NATCHEZ &045; It looked like progress might be on the way.

Conversations were still in hushed tones and fear was still prevalent, of course, but it seemed the worst might be over.

Participants say civil rights hit Natchez full on in 1964, ’65 and ’66. Wharlest Jackson was killed in 1967.

&uot;Stores were beginning to hire

(black) people. Some demands were being met,&uot; civil rights activist Judge Mary Toles said Thursday. &uot;We weren’t expecting that to happen at that particular time.&uot;

But it did, and fear came back in force.

&uot;There were more boycotts and more marches,&uot; said Tony Byrne, an alderman at the time who later became mayor. &uot;It did spill over again. In 1968 there was a riot in downtown Natchez.&uot;

Toles said she saw people march that had never marched before.

&uot;I remember it galvanizing the community again,&uot; she said. &uot;People determined they weren’t going to take it anymore or they were going to die to make it better.&uot;

Byrne was one of a handful of white people who attended Jackson’s funeral.

&uot;The reaction from the black community was that whites showed some respect for showing up for the funeral; from the white radicals it was, why are you going there,&uot; he said. &uot;During those times it depended on who you talked to.&uot;

Toles remembers seeing Jackson the week before his death. Both were at a society club initiation, and Jackson offered some much needed comfort to the new initiate.

&uot;I knew him, not extremely well,&uot; she said. &uot;But he made an impression on me then. He was consoling me before initiation.&uot;

Toles said an arrest and conviction would bring closure not only to the family, but the community. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton said this week he will investigate the case.

&uot;There is going to be some sort of accountability, some sort of judgment,&uot; she said. &uot;I’d like to see that done. That would be healing for me, and I would be the least of the people who are to have to healing.&uot;

Toles said a long jail sentence may not happen, but identifying the criminals would be closure.

She also said investigating the case, and other civil rights killings, is good for Mississippi.

&uot;Not because we have to show the rest of the nation anything, but we do it for ourselves. We do it as human beings do it because it’s the right thing to do.&uot;

Darryl Grennell, president of the Board of Supervisors, wasn’t born when the bombing happened, but he knows its impact.

&uot;My parents talked about it all the time,&uot; he said. &uot;I remember my parents and grandparents talking about it and how tragic it was. The word got out all over the country.

&uot;This is great news to hear that they have reopened that case.&uot;

Byrne said there was a common feeling around town after the murder that the FBI had a suspect, and he remains hopeful someone can be linked to the crime.

&uot;I’m glad they are opening back up those unsolved cases, they need to be brought back up with new technology.&uot;