NARCOTICS BUREAU NEEDS HELP

If the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) was doing a bang-up job of
wiping out dangerous drugs, perhaps bringing someone in from the outside
would be a bad idea.

But MBN is not doing a bang-up job. In fact, drug use of all types is
epidemic.

Ask any police officer or assistant DA about crack and meth. They will tell
you that buying drugs is as easy as getting into your car and driving
slowly around certain known street corners.

How can drugs be so available? How can buying and selling of deadly drugs
occur out in the open? It's a question Frank Melton has been asking for
many years. For years, Melton has spent the entire summer running a YMCA
summer program for hundreds of children from Jackson's roughest
neighborhoods. When I write that Melton has run this program, I don't mean
that he gave some money and showed up every now and then to pat
administrators on the back. I mean he runs it - in gym shorts, T-shirt with
a whistle around his neck.

I'll never forget standing on Farish Street with Melton one morning. A
young teenager shuffled up to Melton with big baggy pants and shirt hanging
down. Melton dealt with him in short order. Sensing misbehavior, Melton
grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck, made him empty his pockets,
which contained some bad stuff, and told him to go home at once and come
back in some real clothes. The boy obeyed Melton's every command.

It was so sad. This teenager needed a strong male presence in his life.
Melton provided that. You could see the problem: too many kids and not
enough Melton to go around. I have been a Frank Melton fan since.

Melton's life has been a great success story in which skill met
opportunity. He started out as a social worker and then became involved in
the local television station, obtaining an ownership stake when minority
ownership was key to getting an FCC blessing. From that starting point,
Melton grew his television holdings and now is a multimillionaire with his
own jet, making the 20 minute commute from Tyler, Texas, where his wife is
a physician. They also have a home in Jackson.

I got to know Melton when I was vice chairman of Jackson's Metropolitan
Crime Commission (MCC). He was chairman. Under his leadership, the MCC
played a crucial role in getting a much-needed new Hinds County jail and a
new youth detention center. Both projects had floundered until the
leadership of the MCC.

Gov. Musgrove has now appointed Melton as the new head of the MBN. Many
people have questioned whether Melton has the experience to handle the job.