“Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves.
These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.
But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” – President Donald J. Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20 2017
The carnage has not stopped…yet.
WREG, the CBS Affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee, has the story…
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — “If you cross that line and come in to Southaven, we’re going to bust your tail,” said Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite.
“If you come to DeSoto County and you mess up, you gon’ pay the price,” state Representative Jeff Hale said.
Northern Mississippi officials warned criminals using strong words with nearly a militaristic message after a man shot two deputies and died in a shoot-out with police Wednesday night.
“If you cross that line and come in to Southaven, we’re going to bust your tail.”“We stand united to provide a solid line of defense for our citizens,” Southaven Police Chief Steve Pirtle said.
Mississippi officials said they are prepared for a violent episode like that which happened Wednesday night.
They said their proximity to Memphis means they’ve been dealing with spill-over crime for years.
“Certainly a large percentage of defendants we deal with in Southaven, Horn Lake, the county and Hernando are going to be Memphis residents. There’s no doubt about that,” District Attorney John Champion said.
Champion didn’t provide exact numbers, but that’s why Musselwhite said Southaven spends around 70 percent of its annual budget on public safety.
He said that plan is working.
“When an event happens [like] last night it causes a lot of concern, but it’s important to note the crime rates in Southaven are less than the national average and the state average of Mississippi,” Musselwhite said.
Still, other leaders thought the violent attack was a sign northern Mississippi needs more officers.
“Hopefully the funding will be there to help put more officers on the streets in the counties and cities,” Hale said.
He said he’d work to have legislation passed by 2018.
By now, you may be asking,
So what, KJ? It’s just another criminal shooting law enforcement officers and getting killed in return.
That’s easy for you to say.
My bride and I live ten minutes away from where the shooting occurred.
And, if you were able to pan the picture above to the left, you would see the church building in which we attend 9:00 Worship Service every Sunday Morning, before I have to be at work.
Southaven is a bedroom community, connected to Memphis, Tennessee. Stateline Road, where the shooting took place, is “the dividing line”….the border between the Southwest Corner of Tennessee and the Northwest Corner of Mississippi.
The “carnage”, which has all but decimated my beloved Hometown has recently begun to “cross the road” to attempt to infect my adopted home of Desoto County, Mississippi, as well.
In my hometown, the Former “City of Good Abode”…
Memphis set a grim record with 228 homicides in 2016, eclipsing by 15 killings the previous record of 213 set in 1993.
The year began with the shooting death of 49-year-old Patrick Couch, who was killed in the driveway of a home on South Fourth Street just before 3 p.m. on New Year’s Day 2016. That was one of 10 murders in the first 13 days of the year, establishing the record-setting pace that just never let up.
The year ended with the shooting death of an unidentified man just before 11 a.m. Saturday at Saxon and Cummings in South Memphis. No arrests have been made, police said.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings was unavailable for comment Sunday, MPD spokesman Karen Rudolph said. Messages left for Mayor Jim Strickland were not returned. Strickland campaigned for mayor on the promise of crime reduction, but the city’s escalating homicide total has made that promise difficult to achieve.
“Our homicide rate has taken this tragic, shameful spike. It is the crime that the police are least able to control. It is on all of us, in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our churches, to do better,” Strickland said in a recent statement.
As a 58-year old resident of the Memphis Area, I have borne witness to the governmental mismanagement and resulting decay and degeneration of what was once of the friendliest places in the country to live.
There are still friendly people in Memphis, but, chances are, they work in Memphis and are living in the suburbs, like I do.
The mass exodus of Memphis taxpayers started during the reign of “King” Willie Herenton, whom while Mayor from 1991 – 2008, told taxpayers of the Caucasian persuasion, if they did not like the way he was running the city, they could leave.
So, they did.
Since then, violent crime in Memphis has steadily risen, to the point where some suburban husbands will not allow their families to enter Memphis during the day or night.
The most recent Mayor, Jim Strickland, seems to be working hard to revitalize Downtown Memphis.
Unfortunately, for those who are seeking to bring the city of Memphis back to its former prestige, and restore its title of the “City of Good Abode”, there are those who want everyone to share in their own self-inflicted misery…
I spoke to a Desoto County Sheriff’s Deputy while at work yesterday, asking him about the condition of the Deputies who were sot by that piece of slime.
He said that one had been sent home from the hospital and the one who was hurt more severely was “doing better”.
Before we parted, he said ominously,
But, it’s going to get worse.
So now, criminals are trying to bring the “carnage” which they inflicted on Memphis down here.
There is one difference though.
We will not roll over and take it.
We open carry in Mississippi.
We have responsible civic leaders down here who will not tolerate it.
We have dedicated police officers and Sheriff’s Deputies who put their lives on the line every day to protect us.
And, now, have an American President who will stand by their side, instead of the criminals.
And, that’s “change we can believe in”.
Until He Comes,
KJ
Kingsjester's Blog 