Pubdate: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS) Copyright: 2003 The Clarion-Ledger Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/about/letters.html Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805 MBN PROBE Claims Must Be Openly Investigated Claims that Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics equipment was swapped around to curry political favor, pay back political favors or allocated according to political influence and personal use are serious and must be openly investigated. A report obtained by Gannett News Service to MBN chief Frank Melton characterizing transfer of MBN airplanes to the Harrison County Sheriff's Department and the Hancock County Port Authority as political deals involving U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's office should be pursued aggressively by state and federal investigators. If the claims are false, they must be repudiated. If true, criminal charges must be pressed. This means that Melton and State Auditor Phil Bryant must take the lead in ferreting out these claims. Melton was named to head MBN after these alleged events occurred. His claim to the post was his hard-charging honesty and commitment to fight drugs. How he handles this investigation will test his ability to maintain public trust in MBN and its cohesion as a crime-fighting unit. Bryant, a Republican, must wade through a case involving politically high-profile people. State-owned planes and equipment should be used for carefully defined, legitimate state business, not given away or assigned for purely political or personal purposes. If a law has been broken, prosecution must result. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex