Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 13

JACKSON-AREA DEATHS 2 MISSISSIPPI CLASSROOMS 4 BUSINESS 6 THE CLARION-LEDGER I JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1994 o) Jackson council to quiz police chief nominee Salary and contract details are expected to be revealed at the confirmation hearing. The 6 p.m. hearing is expected to last an hour and precedes the regular 7 p.m. City Council meeting. If confirmed, Johnson will head a 376-member force that has been without a police chief since May 2, when Ditto fired Jimmy Wilson as chief.

By Grace Simmons Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Jackson residents can call their council members to convey questions they wish to ask Jackson police chief nominee Robert Johnson: Ward 1 Councilman Dent Anglin, 960-2052. Ward 2 Councilman Louis Armstrong, 960-1088. Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, 960-1090. Ward 4 Councilman Credell Calhoun, 960-2051. Ward 5 Councilman Foster, 960-1091.

Ward 6 Councilman Marcia Weaver, 960-1089. Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett, 960-1063. "Some of them have to do with his assessment of things," Foster said. "For example, I would be interested in knowing what he thinks about curfews." The city has had a curfew for youths since 1991. Police have been criticized for lax enforcement.

After the council strengthened the law in June, arrests for curfew violations surged but have since decreased. Ward 6 Councilwoman Marcia Weaver said she wanted to know from Johnson "What steps he would take to decrease juvenile crime?" Barbara Barnes, who served on the interview panel that helped to select a new chief, said she wants Johnson to address training for police officers. "That iis something I think we are desperate for," she said. "He strikes me as somebody who would be able to improve training." bers to increase the police chief pay. Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes said the council should make sure that Johnson will be the last chief hired duringthe current council-mayor leadership.

The next round of municipal elections is in 1997. "We should have had a copy of the contract at the same time they brought Mr. Johnson's name forth, so that we would make sure the contract is the best thing for Mr. Johnson and the city," Stokes said. "I don't want to be caught again in a situation where the chief and the mayor may disagree and the chief is fired." Most council members said they have already talked with Johnson, 46, and speak favorably of him.

Ward 5 Councilman Foster said he, however, has been unable to meet with Johnson and has at least a dozen questions for the nominee. Johnson Mayor Kane Ditto's nominee to head the Jackson Police Department gets quizzed by City Council members today in a confirmation hearing. Ditto introduced Robert Johnson, the Jackson, police chief since 1986, on Nov. 3 as his choice to head Mississippi's capital city police force. "This is going to be a very open, thorough examination of the chiefs qualifications and philosophy," council President Louis Armstrong said.

"I don't think he is going to have any trouble getting confirmed." Johnson, who was still at work in Michigan on Monday, was expected to arrive today. He could not be reached Monday evening. Details about Johnson's salary and any contractual agreement are expected to be revealed during the hearing. The maximum pay for the chiefs job as of 1993 was $80,412. All city employees are due a 3 percent pay raise for 1994-95.

Ditto has not asked council mem- Gift ii mm rams pi OPln)S 1TS" Jt 4 biiy --m v-a I mm (Mi conferring by telephone with the manufacturer of the electronic locking system Monday night in an effort to solve the problem. If everything would have gone smoothly Monday with the first group of inmates, Girod said the plan was to have 198 inmates in the jail by the end of the week. The additional space will be opened in increments of about 200 over the next several months, officials said. The community has been clamoring for the new jail to open in hopes it will ease crime. Several hundred people attended a Board of Supervisors' public hearing on the jail in August and vocally called for opening the jail as soon as possible.

"I wished it was earlier, but I'm thankful it has came about," Metropolitan Crime Commission co-chairman Wirt Yerger said about the jail opening. Yerger said he hopes the city and county political leaders next will work to open a youth detention center in the downtown jail. "I think the opening of the jail is long overdue. It will have an impact Facility's first inmates to be held in booking area until mechanism is fixed. By Jimmie Gates Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer With the arrival of 18 inmates Monday evening, the Hinds County 594-inmate capacity Detention Center officially opened but not for long.

After the inmates' arrival a hitch developed, putting the housing of additional inmates on hold. An electronic door locking system malfunctioned. The minimum security inmates, brought in to test out the new jail, will be housed in the booking area until the door locking system is repaired, Sheriff Malcolm McMiilin said. "We are on hold until the locks are fixed," Jail Administrator Arty Girod said. Girod said the locks were operating properly Monday until the inmates arrived about 5:30 p.m.

Crews from Dunn Construction the building contractor, were I i immm wMfl em J.D. SchwalmThe Clarion-Ledger ers from Jackson to the new multimillion-dollar facility on Monday eve- Hinds County jail inmates move through the entrance of the new Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond during the first transfer of prison-on crime by getting drug dealers off schedule. There were complaints of faulty design and building cost the street," said Perry Robinson, ning. building of the jail alone. That amount has increased more than $2 million because of additional work requests mostly due to the contractor saying that architectural design plans were faulty and left out many items that should have been included.

The total project, including con struction of the jail, the well, jail furnishing and equipment, is expected to come close to the $19.8 million in bonds. Hinds County has gained more than $1 million in interest off the bond money, which can be used for construction or to repay the bond debt, county officials say. overruns. Hinds County sold $19.8 million in bonds to finance the construction, furnishings and equipment and a water well for the jail. An original contract of $13.9 million was awarded in 1991 for the chairman of the Georgetown Com-munity Association.

"Getting hardened criminals off the streets will make Jackson a safer place." The jail has been plagued with problems from the beginning. The is more than a year behind in Woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for son's scalding death Any unauthorized names are a result of "some technical errors that might have been made when we pulled together various lists (of potential contributors)." Rep. Eric Clark tt 4, ,1 Clark Name-dropping irks some on lawmaker's list of supporters Rep. Eric Clark plans '95 bid for secretary of state. By Mac Gordon Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer State Rep.

Eric Clark has lined up Democratic Party heavyweights, would-be officeholders and state financial leaders to back his 1995 bid for secretary of state. But not everyone finding their name on Clark's State-! wide Finance Council list was happy about it. "It was a complete surprise to me. What bothers me is my name is on the list and no one asked if it could be put there," said Ron Humphreys of Meridian, president of the United Auto Workers union in Mississippi and member of the party's executive committee. "As a registered lobbyist, I would not endorse any candidate for public office, and I have not authorized use of my name in his campaign," said Larry Tyner, gov-- ernment affairs manager for Weyerhaeuser.

Said Dennis Miller, a lawyer at Watkins Ludlam Stennis law firm in Jackson, who lobbies for 14 different clients: "I learned of this when I received an invitation to the fund raiser, which came from utilization of the State Bar Association mailing list. I granted no one permission to use my name." Clark, a 14-year legislator from Mize, has scheduled a fund-raising event for tonight in Jackson. He said Mon- The lack of burns on the child's arms suggested that the mother placed the child in the bathtub, Speetjens said. "In absence of direct proof, we could only get a conviction for death by culpable negligpnce." Although Hubbard will be eligible for parole after serving a fourth of her sentence, "with the climate right now, we fully expect she will serve 20 years," said Sue Hath-om, executive director for Children First and former director of the state Department of Human Services. "That's the way it should be." The issue of parents killing children has become a much-discussed national topic with the murder charges against a South Carolina mother, who had claimed her two sons had been abducted.

Those kinds of accusations are nothing new, Hathorn said. In north Mississippi, "this kid was buried out in the cotton fields. Nobody missed him. Bull," she said. "We don't look out for our neighbor.

Something's wrong." Since January, Hathorn said Mississippi has had 25 known child abuse killings, adding that the state Health Department does not classify many deaths that way. "It's a really sad situation and it had to be resolved. It's a tough case," said Hinds County Public Defender Tom Fortner, adding there was a question of whether Hubbard's act was intentional. On June 16, 1993, Hubbard's son was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, suffering second-degree bums from his feet to his buttocks. She told doctors that her son got the burns by falling into the tub.

He died 11 days later. Hubbard was charged with child abuse and assault shortly after her son was rushed to the hospital. That charge was upgraded to murder after his death. A Hinds County grand jury indicted her on a charge of capital murder. It would have been difficult to try the case on the capital murder charge, Speetjens said.

Charges of parents killings children aren't new, Children First director says. By Jerry Mitchell Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Shana Hubbard will get to spend Thanksgiving with her family just before she goes to prison for a 20-year manslaughter sentence. That gathering, however, will not include her 4-year-old son, Nicholas, whom authorities initially claimed she killed in 1993 when she forced him into scalding water. The 24-year-old stood silently Monday when Hinds County Circuit Judge William F. Coleman imposed the maximum 20-year sentence after she pleaded to the reduced charge of manslaughter.

She will report to prison on Nov. 28. "Her statement was. that the child fell in the bathtub," said Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Speetjens. "That was hard to disprove, except to show his arms were not burned." day that any unauthorized names are a result of "some technical errors that might have been made when we pulled together various lists (of potential contributors).

This list was made from a bunch of conversations we've had with people." Names included in Clark's financial council: Former gubernatorial hopefuls John Arthur Eaves of Jackson and Mike Sturdivant Sr. of Glendora. Sturdivant said he could support Clark or state Sen. Amy Tuck of Starkville, another likely candidate, for the post. "Frankly, I'd like to see both win.

But I have told Clark I would support him." Jackson lawyer and former legislator John Hampton Stennis, the son of retired Democratic U.S. Sen. John Stennis. Harry M. Walker, president of Jackson-based Trustmark Bank and head of Clark's finance committee.

State Democratic Party leaders Danny Cupit, a Jackson lawyer who is a former state party chairman, and Walter Thompson, a Clarksdale lawyer, known as the state party's top money raiser. Neither could be reached for comment. MISSISSIPPI VOICES YESTERDAY'S HEADLINES THIS CORNER A California Congressman proposes abolishing the electoral college which chooses the president and vice president. Gov. John Bell Williams urges Mississippians to "turn on their lights" as a sign of national unity while Apollo 12 astronauts are in space.

Telemarketing fraud costs American consumers about $40 billion annually. How should officials punish those convicted of this crime? BARLOW "I think they should have to pay a fine to the government and the people they misled, in addition to being sentenced." Leslie Cole, 46, disabled. GLOSTER Making them pay out so much money and sending them to the penitentary for a very long time should help." Cena Anderson, 81, homemaker. SAUCIER "I have such strong feelings against (his that no punishment seems adequate. They should have to reimburse those people, primarily, and should have to serve some prison time.

This shouldn't be allowed, but I know there is really no way to put a stop to it." Eloise Allen, 59, retired telephone company employee. To participate in Mississippi Voices. caN 352-2810 and follow instructions. Looking for a few tough men GREENWOOD Greenwood apparently has few tough men, if interest in a weekend boxing contest is a gauge. "I had fewer than 10 fighters show up," said Ed Kir-stein, promoter of the Toughman Contest, which canceled its weekend shows at the Leflore County Civic Center.

Kirstein said the low number of contestants and lackluster ticket sales forced the cancellation of the Friday and Saturday events. The cancellation marks the third show in three months at the Civic Center to cancel. Poor ticket sales were partially blamed in two of the three. Kirstein said nearly 20 of the contestants in the second Toughman Contest in Greenwood failed to show. u.yjjr.ifM.i i jr hn- jAj Barlow I Saucier Up to 350 Mississippi National Guardsmen may have been among more than 5,000 guardsmen and reservists nationwide exposed to potentially dangerous levels of dioxin contamination this year at Fort A.P.

Hill in Virginia, military offiicals say. Compiled by staff librarian Susan Garcia lift-! tetaMSi mm. iMittLirn.