SUNDAY MORNING WITH FRANK MELTON

There have been a number of experiences that have prepared me over the
years. First, growing up in the inner city of Houston, Texas. Next
developing a good work ethic at an early age. Getting a quality education
and starting a management career at a very early age. In Mississippi with
the help of many people I have grown as a person over the past 18 years.
Without their help and support I would still be at first base. The
difficult challenges that we face today are also great opportunities for
progress. These challenges include the economy, which is a national issue.
Next, we must have safe schools and safe neighborhoods. Next we must
develop the ability to do what is right without regard to politics, race,
or other influences. This is critical.
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The Bottom Line was a commentary and it originated from a tough time I
experienced. A kid in Jackson was killed - shot four times. When I buried
that kid nobody attended his funeral. He was 14. That is when I put up the
billboards going after the bad guys. That kid had just left my office at
WLBT and something told me that I needed to take that kid into my custody.
I made a mistake and I will have to live with that mistake for the rest of
my life. This is a very painful issue because I made a mistake in judgment
and this kid died. Instead of taking the kid home I had a boring speech to
make. Two hours later he was dead.

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The first director of the Bureau of Narcotics worked at The Clarion-
Ledger, but that seems to have been forgotten. He was a great director.

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The governor was frustrated about our drug problem in the state and made it
clear that he wanted to do something different. He is focused and resolved
about this problem. He has children and he is, as any parent, deeply
concerned. He has given me the support and the latitude to get the job
done. On that note the people of Mississippi need to know that the
Legislature, the agency heads, and other elected officials have been
extremely supportive. Both Republicans and Democrats have helped in every
way possible.

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My vision for the agency? First, to do what is right. No politics, no race,
no influences. Next we must separate the users from the dealers. Get the
users help - put the dealers in jail for a long time. We want all of the
assets that the dealers have accumulated selling drugs down to their tennis
shoes. These assets will be used to rebuild the neighborhoods that they
have destroyed. One neighborhood at a time, one family at a time. The
violators will lose their right to live in the neighborhoods that they have
destroyed.

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The people at the agency are great people who have reacted to a culture
that has existed for 20 years. That culture is now changing. We have made
major arrests. Our job is to do the cases, arrest the violators, put them
in jail. Our job is not to embarrass their families and their children. My
worst nightmare in this new job is for a child to go to school with his/her
head hanging down because of something that his/her daddy did. Our
front-line agents are the real heroes and I care a great deal about them
and their families. Their safety is my top priority. I would love for
everybody to meet these people, some who are very young. Because of the
nature of their work that is not possible. I work for them, I admire them,
and I believe in them.

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Mississippi has been much more than I ever expected. If it all ends today,
the people of Mississippi have given me a great deal of significance as a
person. This is where I belong. I have a choice of living anywhere in the
world. I have made that choice and that choice is the great state of
Mississippi.

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First, for a long time I paid the key managers at WLBT more than I made.
While I was learning the market they were making a greater contribution to
the business and deserved higher pay. Today I face the same thing at the
Bureau of Narcotics. There are key people who are paid more than me. As I
continue to learn they deserve to be paid a higher salary.

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Since by law I must take a salary, I plan to use the salary to fund an MBN
public foundation to provide college scholarships for drug free Mississippi
students. This will end up being a great memory. I will always be grateful
to the people at TV-3, Inc., and our other stations for allowing me to get
my feet on the ground, run the company, and then do what I really wanted to
do and that was to help develop the program at the Farish Street YMCA.
While there have been many proud moments, my greatest memory will be the
fact that through a program that we established, many of our key personnel
became multi-millionaires, and they deserved every penny of it.

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Before coming to Jackson I was in Tyler, Texas, serving as the president of
the Broadcast Division for Buford Television, Inc. My wife Ellen had just
graduated from medical school and we were setting up her practice, making
ends meet. I was also teaching college and volunteering at the Tyler YMCA.
For the record, I got fired as a college teacher because I flunked the
captain of the basketball team. He did not come to a class so he got an F.
He got the message and went on to a great NBA career.

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For most of my childhood and to some extent most of young adulthood, I
feared my father. He did not play! My mother was my fourth-grade teacher
and as in the case today I was super hyperactive. My mom, whom I had to
refer to as Mrs. Melton in the classroom, would report me to my daddy. That
was a nightmare for me. I was never controlled by medicine - I was
controlled by my father's left hand in full motion.

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Today that is considered cruel and unusual punishment. In my day it was
getting the message on your rear end. Ellen and I were in Washington when
my mom died suddenly. I never had a chance to say goodbye. I watched as my
dad went downhill after my mother's death. On that note I must say that
this man that I feared all of my life gave me the greatest compliment that
I have ever received the night before he died.

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My parents were very concerned when I came to Mississippi. When I got
involved with the juvenile gangs trying to help and when I became a target
of so much controversy that my parents were deeply concerned. The night
before my father died he congratulated me for doing the right thing with my
life. I had buried so many kids in Jackson between my parent's death that I
was almost immune to death.
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