18A June 17-23, 2010 Jackson Advocate Jackson, Mississippi

ices as Director of the Division will act on his nomination

Graves
1980 as staff attorney at Central
Mississippi Legal Services and
worked simultaneously as an
adjunct professor at Jackson
State University, spending 17
years in the departments of
Mass Communications. Politi-
cal Science, and Public Policy
and Administration.
From 1986 to 1990, he
joined the Office of the Missis-
Judge Greg Mathis of television fame was the guest speaker at the awards ban-
sippi Attorney General, work-
quet held in conjunction with the annual Medgar Evers Homecoming last Satur- ing as a Special Assistant
day night at the Masonic Temple in Jackson. The event commemorated the 47th
Attorney General in the
year anniversary of the assassination of Evers, who at the time of his death was Human Services and Health
Mississippi's leading civil rights activist. Mathis, pictured above with Charles Law divisions. Graves then
Evers, told the 300+ guests, "We have to stop making excuses for what's wrong went on for a brief tenure in the
in our communities. It's time to take responsibility." (Advocate photo: Alice Thomas-Tisdale) Department of Human Serv-
of Child Support Enforcement.
He was there at the time of his
first appointment to the bench
in 1991.
Compliments have been
coming in from many of his
friends and associates, praising
Graves for his achievements.
Mississippi Senator Roger
Wicker is very supportive of
Graves. As Senator, Wicker
will have one of the critical 51
majority votes Graves needs
for his appointment.
During his tenure on the
Mississippi Supreme Court
Justice, James Graves has been
a diligent and capable jurist,
Wicker said in a letter of sup-
port. I am hopeful the Senate
soon.
Congressman Bennie
Thompson likewise signaled
his support for Graves.
I strongly support the nom-
ination of James Graves to the
U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap-
peals. I believe that Justice
Graves will be an excellent ad-
dition to the federal bench.
Over the years, I have come
to know him as a person with
impeccable judicial integrity
and as a tenacious worker. Jus-
tice Graves has been selfless
and tireless member of his
community. I am sure that his
record will speak well for him
during his confirmation
process.
Southern Region
Progressive National
Baptist Convention
The Annual Session of the
Southern Region Progres-
sive National Baptist Con-
vention will be held in
Jackson June 21-25, 2010.
The Welcome Night Wor-
ship Service will be held on
Mon., June 21 at 6:30 p.m.
at Greater Mt. Calvary Bap-
tist Church, 1400 Robinson
Street. All activities of the
convention (with the excep-
tion of the Welcome Pro-
gram) will be held at the
Marriott Hotel in Downtown
Jackson. For a listing of ac-
tivities and additional infor-
mation, call 601-352-8585.

Stokes
him to be at fault in any way.
Hill said that Stokes usually
confers with him before any
trip and that he helps plan out
the itinerary with him.
Writer Chris Joyner used
innuendo and a kind of
arched-eyebrow slant in re-
porting on four trips Stokes
made running from July 2009
until March 2010. Joyner
questioned whether Stokes
had actually taken the trips
and implied that somehow the
down-to-Earth councilman
was pocketing public money
illegally.
Hill, who bears the title of
city finance executive, demol-
ished all such innuendo and
snide reportage in an exclusive
Jackson Advocate interview
Wednesday morning.
I have worked closely with
Councilman Stokes for the past
15 years, said Hill. When-
ever he goes on a trip he will
call me and ask me to work
with him on getting the travel
together and call hotels. I do
some of the legwork for him.
Ive never found any prob-
lems with his travel, hes al-
ways come back to me and
brought the receipts. Ive never
had a problem with him getting
me what I need to document his
travel.
Hill said he also helped
arrange flights and other ex-
pense-related items. All city
officials and employees must
give a documented account of
their activities and expenses.
The traveler gets a per diem al-
lowance also.
The only things they dont
have to have receipts for are
their meals and their taxi fares
for less than $10, he said.
The per diem allowance cov-
ers the meals. Otherwise,
weve got to document all the
other expenses.
Hill has worked closely with
Stokes over the past 15 years,
both he and the councilman
say. Hill has been executive ad-
ministrator of the citys fi-
nances for 10 years. Altogether,
he has been with the depart-
ment for 38 years, spending
two of those years as the direc-
tor.
Stokes showed the Jackson
Advocate the registration iden-
tification required for atten-
dance at the July 21-Aug. 6,
2009, American Association of
State Highway Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) Construc-
tion Subcommittee in Chicago;
the March 10-20, 2010, meet-
ing of the National League of
Cities in Washington, D. C.;
and the RE-Think New York
Think Tank Co-Op and Condo
Expo 2008.
The CL writer also used a
quote from Congressman Ben-
nie Thompson to imply that
Stokes was not in Washington
because he did not meet with
the congressman along with an-
other member of the council
during the March conference
for the National League of
Cities.
Thompson sent Stokes a let-
ter dated June 14 that cleared
up the matter from his end in
support of the councilmans
claims.
This letter is to confirm that
no one from my office con-
tacted you about a meeting
with me in March 2008,
Thompson wrote in the letter
Stokes received Wednesday. If
any further information is
needed in this matter, do not
hesitate in contacting me.
Stokes pled with his fellow
council members Tuesday to
vote with him to hire famed
Civil Rights Attorney Alvin
Chambliss to initiate legal ac-
tion against the Clarion Ledger
and its reporter, charging capri-
cious reporting and malicious
defamation of character.
Although Stokes did not get
the majority of four votes
needed to hire his lawyer of
choice, Chambliss, he asked
the city attorney to affirm that
he had a right to appeal the vote
within 10 days. City Attorney
Peter Teeuwissen and his assis-
tant Monica Joiner said they
would need time to confer with
the Attorney General. a Chicago WiMAX Confer-
When pressed by Stokes for
advice on what legal avenues
ence that Councilman Stokes
attended was followed by a
were immediately open to him, WiMAX presentation at Jack-
Teeuwissen said, Mr. Stokes is son City Hall. The presenta-
free to hire whoever he wants tion featured a leading
to, but not at city expense un- WiMAX Convention Ex-
less the action proved to be hibitor that was invited to
within the law governing such come to Jackson by Council-
matters. man Stokes at the WiMAX
The Clarion Ledger is not Convention in Chicago. The
judge, jury and executioner, Jackson City Hall WiMAX
Stokes said in an open letter to presentation was well attended
the paper. Councilman Ken- by media, government and the
neth I. Stokes has information general public. Surely, this
that proves his attendance at fact was known by the Clarion
the conferences. For example, Ledger.
Harrison
Led by the example of his mother, Dr. Alferdteen Harrison,
Judge Harrison pursued a legal career out of a desire to
help his community. As I got older I saw the law as a way
to help people and solve their problems. My mother in-
stilled a sense of community service and to help your fel-
low man.
When asked about his responsibilities as a judge, Harrison
becomes solemn. I have taken my position as judge seriously
and with a deep sense of responsibility, he says. I have sought
to earn the trust of the citizens by carrying out my responsibil-
ities with reverence, honor and respect.

System
Harris in Jackson about the ar-
rest, according to the SCLC of-
ficial. Tabitha Tate was picked
up by the police the following
day but was released after her
parents intervened, Wells said.
The two sisters and their
brother are scheduled to appear
in justice court June 24 on a
number of charges that they
claim were contrived.
David James, an investigator
for both the Belzoni police de-
partment and the Humphreys
County sheriffs office, is al-
leged to be one of the main cul-
prits at the center of the
controversy that could wreck
the lives of a number of inno-
cent people. (A breaking news
report from yesterday indicates
that officer David James was
brought into Humphreys
County circuit court Wednes-
day on sexual harassment
charges filed by a female Bel-
zoni police officer, Shirley
Johnson. Belzoni Police Chief
Mickey Foxworth was also re-
ported as being charged with
sexual harassment by the same
woman, according to reports
from inside the courthouse.)
Another policeman and sher-
iffs deputy, Bruce Williams,
was also named by Wells as a
law enforcement officer en-
gaged in the alleged acts of
sexual exploitation of women
in the Belzoni area.
Belzonis Mayor Wardell
Walton, the first black man
elected to that office, refused
Monday to answer any ques-
tions about a growing number
of charges of malfeasance and
alleged criminal acts on the
part of some of the officers
under his authority. Under the
law, the mayor is also the po-
lice commissioner and has
oversight over police conduct.
Walton called all complaints
hearsay and said he would
not respond to any questions
about possible police miscon-
duct.
Beginning with an incident
in March that involved an al-
leged assault on Deidre Ratliff,
a good friend of Tabitha Tate
and the daughter of David
James, Sherry Wells found her-
self drawn into conflict with a
group of women out to settle a
score with Ratliff. Tabitha was
with Deidre Ratliff at the time
of the first incident.
One night at a McDonalds
in Belzoni, four of the accused
women confronted Tate and
Ratliff and ended up with one
of them, Daniella Hughes, al-
legedly hitting Ratliff in the
face, according to a statement
notarized by Wells and Tate on
April 22.
After they jumped on my
nieces friend, David James
daughter, they went down to
the sheriffs office to file
charges against Daniella
Hughes and her accomplices
for jumping on her, Sherry
Wells said.
James allegedly wanted to
keep his daughter clear of any
involvement because of an al-
leged prior criminal charge
against her in Louisiana and
allegedly expunged all the
court records on her. She has
not been in contact with her
friend Tabitha since the five-
year injunction was issued,
Tabitha Tate says. Ratliff had
at first been included under the
five-year injunction, but there
is no record of her inclusion,
thanks to the alleged insider
work of her father.
Tabitha Tate says that David
James deliberately set up a
rumor mill to take the onus off
his daughter and tried to lay
the blame on Tate or Wells.
David James tried to keep
Deidres name out of it, Tate
said. So he started going
around telling people that the
trouble was about me and my
boyfriend. Then those girls
started picking on me and my
auntie, Sherry Wells. He told
Deidre to stop hanging around
us. But it started because of
her seeing her boyfriend in the
park with Kasha Brown. They
started picking on me because
I was with his daughter.
One of the women accused
of assault, Sharonda Ross,
however, is the sister of David
James alleged girlfriend,
Kizzie Ross. James allegedly
was conflicted between doing
favors for his girlfriend and her
relatives and standing up for
his own daughter. He solved
his dilemma allegedly by re-
moving his daughters com-
plaint from the police files.
David James got rid of the
papers, Wells said. After
that, the girls started picking at
me and Tabitha. I went to Po-
lice Chief Mickey Foxworth
and explained to him that I
was moving to Orlando,
Florida, as soon as my kids got
out of school. He said that if
the other women bothered me
again, he would put them in
jail for two weeks.
Wells and her two relatives
faced more taunts, threats and
an assault involving more than
20 people on her brother,
Damien Wells, on the night of
April 17, she said. Although
Foxworth had advised Wells to
file assault-by-threat charges
against Marilyn Ross, a mem-
ber of the group threatening
her, he decided on April 17 to
get a five-year court injunction
to bar any contact between
Wells and her tormentor, Mar-
ilyn Ross.
Municipal Judge William C.
Trotter issued the order the
following Monday. But he in-
cluded Wells sister, An-
tionette, and niece under the
injunction to avoid contact
with Ross and her associates.
Trotter said he issued the in-
junction to maintain peace and
order in the community. He
dismissed all the other
charges, he said.
Wells and her sister An-
tionette were arrested on the
morning of May 26. The sis-
ters and their brother are
scheduled to appear in justice
court on June 24 facing
charges of malicious mischief
and assault by threat, for An-
tionette and Damien, and dis-
orderly conduct and resisting
arrest for Sherry. It is not clear
whether charges of violating
the five-year injunction on
contact with their adversaries
will be brought against the
three.
Trotter said in a phone con-
versation Tuesday, neverthe-
less, that his municipal court
docket does not include any
charges. If the justice court
pursues contempt charges
against them, he will not do
so, because of the issue of
double jeopardy.
Sharon Tate, the mother of
Tabitha, says that most of the
trouble occurring in Belzonis
black community stems from
conflicts of women getting into
disputes over men, many of
them in law enforcement, who
exploit them sexually. She
owns a beauty shop in Belzoni
and has taken note of how the
local courts routinely arrest and
fine these women, although
nothing is ever done to prose-
cute the officers who are the
real cause of the conflicts.
Sherry and Antionette Wells
are her sisters.

Fathers
Minority Engineering Intern-
ship Program. In 2004, he ex-
panded his community role as
President of the Seattle King
County Branch NAACP. To
his credit, the branch grew
from 600 to 2,000 members in
a span of one year and received
the Thalheimer Award as the
top branch in the nation.
The mission of the National
Society of Black Engineers is
to increase the number of cul-
turally responsible black engi-
neers who excel academically,
succeed professionally and
positively impact the commu-
nity, Mack said.
The new executive director
takes little credit for where he
finds himself positioned in
world affairs. Besides his fam-
ily and professors, he says his
mentor, Dr. Edward Jones of
Seattle, helped him tremen-
dously, as does his close friend
and Lanier High School class-
mate Darryl Jones, who is now
a Florida state senator in
Miami. I take literally to
whom much is given, much is
required. Im grateful to be in
a position of authority which
allows me to utilize my expe-
rience for the benefit of oth-
ers, he said.
For his community activism,
Mack has received numerous
honors, including being named
a 2006 Distinguished Engi-
neering Fellow at his alma
mater, Mississippi State Uni-
versity, and Ebony Magazines
Top 150 Black Leaders in
America (2008 and 2009 edi-
tions). His most recent
achievement occurred in May
when he received an honorary
doctorate from Clarkson Uni-
versity in Potsdam, New York.
In his remarks to the 2010
graduating class, Mack said,
My advice to you is to pursue
your greatness. And that great-
ness means that you are going
to pursue something that is big-
ger than you, something that is
far more special than you.
The history of our great na-
tion is filled with men and
women who have achieved
greatness and when you go
through and recount all of their
lives regardless of social eco-
nomic background or race
there is one common denomi-
nator that they all have. All of
the men and women in this
great nation who have
achieved that greatness had
this one ingredient: opportu-
nity. President Abraham Lin-
coln is considered a great
president because he had the
opportunity to deal with slav-
ery in this country. Susan B.
Anthony is considered a great
woman because she had the
opportunity to deal with dis-
crimination against sisters in
this country when it came to
voting. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
is considered a great man in the
history our nation because he
had the opportunity to deal
with the moral consciousness
of America.
And so now today the
graduating class of 2010, our
Golden Knights you too have
amongst your vast array of op-
portunities global warming,
alternative energy sources,
conservation and land, re-
sources and wildlife, the grow-
ing economic gap between the
haves and the have-nots, edu-
cation, skyrocketing unem-
ployment, an explosion in the
prison population, world rela-
tions, war, immigration reform
and yes, racism are just some
of the opportunities that await
you and your greatness.
Mack has been successful in
his pursuit of championing
civil rights causes and increas-
ing opportunities for black en-
gineers. As the head of NSBE
since 2005, he has been instru-
mental in growing the mem-
bership from 13,000 to 33,000.
Just as impressive is the ex-
pansion of NSBE financial re-
sources from $3.5 million to
$9 million. Increased funding
provided the bridge to embark
on programming geared for
the next generation of engi-
neers; hence, SEEK (Summer
Engineering Experience for
Kids). The academy exposes
African American youth to sci-
ence, technology, engineering
and math early and constantly,
and has seen tremendous
growth, from 250 children to
nearly 1600, in its first three
years, commented Mack.

Broadband
broadband-enabled learning
has replaced the traditional
classroom entirely, allowing
students to participate in
classes and degree programs
online. These opportunities en-
able students of all ages to re-
ceive quality education (de-
spite location or income),
while engaging them more
fully in the educational experi-
ence.
More and more students are
finding ways to expand their
learning through supplemental
resources available at websites
like Smithsonian Education
(www.smithsonianeducation.or
g). Educational games found on
websites like FunBrain
(www.funbrain.com) are also
helping children learn in a way
that keeps them engaged. Be-
cause of these resources, and
others like them, the playing
field is being leveled for rural
students, low-income students,
nontraditional learners, and
even those with disabilities.
Online courses are also ben-
eficial for students interested in
taking advanced or specialized
courses that are not offered at
their school. Full degree pro-
grams can also provide the
flexibility that some students
might need in order to com-
plete their schooling while
working through the day.
The many applications of
broadband in the education
spectrum have had positive im-
pacts on student achievement
and the development of real-
world skills. However, those
without broadband at home
sometimes compare it to life
many thought had faded away
decades ago as minority chil-
dren are segregated from online
schools and courses.