Mississippi Today

Mississippi company listed among the ‘Dirty Dozen’

Published

2 weeks ago

April 26, 2024

A chicken processing company and a staffing agency that allowed a teenager to clean machines at a Hattiesburg plant, leading to his death, have landed on a national list of unsafe and reckless employers.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health assembled its “Dirty Dozen” list compiled through nominations and released its report Thursday during Workers' Memorial Week.

“These are unsafe and reckless employers, risking the lives of workers and communities by failing to eliminate known, preventable hazards – and in at least one case, actively lobbying against better protections for workers,” the report states.

More than half of the companies included on the list have locations in Mississippi.

Marc-Jac Poultry and Onin Staffing

Onin Staffing hired 16-year-old Duvan Perez and placed him at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg. The night of July 14, 2023, he died after being pulled into a deboning machine.

Federal law prohibits children from working in dangerous conditions such as meat processing plants, especially because of the machinery. In January, OSHA cited Mar-Jac for 17 violations relating to the teenager's death and proposed over $212,000 in penalties.

Duvan Perez, 16, a Hattiesburg middle-schooler, was killed July 14, 2023, while cleaning a deboning machine at Mar-Jac Poultry. Credit: Courtesy of the family's attorney, Seth Hunter

Mar-Jac said it relied on Onin to verify employees' age, qualifications and training, and Onin denied being Duvan's employer, according to court records. An attorney for Mar-Jac told NBC News the teenager used identification of a 32-year-old man to get the job.

In February, Duvan's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Mar-Jac and Onin in the Forrest County Circuit Court. Responding to the complaint, both companies denied most of the allegations.

“The plaintiff's decedent's negligence was the sole and/or proximate contributing cause of plaintiff's injuries,” Mar-Jac states in its response to the complaint.

Since 2020, two other workers have died at the Hattiesburg poultry plant, and workers have suffered amputations and other injuries, according to court records.

To date, OSHA has cited Mar-Jac nearly 40 times for violations in the past decade, according to agency records.

Tyson Foods

The company has operations across the country, including two mills in Carthage and Ceres, as well as hatcheries, feed mills, truck stops and other offices across Mississippi.

The report said six workers have died since 2019 and over 140 have been injured from ammonia leaks, none of them in Mississippi. The gas is often used to refrigerate meat, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to the gas in high doses can be fatal.

The report also said the company is under investigation for child labor violations, assigning children to work in dangerous high-risk jobs, which is illegal.

In the past decade, OSHA has issued over 300 citations against Tyson, according to agency records.

When asked about what it takes to get companies with a poor history of worker safety to protect employees, Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of COSH, said change is needed from all fronts, including having government agencies like Occupational Health and Safety Administration conduct routine inspections.

She said workers are too fearful to complain. “They need these jobs for survival. Workers are fearful of losing their jobs,” she said.

Uber and Lyft

Nationwide, over 80 drivers for the rideshare apps have been killed on the job since 2017, according to Gig Workers Rising. The report says this is a sign that drivers are pressured to accept unsafe riders.

Internal documents have shown 24,000 “alleged assaults and threats of assault” against Uber drivers, and workers of color and immigrants experience most of the danger, according to the report.

JC Muhammad, a Lyft driver and organizer with the Chicago Gig Alliance, was physically assaulted by a passenger, and said the companies need a complete overhaul in how they protect drivers, including verification of passenger identification.

In his situation, another person, allegedly the mother of the passenger, called for the ride. There was no verification for the person, and the passenger did not have an ID. Muhammad said he had no way to report what happened to police because he lacked the necessary information.

“We've had drivers robbed, assaulted, shot at,” he said during a Thursday press conference. “There are no protections, no protocols.”

In Mississippi, several drivers have been injured, including a woman grabbed by a drunk passenger in Ocean Springs in 2019; a man assaulted by his passenger in Oxford in 2021 and a woman driver shot in the head by a passenger in Gulfport in 2023.

Two other companies included in the report are Waffle House and Walmart, which were cited for inadequate security to protect workers and customers and a lack of worker protections. Both have locations in Mississippi and have had incidents occur here, including shootings and fights.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Read Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize finalist series ‘’Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs”

Published

14 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Staff Editor

Mississippi Today's “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.

The seven-part 2023 series, which has continued into 2024, included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.”

Click the links below to read the Pulitzer Prize-recognized series.

Sex Abuse, Beatings and an Untouchable Mississippi Sheriff

Where the Sheriff is King, These Women Say He Coerced Them Into Sex

New Evidence Raises Questions in Controversial Mississippi Law Enforcement Killing

The Sheriff, His Girlfriend and His Illegal Subpoenas

How a ‘Goon Squad' of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality

Days After Rankin's ‘Goon Squad' Tortured Two Men, Supervisors Gave the Sheriff a Pay Boost

Who Investigates the Sheriff? In Mississippi, Often No One.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today named 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist for “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation

Published

15 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Staff Editor

Mississippi Today's “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.

The series included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.”

“I feel so blessed to see our work investigating sheriffs in Mississippi recognized by the Pulitzer Prize Board,” investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell said. “This honor doesn't belong to us. It belongs to the people who dared to stand up and share their stories — victims of violence, sexual assault and many other abuses.”

This is Mississippi Today's second consecutive honor from the Pulitzer Prizes. The newsroom won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for its “The Backchannel” investigation into key players in the welfare scandal, making it the seventh Mississippi news outlet to win in the history of the prizes.

“This series shocked the conscience of Mississippi, and the impact this group of incredible journalists had is enormous,” said Adam Ganucheau, Mississippi Today's editor-in-chief. “Anyone who has read the stories can see how much time and energy they put into serving the state, and they are so deserving of this recognition.”

The seven-part “Unfettered Power” series documented in vivid detail the stunning abuse of residents by officers across Mississippi for more than two decades. Officers spied on and tortured suspects and used their power to jail and punish political enemies.

The reporting was based on difficult-to-get interviews and a deep examination of records, including thousands of pages of Taser logs. Using other department records, the reporting team determined which device was assigned to each deputy, allowing reporters to substantiate allegations of torture by victims and witnesses.

“None of this would have happened without the hard work of our three tremendously talented investigative reporters, Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield,” Mitchell said. “They are a model for what dedication, determination and perseverance can accomplish. Because of them, we know that the future of investigative reporting is in great hands.”

The impact of the series was profound. The reporting prompted federal investigations and the drafting of several pieces of Mississippi legislation to limit the power of sheriffs.

“In a short time Mississippi Today has built a prize-winning newsroom that has produced a string of accountability stories,” said Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship. “Our combined coverage of horrific abuses by sheriffs in the state is an example of the power and importance of local investigative reporting. It has yielded results, and the work continues.”

The Pulitzer Prize is the most prominent award earned by Mississippi Today, the state's flagship nonprofit newsroom that was founded in 2016. The newsroom and its journalists have won several national awards in recent years, including: two Goldsmith Prizes for Investigative Reporting; a Sidney Award for thorough coverage of the Jackson water crisis; a Collier Prize for State Government Accountability; and the John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award.

Mississippi Today and its staff have also won dozens of regional and statewide prizes, including dozens of Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Awards; several Mississippi Press Association awards for excellence, including a Bill Minor Prizes for Investigative Reporting; and the 2023 Silver Em Award at University of Mississippi.

“We as Mississippians are so fortunate to have strong investigative journalism in our state,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and Executive Director. “This level of reporting takes a great deal of focus, determination and grit. The journalists being honored today are public servants in the truest sense, catalyzing accountability and change and standing up for, and with, those whose voices are otherwise ignored.”

This is Mitchell's second time to be named a Pulitzer finalist. He was previously named a finalist in 2006 for his relentless reporting on the successful conviction of Edgar Ray Killen, who orchestrated the killing of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia in 1964.

The ongoing work on the sheriffs series is far from done, he said.

“We've just begun to shine a light into the darkness in Mississippi, and we can already see the roaches scattering,” Mitchell said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Could Spencer Rattler be Saints quarterback of the future? Archie Manning thinks so.

Published

18 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Rick Cleveland – 2024-05-06 11:38:53

Probably the biggest surprise in the recent NFL Draft came in the fifth round when the New Orleans Saints, who just last year signed veteran quarterback Derek Carr to a four-year, $150 million contract, chose South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler.

The Saints hadn't been expected to take a quarterback. Rattler had been expected to go much higher.

At least one expert, a former New Orleans Saints quarterback and a Mississippi legend, believes the drafting of Rattler was a wise choice by his hometown team.

“I like Spencer,” Archie Manning said recently. “I like him as a person and as a player. I can't wait to see what he does for the Saints.”

Rattler, an Arizona native, played college ball first at Oklahoma and then for the past two seasons at South Carolina. Manning knows Rattler best from when he was a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy the summer between Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“I really enjoyed Spencer at our camp,” Manning said. “His attitude was great. He worked hard, got along great with all the other quarterbacks and the campers. At our meeting to start every day, he always came in early, sat front and center and just seemed to soak everything in. He had a maturity about him. He wanted to learn. He just had this little gleam in his eye. Obviously, he can really throw the football.”

Manning, who counts South Carolina coach Shane Beamer as a friend, watched Rattler for the past two seasons, even visiting Columbia for practices and attending quarterback meetings.

“I just couldn't be any more impressed with how Spencer handled things, including some disappointments,” Manning said. “I think he has a bright future in the NFL.”

There are several knocks on Rattler that might have caused him to fall in the draft. For one, he stands just a shade over six feet tall and he is not particularly fleet of foot. That will bother some teams a lot more than it should bother the Saints, who were led to their only Super Bowl championship by a six-foot quarterback with average speed named Drew Brees.

Also, there was the transfer from Oklahoma to South Carolina after Rattler lost the starting quarterback job to Caleb Williams (the first pick of the 2024 draft). And there have been reports that an unflattering 2019 Netflix documentary, filmed during Rattler's senior year of high school when he was the nation's No. 1 quarterback recruit, caused some NFL teams to lower their evaluations. Said Manning, “I haven't seen that documentary but I've heard about it. All I know about his attitude and makeup is what I've seen first-hand.”

Clearly, Rattler has some upside. At Oklahoma and South Carolina combined, Rattler threw for over 10,800 yards, 77 touchdowns and 32 interceptions with a 68.5% completion rate. As a junior at South Carolina, he led the Gamecocks to eight victories including back-to-back wins over No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson. He threw for 438 yards and six touchdowns against the Vols, 360 yards and two TDs against Clemson. Then, in the Gator Bowl against Notre Dame, he threw for 360 yards and two scores.

Last season, when South Carolina replaced much of its offensive line, Rattler was sacked 30 times but still threw for 3,196 yards and 19 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. Rattler was outstanding in the Senior Bowl, winning MVP honors.

A cynic might joke that the 30 sacks will be excellent preparation for the Saints, who hope to have solved some of their pass-blocking woes by taking Oregon State offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga with their first round choice. Fuaga did not allow a sack his entire senior season.

Rattler is expected to battle Nathan Peterman and Jake Haener for the back-up role behind Carr this preseason. Many, including Manning, believe he could project as a long-range starter down the road.

It has been amazing to watch the devaluation of the running back position in the NFL over recent seasons. Not a single running back was selected in the first round in the 2024 draft. Texas halfback Jonathan Brooks was the first back taken with the 14th pick of the second round, the 46th pick of the draft. Greenville native Trey Benson was the second running back taken (by the Arizona Cardinals) with the second pick of the third round. And get this: Benson's high school teammate Dillon Johnson, the Washington Huskies running star, wasn't taken in the draft at all.

Johnson, who runs with both power and speed, ran for 1,195 yards and 16 touchdowns, helping the Huskies to the national championship game despite a broken bone his right foot, a sprained left ankle and a ruptured bursa sac in his left knee. Seems to me the steal of the 2024 draft might be someone who wasn't drafted at all. Also seems to me those injuries to Johnson are an indication of why running backs are not valued as highly as was once the case. The shelf life of NFL running backs is not particularly long.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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