Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 11

METRO EDITOR: GRACE SIMMONS FISHER, (60 1 96 1 -7250 TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2005 THE CLARION-LEDGER BaARIONLEDGER.COM in) bM to No proof defendant is being selectively prosecuted, judge says As a fellow Dem, mayor should give Melton boost Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. apparently does not intend to alter any routine during his administration's waning days. Johnson, for instance, plans to host his monthly ward ByJryMitchll nttchall clan0nM9w.com PHILADELPHIA The judge presiding The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of Killen's guilt when a holdout told other jurors she "could never convict a preacher." Of 250 jury summons sent has insisted he had nothing to do with the June 21, 1964, killings of Michael Schwern-er, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. The trial could last one to two weeks, depending on the length of jury selection. AH over reputed Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen's upcoming murder trial in the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers rejected a don't reflect when someone has moved away or died since initially registering to vote.

In an unusual occurrence, a defense attorney and a prosecutor testified in the hearing Monday. James Mclntyre of Jackson, who represented the sheriff in the 1967 trial and is on Killen's defense team, testified there were other suspects in this case besides his client who are still alive. District Attorney Mark Duncan acknowledged eight suspects are still alive and said Neshoba County grand jurors could have indicted all eight or others whose names arose in the investigation. After being presented all the information See KILLEN, 3B defense request Monday to dismiss the out with jury questionnaires Cordon Killen charges. tor the June li trial, about Jr Thursday at A 1967 federal conspiracy trial of 18 men, including Killen, in the slayings lasted a little over a week.

That jury convicted seven, acquitted eight, including Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, and deadlocked in mistrials regarding Killen and two others. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon said the defense had failed to show Killen was being "selectively prosecuted." He said Killen's June 13 trial will take place as scheduled. Killen, an 80-year-old sawmill operator and part-time preacher, 130 have responded. Gordon authorized another 150 jury summons to be sent out today. Experts say about half of those summoned for jury duty typically respond.

Their names come from the voter rolls, which "I'M Free Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Ward 5. City department heads will be present to Ifcul tuili Enc Stringfellow Committed to Mother Nature Resolution opposes appointee protection By Jack Maiurak mazurakclafknkJgf.com bh a i If i I ff 1 1 i 1 1 'i uW.S 1 A resolution going before the City Council today recommends that Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. not move some city staffers into civil service positions. "We were trying to get at discouraging the mayor from moving people from political slots into civil service positions," City Council President Leslie McLemore said. "The new mayor should have latitude to deter lr 1 1 1 tc'f 3 mine the members of his new team." Council members discussed the resolution during a work session on Monday and are expected to approve it today.

I McLemore Brian Albert BroomTbe Oanon-Leager Mississippi 2020 executive director Bob Kochtitzky says Jackson or one Rainbow Whole Foods currently offers. Mississippi 2020 is a Hinds County needs to provide a glass-recycling service such as the nonprofit organization that promotes recycling. City site only 1 to recycle glass By Lorinda Bullock builockjack 8on.gannett.com by train to St. Louis to be pulverized or melted down for resale. Although Bob Kochtitzky, executive direc tor of Mississippi 2020, is proud of the give updates and answer questions.

This is admirable, given that Johnson lost six of the city's seven wards including Ward 5 to Frank Melton in the May 3 Democratic primary. But what Democrats probably are more interested in is whether Johnson plans to give Melton the same boost Johnson received eight years ago: an endorsement. Melton, a former TV executive, is heavily favored against Republican Rick Whitlow in the June 7 general election. The new mayor takes over July 4. Decisions, decisions Johnson, who defeated two-term incumbent Kane Ditto in 1997, has been evasive about whether he will support Melton.

"I haven't made up my mind about that," said Johnson, a Democratic National Committee member. "I don't see any dust flying. No TV spots. No radio spots. "I support the Democratic Party, no question about that." During the primary campaign, Johnson questioned whether Melton was a true Democrat or someone who was affiliated with the party out of convenience.

But Ditto did not hesitate in his decision to back Johnson, voicing support in his concession speech. Johnson defeated Republican Charlotte Reeves in the general election. Melton sounded perplexed by Johnson's stance. "I've reached out as much as I can. I've done everything to be cordial and respectful, but he won't even speak to me," said Melton, former director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

'A reasonable person' Melton also said, if elected, his offer for Johnson to join his administration was still on the table. But Melton can forget about Johnson coming to work for him. "I didn't take his offer serious (in February) and I don't take it serious now," Johnson said Monday. "The only way I would stay on with the city would be as mayor." Endorsing his primary opponent, however, is a different matter. At this point, it doesn't matter that Melton doesn't have a 20-year record as a Democrat or that he first voted in Hinds County in 2003.

I What should matter to high-profile Democrats like Johnson is that the party's rank and file chose Melton as the nominee for mayor. Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Dowdy seems to understand that. "I've always known Harvey Johnson to be a reasonable person," Dowdy said Monday. "I am going to ask that he publicly and enthusiastically endorse Frank Melton's candidacy for mayor. I would be surprised if he doesn't.

"We are doing everything we can to bring the party together after a spirited primary, but the primary is over and Frank Melton is our nominee." Dowdy's dialogue with 2020 is doing it and the city is not." Mississippi 2020, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting recycling and other environmentally conscious programs, began in 1980. "When I first moved here in 1980, 1 didn't want to live in a neighborhood where we didn't recycle," Kochtitzky said. Kochtitzky decided to start his own curb-side pickup program in the Hanging Moss East Neighborhood. With the help of area children, they collected aluminum, newspapers and glass. A year later, he started a recycling buy-back center on Northside Drive and purchased recyclable goods from residents.

His group resold the glass. See RECYCLE, 3B Back alleys are often known as places of crime, danger and shady business. But in the alley behind Rainbow Whole Foods in the Fondren section of Jackson, a friendlier transaction is taking place. Earth friendly. The alley is the drop-off site for the city's only glass-recycling program.

Eight tall, green waste containers hold all sorts of glass items like baby food jars, wine and beer bottles. Three blue containers hold plastic and aluminum items and smaller gray containers are for compost. Each week, the green containers are emptied and the glass is taken to Strategic Materials in Flowood where it is then transported Glass bottles humble recycling and containers pick-up site, he said can be dropped he'd rather it didn't off at Rainbow havetoexist. Whole Foods, "Rainbow should-2807 Old Canton n't be doing this, the Road, Jackson. city should," he said.

Don Potts, a Fondren resident, recycles his glass goods regularly at the site. "It's a good service especially since Rainbow is the only place that's doing it," he said. "It's amazing a small entity like Mississippi At stake are about two dozen political appointee slots, including the chief administrative officer, eight department heads and members of Johnson's inner circle. If the people in those positions were transferred to civil service positions, the new mayor could not fire them. Republican Rick Whitlow or Democrat Frank Melton will replace Johnson as mayor in July.

Johnson, a two-term mayor, lost to Melton in the May 3 primary election. "You can't remove someone in a civil service position unless there's just cause," said McLemore, the Ward 2 councilman. "There's due process. The Civil Service Commission would have to rule, and the person could then go to civil court." McLemore said he didn't know if Johnson planned to shuffle the city-staff deck but said it wasn't out of the realm of possibility-Johnson, who opposes the resolution, reminded the council he has authority over personnel matters. "The council can express its desire, but the mayor has got to be the mayor," Johnson said.

"As I've indicated, I intend to serve until the last day of my term." The resolution, which does not prohibit the mayor from making appointments or changes, is a copy of one passed in 1989 when Mayor Dale Danks gave up the office to Kane Ditto. It likely will pass as the required majority sponsored the item. Those include Ben Allen, Ward Bettye Dagner-Cook, Ward Marshand Crisler, Ward and McLemore. McLemore said the resolution in no way is meant as a slap in the face to the mayor, only as an attempt to level the playing field for the next administration. "It's not legally binding, but it's designed to reflect the spirit of the council," he said.

Asked after the session to expand on the issue, Johnson said he would be available at a news conference today. The council meeting begins at 10 a.m. in City HalL Old WorldCom building could see revival Lawmakers tour structure as they look for possible uses By Eliiabeth Crisp ecri8pclarionledger.com The former WorldCom building in downtown Jackson could find new life, housing 1,000 state workers and reducing the $18 million paid annually by the state to rent office space. Two members of the House Public Property Committee toured the building Monday to assess potential uses. The state acquired the property, along with other former WorldCom parcels, in a settlement announced two weeks ago with MCI, the name the company adopted after it emerged from bankruptcy in April 2004.

"It's really too early to say now what will be done with it," committee Chairman Tom Weathers-by, R-Florence, said, adding that he would like to see the building used to house state agencies. Some agencies are renting office space in the area, he said. A list from the Department of Finance and Administration shows 73 agencies are housed in properties not owned by the state. Seven agencies pay more than $1 million in annual rent, topped by Medicaid at $2.6 million. The MCI building at 515 E.

See BUILDING, 3B 1 1 I 1 i File photoThe Clarion-Ledger At 5 1 5 E. Amite St. stands one of tie properties given to the state as part of the MaWorldCom settlement. The site was used by WorldCom until 2002, Family coping 6 months after woman disappears Sheriff vows to solve case of missing mother, though authorities suspect foul play pies for the feast. It was Deborah Cummins' last conversation with her daughter.

"We just want her to come home," Cummins said. "We all love her and miss her very much." Angela Shultz-Shiers Bar By Jo-Anna K. Burnett lburnettclarionledger.com Warren County Sheriff's Department searched for Barrentine and her 1997 Ford F-150 truck with purple and green "flip-flop" tones. "We're still working it daily with very little to go on at this point," Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. "This is a case we are not going to let up on.

We will work this case until it's solved." Authorities think foul play is involved. Barrentine is very outgoing. Before her disappearance, she rode horses, her passion since Ae was 2-years-old, and loved baking ht specialty was banana pudding. She Barrentine also hunted deer with her father's rifle, handed down to her after his death. And although she battled drug addiction, the middle child of three girls was a good mother who was always there for her 9-year-old daughter, said her younger sister, Stacv Hartley, 24.

Barrentine's husband, Daniel, could not be reached for comment. The couple had been married for only three weeks before she disappeared, family members said. Cummins said she prays every morning for her daughter's return. Some days are See MISSING, Johnson should be interesting. To contact metro columnist Angela Shultz-Shiers Barrentine disappeared six months ago.

The night before Thanksgiving, she was with her family and her new husband Daniel Barrentine in Vicksburg, discussing plans for Thanksgiving dinner. Theyjalked turkey, dressing and pecan rentine, 28, left her house that night to buy cigarettes. But she did not go to the store. She was last spotted Thanksgiving Day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

on Military Road and Belknap Street in Edwards, Cummins said. Eric Stringfellow, call (601) 96 1 7236 or e-mail estringfellow clarjnledger.com..