DRUG ENFORCEMENT, CORRECTIONS GET NEW LEADERSHIP

JACKSON - Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has concluded his major appointments by
choosing two veteran lawmen with Mississippi ties to oversee prisons
and drug-fighting efforts in the state.

Musgrove on Monday named former Jackson Police Chief Robert L. Johnson
to run the Department of Corrections and retired U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency leader Don Strange to direct the Bureau of Narcotics.

''These two agencies needed more change of direction than maybe any
other agencies,'' said Musgrove, who took office last month.

Johnson, 51, was Jackson's top officer from 1994 to 1997 and will
resign next month from his job as chief of the Lansing, Mich., police
force.

''It is difficult to say no to a dynamic governor like Gov.
Musgrove,'' Johnson said at a news conference at the Capitol.

Johnson said his career change was ironic considering ''I spent 28
years of my career sending people to prison.'' He replaces Corrections
Commissioner James Anderson, appointed in 1997 by then-Gov. Kirk Fordice.

Ron Welch, a Jackson attorney who represents inmates, said Johnson
faces immediate challenges with anticipated prison crowding and
pending legislative debates on funding for prisons and proposed
revisions in sentencing laws.

''It will be very difficult to get up to speed,'' said
Welch.

He said the 4,200-worker agency has had turnover in the past but that
there had been some stability under Anderson's tenure.

Strange, 52, managed about 1,000 people as chief of intelligence for
the DEA. Among cases he handled in his nearly three-decade career with
the DEA were the death of billionaire Howard Hughes and the arrest of
the Timothy Leary.

The Meridian native, who now lives in Hattiesburg, said his top goal
is restoring confidence in management of the Bureau of Narcotics.

Critics of the agency, including Attorney General Mike Moore, have
said the agency was not doing enough to help local governments with
drug problems.

Strange succeeds Tom Blain, who is retiring after three years in the
director's job. Strange will earn $60,000 a year and oversee about 200
people.

He said he will review the personnel structure and meet with state law
officers and drug agents. Strange said law enforcement agencies
nationwide are facing critical problems with methamphetamines.

The Legislative Black Caucus had encouraged Musgrove to name a black
director for the prison system. About 75 percent of Mississippi's
inmates are black.

Johnson is black, but Musgrove said the caucus had not suggested his
hiring.