C.M. & I College vandalized

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Administrators at Jackson’s Christ Missionary and Industrial School spent Thursday morning cleaning up vandalism.

James E. Turner Senior, President and Dean of C.M. & I College, said he came out to the campus to assess the area for future lawn work and noticed the damage.

There are four buildings on the campus and Turner said the vandals broke into and damaged each of them.

He told 3 On Your Side the damage included spray painting, damage to the floors, water damage, as well as the school’s trophies and other mementos.

Despite the widespread damage, Turner said one of the things that hurt him the most was his Christian flag being dismounted.

“I picture myself as a soldier,” Turner said. “As a soldier, your flag symbolizes you. If you take me down off my mountain, when we think about the picture of the marines on the mountain holding up the flag, you look at putting your all or giving your all as far as maintaining your flag and that’s a challenge to me.”

After evaluating the campus, Turner believes children are the culprits behind the break-ins and vandalism.

“At present with children being at home instead of at school, that is another problem,” Turner said. “What do you have them doing? Most of the things that I have seen happen here have happened at night when I’d expect a child to be in the bed asleep.”

He urges families to come together to make sure children are getting their needs met and have resources to keep them busy while school is out of session.

However, he understands all families may not have access to those resources and is calling on state leaders to to make it more accessible.

“In the outlying areas outside of Jackson, Madison, Clinton, and other areas, it is difficult for individuals to be hooked up to the internet,” Turner said. “If children are taking courses online and don’t have access to receiving information, it doesn’t do you any good to have that information floating out there in the cloud.”

Turner says the vandalism forced an extra expenditure for the school but he and his wife are working to clean up the damage and secure the campus.

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