COMMENTARY —Mississippi’s biggest newsmaker has sounded off, and I MISSED IT

That is why I am moved to share my thoughts about the recent departure of (in my opinion) Mississippi’s biggest newsmaker, Mayor Frank E. Melton, aka “Frank.” To me, he was always “Mr. Melton.”

After arriving home this morning from the paper around 2 a.m., I received a phone call that instructed me to look at the crawl at the bottom of the screen of 16 WAPT News. Moreover, there it was in big bold lettering: “MAYOR DIES

I was really saddened by his death even though I knew he was critically ill. My prayers truly go out to his family, staff and friends. Death is never easy. 

Then all of a sudden, a journalistic instinct took over. I hurriedly called our graphic person to see if we could revise page one and re-transmit it to our printers, so we would have the news of the newsmaker’s departure on our front page when our paper hits the street today. He agreed to try if I would rush and call the printers in Hattiesburg to stop the prepress and allow us to make the change, but it was not possible. “The plate maker is gone, and we are about to run it now,” the voice on the other end said.

If only I had checked the Internet just before going to press, but I MISSED IT.

So, when you see our May 7-13 print edition today or whenever it arrives in the mail, look at the place where the story reads, “Isable students want Mayor to get well.” That is where our Mayor update story would have gone. However, when one truly thinks about it: He is well! The children got their wish. Plus, Mr. Melton would not have wanted us to upstage nor disappoint the children.

In my short period as editor here at The Mississippi Link newspaper, I have begun to grow into journalism more, as a soft news journalist of course. Can you believe in my college days, I aspired to be the first black Barbara Walters? PR became more my speed.

However, I had a goal of one day asking Mr. Melton to sit down with me and give The Mississippi Link an exclusive Q&A, but I never got the nerves and/or the time to ask. I often wear many hats, professionally and personally. 

Now that he is gone, I realize the Higher Power gave me the opportunity to ask for that Q&A just last week when the Mayor himself returned my phone call regarding his reaction to the death of Rep. Charles Young (D-Meridian). I expected a call from his spokesperson, Goldia Revies, because I left the message for her. I knew from way back that Young was a long-time mentor of his. Young also served on the WLBT Board when Mr. Melton was at its helm.

“Hello Gail, This is Frank,” he said when I answered my phone. “Hello, Sir. How are you doing?” I said (trying not to sound excited that he personally called and just before press time, too). “Thanks for returning my call, sir,” I said, ending the interesting conversation.

For  veteran journalists, it would not have been a big deal for a mayor to return their call personally. However, as most of us know by the repertoire of the Newsmaker Melton, he was not an ordinary mayor.

In any event, that was my opportunity then to ask him for that long-wanted exclusive during our conversation that afternoon, but I MISSED IT. In that exclusive, I had planned to cover all phases of the man who appeared highly opinionated, controversial, extremely vocal, yet concerned, and perhaps, a number of other adjectives that some might want to add.

I am not denying that, in my opinion, he was a complex individual in a way. I respected and was in awe of the Mayor. I met him when he first came to Jackson around 1983, right after I completed graduate school at Jackson State University. He was a gentler Mr. Melton then. He was always firm in his speech and opinion, and he knew how to command respect. I admired him for that, even when I did not always agree with a lot of his actions. He was also a generous philanthropist who did not mind helping people.

Back then, there appeared to be a little excitement in the air about this “brother” who had come to the capital city to take over one of Mississippi’s most popular and possibly controversial television stations, WLBT-TV3. The word soon escalated that this was a “street-wise” African American with sharp business sense and some “real bling.” Although, I do not think the slang was being used then. I do not know.

To fast forward in my reflections, the next thing I knew Mr. Melton was a political figure. Although he did not want to be viewed as a politician, it was hard not to. In my opinion, that is when he began to be called such names as “Fearless Frank.” He was already know for his hard-hitting “Bottom Line” commentary.

I really think that politics and his strong desire to be everything to everybody changed him, coupled with an illness that appears to creep in to stifle what had developed as his“go-get-‘em, Frank”  style.

I am not going to go on and on about the newsmaker, because his legacy, no matter how it will be reported, speaks for itself. I know the bloggers are having a field day.

The media will miss him, because he kept us busy and on our toes. I think his last press conference was held last Thursday at City Hall when he announced his plans to secure Council approval for the city’s youth summer job program to combine with IMS Technical Institute’s new youth summer job program to produce more jobs.

He came in, said “Good Morning,” sat down, looked up saw me, and said, “I haven’t seen you in a while.” Believe it or not, Mr. Melton kept up with who was covering him and his press conferences. I hope I didn’t MISS one after that.

Through my planned, but never executed exclusive Q&A, I wanted him to candidly allow our Mississippi Link readers and web browsers an in-depth look at Frank E. Melton. However, I have MISSED that opportunity. I really think he would have done it if I had only asked. Well, I cannot dwell on the “would haves or could haves.” That is why it is extremely important for one to take advantage of each great opportunity the Higher Power sends one’s way.

In the words of Mr. Melton’s sound-off tag: “That, my friends, is the bottom line!”

______________________________