Month: June 2002

The Summer Issue

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date June 21, 2002

the memphis flyer presents the Summer Issue

Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. — Henry James

Memphis summer. Few who live here would call those two of the most beautiful words in the English language. But they are two words that bring much to mind. First — let’s not tiptoe around it — yes, it’s hot. Really hot. But after a couple of weeks, the heat loses its punch somehow. We adapt: We wear fewer clothes; we eat less, and later in the day; we learn to avoid sitting bare-legged on hot car seats. The heat fades into the background and becomes part of the scenery — always there but somehow not so important. It’s then that we can finally celebrate this muggy, steamy season to the fullest.

Memphis summer: It’s the sweet surprise of honeysuckle perfume wafting over us on an evening walk; it’s a frosty Corona at a sidewalk table; it’s stepping out of a late-night bar and into a dark humidity so dense it feels like you’ve been wrapped in a hot, thick towel; it’s a sloppy barbecue nacho warming your lap at AutoZone Park; it’s a walk along the Mississippi as sunset paints the sky; it’s lying on your back in a field at Shelby Farms and pondering the infinite throw of stars.

Memphis summer. It’s here. It’s whatever you want it to be. Taste it. Feel it. Live it. It’s the only one you’re going to get this year. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Summer How to’s

School’s In Session

How to catch a foul ball, taste-test ice cream, and, ladies, pee standing up.

Classes may be over, school may be out, but you can always learn a little more.

Especially the summer-specific skills we’ve lined up for you. If you’ve always wanted to know how to catch a foul ball or, ladies, pee standing up, we’ve got the answer. If you’ve always dreamed of being an ice-cream taster, read on.

The Flyer staff consulted with experts, did extensive field testing, and now serves up this cool bit of summer school.

HOW TO CATCH A FOUL BALL

by James P. Hill

Okay, baseball fans, check your gear: ticket to get in, notepad for autographs, binoculars to get a close-up view, and — never forget it — your glove to catch foul balls.

Baseball experts suggest fans began looking for souvenir baseballs around ballpark diamonds back in the 19th century. “It’s taking home a bit of your memory of having been to the game,” says Bob Brame, Memphis Redbirds director of communications. “As a kid, I would take my glove to games to catch a foul ball. This is part of the spirit, the feel, and the love of America’s pastime.”

Over the years, baseball fields changed from diamonds with a wooden backstop or fence to incredible sports venues like BankOne Ballpark in Phoenix or the gem of AAA baseball, AutoZone Park here in Memphis.

Many fans use their seat’s location as a tool in landing that special game-day treat. “I think sitting down at the 1st and 3rd baselines and behind the dugouts are great places to get a foul ball,” says Steve Horne, Memphis Redbirds director of field operations. The next thing to do is watch for three types of balls. First kind: A batter cuts the ball as a line drive into the stands — this could be an easy catch in your glove. Second kind: A batter swings at a pitch and clips the ball, sending it up to the stadium’s roof and down into the stands — you’re going to have to make a run for this one. Third kind, only effective at AutoZone Park: “Get a $5 bluff seat and try to get a home-run ball,” says Redbirds staff member Ed Collins.

So keep your eye on the prize, and if a ball is hit so hard that it leaves the park altogether, you still get the excitement of watching a home-run.

HOW TO TEST ICE CREAM

by Simone Barden

Imagine being paid to eat popsicles, fudge bars, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry sherbet all day long. Somebody’s got to, right? That somebody at the Turner ice cream factory in Covington is lab technician Pam Boswell.

Boswell tests and tastes about 40 different ice cream samples a day. The samples at Turner don’t come by the scoop. They come in half-gallon containers, pints, or whatever size appears that day. Boswell’s lab freezer fills up quickly, and she actually eats the ice cream to make sure it tastes right. “Some people just dip their tongue into it and spit it out; I prefer to eat it,” she says.

Boswell doesn’t have a degree in food science. She started out working at the factory and transferred to the tasting-and-testing lab four years ago. She just happens to really like ice cream. In fact, she calls herself an ice cream addict. “I usually don’t make it through a weekend without ice cream,” she says. “I have to go to Sonic or some other place to get some because I don’t keep any at home.”

For Boswell, testing is a “feeling thing” more than anything else. Sweetness, she says, is one of the main things to consider, but sweetness doesn’t just mean sweet versus not sweet. Sweetness includes texture and smoothness.

This is not just summer fun. This is serious business. Testers cannot skip the tasting when it gets frosty outside. That doesn’t matter to a die-hard like Boswell — “I can eat ice cream all year long,” she says, “but popsicles are nicer to taste during the summer than during the winter.”

HOW TO PEE STANDING UP

by Lesha Hurliman

It occurred to me again at the Beale Street Music Fest this year as I hovered at an excruciating angle inside a Porta-pottie: Some aspects of female anatomy just simply aren’t ideal. Most women will agree with me that the “squat” method is — how should I put it? — unpredictable. There is no telling what will happen. One second, you’ll be experiencing the straight and narrow, and then, for no apparent reason, you’ve got a wayward problem.

This summer, the season of the great outdoors, concerts, camping, and (need I remind you?) snakes, ticks, and poisonous weeds, there is perhaps no greater gift a woman could give herself than the ability to urinate while standing. According to nurse Denise Decker’s “A Woman’s Guide On How To Pee Standing Up” (www.restrooms.org/standing), there are two ways to do this: the “finger-assist” method, which requires a very intimate knowledge of your nether region, and the device method.

For the finger-assist method, the shower or bathtub is where you will want to start. Using either of your clean hands, make a “V” with your first and second fingers and spread the inside of your labia minora (if you are not sure where these are, let’s just say it is the area surrounding the urethra). Next, lift to the desired angle, then urinate. According to Decker, “If you don’t spread and lift, it could run down your leg.” This is not as easy as it sounds. I, for one, have had some issues while trying this method. Once I got my “V” in place, the urine stream was, um … unforthcoming.

But like every skill, practice makes perfect. There are women who can urinate through the fly of their jeans without so much as a drop straying. One woman even boasts she can, after years of practice, write her name in the snow. (Girl, I have no idea how — lots of hip action is all I can come up with.)

For those of you less interested in the hands-on method, there are plenty of devices out there to help: the TravelMate (looks sort of like a measuring spoon with a hollow handle and comes with a denim or tapestry carrying case), the Whizzy (handles for the seat in a public restroom), and the Shenis (replace the “sh” with a “p,” make it 12 inches long, and you’ll get the picture).

I myself am through whining about this particular trait of my gender. Join me and Nurse Decker: Stand up and pee.

Opinion Viewpoint

Fix the Problem

Post author By Jimmy Naifeh
Post date June 21, 2002

No one wants to pay more taxes. I don’t want to pay more in taxes than is absolutely necessary.

However, I recognize that providing an adequate level of state services requires we all pay taxes.

We are a low-tax state and, even after tax

reform, will continue to be a low-tax state. The average

Tennessean pays less in state and local taxes than the citizens

of any other state. Including the District of Columbia, we

rank 51st in the nation in per-capita state taxation.

While being ranked last in taxation is a good thing, it

does have consequences. If we insist on being 51st in taxes, we

will never rank much higher in areas that are important to all of

us, like quality educational programs for our children and

health care for our neediest citizens. I support increased tax revenue

because I do not want to be ranked 51st in these areas.

Our current consumption-based tax system grows at

a slower pace than the cost of services being provided for

two simple reasons. First, over the last 20 years, we have

dramatically shifted our purchasing away from goods which are

taxable to services which are not taxed. Second, under

federal law, most purchases made over the Internet are not subject

to state sales taxes. It is estimated that Internet sales are costing

us over $300 million annually in tax growth.

The current system is unfair. It asks lower-income families

to pay a higher share of their income in state taxes because we tax consumption of

basic needs, such as food, clothing, gasoline, and driver’s

licenses. Why do I say this is unfair? A family making $12,600

pays approximately 12 percent of its income in state and

local taxes while a family making $159,000 pays approximately

4 percent of its income in state and local taxes. What’s

fair about that?

I support the flat-tax reform plan because it creates a

fairer tax system and represents a long-term solution to the

state’s funding needs.

This income-tax amount is deductible on your

federal income tax return in the same way that you currently

deduct home-mortgage interest and property taxes.

The plan does remove the state and local sales tax

on groceries, on clothing with a value less than $500, and

on nonprescription drugs. This provides some degree of tax

relief to low- and middle-income families as well as our

elderly population who live on a fixed income.

With this reform in place, Tennessee will also be able

to capture the taxes it currently loses from people who work

in Tennessee but live out of state. Those who do not live here

but work here would now begin paying income taxes to Tennessee.

For instance, professional athletes and entertainers

would have to pay to play or perform here just as they do in

almost every other state. We estimate that Tennessee lost out

on around $120 million in revenue from people who work

here but pay no taxes here.

During this legislative session, it has become

apparent that a majority of legislators now recognize that

Tennessee faces a significant financial problem. To have a

balanced budget next year, we must find a way to raise revenue or

we must reduce the current budget by $950 million.

I don’t want to cut $950 million from existing

spending because of the severe consequences it will have on every

citizen in this state. I don’t think most people who have

studied this want that either. The question, then, is: How are

we going to raise this money? We can either reform the system

by choosing fairness, deductibility, and long-term stability or

we can perpetuate the current unfair and inadequate system

and continue to have a similar problem in the years ahead.

I’m for fixing the problem. n

Jimmy Naifeh, who represents Covington in the state

legislature, is Speaker of the House. This is an abridgement of

a longer communication that may be read on the

Flyer Web site, www.memphisflyer.com.

News

Summer fun in your own backyard

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date June 21, 2002

QUICK GETAWAY

A few expert opinions on what to do while visiting Covington.

by Chris Davis

What a year it has been! Inside of 12 little months, I’ve dined better than a man of my decidedly low station should legally be allowed. I’ve washed down tapas with gallons of zesty sangria on the beaches of Barcelona. Paris provided foie gras and countless cabernets. Rabbit stuffed with its own meat was accompanied by a chewy, black Chianti in Tuscany, while Rome introduced me to the decadent splendor of Lardo di Colonnata. The space cakes and bonbons of old Amsterdam went down smoothly with cannabis beer, and, after consuming these loaded appetizers, even typically uneventful Dutch food became irresistible.

Between bites, I did my best to see the world. But — sigh — those lazy days of wine and wanderlust are behind me now. I’ve been informed that I have twins on the way: two little bundles of joy poised to pick my pocket and change my globe-trotting ways. Summer vacations will be less extravagant from now on, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. Anyplace can be a vacationer’s paradise if you know where to go and what to do. Well, almost anyplace.

Welcome To Scenic Covington

Covington, Tennessee, a steadily growing rural community located only a few miles north of Memphis, seems like it would make for a wonderfully bucolic getaway affording, at the very least, an opportunity to view a vast array of domestic cattle in their native habitat. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a listing for anything like a Covington Convention and Visitors’ Bureau to provide me with vacation information. The best I could come up with was a phone number for the Super 8 Motel, and I hoped the knowledgeable concierge would be able to provide me with some information about the city and its sights. A child answered the telephone.

“Hello,” I said. “Aren’t you a little young to be a concierge?”

“No,” the brat answered.

“Are you aware of the fact that Covington doesn’t have a convention and visitors’ bureau?”

“No. What’s that?” The little dickens couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4, and I began to wonder whether or not I should consult the proper authorities concerning child-labor laws in the less-civilized reaches of western Tennessee.

“A convention and visitors’ bureau,” I repeated. “It’s a place where potential visitors can find out where to go and what to do while visiting scenic Covington.” The child said nothing for a long time. Eventually, the whippersnapper bade me an enthusiastic bye-bye and handed the phone to a man with a thick Middle Eastern accent who said he could help me.

“So where does a person in Covington go to get their groove on?” I asked.

“This is a very small town,” he answered. “Most people go into Memphis.”

“I’ve already been to Memphis. Didn’t think much of it. I’m interested in Covington. What can a person do in Covington? Are there any points of interest: great restaurants, fine architecture, shopping?”

“No. This is a small town. We have nothing here.”

“Nothing at all? That sounds mighty bleak. Don’t you at least have some kind of museum or something?”

“We have a Slim Fast factory.”

Slim City

“Slim Fast,” the voice said. It was a solid voice as all-American as Pabst Blue Ribbon and Red Man chewing tobacco. It was a helpful voice, rich, resonant, and ringing with the kind of hospitality I hoped to enjoy sometime in the near future.

“My wife and I are thinking about vacationing in Covington, and we’re just huge, huge fans of your product, if you catch my drift, and we were wondering if we could come by and tour your plant?”

“No,” the man said succinctly. “We’re not set up to do anything like that.”

“Oh, no,” I whined. “My wife will be so disappointed. We both just love your product, especially the more exotic flavors like pineapple.”

“Sorry, sir, but we just don’t do anything like that.”

“Surely there must be tons of people, if you catch my meaning, who want to see how your product is made. Don’t you?”

“Well, no, not really. We’re not set up for letting people come in here.”

“You don’t have something to hide, do you? Something embarrassing you’re putting in the Slim Fast?”

“No. Look, I asked my manager and he says we just can’t have people coming in here.”

“How long have you lived in Covington?”

“All my life.”

“So I bet you know all the best places to eat. My wife and I will be vacationing there this summer. We love to eat and especially like to sample local delicacies.”

“Well, there’s this restaurant.”

“What’s the best thing on the menu?”

“Man, don’t ask me these things. I don’t know.”

“Well, what are your favorite things to eat?”

“I don’t know. I just eat everything.”

“Is that why you need the Slim Fast?”

“Man, I keep telling you I don’t know anything.”

“Well, thank you for your time,” I concluded, as graciously as possible. Clearly, Covington, in spite of its many obvious attractions, is not the vibrant vacation community I thought it might be.

Oh, well, there’s always West Memphis.

GET ON THE BUS

An evening getaway with the sounds of the blues.

by Janel Davis

Are we there yet? — surely the cruelest refrain of summer vacation.

But thanks to Samantha Coerbell and her Elmo George Tours, you are practically there yet, just 75 minutes away.

The tour is a weekend job for Coerbell, who, during the week, works as actor Morgan Freeman’s assistant.

Coerbell’s tour whisks travelers from Memphis to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and back again on luxury coach buses. During the ride, passengers can watch movies or entertainment specially tailored to the group. The tour then takes passengers to two of Clarksdale’s best sites for good food and good music: Madidi and the Ground Zero Blues Club.

Owned by Freeman and local attorney Bill Luckett, Madidi offers French cuisine in a variety of dishes ranging from rack of lamb to hybrid bass, all prepared using local ingredients.

Clarksdale has long been known as ground zero to blues aficionados around the globe, and Ground Zero Blues Club was created to celebrate the area’s rich music heritage and provide a forum for local musicians to continue that heritage.

Why Clarksdale? Why not? asks Coerbell. “There is so much to see and do here. People go to Tunica for the casinos. This will take them a little past Tunica to see the area and enjoy some good food.”

The tours began last year and will resume in July. Buses pick up tourists near Memphis’ Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum inside the Gibson Guitar Factory one Saturday each month. Tours can be arranged to include only dinner at the restaurant or boogie-ing at the club. Packages range from $55 to $85 per person.

Coerbell plans to expand the evening tour to include visits to area festivals, further exploration of the region, and an overnight stay at a bed-and-breakfast.

Elmo George Tours are by reservation only. For information, call 662-647-8455.

GOING GREEN

Shelby Farms’ community gardens offer urban dwellers a rural escape.

by Bianca Phillips

Imagine a landscape bursting with vine-ripened tomatoes, juicy watermelons, fresh cucumbers, and colorful flowers in full bloom. The only noises are the chirping of crickets in the nearby woods, the buzz of a few garden tillers, and the voices of a few close friends. Sound like a dreamland far away from the hustle and bustle of city life? Not quite.

Shelby Farms’ community gardens, free to anyone with a little extra time and a green thumb, are as serene and peaceful as a Monet painting. The quaint little plots are approximately 25-by-100 feet in size and are just off Farm Road. The only traffic noise comes from the passing cars of other gardeners and the occasional police car from the Penal Farm down the road. “The gardens are 10,000 miles away from anything,” says gardener Lynn Doyle.

Over the years, the gardeners have made the “community” in community gardens a reality. They’ve begun to regard one another as family. During the day, they convene over their rows of tomatoes and share gardening tips over blooming sunflowers.

“You’ve got an umbrella set up out there, and sometimes someone will just sit down under it with you and have a Coke,” says J.C. McCollum. “We’ll sit there and solve the world’s problems under that umbrella.”

According to Tommie Cervetti, manager of the Shelby County Mayor’s Office on Aging and liaison to the gardens, most of the gardeners are senior citizens. She said there are some younger families too, but care for the gardens requires a great deal of time, which many young working families do not have.

Doyle, a 69-year-old retired florist from East Memphis, has been gardening at Shelby Farms for four years. He visits his plot daily, except on Sundays, for six to eight hours a day.

“[The community gardens] have given me a good tan, keep me laughing, and keep me fighting the weeds,” Doyle says while relaxing in a lawn chair in front of his plot. “It’s a constant challenge, but it’s so rewarding when you plant a really tiny seed and it grows into a big bush with green beans all over it.”

There are no rules as to what can be grown (as long as it’s legal, of course), so myriad vegetables and various flowers abound in the 624 plots (500 are currently in use).

No one seems to know much about the gardens’ history, only that they were started by a man named Bob James. The year remains a mystery. At one time, the gardens were divided into the Shelby County Senior Gardens and Youth Gardens, but these plots are now open to all ages.

“Everybody has their own hobby, and in this case, this is something that is not just a hobby. They can grow vegetables. They can grow flowers. They can get exercise. They can be with people,” Cervetti says. “It just runs the gamut of meeting a lot of the needs that people have. It’s a really well-rounded program.”

Anyone interested in obtaining a plot in the Shelby Farms community gardens should call Tommie Cervetti at the Shelby County Mayor’s Office on Aging at 452-0340.

News The Fly-By

PYRAMID ENVY

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date June 21, 2002

In a story headlined “Tyson’s Legacy: Quitter,” Boston Globe sportswriter Ron Borges went out of his way to take a few potshots at Memphis. Borges wrote, “[Tyson’s] immediate future was decided as [the referee] counted him out at The Pyramid, a building that claims to be ‘the third largest pyramid in the world.’ That is a claim as phony as the one Tyson has long made of being ‘the baddest man on the planet.’ One isn’t much of a pyramid and the other isn’t much of a man.”

To a certain degree, Borges has a point. The Pyramid — originally called the Great American Pyramid — is only 321 feet tall, a whopping 29 feet shorter than the pyramidal Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. The Great Pyramid of Cheops, which sets the standard for pyramids worldwide, is 482 feet tall, and the Khafre pyramid is 447 feet tall. So, indeed, when it comes to pyramids, we are, at the very least, number four. Still, the last time we checked, our Pyramid (not much of one) is significantly larger than any situated in Boston (which, the last time we checked, hasnone), and Mr. Borges has yet to challengeTyson (who is not much of a man) to a Texas cage-match.

Letters To The Editor Opinion

Postscript

Post author By Flyer Readers
Post date June 21, 2002

Hee Haw

To the Editor:

When my band, the Brooklyn Cowboys, played Memphis last weekend, Chris Davis was kind enough to mention us (Sound Advice, June 6th issue). While Davis had mostly good things to say, your readers would’ve been better served if he had done his homework more thoroughly.

Davis questioned whether we were too citified to play real country music. He wrote that, on our last release, our singer “sounds like a parody of a spoof of a send-up of Hee Haw, with singers employing the kind of Southern accents you only find on reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Had Davis read our press kit, he would’ve known that the band is now based in Nashville, and said singer, Brian Waldschlager, is from Knoxville (voted best male singer in Knoxville, 1997), and Brian does indeed speak, and sing, like a parody of a spoof of a send-up of Hee Haw, with an accent you might find on The Dukes of Hazzard — and that’s why we love him!

We thank Davis for his positive words about us, and I hope now that he knows the facts, he will allow himself to enjoy our last CD, The Other Man in Black/(The Ballad of Dale Earnhardt), and forthcoming full-length studio CD, Dodging Bullets.

Fredro Perry

The Brooklyn Cowboys

Nashville

Thanks

To the Editor:

I thank you for George Shadroui’s article “A Son’s Lament” (Viewpoint, June 13th issue). My father passed last November and my uncle last December. These were the only two men who knew me well since birth. They were my supporters, my cheerleaders. They taught me so much. They were good men, not perfect, but I knew they loved me, and I miss them both very much. It was my intention to go to the cemetery when I read the article. It’s been hard as we approach Father’s Day, but I am grateful for Shadroui’s honesty. The article put into words much of what I am feeling. For that, again I say thank you.

Roz Nichols

Memphis

Joy Turns To Confusion

To the Editor:

I picked up your paper the other day and came across a picture of Corey Feldman (Music Feature, June 6th issue). I immediately smiled, knowing that I was about to read something really funny about Feldman and his music. But my joy slowly turned to confusion as I read on and came to the conclusion: “This isn’t funny.” I mean, the quotes from Feldman about Corey Haim were enough to get a good laugh from me, but I was extremely disappointed in the writing style.

I was expecting better things from the Flyer. Maybe a call to arms for everyone to attend the concert and yell, “Sing another one, Mouth” or “Corey Haim rules.” Instead, I read an insightful piece about Feldman and his desire to be taken seriously — and the Flyer fell for it. The article took Corey Feldman seriously! Is there no satire left in these pages? Do you realize the rock musician who sounds like a “cross between the Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt, and Eminem but with a heavy, straightforward rock-and-roll edge” is Corey Feldman?

Unfortunately, I was out of town and unable to attend the concert, but I truly hope he was severely mocked. If not, then I am blaming this paper for not inciting something that needed to happen.

Justin Hart

Memphis

A BIT OFFENDED

To the Editor:

I was a bit offended recently when I read the condescending remarks some journalists made about Memphians’ desire to be recognized as “big-time.” We have suffered these “backwater” references going back at least to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I visited Chicago, Atlanta, and Nashville in the past two weeks and noticed the absence of people carrying and talking on cell phones. In Memphis, store check-out lines are cell-phone talk centers. I am not sure why there is such pervasive use of cell phones in every forum here, from schools and businesses to social gatherings, including church.

I believe this cell-phone prevalence deserves to be noted while we are patting ourselves on the back as equal to the rest of the big-timers. Is it also time to become equal with government-imposed restrictions? Is there not someplace we can voluntarily turn them off?

Thomas Williams

Memphis

The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.

News The Fly-By

City Reporter

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date June 21, 2002

What’s Next For Shelby Farms?

County commission votes down plan for Shelby Park.

By John Branston

Political miscalculations have put the fate of the proposed Shelby Park Conservancy in doubt.

The Shelby County Commission voted 6-4 Monday against turning Shelby Farms over to a privately funded conservancy, reversing its 9-2 approval of the concept in May.

“We’re down but far from out,” said Ron Terry, mastermind of the conservancy plan. “Normally, you should be able to count votes before you have a vote taken, but in this case, some of the votes were pretty well obscured.”

An impassioned last-gasp appeal from Shelby County mayor Jim Rout on behalf of the conservancy failed.

“This is not a political football,” Rout said. “I urge you to think about this. Do not defeat this item. Defer it, but don’t kill it today.”

A majority of the commissioners, however, was not moved by the lame-duck mayor, although retiring commissioner Buck Wellford, a conservancy supporter, switched his vote to the majority to keep his options open.

In some ways, Shelby Farms has become a political football. Joe Cooper, the Democratic candidate for Wellford’s seat, attended the meeting and spoke in favor of allowing commercial development in part of the 4,450-acre park. His Republican opponent, Bruce Thompson, has ridiculed that position. On Monday, Cooper scaled down his proposal from 2,000 or more acres to a modest 25 to 30 acres of development suggested by Commissioner Michael Hooks.

Cooper sat next to developer Jackie Welch, who is both a political kingpin and a supporter of developing some of Shelby Farms. But Welch downplayed his involvement and said he was at the meeting only because his daughter was being appointed to the Land Use Control Board and he had a zoning case before the commission.

“I’m not involved, and I’m not going to get crosswise with Rout or anyone else,” Welch said. “My opinion is that you could take 30 to 40 acres of frontage along Germantown Road and lease it and produce some income. [The county] could have had Wal-Mart there.”

Welch said Hooks called him to verify some property values along Germantown Parkway because Welch sold some adjoining land to Storage U.S.A. Welch has supported Hooks politically and raised money for his campaigns in the past.

But the political football analysis shortchanges some philosophical objections made previously by some opponents of the proposed conservancy. Commissioner Walter Bailey in particular has questioned the wisdom of turning over a huge public asset to a private board, even one willing to invest $20 million in park improvements and maintenance. He has noted that proponents brought the proposal to the commission scarcely a month ago as pretty much of a done deal and urged commission ratification by July 1st.

“The Shelby County government is not for sale,” Bailey said. “If you got money, you got control. I will not vote for this project.”

Marilyn Loeffel, who also voted against the conservancy, is a member of a conservative faction of the Republican Party that has some problems with Rout, but her objections also were grounded on principles. She thinks the elected commission is giving away too much power to appointed authorities.

Even though he is in the thick of the political campaign for his commission seat and has bad blood with Welch, Wellford was willing to grant opponents of the conservancy some good-faith motives. “I think a combination of issues is going on,” he said. “You’ve got some people who legitimately think this is an elitist project, and they are sort of reacting in a populist, anti-elitist attitude. I think Walter personifies that. Second, I have no doubt there are developers looking to carve out a substantial part of the park. Third, some Democrats are trying to give some credibility to Joe Cooper.”

Wellford said any opposition to the conservancy, even in the form of a request for a study of land values, is tantamount to killing it.

“Momentum is everything in politics,” he said. “Ron Terry may not have the energy or desire to put it back together in six months or a year from now, but the new mayor could make it a priority.”

A day after the meeting, Terry sounded like he still has plenty of fight left in him.

“You still have the same question of whether we can give additional information to the commission that would be persuasive enough to make them reconsider their action and whether we can continue with the progress in the state legislative delegation concerning the Agricenter bill over there,” he said.

That bill would dissolve the Agricenter in favor of the conservancy.

Crime Reporting Gets Update

New system is based on actual incidents.

By Janel Davis

Next month, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) will release 2001 crime statistics reported by all law-enforcement agencies in the state. It will use an incident-based system instead of the traditional summary system.

The new Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS) is drastically different from the old Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system used by the FBI to publish its annual crime statistics. The UCR system applies a hierarchical rule to offenses and only collects information on the most serious offense connected with an incident and drops any others. Such a system only reports information on eight types of crimes, and only arrest information is reported on other offenses, including drug possession, forgery, and fraud.

TIBRS collects information on up to 10 offenses attached to an incident, including 22 Group A offenses made up of 47 specific crimes. Arrests are reported for 11 Group B offense categories. The new system views a crime and all of its components as an “incident.” Information is collected on the circumstances, victims, offenders, property, and arrestees. There is no felony and misdemeanor classification in the TIBRS system. As another important addition to the new system, TIBRS will include juvenile cases.

The TIBRS report will also provide information on domestic violence, gang crime, the time and location of an incident, and any victim/offender relationships.

Offenses will be counted according to the FBI’s practices and standards and will be classified into three categories — crimes against persons, crimes against society, and crimes against property. Each victim in the crimes-against-persons category — including homicide, assault, sex offenses, and kidnapping — will equal one offense. For example, an aggravated assault that involves two victims will be counted as two aggravated assaults.

In the case of crimes against society, mostly drug violations, each offense counts as one occurrence, as do crimes against property. Motor-vehicle thefts are the exception. If two automobiles are stolen in one incident, two thefts will be reported.

TBI staff attorney Jeanne Broadwell warns citizens not to compare 2000’s UCR numbers with the 2001 TIBRS report. “The numbers will look different and be much higher,” says Broadwell. “Don’t panic. New crime rates cannot be compared to old data. Trend information will not be available until the 2002 publication.”

In the 2001 publication, each of the 409 law-enforcement agencies that report to the TBI will be represented. The document will list reported offenses, and the agency’s success will be determined by the number of those offenses that have been cleared. Clearance means an arrest has been made or an arrest cannot be made but the offender has been identified.

While Tennessee law-enforcement agencies have been recording crimes based on the TIBRS format for more than five years, the 2001 Crime in Tennessee report will be the first to depict the statistics in TIBRS format. The report will be available on the TBI Web site, www.tbi.state.tn.us.

Shelby County district attorney Bill Gibbons’ annual report, released last week for 2001, used TIBRS data. The report listed a decrease in domestic violence cases and DUI charges but showed an increase in weapons charges, crimes against property, and the truancy rate.

Out With the Old?

A look at school reform models one year later.

By Mary Cashiola

The models have had their turn; now it’s time to let the Diamonds shine. It’s been roughly a year since Memphis City Schools superintendent Johnnie B. Watson did away with the district’s reform models.

But has it made a difference?

“I’m anxious to see the test results when they come back,” says Watson. “We’ve been using best practices; we have the districtwide curriculum; we implemented the textbook adoption plan. Hopefully, we have things in place that will make a difference.”

The district hopes to see test data from the state in the next few weeks.

When Watson was elected superintendent, he charged the district’s research-and- evaluation department with studying each model and its performance record with the children. The results were not great.

“I’ve never regretted my decision [to abolish the reform models],” says Watson. “I interacted with teachers, principals, and students. Many of the teachers did not like the reform models implemented in their schools.”

What do teachers think now? Watson doesn’t want to speak for his employees. “Leadership sometimes makes a difference,” he says. “I would like to think the fact that I empowered teachers to teach has helped make a change in climate.”

Dr. Marieta Harris, associate superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and school effectiveness, says that the district did not have to do an about-face when the models were removed. “We realized when there was a study in progress that there was a great possibility that the models would not be continued. The improved curriculum gave us a strong focus for instruction,” says Harris.

While the reform models are gone, some of their practices may linger on. Harris says that if any teachers found something through their reform model that they felt was working for the students, the district encouraged them to keep using it, along with the systemwide curriculum. But if the district’s strategic plan has also given schools even greater direction, there is one driving force in the district right now. “Since we’re no longer implementing the models, the state-identified school situation has forced us to look at what we’re doing in a different way,” says Harris.

The KIPP: Diamond Academy is one such way. The nationwide program, which is based on “no shortcuts” thinking and includes longer hours and mandatory homework, opened for classes last Friday at Cypress Middle School.

“There wasn’t one [particular] thing that drew me to the school,” says parent Tereatha Hobbs of her decision to enroll her 10-year-old son. “I liked the program and I felt my son needed discipline.”

The goal at KIPP is to eliminate the what-ifs in the lives of students: if the school day were longer; if homework were mandatory; if parents and students bought into the program. The result will hopefully be higher test scores.

“We’ve asked all our schools to build on best practices. What we’ve done is move forward,” says Harris.

Editorial Opinion

Hollow Victory

Post author By Editorial
Post date June 21, 2002

Last week, the state Court of Appeals reversed a decision made a year earlier in Chancery Court that granted The Memphis Flyer rights to obtain photos of recently hired Sheriff’s Department deputies. It was a victory of sorts for the Sheriff’s Department, but it is our hope that the decision was the last such victory for a department well overdue for change.

From 1997 through this past year, the Flyer published a number of articles documenting corruption and incompetence in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department. Among the highlights: sexual-harassment lawsuits, police-brutality lawsuits, nepotism and cronyism in hiring practices, and the horribly managed county jail facility.

In 1999, a Flyer reporter discovered that 10 of 19 recently hired deputies had criminal records, including two who had pled guilty to felonies. Furthermore, most of these new hires were related to Sheriff’s Department personnel. We asked the Sheriff’s Department to provide us with the official pictures of the deputies. The department refused on the rather nebulous grounds that these new employees might be asked to work “undercover” at some point.

The Flyer argued successfully in Chancery Court that since photos of the 19 employees in question were already hanging in a public place in the department’s training academy, they were already public record. That sensible verdict was overturned last week.

It is our fervent hope that such stories — and such court battles — will become a thing of the past for the taxpayers when Sheriff A.C. Gilless leaves office this year. The legacy Gilless and his cronies have created is a dismal one and a poor reflection on us all. We regret the Court of Appeals decision, and we fervently disagree with it, but we have chosen not to spend any more legal fees pursuing the matter.

As one wag in our office said, next time, we’ll just get their mug shots.

Reading the Evidence

Memphis can’t afford 28 high schools, and the available evidence strongly suggests that it doesn’t need them either.

Last week, this newspaper reported that eight high schools graduated fewer than 100 students this spring, but the Memphis Board of Education goes right along spending millions of dollars to rebuild or replace many of them.

The school board and the school-funding task force need to look into this in more detail. It is the school board, not the administration, that recommended, for instance, $20 million for Manassas High School and its 60 graduates in the class of 2002. Where are the supporting population projections and demographic studies?

While the mainstream media concentrate on the issue of charter schools and the KIPP Academy, they ignore the bigger picture. The graduate count, unlike the dropout rate, is clear and unequivocal. By looking at three-year, five-year, and 10-year trends, a picture emerges as to which schools are turning out finished products and which are not. It is notable that the oldest high school, Central, is also one of the most successful, suggesting that students value achievement, leadership, and a reputation for performance above all.

Closing a school is politically difficult and unpopular, but so is shortchanging overcrowded schools that get the job done.

Politics Politics Beat Blog

Politics

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date June 21, 2002

Oh, Henry!

The media favorite is still playing catch-up with Van Hilleary in the GOP primary.

by JACKSON BAKER

The two Republican candidates for governor have different attitudes toward the media.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary, fairly universally perceived to be the front-runner, is more than somewhat wary of the fourth estate. As the congressman, who has been relying predominantly on public events and news releases, sees it, he’s been burned by nonstop and unfair criticism in the press. In some quarters, Hilleary thinks he’s been subject to ridicule while his opponent, former state Rep. Jim Henry of Kingston, has become something of a media darling.

There’s something to Hilleary’s notion. Henry is at ease with reporters and seeks them out in his continuing effort to play catch-up. “Free media” is one of the basic strategies used by underfunded candidacies. But in a conversation at his new East Memphis headquarters last week, Henry vowed to outspend his opponent on media advertising the rest of the way until August 1st, and, although he won’t be required to file a financial disclosure until July 25th, he claims that he has out-raised Hilleary “since the first of the year.”

Henry’s advertising strategy includes 100 new billboards which went up on Tennessee thoroughfares this past Monday. All of them bear the candidate’s likeness and the slogan “Ready for the Job.” (That replaces the earlier one, “Smart, Qualified, and Electable,” which, said Henry, was “just us having some fun.”)

The former House Republican leader, who had close working relations with former Governor Lamar Alexander, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate, says that he “would welcome” the support of current Governor Don Sundquist, who has hinted that he might endorse Henry but hasn’t done so yet. (The governor has endorsed Alexander in his Senate primary race against 7th District congressman Ed Bryant.)

Henry cited a recent electronic poll done by a Knoxville TV station showing him standing at 21 percent against Hilleary’s 41 percent and maintained that those numbers put him “on course.” He acknowledged that the poll was unscientific and acknowledged further that news reports over the year or so of his candidacy have tended to recycle at intervals the same theory that he was about to make a major move and threaten Hilleary’s lead. It hasn’t happened yet, but Henry says the new media blitz will make it happen.

On the burning issue of the day a revenue solution for Tennessee’s budget crisis Henry continues to insist that he’s for “tax reform.” Although that term is increasingly used in political circles as a synonym for support of an income tax, Henry says he isn’t recommending one. “I’m not at all sure that would be a solution to our revenue problems. It’s more of a ‘fairness’ issue than anything else.” But he won’t close the door on that option, as both Hilleary and Democratic front-runner Phil Bredesen, the former mayor of Nashville, have. Both are “demagoguing,” and their pledges to “manage” the state out of its fiscal dilemma run “counter to belief,” says Henry, who maintains that the difference between the two is that “people expect Bredesen to know better.”

What Henry is proposing is a constitutional convention to redesign the state’s tax structure (this to be undertaken after some stopgap legislation in the meantime). “We can’t just ram something down the people’s throat,” he said. “We’ve got to give them a voice.” But one thing was certain and undeniable, he averred: “The state needs new revenue. There’s no way out of that.”

· Carol Chumney, runner-up in last month’s Democratic primary for Shelby County mayor, has left the law firm of Glankler, Brown, where she had been for the last several years. Chumney has established her own private practice in White Station Tower, where she says she will maintain a general practice but will specialize in the areas of personal injuries, workers’ compensation, divorce, criminal defense, child custody, adoption, and employment law.

· U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. will serve as moderator for a “Congressional Roundtable” featuring AmeriCorps volunteers and former President Bill Clinton on Thursday in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.

The meeting, sure to be a high-profile one, is being held in conjunction with National Service Day and is sponsored by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the organization of conservative-to-moderate Democrats which served as a launching pad for the presidential bid by Clinton, who had been one of the group’s presidents.

Ford is now an active member of the DLC and of its related organizations, including the New Democratic Coalition in the House of Representatives. The Memphis congressman serves on the executive council of the NDC.

Watching the Rear

Both candidates for mayor have to secure their lines of support.

by JACKSON BAKER

One part of conventional wisdom has it that Democrat A C Wharton is a shoo-in for Shelby County mayor because of (a) his likeability; (b) his expertise; and (c) perhaps most importantly, his demographic edge.

A counter argument goes that Republican nominee George Flinn could end up the winner on the strength of his personal resources coupled with the huge GOP primary vote expected in two major state-ballot races — that for U.S. senator involving Lamar Alexander and Ed Bryant and the 7th District congressional contest in which three of the five candidates have local bases.

Both of these either/or scenarios may have to be revised in accordance with circumstances that could undermine the candidates’ expected party support.

In Wharton’s case, the problem has a famous surname: Ford. Sir Isaac Ford, the youngest son of former 9th District congressman Harold Ford Sr. and the brother of the current congressman, is making his maiden race for public office as an independent candidate in the mayor’s race, and, while no one — perhaps not even young Ford — can imagine him as the winner, many are wondering if he can upset Wharton’s apple cart.

Flinn’s concern is the tenuous state of Republican unity. Not only are some longtime Republicans close to his recent primary opponent, state Rep. Larry Scroggs, still aggrieved at what they see as having been unfair attacks upon their man, but the party’s nominal leader, incumbent Shelby County mayor Jim Rout, seems to have his own reservations about Flinn.

Several Republican regulars report recent conversations in which either Rout or another member of his family has expressed sympathy for Wharton’s mayoral ambitions. Asked about this on Tuesday, the mayor merely repeated what he has said for public consumption — that he is “heavily involved” with four other races and will “play no active role” in the mayor’s race.

For the record, the beneficiaries of Rout’s support (and fund-raising help) are GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Henry, senatorial candidate Alexander, 7th District congressional candidate David Kustoff, and Republican sheriff’s nominee Mark Luttrell.

Several members of the Republican Party’s moderate faction have talked out loud lately about forming a consensus with like-minded Democrats to endorse, or at least openly support, a tandem of Wharton and Luttrell.

Rout, however, says, “I am a Republican and plan to support the ticket.” That statement echoes the one which is being urged upon other party members these days by local party chairman Alan Crone, who personally has no reservations about rendering stout and specific public support for Flinn by name. “I’m excited by George’s vision,” says Crone, who has cited the candidate’s pledge of “accountability” as one of the reasons for that excitement.

But the same word had proved troubling to Rout, who wondered if Flinn had intended it as an ex post facto rebuke to the Republican incumbent’s own administration, which has been targeted in some quarters for the county’s current $1.3 billion in public debt. Flinn sat down with the mayor last week and attempted to reassure him on that score, and virtually the first words out of the Republican nominee’s mouth at a subsequent Chamber of Commerce-sponsored mayoral forum were expressions of support for Rout’s conduct in office.

At the same forum, Sir Isaac Ford made what was for most observers his debut in the race. In one sense, Ford formed a triad with two other candidates whom no one gives a chance — newcomer Johnny Kelly and Libertarian Bruce Young — while most eyes and ears were on Flinn and Wharton, both of whom, stressing education and fiscal solvency, held their own.

In another sense, though, Ford clearly set himself apart from his fellow also-rans. Some of his points seemed hazy or were set forth in rambling fashion — maybe a good thing for this audience, since the position papers released so far by the self-declared “hip-hop” candidate contain some strikingly radical ideas. (Notable among them is a proposal to spend “billions” on reparations for slavery.)

But the young candidate obviously possesses an attitude — compounded of self-belief, confidence, and personal assertiveness — that runs through his highly political family and, in its fully developed form, can even be called charisma. Right now, though, most people, even Ford-family familiars, see Sir Isaac more as a case of pointless chutzpah.

But maybe, some are beginning to wonder, there’s method to the madness. Despite the overt support being given Wharton’s candidacy by the Fords and their allies, might not Sir Isaac’s candidacy be something of a hedge? Or a reminder to Wharton about who his long-term friends are?

In any case, the name Ford commands considerable loyalty among Memphis’ inner-city Democrats (a non-relative named Barry Ford upset a party regular for a position on the Democratic executive committee some years back), and all by itself could drain away enough votes from Wharton to give him serious worries.

For this reason, several Wharton supporters have begun to urge the former congressman and his son, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., to erase all doubt by making themselves both visible and vocal for the Democratic nominee.

It remains to be seen. Indeed, as we look ahead to the traditionally volatile month of July, much still remains to be seen in the case of both major mayoral candidates.

Film Features Film/TV

Bad Dog, Bad Boy

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date June 21, 2002

The plot is simple. Four twentysomethings and a Great Dane solve mysteries as Mystery Inc. They are: the beautiful damsel in distress Daphne, the brainy nerd Velma, handsome but vapid Fred (he wears an ascot), and the shaggy well, Shaggy. The Great Dane, as anyone alive in the last 20 or so years knows, is Scooby-Doo.

After foiling yet another sinister villain (whose supernatural powers are easily explained by Velma, as usual), Mystery Inc. disbands when Fred takes all the credit — everyone, that is, except for Shaggy and Scooby. Two years later, the eccentric Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson, in a much more palatable comic turn than his Bean fare) separately summons the Mystery Inc.-ers to his Spooky Mountain theme park, hoping to reunite the gang to solve the mystery of why his patrons leave the island as zombies. What ensues is a parade of zany high jinks inspired by (if not directly borrowed from) the original Saturday morning cartoon.

This movie is weird. It isn’t quite adult enough for adults — albeit there is a pretty funny marijuana joke peppered in for anyone who rightly suspected Shaggy of partaking of more than Scooby Snacks. It’s a little too scary for kids — misery and woe to the preadolescent who is afraid of clowns and funhouses, ’cause there is some pretty messed-up stuff on Spooky Island. In fact, I was even a little creeped out myself by some of the monster gore and demonic occupants of the haunted castle. There is also some odd business involving a soul-stealing device — hence the zombies. If I were a child, I would come out of this experience with major questions about what a soul is, how it can be extracted from my body, and whether or not it can bounce about like a pinball. Also a bit frightening: the zombies, who talk in “true dat” street slang and listen to Sugar Ray.

But scariest of all: Someone at Warner Bros. thought this movie might be a good idea. Why bother producing a live-action version of a cartoon only to reproduce, to the smallest detail, the way cartoons work? That’s fun for about five minutes but then what? And the acting? This is no Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Real-life sweethearts Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred are as flat as their pen-and-ink predecessors. Though Linda Cardellini makes a game Velma, this movie does nothing to support the lesbian rumors that are traditionally associated with the character. (A kiss between her and Daphne was excised from the film just before its release. Damn!) Only Matthew Lillard as Shaggy rises above as at least a human caricature. His delivery is nearly letter-perfect Casey Kasem (the cartoon’s original voice), with some actual pathos and charm the original Shaggy lacked — an improvement. Scooby is the cheapest-looking computer-generated work since Michael Keaton’s snowman in Jack Frost and the Scorpion Monster in The Mummy Returns. His vocabulary has improved, but his body should have stayed a cartoon. Even a Pete’s Dragon cartoon/live-action treatment might have looked snazzier.

The script is nothing new. This plot has figured in bits and pieces in better movies and even better episodes of the series. Although, unlike the original series, there are human feelings on display, they are as one-dimensional as just about everything else. A superficial friendship-overcomes-everything theme does not redeem here. I had many of the same problems with The Flintstones. Colorful, amusing, but flat flat flat. But Hanna-Barbera didn’t exactly produce the most three-dimensional cartoons, did it? Bugs Bunny this isn’t. Hell, this isn’t even as involving as a (good) G.I. Joe. But this is the studio that brought you the Hair Bears, Snagglepuss, and the Shmoo. Be disappointed. Be very disappointed.

— Bo List

Weaponry seems to be the main focus of Hollywood’s summer-movie slate — from the threat of nuclear terrorism in The Sum Of All Fears to the possibility of an atomic bomb falling into the wrong hands in Bad Company to The Bourne Identity, which places its vision of armaments in the form of a human being. That human being is one Jason Bourne (played by a buffer-than-usual Matt Damon), a top-secret government agent who becomes the target of an intricate CIA hit after he loses his memory.

With its trans-European setting and cool casting, The Bourne Identity is sleeker than many of the early summer blockbusters. Unfortunately, Damon is the weakest link in a cast that includes Franka Potente (the fire-haired sprinter at the heart of Run Lola Run), Clive Owen (who made audiences take notice as the ultra-cool card dealer in Mike Hodges’ memorable Croupier), and American ingenue Julia Stiles. Beginning with Damon’s rescue at sea (his seemingly lifeless body is found adrift in the Mediterranean by a fishing boat), The Bourne Identity works on the same trajectory and schematic as Enemy Of the State. Like Will Smith, who’s targeted by a pervasive and fast-acting government organization for reasons unknown to him, Damon is the focal point of a massive witch-hunt by an equally diabolical U.S. agency. And, like Smith, Damon must unravel why he’s being chased while he’s running like hell.

Unable to remember his own name, Damon discovers he has a host of uncanny skills — he has the fighting abilities of Bruce Lee at warp speed; he speaks a multitude of languages; and he’s constantly mapping out escape routes in every room he enters — plus an unusual box of goodies at the local Swiss bank — a plethora of passports, a gun, and a hefty sum of money. So what’s an amnesiac to assume? Damon quickly figures out he was working for some high-profile folks and now is their main target.

Hoping to get from Zurich to Paris unnoticed, Damon recruits a comely German with a rickety old Mini (Franka Potente) to take him across the border. The two quickly become more than just friends, and, before you know it, the forgetful spy and footloose European are running scared from hired assassins and intricate wire-tappings.

Though Damon’s past is never fully revealed, the most disappointing element of The Bourne Identity is the fact that the film focuses most of its attention on the duo on the lam. Certainly more compelling is the assassination plot launched against Damon, in which said evil U.S. agency activates a circle of European spies (who were crafted similarly to Damon) to hunt down their loose cannon. Clive Owen plays the predominant assassin of this bunch, but his role is diminished too greatly as well.

With its Matrix-like fight scenes and intricate spy-gaming, The Bourne Identity teeters on the edge of boredom without ever toppling over. — Rachel Deahl