MELTON

'Apocalypse Now' Reprise Extreme

New Bureau of Narcotics Director Frank Melton certainly created drama
Tuesday swooping down on Jackson's Provine High School in a helicopter to
dramatize the War On Drugs, recalling the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now.

But Melton is no Francis Ford Coppola, and the scene only played to retread
stereotypes that inner city schools are drug havens. What about drug
problems in suburban, rural and private schools? It's just as real. This is
just the type of theatrics that plays into the hands of critics of Gov.
Ronnie Musgrove's choosing a Narcotics chief with no law enforcement
background.

Sending a strong message has its place in leadership in the drug war, but
Mississippi needs well-planned and executed law enforcement. That's not
flashy, but effective.