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Come celebrate as we honor Alyce Clarke and Jerry Mitchell for their work in racial reconciliation and dialogue building in Mississippi.

Jackson 2000

Saturday, April 18, 2015, 7:00 p.m. - untilAt The Mississippi Museum of Art, Downtown Jackson

The Annual Friendship Ball Gala will honor local heroes who have made a di! erence in race relations in the Jackson area.

Revenue from this event will be used to support the work of ourorganization . . . speci" cally our Dialogue Circles.

Plus, dinner, dancing, live music and fabulous fellowship with Jackson 2000 members and the general public!

Visit www.jackson2000.org for more detail and to learn aboutsponsorship and host committee opportunities.

www.jackson2000.orgBringing the Community TogetherPromoting Racial Harmonyand Facilitating Understanding

APRIL 17FRIDAY

7:00 p.m.

The South Warehouse

PRESENTING SPONSOR

627 E. Silas Brown St. • Jackson, MS

Join us for tailgating, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, silent auction, fun and dancing as we raise money to help combat childhood obesity through the Just Have a Ball® program.

For more information about this event or to purchase tickets, please go to our website at www.healthy-miss.org This year’s Get Your Kicks On Sports Ball is a must attend event!

Live Entertainment By JESSE ROBINSON

SILENT AUCTIONSilent auction items

can be viewed online.

Complimentary BEVERAGE TICKETwith the purchase of

an event ticket

Semiformal Attire and your best SNEAKERS

requested!

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JACKSONIAN KILA MILNER

For Kila Milner, 34, a career in the restau-rant industry lets her combine work she loves with her passion for Jackson, a com-bination that she says is a win-win.

Milner was born in Tokyo, Japan, though she considers Jackson home. After moving around a lot during her childhood (her dad, Kenneth Milner, was in the Air Force), Milner’s family settled in south Jackson, where she grad-uated from Forest Hill High School in 1999. She worked as a freelance writer for Razor, a now-defunct local magazine. When that proj-ect ended, Milner enrolled in the Mississippi Institute of Aesthetics, Nails and Cosmetology, where she graduated with an associate’s degree in cosmetology in 2006. To pay the bills, she waited tables. Bouji Spa, where she worked after gradu-ation, closed about the time Babalu Tacos & Tapas was getting ready to open in Fondren. In December 2010, Milner joined the staff as a server, taking what had been a part-time gig to full-time status. Milner worked as a server at Babalu for three years. Her bubbly personality earned her a fan base of regulars. “(It is) exciting to see the progression from (the restaurant’s) opening to what it’s become now—a real go-to place in Jackson,” she says. When the restaurant decided to formal-ize its catering operations, the managers offered her an opportunity to be a part of that side of operations, and she jumped at the chance.

“I was like a ‘girl Friday,’” Milner says about her new job. Babalu hired Wendy Bry-ant to head catering, and Milner was her right hand. She learned how the catering side of the business works from Bryant, as well as how im-portant it is to always be on time—something that “seems like a little thing, but is really im-portant,” Milner says. The experience in catering and her time at Babalu recently led her to make a move to another restaurant with a firm commitment to Jackson—The Iron Horse Grill. Its manager, Andy Nesenson, was once the general manager at Babalu. When Nesenson was ready to bring on someone to manage the Iron Horse’s cater-ing business, he reached out to Milner. The job will be a new and different ex-perience for her, Milner says, because not only will she oversee off-site events, but she’s also in charge of on-site events in the restaurant’s pri-vate party rooms. “It’s a unique space—a Jack-son landmark—and the new blues museum upstairs will be a draw for groups and tourists, too,” Milner says. She hopes to capitalize on those assets to make the catering aspect of Iron Horse Grill “amazing,” she says. Milner credits her time at Babalu with teaching her priceless lessons about the indus-try and customer service, and says her biggest takeaway is to make guests happy. She plans to do that in her new position by providing a quality product and service, and by making the experience fun for her clients. —Julie Skipper

APRIL 15 - 21, 2015 | VOL. 13 NO. 32

4 ............................. EDITOR’S NOTE6 ............................................ TALKS12 ................................ EDITORIAL12 ................................ SORENSON13 .................................... OPINION14 ............................ COVER STORY22 ................... GIRL ABOUT TOWN34 ....................................... 8 DAYS35 ...................................... EVENTS27 .......................................... ARTS28 ....................................... MUSIC28 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS30 ..................................... SPORTS31 .................................... PUZZLES33 ....................................... ASTRO

Cover photo of Pop Culture Ice Pops and red wine by Imani KhayyamC O N T E N T S

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7 Courthouse ControversyHinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill makes his case for barring a public defender.

27 Don’t Be Like That“And so, dear readers, this week, I beseech you: Fellows, don’t be that guy. Pick up on the cues that ladies give: ‘I’m uncomfortable or not interested; please leave me alone.’ Ladies, stand up for yourself and don’t let creeps get away with it.” —Julie Skipper, “Don’t Be That Guy”

28 Follow Nellie Mack’s Bass and BluesThe Nellie Mack Project performs at the Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival at Renaissance at Colony Park April 19. Ap

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I t’s hard to watch a grown man cry. It’s even harder to see a distinguished judge break down in front of an audience de-cades after a white teacher lied about his

actions and got him more than 20 hard licks from his principal. Federal District Judge Carlton Reeves—who wrote the amazing decision overturning the state’s same-sex marriage ban—broke down telling that story about his experiences in the newly integrated Yazoo City public schools in the 1960s. He was part of a panel with filmmaker, and my friend and Jackson Free Press contributor, David Rae Morris, after his “Revisiting Yazoo” documentary screened at the Crossroads Film Festival. What struck me immediately about Reeves’ broken voice telling the story of a teacher reporting that he was trying to be vio-lent when he was just reaching out for candy is that this kind of racist act against a child is still so much a part of the American experi-ence. It seemed so unresolved for Reeves that he spoke of it like it was yesterday. His response reminded me of when I interviewed the son of Wharlest Jackson, a man blown up in his pickup truck by Klans-men in Natchez when leaving the Armstrong Tire Plant in 1967. His young son heard the explosion and ran the short distance from their home to the smouldering truck. He saw the body of his father lying on the street. As Wharlest Jr. told me that story a few years back, he suddenly buckled into a little boy in front of me, mourning his father’s death and the fact that nothing was ever done about it. Watching Judge Reeves’ raw emotion over how he was abused by racist school leaders, I immediately saw that son’s sobbing face. Both were adult men not only revisiting a painful childhood memory, but sobbing because of the work left undone, whether in neglected re-segregated public schools or by a criminal-justice system that has been so hesitant to bring justice to fami-

lies like those of Wharlest Jackson. I’ve thought, talked and written about unresolved race conflict for many years, as many of you well know. But in the wake of Ferguson and the ensuing #BlackLivesMat-ter consciousness, at least on the part of Af-rican Americans if not as many whites, I’ve thought about it even more. It’s hard not to when the bright-line division between most blacks and whites across the country—cer-tainly not just in the Deep South—is so

painfully clear. Too many people don’t know others with vastly different experiences and, too often, don’t care that they don’t. There is an empathy void that leaves distrust and, often, abject hatred in its wake. Those things lead to bad policy that per-petuates the cycle: white flight from public schools; underfunded education; finger-pointing at those who don’t figure out a way to succeed despite the inequality. Ever since I turned 14 over in Neshoba County and found out about the unpros-ecuted murders of three civil rights workers by people I knew, I’ve grappled with a central question that has come into greater relief (or lack of) in recent months: How can people mistreat others simply based on the color of their skin? And maybe even more urgent: How can supposedly good, God-loving peo-ple turn their heads when others do? There is nothing moral or logical to those actions and inactions to me, and that

question still keeps me awake at night. In recent years, after getting a grand tour of how backward the rest of the country is on race and then returning to Mississip-pi, I’ve dug in deeper to my state’s ongoing neurosis over race, including an attempt to fully understand the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. And I’ve added to that list of questions. Now, I want to know how people can accept a lack of diversity in schools, on boards, in the workplace, in their social lives, in their neighborhoods—in the 21st century. I mean, seriously, have we learned nothing from our ancestors’ attempt to separate us and make us hate and distrust each other? Can we not see how many of our problems stem from this deliberate separate-ness? Do we have no free will to stop it? I thought about all these questions as I watched “Yazoo Revisited,” an excellent film that explores both Yazoo City’s 1970 school integration (that went smoother than in some other Mississippi towns) and its resegregation as more white families fled to schools with minimal students of color. David decided to pursue the documen-tary after Yazoo City native and former Gov. Haley Barbour’s infamous remark to The Weekly Standard that the civil-rights era in his hometown wasn’t very eventful. “I just don’t remember it as being that bad,” Barbour said then. And on one level, he was right. Sort of. David’s documentary shows that the actual integration (nearly two decades after the U.S. Supreme Court told schools to integrate our unequal schools) was smooth—and even turned into a short-term model of how rela-tively well black and white students could get along, with the Yazoo City schools roughly half black and half white for a while. Still, the film also showed that even life in Yazoo City was, indeed, “that bad” for par-ents who had tried to enroll their kids in the public schools earlier in the 1960s before the

city’s “fathers” (as white leaders were jarringly called) later changed course to keep the peace. The film shows lists of parents who were fired, boycotted and run out of town after trying to exercise their constitutional right to send their kids to better schools. Then there were the stories like the one Judge Reeves told at the end—stories of adult white teachers being hateful to children. I know it’s easy to hear those stories now and think all that is behind us. But if that is true, why don’t we hear more white outrage over, say, the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, or even Trayvon Martin in Florida at the hands of a scared vigilante bully with a gun? I really don’t get how any of us can look at those police shoot-ings and believe the dead children got what they deserved. And if we can see that, why can’t we demand better from our protectors? Of course, the most scary answer that I don’t want to accept is that white society still suffers from the curse cast on our nation years before that tells us to fear black people, no matter what. Sure, it’s easy to say that’s a habit of the past, but if so, how can so many people turn their heads from so many un-armed African Americans killed just because someone fears them, just like in the past? See the logical problem there? Chalmers Mayers Jr. was also in the film and on the “Yazoo Revisited” panel alongside Judge Reeves. The Jackson State University professor and Yazoo native put it very succinctly when asked why diversity, or the lack of it, is so important in our schools. “It creates better people,” he said. That may feel jarring to hear, but he’s onto something. Good people can come out of non-diverse situations, but better people result from those where they get to know, interact regularly with and build empathy for people of a different ethnicity, economic level or background on a regular basis. It’s time that we all be better.

CONTRIBUTORS

Creating Better People

Web Editor Dustin Cardon is a graduate of the Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi. He enjoys reading fantasy novels and wants to write them him-self one day. He contributed to the cover package.

Assistant Editor Amber Hel-sel doesn’t know the mean-ing of the word “quit.” Seri-ously. What is it? Don’t call it a comeback. She’s been here for years. She coordinated the cover package.

R.L. Nave, native Missou-rian and news editor, roots for St. Louis (and the Mizzou Tigers)—and for Jackson. Send him news tips at rlnave@jacksonfreepress.com or call him at 601-362-6121 ext. 12. He wrote a news story.

Freelance writer Genevieve Legacy is an artist, writer and community development con-sultant. She works at Hope Enterprise Corporation and lives in Brandon with her hus-band and youngest son. She wrote an arts story.

Freelance writer Maya Miller is a senior psychology major at Jackson State University. She enjoys books by Stephen King and Netflix marathons. She wrote a music story.

Music Listings Editor Tommy Burton is keeping the dream alive one record at a time. He can usually be seen with a pair of headphones on. He compiled the music listings. Send gig info to music@jacksonfreepress.com.

Staff Photographer Imani Khay-yam is a Jackson native and a graduate of Tougaloo College. When he’s not busy scheduling fashion models in New York, he’s snapping pictures for the JFP. He took the cover photo and many others.

Art Director Kristin Brenemen is an otaku with a penchant for dystopianism. She’s not surprised that Puppycat beat Bee in the cartoon cagematch. At night, she fights crime. She designed much of the issue.

by Donna Ladd, Editor-in-ChiefEDITOR’S note

There is an empathy void.

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Dustin Cardon Amber Helsel R.L. Nave Genevieve Legacy Maya Miller Tommy Burton Imani Khayyam Kristin Brenemen

D r. Cedrick Gray, the superinten-dent of Jackson Public Schools, seems to be proving tight-fisted Mississippi lawmakers right when

they say it doesn’t necessarily take throwing money at schools to im-prove education. Gray, who has been with JPS since 2012, doesn’t profess to be a financial wiz. Rather, he has implemented a rigid system of goals and strategies to help his ad-ministration make tough budget decisions. Acronym aficionado Dr. Gray calls this a system of three “wildly important goals,” or WIGs, which are to increase aca-demic performance, raise average daily attendance of students and staff, and recruit and retain em-ployees, including faculty. “‘How does it connect to one of the three wildly important goals?’” Grays said he asks his staff when they want to make a big purchase. “‘If it doesn’t, then don’t bring it to me.’” As a result, JPS is boasting improvement in several areas. Last week, the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trust-ees granted a one-year contract extension to Gray, citing high academic performance and progress in a number of other areas, includ-ing the number of F-rated schools in the state’s largest urban district that fell to eight from 17. The number of discipline incidents also dropped by 1,000 between last school

year and the current year. In addition, the graduation rate ticked up from 64 percent in the 2012-2013 school year to 65.1 percent in the

2013-2014 academic year. In a February report, AdvancED, an accrediting organization also gave JPS high marks for improving transportation, IT sys-tems and surveying its parents. JPS Board President Otha Burton also lauded Dr. Gray for boosting parent participa-tion and making a positive impact on the district’s culture.

The Cost of Unfunded Mandates Forcing schools to walk a budgetary tightrope, and do more with less, itself comes with a price tag attached.

For example, Gray said JPS has imple-mented “creative scheduling” for teachers to pow-wow about everything from test scores and grades to discipline—long gone are the days of teachers goofing off in the fac-ulty lounge. Also, to prepare students for the so-called 3rd grade reading-gate test, which takes place this week, JPS had to devote some of its staff to test prep because

Shorting MAEP Basically a Tax Hikeby R.L. Nave

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Wednesday, April 8 A dramatic video showing white South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager shooting a fleeing black man named Walter Lamer Scott af-ter a traffic stop leads authorities to file a murder charge against Slager amid public outrage over a series of deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement agents. … A jury convicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of all charges in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Thursday, April 9 President Obama announces he will act soon on a recommendation about whether to remove Cuba from the United States list of state sponsors of ter-rorism. … Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group seize control of the global French television network, simultaneously blacking out 11 channels and taking over the network’s website and social media accounts.

Friday, April 10 The top U.S. and Cuban diplomats meet in Panama for the seventh Summit of the Americas, the highest-level meet-ing between the two governments in more than half a century.

Saturday, April 11 Hillary Clinton launches her long-awaited 2016 presidential campaign.

Sunday, April 12 The Islamic State posts video online of militants destroying parts of the an-cient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, a site dating back to the 13th century B.C.

Monday, April 13 A week shy of the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Obama administration proposes new regulations aimed at strengthening over-sight of offshore oil-drilling equipment and ensuring that out-of-control wells can be sealed in an emergency. … Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin sanctions the delivery of an $800 million S-300 air defense missile system to Iran.

Tuesday, April 14 During an Oval Office meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Obama pledges $200 million in humanitarian aid to Iraq to help those displaced by Islamic State militants.

Breaking news: jfpdaily.com.

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Dr. Cedrick Gray, superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, seems to have the district moving in the right direction even if JPS’ budget isn’t.

The Great Foodie Predicts…by Amber Helsel

the Legislature failed to provide money to hire enough literacy coaches, Gray said. “It’s not only a money issue, but a hu-man-resource issue,” Gray said, pointing out hidden costs of advertising, recruiting and training staff associated with unfunded leg-islative mandates such as the 3rd grade gate, which requires students to show proficiency before going to 4th grade. In shortchanging public schools the bare minimum amount they need to op-erate, the Mississippi Legislature essentially just passed a tax increase on citizens. In the most recent round of budget negotia-tions, lawmakers boosted MAEP funding by $110 million compared to last year, but full funding remained short by more than $200 million. The Parents’ Campaign, a Jackson-based education-advocacy group, analyzed what it calls the shortchanging of public schools in a report published April 9. Its in-formation shows that JPS, the state’s second largest school district by enrollment, should have received $142.4 million by state law but ended up with $11.6 million less for a total state appropriation of $130.7 million. Since the last time MAEP received full

funding, in the 2007-2008 academic year, the Legislature has shorted JPS $98.6 mil-lion behind only DeSoto County School

District, the state’s largest. The amount of JPS underfunding equals $67.05 per Jackson resident. The per capita burden on the citizens of Clinton, one of the wealthier districts, is even higher than in JPS. Clinton School District’s $1.9 mil-lion MAEP shortfall works out to $75.34 per resident.

A Hidden Tax Hike All together, Mississippi schools have received $1.7 billion less than full MAEP funding since 2008. When the Legislature shorts schools, local taxpayers feel the pinch.

Each year, JPS crafts its budget and presents it to the Jackson City Council, which sets the millage—local property tax—rate to cover the district’s request. City Council Vice President Melvin Priester Jr., who chairs the council’s Budget Committee, says if JPS received more money from the state, the district wouldn’t need as much from the city. “When the state chooses not to ad-equately fund education, local municipali-ties have to fill the gap. Taxes in Jackson are higher in Jackson than surrounding com-munities, and JPS is a huge driver of that,” Priester said. Priester, who represents Ward 2, points out that starting next fall JPS will also have to contend with the state’s first two charter schools, Reimagine Prep in south Jackson and Midtown Public Charter. Charter schools are privately run by nonprofits, but use public tax funds for op-erating expenses. Those schools, the fruit of years of legislative and philosophical wran-gling, will also have to make do with less than their MAEP requests. Reimagine Prep received $57,9713 un-der the MAEP formula to get $652,149 in

funding its first year. At Midtown, the school will receive in $626,959 in state funds, but $55,734 less than MAEP calls for. The Legislature authorized the creation of charter schools in 2013 after a number of unsuccessful attempts and ideological battles between Democrats, who generally oppose forming new charter schools without fully funding MAEP, and Republicans who wide-ly consider the existing public-school system to be a failure. These philosophical battles can end in policy overhauls. In the most recent legislative standards, some conservative lawmakers wanted to dismantle the Com-mon Core education standards, which they believe is a federal government take-over of education. That effort failed, but an appetite exists in some political circles to revisit the issue next session. If Common Core goes away, Dr. Gray said JPS and every other school dis-trict will again have to shift—and that will come at a cost. “The biggest thing that boggles my mind is how do you keep up when the stan-dards keep changing?” Gray asked. Comment at www.jfp.ms.

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T he list of cases Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill has taken from the county public defender’s office and assigned to private at-

torneys has swelled to more than 60 and keeps growing. The shuffle all stems from a tiff between Weill and Hinds County Assistant Public Defender Alison Kelly. In letters to the Board of Supervisors, Weill accused Kelly of unlawfully running a private legal practice outside her work as a public defender and exhibiting disrespectful and unprofessional conduct. Currently, the dispute is in front of the Mississippi Supreme Court, which recently ordered Weill to provide details about his allegations against Kelly. Weill filed his re-sponse on April 10; Kelly has until April 15 to answer Weill. In the meantime, public defend-ers are concerned about their clients and the representation they’re receiving. Les-lie Lee, who heads the Office of the State Public Defender, wrote in a friend of the court brief submitted in late March that

“no constitutionally effective of assistance can be rendered when a judge interferes with independent (legal) representation.”

Hinds County Public Defender Mi-chele Harris, Kelly’s boss, also drew ire from Weill, who cited Harris and another public defender, Greg Spore, with criminal con-tempt and fined them $100 each.

Harris said the U.S. Constitution guarantees defendants not only the right to a competent lawyer but the right to

continuous counsel. “When you switch horses in mid-stream, it can cause problems in a case and those problems can hurt your cli-ents,” Harris told the Jackson Free Press.

‘Increasingly Obstreperous’ In documents filed with the Supreme Court, Weill writes that “Kelly’s poor behav-ior has been an issue throughout the under-signed’s tenure on the bench,” which began 2011 when Weill vacated his position as a Jackson city councilman from Ward 1, “but (she) has become increasingly obstreperous since the end of 2012.” Weill said Harris honored his request to reassign Kelly to a different judge in 2013, but later that year Kelly “inexplicably” went back to Weill’s courtroom. Harris told the Jackson Free Press that the office was understaffed and, because Weill’s courtroom is “rigorous,” she wanted an experienced, aggressive senior assistant public defender assigned to Weill. “I believe we’ve had great success in Judge Weill’s courtroom, and I think that’s when issues arise—he takes it as disrespectful, and that kind of fans the flames,” Harris said.

Court Spat Ensnares Defendants, Taxpayersby R.L. Nave

“When the state chooses not to adequately

fund education, local municipalities have to fill

the gap.”

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A controversy brewing at the Hinds County Courthouse around Judge Jeff Weill has the potential to cost taxpayers big money.

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TALK | courts

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Weill denied the claim that he reas-signed Kelly because she was persuading ju-ries to find defendants not guilty. “The trial court has no interest in which side ‘wins’ or ‘loses’ in court,” Weill wrote. Weill accuses Kelly of illegally practic-ing law under the rubric of Alison O. Kelly, PLLC, for at least five civil clients, sometimes during times when she was also working as a public defender. Harris said she knew Kelly had sometimes done some pro bono civil le-gal work before Harris’ appointment as pub-lic defender in 2011, but that she discour-aged the practice and, as far as she knows, the practice has stopped. Throughout his response, Weill also re-peatedly questions Kelly’s competence in his response to the Supreme Court. On at least two occasions, he claims, Kelly abandoned mentally ill defendants who were declared incompetent to stand trial. One of these men was Elton McClaurin. In an interview with the Jackson Free Press last year about the number of prison-ers awaiting evaluations at Whitfield, Harris cited the lack of so-called forensic beds re-served for incarcerated patients and delays by

prosecutors as reasons mentally ill prisoners languish in jail. Weill writes in his response that Kelly failed to have McClaurin transferred the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield and in 2013 was charged with killing his cellmate Larry McLaurin (no relation).

Usurping Authority The private lawyers receiving clients from the public defenders include sole prac-titioners and corporate firms such as the Brunini firm, Young Wells, Baker Donelson and at least one attorney who the Mississippi Bar Association lists as working for BlueCross BlueShield. Now, some of the firms, who had agreed to take the cases pro bono, have withdrawn, court records show. The private attorneys who take on cases of people too poor to hire their own lawyers won’t get rich—in some cases, they will receive substantially less than their regular fees—but in any case, county taxpayers could be on the hook for extra bills. Senior Judge Tomie Green issued an order in 2011 prohibiting court-appoint-

ed lawyers from charging more than $60 per hour and capped the rates depending

on the kind of offense. Paper crimes like bouncing checks and forgery draw a maximum fee of $900 and another $200 for expenses. More serious cases, like armed robbery and murder, are capped at $3,600 and $800 for expenses, but attorneys can petition the circuit judge to charge more. Harris also believes Weill’s public-de-fender shuffle could give defendants fodder to appeal their cases, which will drain the

county’s budget even more, she said. In anticipation of having to pay the pri-vate attorneys, Pieter Teeuwissen, the Hinds County board attorney, told supervisors April 6 that Weill is “arguably usurping your authority by hiring private attorneys and ex-pecting you to pay for it.” Hinds County supervisors eventually voted on a new policy that would preclude county employees from hiring outside ven-dors for any service that another county de-partment could provide unless getting per-mission from the board. Despite his reputation as being tough on criminal defendants, Harris said her of-fice’s defiance isn’t about Judge Weill. “This issue is bigger than Alison Kelly, it’s bigger than the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office; it’s bigger than Jeff Weill. I would have done the same thing if it was Judge (Tomie) Green, Judge (Bill) Gowan or Judge (Winston) Kidd. We’re aggressive in our representation, and I think that’s what you have to do be a good defense attorney,” Harris told the Jackson Free Press. Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email R.L. Nave at rlnave@jacksonfreepress.com.

“The trial court has no interest in which side

‘wins’ or ‘loses’ in court.”

St. AlexisEpiscopal Church650 E.South Street • Jackson • 601.944.0415

Sunday Services: 10:30am & 6:00pm

Where All are Welcome

Sunday Services10:30 am & 6:00pm

ANALYSIS | educationAp

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W hether this past session of the Mississippi Legislature was successful depends largely on which party a lawmaker be-

longed to. For Democrats in a body that is majority Republican in both houses—in a state with only one Democrat in statewide office—the consensus seems to be that every win was a hard-fought scramble. “For me, personally, it was not a very good legislative session,” state Rep. Kimberly Campbell, D-Jackson, said. “I’m pretty disappointed with a lot of things that happened this session.” Campbell was one of three panelists speaking at a Jackson 2000 luncheon on Wednesday, April 8. She was joined by state Sens. David Blount and Sollie Norwood, also Democrats from Jackson. Public education took center stage in this year’s session, as it often does. In 1997, the state Legislature devised a formula to provide level funding for every school district in Mississippi. Under the formula, districts with poorer residents and lower tax bases would receive more state money to ensure their children would receive at least an ad-equate education. But since passing the for-mula, called the Mississippi Adequate Edu-cation Program (or MAEP), lawmakers have only allocated enough funds twice, in 2003 and 2007, both election years. In fact, when school funding is calcu-lated on a per-student basis, as of 2013, Mis-sissippi provided 13 percent less money—or $648 less—for each child in public school than it did in 2008, reports the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C., think tank. From 2009 through 2015 school years, the cumulative statewide funding shortfall adds up to more than $1.5 billion. For the Jackson Public Schools alone, the district would have received an additional $89.5 million had lawmakers allocated adequate funds through the MAEP formula, enough to hire 320 new teachers, the Mississippi As-sociation of Educators estimates. This year’s budget shorts the formula by an additional $200 million. To date, the decision to allocate enough funds to provide adequate education has been at the discretion of the state Legisla-ture; however, last year a grassroots effort to amend the state constitution resulted in Ini-tiative 42, putting the question to the state’s voters in the upcoming November elections. At issue is whether to add enforcement teeth to the formula. In response, lawmakers came up with a competing initiative to enshrine their discretionary status quo. “Since we’ve had the initiative process, the Legislature has never exercised this pro-vision to put an alternative on the ballot,”

Blount said. “And when I say ‘the Legisla-ture,’ I’m saying ‘the party I don’t belong to’ that did this.” From its inception, public-school ad-vocates said that the Republican initiative’s purpose was simply to confuse the issue. Its

wording, they said, was too close to Initiative 42, and its aims were unclear. “It’s deliberately confusing,” Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, former chairman of the House Education Committee, told the Jack-son Free Press. The conservative alternative was made somewhat less confusing in early April, when Adrian Shipman, a mother of two from Ox-ford, won her suit to clarify its language. Nonetheless, the process still has the poten-tial to confuse voters. As it stands now, voters will have to cast two votes to change the state constitution. “First, you can vote yes or no. You can vote against the idea, or you can vote for the idea,” Blount said. “If you vote yes, then you’re going to have to vote a second time for either … the people’s initiative” or to main-tain the system has it today. “It’s about splitting the vote,” Blount added. To make school funding even more difficult, Republicans introduced legisla-tion to eliminate state income taxes, po-tentially cutting revenues by as much as a third. Democrats, with some Republican help, defeated the measures, but the efforts crystallized priorities, Blount said: Give up-per-income Mississippians a few hundred dollars more in their pockets every year or give all of the state’s children the opportu-

nity to get a decent education. “This year made it very, very clear,” he said. “Do you want to get to full funding of education? Do you want to do more funding for our community colleges and our univer-sities? Or, would you rather cut taxes?

“We have to balance the budget, so that’s the choice we had to make. The leader-ship in the House proposed eliminating 30 percent of the budget.” The Democrats’ education battles ex-tended to the state’s public colleges and uni-versities. The announcement by Mississippi Institutes of Higher Learning that it would not renew University of Mississippi Chan-cellor Dan Jones’ contract revealed the IHL’s opaque internal machinations. Campbell said she and many others have long had issues with how IHL was run. She has asked the commission to show her how they determine distribution of state funds, for example. “IHL seems to be their own secret so-ciety,” Campbell said. “… It’s like trying to speak Mandarin. You can’t ever get a straight answer from them.” Under the control of the governor, the IHL board currently has no women, and it is about to lose its only representative from the state’s seven historically black colleges and universities. The Legislature’s education committees largely mirror that mix, making the allocation of state funds problematic for the HBCUs, Campbell said. “Over half of the students at Val-ley (State University) are literally still in trailers because they do not have dormi-tories,” she said. “Valley was asking for $14 million, which to our (state) budget,

that’s really like asking for 14 cents.” The school was willing to split that amount to get half this year and half next. “The answer was no,” Campbell said. “We couldn’t give you $7 million to put a roof over students’ heads, but we could give

$25 million to the Coast for an aquarium. Don’t get me wrong, those things are impor-tant, too. I’m not someone who thinks arts and dance and aquariums are not important. They are; they’re vital to the communities. But you’ve got to have priorities. I do not think $25 million for an aquarium should have outweighed $7 million to Valley State University to house children.” Campbell said she received calls from her constituents accusing her of paying too much attention to Ole Miss’ issues and not enough for the HBCUs when she spoke out against IHL’s decision to fire Jones, but she pointed out that she was taking a broader view of the issue to support a man who was committed to diversity. “If the flagship (university) can be treat-ed like this, then think about how Valley and Alcorn and Jackson State will be treated one day,” she said. “… At some point, you have to rally and get behind good people. It’s not just because of the school; it’s about the man and what he had done.” Sen. Norwood pointed to the defeat of the so-called “Tim Tebow Act” among Dem-ocratic educational wins in this year’s session. The proposed legislation would have allowed home-schooled children to participate in public-school extracurricular activities. “We lost on everything else,” he said. “… It was a very bad session for education.”

Democrats Disappointed for the Childrenby Ronni Mott

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State Democratic lawmakers said this year’s session crystallized their priorities in opposition to the Republican leadership, especially when it came to education of children. Left to right: Sen. David Blount, Rep. Kimberly Campbell and Sen. Sollie Norwood, all of Jackson, spoke at the April 8 Jackson 2000 luncheon at the Arts Center of Mississippi.

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Stop Taxing Schools With Underfunding

A new report released this week from the Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California fi nds that

some 75 percent of people receiving govern-ment assistance live in a household headed by a person who works. But even with this assistance, families have other unseen costs. For example, a mother might need to commute a long distance to take her children to a clinic that accepts Medicaid and spend all day in the waiting area. Transporta-tion, health-care co-pays and time are just some of the buried costs that poor families incur even when they’re getting help. Plus, not only do taxpayers pay into the system that helps these families when moms and dads look for stable work or go to school, we taxpayers are also, in essence, writing checks to some of the nation’s largest corporations that use these low-wage workers to beef up their profi t margins. “This is a hidden cost of low-wage work,” Ken Jacobs, chairman of the Berkeley Center and a co-author of the report, told The New York Times of the study’s fi ndings. Of course, this argument is a non-starter here in Mississippi, where the stingy Republican-led Legislature does everything in its power to stymie programs designed to help the needy. At the risk of paying lawmakers what they would perceive as a compliment, the Legislature

is a lot like those publicly traded multinational companies. While the GOP leadership runs all over the state this election season hollering about fi scal restraint—in the way that corporate execu-tives beat their chests about stock dividends at shareholder meetings—it’s important to point out the hidden cost of that so-called restraint, particularly on education. Since the Legislature created the MAEP for-mula to provide the minimum amount of educa-tion funding, lawmakers have fully funded it just twice. Since the last time public education was fully funded, the compounded shortfall is creeping toward the $2 billion mark. That sum is essentially a tax on school dis-trict and local taxpayers, which is ironic consider-ing how badly legislative Republicans claimed to want to lower taxes this year. Because JPS’s budget comes from City of Jackson millage rates, local property taxpayers are ultimately on the hook if the district needs to increase its budget request due to insuffi cient funding. Jacksonians cannot afford any more tax increases, nor can most Mississippians. There’s little we can do about it now that the session is over, but we encourage voters to question offi ce seekers—newcomers and incumbents—who talk about tax relief and fi scal responsibility when it comes to education funding. After all, even though lawmakers think they saved money on failing to fund MAEP, in the end, we’re all going to pay for that failure somehow.

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‘one’

M r. Announcer: “In the ghetto criminal-justice system, the people are represented by members of the newly established Ghetto Science Community Peace Keeping Unit: police of-fi cer and part-time security guard at the Funky Ghetto Mall

Dudley ‘Do-Right’ McBride; attorney Cootie McBride of the law fi rm McBride, Myself and I; and guest rookie peace offi cer D.J. Itch Got To Scratch. This is their story.” (Cootie, Dudley, and D.J. Itch patrol the Ghetto Science Community in the Law-N-Order S.U.V. while listening to D.J. Itch’s Message Music Mix Tape.) D.J. Itch: “Cootie and Dudley, why are we patrolling this community? You don’t believe the local police can patrol this community effectively?” Cootie: “Right now, our purpose is to maintain peace, law and order. We do this deed because we respect the citizens who live and work in this community.” Dudley: “The people in this community appreciate our peacekeeping efforts.” Cootie: “We are watch-persons who make sure local law enforce-ment offi cers properly interact with members of the Ghetto Science Community.” Dudley: “We also help community members avoid confrontation with the police.” D.J. Itch: “So, we are to protect the people from getting in trouble with people who are supposed to protect the people.” Dudley: “Yes, we are the peacekeepers, my friend.” Cootie: “In the meantime, let’s listen to D.J. Itch’s Mix tape featuring the ‘Marvin Gaye Inner City Blues Message Mix.’” (Eight gunshots are heard.) D.J. Itch: “I think someone has been shot in the back.” Dudley: “Here we go again.” Doink, doink!

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

Why it Stinks: In a rare show of unity between Reeves and Gov. Phil Bryant, the GOP leadership teamed up to criticize the move by Kidd, to whom they repeat-edly referred as a Hinds County judge. Of course, in Mississippi political circles, Hinds County and Jackson are code words for Democrats, which we all know is code for black folks. Where Reeves’ incredulity really fails to hold water is with the fact that he is notorious for unilaterally killing legislation in the Senate that he’s personally not fond of. (Gov. Bryant does this as well). Reeves shouldn’t be a hater now just because he doesn’t like the taste of his own medicine.

H er vulnerability is her strength. Her tears are her muscles. Her intuition is her power. I meet women all the time

who have been sucked up into their self-shell—where they retreat to when life’s pain has left them tormented and de-feated. They’ve fallen victim to the hand life has dealt them. They don’t see the bright, sunny skies. They run away from the world and into themselves in search of safety. They trust nothing but the self-shell they’ve created to welcome refuge, retreat, ease. Some women have learned to mask their pain with beauti-ful make-up and fancy clothes. Some women, who have been hurt, throw themselves into their work and career. Many women are pro-miscuous, or indulge in drugs and alcohol, figur-ing partying will soothe the pain. There are even women who focus on their children so that pain doesn’t hurt so much. The fact is, pain doesn’t stop hurting be-cause you stop think-ing about it. It will not go away because you’ve retreated into yourself. Pain is only released through freedom. Freedom only comes when we can for-give those who hurt us and forgive our-selves for whatever we have come to be-lieve we did wrong that has prevented us from loving ourselves. I was afraid. I didn’t trust men, and I did not trust myself. I had become pretty comfortable dating men who couldn’t do anything but hold your hand and buy you a drink in the club. My big-gest dilemma was trying to look good enough but not too good that someone else—someone that I might actually be attracted to—approached me. My mot-to at the time was, “be hot, but not too hot.” It worked for a little while. The men paid my bills, bought me a few out-fits and met my needs. I’d been in a serious relationship for a good part of my adult life and wasn’t interested in going back there. But, of course, when universal law sends a shift our way, we have no control over that. So, a few dates in, and it was going well. I was interested. He was a welcome change from what I’d taught myself was enough for me. See, no matter what we convince ourselves of when we are liv-ing in the self-shell, our souls still know our hearts. We can’t fool either of them.

Letting go of my old dating style meant that I had to pay my own bills and let go of the trophy life I’d come to know. But, it wasn’t so bad because this new guy struggled with me. It was rough, but we built a bond over gas-station burgers and candlelight because we had no electricity. I soon became frustrated with the new guy not being able to provide for my every want. I didn’t particularly fa-vor coming out of my self-shell where I would have to feel things again. I was ready to run and hide—again. “I’m sick of living like this. I’m going back to Atlanta,” I proclaimed.

I waited for him to just go away, but he did not. He clearly wasn’t in-terested in allowing me to retreat into my com-fort zone. “You are not going anywhere. You are my woman, and you are staying here. You will be fine,” he said. Wait a second. Who was he talking to? I didn’t know if I was offended or turned on. But I quickly realized I was breaking through. I was becoming me, and not the woman who lived in a place where I couldn’t be hurt or hit,

where I controlled the safe space, even if it wasn’t special. We began to discuss the situation. In that moment, the self-shell I’d rested in for years had began to melt away. All I could do was bask in the warmth the awakening showered upon me. I am thankful I was able to break out of that self-shell because many never do. If it wasn’t for that reality check I re-ceived from my now-husband, I’m not sure I ever would have broken free. I didn’t feel a need to. I felt that the world didn’t want me, and I didn’t want any-thing from the world. Sometimes, we are sent special peo-ple to keep us on our journey or to bring us back from a side road to the right path. But there are other times when we simply have to find that way on our own. Women are equipped to do just that. We can preserve ourselves as needed. Yet, we can burst through the flames of hell and declare our own victory. The only requirement is that we decide to do it. Once a woman decides to break free from her shell, whether self-created or forced upon her, she will be victorious. Funmi “Queen” Franklin is a word lover, poet and advocate for sisterhood. She has a weakness for reality shows.

Woman, Be Free

FUNMI FRANKLIN

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I didn’t know

if I was offended or turned on.

Editor-in-Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

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Fortune Asian Market & Restaurant (1169 E. County Line Road, 601-991-9898) Nancy Dong, owner of Fortune Asian Market & Restaurant, is doing well in the family business. Members of her extended family across the South, including in Ala-bama, have pooled their capital in a number of group ventures. They have purchased and, in some cases, constructed Asian grocery stores and restaurants. Dong’s restaurant and store, which she opened with the help of her uncle, Lin Wang Chuan, is inspired by a similar property her father, Dong Yi Lu, owns in Homewood, Ala., called Oriental Super Market and Red Pearl Restaurant. Dong traveled to the United States in 2000 from her native city of Fuzhou in Chi-na’s Fujian province. Her father had already come here in 1995. Initially, Dong moved to New York City seeking better business op-portunities than she could find in her home country. She moved around in New York, Louisiana and Alabama, working in various Chinese restaurants along the way, before she settled in Ridgeland in 2005 and decided to open a business. “Miss Dong opened up here because she saw a real need for a place to purchase authentic Chinese products in Ridgeland,” says Fortune Manager Chen Hong, who spoke on Dong’s behalf as she is not fluent in English. “You can’t get the ingredients you need for truly authentic Chinese cooking in Walmart; they cater to a more general popu-lation. We like to be able to cater to the more adventurous with what we have, as well.” Adventurous foodies will not be disap-pointed with what Fortune offers, including a wide variety of imported Asian tea and cof-fee blends, and plenty of exotic seasonings. Customers will also find two aisles devoted to noodles of all shapes and numerous rice

varieties, and an entire shelf of various types of cookies in blue tins featuring the Smurfs. The store also offers items such as tempura-flavored chips, fish crackers and preserved duck eggs. The drink section includes wheat and aloe-vera drinks, black-soybean and black-

sesame soy-milk juice boxes and Ramune—a carbonated drink sold in special glass bottles sealed with a marble. The frozen-food section includes fish balls, fish cakes and mochi-flavored ice cream. (Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made from a type of rice called mochigome.) In Fortune’s seafood section, shoppers can buy fresh eel, large snails, squid and cuttlefish. The store also has tanks nearby filled with

live fish, lobsters and even large green frogs. “I know frog legs are a thing in the South, but not the whole frog, I’ll bet,” Hong says. “The Chinese, they boil and eat the whole frog.”

Fortune’s restaurant boasts an extensive menu with dozens of varieties of beef, chick-en, pork, seafood, rice and vegetable dishes to choose from. Many dishes are spicy, but Fortune’s cooks can alter the spice level of any dish to suit your taste. The Fortune grocery store is open Sunday

through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. The restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Mr. Chen’s Authentic Chinese Cooking (5465 Interstate 55 N., 601-978-1865) Mr. Chen’s has become a staple in the Jackson area since opening in 2010. The

grocery, which takes up considerably more space than the restaurant, features an amaz-ing selection of authentic oriental goods that you won’t find in a typical American grocery store. Mr. Chen’s frozen-food section alone has items such as chicken feet and frozen boiled apple snail meat along with goat, lamb, rabbit and quail. You’ll also find bean buns and egg tarts, pork buns and Asian dumplings, rice-paper spring roll wraps, fro-zen banana leaves, red bean and green tea-flavored ice cream, durian pancakes and even cuttlefish and an entire frozen sushi section. Shoppers will also find aisles of spices and sauces in Mr. Chen’s, which include items such as tempura sauce, banana sauce and tubes of ginger paste. The store also has unusual snack options such as snow peas, rice-roll egg-yolk chips, and dried fruit and sweet potato chips. Storeowner Chuan Wen Yu, a native of China’s Fujian Province, ran a small shop there that sold locally made crafts and trin-kets. He immigrated to the U.S. in 2008, and worked as a chef in a small Chinese restaurant in New York City. It was his first experience with food, Yu said through an interpreter. There, he learned everything he knows about cooking. Yu moved to Jackson about four and a half years ago. With Mr. Chen’s, he com-bines his cooking and entrepreneurial experi-

ence to bring an authentic Asian restaurant and grocery store to the Jackson area. Busi-ness has only been getting better and better since he opened, he said, especially with the support of the people through the Best of Jackson awards. The grocery store is open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. each day of the week and closes at the same time as the market.

Van Hung Asian Market (637 Highway 51, Ridgeland, 601-856-9638) Sally and Ben Kor own Van Hung Asian Market, which features plenty of unique and authentic Asian goods well worth checking out. You’ll find items such as wasabi or srira-cha-flavored green pea snacks, soy wrappers, seasoned and roasted seaweed and seaweed chips, soba noodles, memmi soup base, white rice cakes, and tempura and Ponzu sauces. Van Hung is also the place to go if you’re looking for a bamboo steam cookers or two-pound bags of wasabi powder. Van Hung also offers shrimp-flavored starch slices, sour bamboo shoots, lotus root-lets, coconut gel, spiced coconut vinegar and macapuno—a naturally occurring coconut mutant with a soft jelly-like coconut flesh. Other unusual produce selections include pickled daikon radishes, Chinese eggplants, banana flowers, enormous edible roots (ap-propriately labeled “big taro”) and luo han guo, a fruit native to southern China and northern Thailand whose extract is nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar. Van Hung Asian Market is open Wednes-day and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fri-day from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Saturday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tienda la Guadalupe (6537 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, 601-956-4481) Gabriela Harmon co-owns Tienda la Guadalupe with her husband, Paul Har-mon. The couple met in San Antonio in 1992 when Paul was working for a steel con-struction company and Gabriela was still in high school. She was born in Rio Verde, San Luis Potesi, Mexico, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1992 for school. Gabriela graduated from Louisiana State University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Paul hails from Tiston, Ga., and received a bachelor’s

T hough Jackson is not New York City, it does have plenty to offer in its variety of ethnic restaurants. If you want to try your hand at cooking different foods, the metro area also offers several ethnic grocery stores. Here

are some of the ones in Jackson.

Fortune Asian Market & Restaurant

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Tienda la Guadalupe

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degree in business management from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2009. The couple moved to Ba-ton Rouge, La., in 1999, where Gabriela managed a small store, and to Ridgeland in 2008. Starting in 2009, Gabriela did the books for La Guadalupe’s former own-ers, Hernan and Christina Garcera, who opened the store 12 years ago. When the Garceras retired in September 2014, the Harmons bought it. The couple also house a tax preparation business, Pro-fessional Accounting & Tax Services, in the building. “We have enjoyed good client bases for both of our operations because we car-ry things other local stores don’t,” Gabri-ela says. “We have all authentic Hispanic goods here—including things like tamale husk and banana-husk spice, and rice and beans—that we buy directly through spe-cialty distributors like Goya in Mexico.” Sweet-toothed shoppers are in luck, as Guadalupe has a huge selection of im-ported treats, including traditional South American buñuelos (fried dough balls), bizcocho cinnamon cookies (also avail-able in chip form), bars of dulce de batata (jellied sweet potato) and mixes to make your own churros, a popular long, thin, fried dough pastry. Customers will also find other specialty items such as mango and guava paste, dried chilis and peppers of all kinds, whole-leaf spices, guanabana and tamarind frozen treats and little bags of whole dried in-the-shell shrimp. Be-yond food items, the store stocks candles with religious imagery, scented powders, and racks of beauty, car and medicinal products—all imported from Mexico. Tienda la Guadalupe is open every day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Carniceria Valdez (6530 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, 601-899-6992) Across the street from Tienda la Gua-dalupe is another Mexican grocery, which Victor Valdez owns. Carniceria Valdez in-cludes a bakery and butcher shop, and sells fresh produce.

Carniceria has a huge selection of au-thentic beans and spices, fresh corn for pop-ping and bags of quinoa. The produce and meat sections have a wide and, for the most part, typical selection, but shoppers can also find unusual ethnic items such as whole cow feet and fresh whole cactus leaves. The store also has authentic Mexican tea and drink mixes, wafer snacks—ranging from small to gigantic—and even a selection of Hispanic movies on DVD. Carniceria Valdez is open from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day except Sunday, when the store closes at 7:30 p.m.

Phamega African Caribbean Market (4253 Robinson Road, Suite 102, 601-923-8787) Kunle Oladipo owns a small shop on Robinson Road in south Jackson that spe-cializes in African and Caribbean foods. Oladipo came to Mississippi from his native Nigeria in 2003 to study business adminis-tration at Jackson State University. In 2010, he put his education to work in his store, which he bought in 2014 “I opened this store because I wanted to provide authentic products to the people,” Oladipo says. “You won’t (find) another store or restaurant with products like these around. I want people to come and see what we have here and know what Africa and the Caribbean have to offer.” The store has a wide selection, includ-ing powdered pounded yams and potatoes from Nigeria, as well as cassava, a plant cultivated in tropical regions for its starchy roots. It serves as one of the largest sources of carbohydrates in the Caribbean. Phamega also carries organic palm oil from Africa,

which cooks can use instead of ordinary vegetable oil. You’ll also find olouin beans, kola nuts and stockfish—unsalted fish dried naturally on wooden racks and cured with a process similar to cheese maturing. The store also carries Caribbean jerk barbecue sauce and plantain chips, along with fresh chin chin,

a sweet and crunchy donut-like fried snack popular in West Africa, made of baked or fried wheat flower dough and often flavored with ground nutmeg. Phamega also carries African clothing., a favorite of local schools and other organiza-tions looking for authentic African clothing for cultural productions. Phamega African Caribbean Mar-ket is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Bombay Plaza (957 Highway 80 E., Clinton, 601-272-4000) Brothers Paramjit “PJ” and Harpreet “Johnny” Singh, owners of Bombay Plaza in Clinton, bring Indian foods to Mississippi with Taste of India, India Cafe and the India Bazaar grocery store. Born in Jalandhar in the Punjab state of India, the Singhs opened three award-win-ning restaurants in Utah after coming to the United States in 2002. The original Taste of India won “Best of Utah” and “Best of State” awards for Best Indian Restaurant. After vis-iting Mississippi on a recommendation from some of their customers, the brothers sold their Utah stores, moved to Mississippi and opened Bombay Plaza in Clinton last year. The India Bazaar grocery carries a wide variety of spices, fresh fruits and vegetables, and dry goods including flour, masala, peas, beans, rice, frozen foods and incense. The adjacent India Cafe offers authentic Indian street food such as pani puri—a fried,

hollow dough ball filled with a mixture of flavored water, tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas—and a wide variety of sweet treats, eggless cakes, and cold and hot beverages. Bombay Plaza also holds an Indian clothing boutique called Bombay Fashion. Bombay Plaza is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the exception of Taste of India, which closes from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Aladdin Grocery (730 Lakeland Drive, 601-366-6033, aladdininjackson.com) If you’re in the mood to cook Mediterra-nean food and can’t find the right ingredients at your local supermarket, don’t fret. Aladdin Grocery, located behind Aladdin Mediterra-nean Grill in Fondren, can help you out. The store stocks tahini, Mediterranean spices, Bulgarian feta cheese, nabulsi and halloumi cheese, baklava, Arabic and Turkish coffee and tea blends and much more. Aladdin owner Yoseph Ali came to the United States from Ethiopia in 1995. He opened his restaurant in 2004 and opened the Aladdin Grocery a few years later. “I opened Aladdin because I wanted to bring the kind of food we had in my home country here to Jackson, and fig-ured it would do well because we get a lot of people from all around here,” Ali said. “Eventually, my customers started ask-ing me where they could get the kinds of spices, cheeses and other ingredients I used in my food, and I opened the grocery so I could provide it for them.” Ali prides himself on providing a taste of the exotic to Jackson-area residents that tastes good and is good for them. “Running Aladdin has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Ali says. “My business keeps growing. It’s easy to see what a difference it makes when you have a healthy menu where everything is made from scratch with ingredients you won’t find just anywhere.” Aladdin Grocery is open every day from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Add more at jfp.ms/ethnicgrocers.

Phamega African

Caribbean Market.

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Aladdin Grocery

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T he Jackson Free Press has its annual beer tasting around summer, and we enjoy it a lot. However, for the spring food issue, we decided to try something a little differ-ent. April 1 (yes, April Fools’ Day), we got together with

Laura Collins, Briarwood Wine & Spirits’ store manager and a certified sommelier, to try some of the Briarwood’s wine selections. Here are our findings.

No Wine-ingby JFP Staff

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Briarwood Wine & Spirits Store Manager Laura Collins, who is also a certified sommelier, introduced JFP staffers to the wines in the newspaper’s recent wine tasting.

TASTERSTASTERS

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Summer Science Splash Camp

millsaps.edu

Facebook FlickrTwitter

New Places to Chillby Jordan K. Morrow

J ackson had an icy winter, but it isn’t quite over yet because a new kind of ice is coming to town, and it’s a good kind. Just in time for warm weather, two ice-pop vendors are making their debut in

Fondren and Belhaven. Deep South Pops (1800 N. State St.) will make and sell not only tasty frozen treats, but other food items as well, in-cluding coffee, gelato and do-nuts. And not only that: The business will have a focus on local products. “Our whole thing is every-thing we will be selling is as local as possible, so the ice pops will use local ingredients, and we will be making them here,” owner Jake Franklin says. The shop’s coffee roaster is Missis-sippi Coffee Company. For more treats, they’ll use local donut shop Monroe’s Donuts & Bakery (multiple locations; monroesdonuts.com) and gelato made in the Delta by Sweet Magnolia Ice Cream Company. Pop Culture Pops will take more of the food-truck approach, basing itself in the Fondren area with a mobile cart. Though social me-dia can help people find it, Pop Culture is most often in front of the Capri Theatre (3023 N. State St.) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on most days of the week. You can also book Pop Culture for events such as children’s birthday parties or wedding receptions. So what’s with this sudden cold treat trend? Places like this have been pop-

ping up all over the states in places like Austin, Nashville and New York City. “A few years ago when we first moved back to Mis-

sissippi, we were really inspired by Steel City Pops in Bir-mingham,” says Craig Kinsley, co-owner of Pop Culture. “I was there right when they opened and they did re-ally well really quickly, so we kind of had in the back of

our minds that (these pops) were really good, and they were something that people really liked. I wanted

something simple, and you can’t get much simpler than buying fresh ingredients and freezing them.” Artisanal ice pops have something different to offer than the high-fructose corn syrup- and nostalgia-filled popsicles people may remember from their childhoods.

The treats at Pop Culture and Deep South are in-spired by the Latin American “paleta,” or fro-

zen treats that contain fresh fruits and veg-etables. The elements in both businesses’ ice pops are organic when possible and locally harvested, made daily with the intention of not only entertaining taste buds, but to also offer a healthy alterna-

tive to the sugar-filled treat people may reach for on a hot Mississippi day.

Pop Culture offered an Electrolyte Pop—a coconut water, Himalayan salt, banana,

honey and lemon juice concoction—at the Mal’s St. Paddy’s parade in the Lucky Town Beer Garden. “We were like, ‘So what does everyone do at St. Paddy’s? They get really drunk, and we’d sell them some Electrolyte Pops to help out with that,’” Kinsley says with a laugh. Franklin also aims to bring people together in a new way. “Coming from a rural setting, where I only saw my neighbors two or three times a year, we moved here and got involved in the community,” he says. “We want to further that by providing a venue like this. It’s just some-thing that’s fun to have while you’re hanging out and en-joying being with people.” Deep South will announce its opening date on its Facebook page. You can currently find Pop Culture Ice Pops most days in Fondren from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more in-formation, follow Pop Culture on Facebook and Instagram @icepopculture or visit its website icepopculture.com.

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The Franklin family—Kristy (top left) and Jake Franklin (top right), Elias (top center), Gideon (center), Gabriel (bottom left), Annalise (bottom right)—owns Deep South Pops.

Most days, you can find Pop Culture Ice Pops, which Craig Kinsley (top center) owns with his wife, Lori Kinsley (bottom right with daughter, Piper), in front of the Capri Theatre in Fondren.

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Jackson’s food scene has many new additions, including High Biscuits in Ridgeland.

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(Not valid on charity taco nights)

Vacation Never Ends at Islander Oyster House!

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Maywood Mart • Jackson, MS • www.IslanderOysterHouse.com • 601.366.5441

Don’t Be That Guy

LIFE&STYLE | girl about townby Julie Skipper

S ome people are talented in the art of the quick comeback. I am not one of those people; I’m the sort who, an hour later, goes, “What

I should have said in response to that snide comment was …” I recently found myself in a situation that left me not only coming up with better re-sponses after the fact but also made me reflect on its deeper implications of what sort of behavior I’m willing to tolerate or excuse. More specifically, it made me realize that, out of fear of being thought of as impolite or rude, I allowed a creepy guy to engage in inap-propriate behavior that made me really uncomfortable, and I let him get away with it. And so, dear readers, this week, I beseech you: Fellows, don’t be that guy. Pick up on the cues that ladies give: “I’m uncomfortable or not interested; please leave me alone.” Ladies, stand up for yourself and don’t let creeps get away with it. Allow me to break it down by way of example. After work one night, I stopped at one of my usual spots for a glass of wine before heading home to be domestic and cook dinner. As I sat, a man (I’ll not dig-nify him by calling him a “gentleman”) came in and sat next to me. Nothing unusual there. It’s a bar; it was getting relatively crowded. We started chatting. Again, not unusual; I enjoy en-gaging in conversation with folks. He was in town for business, and I enjoy talking to out-of-towners, helping them to get a good taste of Jackson and hearing inter-esting stories. Now here’s where the signal-reading comes into play. I noticed that he did not have on a wedding ring and, therefore, I thought it best that he not misinterpret my friendly conversation as flirting, so I rather quickly peppered my comments with references to my boyfriend. (Fellows, this is cue No. 1 that a lady is not inter-ested in you.) Apparently, he was either clueless or didn’t care, however, because as he settled into his dinner, he began brush-ing his hand against my leg. At first, I thought, perhaps it was an accident, but then … it happened again. It never lingered or became an ac-tual grope; it was just a brush but enough that it was definitely not an accident and definitely unwelcome. And yet, because it wasn’t overt, for some reason, I felt like I couldn’t call him out on it. He could

play it off as an accident or deny it. And I couldn’t physically brush his hand away because it didn’t linger that long. So in-stead, I just sat there thinking, “Is he re-ally doing that?” and started inching my chair further away from him.

But here’s the crazy part. Maybe it’s that southern manners thing or a female thing, but I kept talking to the fool. I thought, “If I physically recoil from him, and he’ll just quit touching me, I’m OK having a conversation while I finish my wine.” But he still didn’t pick up on—or care about—my discomfort. Because then he got bold, and his hand found its way to my back. Guys, if a gal keeps mentioning her boyfriend and physically moves her chair away from you, I assure you, she does not want you to touch her. She probably doesn’t even want you to look at her. By this point, I was completely uncomfort-able, recoiling forward and away from his touch. But still, I didn’t say anything about it. I just finished my wine, paid my tab as quickly as possible and ran out. It was only later that week that I got really riled up about it after realizing that I’d allowed this jerk to make me uncom-fortable, invade my personal space and get away with it. Why? Because I didn’t want to be rude to him? I didn’t want to assert my right to be free from unwanted groping out of fear that he might be of-fended? That doesn’t make any sense. Yet, I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only gal out there who’s had this happen. So, my fellow bar-going gals, I challenge and offer my support for you to stand up for yourself next time that it does (because it inevitably will). And as for me, I’ll keep talking to folks at bars. For the most part, I just end up having a perfectly innocent and interesting chat, but next time, I’ll be ready to tell off any creepers.

FLICKR/DINNERSERIES

Sometimes, going to a bar consists of more than just good cocktails and conversation.

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JFPmenus.comPaid advertising section. Call 601-362-6121 x11 to list your restaurant

AMERICAN/SOUTHERN CUISINEBasil’s (2906 N State St #104, Jackson, 601-982-2100)Paninis pizza, pasta, soups and salads. They’ve got it all on the menu.Broad Street Bakery (4465 Interstate 55 N. 601-362-2900)Hot breakfast, coffee drinks, fresh breads & pastries, gourmet deli sandwiches.Primos Cafe (2323 Lakeland 601-936-3398/ 515 Lake Harbour 601-898-3400)A Jackson institution for breakfast, blue-plates, catfish, burgers, prime rib, oysters, po-boys & wraps. Famous bakery!Rooster’s (2906 N State St, Jackson, 601-982-2001)You haven’t had a burger until you’ve had a Rooster’s burger. Pair it with their seasoned fries and you’re in heaven.Two Sisters Kitchen (707 N. Congress St. 601-353-1180) Lunch. Mon-Fri, Sun.

PIZZASal & Mookie’s (565 Taylor St. 601-368-1919) Pizzas of all kinds plus pasta, eggplant Parmesan, fried ravioli & ice cream for the kids!Mellow Mushroom (275 Dogwood Blvd, Flowood, 601-992-7499) More than just great pizza and beer. Open Monday - Friday 11-10 and Saturday 11-11.

ITALIANLa Finestra (120 N Congress St #3, Jackson, 601-345-8735) The brainchild of award-winning Chef Tom Ramsey, this downtown Jackson hot-spot offers authentic Italian cuisine in cozy, inviting environment.BRAVO! (4500 Interstate 55 N., Jackson, 601-982-8111) Award-winning wine list, Jackson’s see-and-be-seen casual/upscale dining. Cerami’s (5417 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, 601-919-28298) Southern-style Italian cuisine features their signature Shrimp Cerami.

STEAK, SEAFOOD & FINE DININGThe Islander Seafood and Oyster House (1220 E Northside Drive, Suite 100, 601-366-5441)Oyster bar, seafood, gumbo, po’boys, crawfish and plenty of Gulf Coast delights in a laid-back Buffet-style atmosphere.The Penguin (1100 John R Lynch Street, 769.251.5222) Fine dining at its best.Rocky’s (1046 Warrington Road, Vicksburg 601-634-0100) Enjoy choice steaks, fresh seafood, great salads, hearty sandwiches.Sal and Phil’s Seafood (6600 Old Canton Rd, Ridgeland (601) 957-1188)Great Seafood, Poboys, Lunch Specials, Boiled Seafood, Full Bar, Happy Hour SpecialsShea’s on Lake Harbour (810 Lake Harbour Drive, Ridgeland, MS 39157 (601) 427-5837)Seafood, Steaks and Southern Cuisine! Great Brunch, Full Bar Outdoor and Seating

MEDITERRANEAN/GREEKAladdin Mediterranean Grill (730 Lakeland Drive 601-366-6033)Delicious authentic dishes including lamb dishes, hummus, falafel, kababs, shwarma.Vasilios Greek Cusine (828 Hwy 51, Madison 601-853-0028)Authentic greek cuisine since 1994, specializing in gyros, greek salads, baklava cheesecake & fresh daily seafood.

BARBEQUEPig and Pint (3139 N State St, Jackson, 601-326-6070) Serving up competition style barbecue along with one of the of best beer selections in metro.Hickory Pit Barbeque (1491 Canton Mart Rd. 601-956-7079) The “Best Butts in Town” features BBQ chicken, beef and pork along with burgers and po’boys.

COFFEE HOUSESCups Espresso Café (Multiple Locations, www.cupsespressocafe.com)Jackson’s local group of coffeehouses offer a wide variety of espresso drinks. Wi-fi.

BARS, PUBS & BURGERSCapitol Grill (5050 I-55 North, Deville Plaza 601-899-8845) Best Happy Hour and Sports Bar in Town. Kitchen Open Late pub food and live entertainment.Cherokee Inn (960 Briarfield Rd. 601-362-6388) Jackson’s “Best Hole in the Wall,” has a great jukebox, great bar and a great burger. Fenian’s Pub (901 E. Fortification St. 601-948-0055) Classic Irish pub featuring a menu of traditional food, pub sandwiches & Irish beers on tap.Hal and Mal’s (200 S. Commerce St. 601-948-0888) Pub favorites meet Gulf Coast and Cajun specialties like red beans and rice, the Oyster Platter or daily specials.Martin’s Restaurant and Lounge (214 South State Street 601-354-9712) Lunch specials, pub appetizers or order from the full menu of po-boys and entrees. Full bar, beer selection.Ole Tavern on George Street (416 George St. 601-960-2700) Pub food with a southern flair: beer-battered onion rings, chicken & sausage gumbo, salads, sandwiches.Time Out (6270 Old Canton Road, 601-978-1839) Your neighborhood fun spot! Terrific lunch special and amazing Happy Hour!Underground 119 (119 South President St. 601-352-2322) Pan-seared crabcakes, shrimp and grits, filet mignon, vegetarian sliders. Live music. Opens 4 p.m., Wed-SatWing Stop (952 North State Street, 601-969-6400) Saucing and tossing in a choice of nine flavors, Wing Stop wings are made with care and served up piping hot.

ASIAN AND INDIANCrazy Ninja (2560 Lakeland Dr., Flowood 601-420-4058) Rock-n-roll sushi and cook-in-front-of-you hibachi. Lunch specials, bento boxes, fabulous cocktails.Fusion Japanese and Thai Cuisine (1002 Treetop Blvd, Flowood 601-664-7588)Specializing in fresh Japanese and Thai cuisine, an extensive menu features everything from curries to fresh sushiNagoya Japanese Sushi Bar & Hibachi Grill (6351 I-55 North, Ste. 131, Jackson 601-977-8881)Fresh sushi, delicious noodles & sizzling hibachi from one of jackson’s most well-known japanese restaurants.

VEGETARIANHigh Noon Café (2807 Old Canton Road in Rainbow Plaza 601-366-1513) Fresh, gourmet, tasty and healthy defines the lunch options at Jackson’s own strict vegetarian (and very-vegan-friendly) restaurant adjacent to Rainbow Whole Foods.

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WEDNESDAY 4/15 “33 Variations” is 7:30 p.m. at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is about Beethoven and the scholar who specializes in his compositions 200 years later. Additional performances April 16-18, 7:30 p.m., April 19, 2 p.m., April 21-25, 7:30 p.m., and April 26, 2 p.m. $28, $22 students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

THURSDAY 4/16 The Mississippi Jubilee Keynote Address is 1:30 p.m. at the Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Duke Univer-sity professor Thyvolia Glymph is the speaker. The celebra-tion is April 15-17 at several Jackson locations. Free; call 601-576-6850. … The Margaret Walker Centennial Lecture is at 6 p.m. at Richard Wright Library (515 W. McDowell Road). Author Dr. Jerry Ward presents “Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius—What Walker’s Book Reveals About Her Relationship with Wright.” Free; call 601-372-1621.

FRIDAY 4/17 Spring Market is 9 a.m.-9 p.m. at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). Shop from more than 100 mer-chants in the annual event. Additional events include Market Madness, Cupcakes & Cocktails, and a silent auction in ben-efit of Community Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA).

Continues April 18, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and April 19, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. $8 per day, $15 three-day pass, $12 Cupcakes & Cock-tails, $10 Market Madness, children under 12 free; call 662-890-3359; springmarketshow.com. … Wine, Women & Wisdom is 8 p.m. at Yellow Scarf (741 Harris St., Suite E). Rhonda Richmond and Cindy Scott perform April 17, and Dara Tucker and Tonya Boyd-Cannon perform April 18. Con-tinues April 18, 8 p.m. BYOB. $30 per night, $50 weekend pass; call 347-754-0668; email info@ojahmediagroup.com; yel-lowscarf-jackson.net.

SATURDAY 4/18 Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival is 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Re-naissance at Colony Park (1000 Highland Colony Park-way, Ridgeland). The annual festival includes an art show and sale, craft demonstrations, children’s activities and live music. Continues April 19, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free; call 601-519-0900; ridgelandartsfest.com. … Party for the Planet is 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). The event includes crafts, demonstrations, animal encoun-ters and keeper chats. $9.25, $8.25 seniors, $6.75 ages 2-12, children under 2 and members free); call 601-352-2500; email lbarton@jacksonzoo.org; jacksonzoo.org.

SUNDAY 4/19 Sam Baker performs 8 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The country singer and Texas native is on tour to promote his latest album, “Say Grace.” Doors

open at 7 p.m. All-ages show. Adults must accompany children. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7999; email arden@ardenland.net; dulinghall.com.

MONDAY 4/20 Shure National Open Mic Night is 9 p.m. at Capitol Grill (5050 Interstate 55 N., Suite F). The event is part of audio company Shure’s weeklong, fourth annual celebra-tion held at 75 venues nationwide. Free; call 601-899-8845; capitolgrillofjackson.com; shure.com/openmicnight.

TUESDAY 4/21 Author Greg Iles signs copies of “The Bone Tree” at 5 p.m. at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). Iles’ book is the fifth entry in his series of thriller novels following attorney Penn Cage. $27.99 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuri-abooks.com. … Livingstone performs 8 p.m. at Ole Tavern on George Street (416 George St.). The blues-rock band from Paris, France, is on their second American tour. Free; call 601-960-2700; email contact@livingstone-rock.fr; find Ole Tavern on George St. on Facebook.

WEDNESDAY 4/22 JJ Grey & Mofro performs 8 p.m. at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). The band from Jacksonville, Florida plays several genres of music such as southern rock and R&B. Cocktails at 7 p.m. $22 in advance, $25 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7999; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

SATURDAY 4/18“Never the Same: The Prisoner of War Experience” is at Hilton Jackson.

THURSDAY 4/16Art for the Park is at Fairview Inn.

TUESDAY 4/21The Student Composers Concert is at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts.

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Jacksonville, Fla., funk, southern rock and blues band JJ Grey & Mofro perform Wednesday, April 22, at Hal & Mal’s.

BY MICAH SMITH

EVENTS@JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM

FAX: 601-510-9019DAILY UPDATES AT

JFPEVENTS.COM

Francine Thomas Reynolds and Larry Wells star in “33 Variations,” showing April 15-26 at New Stage Theatre.

Get Your Kicks On Sports Ball April 17, 7 p.m., at The South Warehouse (627 E. Silas Brown St.). This event offers tailgating, live music, hor d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a cash bar. Benefits the Just Have a Ball program to combat child-hood obesity. $40; call 601-420-4501; ashley.smith@healthy-miss.org; healthy-miss.org.

Sante South Wine Festival April 18, 6:30 p.m., at Renaissance at Colony Park (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). The annual event includes more than 120 wines and food samples from 20 Mississippi restaurants. The VIP tast-ing is at 6:30 p.m., and the grand tasting is at 7:30 p.m. The festival is a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association of Mississippi. $80-$250; call 601-987-0200; santesouth.com.

Jackson 2000 Friendship Ball Gala April 18, 7 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The annual event honors local heroes with dinner, dancing and live music. $30 for individual, $200 for host; jackson2000.org.

Events at William F. Winter Archives and His-tory Building (200 North St.)• History Is Lunch April 15, noon. Author Lisa

Todd discusses her book “For a Voice and the Vote: My Journey with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.” Sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998.

• History Is Lunch April 22, noon. Author Janis Dyson discusses her book, “Turning Clay into History: The Story of W.D. Suggs Pottery.” Sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998.

Mississippi Jubilee: From Slavery to Freedom April 15, 6 p.m.-8 p.m., April 16, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., April 17, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at Downtown Jackson. Includes a reception at Smith Robertson Museum April 15 from 6-8 p.m., a freedom celebration at the Mississippi Museum of Art April 16 at 5:30 p.m., presentations from renowned historians and more. Visit the website for a complete schedule. Free; call 601-576-6800; mdah.state.ms.us.

Mississippi Jubilee Keynote Address April 16, 1:30 p.m., at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Duke University associate profes-sor of history Thyvolia Glymph is the speaker. Free; call 601-576-6850.

Art for the Park April 16, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., at Fairview Inn (734 Fairview St.) The event that includes live music, refreshments and a silent auction is a fundraiser for the Friends of Laurel Street Park Committee and the Bel-haven Garden Club. $40 in advance, $45 day of event; call 948-3429; eventbrite.com.

Spring Market April 17, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., April 18, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., April 19, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., at Mis-sissippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). Shop from more than 100 merchants. Events include Market Madness, Cupcakes & Cocktails, and a silent auction to benefit Community Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA). $8 per day, $15 three-day pass, $12 Cupcakes & Cocktails, $10 Market Madness, children under 12 free; call 662-890-3359; springmarketshow.com.

Keep the Rez Beautiful’s Earth Day April 18, 8:30 a.m., at Lakeshore Park (Lakeshore Drive, Brandon). Volunteer to pick up trash, plant green-ery and more. Receive a T-shirt for signing a Great American - Ross Barnett Reservoir pledge card (limited supply). Free; keeptherezbeautiful.org.

Party for the Planet April 18, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). The Earth Day event includes crafts, demonstrations, infor-mation on going green, animal encounters and

keeper chats. Included with admission ($9.25, $8.25 seniors, $6.75 ages 2-12, children under 2 and members free); call 601-352-2500; email lbarton@jacksonzoo.org; jacksonzoo.org.

The Mitzvah Project April 18, 7 p.m.-8:30 a.m., at Beth Israel Congregation (5315 Old Canton Road). Roger Grunwald gives a one-person play and lecture in recognition of Holocaust Memorial Day. Free; call 601-956-6216; bethisraelms.org.

1 Million Cups Jackson Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-10 a.m. through June 24, at The Hatch (126 Keener Ave.). The purpose of the weekly program to engage, educate and connect local entrepreneurs. Free; jackson.sites.1millioncups.com.

Discover the Dinosaurs April 18, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., April 19, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). The hands-on exhibit includes more than 40 museum-quality and animatronic dinosaurs. Enjoy a scavenger hunt, a coloring station and more. Some attractions require separate tickets. $18; $16 seniors; ages 2-12: $16 exhibit only, $22 exhibit plus extra events; children under 2 free; call 960-2321; discoverthedinosaurs.com.

Livingston Farmers Market Season Kick-off April 16, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., at Livingston Farmers Market (129 Mannsdale Road, Madison). Open from 4-8 p.m. Thursdays. The market features a different chef and performer each week, as well as book signings or artwork. Free; call 601-898-0212; find Livingston Farmers Market on Facebook.

Sweetness 5K April 18, 8 a.m., at Jackson State University, Walter Payton Recreation and Wellness Center (32 Walter Payton Drive). The purpose of this event is to increase obesity awareness in Mississippi and to promote physical activity in the community with a concentrated effort on the youth. Includes a run/walk and one-mile run. $10-$75; call 979-1368; active.com.

USSSA Amateur Golf Tournament April 18, 8 a.m., at Sonny Guy Municipal Golf Course (3200 W Woodrow Wilson Ave.). Golfers 18 and up may register. Winners could move on to the state and national championships. $2 spectators; golfers: free annual membership, $90 registration fee; call 960-1905; email usssagolftourjacksonms@gmail.com; facebook.com/usssagolftourjacksonms.

Walk MS Jackson April 18, 9 a.m., at Winners Circle Park (100 Winners Circle, Flowood). The annual race includes a ceremony, refreshments, entertainment and awards. Benefits the local chap-ter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Free, fundraising encouraged; call 601-856-5831; email mandy.ferrington@nmss.org; walkms.org.

“Run for the Community” 5K Walk/Run April 18, 9 a.m., at Dawson Elementary School (4215 Sunset Drive). Springboard to Opportu-nities, Leadership Greater Jackson, and United Way are the hosts. Check-in is at 8 a.m. Pro-ceeds benefit needy tenants at the Lincoln Gar-dens and Commonwealth Village apartment complexes, and Batson Children’s Hospital. $25 with T-shirt, $20 race only, $5 discount with donation of five canned goods, $15 T-shirt only; call 987-3513; springboardto.org.

“The Descent/Lifted Me” April 15-17, 7 p.m., April 18, 2 p.m., April 18, 7 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In Blackbox Theatre. The interwoven story lines explore descendings, ascensions and resurrec-tions. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Bel-haven students, employees and family members; call 601-968-5940; belhaven.edu.

“33 Variations” April 15-18, 7:30 p.m., April 19, 2 p.m., April 21-25, 7:30 p.m., April 26, 2 p.m., at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is about Beethoven and a scholar who specializes in his compositions. $28, $22 students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

“Urban Kryptonite: African Roots, Foreign Diseases” Screening and Lectures April 17, 6 p.m.-10 p.m., April 18, 1 p.m.-5 p.m., at Chokwe Lumumba Center for Economic Democracy (939 W. Capitol St.). The docu-mentary is about disease and death in the African and African Diaspora community. The screening is April 17, and the lecture series is April 18. Tickets sold at Bama Record Shop (2618 Bailey Ave.). $10 advance and $20 at the door per day, half off for students; call 601-927-4131; urbankryptonitefilms.com.

Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music Con-cert April 16, 7:30 p.m., at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church (5400 Old Canton Road). Baroque ensemble ARTEK performs selections from Mon-teverdi Madrigals, Book Seven. $25, $5 students; call 601-594-5584; ancientmusic.org.

Wine, Women & Wisdom April 17-18, 8 p.m., at Yellow Scarf (741 Harris St., Suite E). Rhon-da Richmond and Cindy Scott perform April 17, and Dara Tucker and Tonya Boyd-Cannon perform April 18. BYOB. $30 per night, $50 weekend pass; call 347-754-0668; email info@ojahmediagroup.com; yellowscarf-jackson.net.

Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival April 18, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., April 19, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., at Renais-sance at Colony Park (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). The annual festival includes an art show and sale, craft demonstra-tions, children’s activities and live music. Free; call 601-519-0900; ridgelandartsfest.com.

Student Composers Concert XIV April 21, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In the concert hall. The Belhaven Composers Forum hosts the interactive showcase of new works from Belhaven student composers. Doors open at 7 p.m. Free; call 601-968-5940; belhaven.edu.

“Bravo V: Tchaikovsky’s Fifth” April 18, 7:30 p.m., at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents Edward Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. $23 and up; call 601-960-1565; msorchestra.com.

Spring Fever Blues Fest April 18, 8 p.m., at Regency Hotel and Conference Center (420 Greymont Ave.). Performers include Latimore, Jeff Floyd, J.R. Blu, Pat Brown and Mr. Jones. Doors open at 7 p.m. $25 and up; call 800-745-3000.

Sam Baker April 19, 8 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). All-ages show. Adults must accom-pany children. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7999; email arden@ardenland.net; dulinghall.com.

Events at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202)• "The Way to Stay in Destiny" April 16, 4 p.m.

August Scattergood signs books. $16.99 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

• "The Bone Tree" April 21, 5 p.m. Greg Iles signs books. $27.99 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

• "How I Shed My Skin" April 22, 5 p.m. Jim Grimsley signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $23.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Events at Richard Wright Library (515 W. McDowell Road)

• Margaret Walker Centennial Lecture April 16, 6 p.m. Author Dr. Jerry Ward presents “Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius—What Walker’s Book Reveals About Her Relationship with Wright.” Free; call 601-372-1621.

• Margaret Walker Centennial Lecture April 21, 4:15 p.m. Storyteller Terrence Roberts hosts “For My People: A Storytelling Workshop for Children.” Free; call 601-372-1621.

Blacksmithing Intensive April 21, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., at Mississippi Craft Center (950 Rice Road, Ridgeland). Students must have already taken his blacksmithing class before or have instructor’s approval. Additional sessions held April 28, May 12, May 19 and May 26. $210 registration fee, $40 materials fee; call 601-856-7546; email education@mscrafts.org; craftsmensguildofms.org.

Senior Gallery Talks April 17, 2 p.m., at Lewis Art Gallery (Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex, 1701 N. State St.) Senior art students discuss their work and their journey to the final exhibition. Free; call 601-974-1000; millsaps.edu.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

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Relay for Life of Hinds-Clinton April 18, 4 p.m.-10 p.m., at Olde Towne Clinton (Jef-ferson Street and West Leake Street, Clinton). The annual race is a fundraiser for the Ameri-can Cancer Society. Includes a luminaria ceremony. Fundraising encouraged; call 601-321-5100; email scarlet.fowler@cancer.org; relayforlife.org/clintonms.

Kimmy Melton Food Drive April 20, at Vicksburg. The annual food drive is in memory of Kimmy Melton, daughter of Amy Vaughn Melton. Donations collected through May 3. Food donations welcome; email kim-mymeltonfoundation@gmail.com.

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I f we measured marathons in years in-stead of miles, journalist Wilson “Bill” Minor would be 10 years away from completing his third reporting mara-

thon in Mississippi. For nearly 68 years, Mi-nor has covered the state’s political news, in-cluding the hard news on events that spurred the Civil Rights Movement. That era in Mississippi’s history, as seen through this marathon reporter’s eyes, is at the heart of “Eyes on Mississippi,” an hour-long documentary film, which Ellen Ann Fentress produced and Lida Gibson edited. Currently in post-production, the documen-tary is on schedule to premier this spring. A native of Louisiana, Minor began his career in 1947 as the Mississippi cor-respondent for the Times-Picayune. To this day, Minor’s knowledge about events on the ground and behind the scenes during the turbulent 1950s and ’60s is un-paralleled. In an interview for the film, late federal lawyer John Doar said that Minor is “the one reporter who had a native connec-tion to Mississippi.” At 92, Minor continues to write a weekly, syndicated column that appears in a variety of newspapers throughout the state. “Eyes” producer and co-writer Ellen Ann Fentress is his long-time friend and col-league. Hired by Minor in 1978, Fentress got

her start as a journalist writing for his short-lived weekly paper based in Jackson, The Capitol Reporter. Recognizing the historical value of his stories and unique perspective, Fentress began working on “Eyes on Missis-sippi” in 2010. She met with Minor every Tuesday afternoon and eventually accumu-lated more than 40 hours of footage. “People have been telling Bill to write his memoir for 30 years,” Fentress says. “Mississippi is too small of a pond to not have personal encounters. When you get as close to the stories as Minor did, you collect many amazing personal anecdotes.” Minor received a Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism in 1966 and a John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1997. Never-theless, Fentress believes the full impact of Minor’s work has yet to be recognized. The need for a closer look prompted her to document Minor’s personal stories and demonstrate the trickle-down effect of his seminal reporting. “Bill had more freedom than other lo-cal reporters because he was up in the pines of Mississippi,” Fentress says. “If he’d been a reporter in New Orleans, he wouldn’t have had the freedom to be as aggressive. He took full advantage of the opportunity.” The film’s title, “Eyes on Mississippi,”

has a double meaning. It’s the name of Mi-nor’s Sunday op-ed column that ran in the Times-Picayune until 1972, but the name also speaks to Minor’s journalistic intentions to inspire more people to keep an eye on events in the state. “As a reporter, Bill felt the best thing he could do was to get as many eyes as pos-sible on Mississippi, to bear witness,” Fen-tress says. “It was what he could do while reporting during the 1950s and ’60s Civil Rights Movement.” When the Picayune closed its Missis-sippi bureau in 1976, Minor purchased a weekly paper from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hazel Brannon Smith, who ran several weekly newspapers in Mississippi and, eventually, supported the Civil Rights Movement. With Minor at the helm as owner, editor and publisher, The Capitol Reporter was a liberal, independent newspa-per that kept an eye on the state until 1981. “The paper was always feisty, never profitable, but Bill received a lot of recogni-tion as a reporter’s reporter,” Fentress says. “He was respected by journalists from all over the country. He could have gone any-where, but he chose to stay in Mississippi.” In 2013 , Fentress decided it was time to get something out there. She enlisted the help of Gibson, an editor from the Jackson filmmaking community who shared her pas-sion for the project. It’s taken 10 months to edit a portion of the footage and produce the hour-long film. With a not-for-profit status, the project raised a total of $30,000 to cover productions costs. “We received a $2,000 grant from (the) Mississippi (Humanities) Council,” Fentress says. “The remaining $28,000 has been do-nations from Bill’s admirers, people who are grateful for what he’s done for the state and were willing to pull out their checkbooks.” At press time, the filmmakers needed an additional $4,000 to purchase the rights to archival footage and for post-production tech mixes and graphic support. If all goes as planned, the film will screen at Millsaps College this spring, with no exact date planned yet. In addition to Doar, the documen-tary includes interviews with recently de-ceased civil-rights journalist Claude Sit-ton and Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers, who was gunned down in Jackson in 1963, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hank Klibanoff and former Gov. William Winter. The production team welcomes tax-de-ductible contributions toward finishing the film. Mail them to The Eyes on Mississippi Fund, c/o The Community Foundation of Greater Jack-son, 525 E. Capitol St., Suite 5B, Jackson MS 39201. For more information and updates, find “Eyes on Mississippi” on Facebook.

DIVERSIONS | arts

Eyes on Bill Minorby Genevieve Legacy

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“Eyes on Mississippi,” which Ellen Ann Fentress produced and Lida Gibson edited, highlights the life of Mississippi journalist Bill Minor.

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D uring her middle-school years, Nellie McInnis, known to fans of her music as Nellie Mack, followed her grandmother’s in-

struction and became a cheerleader and a Girl Scout. Born and raised in Jackson, she grew up in a household that fostered interest in athletics, such as tennis, but her interests started heading in a different direction: She wanted to play bass guitar. Her brother, Walter Gardner, tried to turn her interest toward playing the keys. While he was out of the house, Mack would play his bass with her right hand, despite being left-handed. Gardner caught her and protested. “He kept saying ‘No, no, girls don’t play guitar. Girls play the piano. They play the organ. They sing. Girls just don’t play guitar,’” she says. After watching her play, though, Gardner was impressed. He pushed her to learn all she could about the bass, helping her to learn blues, jazz, funk and gospel hits. She started performing for paying gigs with bands around town with groups like Together People and Sam Myers in the early ’70s. She also dropped out of Lanier High School at that time, not long after the birth of her son. As a female bassist, Mack gained extra attention while on a tour with a band called Sonic Funk, Inc., but she also realized that her bass education wasn’t complete. A music industry executive ap-proached her with sheet music, hoping to connect her with another artist. He didn’t realize she couldn’t read music “I was just looking at it confused, thinking, ‘What are those upside-down golf clubs?’” she says. Mack decided that she needed to learn more. In 1978, she enrolled in Jack-son State University’s first high-school equivalency class. After getting her GED, she continued at JSU, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1984 and her master’s degree in 1987, both in classical music. The univer-sity didn’t have an electric bass program at the time, so Mack decided to play the cello. She became the principal cellist for the university orchestra not long after. Since then, Mack has performed with well-known acts such as Dizzy Gil-lespie, Ellis Marsalis, The Bar-Kays, Bob-by Bland and Dorothy Moore. Mack has also started a number of projects, includ-ing the Tri-Tones, which featured Ezra Brown, and Past, Present and Future, an all-female jazz group with Cassandra

Wilson and Rhonda Richmond. While playing on stages as far away as Belgium and Norway may sound like a mu-sician’s dream, Mack is grounded in Missis-sippi. When her mother’s health declined more than a decade ago, Mack decided to decrease her road gigs to care for her. “As long as I can keep her comfort-able and happy, that’s my blessing. Being blessed motivates me to keep doing what I do,” Mack says. Now, Mack’s musical focus is play-ing bass at Shady Grove Missionary Bap-tist Church and performing as the Nellie Mack Project, which often adds drummer

Rick Lewis and guitarist Lonnie George. She also created “Catch Them While They’re Young,” workshops for which she visits local schools to encourage stu-dents to follow their interests in music. “It helps them, not only aestheti-cally but academically,” she says of learning music and playing an instru-ment. “It builds endurance and teaches them discipline.” Mack attributes much of her suc-cess to having a higher power in her life. Her advice to young people pursuing anything they’re passionate about is to believe in something greater than you are and be willing to help others. “Do right by people,” Mack says, “and it will all come right back to you.” The Nellie Mack Project performs from 2:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday, April 19, for the Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival at Renaissance at Colony Park (1000 High-land Colony Pkwy., Ridgeland). For more information, visit ridgelandartsfest.com.

DIVERSIONS | music

Following the Bass and Bluesby Maya Miller

MUSIC | live

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DIVERSIONS | jfp sports

Pascagoula native Sarah Thomas became the first full-time female NFL game official in league history on April 8.

In the team’s opening game, the Mississippi Braves won two out of five games against the Tennessee Smokies. The Braves return to Trustmark Park for a five-game series with the Chattanooga Lookouts April 20–24.

New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson will be the guest speaker for the Governor’s Leadership Prayer Luncheon at the Jackson Con-vention Complex on Thursday, April 16.

Former Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace hosts the ESM Football Camp at Jackson Academy on Saturday, April 18, at 1 p.m. To register, call 864-350-1222.

Malik Newman takes the national stage again. The Cal-laway High School senior will play in the Jordan Brand Clas-sic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Fri-day, April 17. ESPN2 will show the game at 7 p.m.

Mississippi College football will hold its spring football game on Friday, April 17, at Robinson-Hale Stadium. Jackson State University ju-nior quarterback LaMontiez Ivy completed 8 of 11 pass at-tempts for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the Blue and White spring game. Jackson Preparatory School product Ryan Buchanan went 5-16 for 49 yards, 0 touchdowns and one interception in Ole Miss’ Grove Bowl.

News and notes from all levels of the metro and Mississippi sports

HOME COOKIN’ CAPSULE

by Jon Wiener

Jon Wiener is the host and producer of “Home Cookin’” on ESPN 105.9 FM The Zone. He has a bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in broadcast journalism.

F or Sarah Thomas, being the first full-time female NFL game of-ficial, hired April 8, doesn’t bring any new pressure for someone

who has had many firsts as a woman in a male-dominated profession. The Pascagoula native and Brandon resident began her career as an official for high-school football games in 1999 and has been working her way up the offici-ating ranks ever since. Conference USA, the conference the University of Southern Mississippi is in, hired Thomas as an official in 2006. She was the first woman to work as an official in a major college football game (University of Memphis v. Jacksonville State University), which was in 2007. She continued breaking barriers at the college level when she became the first woman to work as an official in a Big Ten stadium in 2011 when Northwest-ern University hosted Rice University.

Thomas also became the first woman to officiate a bowl game in 2009 when she worked Marshall University v. Ohio University in the Little Caesars Bowl.

She also worked the C-USA Champion-ship Game in 2010 and 2014, and the Senior Bowl and Fight Hunger Bowl. This won’t be the first time Thomas

has worked for the NFL. She joined the league’s official development program in 2013 and 2014. Thomas has worked mini camps for the Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints in recent years. The NFL has been trying to make strides with women since last season’s seemingly unending events involving players and women. The league is try-ing to be more progressive, but not at the sake of hurting the game, as Thomas has nearly two decades as an official un-der her belt. In a perfect world, Thomas would be seen as just another official How fans and the media treat her first blown call will be something to watch. Anyone who has watched NFL games the past few years knows Thomas can’t be as bad as many of the male offi-cials. The playoff game between the Dal-las Cowboys and Detroit Lions shows that men can spectacularly screw up a game. The point is that every official makes mistakes, and gender doesn’t keep a person from blowing a call. Thomas has earned the right to succeed or fail based on her merits—not her gender.

Sarah Thomas Keeps Breaking New Ground

by Bryan Flynn

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Last week, the NFL hired Pascagoula native Sarah Thomas as an official, making her the first full-time female official in the league.

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

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Wednesday 4/15 Karaoke

w/DJ Stache @ 9pm

Thursday 4/16 Ladies NightW/ DJ Glenn Rogers

LADIES DRINK FREE!9pm - Close

Friday 4/17

PART Y DOWNSTAIRS!

Saturday 4/18KENT GOOLSBY & THE GOLD STANDARD

Monday 4/20Pub Quiz

w/Daniel Keys @ 8pm

Tuesday 4/21LIVINGSTONE w/ CHAD PERRY

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901 Lakeland Place, Suite #10Flowood, MS (in front of Walmart)

fl owood@anytimefi tness.com

601.992.34882155 Highway 18, Suite E

Brandon, MS (across from Home Depot)

brandon@anytimefi tness.com

601-706-46054924 I-55 North, Suite #107

Jackson, MS (in front of Kroger)

jacksonms@anytimefi tness.com

601-321-9465www.anytimefi tness.com

Voted One of the Best Places to Work OutBest of Jackson 2010-2012

Are You Ready For That

BEACH BODY?Join In April And Get

THE SUMMER FOR FREE!

Sign Ups For Team HIIT Mini Bootcamps

Also In April

4760 I-55 North • (769) 233-8366 www.featheredcow.com

Fondren Corner 2906 N. State St. • (601) 982-2001

www.roostersfondren.com

120 North Congress St L1(601) 944-9888Fondren Corner

2906 N. State St. • (601) 982-2100www.glennfoods.com

Serving Jackson since 1984

So Many Great Restaurants...

DO I HAVE TO CHOOSE JUST

ONE!?Try all Three of these

Local Hotspots!

The Shack(601) 926-4793

941 Highway 80 East l Clinton, MSHours: T-Th: 12pm-8pm,

Fri-Sat: 11am-9pm, Sun: 12pm-6pm www.facebook.com/tbeauxscraw! sh

The Swamp ( 769) 230-3855

5752-B Terry Rd. l Byram , MSHours: T-Th: 11am-8pm,

Fri-Sat: 11am-9pm, Sun: 12pm-6pm www.facebook.com/tbeauxsbyram

CrawfishLive & Boiled

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REAL ESTATE

RETAIL

HIRING

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD:

BULLETIN BOARD: ClassifiedsAs low as $20! jfpclassifieds.com

Let us fi ll in the blanks with 3

Sommeliers on staff and an unlimited

selection of the fi nest wine.

Wine:Appetizer

Entree

2nd Entree

Dessert

Wine:

Wine:

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briarwoodwineandspirits.com

4949 Old Canton Road601.956.5108

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YouCanBeAFosterParent!You are More Prepared Than You Think!

Wearelookingforsingleormarriedadultswhowanttohelpametroareachild.Calltotodayformoreinformation.

601-326-3744200NorthCongressSt..Suite100JacksonMS39201

APRIL IS YOUTH SAVINGS

MONTH!Your child could win $100!

Open a youth account (17 or younger) in April and your name will be put in a drawing

for a $100 prize!

New youth account holders will also receive a ticket to the Jackson Zoo!

CHECKING • SAVINGS • LOANS • INVESTMENTS

www.mecuanywhere.com

We Bring the Party To You!

Climate Controlled • Stadium Seating • Up to 16 players

Educational and games that encourage movement

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214 S. STATE ST.DOWNTOWN JACKSON

601.354.9712

See Our New MenuWWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

THURSDAY 4/16

$5 APPETIZERS(DINE IN ONLY)

FRIDAY 4/17

TURBO SUIT(FORMERLY COSBY SWEATER)

10 P.M.

SATURDAY 4/18

ROOSEVELT NOISE

REUNION SHOW(ALL ORIGINAL MEMBERS)

10 P.M.

SUNDAY 4/19

BEER BUCKET SPECIAL(5 Beers for $8.75)ALL DAY LONG!MONDAY 4/20

OPEN MICNIGHT

TUESDAY 4/21

SHRIMPBOIL

5 - 10 PM

$1 PBR & HIGHLIFE$2 MARGARITAS

10pm - 12am

UPCOMING SHOWS4/24 - DJ Young Venom w/ Brik A Brak

5/1 - Shake It Like A Caveman5/2 - Tinsley Ellis

5/8 - Grammy Award-Winning Rebirth Brass Band5/9 - Sweet Crude

5/30 - Col. Bruce Hampton

119 S. President Street601.352.2322

www.Underground119.com

Wednesday, April 15th

BIG EASY

6:30 PM

Thursday, April 16th

6:30 PM

Friday, April 17th

9 PM

Saturday, April 18th

9 PM

Tuesday, April 21st

JESSEand his

FRIENDS6:30 PM

open unt i l 10

VILLA WOLF

1491 Canton Mart Road Ste. 6, Jackson, MS601-956-5086

bookrackjackson.com

ALL BOOKS HALF PRICE OR LESS

Audio • Childrens • Hardbacks

Auto•Home•Renters

Get a FREE quote –see what you can save!

(601) 853-71321029 Highway 51 N, Suite G2Madison, MS 39110

getting it daily?

jfpda

ily.c

om

newsas itoccurs

+• events• sports• music

KARDI OBY KIMBERLY

NOWEveryMondayat 6:30$30 for 8 WeeksOR $5 Drop In 605 Duling Ave.

Jackson, MS

601.884.0316

Kickboxing Fitness Class

Mention this ad to Purchase A Monthly Pass And Receive

$10 OFFThe First Month &FREE Registration

First month only. Expires 4/30/2015

Cannot combine with any other o! ers

1-800-289-84462015 Weight Watchers International, Inc. owner of the

WEIGHT WATCHERS trademark, All rights reserved.

A portion of LUCKY TOWN’S “CHARITY RED” IRISH RED ALE

Sales Supports BLAIR E. BATSON

HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN

175 Hwy 80 East in Pearl * 601.932.2811 M­Th: 10­10p F­Sa 10­Mid Su: 1­10p * www.shopromanticadventures.com

wrong!

Mon-Sat 10a.m. to 6p.m. • 601.362.9553Maywood Mart • Jackson, MS • nandyscandy.com

Nandy’s Candy