Marsh Cook's body was discovered on a back road in Bay Springs late in the afternoon. Cook's corpse, riddled with 15 rounds of buckshot fired from the shotguns of five men bunkered in a nearby schoolhouse, had been lying in the road all afternoon under the summer sky.

It was July 25, 1890. In less than three weeks, delegates were scheduled to meet in Jackson to craft a new constitution. Mississippi had gone through a lot of changes since the state approved its first governing document in 1817, the same year it obtained statehood. Mississippi was one of the first states to join the Confederacy in order to preserve slavery and, after the war, during Reconstruction was the first state to send an African American to the U.S. Senate. Cook, a Republican, had also run unsuccessfully for a congressional seat and, in the summer of 1890, he declared his candidacy for a delegate's seat at the state's constitutional convention.

The convention's stated purpose was to reshape the state's governing document so that only "intelligent citizens" could participate in the electoral process. Two proposals before delegates involved requiring eligible voters to pass a simple literacy test and pay a modest $2-per-year assessment in order to cast a ballot. However, the real intent of the new constitution was to permanently disenfranchise African Americans. In the weeks leading up to his assassination, despite warnings from committees of white men, Marsh Cook rode his horse between the towns of Jasper County in support of his candidacy, urging blacks to resist whites' anti-suffrage campaign.

One of the more vocal supporters of the proposed voting changes was an African American businessman and politician named Isaiah Montgomery. Born into slavery into the Delta, Montgomery was owned by Joseph Davis, the older brother of Confederate President Jefferson Davis; he later founded the town of Mound Bayou. Unlike fellow Republican Marsh Cook, Montgomery did attend the 1890 Constitutional Convention as a delegate, the only African American to do so.

In his remarks to the convention, Montgomery insisted blacks should accommodate whites by accepting limited suffrage "to restore confidence, the great missing link between the two races; to restore honesty and purity to the ballot box; that the race problem shall become a thing of the past and cease to vex and alarm the public mind; that the two great races shall peaceably travel side by side, each mutually assisting the other to mount higher and higher in the scale of human progress."

The Mississippi Constitution of 1890, which remains in effect today, achieved none of what Isaiah Montgomery hoped.

So Much Work

Mississippi adopted its constitution on Nov. 1, 1890.

Fearing that the very citizens framers wanted to push out of elections would reject the plan, the new constitution went into effect immediately instead of going up for ratification by the people of Mississippi. In practice, the Constitution of 1890 froze African Americans out of the political process until more than halfway through the 20th century, and established the legal foundation for one of history's most brutal, oppressive and violent regimes whose singular purpose was to maintain white supremacy by controlling the ballot box.

After the constitution went into effect, attempting to exercise the right to vote was almost unheard of for African Americans, who met violent resistance if they dared to even try.

Sixty-five years after Mississippi adopted its constitution, a preacher from Belzoni named George Lee challenged the regime by becoming the first African American anyone could remember to successfully register to vote in Humphreys County in the early 1950s. Lee later co-founded the Belzoni NAACP and launched a campaign to register other blacks in the county. In August 1955, a month after Lee delivered a keynote speech at the Regional Council of Negro Leadership conference in Mound Bayou, the Delta town Isaiah Montgomery founded, a car pulled alongside the car Lee was driving, and a gunman fired three shots into the preacher, killing him. The same year, a farmer and World War I veteran named Lamar Smith was also fighting Mississippi's anti-black-voting regime when he was gunned down in broad daylight in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse in Brookhaven.

The Mississippi murders of Lee and Smith preceded some of the best-known tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement. In June 1963, nearly three-quarters of a century after Mississippi officially disenfranchised blacks, Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was assassinated outside his home in Jackson. Evers, who had lived in Mound Bayou and tried to convince the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate his friend George Lee's death, was carrying a box full of T-shirts denouncing Jim Crow at the time of his murder. One year after Evers' murder, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, all in their early 20s, were lynched in Neshoba County while helping register blacks to vote.

Together, these and countless other events across the South led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Congress approved Aug. 4, 1965, and President Lyndon Johnson signed the following the day. Relying on language in the 15th Amendment, the VRA prohibits government officials from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure to deny or abridge the right of" any U.S. citizen based on race or color.

The VRA was a direct response to states like Mississippi that codified racial disenfranchisement in its founding legal documents. The VRA explicitly prohibits the longstanding practice across the South of levying poll taxes and giving literacy tests as conditions for voting or registering. The VRA also makes it illegal to coerce or intimidate to deter voters, and the power to enforce its provisions rests in three main sections.

Section 2 prohibits most forms of voter discrimination. Section 5 states that certain states and other jurisdictions that had employed discriminatory voting laws in the past must obtain permission from the federal government before imposing any new voting laws through a process called preclearance.

Section 4 of the VRA outlines the formula for which states and other covered jurisdictions must obtain preclearance. Under the formula, contained in Section 4(b), any state or county that as a of Nov. 1, 1964 had a test or other device, such as a tax, in place as a precondition to register to vote or where less than half of eligible voters were registered, must have its election changes precleared.

The VRA also provided a legal tool for civil-rights attorneys to challenge discriminatory voting laws in federal courts. In the late 1970s, while studying at the University of Mississippi Law School, Carroll Rhodes worked as a special community liaison in his hometown, Hazlehurst.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a nonprofit organization formed in 1963 at President John F. Kennedy's request, was challenging a Mississippi law that required all municipalities in the state to use an at-large system of electing municipal officers.

"The black folks wanted representation. How to get it is what we had to explain," Rhodes said.

Working under the supervision of Frank Parker and Barbara Phillips, Rhodes helped organize community information sessions in preparation to file a class-action suit on behalf of all African Americans in Hazlehurst. The Lawyers' Committee said the state law violated the VRA in part because the plan was never precleared under Section 5.

"There was so much discrimination going on in the South that you had the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Lawyers Committee—all these civil-rights groups, mostly from the northeast—were coming in the South to file cases all over the South in voting cases, school desegregation cases, employment discrimination cases. So much work had to be done," Rhodes said.

'Morally and Ethically Wrong'

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court undid much of that work. In the highly anticipated decision in the case of Shelby County, Ala., v. Eric Holder, the court invalidated Section 4(b) of the VRA, which spells out the formula for the cities, counties and states must, obtain preclearance, ruling that the coverage formula is outdated.

The decision hardly came as a surprise given the court's conservative bent and Chief Justice John Roberts' long and public history of opposing the VRA. In the early 1980s, as a young lawyer in President Ronald Reagan's administration, Roberts authored a series of memos questioning the need for the VRA.

Writing for the majority of conservative-leaning justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito, in the Shelby ruling, Roberts states: "Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically. Largely because of the Voting Rights Act, voter turnout and registration rates in covered jurisdictions now approach parity. Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare. And minority candidates hold office at unprecedented levels."

Rhodes, who is now 62 and general counsel for the Mississippi State Branch NAACP, insists that Mississippi has changed because of the Voting Rights Act—not in spite of it. Rhodes, who practices law in Jackson, has been involved in virtually each one of the state's voting-rights fights for the past 30 years. Rhodes points to the Hazlehurst campaign as one example of how civil-rights-minded people wielded the VRA to effect electoral change, primarily through getting African Americans into government.

"Most of the black officials are there because of litigation. They didn't wake up and say, 'Oh, the voting rights act is here, we're going to treat black folks right,'" Rhodes said.

Plaintiffs settled their suit in Hazlehurst when the city agreed to dump the at-large city council and draw ward lines. The resulting map produced two majority-black wards and, subsequently, the city's first two African Americans to sit on the five-member Hazlehurst city council.

Around the same time, a man named Henry Kirksey used the VRA to challenge Hinds County Board of Supervisors' maps as discriminatory against blacks. The Lawyers' Committee argued on Kirksey's behalf that the districts were drawn to exclude African Americans, who made up about 40 percent of Hinds County's population, from being elected supervisors.

In 1977, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Kirksey and forced Hinds to redo its voting map, which produced Hinds County's first African American supervisors: George Smith in District 5 and then-Bolton Mayor Bennie Thompson. Thompson was later appointed to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993 when then-U.S. Rep. Mike Espy became agriculture secretary. Smith served on the board until 2011, when he lost a Democratic primary challenge. Kirksey went on to serve in the Mississippi state senate.

As it had in Hazlehurst and other cities in Mississippi, the Lawyers' Committee sued another municipality that used at-large commission form of government. Jackson, which was 70 percent white in the early 1980s, had a mayor and three commissioners elected at large rather from designated districts. The city implemented the system in 1912. In 1983, the Lawyers' Committee sued the city of Jackson and its mayor at the time, Dale Danks, on behalf of Henry Kirksey and 16 other plaintiffs, to replace the commission with a city council whose members are elected from equal-size wards. The Fifth Circuit again agreed with Kirksey and his fellow plaintiffs, and Jackson converted to its current mayor-council configuration.

Something else was happening in Mississippi in the 1980s. In 1984, Dick Molpus became Mississippi's secretary of state for the first of three stints. The office oversees corporate filings, regulates securities and manages public lands in addition to overseeing voting regulations.

Molpus describes himself as part of an early wave of progressive state elections chiefs, along with Indiana's Evan Bayh and Ohio's Sherrod Brown, both of whom went on to serve in the U.S. Senate.

"We did not just want to file corporate charters. When I ran (for office) in 1983, I said, 'I'm going to give all my time to public schools and opening up elections,'" Molpus said.

At the time, Mississippi was embroiled in hundreds of voting-rights lawsuits alleging voter harassment and intimidation, particularly in the Delta where white plantation owners employed such tactics as filming at the polls. Previous state officials had fought the claims, but Molpus, along with his Assistant Secretary of State, Constance Slaughter Harvey took a different, approach. In 1985, Molpus pleaded guilty to the charges on behalf of the secretary of state's office, named as a defendant in the suits.

"It is morally and ethically wrong to take the right to vote away from people," Molpus said.

Change of Course

Civil-rights activists flatly reject Chief Justice John Roberts' assertion that things have changed all that much with respect to voter suppression in Mississippi. Carroll Rhodes took over as lead attorney in most of Mississippi's voting-rights lawsuits when Frank Parker left Mississippi in the early 1990s to teach at William and Mary Law School in Virginia. At the time, a quarter century after the VRA's passage, Rhodes said Mississippi was still engaged in many of the same vote-suppression tricks that it perfected under Jim Crow.

The tactics had shifted from the voting tests and poll taxes to the harder-to-detect strategies like gerrymandering voting districts along racial lines. The U.S. Constitution requires voting maps to be redrawn every decade to reflect demographic changes in population to preserve the one-person-one-vote rule of equal representation.

The VRA requires covered states to submit redistricting proposals for preclearance. In 1990, Rhodes challenged Mississippi's legislative redistricting plan on behalf of Mississippi's black citizens. The Legislature's plan created 20 majority-black districts for the state Senate and House out of more than 170 between the Senate and House.

Rhodes and civil-rights leaders believed blacks should have more. President George H.B. Bush's Department of Justice agreed, filing an objection to Mississippi's redistricting map in 1991. Under the agreement reached between the DOJ and the state, Mississippi redrew its map and lawmakers ran for election in the new districts in 1992. In November of that year, African American legislators more than doubled their numbers, from 20 to 42, Rhodes said

In 2010, Rhodes and the NAACP again challenged Mississippi' legislative redistricting plan in federal court to prevent the 2011 statewide elections from taking place with what the civil-rights group considered malapportioned voting districts. The court said the elections could take place, but directed the Legislature to pass a decennial redistricting plan as required by law, the courts gave lawmakers the option of completing the plan during the 2012 session or a three-judge panel would take over the responsibility.

The NAACP again asked a federal court to throw out the results of the 2011 elections in which Republicans gained control of both houses of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.

"The 2012 plans contain fewer black-majority districts and black-voting-age-majority districts than the plans offered by plaintiffs as interim plans in 2011. The 2011 plans are evidence that the 2012 plans result in discrimination," the complaint states. Despite controversy over a plan that diluted the number of primarily white Democrats in the House and Senate, federal elections regulators approved Mississippi's voting maps in May 2013.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, who oversees most elections in the state, applauded the Shelby decision and offered the DOJ's approval of the state's redistricting plans as evidence that Mississippi should no longer be governed under the Voting Rights Act.

Matt Steffey, a constitutional law scholar and professor at Mississippi College School of Law, interprets the DOJ's approval of Mississippi's voting maps differently.

"The secretary of state mentioned the Department of Justice responded positively to Mississippi's redistricting, but who knows what those maps would have looked like if they didn't need to get preclearance," Steffey said.

"The elimination of preclearance is a sea change for voting rights."

A 'Rainstorm' of Vote Suppression

Both the majority and dissenting opinions in the Shelby case read like duelling primers on southern civil-rights history. In his opinion, Roberts invokes many of the incidents that convinced President Johnson, a Texas native, sign the VRA.

Specifically, Roberts mentions the three Neshoba County civil-rights murders of three voting-rights workers near Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964 and "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Ala., in 1965, where police beat and tear-gassed protesters who were marching for voting rights.

Arguing for invalidating Section 4, Roberts said times have changed since those events. He wrote: "Today, both of those towns are governed by African American mayors. Problems remain in these states and others, but there is no denying that, due to the Voting Rights Act, our nation has made great strides."

To underscore his point, Roberts includes a chart of voting participation changes between 1965 and 2004 in the six southern states subject to Section 5 preclearance: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia and Mississippi. In five of the six states, including Mississippi, the black voter registration rate in 2004 exceeded registration among whites. In 1965, 6.7 percent of blacks were registered to vote in Mississippi compared to 69.9 percent of whites, Roberts' chart shows. By 2004, the trend had reversed: 76.1 percent of African Americans registered in Mississippi compared to 72.3 percent of their white counterparts.

Neither high African American registration and turnout or Mississippi's distinction as having the most black officials of all the states has translated into fewer attempts to restrict minority voting.

Even as blacks were making gains in terms of registration, efforts to quash black voting participation continued in Mississippi's small cities and towns, as well as in the state Legislature. In 1987, a federal judge struck down Mississippi laws that forced voters to register twice and banned off-site voter registration, calling the laws racially discriminatory.

Until then, Mississippi required eligible voters to register separately for state and municipal elections. U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson, who oversaw the case, wrote that the dual-registration procedure was a violation of the Voting Rights Act that resulted in "an abridgement of (African Americans') right to vote and in their having less of an opportunity to participate in the political process.''

As recently as 2001, the mayor and all-white five-member board of aldermen of Kilmichael canceled scheduled elections when several African Americans announced they would seek office in city government. But because of the VRA and Section 5, federal authorities ordered the election to take place, and Kilmichael elected its first black mayor. African Americans also won three of the town's five alderman seats.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her opinion for the court's liberal minority, described the majority's opinion invalidating the coverage formula akin to "throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."

"The sad irony of today's decision lies in its utter failure to grasp why the VRA has proven effective. The Court appears to believe that the VRA's success in eliminating the specific devices extant in 1965 means that preclearance is no longer needed.

She continues: "In truth, the evolution of voting discrimination into more subtle second-generation barriers is powerful evidence that a remedy as effective as preclearance remains vital to protect minority voting rights and prevent backsliding."

Hidden Racism

Sen. Kenneth Wayne Jones, a Canton Democrat and chairman of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, called Roberts' opinion evidence that the U.S. is going in the wrong direction when it comes to protecting voting rights. Jones, who won election to the state Senate in 2007, agrees with Ginsburg that voting discrimination has shifted shapes to take on a more innocent appearance than at the time the VRA passed.

"It seems like hidden racism is worse than overt racism," Jones said.

In the time that he has served in the Legislature, Jones said he can point to a number of efforts by his Republican colleagues that whiff of vote suppression. Most notably, Jones points to the campaign to impose a voter-ID requirement on Mississippi voters. After several legislative failures, in November 2011 voters approved a constitutional amendment to require voters in all future elections to show state-approved identification to cast a ballot. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law in May 2012.

The law was awaiting Justice Department approval, but Hosemann, one of the sponsors of the voter-ID ballot initiative, declared in late June that the Supreme Court decision "removes requirements for Mississippi to travel through the expensive and time-consuming federal application process for any change to state, county or municipal voting law."

The worst-case scenario for civil-rights organizations is that voter ID deters working-class people, the elderly, out of state students, African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities who tend to support Democrats from showing up at the polls.

Voter ID laws have been popular and gaining steam for about a decade, and have become political rallying point for Republican officials. In June 2012, Pennsylvania House Republican Majority Leader Mike Turzai drew criticism for saying that state's voter-ID law would help Mitt Romney carry the state and defeat President Barack Obama.

Arizona passed the first voter-ID requirement in 2004. The following year, Indiana passed the nation's second state voter-ID law, which became the basis for a lawsuit that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the Indiana law in 2008.

After Indiana showed that voter ID could withstand a federal court challenge, conservative think-tank groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council set out to expand voter-ID laws even further. ALEC, which develops model legislation for its state lawmaker members to copy and paste into their own laws, helped introduce more than 60 voter-ID bills from 2011 to 2012—including the bill in Mississippi.

Rick Hasen teaches election law at the University of California-Irvine School of Law. In his 2012 book, titled "The Voting Wars: From Florida to the Next Election Meltdown," Hasen systematically debunks the claims that what he calls "the Fraudulent Fraud Squad" uses to justify voter-ID laws. "The Fraudulent Fraud Squad does not focus on election-worker crime or absentee-ballot fraud. It is obsessed with impersonation fraud, the idea that people will go to the polling place pretending to be someone else—either a voter listed on the rolls or someone who has registered with a false name—to throw the results of an election.

"There are virtually no cases of voter-impersonation fraud and no evidence in at least a generation that it has been used in an effort to steal an election. There is a simple reason for this: It is an exceedingly dumb strategy," Hasen writes.

Still, policymakers in Mississippi have insisted that voter-ID is necessary to curb the potential of voter fraud. Hosemann, who will oversee the law's implementation, said his office has to taken care to ensure to that voter-ID would not discriminate against any voter.

"We had meetings with all the political parties and people for and against. We had several different series of concerned citizen meetings about these regulations and how voter ID would be implemented," Hosemann told the Jackson Free Press in a May 6 interview.

"I wanted to make sure we had a meaningful (voter) ID law but, by the same token, we did not by any stretch of the imagination intimidate any voter in Mississippi."

'A Chilling Effect'

Despite the Shelby ruling, voting-rights activists in Mississippi are not ready to give up the fight—nor are the proponents of such measures as voter ID running any victory laps. Hosemann concedes that even without preclearance, Mississippi would still have to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars the state from implementing discriminatory voting laws.

"You couldn't say that Catholics can't vote, which we tried to do in Mississippi, or that women can't vote, which we tried to do—or the Jim Crow laws, which we also did. There's a whole series of things that have impeded people's right to vote and that comes under the constitutionality portion (of the Voting Rights Act). So the preclearance would go away, but individuals who may challenge voter ID would still have the ability to question the constitutionality of it," Hosemann said.

But Section 2 mainly applies after the fact. If the state or a municipality implements a discriminatory voting law or procedure, a challenger would have to wait until after an election to argue that the law had a racially discriminatory effect on the outcome. Of course, by then the election would be over, and the lawsuit could take years to move the through the courts.

"It will be very difficult, given the makeup of the court, for ID laws to be struck down under the federal Constitution," said Tray Grayson, former Kentucky secretary of state and executive director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard.

But Rhodes said Mississippi's voter-ID legislation does provide the basis for a court challenge because the bill states the law is effective July 1, 2012—not when it completes federal preclearance.

Rhodes also believes that President Obama could issue an executive order applying preclearance to all jurisdictions nationwide; however, such an order would require a significant budget increase for the Justice Department's preclearance division, something the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is unlikely to grant the White House.

Steffey, the MC law professor, believes norms have changed enough in Mississippi that we are unlikely to see a return of the most egregious statewide forms of voter suppression common before Congress enacted the VRA. It's more likely that the issues will be at the municipal and county levels, Steffey said. State Sen. John Horhn isn't so optimistic about that his legislative colleagues will act with good intentions. "We've seen enough attempts by our colleagues to know that we won't be singing Kumbaya," Horhn said.

Rhodes, who has filed dozens of lawsuits over the years in response to legislative actions, isn't so sure either: "You just wait until the legislative session to see what they come up with."

Jane (not her real name) was just a regular Mississippi girl whose mother wasn't particularly focused on her young daughter. One day, an older man approached her and told her that he would take her away, put her up in a great apartment and take care of her.

"She was a typical teenager who was headstrong and not particularly happy at home," said Sandy Middleton, executive director of the Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl. "Her mother was focused on different things. Not that she was a terrible mother, but she wasn't particularly plugged in. So that helped to make (Jane) a target."

At first, the man treated Jane like he was her boyfriend. "She thought he was interested in her like a relationship," Middleton said.

The man had other ideas.

Like Jane, Holly Austin Smith thought of herself as a typical American kid. Her childhood, in a small working-class neighborhood in southern New Jersey's Ocean County, was unremarkable.

"I never went without necessities, but luxuries were few and far between," she said.

By the time she was 14, though, Smith was ready to get away from her home in tiny Tuckerton on the Little Egg Harbor. She wasn't getting along with her parents, and they argued constantly. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Smith's best friend ended their relationship. She was apprehensive about starting high school in the fall, where she believed she'd be beat up.

That summer of 1992, in her 14-year-old mind, Smith was convinced her life was over. She was aimless, depressed and felt she had no one to confide with.

Smith met Greg at a shopping mall in nearby Atlantic County where she hung out every weekend with friends.

"I noticed this guy staring at me," she said. Greg looked to be in his early 20s. (She found out later that he was in his 30s.)

"He wasn't a scary-looking guy," she said. "He looked cool; he was trendy. ... He was wearing nice clothes," something important to a 14-year-old girl.

Greg motioned for Smith to come over. At first, she hesitated, but her curiosity won out. Here was a nice-looking guy who singled her out from the crowd. After a bit of conversation, they exchanged phone numbers, and within a day, he called her.

"We talked on the phone for about two weeks," Smith said.

"He said that he could help me become a model or a songwriter or a rock star. He could introduce me to famous people," she said. "To me, (that) sounded a lot better than going to high school."

The Girl Next Door

"We have seen several cases, lately, where these individuals are trolling shopping malls and other places teenage girls hang out. They look for these vulnerable individuals," Middleton said. "It's written all over somebody's face when they're a target. We've seen this very setup, right here, time and time again."

Becoming a victim of sex trafficking can happen to those from "good" homes just as easily as it does to those from "bad" or poor circumstances. The crime cuts across all facets of society, excluding no one regardless of gender, age, race or economic status, said Heather Wagner, director of the domestic-violence office in the Mississippi attorney general's office.

All it takes is a naive girl looking for a little affection, she said. Predators look for pretty kids whom they can easily flatter or lonely boys looking for someone who will says they love them. Once ensnared with sweet talk and gifts, it can be a short walk to doing sexual "favors" for the trafficker's so-called friends to having sex with strangers 20 times a day.

"Unfortunately, the majority of victims are the 'girl next door,'" Wagner said. Girls who look like college co-eds are in big demand among those who buy sex. "A lot of people have misconceptions" about who gets involved and how, she said. "Usually, it's a prolonged relationship" involving force, fraud or coercion.

"Traffickers take their time," Smith said. "They really hone in on your interests and concerns." She added: "I think that when it comes to kids being trafficked, it's a perfect storm. Most of the time, it's not any one issue. I think that I had some idea that (Greg) was a bad boy, but my idea of a bad boy didn't equate to a pedophile or a rapist or a sex trafficker. I'd never even heard of that term."

It's not always a stranger doing the selling or buying. "We have instances where women are sold by their intimate partner for drugs or money," Middleton said.

She also said that most trafficking victims are too afraid to speak up, or they may not understand what they're going through and don't know help is available, pushing the issue under the radar.

"These are young girls that we're talking about, for the most part," she said. "They don't understand the dynamics, they just understand that something's not right and that they're being taken advantage of."

Middleton related the story of another woman who came to the CVP for assistance, calling her Susie. In this case, the trafficker who pretended to be Susie's friend was a woman. The woman turned out to be a spy, reporting back to others, presumably men, what Susie was doing and thinking. The woman turned into a handler once Susie was in "the game." Her traffickers would move Susie based on the woman's feedback.

In Mississippi, the interstate highways make Jackson a stopping-off point for the sex trade, which is highly portable and easily propagated via the Internet. Midway between Memphis and New Orleans on the north-south axis, and Atlanta and Dallas on the east-west route, traffickers—pimps—shuttle their wares through Jackson looking for buyers.

"Jackson is the hub for the southeast, and they're bringing people from Atlanta, the northeast down through here going toward Texas or from the northwest going toward Florida," Susie Harvill, executive director and founder of Advocates for Freedom, told a seminar audience at Greater Antioch Baptist Church in February. AFF is a Gulf-Coast nonprofit dedicated to ending human trafficking.

"These are girls that are getting moved around," Wagner said.

In another case, authorities tracked a girl brought into Louisiana for the Super Bowl through a contact number on her Internet ads.

"They tracked her from (Washington) D.C., right after the inaugural ball. And she moved her way through the South snaking her way to New Orleans," she said. "Same phone number, same (headline), 'New to Town, New to Town.'"

'Turn on the TV'

By the time Greg zeroed in on Holly Smith, she had already had several sexual encounters. She had a relative who repeatedly abused her. Then, on two different occasions, older high-school boys took advantage of the pretty girl with long, soft brown hair.

In 2004, researcher Melissa Farley estimated that 65 percent to 95 percent of those involved in prostitution were victims of sexual assault as children.

Sex, for many girls, equates to love and intimacy, things usually missing in the lives of targeted girls.

"Once girls have sex, they consider themselves in a relationship," Middleton said. "... They want to be loved, and they get that all mixed up with sex."

"The bad guys don't look at it like that at all," she continued. Men will use sex to groom their victims while they make them sex slaves. "That's part of the deal."

No adult had talked to Smith about sex. Sex education in school consisted mainly of anatomy lessons, she said. Almost everything she learned about sex was from popular media. At 14, Smith believed that she had to have a boyfriend, and sex was supposed to be fun. Instead, her experiences left her anxious. Smith hadn't enjoyed any of them, and she was convinced that there was something wrong with her.

"There's this sexualization of girls in the media—from music videos to TV shows to advertising. Women are objectified, and they're sexualized everywhere," Smith said. "Turn on the radio; open a magazine; turn on the TV."

Sexualized TV content was the focus of a study released earlier this month from the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council. The report found that primetime TV is more likely to present underage female characters in sexually exploitive scenes than adult women. The scripts framed many of those scenes as comedy.

"Sexually exploiting minors on TV—especially for laughs—is ... grotesquely irresponsible," said PTC President Tim Winter in a release.

"To a 12-year-old vulnerable girl who isn't getting a lot of influence elsewhere—or a 12-year-old vulnerable girl who grows up to be an 18-year-old vulnerable woman—who is constantly surrounded by these messages, it's easy to think that's how you're supposed to be: sexualized and (that your sex appeal) determines your value," Smith said. "That made it very easy for a trafficker to lure me away from home."

The Rules

Greg hooked Smith when he told her he would make her a star.

"He was feigning a little bit of romantic interest, but not too much," Smith said. "He was looking for what I was going to bite on. And what I was going to bite on was running away to Hollywood. I was going to see things; I was going to do things."

The day she ran away from home, Smith met Greg in another shopping mall, a little closer to Atlantic City. Hollywood, as it turned out, wasn't on the agenda.

"He took me to a motel room," Smith said, and left her with Nikki, who'd been waiting for her.

As Nikki put Smith in a red dress and did her makeup and hair, Smith believed they were getting ready to go out to a club. In retrospect, she knew that something was off. But just hours after running away, Smith went along with it. She was convinced she could go back home.

"At that point, that was my biggest problem," she said. "My parents knew I had run away."

When Greg returned, it was all business. He sat Smith down and went over "the rules." Without ever using the word prostitution, he told Smith what kind of men to talk to and that she had to make $200 an hour. She was to call him to "come home" when she reached $500.

The women that the Center for Violence Prevention works with would recognize Smith's story of shame and guilt. In Susie's case, the pimp wouldn't allow her to stop until she'd at least made enough to cover their hotel room. If she couldn't, they'd both sleep on the streets. "They feel like they close the door behind them and they can't go back," Middleton said.

"I think that I was just on auto-pilot once I realized what was going on," Smith said,

Primped and primed, Smith got into a cab with Nikki, who gave her more instructions. She should ask men if they wanted a date. If someone said yes, she was to tell him to come back with a car, ready to pay for a hotel room.

Smith and Nikki got out on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, on what Smith believes is the "kiddie track."

"I found myself trying to be sexy," she said, just like she'd seen on TV. She didn't know how to say no—she didn't even realize she had that option. "I had never said no to anything when it came from an older man."

It only took a few minutes before a man pulled up and asked Smith how old she was. Nikki did the talking. She told him Smith was 18, and she haggled over her price, $200. Then Nikki told Smith to go with "this old man," Smith said. "He actually told me that I reminded him of his granddaughter in the hotel room."

Everything changed for Smith at that point.

"After that encounter, my past life was completely gone. There were no thoughts of, 'I need to find my way back home and back to middle school,'" she said. "That was gone. I was just dealing with the present moment and transitioned into the person I needed to be."

That person was a prostitute. Though the first encounter was the worst, there were others. "I met the quota that I needed to make," she said.

The next night, a police officer spotted her. He asked how old she was, and Smith told him what Greg and Nikki had told her to say.

"I was scripted to give a different age and a different name," she said. "He bought it and was walking away from me."

Smith called out to him. "What if I was under 18?" she asked.

She was looking for options. Smith didn't want to be out on the street, but she didn't want to go home, either. "I didn't know what I wanted," she said.

The cop arrested her.

'Some Dirty Thing'

In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Sex trafficking, the act defines, is when a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or when the person induced to perform such an act is younger than 18. Trafficking includes "recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery." Physically transporting a person from one location to another is not necessary for the crime to fall within the definition.

Under federal law, authorities should protect trafficking victims, not criminalize them; however, many state and local laws make prostitution, pimping and buying sex illegal, and the women—the victims—are the ones usually arrested.

In 2003, about 92 percent of prostitution-related arrests in Boston were women, and only about 8 percent of arrests were men, reported Donna M. Hughes, a professor of women's studies at the University of Rhode Island in 2005. Similarly, 89 percent of arrests in Chicago between 2001 and 2004 were women, 9.6 percent were men and 0.6 percent were pimps, Hughes wrote in "Combating Sex Trafficking: Advancing Freedom for Women and Girls."

Ranked just behind weapon sales, human trafficking is the second-most lucrative illegal market in the world, with an estimated annual value of more than $30 billion.

"The United States is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children—both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals—subjected to forced labor, debt bondage, involuntary servitude and sex trafficking," reports the U.S. Department of State. Seventy-nine percent of human trafficking is sex trafficking and, in the U.S., 70 percent of sex trafficking is linked to organized crime.

"Gangs can make more money off of selling humans than selling drugs, and it's a lot safer," Middleton said. "They can sell a person 20, 25, 30 times a day, every day."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that 100,000 to 293,000 American children are in danger of becoming sexual commodities. The average age of a child's entry into pornography or prostitution is 12, reports the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Getting out of "the game" isn't easy, and prostitutes live brutal, short lives. "We'll tell your parents you've been whoring," a pimp might tell a girl, or he may threaten to kill her or recruit her little sister if she tries to leave. Most are dead within seven years.

In that way, Smith was lucky. But victims of sex trafficking share many problems with victims of domestic violence: post-traumatic stress, fear, low self-esteem and lack of resources among them. Victims also face a mountain of stigma and shame and, frequently, a police record. Few organizations are prepared to deal with the complexity of victim's issues or the danger posed by traffickers.

Hours after giving her statement, the police sent Smith home in the same red dress Nikki had put her in the night before.

"(Sex-trafficking victims) need immediate after-care," she said. "After I was arrested, I didn't get any care, none at all. All they cared about was getting my testimony. ... I was completely in a state of crisis. Nobody was concerned about my well-being."

Life became even more of a struggle for Smith. "Everyone was treating me like I was some dirty thing," she said. "Everyone was treating me like I had chosen to prostitute, like that's why I ran away: to become a prostitute."

'Emptiness and Sorrow'

"These girls need immediate trauma therapy for what they've been through," Middleton said.

For Jane, like other girls the CVP has counseled, other girls in "the life" were her friends, and she had a difficult time disengaging from them. "We were trying to pull her out, and they were trying to pull her back in," Middleton said. "... People that she cared about were still being victimized every day, and she couldn't do anything about it."

Others become accustomed to a standard of living—even if they never have control over the money they make, their traffickers dress and house them and give them gifts, something they haven't experienced before. "They have to walk away from a lifestyle on top of everything else," Middleton said. "It's just extremely complicated."

Seven days after police sent her home, Smith tried to kill herself. She ended up in a psychiatric facility, where she got some treatment, but nothing related to the trafficking. "I wouldn't even hear that term for 20 years," she said.

Smith didn't know what a "normal" relationship looked like, and she became entangled with a domestic abuser. She got into drugs and alcohol, and was in and out of therapy for years. Finally, with the help of counselors, she put her energy into school. She finished high school, went on to college and graduated with 3.6 grade average and a degree in biology.

"I rose professionally," Smith said. "I went all over this country, changing jobs. I moved up quickly because I didn't have anything else. I was so empty inside. I was trying to fill it up with education and accomplishments, which is great; that's a good thing, but I was so empty inside because I was carrying this terrible secret—that I used to be a prostitute."

In 2009, 17 years after the worst 36 hours of her life, Smith met Tina Frundt, founder and executive director of Courtney's House in Washington, D.C. Like Smith, Frundt is a survivor of sex trafficking, and Courtney's House is dedicated to helping victims heal.

"I didn't really, truly come back to life until I met other survivors who had been through the same thing," Smith said. "That's when I really got my healing."

Sex trafficking victims, even if they get out, frequently feel isolated. Because of their experiences, they don't know whom to trust. They doubt anyone loves them just for who they are. "They never know if somebody's going to turn on them or tell on them," Middleton said.

Today, Smith advocates for getting help to victims—something she didn't receive for years. She is married now and lives in Virginia. She has a website, hollyaustinsmith.com, and she works as a consultant with AMBER Alert and numerous anti-trafficking organizations. She writes a weekly newspaper column about sex trafficking, and next April, Smith will publish a book, titled "Walking Prey."

"As happy as I am today, there were years of emptiness and sorrow," she said. "I think I went through all of this for a reason."

"Once victims become survivors, they become extremely powerful women," Middleton said. "That's the cool thing about offering appropriate services to these victims: They can become survivors, in time. Once they are, they're empowered to share their story, encourage others and be part of the answer—to be brave enough to walk forward and talk about what happened to them."

Because victims have come forward, she said, organizations like the CVP understand how to provide the help other victims need to survive, such as long-term therapy and intervention.

Recently, Smith spoke to kids at the middle school where she had graduated a few short weeks before Greg lured her into prostitution. The girls were dumbfounded. "The last question they asked was, 'Why am I just hearing about this?'" she said.

She urges parent to talk to their kids about what they're watching on television or seeing on the Internet. "Teach them that their value does not come from boyfriends or sex appeal." Smith said, and added:

"I didn't choose to be a prostitute. I was a victim. I was a child, and I was exploited."

Visit www.jpf.ms/sextrafficking for more info about sex trafficking in Mississippi.

Protecting Children

Help Your Child Understand Pimps' Tactics

• A pimp will often single out a girl or boy who appears to be alone, apart from the crowd or without parental support or care.

• A pimp does not typically look like a pimp, but rather like an attractive, fun, engaging and trustworthy person.

• The mall has become one of the most common places for pimps to target pre-teens and teens.

• A pimp will tell your child that he or she is beautiful, smart, unique and (often) misunderstood. A pimp will do everything possible to gain the trust of your child.

• The seduction of your child may take months; but the pimp is patient, considering this as a business investment.

What Parents Can Do

• Check your teens' phone. Know who they are calling and monitor text messages.

• Monitor your teens' Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and have their passwords.

• Know the children your kids are hanging out with—and their parents.

• Always have a chaperone with teens while they are at the mall.

• Inform your children and community about the reality of trafficking It spans every race, gender and neighborhood in America—including yours.

• Have clear family rules such as: Under no circumstances are your children and teens to approach a stranger's vehicle; and your teens are to hang around age-appropriate friends.

• Request your teens give you their cell phone overnight.

SOURCE: courtneyshouse.org

Kelly Englemann

Kelly Englemann wants the people around her to be happy and healthy.

Englemann, 45, certified nurse practitioner and owner of Enhanced Wellness in Jackson, says the work she does fills her with gratitude.

Being able to change lives "is my dream," Englemann says.

The Sandersville native received an undergraduate degree at University of Mississippi Medical Center and earned two master's degrees, one each from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of South Florida's school of medicine.

Her 26 years in the medical field began when she was working at an ice-cream shop in the mall. The parlor owner's husband, who worked at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic, offered Englemann a job at the clinic. "I really got an up close look at the medical profession and decided that's what I wanted to do," Englemann says.

Her clinic focuses on diet, exercise and lifestyle modifications, all of which improve the lives of her patients. "What I find is that most of my patients are very well educated and willing to spend the time to do their own research," Englemann says. "A lot of times, they find resources and books for me to read, even research that I haven't seen before."

In her continuous goal of educating patients, Englemann participated in a four-week lecture series on healthy lifestyles at Mississippi University for Women this June.

"I just feel like it's our commitment to educate and (... the lecture series) is just a great opportunity to go, share and get the community on board with health and wellness," she says.

—De'Arbreya Lee

Melody Musgrove

In her current position as director of the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs in Washington D.C., Melody Musgrove is a modern-day superwoman. "It's like being shot out of a cannon," she says. "Every day is so busy and different. There's a lot of (hard) problem solving—at this point, if the problems were easy, they would have been solved by now."

Musgrove enjoys the variety, though. "There are a lot of great things about my job. My favorite thing is just the variety of people I get to meet, and getting to visit schools around the country where exciting things are happening and schools that are beating the odds," she says. "It's really exciting to get to see some of the best practices around."

But although Musgrove, wife of former Gov. Ronni Musgrove, splits her time between the D.C. and the Magnolia State, "Mississippi's home," she says. "My family is here. We have a home in D.C. as well, where my office is, but Mississippi will always be home. This is where my roots are."

A graduate of Mississippi College and The University of Southern Mississippi, Musgrove has been working in special education for more than 30 years. Among the many positions she's had, being a teacher has been the most educational and rewarding.

"I've been a school administrator, and served in basically every level that you can work in education, and I think that working in a classroom as a teacher is the best experience that could have prepared me for the job I have now," Musgrove says.

—Rebecca Docter

Angela Cockerham

Attorney Angela Cockerham was elected into the Mississippi House of Representatives in 2005. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from Jackson State University in 1998, attended Loyola University for law school and received her master's degree in International Relations from Tufts University, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In the Legislature, the 36-year-old serves as the chairwoman of the House Energy committee, one of several committees she serves on.

Politics and current events were often the topic of discussion at Cockerham's family dinner table, and she kept up with the news locally and nationally.

"I always had an interest in helping people, in the law and financially, because I went to law school. But I always had an interest in politics since I was a very, very small child. When the opportunity presented itself, I decided that I would run," Cockerham says.

Cockerham prides herself on her hard work, determination to accomplish all of her goals and her Christian faith. She feels that God has blessed her tremendously for all that she has accomplished. She travels as a motivational speaker to speak to young women, and takes pride in being a positive female role model.

"I try not to distinguish myself or place limitations," she says. "I never have. I go out there, I work really hard, I set goals, I pray and do all that I can so that I succeed and accomplish my goals. I give respect, and I'm not going to accept anything less than respect for myself."

—Mark Braboy

Vonda Reeves-Darby

Dr. Vonda Reeves-Darby's mission in her career is to reverse the state of health care in Mississippi.

Reeves-Darby, 53, works as a gastroenterologist for the Gastrointestinal Associates and Endoscopy Center. She decided to become a doctor around age 8, while tending to her grandmother's illness. She affirmed that decision after meeting an African American doctor, Dr. Chester Mayers.

"I was able to actually meet (Mayers), an African American doctor that my mother had taught in school," Reeves-Darby says. "Prior to that, I had never seen a black doctor, and once I was able to visualize the reality, I was able to say 'Yeah, yeah, I can do 
this, too.'"

Because of Mississippi's poor showing in some areas of health care, Reeves-Darby hopes to inform and educate people to do better.

"I look at Jackson as a whole, (and) I look at a city that has wonderful land mass, but no one's taken advantage of teaching people how to grow crops and how to eat healthier," she says. Reeves-Darby hopes to educate people on eating healthy on a budget and about exercise.

To combat Mississippians' overall poor health, Reeves-Darby wants to change some of the laws in that area.

"We are one of the few states that doesn't have colon cancer treatment mandated by law," she says. "Hopefully if we get the data for the Legislature and other politicians to see, maybe they will become enlightened (and work to stop) some of these issues that are draining the finances of 
the state."

—Emmanuel Sullivan

Lindsey Cacamo

In order to fill Lindsey Cacamo's shoes, one must have the ability to switch into "octopus mode." Aside from the ability to multi-task, Cacamo says instinctual, quick-on-your-feet problem-solving skills and knowing how to debate well are her other skills as the director of media and community relations for Richard Schwartz and Associates, P.A.

"Never in a million years could I have predicted working for a law firm," she says. The 28-year-old has held the position for two years now. She graduated from Mississippi State University in 2009 and lived in New Orleans for two years to pursue a career in film.

"In my head, I was supposed to be famous, or something close to it," she says. After sharing camera space with the likes of Kevin Spacey, Johnny Knoxville and Heather Graham, Cacamo says she "had an inner tug to move back to Jackson."

When she is not facing deadlines and managing advertising content, Cacamo is involved in the community. Soon, she will grant a special favor to her co-worker's son, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

"We were able to arrange a trip to Disney World through Make-A-Wish Mississippi and Richard Schwartz. He has no idea it's going to happen," she says.

—DeNetta Fagan Durr

Beverly Hogan

Dr. Beverly Hogan has a long resume of positions held in service to communities nationwide.

"It seemed like I played a lot of musical chairs," she says.

Hogan is a Mississippi native and a Tougaloo College graduate, and the first female president of Tougaloo, a position she has held since 2002.

She has served as the executive director to the Mental Health Association, executive director of the Governor's Office of Federal-State Programs, and was an adjunct professor at Jackson State University.

"What we really want to bring together, for all of our students, is a consciousness for human rights issues," she says.

That is part of the reason that Hogan started the first rape crisis program and the Shelter for Battered Women for the State of Mississippi.

Ultimately Hogan's goal for service is to "make sure that people, whether they're men or women, whether they're black white or whatever ethnicity they are, to know that here, in this America, you can aspire to be whatever you want to be."

—Khari Johnson

Kim Dubuisson

Confucius said: "Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life." Kim Dubuisson loves helping others, so her position as executive assistant to the CEO of Trustmark Bank is a perfect fit.

"My favorite thing about my job is that it changes day to day," Dubuisson says. "There's pressure (to meet deadlines, to keep the schedule moving along without incident), it's challenging, and I get to meet other business leaders."

Natchez-native Dubuisson is also involved in the community, including Habitat for Humanity, Stewpot, the Center for Violence Prevention and Executive Women International, where she serves as chapter secretary.

At home, Dubuisson is a mother of two and grandmother of five. In her spare time, she pursues creative endeavors.

"I enjoy creative painting, I write fiction, read and enjoy family," she says. "Even though I'm in an office environment, I consider myself well rounded. A person can be in an office, but develop their creative side. At the beginning of every year, I make a decision to learn something new. One year it was quilting, another digital photography and, recently, I began to study herbs and their benefits, so I have my own herb garden."

Her advice to others: "Help people, be involved and step outside the box!"

—Shameka Hayes

Serena Rasberry Clark

Serena Rasberry Clark describes herself as aggressive and outgoing, and she loves to take on challenges—fitting personally traits for a woman in a male-dominated line of work.

Clark is president of AvanteGarde Strategies, a firm that provides legal advice and political public relations. The 38-year-old received her bachelor's degree from Delta State University, a master's degree at Millsaps College and a law degree from the Mississippi College School of Law.

Clark has also worked for Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence for nearly three years to develop changes in legislation regarding domestic violence.

Clark and the MCADV helped to pass legislation against sex trafficking that better defines the crime and who the victims are, enhances penalties and eliminates loopholes.

"One of my favorite quotes is, 'the darkest dark cannot keep out the light of the smallest flame,'" Clark says. "No matter how dark it is around you, all it takes is a tiny flicker of a flame to affect change in our communities."

—Kimberly Murriel

Vicki Slater

Vicki Slater has always had an interest in helping the community.

"Community involvement, to me, first and foremost means being present and showing up where there is a need and doing what can be done to meet that need," Slater says.

Slater, 56, began helping people at a young age, starting with the people close to her.

"When I was growing up, my grandparents were both profoundly deaf, so a lot of times I would have to interpret with them, and I just learned as a real young child to speak up for other people," Slater says. "The legal system is a lot like that, where people in the legal system cannot speak up for themselves."

A Jackson native, Slater received her law degree from Tulane University in 1992. She became a member of the Louisiana Bar in 1993 and a member of the Mississippi Bar a year later.

Slater started her own law firm, Vicki R. Slater, Attorney at Law P.A., in 1991—although it came a bit late for her tastes. "That was my only regret about starting my own business, is that I didn't start it earlier" Slater says.

Aside from her business, Slater is also part of an organization called Trial Lawyers Care, which consists of a group of lawyers that get involved in different community needs. Right now one of the group's biggest programs is to end distracted driving.

"I'm involved right now in getting people out to schools, churches and communities to talk about distracted driving and how dangerous it is," Slater says. "We are also urging legislatures to put rules and laws in place."

—Dominique Triplett

Shunda Garner

Talk to Shunda Garner long enough, and you'll start to hear the word "people" pop up again and again. Garner is all about people—healing, caring for and teaching them.

The 44-year-old family physician wanted to be a doctor since she was 8 years old. "Initially radiology was what I wanted to do, but as I got further into training and the educational process, I really wanted to be with people, so I switched over to family medicine," she says.

Her dedication to helping folks expands far beyond her day job. She also provides medical care for the Center for Violence Prevention and is working to build raised-bed community gardens with Opportunity House (part of Stewpot Community Services) and other organizations.

The gardens in particular really get her excited. "I think community gardens are really underserved in Jackson," she says. "They are opportunities in terms of giving people a sense of self-sufficiency, in terms of improving diet and, therefore, overall health, and also just the landscape of Jackson. ... The look on people's faces when they grow something is priceless. They have a sense of accomplishment and of 'I did this.'"

Garner is dedicated to teaching women of all ages about healthy lifestyles. "For a lot of families, women lead the family. Where the mother goes, or the maternal figure goes, the family goes," she says.

—Kathleen M. Mitchell

Jane Sanders Waugh

Wesson native Jane Sanders Waugh says she has always been torn between her left brain and her right brain. As a creative soul, she is a member of the Fondren Theater Workshop, and she uses her analytical thinking in her field of work.

Sanders Waugh came to Jackson to attend Mississippi College, where she got a degree in speech and communications with an emphasis in theater. She worked in sales and marketing until 1991, when she graduated from law school—a move that she calls her mid-life crisis. After practicing for a few years, Sanders Waugh started Legal Resources. "They called us the Kelly Lawyers because we were the temp lawyers in town," she says. It eventually evolved into a full-service legal staffing firm, before the company modified the business model into Professional Staffing Group.

Now, Sanders Waugh effectively helps bring talent to Mississippi with PSG's services and keeps it here. She lives in Jackson with her husband of almost six years, David Waugh.

—Briana Robinson

Karyn Inzinna Thornhill

As a lobbyist with a background in marketing, Karyn Inzinna Thornhill always says she ended up with the ultimate sales job.

Memphis native Thornhill moved to Mississippi in 1994. She worked in various marketing firms and, after giving birth to her son, Anthony, now 19, Thornhill began to dabble in politics. The taste of the political arena, paired with her desire to do more, drove Thornhill to found Inzinna Consulting in 1997.

One of her more notable recent achievements includes human trafficking legislation in Mississippi. Affected by a trip to South Africa in September 2012, Thornhill came back to the states with a renewed sense of purpose.

Moved to action, Thornhill formed a group with business associates and fellow lobbyists to enact legislation that would deal a blow to human trafficking violators.

"It was a very non-partisan effort by a wide variety of Democrats and Republicans, agencies, lobbyists and legislators," Thornhill says. "So many groups of people came together to do something just because it was the right thing to do. No political gain, financial gain—no partisan politics."

—Nneka Ayozie

Sherri Flowers-Billups

While others might dream of having the power of flight, or to be invisible, this superhero longs to have the ability to read your mind. Hinds County attorney and entrepreneur Sherri Flowers-Billups is not only mother to 9-month-old Kingston Patrick and wife to Tommy Billups, but a civil servant to Hinds County. "I prosecute [the] bad guys ... It's good to know what your opponent is thinking," she says.

A Clinton native, Flowers-Billups graduated with an accounting degree from Hampton University before returning to earn her master's and law degree from the University of Mississippi. After passing the Mississippi Bar exam, she went to work for McTeer and Associates as a general practitioner and worked her way up to an appointment as Hinds County Attorney.

For Billups, there seems to be no hard parts to the job, just benefits and rewards.

"It's fast paced, and I like it. I'm always in court. That's what I do," Billups says. Her mantra is to always keep fighting, and her tenacity paid off: She was voted the first female Hinds County prosecutor in 1999 and, in 2010, the Mississippi Economic Council named her one of its 50 Leading Businesswomen.

—Nneka Ayozie

Maggie Wade Dixon

When Emmy-nominated news anchor Maggie Wade Dixon is not at the WLBT 3 news station or tending to her granddaughter, Adilynn, she is involved in the community, working with organizations such as Volunteer Mississippi, River Oaks Hospital and United Negro College Fund.

Wade Dixon, 56, discovered her passion for being a news anchor when her friend suggested that she should work with the Mississippi College radio station, WHJT. They decided to put her on the air when they heard her on the phone and discovered she had a gift.

"The people of Mississippi have been such a blessing to me," Wade Dixon says. "They accepted me when I was terrible on the air and prayed for me and cheered for me and just supported me no matter what, and I know that it's because of God's grace and their support that I've been able to do this for the last 36 years."

The accomplished Mississippi Association of Public Broadcasters hall of famer has won more than 500 awards, including Jackson Free Press' best news anchor award nine years in a row and the March of Dimes citizen of the year award in 2006.

The real honor, for Wade Dixon, is being a servant for the community and helping others.

"No matter how tired I get, I know that there's somebody out there who has a need greater than that, so that gives me the fuel," she says. "We've got too many children who need help, who deserve homes and who deserve to hear those words 'I love you.' So I can't get tired of fighting for them. I can never get too tired to listen to a mother who's trying to provide for her kids. No matter how bad my day may get, there's somebody out there who I can serve that day."

—Mark Braboy

Where can you buy neat art, jewelry and gift certificates and help keep women and children safe all at the same time? The 9th Annual JFP Chick Ball, of course. It features a huge silent auction of donated items from local businesses, artists and so many other philanthropists. The proceeds from this year's Chick Ball go toward helping sex trafficking victims at the Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl. Flip through this silent auction guide for samples of what will be featured from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 20.

There's still time to donate! Call 601-362-6121 ext 23 or email chickball@jacksonfreepress.com to give or volunteer. And don't forget to thank these donors, buy their art and shop in their local businesses.

NOTE: Items received after July 12 did not make the auction guide. To see more donations go to jfp.ms/chickguide2013

Gift Certificate Donations

$25 Gift certificate, Fondren Nails

$100 Gift certificate, SMoak Salon

$75.00 Gift card, Bravo!

Four Gift certificates for half gallons of ice cream, Blue Bell Creameries

$30 Gift certificate, Lacey's Salon

60-minute massage certificate, Li Vemulakonda of Elemental Healing Therapies

Two 30-minute massage certificates, Li Vemulakonda of Elemental Healing Therapies

$50 Gift card, Julep

$100 Gift card, Pure Barre

$40 Gift certificate, ACEY Salon

$20 Gift card, Sneaky Beans

Two $75 Gift certificates, Butterfly Yoga

$25 Gift certificate for piano lessons (beginner or early intermediate), Maureen McGuire

$20 Gift certificate for guitar lessons (beginner or early intermediate), Mareen McGuire

$100 Gift certificate, Orange Peel

$200 Gift certificate, Wells Cleaners

$80 Gift card, Renaissance at Colony Park in Ridgeland

Three $10 Gift certificates, When Pigs Fly

$25 Gift card, Apricot Lane Boutique

$20 Gift card, Five Guys

$100 Gift certificate, Mint

$10, Newk's Eatery

$25 Gift certificate for one spray tan, Merle Norman of the Renaissance

One Gym membership, Fitness Lady of Ridgeland

$100 Gift certificate, Heavenly Design by Roz

$100 Gift certificate, Applause Dance Factory

$25 Gift certificate, Fondren Cellars

Three $10 Gift cards, Sweet Pepper's Deli

Gift certificate for dinner for two people, Rooster's

$250 Gift certificate to Donna Ladd's Writing 101-202 class, Donna Ladd

Thanks to the recent trend of big-budget Hollywood films, our idea of a "hero" is often a person in a cool costume fighting evil. If you read or watch the news, maybe your vision of a hero is a police officer, firefighter or soldier—someone who risks life and limb to protect our freedom and safety. Most of us probably wouldn't picture our heroes as a group of attorneys working in one of the country's largest and oldest law firms.

"We chose the Women's Initiative at Baker Donelson as our Heroes of the Year because that's exactly what they are," says Sandy Middleton, executive director of the Center for Violence Prevention. The attorneys offer free legal services to the center, including assistance with child custody and divorce, restraining orders, business disputes, and help with criminal investigations. "I call them frequently for help and they are always there for us. They have always gone the extra mile," Middleton says.

The Women's Initiative Committee was formed to promote diversity and the advancement of females within the firm, the firm's website states. Another aspect of the initiative is to aid women within the community, with is a focus on pro bono service.

The members of the initiative spoke to the Attorney General's office and saw the need for their services right here in central Mississippi. As a result, they reached out to Middleton and the center to offer their services. The attorneys within the initiative have shown the victims at the center that legal help is available for them.

"It made sense for us to get involved the with the center," said Ashley C. Tullos, one of the initiative members. "We recognized the center had clients with needs, and it was good way for us to utilize our skills. Some of the women can be intimidated by law enforcement and are unaware of the options that are available to them. We like to see these women educated within the community."

The women of Baker Donelson went the extra mile, committing to a day of training with Middleton and Heather Wagner, director of the domestic-violence division of the state attorney general's office, on issues that face the center. "The training helped us realize the tough and diverse issues some of these women are facing," Tullos says.

She also made it clear that the initiative's involvement with CVP has the complete support of the firm. "The great thing is that this is not something that is not just talked about at Baker Donelson, but there is a level of commitment. Things like our work with the Center and sponsorship of the Chick Ball shows the firm truly cares about these issues," Tullos says.

The initiative has been involved with the CVP for more than year now. Aside from the wide range of legal services they offer, they have made themselves completely available to the center.

"They have achieved results in protecting these women. In short, they are lifesavers," Middleton says.

The members of the Women's Initiative Committee include: Jonell Beeler, Sheryl Bey, Amy Champagne, Nakimuli Davis, La'Verne Edney, Amy Elder, Wendy Ellard, Sue Fairbank, Alicia Hall, Jennifer Hall, Adria Hertwig, Ceejaye Peters, Marlena Pickering, Anna Powers, Kenya Rachal, Wendy Thompson, Ashley C. Tullos, Anne Turner, Ginger Weaver and Gretchen Zmitrovich.

As an educator and a parent, I understand how important it is to have a good parent/teacher relationship from the beginning of the school year. All of my son's teachers know that I am only a phone call, text or email away if they need anything—good or bad. I am there to help in the classroom, bring things for parties and attend field trips. I am also there if they are experiencing any issues with my son, whether behaviorally or academically. As a parent, I know that, first and foremost, it is my responsibility to make sure my child is getting the education he needs.

I polled a group of my educator friends from different schools and districts in Mississippi and even out-of-state about parent/teacher relationships. I asked them: What can parents or guardians do to establish a good relationship with their child's teacher and school? These are the things they came up with.

Savanah, 6th grade teacher

• Parents should attend as many back-to-school events as possible to create a positive rapport with all staff and create relationships with fellow parents.

• Parents should listen to the teacher's expectations and talk to their child about why the teacher expects these things to happen at school. Let your child know you share these expectations with the teacher.

• The parent should make themselves available for conversation. Also, it never hurts to initiate the conversation; as a parent you may only have one or two kids to focus on; your child's teacher has 20 to 30.

Marissa, 7th and 8th grade math and resource teacher

• Maintain communication with the teacher. Tell the teacher any expectations and concerns you have for your child and listen to the teacher's expectations as well. Ask questions.

• Get involved. There are several ways parents can be a part of the learning process: field trips, PTA, fundraisers, open houses, award/talent shows, etc.

• Send your kids to school ready to learn. Arrange either breakfast at home or school, get them to bed at a proper time and make sure that they have needed supplies. If it's not possible to do these things, tell us. We would rather know ahead of time so we can be prepared.

• Be on the teacher's side if an issue arises. A student is less likely to take the teacher seriously if the parent openly shows lack of respect for the teacher, thus hindering the student from learning.

Price, high-school physics teacher

• Understand that the teacher's goals and your goals are the same for your child. You just may disagree with the method.

• Email the teacher when you have concerns. Don't jump straight to administrators to solve problems.

• Don't undermine the teacher in front of other students. Parent/teacher issues should be worked out in private without the student's involvement. Students should always see a good relationship between a teacher and his or her parents.

Meg, K-6 Interventionist

• Maintain constant communication. Be involved. Ask how you can help in the classroom and how you can assist your child reach his or her goals. Follow through.

Lynne, high-school English and journalism teacher

• Use email and texts and initiate communication when you need information from the teacher. Don't demand time-consuming phone calls when there are more convenient tools available. 

• Utilize the teacher's communication tools, like a web page or online gradebook, to stay on top of your child's progress and assignments.

• Communicate any illnesses or special needs to the teacher. Don't let the teacher learn your child has asthma, diabetes or another health problem by surprise. 

Katina, 3rd grade teacher

• First impressions are important.

Michael, elementary librarian and former 2nd grade teacher

• Realize we always have your child's best interest at heart.

• Support the teacher and always get both sides of a story before blaming the teacher.

There is something exhilarating about the process of filling a shopping cart full of fragrant new crayons and crisp new paper and the coolest backpack characters of the season. Such back-to-school sprees and other school-year habits can be hard on the wallet, though—and the planet. Here are a few ideas to get your school year off to a greener start.

1. Rethink the Carpool Line

Long lines of idling cars every morning is not the most eco-friendly system on the planet, but it is a necessity for many schools and families. You can do a few things, though. Some research suggests that it is actually more fuel efficient to turn your car off and then on again if you are going to be idling for more than 10 seconds. However, that sounds potentially very obnoxious in a pick-up line situation, so perhaps it is better to open the windows and turn off the car simply if you arrive early before the carpool process begins, shaving off a few minutes of carbon-dioxide emissions. Other possibilities include riding the school bus more frequently or sharing the carpool load with another family, taking one car out of the idling-car line.

2. Go Scavenging

As delicious as freshly sharpened, brand new pencils can be, the truth is that kids don't need a new everything in order to learn. Look under couch cushions, in desk drawers and in the bottom of your purse. Sharpen pencils, use cap erasers and even sharpen crayons. Test markers to see whether they need to be disposed of or replaced before raiding the Crayola aisle. Pull out a hand-soap refill bottle with a scent you are tired of to add to the back-to-school supplies box.

3. Buy Durable and Reusable

Rather than going with the latest trends for backpacks and lunchboxes, think outside the replace-every-year mode. Buy something more durable, such as a strong, neutral-colored backpack that you could personalize each year with new sew-on patches or other decorative elements. Or consider a sturdy, hard-sided lunchbox that can be redecorated with cool new stickers every few months providing longevity of at least a few years. Invest in a selection of small, washable containers to use to pack healthy choices with less waste.

Back-to-School Book List

Younger Kids

• "David Goes to School," by David Shannon (Blue Sky Press, 1999, $16.99).

• "If You Take a Mouse to School," by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond (HarperCollins, 2002, $16.99).

• "Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes," by Eric Litwin and James Dean (HarperCollins, 2011, $16.99).

Older Kids

• "Mockingbird," by Kathryn Erskine (Puffin, 2010, $6.99)

• "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, 1999, $10.99)

• "Tom Brown's School Days," by Thomas Hughes (CreateSpace, 2012, $8.99, free on Kindle).

Grown-ups

• "Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/School Partnerships," by Anne Henderson, (New Press, 2007, $25).

by Amber Helsel

The start of a new school year is just around the corner, and Jackson wants its students to be ready.

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba announced July 19 that the city, along with 99 Jams and Kixie 107, will host the 2013 Back to School Celebration & Supply Giveaway at Metrocenter Mall August 4.

"The city and event partners are looking forward to expressing our support to the young people of Jackson and encouraging them to reach for every academic goal this school year," Mayor Lumumba stated in a press release.

The event will have giveaways and activities for everyone as well as the school supplies for Jackson students. The supplies will be given on a first come, first serve basis. Parents and children will also be able to learn about educational services, and volunteer and athletic programs for students.

The 2013 Back to School Celebration & Supply Giveaway is from 3 to 5 p.m. Aug. 4 at Metrocenter Mall (3645 Highway 80 W.). Call 601-960-1084 for more information.

Back-to-school time means back to packing lunches. It can be all too easy to get into a rut, packing a virtually identical lunch every day just before the family flies out the front door in all directions. But with a little advance planning the night before, or even over the weekend, you can mix and match a variety of tastes and textures, vitamins and minerals to create lunches that are healthy and kid-approved.

Supplies you will need

• Durable lunch box

• Thermos or water bottle

• A variety of reusable containers and cutlery

• Cloth napkins

• Frozen ice packs

Healthy drink options

• Unsweetened herbal iced tea in a kid-friendly flavor (our favorite is peppermint)

• Dark-chocolate almond milk

• Water

• Homemade juice blend, such as apple-carrot

• Coconut water

Non-sandwich mains

• Almond butter with apple, carrot and celery dippers

• Black bean dip with whole-grain tortilla chips

• Peeled hard boiled eggs

• Tortellini-veggie salad

• Hummus with sugar snap pea and pita dippers

• Vegetable-loaded mini pizzas

Favorite kid sides

• Trail mix (experiment with different combinations, such as pistachios, gogi berries, whole-grain sesame sticks, apricots and a few dark-chocolate chips)

• Squeezable greek-yogurt tubes

• Healthier bar choices, such as Kind bars or Lara bars

• Cut fruit and cheese cube shish-kabobs

• Shelled edamame

• Healthy homemade muffins that pack some nutritional punch, such as blueberry-zucchini muffins

For many of Mississippi's high school juniors and seniors, back to school means taking AP courses, doing research on what college or university to attend, and maybe even planning for a trip abroad. But not everyone in the state can leave the country—nor can everyone in the South count on attending his or her state college campus.

I first heard of Jessica Gutierrez through Freedom University Georgia--a two-year civil disobedience response to the Board of Regents' ban affecting Georgia's undocumented youth.

For those who may not know, the state of Georgia bans students who are not citizens from the top five most competitive state schools--these are the same schools that banned African Americans during the Jim Crow era. Freedom University, based in Athens, Ga., offers college-level courses to undocumented high-school graduates free of cost, as well as providing rides, giving students books, and assisting students with the college application process.

In January, Gutierrez learned about an opportunity at Tougaloo College from Freedom U. Tougaloo student Alex Ortiz encouraged other undocumented students to apply to his HBCU, and Gutierrez was able to enroll. She is now planning to move to Mississippi, because Georgia also denies in-state tuition and access to financial aid to students without citizenship, even if such students have been approved to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program set up by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department in June 2012.

Gutierrez has lived in the United States since age 2, and grew up in Decatur, Ga. She became involved with Freedom University last year when she heard of it through her mother, who found it in a Spanish-language Atlanta newspaper, Mundo Hispanico.

"If you see an opportunity, you take it and see how it works," Gutierrez says of her decision to come to Mississippi. At 19 years old, she is beginning her freshman year at the school.

Just because Mississippi students do not face a ban like the one in Georgia (or Alabama and South Carolina, where probably fare worse), does not mean that undocumented students have easy access to educational resources. Many students who are undocumented feel despair.

In November 2011, Joaquin Luna, a student in Texas, committed suicide. DACA, a plan to help DREAM-Act-eligible youth like Luna was announced approximately seven months after his death. The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is a law that has been proposed but never passed. No statistics indicate that a Mississippi undocumented student has ever committed suicide, and I hope such a thing never happens here.

Students in Mississippi, so far, can attend any school, though tuition rules are sketchy, and I know at least three DACA recipients who are attending community colleges at in-state rates with no financial aid. I have met only one young lady who is paying the out-of-state tuition rate, and she declined to comment on the reason why.

"Many students at Freedom U. were angry and went through a phase where they gave up," Gutierrez says. "When I told teachers that I was undocumented, they would ask me why I don't have my citizenship." Gutierrez adds that teachers need to understand why immigration reform is needed instead of bombarding students with questions that make them feel bad or ashamed about their status.

Gutierrez now has to worry about not only surviving in a new state and a new school, but also about the pending immigration-reform talks, which will have an impact on all undocumented people in the country.

"I (will have to) pay attention to the news more because before, my parents used to give me that information," Gutierrez says of navigating college while the policies are still being written around her. "And I'll go broke, because ever since I got DACA, I've been saving for Tougaloo and possibly the immigration reform. I'll probably be more open (about my status) than I was before. I'll maybe get a little help from other people ... across the state."

Back to school is a stressful time for undocumented students, given the record-setting deportation policies of the Obama administration, anti-immigrant attitudes in the Deep South, and lack of information from both high schools and universities alike. If you are undocumented, know that you are not alone and that no university can deny you entry based on your status. Visit facebook.com/MississippiYIR for advice and assistance.

Ingrid Cruz is a community organizer and advocate for human rights. Over the past year she has concentrated on organizing the immigrant community in north Mississippi. You can read her thoughts at http://comomaquinita.tumblr.com or reach her on Twitter and Instagram @ingridiswriting. Email her at ingridcruzj@gmail.com to be connected to other undocumented students who have successfully applied to schools throughout the state.

My husband and I have struck a deal with our 11-year-old son, Mateo, regarding the "Harry Potter" series: To see the movie, he has to read the book. So far he has read the first five books and has two to go. We did this because we felt strongly that he needed to experience the beauty of the books first before getting swept up in the movies.

Due to the success of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight," turning books geared toward young adults into movies has become a big trend.

During the 2013-2014 school year, a slew of movies spanning various genres com out. Use this as an opportunity to get your pre-teens and teens excited about reading again.

"Tiger Eyes" by Judy Blume (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, reprint edition, 2013, $8.99)

Movie Premiere: June 7, 2013

Starring: Willa Holland, Amy Jo Johnson and Tatanka Means

"R.I.P.D." (Book 1, graphic novel) by Peter Lenkov (Dark Horse, second edition, 2013, $12.99)

Movie Release Dave: July 19

Starring: Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges

"City of Bones" (The Mortal Instruments, Book 1) by Cassandra Clare (Margaret K. McElderry Books, reprint edition, 2008, $12.99)

Movie Premiere: Aug. 23

Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower and Jonathan Rhys Meyers

"The Sea of Monsters" (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion, reprint edition, 2007, $7.99)

Movie Premiere: Aug. 16

Starring: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Jake Abel

"The Spectacular Now" by Tim Tharp (Ember, reprint edition, 2013, $8.99)

Movie Premiere: Aug. 2

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller and Jennifer Jason Leigh

"Romeo and Juliet" (Shakespeare Made Easy, Modern English Language Side-by-Side with Full Original Text) by William Shakespeare (Barron's Educational Series, 1985, $6.99)

Movie Premiere: Oct. 25

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis

"Catching Fire" (Hunger Games, Book 2) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, reprint edition, 2013, $12.99)

Movie Premiere: Nov. 22

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and Philip Seymour Hoffman

"Ender's Game" (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card (Tor Science Fiction, 1994, $7.99)

Movie Premiere: Nov. 1

Starring: Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld

"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, reprint edition, 2012, $13.99)

Movie Premiere: Dec. 13, 2013 and Dec. 17, 2014

Starring: Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans and Orlando Bloom

"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, reprint edition, 2010, $9.99)

Movie Premiere: Feb. 14, 2014

Starring: Dylan O'Brien and Thomas Brodie-Sangster

"Divergent" by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2012, $9.99)

Movie Premiere: March 21, 2014

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd

On a drizzly early April evening, a group of students, parents and educators gathered at Provine High School's auditorium for a town hall meeting. The subject was dropout prevention.

Scattered in a room designed to hold several hundred, about 75 people showed up for "Stop the Drop: What We Can Do to Keep Mississippi Students in School," sponsored by Mississippi Public Broadcasting, American Graduate and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The town hall turned out to be a panel presentation, for the most part, with the four adults on the seven-member panel doing most of the talking. They urged the students to think about the effects of dropping out versus the gains they could make by staying in school and graduating.

Panelist Patricia Anderson, the parent of a Provine junior and a member of Parents for Public Schools, asked the students whether they liked what they saw in people who had dropped out. "I'm sure all of us know of someone that's dropped out of high school who's probably said on more than one occasion, 'If I could go back and do it again, I would do things differently,'" she said. "... Dropping out should not be an option or a consideration."

Parents play a vital role in their children's success, stressed Adetokunbo Oredein, senior project director with 100 Black Men of Jackson. And parents, along with teachers and administrators, must hold each other accountable. Parents, especially, he said, need to step up and stay involved.

"In order for the teachers to be effective, they have to know that parents are on the team," he said. "And it is a team. If you have a student not doing well, and the parent never comes (to meetings or events), that's not a team."

Provine's principal, Laketia Marshall-Thomas, talked about some of the ways parents could help their kids, such as working through online tutorials together. "All of the assignments (and tutorials) are posted online, and you have access to those grades," she said.

"I check my child's grades every day," Thomas said. "Do not take (your child's) word for it, because you don't want any surprises."

Over the course of the evening, the panel touched briefly on many of the challenges Jackson teens face on the road to graduation, including peer pressure, bullying, teen pregnancy, and the ever-present and unanimously disliked tests. Panel participants, who included three Provine students, agreed that it also takes students encouraging other students to stay in school as they struggle with those issues.

"Hold on to your classmates," Thomas urged the students.

Struggling to Make It

Provine High School, which sits at the corner of Robinson Road and Ellis Avenue just northwest of Jackson State University, was an apt location for the gathering. In Mississippi's only urban and its second-largest school district, Provine's graduation rate was 52.5 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. It's a dismal showing in a district where even the best schools struggle to exceed the state's average graduation rate--an already bleak 74 percent.

Provine was at the bottom of high schools in the district and was ninth from the bottom in the state. At the top of the district's high schools for 2010-2011, Bailey Magnet (now Bailey APAC Middle School) graduated 77.6 percent of its students. Only one other school, Murrah High School, did better than the state average, at 75.6 percent.

The Jackson Public Schools district has a lot of challenges, including a chronic shortage of funds. Mississippi's per-pupil expenditure for 2011 was $7,928, compared to the national average of $10,560, and it dropped 2.5 percent from the previous year.

Poverty also takes a high toll. The state Legislature has consistently short-changed the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the funding formula designed to level funding for the state's poorest school districts. Poverty in the state skews heavily toward blacks. In the poorest state in the union, Jackson's poverty rate for African Americans in 2009 topped 40 percent. Nearly 90 percent of JPS' 30,000 students, which are 97 percent African American, qualify for free or reduced school lunches.

Because education is one of the key drivers for lifting people out of poverty, the city's high poverty rate indicates poor educational achievement among its residents. To put that in context, a bachelor's degree more than doubles earning power: A high-school dropout could expect a $451 weekly paycheck, while a college grad made $1,053, 2011 U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics revealed. Just having a high-school diploma added $187 to a person's average weekly earnings. And even in a tough job market, the unemployment rate shrinks steadily for those with more education.

The cycle of poverty is a tough nut to crack; poverty and lack of education, like wealth and Ivy League diplomas, tend to transfer generationally. It also indicates that many Jackson parents lack the resources to provide the kind of nurturing, hands-on involvement that children need to succeed in school. A 2012 ACLU report, "Finding Our Way Back to First," identified one of the barriers:

"Unfortunately, many children of color, particularly those who are poor and of color, miss out on a language-rich environment in their formative years. ... Low-income families tend to have fewer books in their homes, less access to good libraries, and less access to computer and Internet resources. Also, by age 3, higher income families have said 30 million more words to their children than lower income families."

It Still Takes a Village

Young people come into school with myriad problems, which then frequently land in the lap of the public schools to deal with.

Beneta Burt, JPS board member and executive director of the Jackson Roadmap to Health Equity Project (a nonprofit that advocates for healthy change in institutions such as schools), believes that the public schools alone can't fix the problems. The involvement of whole community is needed.

"When you have the public sector and the private sector--including parents and other community members--working together, then you start thinking about a positive atmosphere for the entire city and the school district," Burt said.

"It has to be more than just the school system working on these issues. We have to figure out how to generate some parental support, and continued and sustained parental involvement."

Public institutions, private businesses and citizens, churches, and community-based organizations should all take part in finding and implementing solutions, Burt said, all "taking up the banner" for doing the necessary work.

"All of us have a responsibility to alleviate some of the social ills that we have to deal with, so that when kids go to school, they don't have so many of them to deal with," Burt said. "Because these are our children, we have to figure out how to collectively mobilize the community."

Burt pointed to a Tennessee program, Alignment Nashville, as a best-practice model for Jackson. The program is a collaborative, community-wide effort to improve outcomes for students, and it is showing success. Nashville has improved its graduation rates and school rankings since putting the program into place.

JPS superintendent Cedrick Gray also wants to ensure that students, parents and the community all become part of the solution for lifting the district from the doldrums. Gray, who took the reins a year ago, instituted a Parent Impact Symposium, for example, designed to give parents a direct way to communicate with JPS and for the administration to provide vital information to parents. For her part, Burt encourages parents to attend school board meetings.

"If we don't know the concerns of the community, then we really can't address them," Burt said.

Connecting Dots

One of the district's focal points this year is to increase the learning levels for the city's youngest learners. Last year, 600 of Jackson's 2,100 4-year-olds made it into a city pre-kindergarten program, but Gray expects an increase in those numbers this year. His office is also working to reach the kids not in city programs and JPS will be making professional development available to independent day-care providers on request, he said.

"We shouldn't limit ourselves to just the (children) that come to us," Gray said. "We should go out and assist those day cares in preparation for the children that come to JPS kindergarten."

Gray is taking a multi-pronged approach to increasing literacy throughout the district. The first is to involve parents, which he said is key.

"I'll be asking parents to assess their own child's reading ability, just by listening to (their) child read," he said. "If you determine that your child doesn't read as well as you think a comparable child in the same grade does, then we need to know that."

A second initiative will provide the district with a baseline for literacy and numeracy. Every child starting school in JPS this year will receive diagnostic testing to gauge his or her readiness to learn.

"Our goal is to increase graduation rates by 2 percent (per year) over the next three years," Gray said. He also wants to see all students career or college-ready, which he defined as preparing students for life. "It's ambitious, but what else do we show up to work to do?"

Gray wants to make inroads with all levels of education in Jackson--elementary, middle and high school. A challenge at the elementary level is the governor's "3rd-grade gate," whereby young scholars who can't read proficiently at the end of third grade will not advance. That initiative forces all Mississippi schools to re-evaluate how they are preparing kids for 3rd grade and what they're teaching once they get there.

For JPS, that means putting students' progress under a microscope with the help of teachers' and parents' assessments, in addition to tracking attendance and behavior. Training for the teams (Gray called them FIT, which stands for Focus Instructional Teams) that will manage the process took place this summer.

"We'll be able to identify these students (who need extra help) very early in the process, early in the school year, and apply the appropriate interventions," Gray said. "What we won't do is wait until the tests in May. Schools will literally be identifying students on a week-by-week basis."

Part of the FIT training is for the common core, which Mississippi adopted in 2010. Gray sees common core as beneficial, despite the program having garnered vocal detractors who say it will eliminate flexibility and local context in education. Advocates insist that it will increase critical-thinking skills through more evaluation and analysis across disciplines. The jury is still out, but 45 states and the District of Columbia have taken common core on.

Common core will require schools to "dig deeper," Gray said, but it also lends itself to the districts' goals.

"My estimation is this: They're standards. They say what a student should know and/or be able to do for a certain grade," he said. "They say 'what'; we determine the 'how.'"

"It requires innovative teachers and people who are dedicated to the work," Burt said.

Opening Doors

Specific factors are warning signs for students who are likely to drop out of school. If you see one or more of these signs, get involved. You can give these students the boost they need to stay in school.

• They don't feel challenged in school.

• They don't feel high educational expectations from family or school.

• They believe their parents are too controlling, and they want to rebel.

• They have trouble with schoolwork or feel that they are not as smart as other students.

• They have drug, alcohol or mental-health problems.

• They regularly miss school or are frequently tardy.

• They struggle with problems at home, including physical or verbal abuse.

• They feel like they don't fit in or have friends at school.

• Their peers or siblings have dropped out of school.

• They have poor learning conditions at school--overcrowding, high levels of violence and excessive absenteeism.

SOURCE: Boostup.org

100 Black Men of Jackson

5360 Highland Drive

601-366-8301

100blackmenjackson.org

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mississippi

175 E. Capitol St.

601-961-9286

bbbs.org

Jackson Public Schools

P.O. Box 2338, Jackson 39225

601-960-8700

jackson.k12.ms.us

Mississippi Community Education Center

1435-B Lelia Drive

601-366-6405

mscec.org

Mississippi Learning Institute

Jackson State University

1400 Lynch St.

601-979-2121

Mississippi PTA/PSA

P.O. Box 1937, Jackson 39215

601-352-7383

misspta.org

Parents for Public Schools of Jackson

200 N. Congress St.

601-969-6936

ppsjackson.org

Gray has four things he wants every parent to take on for the coming school year: "Number one: Take your child to school on the first day. Number two: Exchange a working number with your child's teacher. Number three: Secure a quiet space at home for at least an hour for homework. And number four: Check homework, report cards and homework folders on a regular basis."

Otis Gaines, Provine's basketball coach, rounded out the dropout prevention program last April. Dressed in a T-shirt, gray sweat pants and sneakers, Gaines was reluctant to speak at first, but when he did, he inspired an ovation from the attendees.

A Jackson native, Gaines graduated from Provine in 1999 and played on the school's 1998 state championship basketball team. He now holds a bachelor's degree from JSU, a master's from William Carey University, and is pursuing a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi.

"If anybody ever tells you (that) you can't get a good education at Provine, that's a lie," he said.

Gaines works hard to instill the notion that education is the key to success in the young men he coaches. His players may find themselves in the elite cadre that make it into pro sports, but a solid education will always serve them--even if that dream career doesn't pan out.

His own education was a path that began with effort, Gaines said, but, just as practice had him become a good basketball player, practice also made him a good student. Learning became easier, and the benefits were in direct proportion to the work he put in.

Gaines' mother served as his mentor and an inspiration: After dropping out of school to raise a family, she received her bachelor's degree on the same day as her youngest daughter. Now in her 50s, Gaines' mother will receive her master's degree next year.

"Staying in school, regardless of what anybody says, that's the best thing you can do," he said. "Because there are so many more doors that are going to open."

UPDATED Aug 2, 2013: Adetokunbo Oredein is no longer the executive director of 100 Black Men of Jackson. He is now senior project director with the organization.

Lindsey Horton

Age: 61

Relationship Status: Married (LaaWandaa), no children

Education: B.A., Criminal Justice (1976), Urban Studies (2001), Jackson State University

Experience: Chief, Jackson Police Department; 29 total years with JPD

Just before dawn on the morning of July 12, a homeowner in the Lakeover subdivision of northwest Jackson crept out onto his front porch and fired five shots into his own car.

The only person occupying the vehicle was 20-year-old Quardious Thomas, who later died at a local hospital. At the time, Jackson police officials said that the homeowner, whose name has not been made public, would not be charged with a crime, citing Mississippi's Castle Doctrine. Part of Mississippi's justifiable homicide statute, the Castle Doctrine outlines circumstances under which individuals may use deadly force to protect their home, automobile or body.

Chief Lindsey Horton, who at the time of Thomas' shooting was interim police chief and awaiting confirmation from the Jackson City Council, says the homeowner told police that he feared Thomas had a gun.

"It was in the early morning, still under the cover of darkness, and he couldn't see very well. He did what he felt he needed to do," Horton told the Jackson Free Press. "He protected himself, he protected his property and, of course, his home, and he has every right to do that."

A Jackson native, Horton, 61, has spent 29 years working his way up through the Jackson Police Department's chain of command, including 11 years as a deputy chief. Horton said the officer who responded to the call on Tanglewood Cove, along with the officer's supervisor who arrived later, decided not to arrest the homeowner. Some Jackson legal experts disagree with JPD's official position on the 
shooting, however.

At a forum organized that the Mississippi NAACP Magnolia Bar Association and A. Phillip Randolph Institute held Aug. 1, some participants drew parallels between what they called ambiguities in the law that led to Thomas' death and the Florida doctrine that made headlines after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's death last year. Martin's shooter, neighborhood volunteer George Zimmerman, was not initially charged with a crime because police said Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which is similar to Mississippi's Castle Doctrine, justified 
Martin's killing.

"A killing of any sort is homicide. The question becomes whether it's justifiable ... Police agencies are making the determination, and I submit that's the wrong agency," attorney Malcolm Harrison said at the NAACP's Know Your Rights Forum.

Horton acknowledged that many laws his agency must enforce contain a lot of gray area, and expressed frustration that the Legislature often declines to gather input from JPD, the state's largest municipal force, when it crafts laws aimed at 
public safety.

Horton recently spoke with the JFP bout the Thomas shooting, the state's new open-carry law, and boosting morale and rooting out corruption in the Jackson Police Department.

In the incident a few weeks ago, where a homeowner shot a young man, what was the thinking that went into not arresting or charging the homeowner?

I don't know what the homeowner was thinking. As he expressed, he was afraid that the individual that's in the process of burglarizing his vehicle was armed. It was in the early morning, still under the cover of darkness, and he couldn't see very well. He did what he felt he needed to do: He protected himself, he protected his property and, of course, his home, and he has every right to do that. We made a decision—the officer at the time made the decision—not to arrest him and, so far during the investigation, there has not been any reason to arrest him. That's our position.

So the decision was made by the officer on the scene?

No, the officer made the decision and, when the supervisor arrived on the scene, it was a collective decision. It still stands to this day.

Are there ongoing public education efforts to clarify some of the ambiguity in the law?

There needs to be more education. I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. There are the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. Our job is to enforce existing laws, and we don't have the autonomy to determine which laws to enforce. If I had a seat at the table—as I understand that wasn't the case with this open-carry bill that was enacted—a lot of what we're dealing with now would have been dealt with then.

The same goes for the so-called Castle Doctrine. I don't remember anybody asking us, (and) we represent the capital city of the state of Mississippi. You would think (legislators) would reach out and want to know what we felt about some of this before they moved forward with that legislation. But that did not happen.

So, yes, more education is needed. No, you cannot arbitrarily shoot someone just because they're walking across your grass. Every case is going to be handled on a case-by-case basis and on its own merits. That's the frightening part of this. People think differently, and what constitutes fear for one person may not be for another. ... That's why you have courts and judges. It's tough, and citizens have no idea what it's like for officers to have to make an instantaneous decision.

Right now it's in flux, but how are you directing your officers to enforce the new open-carry law?

We have no reason to enforce it because it's not in place, yet. We are really concerned, though. We are concerned when and if it does go into effect, it's going to cause us to police differently. A lot of officers are concerned. We are accustomed to (going) on a scene (where there is only) one gun there—that's ours. I cringe at the thought of arriving at any kind of altercation, and everybody there has a weapon and, in some cases, a higher caliber than mine. I can see that causing us some problems, and we're going to have to modify how we approach policing in the city of Jackson.

But people can open carry now.

Oh yes, but you have people who are going to strap them on just to look like the Old West.

How closely are you keeping an eye on problems at the Raymond Detention Center? Have the problems forced you to rethink policing strategies?

It's our intent to continue to arrest people that need to be arrested. If they are a menace to society, they're committing crimes, then it is our intent to remove them from society to try to modify their behavior. If locking them up will do that, then that's what we're going to do. It's incumbent on not only Sheriff (Tyrone) Lewis, but on the other 81 sheriffs in the state of Mississippi—it's their job to be responsible for any prisoner or inmate in their county. There are times that they're at full capacity, and they work very hard to accommodate us. They recognize that Jackson is the largest municipality in Hinds County and, as such, we have more inmates than Clinton, Bolton, Edwards, Terry and all the other (municipalities).

So, no, it has not had an impact on how we police. We're going to continue to do what we need to do. You'll hear me use "Pookie" and "Ray-Ray." Those are names of endearment that I use to reflect those that are hell-bent on being a menace to society. So if Pookie is intent on being Pookie, we're going to transport Pookie to Shelby County, Tennessee, to lock him up (if necessary).

What's happening in Hinds County's Raymond Detention Center has no impact on how we do our jobs. We're going to find someplace for Pookie. They should not take any comfort in thinking that Raymond is booked or full. We will always find someplace that would accommodate them.

Does Jackson need its own jail? There has been some talk about that by members of the Jackson City Council and Hinds County Board of Supervisors.

I don't know that we need our own jail, but we obviously need something that's more workable than what we have now.

We have our challenges. I would love to send out a memo to all thugs and criminals and ask them to give us some relief. I don't think that would work. I think something does need to be done—whether it's privatizing the existing system (or) building another one. Whatever it takes, it's going to take a while to get it done. If the board of supervisors, the city council, or any other power comes together and somehow it rains 400 zillion million dollars, it's still going to take a number of years to make that a reality. If you started construction on a facility today, it's still going to take a couple of years for us to have total use of that. In the meantime, we've got to come up with some innovative ways of dealing with the criminal element.

Are you open to developing alternatives to jail for low-level minor offenses?

Oh, absolutely. ... House arrest works in a lot of areas, as long we have the proper authorities monitoring those. We've had occasions where we've arrested people with ankle bracelets on, and they're supposed to be monitored. If we can get a system that works as its designed to work, then I would be all for it.

I ask because it's something Mayor Lumumba campaigned on.

I think what he's saying (about) alternatives involves getting into the communities, getting to young men before they become criminals. And, yes, I agree with that. As I indicated, there's this whole notion about who's responsible for crime. Long gone are the days when the police department is exclusively responsible for preventing crime. I think it's a more holistic approach we should take.

Everyone is responsible, starting with the individuals themselves. When individuals commit crimes, they make a conscious and deliberate decision to commit crimes. They might not always know what's right, but they know when something is wrong. It starts in the home—my father, my mother—it goes from there to school, from there it goes to churches, and at the very end, law enforcement. When policing gets involved, it indicates to me that one or all of those others have failed, and too often it's the home. Parents have almost given up on raising kids. They want to be a popular mother or father. I think they need to do what's necessary, and it starts when they're babies. You don't wait until your son gets tall enough to look you in the eye before you start trying to discipline them. You hear me use (the example of) Pookie and Pookie may be 13 years old, and we take Pookie home and often we meet a larger version of Pookie, who happens to be his daddy, and that's unfortunate—the sagging pants and all of that.

Granted, there are some occasions when parents are doing all that they can do. ... They're using every resource they have available—their last $2—to try to raise their kids properly. They might have five or six kids, but they have that one that decides they want to do things their way. The same kids raised by the same parents under the same roof, but this one decides he wants to do things differently. For all practical purposes these are good parents; sometimes they go broke trying to raise kids that go off the beaten path.

I'm referring to those that do not put forth the effort, those that do not understand that having kids means raising kids. Then they become part of our jobs to go out and arrest them, sometimes over and over for the same crimes.

Given Mayor Lumumba's background in social activism and as a defense attorney representing people JPD might lock up, has that caused you to rethink how you police Jackson?

He's given me free rein to do what police chiefs do, which is enforce the law. Under no circumstance has he given me a directive to not arrest anyone or be soft on crime. And I'm going to be very aggressive, to the point that I may cause a little bit of inconvenience to our law-abiding citizens.

If they tolerate us while we do our jobs, much like construction at a local business that has signs up that say, "Please excuse us while we improve," (they will reap the benefits).

I don't propose to speak for the mayor, but when I made a deliberate decision to work for him, I had this understanding of him. There was an occasion when someone reached way back in the archives and pulled up a statement where he—and it appeared that it was taken out of context—that he doesn't like police. Well, guess what: I'm 61. You go back in the life of a 61-year-old black man, there were times when I wasn't excited about police, either. The entity of policing, I love. Policing goes back to biblical days. You cannot have a civilized society when you have the haves and the have-nots. People are going to try to take from other people.

What I did not like were those officers who were of the Caucasian persuasion who used their authority against a people of a different hue. My brothers and I and everyone else in our neighborhood used to run away from the police because there were times they could call us out to the car and slap us or throw unconsumed soda on us. That did not dissuade me from wanting to become a part of an entity that I know is necessary.

I endeavor to use every resource that I have available to make the citizens of Jackson safe, that the economy may continue to thrive and that so-called migration out of Jackson may reverse itself.

In remarks to your commanders, you talked a lot about professionalism. For example, you said you didn't want to hear anyone referring to Mayor Lumumba as "Chokwe" or using profanity with citizens. Why is professionalism important in crime fighting?

It's about image, and image can mean two things. It can mean how we present ourselves in uniform, how we present ourselves in our marked police cars, and it has to do with how we interact with and among the citizens of Jackson and anyone else who may travel through for the purpose of working, doing business or visits. I think we need to do a better job.

It's been said that a uniformed police officer is the most visible element of government in any municipality. So, yes, I'm pretty adamant about that. I think we should project ourselves and speak in the vernacular that professional officers should speak.

It's my position that 90 percent of crime is committed by 10 percent of the population. If I embrace the notion that 90 percent of the citizens are law-abiding citizens, our focus should perhaps be on that 10 percent (of criminals). It stands to reason that if you have occasion to interact with or stop an individual for a traffic violation, then they should be treated with courtesy. They should be treated with professionalism until such time it rises to a time that it causes us to escalate our level ... A lot of times, officers—not necessarily JPD officers—become overly officious. They take themselves too seriously. I want to make sure that officers understand what our charge is. The entity of law enforcement is to make people feel safe as we keep them safe.

JPD's image, the level of perceived professionalism, can help as much as hurt?

I think crime prevention should be done by committee. I think all of us play a role, meaning all the citizens. If you see a crime a being committed, you should report it—any level of crime—and you can also start by not committing crimes yourselves.

You see someone come through your community with a 42-inch flat-screen, fresh in a box, and they want to sell it to you for 100 (dollars), you've got to know it's hot. Particularly if he has 10 or 12 others in his truck—he stole them from some place. So if you become a part of that criminal enterprise, and you purchase it from him, don't be surprised when and if you become a victim weeks later, when he comes back to rob your home to get the very TV he sold you two weeks earlier. So we need the public's help. We obviously can't be every place all the time. We need the eyes and ears of the public to help us bring crime under control.

And do understand that Jackson does not have the monopoly on crime. As long as you have the haves and the have-nots, there's going to be crime, OK? What we want to do is minimize it. We want to lock those up that need to be locked up. We want to either convert them, not necessarily to Christianity, but we want to conform them to civility, that they might do the right thing. That they might be socialized into society and make all the working-class people feel comfortable so that they might go about their business, and to enhance our society that we might all live a high degree.

There are also perceptions about this agency—that morale is low, that corruption is a problem ...

This notion of low morale, while I agree, I don't know how you measure that. It's such an intangible. There are (officers) who, if you were to ask them to "name two things that you need most to be happy," obviously (the answer) might be more money and perhaps a new car, more equipment. I've noticed that even if they get a raise, weeks later they go turn that financial windfall into a new motorcycle or new truck, and they're right back to where they started, and they need yet more money.

What I'm saying is that morale is not always dictated by compensation. I think it has to do with working conditions. It has to do with appreciation. As long as I've been around the police department—and we're approaching 29 years now, I've been a deputy chief for 11 years—I've noticed with more than a casual interest, the up-and-down morale.

Our officers are fine officers. I would venture to say that while I'm not naive to think that all of our officers are perfect, a great high percentage of our officers are professional. They do what they're asked to do, but we have those that get off the beaten path sometimes; they do as much as they need to do. But with higher morale, these officers would go above and beyond. That's what I'm seeking. I want officers to go above and beyond. Don't just ride around and wait for the dispatcher to call them or send them on a call, but I need them patrolling. I need them to be conscientious about the safety of the citizens of Jackson, the safety of our elderly, the safety of our females, the safety of our young people, and to serve as quiet role models. The big mouth isn't the one that always needs to get the attention. Be professional. Have young people look up to you. ... I just need our officers to understand, that might be part of what it's going to take to enhance the economic plight of Jackson as well as that image (of Jackson). So yes, we absolutely we need to enhance morale. ...

We've had some officers who have committed criminal acts. Unfortunately, you can't legislate integrity. Integrity is something that needs to come with you. It needs to be part of your fiber. And, unfortunately, you can't get that through an interview, because people are going to say what you want to hear just to get the job. And then when they get access, they get a badge, they get a gun, they get a uniform. Much too often during my career, we've had officers that have used their authority to take advantage of people—even to the point of creating criminal activity.

Under my watch, if it's determined that an officer has committed a crime, I'm going to take it very personal. Not only will that officer be terminated, but I will be very emphatic and try to have that officer prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, because I think that an officer in uniform committing crimes is worse than a common criminal. And (to) anyone with any intent of becoming a law enforcement officer: We want strong positive men and women to come and join the Jackson Police Department. I want professional officers. I want professional department. And if they have any intent of doing anything other than that, then they need not apply to the Jackson Police Department.

Do you want your officers to fear you?

I don't manage like that. As a matter of fact ... I pride myself on not making decisions while I am moved by something that someone has done to disappoint me. I've been around long enough for officers to know how I manage. I lead by example. I think officers around have a pretty good idea what kind of a person I am. I am a no-nonsense type of person.

I think you apply appropriate discipline to the appropriate transgression. So to answer your question, no, I don't want anyone to fear me. I want to work. I'm part of the team; I'm the leader. I'm not unapproachable. A lot of chiefs have been accused of being unapproachable. When I'm out in public, officers go out of their way to come and speak to me. It doesn't mean that I'm weak. And it doesn't mean that I want them to be afraid of me, but I do want them to get on board.

What was the thinking behind having two assistant chiefs instead of just one like your predecessor?

I actually think it's a better flow. The police department has had that before, back when Robert Moore was chief of police. I think it lessens some of the load off of one assistant chief. As you know, in any municipality, the assistant chief is generally the one that runs the day-to-day operations (and) boots-on-the-ground flow of a police department.

(Assistant) Chief (Lee) Vance has done an outstanding job. As a matter of fact, he's been my boss for the past six years, but he was dealing with operations, the enforcement side. He's also had to deal with the administrative side, which is the civilian side—the jail, forensic crime lab, licensing and permits, vehicle management (and) communications.

I felt that we needed someone else to help manage that flow—Chief Vance did a yeoman's job with that—but to give him some relief. Too often, citizens have complained that it has take us too long to respond to complaints and other things dealing with the police department. So that's the primary purpose: that we move more expeditiously and more efficiently.

It's well-known that you have a background in martial arts. How do you see that factoring into your performing duties as chief of police?

I'm an 8th-degree black belt. I ascended through the ranks of martial arts just like the police department. I appreciate rank structure. I've taught martial since 1971, and I can't help but think it has helped craft (all) that I am. I believe in the discipline of the art. While training helps me develop my physical prowess to the point that I feel comfortable defending myself, the first part of martial arts is how to take a blow.

Seeing the blood and intestines of people on crime scenes—and yet being able to bring a calm presence to law enforcement, I'm hoping that will permeate throughout the department — that we will be a kinder, gentler police department.

Do you prefer to be called chief or sensei?

Chief is fine. I think that would be the professional thing.

Brenda's Produce at Old Farmers Market

352 E. Woodrow Wilson Ave., 601-354-0529 or 601-353-1633

Brenda's sells Smith County home-grown produce such as peas, okra and squash. It's open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sundays until November.

Byram Farmers Market

20 Willow Creek Lane, Byram, 601-373-4545

The market's products include vegetables, Amish canned goods and rocking chairs. It is open 9 a.m-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday through October.

Frank's Produce

6031 Clinton Blvd., 601-923-3921

Frank's Produce is open year-round and sells a variety of produce. It is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Livingston Farmers Market

129 Mannsdale Road, 601-898-0212

Livingston has fresh produce from local growers, live music, children's activities and art from the Mississippi Craftsmen each Thursday from 4-8 p.m. until October.

Mississippi Farmers Market

929 High St., 601-354-6573

mdac.state.ms.us

Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, it has locally grown fruits and vegetables and specialty foods and crafts from local artisans.

Old Fannin Road Farmers Market

1307 Old Fannin Road, Brandon, 601-919-1690

The market has locally grown produce including watermelons and peaches. It is open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-6 p.m. on Sundays until Christmas week.

Olde Towne Market

202 W. Leake St., Clinton, 601-924-5472

mainstreetclintonms.com

Olde Towne Market's event, "Fresh at 5," features home-grown and homemade products for sale from 5- 7 p.m. each Tuesday until Aug. 27. The fall market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 12 and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 9.

See also:

On Social Media: Unique Dishes

Pure Instinct

Embracing the Veg

Keith Davis Enchiladas and those melt-in-your-mouth rolls at the Elite. Soft-shelled crabs at the Mayflower. Shrimp Kabobs at Crechale's.

Georgia Casey Purvis Babalu's guacamole with masa tortillas. The fried green tomato BLT at Walker's. The KB burger at Cool Al's.

Eric Martin Tuna Tataki

Wanda Clay Garner Straw and Hay at Amerigo. It's not even on the menu anymore, but if you ask, they'll make it for you!

Todd Falgout Red fish Anna at Walkers!

Nikki Thomas Honey-fried chicken breast at Julep!

Stuart Rockoff Inez Burger at CS's.

Dave Clark The thin-fried catfish at Pigskin BBQ. You can get them at Middendorf's, of course, but nowhere else in Jackson.

Tom Head The West African veggie burger at Cool Al's.

Natalie Brooke Long Mexican Street Corn at Babalu.

Charles Jackson Adobo shrimp taco at Bruno's Adobo. Awesome!

Kate Medley Jerry at The Mayflower would kill me for saying this, but saltines with comeback sauce ... as an appetizer.

Winifred Green Small Greek salad with crabmeat & comeback at Mayflower Cafe.

See also:

Farmers Markets and Produce

Pure Instinct

Embracing the Veg

From November until the end of January every year, Jackson residents and businesses campaign, vote and then wait for the results of the annual Best of Jackson competition. The contest is so popular that we’re now doing mini-polls throughout the year from Best Redhead to Best Local Lunch places, which we announce below. Keep an eye on bestofjackson.com and the print edition for a new ballot in November, as well as fun monthly polls. To the best!

Best Local Lunch Overall, Best Flowood Lunch, Best Ridgeland Lunch: Primos Cafe

2323 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, 601-936-3398; 515 Lake Harbour Drive, Ridgeland, 601-898-3600 primoscafe.com

Angelo "Pop" Primos came to the United States with his wife, Mildred, from Greece and started a family bakery in 1929. Nearly a century later, Primos has two of the area's most popular restaurants.

The cream of Primos' crop is its blue-plate specials. The eatery offers chicken potpie, hamburger steak, fried chicken and fried catfish, along with other classics. Each blue-plate special includes a meat, two or three vegetables, and a cornbread muffin or roll. Everything is made in-house and, these days, as healthy as possible—balancing southern comfort food with a fresh, good-for-you approach. Primos is also known for its baked goods, especially its most popular cake flavor, caramel.

—Kathleen M. Mitchell

Best Local Lunch Overall

Second: City Grille (1029 Highway 51 N., Suite A, Madison, 601-607-7885) / Third: Bravo! Italian Restaurant and Bar (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 244, 601-982-8111) / Good Showing: Cool Al's (4654 McWillie Drive, 601-713-3020); Walker's Drive-In (3016 N. State St., 601-982-2633)

Best Flowood Lunch

Second: Table 100 (100 Ridge Way, Flowood, 601-420-4202) / Third: Grant's Kitchen (2847 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, 601-665-4764) / Good Showing: Georgia Blue (223 Ridge Way, Flowood, 601-919-1900)

Best Ridgeland Lunch

Second: Trace Grill (574 Highway 51, Ridgeland, 601-853-1014) / Third (tie): Beagle Bagel Cafe (898 Avery Blvd., Ridgeland, 601-956-1773); Amerigo Italian Restaurant (6592 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, 601-977-0563)

Best North Jackson Lunch: Char Restaurant

4500 Interstate 55, Suite 142, 601-956-9562

charrestaurant.com

Char's lunch menu is top-notch, with two blue-plate specials Monday through Saturday that range from red beans and rice or beef brisket to fried catfish or roasted turkey from $8 to $12. Diners can top off lunch with pecan pie, pecan-caramel, butter-crunch, or triple-chocolate cake with raspberry coulis or peach cobbler bathed in vanilla ice cream.

—Tyler Cleveland

Second (tie): Cool Al's (4654 McWillie Drive, 601-713-3020); Hickory Pit (1491 Canton Mart Road, 601-956-7079) / Third: Bon Ami (1220 E. Northside Drive, Suite 230, 601-982-0405)

Best Clinton Lunch: Froghead Grill

121 Clinton Center Drive, Clinton, 601-924-0725

thefrogheadgrill.com

Fans of Cajun cuisine owe themselves a trip to Froghead Grill, tucked away on Clinton Center Drive just off of Interstate 20 in Clinton.

Technically, Froghead is an American grill, but with dishes like crawfish quesadilla, etouffee, red beans and rice, and seafood gumbo, it's impossible for the three-year-old restaurant to hide its roots.

The best deals are the lunch specials, served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. From Monday's dish of "Grandma's Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole" to Thursday's spicy chicken spaghetti, these Cajun-themed dishes are not to be missed. The Tadpole Menu offers traditional and Cajun-inspired choices like the "Cold-Cut Mini-Boy" and popcorn shrimp for the kids.

—Tyler Cleveland

Best Fondren/Belhaven/Midtown Lunch: Babalu Tacos & Tapas

622 Duling Ave., Suite 106, 601-366-5757

Bill Latham and Al Roberts of the Eat Here restaurant group started Babalu Tacos & Tapas in 2010, and it's become a destination for cocktails, tacos and Latin-inspired dishes.

Babalu serves a variety of tacos ranging from pork-belly carnitas to house-smoked chicken and fresh fish. The menu's tapas section has plenty to offer, too, such as braised beef short ribs with grits, lamb sliders and spice-seared rare tuna.

Few better places in Jackson exist than the porch at Babalu, with its hilltop view of Fondren. Soak up the sun (or moon) and atmosphere with a Baba-rita or two. Nearing its third birthday, Babalu may have lost its new restaurant glitter, but on any given night it still has a line out the door, and it's no wonder.

—Andrew Dunaway

Second (tie): Basil's (2906 N. State St., Suite 104, 601-982-2100); Basil's 904 (904 E. Fortification St., Suite B, 601-352-2002) / Third: Walker's Drive-In (3016 N. State St., 601-982-2633) / Good Showing: Rooster's (2906 N. State St., 601-982-2100)

Best Downtown Jackson Lunch: Bruno's Adobo

127 S. Roach St., 601-944-9501

For a healthy lunch, try Bruno's Adobo on the ground level of the Standard Life Building. Adobo celebrated its one-year anniversary Aug. 20. Luis Bruno is executive chef of the Latin and Caribbean eatery.

The menu at Adobo features local, hormone-free ingredients. Favorites include Cuban black-bean soup, the Adobo burger, salmon burger, smoked chili hummus, smoked-guava barbecue tacos and Louie Tabboulie—a gluten-free salad of quinoa with mangoes, grape tomatoes, parsley, green onions and lemon.

As Jackson's first certified green restaurant, Adobo uses recycled materials. Even the employees' shirts are recycled, bought second-hand from Gateway Rescue Mission.

—ShaWanda Jacome

Second: Hal & Mal's (200 S. Commerce St., 601-948-0888) / Third: Elite Restaurant (141 E. Capitol St., 601-352-5606) / Good Showing: Kiefer's (120 N. Congress St., 601-353-4976); Mayflower Cafe (123 W. Capitol St., 601-355-4122)

Best Madison Lunch: City Grille

1029 Highway 51 N., Suite A, Madison

601-607-7885; thecitygrille.com

City Grille owner and chef Zack Athearn's offers the best of Cajun and French-inspired casual and fine dining. Weekday blue-plate specials include a meat, three sides, bread and a drink for $10. Choose from country-fried steak, chicken, pot roast, pork chops, chicken spaghetti or beef tips. For dessert, try peach or pecan cobbler with ice cream.

Highlights of the regular menu includes tempura lobster rolls, grilled mahi, Atlantic salmon, New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp and grits, and Cajun seafood pasta.

City Grille opened its doors in February. On Aug. 15, the family-owned restaurant won "Best Overall" and "Best Taste" at Madison's Night Out at the Madison Square Center for the Arts.

—ShaWanda Jacome

Second: Local 463 Urban Kitchen (121 Colony Crossing Way, Madison, 601-707-7684) / Third: Mama Hamil's (480 Magnolia St., Madison, 601-856-4407) / Good Showing: Georgia Blue Restaurant (111 Colony Crossing Way, Madison, 601-898-3330)

Best Pearl Lunch: Frisco Deli

1227 Phillips Lane, Pearl, 601-932-6301

friscodeli.com

Open since 1993, Frisco Deli owners Mitchell Malouf and Mitchell Malouf Jr. have been filling satisfied bellies for 10 years.

The menu includes sandwiches, chicken dinners, salads, catfish plates, ribs and desserts. Choose the "Deli Meal" to include a s side and drink with a corned beef Reuben, Cajun, roast beef, ham, smoked turkey or tuna sandwich or Frisco Burger.

Frisco Deli is a hometown favorite in Pearl, with a 95 percent approval rating on Urbanspoon and comments like, "Love me some Frisco Deli!" and this: "Had a Reuben, and it was delicious. The staff was friendly and patient even though the place was packed. Great place to eat."

—ShaWanda Jacome

Second: Fernando's Fajita Factory (5647 Highway 80 E., Suite 16, Pearl, 601-932-8728)

Best Brandon Lunch: Kismet

315 Crossgates Blvd., Brandon, 601-825-8380

kismet.net

Fate. That is the meaning behind the name of Brandon's Kismet. The first owners, Lee and Kathy Kennedy, grew up together. When they were 5 or 6 years old, Kathy told Lee they were going to be married. And they did. They opened Kismet in 1991, later selling it to Jason Shepherd and Jackie Barnes.

The "Greek with a southern flare" menu includes hummus, spinach-artichoke dip, krabby bites, fried chicken or catfish fingers, whole and half-size salads, wraps, side dishes, sandwiches and hamburgers. Kismet po-boys includes crab cakes or fried shrimp, crawfish, or catfish. Kismet will begin featuring Gulf shrimp in September.

Kismet offers entertainment throughout the year, including in-house mystery shows by The Detectives Mystery Dinner Theatre, including the special Halloween and New Year's Eve show.

—ShaWanda Jacome

Second: Heart and Soul Diner (900 Municipal Drive, Brandon, 601-825-9922) / Third: Friends & Company (154 W. Government St., Brandon, 601-825-5309)

Best West Jackson Lunch: Koinonia Coffee House

136 S. Adams St., Suite C, 601-960-3008

koinoniacoffee.com

Lee Harper and Alexis Spencer-Byers of Koinonia Coffee House open its doors each weekday morning for food and fellowship. The coffee house has a variety of selections to help keep the conversations rolling. Try an espresso to perk up or a Coco Mocha Nut frappuccino to cool down.

The lunch menu includes a roast-chicken sandwich and apple-cider chicken salad sandwich, both served with leafy greens on wheatberry or other choice of bread. Koinonia also offers garden and grilled-chicken salads. Treat your sweet-tooth with desserts such as chocolate-chunk cookies, peanut butter cookies, apple pie and cheesecake.

Koinonia is a Greek word meaning communion or joint participation, and the coffeehouse lives up to the name with public events such as Friday Forum each Friday at 9 a.m., featuring interesting and relevant speakers.

—De'Arbreya Lee

Second: E&L Barbeque (111 Bailey Ave., 601-355-5035)

Best Byram Lunch: Melanie's

7126 Siwell Road, Byram, 601-371-1933

When Melanie Smith's son, Kyle, started college at Mississippi State University, Smith turned her passion for cooking into a thriving business. Kyle graduated in 2011 with a degree in business, but Melanie's is still going strong.

Melanie's offers fresh, home-style southern meals, and Smith buys from local farms and vendors. The chalkboard menu includes southern favorites such as chicken and dumplings, pulled pork, bacon wrapped chicken, barbecue baked potatoes, pot roast, meatloaf, beef tips over rice and smoked beef brisket.

Leave room for dessert. The Cakery Bakery at Melanie's cranks out decadent sweet treats such as cupcakes, caramel-topped cheesecake with nuts, lemon icebox pies, buttermilk pies, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns and even the Elvis cupcake (banana cake, peanut butter buttercream frosting with chocolate drizzle). Cake designer Amanda Eady leads the Cakery Bakery, and she does it all—from wedding cakes, birthday cakes, or any other type of celebration cakes to high-end special dessert orders.

—ShaWanda Jacome

Best Vicksburg Lunch: Walnut Hills Restaurant

1214 Adams St., Vicksburg, 601-638-4910

Walnut Hills Restaurant is quite possibly one of the best "unkept" secrets in historic Vicksburg. Southern hospitality is well known throughout South, and Walnut Hills captures everything you think you may know about southern cooking and turns it up a notch.

Walnut Hills Restaurant and its three generations of cooks have been causing visitors and locals to loosen their belts since opening in 1980.

Many people eat here because someone recommended it. Even though it has undergone a renovation, this more than 130-year-old house maintained its southern charm, with a wrap-around porch, eclectic rocking chairs and a perfected menu to take visitors to another time.

While it is completely acceptable to eat its well-known and well-loved fried chicken or baby-back ribs with your bare fingers, it is not OK to so with the hand-cut steaks, wild-caught salmon or the always popular pond-raised catfish—no matter how much you may want to.

—Michael Jacome

Best South Jackson Lunch: Pearl's Southern Cooking

3505 Terry Road, Suite 205, 601-372-2100

Any day, good or bad, is better with a little southern cooking. Jacksonians say Pearl's Southern Cooking serves some of the best in town.

Michael Carter and his wife, Virginia, opened the restaurant in October 2012, and they named it after his mother, Pearl.

The restaurant serves buffet-style southern food with everything from cornbread dressing, greens, and fried chicken to banana pudding and peach cobbler. Customer favorites are the rutabagas, peach cobbler, and of course their famous macaroni and cheese.

The buffet is $9.50, and each meal includes a sweetened or unsweetened tea. The restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Sundays, and it is busiest during the lunch hour.

—Amber Helsel

These days, women are hitting the bar before they even go out—but not to drink. In fact, it's not that kind of bar. A new kind of hair salon is popping up all over the country, with not a bottle of hair dye or pair of scissors in sight. It is the dry bar, also called the smoothing bar, where women can get a blowout or basic hair upkeep.

In Jackson, LaCru salon recently opened its Smoothing Bar by LaCru. It specializes in Brazilian blowouts and Keratin hair treatments. The salon's offerings run from thrifty (a $5 five-minute scalp massage) to utterly indulgent—a Brazilian blowout with styling is $150, but it comes with a promise that it will last up to eight to 12 weeks. You can also get a simple blowout, loose curls or waves, or even an updo for a special event.

The Smoothing Bar at LaCru (5352 Lakeland Drive, Suite 500, Flowood, 601-992-4911, smoothingbar.com) is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m Mondays; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays; and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

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Pure Bliss

Pure bliss is how I would describe my experience at SpaBeca (357 Towne Center Blvd., Suite 101, Ridgeland, 601-977-8401). This hidden gem opened in 2005, and it offers a tranquil atmosphere with friendly service and experienced massage therapists.

When I first arrived for my appointment, I was greeted at the door and escorted back to a softly lit room with plush couches to wait for my massage to begin. My therapist, Crystal, had magic hands. I entered that day in knots—stressed from all that comes with being a working mom, wife, sister, friend, etc.—and left feeling divine from head to toe.

The mission of the spa, in the words of owner Rebecca Canzoneri is, "Massage is more than a luxury. It is a beautiful way to relax, release tension and soothe away the stress of everyday living."

SpaBeca offers deep Swedish massage, deep-tissue therapeutic, prenatal, postpartum, myofascial release, sports massage, neuromuscular, scalp massage, Reiki, Indian head massage, hot stone, aromatherapy, couples massage and reflexology. Some of its signature treatments include detoxification facials, whole body sonic vibration, full-body scrubs, Far Infrared BodyWrap, hydro-massage and massage with RainDrop technique.

SpaBeca not only caters to the individual, but to wedding parties, couples and mother-daughter duos. It also offers special packages, coupons, gift certificates and deals.

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Bar Hopping

Thrifting is my favorite pastime. Some of my most loved wardrobe pieces came from consignment shops or even the nickel bin in a warehouse somewhere. Here is a short list of my go-to places and my honest opinion about each one.

If you feel like digging for that jewel in the rough or just want to browse, these thrifty places have tons of selection for clothes.

Orange Peel (422 E. Mitchell Ave., 601-364-9977): This cute old house is stocked full of consignment options plus a furniture barn out back.

N.U.T.S. (114 Millsaps Ave., 601-355-6276; 3011 N. State St., 601-366-9633; 117 Wesley Ave., 601-355-7458): Make sure to check out the Midtown location's sales on Fridays and Saturdays. You can get the most bang for your buck in the dig bins in the back of the warehouse.

Silly Billy's Consignment Shop (534 E. Mitchell 601-672-6693): Great atmosphere and fun workers, plus a downstairs area with an amazing selection of period pieces, make this the go-to spot for any theme or costume party (or if you want that perfect Cosby sweater for fall).

Repeat Street (242 Highway 51 N., Ridgeland, 601-605-9123): It has a huge selection with literally anything you could possibly need: clothes and shoes for the whole family, indoor and outdoor furniture, house furnishings, decor and more.

Bargain Boutique (5070 Parkway Drive, 601-991-0500): This Junior League of Jackson shop is one of my favorite "boutique" thrift stores. It has a great selection without boutique prices.

Fondren Muse (3413 N. State St., 601-345-1155): It is Jackson's upscale-designer consignment shop. You can always find what you're looking for there. It has everything from mint-condition designer handbags to accessories under $10. This is the best local spot for designer finds, plus its proceeds benefit the no-kill animal shelter CARA.

As a child, my mom took me from one antique mall to another on Saturdays and on road trips. Today, I am thankful for that. I know where to spot a good bargain and, equally important, how to spot a rip-off. Here are some of my 
favorite places:

Flowood Flea Market (1325 Flowood Drive, 601-953-5914): It has an equal mix of amazing finds and junk. The coolest part is the Salvage Market in the back. It sells architectural salvage as well as upcycled furniture made in-house.

Old House Depot (639 Monroe St., 601-592-6200): I get lost in here every time. Its selection and quality are amazing, and the atmosphere is incredible. Here, you can find all sorts of architectural salvage items and high-quality in-house furniture built with recycled materials. The guys here have fun with what they do, and it shows. This is a place where they make an effort to get to know you and go out of their way to help you. Make sure not to miss the next holiday party. Keep up with Old House Depot's cool treasures and events on Facebook.

I still love spending Saturdays out on the open road antiquing. Here are a few places that are worth the drive: 45 Flea Market & Antiques (7890 Highway 45 N., Marion, 601-679-7777): You can't go wrong stopping at any of these antique malls and flea markets on the Highway 45 stretch between Meridian and Starkville, but is this my favorite. Because I'm so far away, I keep up with it on its Facebook page. Magnolia Flea Market (3967 Highway 49 S., Florence, 601-845-4655) and 49 South Antiques & Flea Market (3977 Highway 49 S., Florence, 601-845-4183): Side by side, these two gems are teeming with old treasure. You can find great retro furniture and unique home decor there at reasonable prices.

Marketplace Antiques and Flea Market (5360 Highway 49, Hattiesburg, 601-544-6644): With more than 200 dealers and 50,000 square feet of retail space, this market is sure to have something for you.

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Who Loves JX?

Through the T-shirt design company Studio Chane and local clothing store Swell-O-Phonic, Ron Chane has provided Jackson with snarky tees for two and a half decades now. Recently, Studio Chane celebrated its 25th anniversary, making it one of the longest-running businesses in the Fondren district. Chane shared his 25 most iconic T-shirt designs from the last 25 years.

Swell-O-Phonic (2906 N. State St., 601-981-3547) is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturdays. Visit chane.com.

Project Chane line:

Twiggy X

Modsushi line:

I (heart) Bacon

I (heart) Cheese

I (heart) Guacamole

I Hate Mayonnaise

Aspiring Lower Middle Class

Jackson Series

I (heart) JX

JAXXON

RUN JXN

King Edward Hotel

Standard Life

Reunion Swingers Club

Sid's Dutch Bar

South Jackson University

Pot Hole

Jackson's Roads Suck

Sun & Sand

Highway 80

Pearl is for Lovers

More Cowbell

Finally Fortification

South Jackson Strikes Back

Asylum Heights

Land Mass

39216

See also:

Jackson Thrifting

One of the best ways to meet people in the Jackson area is by getting involved with the biking community. Here are several bike-related opportunities available around town.

The Jackson Bike Advocates host a "Community Bike Ride" on the last Friday of each month. The ride is open to all ages and abilities, and typically makes two or three stops along the way for socializing. Each month the ride changes routes, so it is also a great way to explore different parts of Jackson. Newcomers should find the ride unintimidating and welcoming. Find Jackson Bike Advocates on Facebook.

You can also volunteer at the JXN Community Bike Shop (1863 Wilson St.) in Midtown. Anyone can come learn how to fix and maintain bikes. The community bike shop is all about getting Jacksonians on bikes, so those who cannot afford bikes can "earn" one by volunteering for 10 hours and learning the basics of bike repair. The JXN Community Bike Shop is open Wednesdays from 6-9 p.m. and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. For more information, email jxnbikeshop@gmail.com, or find JXN Community Bike Shop on Facebook.

In a new effort to encourage more women to ride bikes in the Jackson Metro area, Bike Walk Mississippi and the Bike Crossing are co-sponsoring beginning rides for women on the last Saturday of August and September. The Bike Crossing will also hold its annual all-women bike ride, Bikes4Barks, Oct. 26. The charity ride benefits CARA, a local no-kill animal shelter. Find Women Bike Mississippi on Facebook to learn about this statewide effort to get more women biking.

The On the Road to Health organization hosts "Cruising the Community," a fun 1.2-mile bike ride for kids 5-12 years old Aug. 24 from 9-11 a.m. at the Jackson State Athletic Center. Gordon from Sesame Street will be in attendance, and participants can enjoy free food and health screenings. Visit jsums.edu/cubd/cruising.

For the more serious bike rider, The Jackson Metro Cyclist hosts "Trekkin' on the Trace" Sept. 2. The ride is on the Natchez Trace and has 21, 50, 62 and 100-mile options. It starts at 7:30 a.m. at Old Trace Park. Backyard Burger will provide food, and Buddy & the Squids will perform after the ride. Visit jacksonmetrocyclists.com.

Jackson also has opportunities to get involved in other aspects of the biking community. The region is home to the Tri County Mountain Bike Association, an active mountain biking group, and a very active Bike Polo team. Bike polo takes place on weekends at Sykes Park. Visit tricountymtb.org, and find Jackson Bike Polo on Facebook.

Find Bike Walk Mississippi on Facebook to learn how you can join a team of activists dedicated to making Jackson more bicycle-friendly, or email bikewalk@bikewalkmississippi.org or jacksonbikeadvocates@gmail.com.

Upcoming events:

Aug. 24, 8 a.m. - Cruising the Community: 1.2-Mile Ride for Children at Jackson State University Athletic Center (1400 John R. Lynch St., 601-979-2121)

Aug. 30, 6 p.m. - Community Bike Ride at Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative (2807 Old Canton Road, 601-366-1602)

Aug. 31, 8 a.m. - Women Bike Ride at Five Guys Burgers and Fries (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 2001, 601-605-1115)

Sept. 2, 7:30 a.m. - Trekkin' the Trace at Old Trace Park in Ridgeland

Sept. 14, 8:30 a.m. - Bike Out Hunger at Old Trace Park in Ridgeland (outhunger.org.)

Sept. 21, 7:30 a.m. - Cyclists Curing Cancer at Baptist Healthplex-Clinton (102 Clinton Parkway, Clinton, 601-925-7900, mbhs.org)

Sept. 27, 6 p.m. - Community Bike Ride at Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative (2807 Old Canton Road, 601-366-1602)

Oct. 25, 6 p.m. - Community Bike Ride at Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative (2807 Old Canton Road, 601-366-1602)

Oct. 26, 7:30 a.m. - Bikes4Barks (115 W. Jackson St., Suite 1D, Ridgeland, 601-856-0049)

Nov. 29, 6 p.m. - Community Bike Ride at Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative (2807 Old Canton Road, 601-366-1602)

Dec. 27, 6 p.m. - Community Bike Ride at Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative (2807 Old Canton Road, 601-366-1602)

Co-founder of the Jackson Bike Advocates in 2009, Melody Moody runs the statewide bicycle and pedestrian advocacy nonprofit, Bike Walk Mississippi. She is excited about Bike Walk's recent endeavor with JBA, MDOT and Midtown Partners to open Jackson's first community 
bike shop.

See also:

What the Hell is a Hill Run?