A bit about Kitch

John Kitchens, one of Kitch’s three sons, has been spreading the word about his dad and the campaign.

What follows is a bit of “unknown parts” of his dad’s life. He promises this will be a multi-part series.

I’ll share the stories with you as John sends them.

Jim Kitchens was elected district attorney in 1971 for Copiah, Lincoln, Pike and Walthall Counties. His term began in 1972. Kitch resigned from that position in 1981 to return to private practice in order to pay medical bills for one of his 5 children.

Kitch served not only the citizens of these counties, but was selected more than any other DA in history to prosecute cases in other districts where the DA was conflicted.

During his service as DA, Kitch was constantly harassed and threatened. It was necessary for the State to assign bodyguards to Kitch and his family to watch over us in case someone Dad had convicted wanted to harm us.

I remember as a child hearing that sugar had been poured into Dad’s gas tank several times. Although it was never officially linked to Dad, a bomb threat was called in to the school where four of his children attended. It was presumed that this threat was directed at Dad. These were not easy times.

In fact, on January 20, 1974, Dad was confronted by a man who was upset with him for having prosecuted someone close to him. The assailant pulled a gun on Dad and Dad began to wrestle with the man for the gun.

During the fight, Kitch was shot through his hand, with the bullet coming to rest in Kitch’s leg.

Kitch, knowing that the citizens of his district still needed his help, successfully ran for re-election two more times.