MELTON TAPPED TO BE MISS. DRUG CZAR

Gov. picks well-known TV exec to replace Strange

Frank Melton, chief executive officer of the TV-3 Inc. Foundation, was named
director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Wednesday.

Announcing his choice during a morning news conference, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
said he chose Melton, 52, for his management and leadership skills.

"He has the passion to make a difference," Musgrove said.

He said he also wanted someone who understands the legislative process and
can work with other law enforcement.

Melton replaces Don Strange, 55, who resigned effective Sunday. Strange
cited the agency's fiscal woes among his reasons for leaving. He could not
persuade Musgrove or lawmakers to give him the $16.8 million he wanted to
operate the bureau. Musgrove proposed $10 million; the Legislative Budget
Committee recommended $9.7 million.

An outspoken critic of Jackson's drug problems, Melton sponsored billboards
picturing and condemning drug dealers.

"For a number of months, I have been contemplating a way to add significance
to my life," Melton said Wednesday.

Melton said he is going to take a leave of absence from his WLBT-TV
commentary called The Bottom Line. But he said he won't abandon his longtime
volunteer work with inner-city youths at the Farish Street YMCA. He was
appointed by Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck as a member of the state Board of Education
and also serves on the Metropolitan Crime Commission's board.

Over the years, Melton says, he has raised many troubled boys in his Jackson
home. His pediatrician wife lives in Tyler, Texas, with their teenage son
and daughter.

The son of a high school principal and college English professor, Melton
grew up in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin University
with a degree in education.

No MBN administrators or agents were at the 9 a.m. news conference at the
Woolfolk Building. Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin, several of his
deputies, and a number of other state officials were on hand.

Melton has spent 27 years in the television industry, affiliated with
WLBT-Channel 3, in Mississippi. He is a board member of the Liberty Corp.,
owner of WLBT.

Musgrove didn't specifically address questions about Melton's lack of a law
enforcement background, but he said he expects the state Senate to confirm
his appointment.

State law doesn't require Melton to be a law enforcement officer, but for
two decades, MBN directors have been sworn officers. Strange headed the
agency for almost three years after retiring as chief of intelligence with
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Dennis Woods, MBN assistant
director of special operations, served as interim director.

Steve Mallory, chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi's
Department of Criminal Justice and a former MBN deputy director, said, "A
person with law enforcement experience is essential to leading the bureau.
There are decisions and advice and a vision you can't provide without it."

But McMillin said otherwise.

"When I came to this job, I had been a patrol officer at the Jackson Police
Department," he said. "I didn't have managerial or supervisory experience.
Frank doesn't need law enforcement experience to do the director's job."

Melton said he visited MBN headquarters in Byram Wednesday afternoon. He
said he would develop an Office of Intervention and Prevention within the
bureau.

Melton said he will work for free and not accept the director's $60,000
salary. Also, he said, "I told the agents I won't be using a state-issued
car. I'll drive my own."

Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell Jr. says law enforcement experience isn't
necessary.

"He has been a stalwart leader in Jackson in the war against drugs," Ferrell
said of Melton. "As long as he surrounds himself with knowledgeable people,
I think he would be adequate."

With no experience in criminal justice, Melton will have to earn the respect
of bureau personnel, said Don Cabana, an associate professor of criminal
justice at USM and a former corrections commissioner. "That doesn't come
automatically with the job," Cabana said.

"He has very high visibility and his name's not unknown in terms of his work
with children," Cabana said, "but that's different than running a statewide
drug enforcement agency."