mississippi’s Yellow and Blue Dogs—Yellow Dogs are Demo-crats who would vote for a yellow dog over a Republican, and Blue Dogs are more con-servative Democrats who sometimes vote with Republicans—in most of the Magno-lia State’s 82 counties, Rogers’ humor still refl ects a grim reality. It’s easy to spot the dysfunction in to-day’s state Democratic Party. For starters, look at the top leadership post of party Chairman Jamie Franks, a failed lieutenant governor candidate and for-mer state representative from Mooreville in northeast Mississippi. While Franks should have been out fi nding potential candidates to run for statewide offi ce over the last couple years,

he spent time embroiled in a scandal in-volving his now-former wife Alisa’s extra-marital affair with another public offi cial. Earlier this year, news accounts quoted Franks as saying he felt “vindicated” after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against him fi led on behalf of Lee County School District Superintendent Mike Scott, who claimed Franks committed extortion by pressur-ing him to resign for having an affair with Franks’ wife. Jamie and Alisa Franks di-vorced in June 2010. Also distracting for Franks’ leadership role with the state party, he de-cided to run this year for his former seat in the state House of Representatives. He lost in the primary elec-tion after trashing a fellow Democrat, Mark DuVall, accusing him of not be-ing Mississippi—or pro-life—enough to represent his former district. Franks sounded like a Republican as he slammed his opponent for support-ing legislation limiting the use of unmarked cars in drug raids, saying DuVall had “stood up for drug dealers.”

“Over the past four

years, we have had somebody that has not stood up for Mississippi values, but some-body who has stood up for the values of some other state like California,” Franks said in a radio interview during the primary. Franks isn’t expected to seek another term as Democratic Party chairman when his term expires this year—probably to the dismay of Mississippi Republicans. To help clean up some of the mess within the state party, Franks called on pro-

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A Dim Future forState Dems?DuPree CampaignsAgainst the Tideby Robbie WardIllustration by Mike Day

forState Dems?

MIKE DAY

Ronnie Musgrove was the state’s last Democratic governor—and hurt the party’s funding by pushing “tort reform.”

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duce farmer and former state Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole to serve as executive director of the state party. Cole began in the position Aug. 29. Cole’s time in his previous party posi-tion coincided with Musgrove’s term in of-fice, 2000 to 2004, the last time Democrats had a strong grip on statewide offices. A Long Slog A self-described Yellow Dog Demo-crat, Cole is traveling the state again trying to rebuild his party’s organization and cred-ibility. Since he began his position about two months ago, Cole has logged 10,000 miles in his 2005 Crown Victoria, a retired highway patrol vehicle he bought at an auction two years ago. In 1999, Democrats held all non-federal, statewide offices ex-cept for auditor, held then by Phil Bryant, first appointed to the po-sition by former Gov. Kirk Ford-ice, the state’s first Republican to hold the state’s top government job since Reconstruction when the GOP was a very different party. Now, Democrats find them-selves on the losing end of this role reversal, holding only the statewide office of attorney general, held by Jim Hood, who supports the death penalty, the personhood anti-abor-tion initiative and other conserva-tive social positions. Compared to 2007 statewide primaries, about 400,000 voters voted in this year’s Democratic Pri-mary, nearly a 12 percent decrease. For Republicans, about 282,000 votes tallied in their primary, show-ing a nearly 43 percent increase. The trend looks even starker when compared to just 24 years ago. In 1987, 18,853 people voted in the Republican primary, while more than 800,000 voted in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cole’s streaks of gray hair, along with his conservative suit and yellow tie, may fool many people into thinking the Ovett native with a deep southern drawl has been around longer than his 45 years. Before sitting down in a booth at Harvey’s restaurant in Starkville, Cole handed me a news release from the Mis-sissippi Democratic Party questioning the homestead exemption filings of Republican Deborah Tierce of Fulton. “I like to go on offense when we can,” he said with a half grin. A Democratic Party activist since 1982, Cole enjoys the horse race of politics. He likes finding mistakes the opposition makes and isn’t afraid to exploit them, such as in a press release he sent out this week stat-ing that Republican candidate Steve Simp-son “should withdraw.” In it, Cole accused Simpson of falsifying state documents to pay for a $400 steak dinner. (An hour and two minutes later, an email from Simpson accused his opponent of “negative, personal attacks”—and asked for donations.

“I tend to think nice guys finish last,” Cole said. “The two party-system is impor-tant to keeping the other side on its toes.” Cole spoke candidly about the current state of the Mississippi Democratic Party. He didn’t hide his shame in the party fail-ing to field candidates for three statewide offices and high-quality, viable candidates for each of the eight statewide offices on the ballot in November. Along with Attorney General Hood and DuPree, other Democratic candidates for statewide elections appearing on the ballot include Ocean Springs Mayor Con-nie Moran for state treasurer, Pickens May-or Joel Gill for commissioner of agriculture

and commerce, and former Moss Point Mayor Louis Fondren for commissioner of insurance. “It’s embarrassing to not field a candi-date for the open seat of lieutenant governor,” Cole said. “It’s equally as embarrassing to field a candidate who doesn’t have a chance.” While some candidates like Gill have developed an air of unelectability, can-didates like Moran appears to be a solid choice with an impressive record—but with little party support. A decline in Democratic candidates, voters and organization says a lot, but that doesn’t cover all the state party’s pains these days. The “race issue” and lagging fundraising also continue to worry party insiders. Few people dispute that voting pat-terns in the South follow racial patterns, especially in Mississippi where 2008 exit polls showed that 88 percent of whites voted for John McCain of Arizona in the presidential election, while 98 percent of blacks supported Barack Obama of Illinois. African Americans comprise 37 percent of the state’s population, the highest propor-tion of blacks in any state. But compared with the white population of more than 59 percent, which is overwhelmingly Repub-

lican these days, voting along strictly racial lines makes Democrats a long-term minor-ity party, literally and figuratively. Democrats in the state don’t seem have a confident response when asked if whites will vote for a black Democratic gubernato-rial candidate. “We’ll find out on Election Day,” Cole said simply.

Southern Strategy Don’t forget that the party of civil-rights activists Aaron Henry and Fannie Lou Hamer also shares roots with segre-gationists Jim Eastland and Ross Barnett. However, most of the political grandchil-dren of Eastland and Barnett have migrated

to the state GOP, part of Richard Nixon’s southern strategy to appeal to white racists in the Democratic Party. By the time Ronald Reagan—with young Republican strategist Haley Barbour cheering him on—borrowed the approach for drawing white southerners to the so-called “Party of Lincoln,” language had become less racially overt, with phrases like “states’ rights” replacing the overt bigotry of Barnett and friends. “State’s rights” became code for a position by many segregationists and those who opposed civil-rights legisla-tion, claiming that each state should have the right to decide for itself whether to in-tegrate public schools and other laws that benefited African Americans. Jackson State University professor and head of its Department of Political Science D’Andra Orey said the late political scien-tist V.O. Key’s racial-threat theory explains why Mississippi politics has become more racially polarized. “In high concentration areas of blacks, whites felt threatened that they would lose their power in the Demo-cratic Party. Many of those conservative, white Democrats have realigned with the Republican Party,” he said. Differences remain between blacks

and many white Mississippians still in the Democratic Party. Marty Wiseman, direc-tor of Mississippi State University’s Sten-nis Institute of Government, said one key difference between many black and white Democratic candidates seeking office in-volves a willingness to associate with the na-tional Democratic Party. Most white Dem-ocrats keep their distance from Washington and the national party, even as Republicans try to connect them at every turn, especially on signs at the Neshoba County Fair draw-ing parallels between white candidates and black Democrats such as Obama and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson. Wiseman said hot-button, national is-

sues like abortion and gun control have most white Democrats hold-ing national party leaders at more than an arm’s length. Black Democrats in the state, however, remain comfortable asso-ciating with national Democrats, particularly Obama, who turned a record number of them out to vote for him. As for shared po-litical values, blacks and whites in the Democratic Party today have more in common than ever before, including conservative views on issues like abortion and gay mar-riage. “Black Democrats are fairly indistinguishable from Southern whites with religion, church affili-ation and so on,” Wiseman said. “Liberals in Mississippi are few and far between regardless of color.” “Many of the conservative Democrats left over from the seg-regationist era have crossed over to the Republican Party,” Wise-man said. “So not nearly the split remains in the Democratic Party

that did exist.”

Defending the Social Contract Cole said segregationists migrating to the GOP helped the Democratic Party focus on “Democratic values” that make sense for Mississippi voters, although the party execu-tive director refuses to give examples of those values. Instead, he says Democrats generally value people in communities working to-gether for common goals while Republicans tend to be more individualistic. “We’re the defenders of the social con-tract,” Cole said of Democrats. “You won’t hear me give a laundry list of what it means.” As for long-term plans, Cole sees the Mississippi Democratic Party’s role as the appropriate structure to expand the Demo-cratic base in the state as close to 50 percent as possible. To recruit more Democratic ac-tivists, he believes it’s vital to not pay atten-tion to labels or identification like conserva-tive or liberal, rich or poor, black or white. He said they should come from all walks of life, incomes levels, shapes and colors. “One thing about Mississippi Demo-

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Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree is running as a conservative Democrat—representing a very disorganized and adrift party. He is also running in a state where many white Democrats may not vote for a black man.

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crats,” Cole said, “they certainly defy all stereotypes,” describing a “potbelly farmer” like himself as an example. The state party under Cole’s leadership will further develop databases of voter infor-mation to help candidates and party leaders identify Democratic voters and those who could be swayed to vote for Democratic candidates, he promised. Using social me-dia and new technology to target people to support Democratic candidates also will play a role in expanding the party in the state, while Cole still places heavy emphasis on having the party’s presence seen and felt at functions and events all over the state. “We have to do a better job of market-ing,” Cole said. “I think we have a competi-tive brand, but we have to do better.”

The Elusive ‘Middle’ “The gold right now is in the middle,” Cole says of independents in the state. Political scientist Wiseman said while surveys show 50 to 60 percent of the state’s voters identify as Republican, that number can mislead. “Regardless of what they say, Mississippi is at least half or better indepen-dent in reality, although it leans Republi-can,” he said. “Basically, the bulk of Missis-sippians prove to vote independently.”

So which issues resonate with indepen-dents? Is it social issues like abortion and opposition to gay marriage as so many Re-publicans and Democrats seem to believe? Not according to this state Democratic Party veteran. “Everybody I talk to is con-cerned with the economy,” Cole said. “Mis-sissippi’s unemployment went up again last month. We’re seeing some pretty desperate times all over the country.” State Democratic Party leaders see eco-nomic issues as key to regaining some of the political ground lost in recent years. They see job creation and getting the unemployed working again as key issues—issues that don’t seem to be resonating on Democrats’ behalf in today’s Mississippi. When asked how state Democrats have communicated

these ideas and positions, Cole resisted, say-ing he had only in his position for a few months.

Legacy of ‘Tort Reform’ The question on many minds today is: Can Mississippi Democrats fi nd the right formula to win more than a single statewide election, if that, in November? At least one answer is: They may not be able to afford it—especially against Re-publican opponents who are well funded by business interests backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Political parties and individual candidates need resources to help get the public’s attention and reach in-dependent voters—and Mississippi Demo-crats’ main source of cash dried up, starting on a Democratic watch earlier this decade. Ronnie Musgrove’s term as the last Democratic governor isn’t a coincidence to many political observers. He seemed to commit Democratic Party treason by pro-moting “tort reform”—the phrase most commonly applied to limiting the fi nancial compensation juries can award to plaintiffs in excess of actual damages. To many Mississippi plaintiff attor-neys, often called trial lawyers, Musgrove—a lawyer—bit the hand that fed him and other Democrats. He led the effort that re-sulted in slashing incomes of the most gen-erous donors to the Democratic Party—a result astute political watchers know is one of the major goals of tort reform. Recounting the Aug. 23, 2002, break-fast between Musgrove and trial lawyers who had supported him, the book “Missis-sippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006” described the governor explaining to his key fi nancial contributors that political pressure had become too much to ignore. “Now a Democratic governor would begin the process by which the single larg-est source of funding for Democratic candi-dates would be permanently undermined,” Jackson-based Democratic consultant and co-author Jere Nash wrote.

Nash, citing connections to candidates in the Nov. 8 election, declined to comment for this story. Wiseman elaborated, however, saying that Musgrove thought the media spotlight on a number of multi-million-dollar jury awards in places like Jefferson County caused massive pressure to pass tort reform. Phrases like “jackpot justice,” repeated often in state media such as The Clarion-Ledger, created public senti-ment for limits on punitive jury awards. (The media fi xation on “runaway juries” ignored evi-dence, published by the Gov-ernment Accounting Offi ce of Congress and other research-ers, that “lawsuit abuse” was overblown by business inter-ests and the GOP in states

including Mississippi.) Musgrove responded to the hype by getting behind tort reform. “They were fl abbergasted that one of their own would open legislation like this,” Wiseman said of trial attorneys. After Musgrove lost the governor’s mansion to longtime GOP strategist and lobbyist Haley Barbour, the state’s second Republican governor intensifi ed tort reform that the Democrat started, further decreas-ing income for trial lawyers—and contri-butions to state Democratic candidates. “He’s a master of unleveling the play-ing fi eld in a legal way,” Wiseman said of Haley Barbour. “He knew signing tort re-form would end up cutting down the mon-ey available to the trial lawyers, who were 90 percent Democrat.”

Cole, taking a circumspect approach to Mississippi Democrats’ fundraising prob-lems, said the state Democratic Party made a giant mistake years before Musgrove’s spe-cial session by largely counting on a single source of donations. “No political party should depend large-ly on one business sector, one interest group for its revenue,” he said. “It didn’t serve the party well or the trial lawyers, either.” For Democrats depending so much on trial lawyers, the party gambled by not diver-sifying and reaching out to more types of po-tential donors. “If all of the doctors in Mis-sissippi had their income cut by two-thirds, the Mississippi Republican Party would still be funded,” he said. For Democrats to gain enough resources to help candidates stay competitive, they will need to broaden fundraising nets to include smaller donors. Cole said the state party’s biggest revenue stream will soon be repeat donors, many giving $10 to $25 month. He has a goal of having 1,000 donors contribute $10 a month by 2012. Now, 140 contribu-tors give that much each month. Cole believes more small donations will come as the public sees a more orga-

nized, aggressive Mississippi Democratic Party. “People don’t want a political party that rolls over and plays dead,” he said. “We’re not going to do that anymore.” And as if anyone could forget, the state economy continues to sag, making fundraising even more diffi cult and $200 or less donations even more critical. “The way you do it is to ask, ask, ask,” Cole said. Wiseman says the Democratic Party must rebuild almost from the ground up. He points out how few young people seem attracted to the Mississippi Democratic Party now. “As support is galvanized by the Democratic Party, that will begin happen-ing with young people,” Wiseman said. “I’m saying this in the context of ‘when’ it happens, but there’s probably a question of ‘if ’ it happens, too.”

Hell Freezing Over? While hell didn’t freeze over when the nation’s electorate chose an African Ameri-can for president, it’s hard not to wonder what will happen if Mississippi—the most Dixie of southern states—elects a black man to the state’s highest offi ce. Will the sky open up and lightning strike everyone who made it happen? Will property values plummet from Southaven to Madison to Bay St. Louis? Will all busi-nesses leave the state in search of a place with elected offi cials with less melanin? After all, that’s what happens when cit-ies elect African Americans as mayors, right? Just look at Hattiesburg—a city of 45,989 residents and home to the Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University—since DuPree began leading the city in 2001. When the father of two daughters de-cided to run for mayor of the Hub City, a number of whites throughout the city whis-pered that crime would run rampant and property values would drop.

Twenty-fi ve-year Hattiesburg resident Paul Laughlin, a trust offi cer at a local bank, recalls hearing whites in the city voice concerns about a black man elected to run the city, including fears that a black mayor would be soft on crime. Not true, said Laughlin, who is white. “They seem as zealous in curbing crime as much as their predecessors did,” he said of the DuPree administration. Laughlin hasn’t made up his mind on who will get his vote for governor in just under three weeks, but he has appreciated seeing growth and progress in the Hub City during DuPree’s time in offi ce. He especially appreciates the community’s focus on renovating proper-ties around the downtown train depot, a place in disrepair for decades. “There was a reputation that down-town was a high-crime area,” Laughlin said. “People have realized that’s not the case.” When Allan McBride—chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Political Science, Interna-

DEMS, see page 19

DEMS, from page 15

White Republicans dominate the decisions of the supposedly Democratic state Senate and are working hard to control the House as of next year. It’s uncertain whether Democrats can stop them.

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tional Development and International Af-fairs—moved to Hattiesburg in 1996, he and his wife, a public school teacher, found the community’s support for public schools a big draw. He stills sees a group of commit-ted parents, teachers and an engaged com-munity supporting public schools. McBride also appreciates downtown revitalization ef-forts and business growth in the city. “If DuPree hasn’t been specifi cally responsible for this, he certainly hasn’t blocked it,” McBride said. “That’s also a sign of leadership.” In his third term, DuPree enjoys shar-ing Hattiesburg’s story. Addressing groups, festivals and other gatherings throughout the state, he talks about jobs that have come to his city even as the nation struggles economically. “Healthier, more edu-cated, wealthier—that’s for formula for getting rid of poverty,” he said at a banquet in Booneville for the Eliza Pillars organization, a black nursing association. “All of us want the same things,” he said at the nurses’ banquet. “We all want a bet-ter community.” The audi-ence responded to his mes-sage, applauding. Contrary to skeptics’ warnings, DuPree’s record in Hattiesburg shows an African American can lead a pros-perous city, even help grow it stronger. DuPree brags on his city—pointing out that the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Foundation of Mississippi named Hattiesburg the larg-est, healthiest city in the state this year, how the city has pri-oritized healthy infrastructure like bike paths and sidewalks, how the citywide smoking ban has helped freshen up everybody’s air.

“Just this month, a Hattiesburg neigh-borhood made history as the fi rst in the state highlighted in the American Planning Association’s annual list of 10 great neigh-borhoods,” DuPree told the Booneville nursing banquet. He kept gushing about his city and the partnerships that made progress possible. “It took us three years, and we brought every-body to the table,” DuPree said. “But now, we have a smoke-free city. We have some of the best neighborhoods in the state. We have more jobs, and we didn’t raise taxes.”

Rock Star Candidate As DuPree campaigns throughout the

state with his wife, daughters and grandson joining whenever they can, crowds of Afri-can Americans greet him with a rock star’s welcome. At JSU’s homecoming football game weeks ago, large pockets of supporters in the crowd cheered for him almost as loud-

ly as when the Tigers scored a touchdown. Fans in the crowd stopped him to have their photos taken with him. Others shouted “DuPree” and “Governor” as he passed. Many in the black community say DuPree represents much more than a long-shot politician facing a mighty challenge against the GOP’s juggernaut (and Tea Party-courting) nominee, Phil Bryant, the current lieutenant governor. Older African Americans and their children in the state say DuPree brings something to Mississippi they never thought they would live to see—a man with their skin color running for the state’s highest offi ce, who decades ago would get

the hell beat out of him, even murdered, just for trying to vote. Sheaneter Johnson, 53, a Nettleton native who attended DuPree’s speech in Booneville, sees this election as important as ever for the African American commu-nity to elect one of their own as governor. “Because of people who died before us to make this happen, we have to keep car-rying on their voices,” Johnson said. “We have to make this happen.” From black nursing organizations to churches to fraternities, African Ameri-cans in Mississippi seem focused and ready to help elect Mississippi’s fi rst governor of color. DuPree’s deputy campaign manager, Tyrone Hendrix, spoke like a man on a mission. His background as the Mississippi director of Organizing for America—Presi-dent Obama’s political organizing group, now a part of the Democratic National Committee—has prepared Hendrix for fi nding as many people in the state who may consider voting for Mayor DuPree.

But will a hyper-focused campaign of organizing be good enough to win? When asked if enough whites will vote for him, DuPree pointed to his time in Hattiesburg. “All I can do is what I’m doing,” he said. “I have a history of working with people from all walks of life and was elected by votes from people of many different groups.” Hendrix sounded confi dent when asked about whites in the state being will-ing to choose the Hattiesburg mayor over GOP nominee Bryant. “If anything we’ve seen in the last few weeks is an indicator, we’ll have signifi cant white vote—not just white Democrats, but independents and Republicans,” he said.

“People look at Mayor DuPree’s record and see he’s the best can-didate.” Driving a Wedge? Voters will decide Nov. 8 more than just which candidate they want in offi ce. They will also decide on three separate initia-tives related to eminent domain, voter identifi cation and a legal defi nition of “personhood.” All political observers con-tacted for this story expect each initiative to pass. However, which candidates and party will benefi t the most from them on the ballot remains unclear. While DuPree and Bryant both endorsed the personhood amendment to the state consti-tution, religious fundamental-ists have strong support for it, while many moderates, liberals, medical professionals and even clergy oppose it. Some concerns include unintended conse-quences related to how the legal defi nition of personhood can af-fect procedures such as in vitro fertilization and block common

forms of birth control. Bryant supports voter ID, and DuPree is against it. During the most recent leg-islative session, the House and the Senate passed a bill requiring identifi cation before voting, but Gov. Barbour vetoed it because of his opposition to a provision that would also allow early voting. Voter ID has become a political hot but-ton for Republicans who say it will help curb voter fraud (although voter fraud tends to be with absentee ballots, which wouldn’t be af-fected), and for older African Americans—a staple in the Democratic Party base—who still have sharp memories of poll taxes and other trickery used to disqualify them from voting many decades ago. As for the eminent-domain initiative, it seems to be the least partisan of all on the ballot, Wiseman said. This populist referendum fi rst received support from the farming community, specifi cally Mississippi Farm Bureau. If passed, it will limit govern-ment’s authority to take individuals’ prop-

erty for the purpose of private, commercial projects. Bryant and DuPree have both en-dorsed this initiative, while Gov. Barbour opposes it, saying the change would hurt economic development of future large proj-ects such as automotive plants. Beyond Election Day

Before state Democratic Party Execu-tive Director Rickey Cole left that Starkville restaurant for Jackson, he seemed defi ant in a state whose political landscape has changed so much in recent years. “Republicans have succeeded too of-ten because we’ve conceded the fi eld,” he said. “As we make changes, it’s going to be less easy for them to win by default.” The Mississippi Democratic Party has found a fi ghter in Johnny DuPree. Weeks from the general election, he and his wife, Johniece, continue to visit as many festivals, football games, coffee shops and all other sorts of events dotted all over the state. Having the same position as Repub-lican Bryant on the personhood initiative, DuPree has positioned himself as fairly conservative on social issues; however, he stands traditionally Democratic on the is-sue of education. These stands can’t hurt DuPree in the eyes of some whites who would consider voting for a Democrat. Wiseman said one of DuPree’s possible strategies to winning could involve staunch support for public education and support for the state employee retirement system (PERS), whose future remains uncertain after Gov. Barbour created a group to study changing it.

Even with aches and pains from the campaign trail, DuPree said no one should expect him to slow down before Election Day. He mentioned his days of running track in high school. He didn’t run to the fi nish line; he ran “through” it. “That’s been my attitude about this campaign from day one,” he said. As the DuPree campaign gathers at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg the night of Nov. 8, they and the rest of the state will fi nd out if organiz-ing efforts accomplished enough support to win the governor’s mansion. For the Mississippi Democratic Party, this election’s results will give party leaders an idea of how much rebuilding they have to do—and perhaps how. Rickey Cole has an idea of what needs to happen to win elections, but he knows it will take resourc-es, racial unity and optimism. For now, he counts just showing up as a small victory. “I don’t have to be a magician,” he said. “This isn’t rocket science, but we’re all looking for the winning formula.”

Read more campaign coverage and can-didate interviews at jfppolitics.com. Disclosure: While a student at USM, freelance journalist Robbie Ward campaigned for DuPree’s second mayoral campaign. Later, he became an editor of USM’s school paper and started covering DuPree as a journalist.

DEMS, from page 16

Gov. Barbour signed on to the “southern strategy” alongside President Reagan as a way to recruit white southerners to the GOP.

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“Greetings, animals.” A gaunt witch stared through the television screen at late-night viewers in Jackson, taunting

them for several years in the early 1970s. Long before “Elvira” or countless other late-night horror-movie hosts, Jackson had its own mistress of the night. Scarticia hosted “Horrible Movie,” a weekly scary movie series on Saturdays on WAPT Channel 16 starting in 1971, showing classic monster fi lms. For many viewers, the show was their fi rst introduction to fi lms like “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “Wolf-man” (1941), “The Mummy” (1932), “King Kong” (1933), “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) and “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935). Scarticia was a most unpleasant wom-an with a wicked and dark sense of humor. The actress was Annette (who refuses to

give her last name), a secretary at WAPT. She had a sidekick, Scoop Gravely, who was sort of her servant and a grave-digger. Legendary local dee-jay Ed Hob-good played the role. Scoop wore a fedora with a “press” card stuck in the side—he was always trying to get a scoop on a su-pernatural story. Soon, teens and older folks began hav-ing “Horrible Movie” parties. Scarticia and Scoop introduced the fi lm and came back on before and after each commercial break. They would say how stupid the movie was and make fun of the actors and even the fans who wrote in with a stunning amount of fan mail each week. The nastier the hosts were, the more we liked it. The show ended in 1974, and Scar-ticia disappeared. Annette spent 40 years in the TV business and retired to an un-disclosed town. She had some fi nal words for her old fans: “Rock on, animals.”

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Scoop Gravely, left, and the mysterious Scarticia hosted “Horrible Movie” in the early 1970s on WAPT. The short-lived series still has a cult following in Jackson.

Green Slime2 mixing bowlsmeasuring cupsspoons1 cup glue4 teaspoons boraxgreen food coloringwarm water

Mix together three-quarters cup warm water, glue and sev-eral drops of green food coloring in the fi rst bowl. In the second bowl, combine four teaspoons borax and one-and-one-third cup of warm water. Pour the contents of the fi rst bowl in the second bowl. Do not stir. Let it stand for one minute, then lift the “slime” out of the bowl. Use plastic bags to store your slime. Divide the slime so that each child has a piece to play with. Keep away from children younger than 3 because borax is toxic in large doses. Tell children to not eat the slime.

Veggie Skeletonsliced red pepperscarrot sticksbroccolicherry tomatoescucumbercelery stickscaulifl owerolivesranch dip

Using creativity and imagination, create a skeleton out of the vegetables above or any variety of vegetables you might have on hand. Use caulifl ower or broccoli chunks for the skeleton’s hands and feet. Slice the cucumber and use the slices for the torso. Carrot and celery sticks are perfect for making its shoulders, arms and legs. Cherry tomatoes can serve as knees and elbows. Use olives for the eyes and a bowl of ranch dip for the head.

Paper Mice, Spiders and Batsblack or orange construction paperscissorsassorted colors of paint paint brushes

On construction paper, draw mice, spiders and bats. Paint to decorate creepy creatures with eyes and elaborate designs. Cut out the drawings and tape them strategically around your house with masking tape. What are your Halloween party suggestions for a wholesome gathering? Comment at www.jfp.ms.

DIY: Healthy, Green Halloweenby LaShanda Phillips

Hosting a healthy Halloween party for kids is a great way to have fun without inviting cavities, obesity and other health problems. TOPS Club Inc., a nonprofi t weight-loss support organization, suggests limiting candy consumption by eating a nutritious meal before the treats and substituting fruit and nuts for sugary snacks. Plan craft stations for little guests, where they can focus on creating something fun instead of

eating junk. Here are three easy and fun DIY ideas from TOPS Club Inc.

CONRAD BAKER

Scarticia of Jacksonby Steve Patrick

8 DAYS p 28 | MUSIC p 32 | SPORTS p 36HALLOWEEN C

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Proceeds directly benefi t under served children with vision issues.

The Zombies are... coming to FONDRENMississippi Optometric Foundation & Southern Optical presents

The First AnnualZombie Charity Crawl, Family Festival & Prom

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Zombie Charity Crawl & Family Festival5:30p.m. - 7:30p.m. | Duling Green

FREE! • Costume Contest • Pumpkin DecoratingTrick-or-Treating • “Get Zombiefi ed” Tent • Infl atables

Zombie Prom featuring The Jason Turner Band8:00p.m. - 11:00p.m.Duling Hall(formerly The Auditorium)21 & Up, Call 601.853.4407 for Tickets (Next door to McDades Market Extra)

Mon. - Sat., 10 am - 9 pm • Maywood Mart Shopping Center 1220 E. Northside Dr. • 601-366-5676 • www.mcdadeswineandspirits.com

Always Drink Responsibly

Come Check Out Our Booo....tiful Selection of

Black Rock Wine.

Get your tools

for the Apocalypse

at the hardware store.

AVOID HOSPITALS:

the zombie virus

outbreak central!

AVOID POWER PLANTS!

Rogues & bandits

gather here.

Old neighborhoods

like Fondren often

have hidden

bomb shelters

you can

hide in.

The local locksmith’s

shop can help you

open doors.

Fresh scents

may help

confuse the

zombies

Go to Butterfly Yoga

to ‘zen’ the

zombies away.

Press your Zombie

woes away.

Hit the local

grocer for

canned goods.

Gather with

survivors in

a safe place.

Go to Butterfly Yoga

confuse the

Gather with

survivors in

a safe place.

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Rd

Lakeland Dr

Duling AveM

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n Pl

Taylor St

Lorenz Blvd

Fondren Pl

Mitchell Ave

Hartfield St

N S

tate

St

AVOID HOSPITALS:

the zombie virus

Get your tools

Get your tools

for the Apocalypse

for the Apocalypse

at the hardware store.

at the hardware store.

shop can help you

open doors.

Mitchell Ave

Hit the local

hide in.

AVOID POWER PLANTS!

AVOID POWER PLANTS!

Press your Zombie

woes away.

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20% OFF Total Bill Tues - Thur Only

-Wood Fired Brick Oven Pizzas--Hookahs on a Beautiful Patio--Now Serving Lebanese Wine-

-Now Serving Spirits-

1896 Main Street, Ste A in Madison601-853-0876 • mezzams.com

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Proceeds benefi t NAMI Mississippi, the local chapter

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Join JFP’s team or donate at bit.ly/jfpnami11

Drink Specials

Oct 27-31Samhain

CelebrationsMonday Oct. 31st

8p-10pFree Costume Contest &

Superhero Karaoke

$200Grand Prize & more cash

prizes!Visit our Facebook

for details!

Drink

WEDNESDAY 10/26Liver Mousse(Indie Rock 8pm)

THURSDAY 10/27Spirits of ! e House(Traditional Irish Music) 8pmYazoo Brewery Pub Crawlers visit the pub at 10pm with free swag!FRIDAY 10/28Buie, Hammon & Porter(Classic Rock 9pm)

Cheer the arrival of ! e Jackson Bike Association 6:30pm

SATURDAY 10/29! e Bailey Brothers(Rock & Blues 9pm)

MONDAY 10/31Superhero Karaoke 8pm Free Costume Contest 8pm-10pm Annoucing Winners 11pm $200 Grand PrizeTUESDAY 11/01

Open Mic hosted byJason Bailey

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Picture this: An intrepid medical student from a local university gets permission to examine the most prized artifact in the state’s history museum: a centuries-old Egyptian mummy. The stu-

dent, simply taking part in an adven-turous exercise to further his medical studies, makes a startling discovery that shocks the city and the antiqui-ties community. Was the mummy that of an im-portant Egyptian ruler? Nope. Was the mummy adorned in valuable jewels and gold? Nope. Was the mummy a total fake, filled with everyday items like nails and newspaper? Yep. In the 1920s, someone donated a purportedly authentic mummy to the Mississippi Department of Ar-chives and History. For years, it was the most popular exhibit at the new Capitol building, where state officials displayed artifacts before the Old Capitol Museum opened in the 1960s. “I’ve had people tell me stories about how they used to go visit the mummy every Sunday after church,” said Clay Williams, director of the Old Capitol Museum, add-ing that it was a key display in Jackson during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Then, in 1967, a University of Mississippi Medical Center student X-rayed the mummy as a research project. That’s when the whole thing unraveled.

“Surprisingly, I wasn’t sur-prised,” said Dr. Gentry Yeatman, who was the young med student who revealed the mummy as a fraud. “When we turned it over and closely examined the mummy, it was clearly not real. We even saw German-print newspaper shreddings.” Instead of being cast aside as a sham, though, the mummy remains a popular attraction at the Old Capitol Museum. Now every October, the museum resurrects the mummy as a tribute to days gone by when people thought it was something more than a dirty bag of cloth filled with rubbish. “The ‘Dummy Mummy’ has a strong connection to the city of Jack-son. I think a lot of its appeal is just

nostalgia … nostalgia and curiosity. That’s why we pull it out around Halloween and the State Fair,” Williams said. What started off as intriguing as a Dan Brown novel turned out to be as silly as a Brendan Fraser movie. The “Dummy Mummy” on display throughout October at the Old Capitol Museum (100 S State St., 601-576-6902). Admis-sion is free.

“Dracula” Oct. 25-Nov. 6, at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel about a vampire’s siege on residents in 19th-century London. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25-29 and Nov. 2-5, and 2 p.m. Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. $25, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222.

Events at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Call 601-352-2580.• Boo at the Zoo Oct. 27-29, 5-8 p.m.

Trick-or-treat at more than 30 stations and enjoy a haunted hayride, a play area, a costume contest, a visit from Inky the Clown, movies, and train and carousel rides. $9, $6 children 12 and under; members: $7, $4 children under 12.

• Pumpkin Smash at the Zoo Oct. 29, times TBA. Watch the animals enjoy special pumpkin treats for Halloween. $9, $8.10 seniors, $6 children ages 2-12, members and babies free.

Family Fall Fest Oct. 27, 5 p.m., at Pearl Public Library (2416 Old Brandon Road, Pearl). Enjoy games, crafts, a haunted alley and a Halloween scavenger hunt. Free; call 601-932-2562.

The Monster Monologues Oct. 27-31, at Warehouse Theatre (1000 Monroe St.). Fondren Theatre Workshop presents the play about 13 monsters who discuss their issues at another monster’s funeral. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. with two bonus shows at 10 p.m. Oct. 28-29. For ages 12 and up. Limited seating; RSVP. Costumes encour-aged. $13, $10 students and seniors 60 and older; call 601-301-2281.

Fathom Thriller Thursdays Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., at Tinseltown (411 Riverwind Drive, Pearl). See the films “Butterfinger the 13th”

at 7:30 p.m. and “Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story” at 8:15 p.m. $11.50, $10.50 seniors and students, $9.50 chil-dren.; call 601-936-5856.

Bravo II: Hitchcock at Halloween Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra performs pieces such as “Funeral March of a Marionette,” “Ritual” and “Symphonie Fantastique.” $20 and up; call 601-960-1565.

Blocktober Oct. 29, 8 p.m., at Congress Street. The Downtown Neighborhood Asso-ciation’s annual Halloween block party includes a costume contest with cash prizes and music from the Southern Comfort Brass Band. Free admission; call 601-941-2567.

“Ghouls Night Out” Triple Record Release Show Oct. 29, 9 p.m., at Hal & Mal’s (200 S. Commerce St.). T.B. Ledford, Wooden Finger and The Weeks perform to celebrate their new albums. Cathead Vodka provides spook-inspired drinks. Costumes welcome. For ages 18 and up. $10; visit esperanzaplantation.com.

E.C. Puffin’s Haunted Burlesque Oct. 29, 9 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). Performers include the Magic City Sirens and Jezabelle von Jane. For ages 18 and up. Also enjoy house music from deejays Charles Faulk, Scott Swanner and Patrick Duvall. $20; call 601-376-9005.

“Rocky Horror Picture Show” Oct. 29, 10 p.m., at Heroes and Dreams (5352 Hwy 25 Suite #1650). Enjoy a drive-in style screening of the film. Free; call 601-992-3100.

Pumpkin Trail Oct. 30, dusk, at Clinton Community Nature Center (617 Dun-ton Road, Clinton). $2, free for children under 3; call 601-926-1104.

“Paranormal Inactivity.” The Detectives Mystery Dinner Theatre presents the four-act interactive comedy. RSVP. Call 601-291-7444.• Oct. 30, 7 p.m., at Mint (1000 Highland

Colony Parkway, Suite 5002). Call for details.

• Oct. 31, 7 p.m., at Kismet’s Restaurant (315 Crossgates Blvd. #G). $39.

Halloween—City of Jackson Obser-vance Oct. 31. The city of Jackson des-ignates Oct. 31 as the night for trick or treating this year. Call 601-960-2378.

The Mummy Returns through Oct. 31, at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). The famous “Mummy” returns to the museum for Halloween. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. Free; call 601-576-6920.

Fall Harvest Festival Oct. 31, 5 p.m., at Woodland Hills Baptist Church Gym (3327 Old Canton Road). The event fea-tures trick-or-treating, games and refresh-ments. Costumes encouraged. Free; call 601-981-1441.

Havana Halloween Oct. 31, 6 p.m., at Underground 119 (119 South President Street). In the parking lot. Enjoy music from Raphael Semmers, salsa dancing and lessons, and Carmen Miranda and Ernest Hemingway costume contests. Bring a carved pumpkin and receive a free mojito. Free; call 601-352-2322.

Find and add more events at jfpevents.com.

MD

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Halloween Happenings

The Dummy Mummy Returns by Andrew Ousley

The Mummy is part of Jackson lore.

HALLOWEEN

Vampires these days, quite frankly, are dread-ful. Between the ersatz southern drawls on “True Blood” to the sparkly emo-ness of “Twilight,” vampires have become annoy-

ingly overused. Count Dracula, however, will eternally be cool. New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St., 601-948-3531) presents him in all his gory glory with its production of “Dracula,” running Oct. 25 to Nov. 6. Francine Thomas Reynolds directs the show, which is based on a Steven Dietz adaptation. Reyn-olds, creative director at New Stage since 2006, is aware of the frustrating popularity of vampires, but she says this adaptation is faithful to Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. “It’s a complex production with some very psychological themes, but I just knew we could pull it off,” she says. Reynolds describes the play as sensual and puzzling, not macabre. “The idea of transferring blood and eternal life personified reveals some very powerful aspects of human nature,” she says. Tickets are $25 with discounts for students, se-nior citizens and groups. !ose attending the play in costume will receive a $3 discount on the ticket price at the Saturday, Oct. 29, performance. Also, New Stage is o"ering a $5 discount to anyone donating blood to Mississippi Blood Services on Oct. 31. For ticket information and more, visit newstagetheatre.com.

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Randolph Curtis Rand stars as Dracula and Kerri Courtney Sanders as Lucy at New Stage.

No Sparkle, No Twang: Just Biteby Andrew Ousley

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WEDNESDAY 10/26 Charlie Townsend performs during Live at Lunch at 11:30 a.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Art Garden (380 S. Lamar St.). Buy or bring lunch; call 601-960-1515. … Author Ellen Anne Fentress speaks during History Is Lunch at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and His-tory Building (200 North St.). Bring lunch; call 601-576-6998. … The play “Dracula” continues its run at 7:30 p.m. at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.); shows through Nov. 6. $25, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222. … The Epoxy Stories play at Hal & Mal’s. … Ole Tavern, Pop’s and Philip’s on the Rez have karaoke. … Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Shed (126 Mobile St., Hattiesburg). $8 in advance, $13 day of show; call 800-745-3000.

THURSDAY 10/27 The opening reception for former JFP photojour-nalist and Jackson native Kate Medley’s “Roadside Fare” exhibit is fron 4-6 p.m. at the University of Mississippi (100 University Ave., Oxford) in Gammill Gallery, Bar-nard Observatory; show hangs through Jan. 16. Hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Free; call 662-915-5993. … Boo at the Zoo resumes at the Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.) and runs through Oct. 29. Hours are 5-8 p.m. 9, $6 children 12 and under; members: $7, $4 children under 12; call 601-352-2580. … The HeARTWorks Art Show is at 5 p.m. at Fischer Galleries (3100 N. State St., Suite 101) and benefits Stewpot. Art for sale; call 601-291-9115. … The Zombie Charity Crawl kicks off at 5:30 p.m. in

Fondren. The Zombie Prom is from 8-11 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.) in the auditorium. Proceeds ben-efit the Mississippi Optometric Foundation. Free festival, $50 prom; visit mseyes.com. … Jazz, Art and Friends is at 5:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Art Garden (380 S. Lamar St.). $7, $5 members. … Fondren Theatre Workshop’s “The Monster Monologues” is at 7:30 p.m. at Warehouse Theatre (1000 Monroe St.); shows through Oct. 31. $13, $10 students and seniors; call 601-301-2281.

FRIDAY 10/28 The “A Time for Sharing” exhibit at the Mississippi Library Commission (3881 Eastwood Drive) closes today. Free; call 601-432-4056. … The Delta Mountain Boys play at the High Note Jam at 5:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Art Garden (380 S. Lamar St.). Free, food for sale; call 601-960-1515. … Vine-yl Night is at 5:30 p.m. at North Midtown Arts Center. Free; call 601-376-9404. … Dreamz JXN hosts the Halloween Costume Ball featuring DJ Jonasty. … Jazz Night Live is at 7 p.m. at circa. Urban Artisan Living (2771 Old Canton Road). $12, $16 reserved seating; call 601-362-8484.

SATURDAY 10/29 See “Don Giovanni: Live in HD” at 11:55 a.m. at Tinseltown (411 Riverwind Drive, Pearl). $22, $20 se-niors, $15 children; call 601-936-5856. … The Missis-sippi Symphony Orchestra presents “Bravo II: Hitchcock at Halloween” at 7:30 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall. $20 and up; call 601-960-1565. … Blocktober is at 8 p.m. on Congress Street. Free admission; call 601-941-2567. … The “Ghouls Night Out” Triple Record Release Show is at 9 p.m., at Hal & Mal’s. For ages 18 and up. $10. … E.C. Puffin’s Haunted Burlesque Show is at 9 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). For ages 18 and up. $20; call 601-376-9005. … The Animal Rescue Fund Angels Party is at 6:30 p.m. at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 N.), at Center Court. Scott Albert Johnson performs. $25, $50 couples; call 601-665-2212. … The Center for Violence Prevention’s Masquerade Ball is at 8 p.m. at the Capital Club (125 S. Congress St., Suite

19). $50 in advance; call 601-932-4198. … Heroes and Dreams (5352 Highway 25, Suite 1650, Flowood) hosts a drive-in screening of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at 10 p.m. Free; call 601-992-3100. … ToMara’s, Reed Pierce’s and Philip’s on the Rez host Halloween parties. … The Houserockers are at Underground 119.

SUNDAY 10/30 The Metro Jackson Heart Walk is at 2 p.m. at the Mississippi State Capitol (400 High St.). Donations wel-come; call 601-321-1208. … Art House Cinema Down-town at Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pascagoula St.) includes the films “Faust” at 2 p.m. ($16) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” at 5 p.m. ($7). Visit msfilm.org. … The Detectives Mystery Dinner Theatre presents “Paranormal Inactivity” at 7 p.m. at Mint (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 5002). Call 601-291-7444 for costs and to RSVP. Encore show at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Kismet’s Restaurant (315 Crossgates Blvd., Suite G). $39.

MONDAY 10/31 Havana Halloween is at 6 p.m. at Underground 119 in the parking lot. Free; call 601-352-2322. … Karaoke at Burgers and Blues and Fenian’s.

TUESDAY 11/1 The play “Defamation” is at 6:30 p.m. at the Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Free; call 601-960-1557, ext. 224. … Pub Quiz at Hal & Mal’s.

WEDNESDAY 11/2 The Parents for Public Schools Lunch Bunch is at 11:45 a.m. at the Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Wood-row Wilson Ave.) in the Community Meeting Room. $5 lunch, call 601-969-6015, ext. 320 to RSVP. More events and details at jfpevents.com.

BEST BETS October 26 - November 2, 2011

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by Latasha Willisevents@jacksonfreepress.com Fax: 601-510-9019Daily updates at jfpevents.com

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The opening reception for former JFP photojournalist Kate Medley’s “Roadside Fare” exhibit (photo pictured) is Oct. 27 from 4-6 p.m. at the University of Mississippi’s Gammill Gallery.

Jazz Beautiful with Pam Confer (above) performs during Jazz Night Live Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at circa. Urban Artisan Living.

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VOTE!Let’s Keep It That Way!

Since MIRA was founded 11 years ago, we have helped hundreds of immigrants become citizens of the United States. We have helped the ‘new’ Americans register to vote and provided voter education, including where to vote and when.

The right to vote in the United States for citizens of color, including African Americans and Latinos, is a right that has been secured over decades of struggle. In Mississippi many people were killed in the struggle. It was not that different in Texas and the Southwest of the United States.

Now that we have that right, there are forces that want to take it away. The Initiative #27 which could enact “Voter ID” is on the Mississippi Ballot. It is to be decided by a vote on Tuesday, November 8, and is an attempt to attack that right.

When a citizen is forced to obtain a photo ID and produce it every time they vote, it is intimidation. We should have no place for that in Mississippi. That is why we urge you to:

VOTE “NO” on 27!For more information, contact:MIRA Mississippi Immigrants Rights AllianceP.O. Box 1104, Jackson, Mississippi 39215601-968-5182 – www.yourmira.org

Mississippi Unity Caucus

Motivate•Educate•Mobilize

JFP-SPONSORED EVENTSRadio JFP on WLEZ, Thursdays, noon, at WLEZ 100.1 FM and wlezfm.com. This week’s guests are representatives from the American Heart Associa-tion and the Animal Rescue Fund. JFP sports writer Bryan Flynn gives commentary at 12:45 p.m. Listen to podcasts at jfpradio.com. Free; call 601-362-6121, ext. 17.

Zombie Charity Crawl and Prom Oct. 27, in Fondren. The family festival is from 5:30- 7:30 p.m. and includes a children’s costume contest and pumpkin carving. The Market in Fondren is at Duling Green (Duling Ave. and Old Canton Road). The Zombie Prom is from 8-11 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.) in the auditorium. Proceeds benefit the Mississippi Optometric Foun-dation. Free festival, $45 prom; visit mseyes.com.

Metro Jackson Heart Walk Oct. 30, 2 p.m., at Mississippi State Capitol (400 High St.). “The Big-gest Loser” winner Patrick House leads the walk. Proceeds benefit the American Heart Association. Donations welcome; call 601-321-1208.

COMMUNITYEvents at Mississippi e-Center at Jackson State University (1230 Raymond Road).• Beans and Greens Dinner Oct. 27, 6:30 p.m.

Speakers includes gubernatorial candidate Johnny DuPree and Congressman Bennie Thompson. $25, $375 table of 10; call 601-672-1792 or 601-668-9646.

• Women of Color Entrepreneurs Conference Nov. 1-2. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gwendolyn Keyes-Fleming is the speaker. Conference open to men and women. $200, $50 students; call 601-979-2541.

Events at Pearl Public Library (2416 Old Brandon Road, Pearl). Free; call 601-932-3535.• Computer Class for Adults Oct. 27, 10 a.m.

Learn how to use Microsoft Word.• Brown Bag Luncheon Oct. 28, noon. Margaret

Smith gives tips on relieving stress. Bring lunch; drinks and dessert provided.

“History Is Lunch” Oct. 26, noon, at William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). Jackson writer Ellen Anne Fentress presents “Reporter Norma Fields: American Woman.” Bring lunch; call 601-576-6998.

Parents’ Night Out Oct. 26, 5:30 p.m., at Kirksey Middle School (651 James M. Davis Drive). Parents of students with disabilities get resource informa-tion. Free; call 601-960-8935.

The Fundamentals of Applying for Tax-Exempt Status Oct. 27, 8:30 a.m., at Mississippi Center for Nonprofits (921 N. President St., Suite C). The workshop takes you page-by-page through the IRS application. $60; call 601-968-0061.

Jackson Touchdown Club Golf Classic Oct. 27, noon, at Country Club of Canton (183 Country Club Road, Canton). Register by Oct. 26. $100; call 601-856-1059 or 601-540-5364.

“Present Meets Past: Voices from Mississippi His-tory” Oct. 27, 5 p.m., at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Meet key figures who shaped the museum’s history. Free; call 601-576-6800.

Best of Madison County Awards Program Oct. 27, 5:30 p.m., at Plantation Commons (105 Plantation Cove, Madison). $50, $500 table of eight; call 601-605-2554.

Reconciliation Celebration Banquet Oct. 27, 7 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). Mission Mississippi honors Dol-phus Weary and Lee Paris. $65; call 601-353-6477.

Precinct 4 COPS Meeting Oct. 27, 6 p.m., at Redeemer Church (640 E. Northside Drive). The monthly forums are designed to help resolve com-munity issues. Call 601-960-0004.

Community Bike Ride Oct. 28, 6 p.m., at Rain-bow Whole Foods (2807 Old Canton Road). Visit facebook.com/jacksonbikeadvocates.

Common Cause Mississippi’s Membership Banquet Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m., at University Club (210 E. Capitol St. Suite 2200). The organization honors Rims and Judy Barber. RSVP. $40; call 601-969-0302.

Fall Native Plant Sale Oct. 29, 8 a.m., at Clinton Community Nature Center (617 Dunton Road, Clinton), in Price Hall. Call 601-926-1104.

Eagle Extravaganza Oct. 29, 9 a.m., at Whitten Middle School (210 Daniel Lake Blvd.). Enjoy food, games and more. Free; call 601-371-4309.

Homebuyer Education Class Oct. 29, 9 a.m., at Jackson Housing Authority (2747 Livingston Road). The class is required to qualify for a Jackson Housing Authority loan. Registration required. Free; call 601-362-0885, ext. 115.

CommunityFest Oct. 29, 10 a.m., at Wesley Chapel (787 E. Northside Drive). The event includes food, music, arts and crafts, games and prizes. Free admis-sion; call 601-668-3495.

LABA-Link Soccer Tournament Oct. 30, 8 a.m., at Battlefield Park (953 Porter St.). The event features games, face painting, food and giveaways. $7 raffle ticket; call 601-624-6460 or 601-918-3981.

Sunday Night Live and Hallelujah Night Oct. 30, 5 p.m., at The Church Triumphant (731 S. Pear Orchard Road, Suite 43, Ridgeland). Enjoy family-friendly activities and free treats. Christian rapper Sam-U-El performs. Free; call 601-977-0007.

Jackson Touchdown Club Meeting Oct. 24, 6 p.m., at River Hills Country Club (3600 Ridgewood Road). This week’s speaker is former JSU coach Joe Gilliam Sr. $280 individual member-ship, $1,200 corporate; call 601-506-3186.

Fall Costume Drive Nov. 1-6, at Mississippi Chil-dren’s Museum (2145 Highland Drive). Donate new or used costumes. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. Donations welcome; call 601-981-5469 or 877-793-5437.

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise Nov. 1, noon, at Jackson Marriott (200 E. Amite St.). Editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey moderates, and Sen. Thad Cochran is the keynote speaker. $100 and up; call 601-974-1325 to RSVP.

River Shrimp Migration Lecture Nov. 1, noon, at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riv-erside Drive). $4-$6, children under 3 and museum members free; call 601-354-7303.

Central Mississippi Go Club Gaming Session Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m., at The Froghead Grill (121 Clin-ton Center Drive, Clinton). Learn to play Go, a game similar to chess. Free; call 601-940-9189.

WELLNESSJoint Replacement Seminar Oct. 28, 11:45 a.m., at Baptist Medical Center (1225 N. State St.), in the Baptist for Women Conference Center. Free, $5 optional lunch; call 601-948-6262 to register.

Operation Bloom Free Breast Cancer Screenings Oct. 29, 6:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., at YMCA Flowood (690 Liberty Road). Receive an exam, follow-up recommendations, self-exam training and infor-mation on how to get a free or discounted mam-mogram. Insurance not required. Appointments or walk-ins welcome. Free; call 601-939-9778.

Community Health Symposium II Oct. 29, 9 a.m., at Jackson Revival Center Church (519 W. Silas Brown St.). Get information on cancers spe-cific to women, insurance and caregiving. Free; call 601-317-1908.

Mother/Daughter Brunch Oct. 29, 9:30 a.m., at Baptist Health Systems, Madison Campus (401 Baptist Drive, Madison), in the Community Room. Dr. Barbie Sullivan and Megan Clapton of

Shepherd’s Staff talk about adolescent health issues. Registration required. $5; call 601-948-6262.

NAMI Connection Support Group Meetings. The alliance of individuals with mental illnesses meets Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Free; call 601-899-9058 for loca-tion information.

STAGE AND SCREEN“Talk Radio” Oct. 25-26, 7 p.m., at Hinds Com-munity College, Raymond Campus (501 E. Main St., Raymond), in Brooks Theatre. Limited seating; RSVP. For ages 10 and up. $5, $3 students, free for Hinds faculty and staff; call 601-857-3266.

“Cheaper by the Dozen” Oct. 27-29 and Nov. 4-5, 7 p.m., at Mississippi College (200 Capitol St., Clinton), in Nelson Hall. $7, $5 for MC employ-ees, students, and seniors; call 601-925-3935.

“Don Giovanni: Live in HD” Oct. 29, 11:55 a.m., at Tinseltown (411 Riverwind Drive, Pearl). $22, $20 seniors, $15 children; call 601-936-5856.

Tunes, Tutus and Turning Wheels Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). See a showcase of local performers with and without disabilities. $10; $5 seniors, students and children; call 601-965-1400.

Art House Cinema Downtown Oct. 30, 2 p.m., at Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pascagoula St.). See “Faust” at 2 p.m. ($16) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” at 5 p.m. ($7). Visit msfilm.org.

“Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like” Nov. 2-5, at Belhaven University (1500 Peachtree St.), in Belhaven Pavilion. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2-5. Free; call 601-965-7026.

MUSICEvents at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.), in the Art Garden. Free with food for sale unless stated otherwise; call 601-960-1515.• Live at Lunch Oct. 26, 11:30 a.m. Charlie

Townsend performs. Buy lunch from the Palette Café or bring your own.

• Jazz, Art and Friends Oct. 27, 5:30 p.m. Enjoy cocktails, art and jazz music. $7, $5 members.

• High Note Jam Concert Series Oct. 28, 5:30 p.m. The Delta Mountain Boys perform.

Music of Harvest and Thanksgiving Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., at Crossgates United Methodist Church (23 Crossgates Drive, Brandon). The Jackson Cho-ral Society performs with a brass ensemble. $10, $8 seniors and students; call 601-927-9604.

Jazz Night Live Oct. 28, 7 p.m., at circa. Urban Artisan Living (2771 Old Canton Road). Enjoy the sounds of Jazz Beautiful featuring Pam Confer, a cash bar and light snacks. $12, $16 reserved seating; call 601-362-8484; visit circaliving.com.

LITERARY AND SIGNINGSBook Signings at Lemuria Books (202 Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N.). Call 601-366-7619.• Oct. 26, 5 p.m., Randy Fertel signs copies of “The

Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak”; reading at 5:30 p.m. $28 book.

• Oct. 27, 5 p.m., Marlin Barton signs copies of “The Cross Garden”; reading at 5:30 p.m. $24.95 book.

• Oct. 30, 3 p.m., Elizabeth Sims signs copies of “Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Ashe-ville’s New South Kitchen.” $29.99 book.

• Nov. 1, 5 p.m., John Jeremiah Sullivan signs cop-ies of “Pulphead: Essays”; reading at 5:30 p.m. $16 book.

Millsaps Visiting Writers Series Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.), in room 215. Author Sandra Beasley speaks. Free; call 601-974-1305.

CREATIVE CLASSESFigure Drawing Class, Oct. 28, 6 p.m., at Missis-sippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Ginger Williams-Cook instructs. Bring drawing materials. $10; email gcook@msmuseumart.org with “Figure Drawing Class” in the subject line to register.

Shut Up! Classes, at JFP Classroom (2727 Old Canton Road). JFP editor-in-chief Donna Ladd teaches the Shut Up and Convince! Opinion Writ-ing Workshop from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 ($50), the Shut Up and Publish! Workshop from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 10 ($50) and the six-week Shut Up and Write! Series every other Saturday from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Jan. 7-March 10 ($150, $75 deposit required). Limit of 11 per class. Discounts for combined classes. Gift certificates available. Call 601-362-6121, ext. 16; email class@jacksonfreepress.com; find Shut Up and Write on Facebook and Twitter (@shutupandwrite).

EXHIBITS AND OPENINGSPumpkin Adventure Oct. 26-28, 9 a.m.-noon, at Agriculture and Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive). $6; call 601-432-4500 or 800-844-8687.

Slither, Crawl and Fly Oct. 29, 10 a.m., at Missis-sippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). Learn about and interact with snakes, spi-ders and bats. $4-$6, free for members and children under 3; call 601-354-7303.

jfpevents

NAMIWalks Registration through Nov. 5. The annual walk raises funds for NAMI Mississippi.The walk is at 10 a.m. Nov. 5 at Winners Circle Park (100 Winners Circle, Flowood). Join JFP’s team at nami.org/namiwalks11/MIS/jfp2011. Donations welcome; call 601-899-9058.

HeARTWorks Art Show Oct. 27, 5 p.m., at Fischer Galleries (3100 N. State St., Suite 101). Proceeds from sales benefit the artists and Stewpot Community Services. Call 601-291-9115.

Red Beans and Rice Festival Oct. 29, 11 a.m., at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl). The annual event benefits Stewpot Community Services and includes music, games and food. $10 in advance, $12 at the gate; call 601-353-2759

Animal Rescue Fund Angels Party Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m., at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 N.), at Center Court. Enjoy a silent auction, refreshments and music from Scott Albert Johnson. Proceeds ben-efit the Miriam Wilson Weems Sanctuary, a no-kill shelter. $25, $50 couples; call 601-665-2212.

Masquerade Ball Oct. 29, 8 p.m., at Capital Club (125 S. Congress St., Suite 19). Enjoy food, music, a silent auction and a cash bar. Masks are required and are sold at the entrance. Wear cocktail attire. Pro-ceeds benefit the Center for Violence Prevention. $50 in advance; call 601-932-4198.

Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive Nov. 1-23, at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Donate and receive $1 off general admission. Canned goods and non-perishable items welcome; call 601-352-2580.

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Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings. To add an event, email all details (phone number, start and end date, and time, street address, cost, URL, etc.) to events@jacksonfreepress.com or fax to 601-510-9019. The deadline is noon the Thursday prior to the week of publication. Or add the event online yourself; check out jfpevents.com for instructions.

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Defamation Juryby Valerie Wells

Arthur Golden, a Jewish real-es-tate developer from Chicago’s north side, found his watch missing. He accused Regina

Wade, an African American graphic designer from Chicago’s south side, of stealing it. Because of the accusa-tion—which she says is false—Wade lost a major business account. She takes him to court in the play “Defamation” where the audience is the jury in a mock civil trial. “I wanted to find a way to ex-amine preconceived ‘isms’ we all have within us,” said playwright Todd Lo-gan from his Chicago-area home. “This play gets in the mind of the au-dience, so when they leave, they talk about the play and not who is taking the babysitter home.” Both sides present compelling evidence and call into question both characters’ motives, backgrounds and core beliefs. After both sides present and rest their cases, the judge addresses the audience and allows for a 15-min-ute deliberation. The production, after playing in the Chicago area for several weeks, heads south to Jackson for the follow-ing free shows: • 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, Arts Center of Mississippi, 201 E. Pascagoula St.; 601-960-1557. The Greater Arts Council of Jackson pres-ents this showing. • 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, Mill-saps College Gertrude C. Ford Aca-demic Complex Recital Hall, 1701 N. State St.; 601-362-6357. Gold-ring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Millsaps Colllege, Jackson 2000, Beth Israel Congregation, Wells United Methodist Church and New Horizon Church International present this showing. • 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, Old Capitol Inn, 226 N. State St., 601-359-9000. Leadership Jackson Alumni Association sponsors this showing. The producers will also show the play at Lanier High School and Canton High School. Both school performanc-es are closed to the public. For information about the produc-tion, visit defamationtheplay.com.

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The audience is jury in the courtroom drama, “Defamation.”

GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE

A M A L C O T H E AT R ESouth of Walmart in Madison

DAILY BARGAINS UNTIL 6PM

Online Tickets, Birthday Parties, Group& Corporate Events @ www.malco.com

Movieline: 355-9311

ALL STADIUM SEATINGListings for Friday, Oct. 28- Thursday Nov. 03 2011In Time PG13

3-D Puss In BootsPG

Puss In Boots (non 3-D) PG

The Rum Diary R

October BabyPG13

3-D The Three Musketeers PG13

ParanormalActivity 3 R

Johnny English: Reborn PG

Footloose PG13

Real Steel PG13

The Ides of MarchR

50 / 50 R

Dream HousePG13

Courageous PG13

Moneyball PG13

Dolphin Tale 3-DPG

3-D The Lion KingG

The Help PG13

Revealing Heaven On Earth

8:30 a.m.A Service of Word and Table

9:30 a.m.Sunday School for all ages

11:00 a.m.Worship Service

Live Streaming at www.gallowayumc.org

Televised on WAPT

Children’s Church Ages 4-Kindegarten

Nursery Available Ages 6 weeks-3 years

305 North Congress StreetJackson, MS

601-353-9691 English 601-362-3464 Spanishwww.gallowayumc.org

Bulldog Bash Winnerby Amanda C. Barber

Rocktwang is one way Jack-son native Jason Turner

describes his mu-sic. Southern rock, alt-country, Ameri-cana—whatever you call it, it’s a genre that is versatile enough to appeal to many tastes. As evidence, The Jason Turner Band won the 2011 Bulldog Bash contest, C Spire Wireless an-nounced in September. Self-taught since age 12, Turner says he didn’t come from a particularly musical family. “As a teen, I found mu-sic as a release to some things I was dealing with,” he says. About a year ago, he took guitar lessons to fine tune his technique. In addition to playing five to six days a week, Turner does his own booking, manages his website and lugs mul-tiple guitars and equipment into a gig. Turner is expanding his base and developing a more re-gional following. In 2010, he independently released his first album, “13 Years,” available through iTunes, amazon.com, and cdbaby.com. He is working on his next CD, which Nash-ville-based Americana artist and producer Will Kimbrough will oversee. “You’ve got to keep stuff coming out for people to stay interested.” The Jason Turner Band performs at the Zombie Prom Thursday, Oct. 27, in Fondren. For other gigs, visit his website at jasonturnerband.com

The members of Wooden Finger all have different ideas of how certain songs are going to sound when they come together to make music. They begin playing, and the

creative process evolves the songs into some-thing better than any of them had imagined. “When people listen to our music, I want them to feel good about it, the same way I feel when I listen to music that moves me and makes me feel good,” lead singer Allison Jenkins says. Jenkins and gui-tarist Matthew “Moe-geezy” Magee founded the group about seven years ago. Both had rich musical backgrounds with vio-lin and voice lessons. They later added Ryan Baucum on bass, Chipp Burr on drums and Jason Daniel on guitar. Wooden Finger just released its second full-length al-bum on iTunes called “Take and See and Do What You Want.” Jenkins describes it as more uplifting and rhyth-mic than the band’s previous album. She says the older

works are more ambient folk music and more melan-choly than the newest record. The band recorded “Take and See and Do What You Want” at Sneaky B Studios,

and Byron Knight engineered it. Roger Moutenot at Hap-town Studios in Nash-ville, Tenn., mixed the sounds for the final product. Wooden Finger’s musical influences range from classical to jazz, and the members cite Arcade Fire as one of their inspirations. The band members express a deep love for music and an appre-ciation for the people who listen to theirs.

“Most of all, we do this because we have fun playing music, and that’s what matters,” Magee says. Catch Wooden Finger Oct. 29 at Hal and Mal’s (200 S. Commerce St., 601-948-0888) for a CD release party. The event begins at 9 p.m. and also showcases The Weeks and Tommy Bryan Ledford.

I am so ready for Halloween this year. You may have had a hard time keeping up with all the ghoulish good times lined up for this weekend, so I’ve com-

piled all the haunting Halloween concerts and shows we have going on here in the Capital City for you. Wednesday night, Pam Confer and Jazz Beautiful perform at Fitzgerald’s and Will and Linda’s Open Mic Night at Pel-ican Cove. Jackson’s newest comedy club has Wild and Out Wednesday Comedy Night at West Restaurant and Lounge (3430 W. Capitol St., 601-948-7680). Pop’s Saloon hosts karaoke Wednesday night as well. On Thursday night, dust off the old tux and tacky bridesmaid’s dress from long ago. Duling Hall Auditorium anchors the Fondren Zombie Crawl and Zombie Prom, featuring the Jason Turner Band. Local 463 in Madison has Pickin’ on the Patio with local singer-songwriter Mark Roemer. Martin’s hosts The Dead Ken-ny G’s, and Hot Shots and Brady’s Bar and Grill have karaoke. On Friday, night head over to the Mississippi Museum of Art’s new Art

Garden for its High Note Jam featuring the Delta Mountain Boys at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Fondren’s new sushi restaurant, Fatsumo, hosts Larry Brewer, Parker House has PFC, the Cherokee Inn hosts The Church Keys and the Electric Hamhock, and Burg-ers and Blues hosts Around the Bend. If you’re in the Madison area, take Interstate 55 to Two Riv-ers in Canton and check out local favorites, DoubleShotz. Saturday night may be all right for fighting, but it’s also the Saturday before Halloween, when literally all hell breaks loose. Reed Pierce’s Halloween Bash features Faze 4, Hal and Mal’s has Ghouls Night Out, Esperanza Plantation’s show features The Weeks, Tommy Bryan Led-ford and Wooden Finger, and Ole Tav-ern holds a $1,000 costume contest. If you’re in the reservoir area, Philip’s on the Rez has Shadz of Grey and a Halloween costume contest. Otis Lotus jams out at Pelican Cove, and stop by Electric Cow-boy to hear party rockers Spank the Mon-key. And don’t forget to support ARF at

its Highland Village benefit “Animal Res-cue Fund Angels Party.” Underground 119 has The Houserockers chasing the blues away, and ToMara’s hosts a Hallow-

een Karaoke Kostume Bash at 9 p.m. F. Jones Corner invites you to hear Pat Brown and the Millennium Band. I’ve heard them perform at Hal and Mal’s for Central Mississippi Blues Society’s Blue Monday, and they are fabulous. I also can’t wait to go to Duling Hall for the E.C. Puffin’s Haunted Burlesque Show. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $20 in advance (call 601-376-9005).

On Sunday, you can lie low and recover from all the candy and libations from the weekend by enjoying brunch at Table 100 to hear Raphael Semmes. So-

phia’s in the Fairview Inn hosts Knight Bruce, and Hunter Runnels performs at Burgers and Blues. Monday is finally Halloween! If you’re not just exhausted from running all over Jackson this weekend, make plans to make it to Fenian’s for kara-oke. Fenian’s is notorious for throwing a huge karaoke Halloween party, and I cannot wait to sing my favorite Hal-loween tunes with friends and patrons. Martin’s also hosts its Late Night Open Mic jam, and Ole Tavern has Pub Quiz. Also, Underground 119 has Ha-

vana Halloween. I hope everyone has a great and safe Halloween weekend; don’t take candy from strangers. Please continue sending your mu-sic listings to music@jacksonfreepress.com. I receive a ton of event invites on Facebook that I almost always ignore, so please email me so I can promote your awesome band. And please, if you see me out and about, do say hello!

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Rockin’ Halloween by Natalie Long

Natalie’sNotes

Wooden Finger holds a CD release party Oct. 29 at Hal and Mal’s with The Weeks and Tommy Bryan Ledford.

Shadz of Grey plays at Phillip’s on the Rez this week. From left, Richard Smith, Steve Cook, Ron Smith, Drew Jackson and Rick Porter.

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OCT. 26 - WEDNESDAY

OCT. 27 - THURSDAY

OCT. 28 - FRIDAY

OCT. 29 - SATURDAY

OCT. 30 - SUNDAY

OCT, 31 - MONDAY

NOV. 1 - TUESDAY

NOV. 2 - WEDNESDAY

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WEDNESDAY 10/26

CATHEAD VODKA’S LIVE KARAOKE

SING IN FRONT OF A LIVE BAND

LADIES NIGHT

GUYS PAY $ 5, LADIES ENTER & DRINK FREE CATHEAD VODKA 9-10PM

THURSDAY 10/27

THE DEAD KENNY G’S

FRIDAY 10/28

THE REVIVALISTSMONDAY 10/31

HALLOWEENBASH

FEATURING:

CADILLACFUNK & MORE

TUESDAY 11/01

MATT’S LATE NIGHT KARAOKE$2 MARGARITAS $1 HIGHLIFE & PBRWEDNESDAY 11/02

CATHEAD VODKA’S LIVE KARAOKE

SING IN FRONT OF A LIVE BAND

LADIES NIGHTGUYS PAY $ 5, LADIES ENTER & DRINK FREE CATHEAD VODKA 9-10PM

ALL SHOWS 10PMUNLESS NOTED

LIVE MUSICCALENDAR

214 S. STATE ST. • 601.354.9712DOWNTOWN JACKSON

WWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

THIS WEEKWEDNESDAY 10/26

The Epoxy Stories (restaurant)

THURSDAY 10/27Restaurant Open

FRIDAY 10/28Restaurant Open

SATURDAY 10/29Ghouls Night Out!

Esperanza Plantation CD Release Party featuring TB Ledford, Wooden

Finger, & The Weeks (big room)

MONDAY 10/31Blues Monday with

Central MS Blues Society (rest)

TUESDAY 11/01PUB QUIZ

w/ Laura and Donovan (restaurant)

Coming SoonFRI11.04: Graham Colton w/ Matthew Mayfield

SAT11.05: Exposed Festival

FRI11.25: Blue Montain

Monday-Thursday

Blue Plate Lunchwith cornbread and tea or coffee

$825As well as the usual favorites!

Seafood Gumbo, Reb Beans and Rice, Burgers, Fried Pickles, Onion Rings and

Homemade Soups made daily.

$4.00 Happy HourWell Drinks!

visit HalandMals.com for a full menu and concert schedule

601.948.0888200 S. Commerce St.

Downtown Jackson, Mississippi* Tickets available at www.ticketmaster.com

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Halloween Bash

824 S. State St Downtown Jackson, Ms

Saturday, October 29thfeaturing

SPANK THE MONKEY

BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME

$2000 GIVEAWAY

Halloween Bash

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>

This week is Halloween, and I feel the need to shed light on a potential dan-ger that our government is not dis-cussing. Of all the great things Presi-

dent Barack Obama has done, he has yet to address the potential danger of the coming Zombie Apocalypse. I know it sounds crazy that our govern-ment doesn’t have a highly publicized plan (the Centers for Disease Control have one), but it is true. As Americans, we are protected from nearly every conceivable threat, but not the threat of the dead rising up and wanting to eat our brains.

Brains are the tastiest thing a zombie can sink its teeth into, and this is some-thing everyone has to worry about. Well, everyone but me. (Have you read my arti-cles? Brains aren’t the fi rst thing that comes to, er … mind.) To bring this back to sports before my editor wonders where my brain has gone, to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, you need a game plan. Much like your favorite foot-ball team, you have to come to this situation knowing how you are going to get out. This is where I come in. This week, in-stead of ranting madly on sports, I am going to give you my Zombie Apocalypse game plan. Much of it has been discussed with my mom over time. First up, you must have a zombie es-cape plan. In real life, I have a zombie escape plan for every place I happen to be in. Ask my wife, Lacey, if you don’t believe me. Every zombie movie starts with no one having a clue about what is going to happen. This means no matter where you are located at any given time, you must have a zombie escape plan in place. The JFP tower is a terrible place for a zombie-escape plan. One long narrow hall-

way to doors on both ends, and it is above the fi rst story, which makes the windows nearly unusable. If you are faced with a situ-ation like this, be sure to remember that anything and everything must be used as a weapon. Even the editor-in-chief ’s prize State cowbell. Once you get out the doors, you will want to fi nd your family. Great idea. The more survivors you can fi nd around, the better. You’ll fi nd safety in numbers, and you can use other people for escape pur-poses. My mom and I want to keep my dad around us if there is a zombie outbreak. He is a man of large proportions (yeah, that is the way to put it), so if he slips and falls, he will hold off the zombies for a while. I know this sounds wrong, but this is the freaking Zombie Apocalypse, and sur-viving is the No. 1 goal. I tell Lacey all the time, “Some people might have to get eaten to ensure my survival, and that includes you.” Her need to wear high heels in every situation makes this relevant. Now that you hooked up with a group of survivors (escape helpers, aka zombie food) and everyone’s looking for escape routes wherever you go, you need protec-tion. Guns are great but have major draw-backs. Ever notice how guns run out of bullets at the most inconvenient times in zombie movies? There you’ll be, surround-ed by zombies, and you just keep hearing a clicking sound. Guns have to be reloaded, too, and when you’re panicking because the zombies are closing in, it never fails: You will drop your bullets and get eaten. Finally, guns make a ton of noise and draw attention to you. Your best bet is to fi nd a sporting-goods store and load up on silent weapons. Baseball bats are great. Those new aluminum bats tend to bend after about 100 or so hits, so carry a couple. Wood bats can break at any time, but then you have a stabbing weapon. Golf clubs used to be great, but these new hybrid graphite clubs break way too easily. Go with a hockey stick instead. A sporting goods store will also have bows and arrows. Remember to reclaim your arrows after shooting them. It is the most common rookie zombie survivor mistake. Now, fi nd protection. (No. Now is not the time to start repopulating the earth.) Get a batting helmet or football helmet to pro-tect that juicy brain from zombies. Also, get

plenty of padding to protect your arms and legs from zombie bites. If you don’t fi nd a sporting goods store, a hardware store may work. Finally, fi nd somewhere safe and stay there. Don’t travel around looking for peo-ple or other survivors. This only gets you eaten. Find a place that is defensible, and bring plenty of food and water. Just sit the situation out from there. One thing people forget is that zombies are already dead and will eventually rot away. Let no one into your “safety bunker” who has been bitten. That always ends up with everyone, including you, in your safe place getting eaten. Stick to this game plan. It will keep you safe and sound. Most importantly, it will keep you alive. That is all that matters.

by Bryan Flynn

The Zombie Game Plan

The time to plan for the Zombie Apocalypse is now, not when you need a plan.

THURSDAY, OCT. 27 Major League Baseball (Fox 7-10:30 p.m.): the World Series could see a game seven. Watch to see if the fi rst Texas sports team JFP Editor in Chief Donna Ladd ever rooted for (OK, the second behind the Mavericks), the Rangers, win a title over St. Louis. … No game seven? High school football (Fox Sports Network 7-10 p.m.), The rivalry between unde-feated Northwest Rankin and Madison Central is on TV.

FRIDAY, OCT. 28 College football (ESPN 7-10 p.m.): Brigham Young University takes on Texas Christian University in what could be a conference matchup next season.

SATURDAY, OCT. 29 College Football (Fox Sports Network 7-10 p.m.), Kentucky travels to Missis-sippi State as the Bulldogs begin their last bowl-hope stand.

SUNDAY, OCT. 30 NFL (NBC 7-10:30 p.m.), Dallas travels to Philadelphia in a huge NFC East matchup. … The New Orleans Saints get a second straight bye week against the St. Louis Rams.

MONDAY, OCT. 31 NFL (ESPN 7:30-11 p.m.): San Di-ego takes on Kansas City for the AFC West lead at the midpoint of the season.

TUESDAY, NOV. 1 National Hockey League (Versus 6:30-9 p.m.): If you haven’t had a chance, watch some football on ice as the Washington Capitals look to dominate the Anaheim Ducks. Check out Alexander Ovechkin.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2 College football (ESPN 7-10 p.m.): Temple and Ohio meet in a Mid-Ameri-can Conference football game. College basketball will start soon, but the NBA might not come back until after New Year. If you haven’t watched it, you have missed a good World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals. Follow Bryan at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.

For the second week this season, we have football every day of the week.

by Bryan Flynn

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LJFP Top 25: Week 9

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JFP Top 25:

Bulldogs Need Some Bite

Bryan’s Rant

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1428 Old Square Road in Jackson601.713.2700 lastcallsportsgrill.com

Halloween BashSaturday, OCT. 29

9pm | $5 Cover

1/2 OFF Drink Specials til 11pm

DJ Durdy CostelloCostume Contest

1st: $500 Cash

2nd: 200 Cash

3rd: $100 Bar Tab

Monday Oct. 31Look Like Sound LikeKATT WILLIAMS CONTESTWinner recieves: 2 tickets to comedy show, dinner for 2, hotel accomodation & a limo for the night.

1060 E County Line Rd. in Ridgeland

601-899-0038 | Open Sun-Thurs

11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-Midnight

live musicoctober 26- november 1

wed | oct 26Jesse “Guitar” Smith

5:30-9:30p

thur | oct 27Bubba Wingfiled

5:30-9:30p

fri | oct 28Around The Bend

6:30 -10:30p

sat | oct 29Lucky Hand Blues Band

6:30-10:30p

sun | oct 30Hunter Runnels

5:30-9:30p

mon | oct 31Karaoke

tue | nov 1Jesse “Guitar“ Smith

5:30-9:30p

New Blue Plate Special$8.99

1 Meat, 3 Veggies, Bread and Drink

VOTED BEST SPORTS BARAND BEST JUKEBOX!

- BEST OF JACKSON 2011 -

WED OCT 26BALD FOR BOOBIES!!

THUR OCT 27BUD LIGHT NIGHT$2 BUD LIGHTS DURING THE THURSDAY NIGHT

FOOTBALL GAME

VIRGINIA @MIAMI [FL] 7PM

FRI OCT 28BEER BUCKET SPECIALS

SAT OCT 29HALLOWEEN

PARTY!CASH, PRIZES & MORE!

SUN OCT 30NFL SUNDAY

TICKETWATCH EVERY GAME!

MON OCT 31IN-DA-BIZ 2FOR1 DRINK SPECIALS

TUE NOV 1JACKPOT TRIVIA

BALD FOR BOOBIESBREAST CANCER

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$1 FOR EVERY BUD-LIGHT PURCHASED

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THURSDAY NIGHT BUD LIGHT NIGHT!!

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OF BUD LIGHT!COME WATCH THE ESPN GAME OF THE

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Special EventsSpecial EventsSpecial Events

Now OpenEarly Wed.-Sat | 8:00

Two Shows Fri & Sat

This Week’s MusicOctober 27Juju’s Drum Circle5:00-10:00 pm

Amazin’ Lazy Boi Band11:00 - until

October 28Jesse “Guitar“ Smith

8:00 - 11:00pm Nathan Banks11:00 - until

October 29Amazin’ Lazy Boi8:00 - 11:00pm

Pat Brown & the Mellenium11:00 - until

THE BOMB IS BACK$4 JAGER BOMBS

Live Music During Lunch•OPEN LATE - SE-CURITY PROVIDED•NO COVER UNTIL Midnight

$10 Cover after midnight

3 Course Dinner $21Hummus Appetizer

Seared Redfi sh with salad & 2 sidesBaklava Dessert

(4:30-9pm Mon-Sat)

Ladies Rock Night Every Wednesday NightALL U CAN DRINK!

$10(Ladies Only)

Live music by Jason Turner

(8:30p-Midnight)

Friday, October 28thClay Caldwell Acoustic Show

8:30pm-Midnight

Live Music Weekends

Music Mayhem Open Mic ThursdaysHosted by Kenny Davis (frontman of Creep Left)

(8:30-Midnight)(2 for 1 wells & Jager Bombs & $2 draft all night)

6550 Old Canton Rd, Ridgeland, Ms601--956-0082

4th Annual

October 28, 20119:00pm | $5.00 Cover

Live Performances by

ElectricHammocks

& The Church Keys

Best Costume ContestPrizes to be given away.

601-362-63881410 Old Square Road • Jackson

Ladies Night2 for 1 Well Drinks

Every Wed. 8pm - Close

Cyndi Lauper and a punk rocker. Those were the costumes my best friend and I wore the last Halloween I went trick-or-treating in the mid-1980s. We always

went in her neighborhood because that’s where the good treats were passed out—whole candy bars, popcorn balls, caramel apples, and the one household that apparently forgot each year and decided to just hand out money. This was also the year the local hospital began providing X-ray services for parents con-cerned about razorblade and needle-fi lled good-ies. My mother chose a more practical method of looking for hidden objects in my haul; she simply ate the questionable items herself. This was, of course, a huge sacrifi ce for my mother and only done for my safety. In fact, her search-ing was so thorough, I was left with a few Blow Pops, the hard candies packaged to look like strawberries and those disgusting nougaty-pea-nut butter-things that were wrapped in either orange or black waxed paper. Apparently, my mother thought these items were impervious to sharp objects. Halloween wasn’t the same after that, and it still isn’t. Last year, my pirate-princess daugh-ter did the majority of her trick-or-treating at Boo at the Zoo instead of our neighborhood. She received more pencils and bouncy balls in her treat bag than candy, and to be fair, she was perfectly happy with this. While I was pleased to be able to avoid the terror created by a sugar-overloaded child, I missed the homemade good-

ies. I wanted the opportunity to protect my daughter from the evils of caramel apples and chocolate chip cookies. Even the traditional “carving of the pump-kin” has changed. As a kid, our pumpkin was a source of pride. We never had just a simple jack-o-lantern kind of pumpkin; that was way too normal. Ours had elaborately carved faces with three-dimensional parts. They were usually complete with hair and clothing, and had elabo-rate homemade props. The one I remember distinctly was the year the pumpkin was turned into an elderly lady wearing glasses and curlers. Last year, a day or two after we carved our pumpkin, it developed a nasty case of furry black mold and basically melted into the yard. Maybe this year we’ll just paint our jack-o-lantern or maybe buy one of the sparkly rhinestone deco-rating kits I’ve seen lately. Nah. I think it will be more fun to fi gure out how to incorporate the mold in the fi nished design.

by Crawford Grabowskidining

Bringing the Real Treats BackRU

TH

IE H

AN

SEN

PUMPKIN DIP My mother says this tastes like pump-kin pie in a bowl. I don’t know about that, but it defi nitely is addicting.

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature1 cup powdered sugar15-ounce can of pumpkin2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add remaining ingre-dients, mixing well. Chill and serve with graham crackers or ginger snaps. It’s also good on bagels.

Maple-Caramel Corn is a sweet and spicy popcorn mix perfect for Halloween.

GROWN-UP MAPLE CARAMEL CORN

This sweet and spicy mix is a twist on popcorn balls. You get the initial taste of sweet and salty, and then the heat sneaks up on you. This is the way The Man likes it. I like to add the peanuts at the end with the pretzels; I prefer them to be salty rather than sweet.

1 to 2 bags microwave popcorn, popped (I prefer the ones that aren’t heavily “but-tered.”)

1 cup nuts (I use peanuts, but I think it would be good with whatever you hap-pen to have on hand.)

3/4 cup maple syrup3/4 cup brown sugar, packed2 tablespoon butter1 teaspoon vanilla1 to 2 dashes cayenne pepper Cooking spray or oil1 cup pretzel Goldfi sh crackers1 small package fall M&M’s (optional)

Put popped popcorn and nuts into a large, greased bowl. Cook sugar and maple syrup over high heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Add butter, vanilla and cayenne pepper stirring until incorporated. Pour mixture over pop-corn and mix until all popcorn is coated. Put popcorn and nuts into a large pan and bake at 250 degrees for about 45 min-utes. Stir every 15 minutes or so. Cool and pour back into large bowl. Toss in pretzels and M&M’s.

CARAMEL DIP This alternative to caramel apples is creamier than the original, so you don’t get sticky as you eat it.

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature1/4 cup brown sugar, packed1 teaspoon vanilla1/2 bag caramels (about 25 or so of the indi-

vidually wrapped caramels or enough to make about 3/4 cup when melted)

1/8 cup half-and-half or evaporated milk1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Put caramels and half-and-half in a bowl. Microwave on high for about one and a half minutes. Remove and stir, mak-ing sure all caramels are melted. Slowly pour melted caramels into cream-cheese mixture, stirring gently as you go. Add nuts and mix. Serve warm with apple slices (I prefer tart apples, such as Granny Smith.) or va-nilla wafers.

Go Fruityby LaShanda Phillips

I

DO

TPO

LKA

Star fruit, entirely edible, is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants.

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voted best coffeeshop in jackson2003-2011

Historic Fondren Art Districtwww.cupsespressocafe.com

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707 N Congress St., Jackson | 601-353-1180

Open 11am-2pm, Sunday thru Friday

2003-2011, Best of Jackson

601-919-2829 5417 Lakeland Drive ~ Flowood, MS 39232

Lunch: Sun. | 11am-2pmDinner: Tues. -Sat. | 5pm-9pm

A Metro-Area Tradition Since 1977

VASILIOSAUTHENTIC GREEK DINING

• Fresh Seafood Daily

M-F!!"-#$,

%-!&$S"' %-!&$

C"(()*+' A,"-."/.0 1&!.2%3.&&#2 | 2#2 H4)%! M"5-6*7

All You Can EatCRAB LEGS DINNER

5p.m.-Close Tues-Thurs

6954 Old Canton Rd. Ridgeland, MS601-956-5040Open daily 11 am-2 pm and 5-10 pm for dinner

Eslava’s GrilleEslava’s GrilleSeafood, Steaks and Pasta

Danilo Eslava Caceres, Executive Chef/GM2481 Lakeland DriveFlowood, MS 39232

601-932-4070 tel601-933-1077 fax

By popular demand, we have added Shrimp Scampi to our menu!

Will deliver orders

over $50.

Let us cater YOUR

next event!

1351 Bailey Avenue Jackson, MS769-220-3185Check out our new menu at

www.jacksonfreepress.com/menus

“Best Barbecue in Jackson”2003 • 2006 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011

- Jackson Free Press

You Handle the Un iform!

We’l l Handle

the Food !

“Best Barbecue in Jackson”2003 • 2006 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011

- Jackson Free Press

You Handle You Handle

the Un iform!the Un iform!the Un iform!the Un iform!the Un iform!the Un iform!

We’l l Handle

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the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !the Food !

1491 Canton Mart Rd. • Jackson,MS | 601.956.7079

Game Day Party PackServes 10 - $44.95

(2lbs of Pork, Beef or Chicken, 2 Pints of Beans, 2 Pints of Slaw, 5

Slices of Texas Toast Or 10 Buns)

The Copper IrisCatering Company Inc.

Now Open For Lunch Downtown Jackson

Soups • SandwichesSalads • Daily Specials

Delivery for orders of 5 or more.115 North State Street • 601-961-7017

www.thecopperiris.com • Friend Us:

910 Lake Harbour Dr. Ridgeland 601-956-2929

Monday - Saturday 5 - until

Voted One of the Best Italian RestaurantsBest of Jackson 2011

4654 McWillie Dr., Jackson|Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 10AM-9PMFriday & Saturday 10AM-11PM, Sunday 11AM-5PM

Wings

PhillyCheesesteak

GourmetBurgers:Turkey, Veggie & Beef

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Capital City Beverages

Ask for these beers at stores and restaurants in Central Mississippi.

Can’t fi nd these beers? Call 601-956-2224 for more information.

MISSISSIPPI’S COMPLETE BEER SOURCEdistributed by

www.thepizzashackjackson.com

Best Pizza2009-2011

2nd Location Now OpenMon - Thur: 11am-9pm |Fri - Sat:11am-10pm | Sun: 11am - 7pm

5046 Parkway Drive Colonial Mart Jackson, MS 39211O! of Old Canton Road | 601-957-1975

Serving Lunch& Dinner DailyNEW BELHAVEN LOCATION: 925 East Forti! cation

(in the former Fabricare Building, between Kat’s & Fenian’s)Mon - Thur: 11am-10pm | Fri - Sat: 11am-11pm | Sun: 11am - 9pm

601-352-2001 | thepizzashackjackson.com

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Visit the Mississippi Petrified Forest.

We’re offering a soothing

therapeutic discounted admission of

$5.00 per person

with this ad to help get you on the path to serenity.

Country Fisherman Catering

Book Yo! Holiday P" ty Today

Providing Onsite Catering Services For the Entire Metro

Call Today

601-813-1384

Have you tried the Country Fisherman?

Buffet starting at $8.993110 Highway 80 West | Jackson, Mississippi

650 E.South Street • Jackson, MS 39201601.944.0415 • Sunday Services: 10:30am & 6:00pm

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42 Check out fl yjfp.com and on Facebook or information about other sales around the city, trends and various things fl y people should know.

Frock Fashions (111 Colony Crossing, Suite 270, Madison, 601-898-4643)Help fi ght hunger in Mississippi. Bring in 10 canned goods to donate to local food banks and get 10 percent off any purchase.

Mozingo Clothiers (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 140, 601-713-7848) Need fashion-forward men’s clothing and accessories at a discount? From Oct. 25 through Oct. 29, take 15 percent off of all purchases, including custom orders.

Static A Salon (219 Garden Park Drive, Madison, 601-853-0054) Only a few more days left for the $20 Wash House service and blowout. The salon will donate $5 from each service to the Susan G. Komen fund.

High Cotton (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 188, 601-982-3280)Fill out the form on High Cotton’s Facebook page, and upload your headshot for an opportunity to be featured in its 2012 advertising.

Maison Weiss (4500 Interstate 55 N., 601-981-4621) Don’t stop texting just because temperatures have dropped (unless you’re driving!). Try on new Echo Touch gloves designed to work with all of your touch-screen devices.

Send sale info to fl y@jacksonfreepress.com. If you’d like to see something on our FLY page, tell us on Twitter @FlyJFP.SHOPPING SPECIALS

he zombies are set to invade Fondren this Thursday, Oct. 27, for the fi rst ever Zombie Charity Crawl, which will benefi t the Missis-sippi Optometric Foundation. The family festival with face paint-

ing and trick-or-treating begins at 5:30 p.m. The adults-only Zombie Prom is at Duling Hall after dark. Fondren businesses will be open late, so creep on in and see what’s new for the fall.

by Meredith W. Sullivan; photo by Dane Carney

Blithe and Vine, 2906 N. State St., 601-427-3322Lipstick Lounge, 304 Mitchell Ave., 601-366-4000The Orange Peel, 422 Mitchell Ave., 601-364-9977Posh Boutique, 4312 N. State St., 601-364-2244The Shoebar at Pieces, 425 Mitchell Ave., 601-939-5203

MODELS:Davetta Lee (Kristina L. Myers for The Salon)Karen Hearn (Hair: William Wallace Salon, Makeup: Hilda Lebron for MAC)Kristy Herman (Suzanne Moak and Paul Prine for SMoak Salon)

Kristy is wearing sequin shorts ($70)

from Posh Boutique, a black blazer

($374) from Blithe & Vine and a

black-and-gold necklace ($12) from

Orange Peel.

Davetta is wearing a sheer Chan Luu

dress ($180) and crucifi x necklace

($60) from The Shoebar at Pieces and

a black-and-silver beaded bracelet

($20) from Posh Boutique.

Karen is wearing a silver and

black sheer dress ($80) from Posh

Boutique and a cocktail ring ($50)

from Lipstick Lounge.

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1260 East County Line Road Ridgeland, MS 39157 | 601.487.8207

platosclosetridgeland.com

Plato’s Closet in Ridgeland has tons of gently used brand name jeans, tees, tanks,

hoodies and shoes to fi ll your closet at up 70%

off regular retail. Don’t forget - we

pay $$$ on the spot for your gently used

apparel and accessories - Check us out today! WE OFFER FOILS, GREAT LENGTH

HAIR EXTENSIONS AND

BRAZILIAN BLOWOUTS.

Magnolia Marketplace5352 Lakeland Dr suite 600 | Flowood, Ms

601 992-7980

Custom made jewelry available!

Come by to get your custum spooky jewelry before it’s too late!

398 Hwy. 51 • Ridgeland, MS(601) 853-3299 • www.villagebeads.com

601.605.4511

www.molecules

hair.com

Within love again

your hair

601.605.4511

Voted state’s best consignment/resale by Mississippi Magazine.Ridgeland Location: 626 Ridgewood Road | 601.605.9393Starkville Location: 832B Hwy 12 West | 662.324.2641Like Us: Facebook:Repeat Street Metro Jackson | Twitter: @RepeatSt | www.repeatstreet.net

REPEAT STREETREPEAT STREETREPEAT STREET

Better than candy

Like Us: Facebook:Repeat Street Metro Jackson | Twitter: @RepeatSt | www.repeatstreet.net

Culberson Bail BondsBail Bonds 24 hours a day 7 days a week Payment Terms Available

Fastest & Friendliest Agents in the State

601-824-3254friend us on facebook

culbersonbonding@gmail.com

1046 Greymont Ave. (behind La Cazuela)CALL US AT 601-397-6223!

Security Cameras • Attendant On DutyDrop Off Service • Free Wi-Fi

Lee Law Offi ce • Jackson, MS

ERASE YOUR

We help people fi le for relief under the bankruptcy code. We are a debit relief agency.

File Bankruptcy

As little as $200 downplus fi ling fee

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION

CALL 601.342.0721

Full-Time Office Solutions: from $450.00 per Month

• Full-Time Furnished Office• Telephone & Telephone Services• High-Speed Internet • Reception Services• Use of Kitchen & Business Lounge• Conference Room & Meeting Space Usage

Virtual Office Solutions: from $129.00 per Month

• Professional Business Address• Local Phone Number• Voice Mail & Call Forwarding• Personalized Reception Service• Mail & Package Receipt• Personal Mailbox• Office & Conference Room Usage

460 Briarwood Dr. | Jackson, MS 39206 Phone: 601.709.4610 | Fax: 601.709.4611

Gerald A. Mumford, Attorney-At-Law601-944-1888 | 601-594-4975

www.themumfordfirm.comFree background information available upon request.

The Mumford Firm: Where justice begins!

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FREE // spring 2011FREE // spring 2011FREE // spring 2011FREEFREEFREEFREEFREEFREEFREE // spring 2011

// spring 2011 // spring 2011 // spring 2011 // spring 2011 // spring 2011 // spring 2011

FREE // spring 2011

Local Menu Guide,starts p 39THEIR OFFICE ISCOOLER

Dress to Impress ... at Work, pp 71-76 // A Temple, Bombed, p 16

Hungry Chef Seeks Exotic Asian, pp 55-58 // Parade Madness, pp 79, 82

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FREE // summer 2011Vol. 4, No. 1

Local Menu Guide,starts p 41

SHINEYoung Infl uentials

Of Doctors and Nurses, starts p 22 // Ramsey’s Tabouli Tour 2011, p. 57

A Mentor and A Rapper, p. 74 // A Furrows Journey, p. 78

SHINE

Learn the magazine business by helping write and produce the city’s business+lifestyle magazine. Free training workshops; school credit

available. Set your own hours. Write:interns@jacksonfreepress.com

Seeking Interns