Mississippi

"Ghosts of Mississippi" demonstrates just how deeply perverse racial politics in Hollywood have become. The movie, the story of a white prosecutor's belated pursuit of the Klansman who assassinated civil-rights leader Medgar Evers in the early 1960s, is the brainchild of Rob Reiner, a commercially successful director who has sought for years to make a movie about one of his civil-rights heroes. Reiner felt that he could not make a movie about Evers himself, or about his widow, Myrlie.

We went to see Mississippi Burning. The movie tells the story, in fictionalized form, of three young civil rights activists who went from New York to Mississippi in 1964 where they were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. For me, it evoked a nightmare of memories of one of the most dramatic and dangerous episodes of my life. As a producer for 60 Minutes in 1969, I had set out to find a man named Byron De La Beckwith, known to his friends as "Dee Lay. " Beckwith, I have no qualms in saying, even though he was never convicted of the crime and is still alive, murdered a black activist named Medgar Evers in 1963.

MADISON, Miss. - PGA Tour rookie Chris Kirk shot an 8-under-par 64 Saturday to take a 1-stroke lead into the final round of the Viking Classic at Annandale Golf Club. Kirk was at 18 under. Sunghoon Kang, D.J. Trahan, George McNeill, and Peter Lonard were tied for second. The 26-year-old Kirk has been one of the Tour's most successful rookies this season, finishing second to Phil Mickelson in the Shell Houston Open.   Celebrity Tournament STATELINE, Nev. - Actor Jack Wagner extended his lead with four birdies, and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo moved into second place in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe.

Jevan Snead recovered from a poor start to throw two touchdowns to lead No. 8 Mississippi to a 45-14 victory over host Memphis yesterday. Snead struggled for three quarters before breaking open a close game with scoring passes of 17 and 18 yards to Dexter McCluster and Markeith Summers. Fon Ingram returned an interception 35 yards for a TD for the Rebels, who opened the season ranked higher than they have been since 1970. Night games. In Saturday's late games, No. 5 Alabama topped No. 7 Virginia Tech by 34-24, No. 11 Louisiana State outlasted Washington, 31-23; and No. 12 California blasted Maryland, 52-13.

Lynchings, firebombings, assaults and murders, committed with impunity: Those horrendous acts became synonomous with the image of Mississippi 30 years ago, thanks to the violence and injustices perpetrated there against leaders of the civil rights movement. But the state may have begun the process of closure on its bitter history last weekend, when a jury found white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith guilty of the murder of NAACP leader Medgar Evers in 1963. Just as victims of the Holocaust have had to fight for years to bring killers to justice, Mr. Evers' widow, the NAACP and white supporters had to fight to get Mississippi to retry Beckwith, who repeatedly boasted of shooting Mr. Evers to death outside his own home.

If it were possible, I would take any leader of South Africa's apartheid regime on a remarkable human journey. Apartheid's apologists forever sing the same song: Whites and blacks cannot live and work together in equality without a "bloodbath. " Here is the journey on which I would take them. It would trace the career of John Stennis of Mississippi over the 40 years since he was elected to the U.S. Senate. It is a career that illustrates more powerfully than any civil rights sermon why racial justice is more than just good morals.

TO THE GREAT citizens of Philadelphia: I can't begin to thank you for the outstanding support you have shown for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I was born and raised in South Philly (30th and Tasker) and came to Mississippi to go to college. But I will always consider myself a damn Yankee from South Philly. The Mississippi residents most affected by this disaster are a lot like you. They are hard-working, devoted, loyal, sports-loving people. Most of them would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. I remember many times in my neighborhood growing up, when families needed help, everyone would do whatever they could to help.

Jim Booros of Allentown shot a 6-under-par 64 yesterday to take a 1-stroke lead after the first round of the $200,000 PGA Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. Booros, 37, ended with six birdies and a dozen pars over the 6,280-yard Hattiesburg Country Club Course for a 1-shot edge over Robert Thompson, Rocco Mediate and Barry Cheesman. Mediate had one more birdie than Booros but also had a pair of bogeys. Thompson had seven birdies but was hurt by a double bogey on the par-4 10th hole, where he hit into the water.

We've seen this game before. It was another NCAA Tournament opener for Temple, against another unsuspecting opponent that had never faced anything remotely resembling John Chaney's matchup zone. And it quickly turned into one more first-round victory for the ninth-seeded Owls. The victim this time was an eighth-seeded Mississippi team that was making its first NCAA appearance in 16 years, and second ever. The final last night at the Kemper Arena was 62-40. The Rebels broke a 39-year-old record for fewest points scored in a Midwest Regional.

When I was growing up in Tuscaloosa, Ala., civil-rights workers would joke about a Chicago seminary student who was awakened in the middle of the night by a voice saying, "Go to Mississippi! Go to Mississippi!" The student said, "Lord, you said that you will be with me always, even until the end of the Earth. If I go to Mississippi, will you go with me?" The response was, "I'll go as far as Memphis. " If God was afraid to go to Mississippi, heaven help the rest of us. For more than a century, there were plenty of reasons for African Americans in particular to fear going to Mississippi.

Former Temple shooting guard Aaron Brown has transferred to Southern Mississippi. Brown made his decision Wednesday after visiting the Golden Eagles' Hattiesburg, Miss., campus, and he signed his scholarship papers. The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder will sit out next season because of NCAA transfer requirements before having two seasons of eligibility remaining. "I feel like it's the best place for me," the Hackensack, N.J., resident said of Southern Miss. "I love the coaching staff.

STARKVILLE, Miss. - An emotional Rick Stansbury said it was time to step down. The Mississippi State men's basketball coach said after 14 seasons he wants to be a better father and husband at this stage in his life. A red-eyed Stansbury took the podium yesterday afternoon, thanking family and friends during a nearly hour-long news conference to announce his retirement. "My emotions are about happiness," he said. "I promise you. " But there was little doubt that recent failures on the hardwood contributed to his decision.

WASHINGTON - A resurgent Rick Santorum swept primaries in Alabama and Mississippi last night, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination as he sought to push Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines. Mitt Romney was running third in both states. "We did it again," Santorum told cheering supporters in Lafayette, La. He said it was time for conservatives to unite in an effort to defeat Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is the faraway leader in the competition for Republican National Convention delegates.

Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential primaries Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi, squashing Mitt Romney's hopes for a Dixie breakthrough there. Newt Gingrich, too, fell short in the region that is central to his campaign strategy. The results were unlikely to change the underlying math of the nomination fight - Romney has more delegates than all his rivals combined, and delegates from the two states were to be awarded in proportion to the popular vote. Yet the Deep South is the conservative heart of the modern Republican Party, and the primaries were important tests of Romney's marketability to the GOP base and the battle to become the main conservative alternative to him. A Romney win in either state, which the former Massachusetts governor had characterized as "a bit of an away game," would have made it harder for Santorum and Gingrich to argue that the GOP's right wing would never accept Romney as the nominee.

TRANSCRIPT of Joe Rainey's Dec. 29, 1964, "Listening Post" show: Joe Rainey: "So what does the future hold for the black man in Mississippi?" Malcolm X: "There used to be an expression used in this country that [something] doesn't have a Chinaman's chance - because he wasn't respected, he wasn't protected. His rights were ignored. . . . But the expression has become outdated. It doesn't fit anymore. . . . By that I mean, since China itself had become a power on this earth, wherever you find the Chinese person, since China is respected, that Chinaman is respected.

  Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, an Urban Meyer disciple who reportedly has been recommended by the new Ohio State coach, has emerged as the man some people at Penn State would love to see as the Lions' next football coach. But Mullen, 39, a Drexel Hill native and Ursinus College graduate, on Tuesday night vehemently denied being contacted by Penn State and blamed rival institutions for floating a false rumor. Initially, Mullen did not deny the speculation, which surfaced on ESPN.com Tuesday, a day after a search committee was formed to find a replacement for Joe Paterno.

Kentucky's Democratic governor won another term Tuesday, and Mississippi voters kept their governor's office in GOP hands - decisions that suggested many Americans were not ready to abandon incumbent parties, despite the nation's economic woes. The governors' races were of keen interest to both parties. Ten states will elect governors next year, and governors can marshal get-out-the-vote efforts crucial to any White House candidate. The first presidential primary is Jan. 10 in New Hampshire.

JACKSON, Miss. - A chorus of "amens" filled the statehouse in Jackson on Halloween night. About 75 people were gathered for a briefing by backers of a ballot initiative that would make the state the first in the nation to ban abortion by declaring that life begins at conception. "Fighting for preservation of the unborn in the state of Mississippi - that's a cause worth our strongest efforts and our most committed prayers," Brad Prewitt told the crowd. The 42-year-old lawyer heads Yes on 26, a political-action committee whose television ads, signs, and fliers argue that a vote against the proposition is a vote for abortion.

Jarrett Lee completed 21 of 27 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown, and No. 3 Louisiana State defeated No. 25 Mississippi State, 19-6, on Thursday night in Starkville, Miss. Lee was the unexpected star, firing conservative but nearly perfect passes all over the field. His 19-yard touchdown pass to Rueben Randle with 11 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave LSU a 16-6 lead. His only mistake was an interception minutes later, but as it had all game, LSU's defense stuffed Mississippi State with little trouble.