Roy Exum
In December of 2014, a group of toughies from several different gangs in rural north Mississippi torched a pretty girl inside of her car on a rural road. They poured gasoline in the passenger compartment, even sprayed lighter fluid in Jessica Chambers’ ears and nose, and then flipped a lit match. No clues, nobody talking and Jessica dying several days later with burns on 95 percent of her body.
People were outraged, those in law enforcement clearly the most livid, so an all-star task force was established and got nationwide applause with results. No wonder! It included top agents with the FBI, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the State Fire Marshal’s office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Panola County Sheriff’s Department and police officers from a number of towns. The state and county District Attorneys were also involved and, a year later in December of 2015, “Operation Bite Back” did exactly that.
The reason I mention it is because this is the same type of a star-studded group that Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston is also hoping to build, this after withering reports the city of Chattanooga’s Violence Reduction Initiative has burned through over $1 million with little results except toothless misdemeanors to show. Pinkston has had quite enough.
But there is more. I am whispered what is the real reason for this week’s angst in our latest City-vs.-County dust-up. Sadly, it has long been alleged that Pinkston, a brilliant veteran in the DA’s office under Bill Cox, and Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, a formidable lawyer in his family’s fine practice before he gave in to political leanings, don’t exactly have lunch together. As a matter of fact, put the two former courtroom adversaries in the same brace behind a plow and the field would lay barren until next year. Forget sharing an umbrella … get my drift?
Fred Fletcher, perhaps the greatest police chief in the city’s history, had some silly and juvenile things to say about Pinkston a day or so ago when the DA said he was unable to attend a meeting on Tuesday. But you must remember Chief Fred works solely for Mayor Andy. Let’s keep the shirts-and-the skins separated in this childish pick-up game that only blurs the bullseye.
Neal doesn’t much care for what the City Council demands. Do you blame him? Fred is supposed to inform the City Fathers and does a good job of it. Above all, remember that Andy Berke is a good guy, growing in my estimation as I begin to understand his non-public style. Pinkston is A+ and so is Fletcher. While the City Council has good intentions, you can hardly fault Pinkston for having larger priorities than appeasing to a once-a-week crowd of hand-wringers. Neal is elected, Fletcher is picked. Stop the foolishness.
What Hamilton County needs – this while virtually every shooting is inside the city limits, is a team of tightly-knit operatives from different agencies that, in December of 2015, swooped down with such a vengeance three months ago in northern Mississippi everyone is still enthralled with “Operation Bite Back.” Best part? It is still active. Everybody knows there was a crowd of poverty-ridden gang types who watched the Chambers girl tortured and burned. It was done to send a message. And that is why such a heavy reaction by the law scared the baddies badly.
Three different SWAT teams were used in 4 a.m. raids and 17 people – members of the Black Gangster Disciples, the Vice Lords and the Sipp Mob gangers were rounded up. Last month the Grand Jury returned a True Bill on 27-year-old Quinton Verdell Tellis of Courtland, Miss., as the first man to be named in the torture killing. And, just so you’ll know, Mississippi investigators even came to Chattanooga in search of clues.
Now you are asking, why did they arrest 17 but end up with just one true bill? It is a good question and, while the names of thugs in Mississippi won’t interest you, the fat fish the Feds landed amounted to far more than misdemeanors. They rounded up felony cases that will be charged in federal courts:
- Edward Lyndon Mosely Jr., 24, distribution of crack cocaine
- Edward House, 39, distribution of powder cocaine and distribution of crack cocaine
- Joshua Cannon, 25, cocaine possession
- Anand Vijay Shegog, 39, sale of a controlled substance
- Mondarious Armstead, 23, public drunk; receiving stolen property; possession, sale, transfer of stole firearm
- Gregory B. Andrews, 22, distribution of powder cocaine (x2)
- D’lirian Case, 18, attempt to pass counterfeit and passing counterfeit
- Janicholas Vankeith Scott, 34, sale of cocaine
- James Mosely Jr., 26, robbery, sale of cocaine, presenting false cocaine in state
- George Todd, 23, attempt to pass counterfeit
- Dedrick Ivery, 39, possession of controlled substance; child abuse; firearm enhancement; felon in possession of firearm in proximity to school/church
- Antonio Johnson, 28, possession controlled substance with intent
- Xavier Hooks, 25, possession gun by felon; possession of a stolen gun
- Kevin Windfield, 37, sale of controlled substance
- Elgin Lamar, 38, possession of controlled substance (x2); possession of controlled substance with intent, child endangerment (x2)
- Deon Smith, 20, passing counterfeit
- Stanley Coleman, 40, sale of cocaine (x4)
Several of these guys were parole jumpers. The point is that the Violence Reduction Initiative has been ineffective but by asking the FBI, the TBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and any other source like the Tennessee Highway Patrol SWAT team to launch an effort with the jaws of a bulldog, we can make a dent in our shooting-every-day idiocy.
The VRI, on the surface, was a brilliant try by Berke and his team but sending hundreds of thousands to some expert in New York hasn’t fared well. DA Pinkston’s reasoning is easy to understand – the police haven’t brought him enough felony cases when compared to shootings in the street.
The only answer at this point seems to come down a lot harder. There is a war in our poor neighborhoods and, when it spills onto Brainerd Road in broad daylight, a different course of action is inevitable. A car hits the gas pumps early Sunday morning. Pick a day and you’ll find a shooting.
Let’s let Pinkston’s task force take a turn at the plate. The VRI clearly isn’t the answer.
royexum@aol.com