Calling from home in northeast Jackson, Mayor Frank Melton said he is pleased the question of where he lives has been settled.
Special Judge Billy Joe Landrum on Thursday ordered Melton restored as a Democratic mayoral candidate, turning back an effort by the Jackson Municipal Democratic Executive Committee to remove him. The committee had maintained Melton was not a legal resident of Jackson since he filed his homestead exemption on his house in Tyler, Texas.
“Obviously, I am very pleased and very humbled, and we’ll move on from here,” Melton said.
Although he has lived in the city since 1984, Melton said he appreciated a judge’s order saying that was the case.
“Anytime you go into a courtroom you are taking a chance. I didn’t know what I was up against, but the facts are the facts, and I’m a resident of Jackson.”
In his order, Landrum said Melton “overwhelmingly rebutted” the charge in a 2 1/2-hour hearing Wednesday where he showed documents with his Jackson home address, including his Mississippi driver’s license, utility bills and voting records. Melton also called witnesses who testified he has lived in the city for years.
