Month: October 2003

Bin Laden, Cop Killer

Post author By Jimmy Breslin
Post date October 31, 2003

At the end of this column is the latest list of American soldiers killed in Iraq. The Pentagon stresses that they were killed in “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” (We are giving Iraqis the freedom to kill us.) This list of 12 is for less than two weeks, ending October 21st. As I fail to find these names in other public prints, I write them here on the notion that if they have died for their country, the least we all should do is read them and perhaps even remember some of them. The names raise anger on two levels: because they died so young and for so useless a reason. “Operation Iraqi Freedom” is another preposterous lie by the Bush government. Why not say the facts: “Iraqi Oil.”

Our troops should instead be out there enforcing a New York custom that we have lived by for generations. The patrol guide for the police department of the city of New York has the code 1013: “Officer needs assistance.” When this call goes out, the police of the city stop. There ensues a large rush to a hospital to give blood and a sprawling, frantic search for the person or persons who killed a cop.

We have 23 dead police from the World Trade Center bombing. There is no code 1013. The actual killers are dead, including 15 Saudi Arabians. But the master of the attack is loose. He is Osama bin Laden and he lives on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Why haven’t we caught bin Laden, the cop killer?

Why haven’t we followed the New York tradition and put all the men we need, tens of thousands, tens of thousands more if needed, and nobody stops until bin Laden, the cop killer, is caught.

George Bush stood in the World Trade Center ruins and said he would get bin Laden as a sheriff would — smoke him out, shoot him cold dead. All the poor cops cheered. What a thrill to have a good tough guy as president! That was over two years ago. Now you never hear bin Laden mentioned.

And the cops who have lost their own do nothing. They are the most extraordinarily gullible of people. They support with all fervor the idea of our president sending troops to Iraq and not where they could capture bin Laden. The cops say nothing about their dead. They are afraid to demand that their government honor the tradition of code 1013 and catch this common cop killer. If they yelled with the emotion they use when pushing around a peace demonstration, their prep-school hero, Bush, would quiver, and I say he’d make bin Laden the goal again.

Bin Laden has killed cops and now we have to listen to tapes of him threatening to attack us again? Why do we put up with this? And why we are left with these young dead, lost while in the wrong place, and whose names we might try to memorize:

Army Spc. James E. Powell, 26, B Company, lst Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Radliff, Kentucky. Killed October 12th in Baji, Iraq, when his vehicle struck an enemy anti-tank mine.

Army Pfc. Stephen E. Wyatt, 19, C Battery, lst Battalion, 173rd Field Artillery Regiment. Kilgore, Texas. Killed October 13th in Baladad when an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire struck his convoy.

Army Spc. Douglas J. Wheeler, 22, A Company, lst Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment. Concord, Michigan. Killed October 13th in Tikrit when his unit came under attack from a rocket-propelled grenade while searching for a possible improvised explosive device.

Army Spc. Douglas J. Weismantle, 28, lst Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Killed October 13th in Baghdad when an Iraqi dump truck swerved and rolled over on top of his military vehicle.

Army Pvt. Benjamin L. Freeman, 19, K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Valdosta, Georgia. Drowned near Al Asad, Iraq, on October 13th.

Army Pfc. Jose Casanova, 23, lst Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne. El Monte, California. Died October 13th in Baghdad when an Iraqi dump truck swerved and rolled over on top of his military vehicle.

Army Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, 43, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. Nashville, Tennessee. Army Cpl. Sean R. Grilley, 24, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne. San Bernardino, California. Army Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellevia, 28, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne. Wakefield, Massachusetts. All three killed October 16th while attempting to negotiate with armed men near a mosque after curfew. The Iraqis opened fire.

Army Spc. Michael L. Williams, 46, 105th Military Police Company, Army National Guard. Buffalo, New York. Killed October 17th near Baghdad when his vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device.

Army Pfc. John Hart, 20, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 508th Infantry Battalion, 173rd Infantry Brigade. Bedford, Massachusetts. One of two soldiers who died in a guerrilla attack October 18th in a clash outside Kirkuk.

One soldier from the Army’s 377 Theater Support Group was killed October 21st in a maintenance accident north of Baghdad. (Name unavailable at this writing.)

Jimmy Breslin writes for Newsday, where this column first appeared.

Opinion Viewpoint

Censure Cheney

Post author By Richard Cohen
Post date October 31, 2003

Dick Cheney is sometimes referred to as George W. Bush’s brain or, to be even more mocking, his ventriloquist. It would be fitting then for this most powerful of all vice presidents to be the first in American history to be censured. He has it coming.

It won’t happen, of course. But Cheney ought to be made to account for his repeated exaggerations of the Iraqi threat. I am referring specifically to his dire warning that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was working on a menacing nuclear-weapons program and the United States had to do something about it. We know now that such a program did not exist.

We know it because it cannot be found. We know it because it is impossible to hide such a program since, among other things, traces of it can be detected in the air and in the water. We know it because the experts — Americans and others — have now said so. They have told my Washington Post colleague Barton Gellman that Iraq, in his words, had “no active program to build a weapon, produce its key materials or obtain the technology … needed for either.” That, inconveniently, is what U.N. weapons inspectors maintained all along.

But those inspectors were not only dismissed by Cheney as Saddam’s useful idiots, they were actually bullied by him. Former Assistant Secretary of State James P. Rubin wrote in Foreign Affairs that when Cheney met with Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei, the two most prominent U.N. inspectors, he bluntly told them that if the Bush administration found fault with their judgment, “We will not hesitate to discredit you.” It now appears that it’s Cheney who’s been discredited.

Cheney did not limit his bullying to U.N. inspectors. His growling impatience with dissent pervaded the Bush administration, especially the intelligence community. In The New Yorker, Seymour M. Hersh reported that Cheney dismissed intelligence that did not fit his preconceived notions and seized on reports that validated his views. He basically short-circuited the laborious process for vetting intelligence — one that worked well — and instead reached down into the CIA and elsewhere to mine the particles of information that suited his purposes. It was fool’s gold.

Not only did he trample over traditional intelligence procedures, he repeatedly issued Chicken Little warnings about Iraq’s nuclear potential. He characteristically put things in absolute terms. “We do know, with absolute certainty, that he [Saddam] is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon,” he said a year ago.

We knew no such thing — not with certainty, absolute or otherwise. In fact, the intelligence community had grave doubts about Cheney’s assertion. Ultimately, a version of this fiction wound up in the president’s State of the Union address. It has since been rendered inoperative. Oops.

Cheney was a University of Wisconsin graduate student during the Vietnam era and, by his own admission, took little notice of the antiwar movement on campus. If he had, he might have discerned that it was animated not just by opposition to the war but by the incessant fudging, lying, and misrepresentations of the Johnson administration.

Now Cheney has become a key player in yet another dismal effort to mislead the American people. As with Vietnam itself, issues of candor and judgment are beginning to obscure worthy war aims, like the elimination of Saddam’s murderous regime.

It is hard to know whether Cheney’s repeated assertions about Iraq’s nuclear program were purposeful misrepresentations or the product of a true believer’s faith in his own misconceptions. Either way, the always-smug and contemptuous Cheney has much to answer for. He has failed as George Bush’s brain. Let’s hope he is not his conscience, too.

Richard Cohen is a member of the Washington Post Writers Group.

Letters To The Editor Opinion

Postscript

Post author By Flyer Readers
Post date October 31, 2003

Weathers Gets an A

To the Editor:

In response to Ed Weathers’ Viewpoint article “A Grade-A Mistake” in your October 16th issue, I couldn’t agree more! I believe it is grades and test scores that have become most valuable to students, teachers, and administrators. As Weathers points out, when a grade becomes the motivating factor, a student cannot afford to make an error. In my opinion, error is the means for discovery, greater understanding, and growth. When it is inhibited and degraded, learning is thwarted. As I have witnessed many times, students are no longer motivated from within and often become parrots and pleasers.

There is certainly a lot more to consider than dress codes and funding when it comes to improving our learning environments.

Grace Benz

Memphis

A Perfect Organic Liberal

To the Editor:

I enjoy checking in on the Flyer occasionally to see what’s going on in the Bluff City. But I also enjoy reading the increasingly purple rants of Tim Sampson’s We Recommend column. It’s a perfect, weekly, organic example of how the liberals in today’s society are literally losing it. His spiteful tantrums, like Ted Kennedy’s, show that those on the angry left will never understand why George W. Bush will be remembered by history as one of our greatest presidents.

Look at today’s (October 23rd issue) column: The writer is still hung up on the Florida election controversy from 2000. Typically, he hoists his arguments on inaccuracies or fallacies. Noting that Bill Clinton was “the last president to hold office by being elected by a majority of the popular vote,” the crybaby forgets that Bill Clinton never achieved a majority in either election. He won thanks to a fluke named Ross Perot. If Sampson’s going to throw a fit, at least he should get his facts straight. Or better yet, why doesn’t he stick to telling us what’s going on in Memphis?

Rob Ikard

Nashville

Not A Willie Fan

To the Editor:

I want to know why some City Council members think Mayor Willie Herenton is deserving of a significant pay raise. He serves his own interests, intervening in issues only to raise his own stature. It is now months after the storm that caused so much upheaval and we still have problems with trees and power lines (see Jackson Ave. behind Rhodes College, for example).

When you add it all up, it spells a pay cut, not a $40,000 raise.

Glenn Condrey

Memphis

No Regrets

To the Editor:

Wow!! Seeing the editor’s note in the 765th issue (Letters, October 23rd issue) almost made me fall off thejohn when I read it. Who’d have thought thesuper-liberal Flyer would ever regret anything? I bet this is a first,after the previous 764 times the Flyer had a chance to do it.

Maybe there is hope after all.

Rik Anderson

Memphis

Editor’s note: The Flyer sincerely regrets that you did not fall off the john.

A Lack of Compassion?

To the Editor:

Those enjoying the stories about Rush Limbaugh’s addiction to painkillers (Letters, October 23rd issue) should step back, take a good look at their lack of compassion, and ask themselves if they truly like what they are becoming. The joy that they are experiencing over someone else’s misery says a lot more about them than getting addicted to painkillers (for pain) says about Limbaugh.

To be less than perfect is all too human; to enjoy someone else’s pain is inhumane and cruel. Apparently, the first thing lost in the war on drugs wasn’t just the Bill of Rights. It was our very humanity and our sense of compassion.

Chris Leek

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.

Editorial Opinion

Editorial

Post author By Editorial
Post date October 31, 2003

Back to Earth

“It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow somebody some good,” goes the old proverb. And the ill winds that have beset the “Coalition of the Willing” (that’s us) in Iraq have produced at least one useful byproduct — greater accessibility to public and press on the part of this highly secretive administration, which has up until now held its cards awfully close to the chest.

Not only are figures like Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice increasingly available (it’s hardly possible to turn on a Sunday talk show without finding one or the other), even Vice President Dick Cheney is under pressure to leave his Undisclosed Locations more often. Even more remarkable, the prez himself, George W. Bush, has shown a willingness to confront an increasingly inquisitive media.

Bush’s press conference this week, held in the wake of serial calamities on the ground in Iraq, yielded noticeably sharper questioning than did the one he held in February, just before the president committed American troops to a ground war for which there was not then, and is not now, sufficient public justification.

The president was pushed hard on the absence of the ever-elusive WMDs and, for that matter, on the issue of Israeli intransigence on the matter of a Palestinian state. To give Bush credit, he issued a rare denunciation of the fence now being erected in occupied West Bank territory. “There’s a difference between security and land acquisition,” the president said, looking and sounding serious. The president also declined being baited by a Fox News operative into threatening PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat. “Not every [situation] requires military action,” Bush responded.

On other issues, the president was less forthcoming, hewing to many of the same-old same-old justifications for action in Iraq and official optimism about that nation’s future — though he did concede, meaningfully, “Iraq is a dangerous place.” And his defense of the famous aircraft-carrier boast, “Mission Accomplished,” seemed notably subdued.

The president seemed at times to have an edge on, as when he observed that a broadcast journalist had “a face for radio” and peevishly refused a follow-up to another questioner “particularly since you interrupted me.”

All in all, though, Bush actually seemed to be trying to deal with reality. What’s happening in Iraq and in the Middle East is an ill wind, but if it’s brought the president of the United States back to earth, it has blown some good.

Going Local

In a well-received appearance before the Memphis Rotary Club this week, interim University of Tennessee president Joe Johnson reminded his listeners that “a president isn’t a university.”

Then, after briefly characterizing his two immediate predecessors as “morally challenged” and “ethically challenged,” respectively, Johnson underscored his point by citing some of the accomplishments of UT in recent years, like seven new research centers, four of them in Memphis in conjunction with the UT Center for Health Sciences. These centers, established at a cost of $7 million, have already attracted $221 million in federal support funds.

In other words, UT will survive the twin disgraces of middle-aged Casanova J. Wade Gilley and the self-aggrandizing John Shumaker, ex-of the University of Louisville and Connecticut. Johnson, who preceded Gilley, was persuaded to return to the helm to restore a measure of dignity while the university trustees seek a new permanent leader.

“I’d advise them to find somebody they already know something about. Maybe somebody fairly local,” said Johnson.

Good advice.

Art Art Feature

Changing of the Guard

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date October 31, 2003

Theatre Memphis announced last week that it would not renew the contract of its executive producer Ted Strickland, who came on board in late 2000 after the controversial ousting of short-time EP Michael Fortner. During Strickland’s tenure, TM seemed to make a significant comeback in terms of production quality and ticket sales. So why wasn’t his contract renewed? TM’s board president, Dan Conaway of Conaway Brown Advertising, admits that the decision was a difficult one but one that had to be made. In a candid, occasionally blunt, conversation he contemplates his organization’s recent shortcomings and paints a detailed portrait of the person who will lead Theatre Memphis into the future.

Ted Strickland has thus far declined public comment, citing severance negotiations.

Flyer: When Michael Fortner replaced Sherwood Lohrey in the ’90s, it seemed like he was coming into a pretty good situation.

Dan Conaway: Perceived to be, but not actually.

Subscription sales were in a decline?

A big decline.

But there was still a subscriber base and a tremendous economy.

Michael allowed the things that were already soft to get much softer, much worse. And the quality of what was going on the boards started to slip. You could almost watch it slip. His idea of community theater [can be compared to] the old Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movies: We’ve got a barn, let’s put on a show. You didn’t audition. You showed up, and you got in a show. Every once in a while we would root up an acorn and do a good show, but that was starting to become the exception. As a result, the better directors around town — and Memphis is blessed with good directors — weren’t coming out [to Theatre Memphis] anymore. And crew people and other volunteers just sort of drifted away.

But when Ted took over in 2000, the economy was already starting to slip. And still, it really seems like things are turning around.

Our quality is up. It really is. And interest is up. And we have a lot of new volunteers. When Ted [came] in, we were in the midst of retooling the board and the executive committee. And all that paid off. It paid off especially in Ted’s first year. We stopped the downward slide in the second year. We stopped [the problems] and got back on a nice, in-the-black, moving-up [situation]. We got honest about a few things, like where our [audience] base really is. But the momentum didn’t continue.

You said in The Commercial Appeal that one of the reasons for making this decision was a belief that your EP just wasn’t connecting with the community. What does that mean exactly?

Memphis is a town. It has a lot of city things, but it’s a town. That’s its charm, and maybe Memphians don’t see it, but people who come here from out of town do. It’s the friendliest place on earth. [But] you have to know people. You have to be connected. If you have the city of “Memphis” in your name [as in “Theatre Memphis”], then you need to represent the city, and the only way that is going to happen is if the leaders of the organization are involved in the community. We need to have that from whoever leads us.

And what other qualities are you looking for in a new EP?

You will see a lot of energy from that person. And you will see that person. Ted wasn’t seen much. The city is going to see this person. They are going to have to see this person, so that when the word “theater” is mentioned in Memphis, you think of this person. If you have an interest in what’s going on in theater in Memphis, this is the person you are going to want to call. If you had Michael Fortner’s energy and Ted’s ability to run theater-based numbers and add the third and most important element — knowledge of this marketplace — you’re going to have an executive producer who can take us where we need to go.

E-mail: davis@memphisflyer.com

News The Fly-By

City Reporter

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date October 31, 2003

Retire the Tiger?

Animal-rights group says U of M needs new mascot.

By Mary Cashiola

Colonel Reb isn’t the only controversial college mascot around.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a letter to University of Memphis president Dr. Shirley Raines Monday, asking the school to retire Tom the Tiger.

“Tigers are not domestic animals, and regardless of how long they spend in captivity, they are severely stressed when they are subjected to the overwhelming noise, crowds, and confusion of games and other events,” wrote PETA’s Amy Rhodes, senior animals-in-entertainment specialist. “A college campus is no place for a tiger.”

Raines declined to comment, as Tom II is owned by the Highland Hundred, a support group for Tiger football.

“I always keep in the back of my mind all the schools that use live animals, especially exotics,” Rhodes said when reached via phone. “We thought it was a good time to remind the University of Memphis that tigers are dangerous animals given the horrific incident involving Roy Horn.”

Horn, half of the Las Vegas animal act Siegfried and Roy, was mauled onstage by a tiger October 3rd. “This latest incident is just further evidence that no amount of training or experience can stop a tiger from acting like a tiger,” read PETA’s letter.

But Bobby Wharton, Tom II’s handler, says he doesn’t worry about the 12-year-old, 500-pound tiger. “We don’t take chances like Siegfried and Roy do,” he said. “No one is going to go into his trailer and try to wrestle with him. He’s too big and too strong.”

Tom II lives in a 3,500-square-foot habitat with two pools and a waterfall on private land in Collierville. When he travels to athletic games, he is kept inside a climate-controlled trailer. “He goes on his own recognizance,” said Wharton. “We don’t force him into the trailer. He usually likes to go; he loves the attention. He loves people.” “It’s a pride thing. We don’t have enough pride in our school. We don’t allow him to be exploited,” said Wharton. In addition to Tom II, the U of M has a costumed mascot named “Pouncer” who appears at basketball games.

PETA stresses the danger the animals present to fans as well as handlers and the unnatural conditions in which the animals live.

“We have heard from several pro teams that use costumed mascots,” said Rhodes. “They say they are much more effective and much more versatile. They use them for charity work or to read to children. Obviously, you can’t do that with a live animal.” n

Email: cashiola@memphisflyer.com

Tune In — Don’t Turn On

Television program teaches the dangers of drugs.

By Janel Davis

A local children’s television program is doing its part to educate children about the dangers of drugs.

The newest 30-minute episode of We Are Tomorrow … R-U? will include information on drug use and abuse, crime statistics, and special messages by local officials. Called “Drugs: The True Reality,” the episode was the idea of Judy McEwen, director of the Memphis Television Education Foundation, who has been working with the R-U television program for seven years.

“It’s important to use every possible means we can to get the message out about drugs to children,” said McEwen. Her staff, along with the teenage hosts, has worked for two months on the special program which will be presented during prime time, as opposed to its regular morning air time.

The drug education program is aimed at children ages 10-18 and will include a drug education test with answers provided during the program. In addition to guest appearances and public-service announcements by law-enforcement officials, viewers are introduced to drug offenders who share their stories of prison, hard times, broken families, and regrets.

The program is dedicated to the memory of Memphis police officer George Selby, a narcotics-unit deputy killed in December while serving a search warrant for illegal drugs. Tapes of the broadcast will be made available for drug education programs at schools and community centers.

“It’s weird seeing yourself on camera,” said host Joseph Brisco, 16. “It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot. I think the show will get kids’ attention.”

The show will air on Time Warner cable channels on Saturday, November 1st. WPTY-TV Channel 24 and WLMT-TV Channel 30 have already aired the program. n

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

The Blotter

Absurd crimes from the local police files.

Stopping crime with clutter: A woman on Navaho called police on October 21st because someone was trying to break into her storage area. The suspect had also broken into the shed in the backyard but nothing was taken. The victim “states he was trying to get her lawn mower,” but there was “too much junk in the room.”

The court never said anything about not stalking each other: On October 21st, a man at Kansas and Fay called the police because he was being harassed by a man and woman “over a shooting accident that happened recently.” By order of the court, the three are not allowed to discuss the case, “but the suspects continue to drive by and threaten him.”

Going for the strike: On October 23rd, the Cordova Bowling Center received a call from a man claiming to be the son of a well-known bowler in the area. The man said he had locked his keys in his vehicle, needed cash for the locksmith, and could they cash a check for him? The suspect arrived at the bowling center and they cashed his check. He said he would stay until a friend took the money to the son, but instead fled.

With friends and family like these: On October 25th, police responded to a theft on Elliston. The victim’s purse had been taken, along with $15 in cash. “The victim explained her purse was in her bedroom just before her husband had passed [away] and there was a lot of traffic in and out of the residence of family and friends. It was not until this morning when she noticed her purse was missing.” n

The Wrong Guy

Terrorism warning is not what it seems.

By Janel Davis

With friends like Kevin Butler, who needs enemies? Butler was indicted last week by a grand jury on two counts of making a false complaint to FBI investigators.

In court records, Butler allegedly told investigators that he overheard a conversation at a restaurant in West Memphis, Arkansas, between men discussing possible terrorist activity during June of this year. He reported that one of the men had even gone as far as to say, “Ensure things look like a Middle Eastern group did it.”

Butler also identified the leader and planner of the attacks. Later, he confessed to investigators that he did not hear anything and was seeking revenge on that individual because of a personal dispute.

George Bolds with the Memphis FBI office declined to comment on the case while court actions are pending. “Butler violated [a federal statute regarding statements and entries in the Crimes and Criminal Procedure section]. We spend a lot of time and expense following these leads and when a person does something like this he should be prosecuted,” he said. Bolds said that while the agency had received more reports of suspicious information since 9/11, he was not aware of any other person indicted for knowingly providing false information.

If found guilty, Butler could face five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine for each count. n

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

Bringing Your Lunch

Sophisticated cooking center for city schools officially opens.

By Mary Cashiola

Whereas the Food and Drug Administration ONCE talked about “basic food groups” — the meats, vegetables, and dairy foods needed for a healthy diet — now they talk about “meal pattern requirements.”

“The language has become a lot more sophisticated,” said Ann Terrell, director of nutrition services for Memphis City Schools (MCS).

So, it seems, has food production.

MCS recently held a grand opening and dedication ceremony for their new $22 million Central Nutrition Center. The district hails it as a “state-of-the-art” center capable of preparing 115,000 meals a day. Or more.

Just last week, an emergency at an elementary school — a power failure due to a transformer problem — meant a quick call to the center. An hour later, 500 bag lunches were delivered to the school.

“Whenever schools have field trips or emergencies where they can’t use their own kitchen equipment, we’ll do sack lunches,” said Terrell. In general, the central nutrition center will prepare bakery products, slice and dice fruits and veggies, and prepare bulk foods with a 30-day shelf life. It also houses the district’s catering staff, as well as rooms available for parties.

Detractors have worried about the safety of using one central location and transporting food all over the district. No matter how efficient, having a central facility for food production can present its own problems, as July’s summer storm demonstrated. The central nutrition center, which warehouses the entire district’s food supply, was powerless for 12 days.

“We had a couple of setbacks,” said Terrell. “Fortunately, we have backup generators for the refrigerators and freezers.” n

E-mail: cashiola@memphisflyer.com

Opinion

Stealth News

Post author By John Branston
Post date October 31, 2003

There was a good piece on 60 Minutes last week about undercover or “stealth” marketing. The segment showed how marketers plant paid actors or hip young shills in coffee shops, bars, and Internet chat rooms to subtly tout video-game accessories, cigarettes, vodka, or new movies and create a buzz about the product.

Some of the people interviewed afterward by CBS correspondent Morley Safer said the pitch was so low-key that they didn’t even know they were being pitched.

As marketing goes, so goes the news business. The corruption of news occurs not by a few sweeping decisions but by a lot of little ones. Two cases in point:

Two weeks ago MATA announced at a press conference that it had saved taxpayers $19 million by building a trolley link from downtown to the corner of Madison and Cleveland in Midtown for $55 million instead of the budgeted $74 million. Will Hudson, president and general manager of MATA, credited the “savings” to “good contracts” even though the project still lacks station shelters and overhead power lines.

The daily newspaper and all of the local television stations bit on the story and gave it prominent play. All agreed that the “savings” was the news. Not one of them took a closer look at the project to see whether the trolley extension is warranted at all or whether the savings could have been much greater.

In fact, at least part of the project appears to be wasteful. This is the first stage of a proposed light-rail line from downtown to the airport. Two routes have been studied. One would go through Overton Square and the Cooper-Young District and along Airways. The other would turn south at Pauline and follow Lamar to Airways.

Due to objections from Midtown businesses, MATA now leans toward the Lamar route. In that case, extending the line along Madison beyond Pauline was unnecessary, especially the costly bridgework over Interstate 240. Instead of linking downtown to an entertainment district in Overton Square, the new line simply ends in a Midtown no-man’s-land just east of Stewart Brothers Hardware Store. Need a box of nails, Downtowners? MATA has got you covered.

The savings pitch is supposed to make MATA look like a lean, mean machine as it ponders the much longer extension to the airport, which could cost as much as $400 million. The project was conceived when the federal government picked up 80 percent of the tab, but these days, according to MATA’s planning director Tom Fox, the competition is tougher, dollars are scarce, and the federal match (if you get it) is more like 50 percent. That would leave local and state taxpayers on the hook for $200 million plus operating deficits.

It would have taken no more than 30 seconds of television time or four column inches of type for the mainstream media to have pointed this out, to film an empty trolley (several of them pass the Flyer‘s office every hour), or to examine the relative merits of buses. But all were blinded by the trolley “savings.” That’s a nice piece of stealth public relations by MATA and its press agents.

The second stealth story was fairly obvious and probably harmless but still worth noting. On Tuesday, the National Civil Rights Museum honored former President Bill Clinton and former Memphis NAACP leader Maxine Smith with its 2003 Freedom Awards.

This annual event, while surely less partisan than the recent fat-cat Memphis fund-raiser for Vice President Dick Cheney, is essentially a Democratic Party pep rally. Previous recipients of the award include former President Jimmy Carter. Gerald Ford and George Bush need not hold their breath. The event sponsors are free to call the $50,000 they gave Clinton an “award” or anything else, but journalists should call it what it is: an appearance fee. Clinton lives large and has big bills. Does anyone think he would have come for free?

Maxine Smith is a giant in post-World War II Memphis history, but like all such people, a complex and controversial one. Armed with an elite college education, she could have chosen the comfortable life of a society lady. Instead, she plunged into the raging controversies over civil rights and school desegregation.

The desegregation of the city schools, beginning with 13 brave black children in 1961, is more accurately described 42 years later as desegregation and resegregation. The busing policy advocated by Smith, the federal court, and the NAACP drove more than 28,000 white students — some racist, some not — from the system in 1973-74 and changed neighborhoods and growth patterns forever. A well-deserved toast to Maxine Smith, but her legacy is more complex than the banquet coverage would have you think.

The late great Commercial Appeal editor Mike Grehl used to tell reporters to beware of stories that walk in the door. Updating that maxim to include faxes, e-mails, and phone calls — that’s some advice well worth $50,000.

E-mail: branston@memphisflyer.com

News The Fly-By

IT S HALLOWEEN, BABY

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date October 31, 2003

And nothing says Halloween, Memphis-style, like a skeleton in a white jumpsuit.

Cover Feature News

Reaching High

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date October 31, 2003

When Memphis Grizzlies majority owner Michael Heisley shocked the basketball world last year by luring Jerry West out of retirement to take over his lowly team, local fans could be forgiven for having large expectations. In Laker-land, West’s management tenure had been associated with players such as Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant, so fans were expecting a quick fix. But, alas, nothing moves quite as fast in Memphis as in L.A., and West’s sometimes frustrating tenure in Memphis has been marked by steady change rather than earth-shaking moves.

West missed out on the team’s few good chances at acquiring a potential superstar in the draft through a combination of bad luck, inherited problems, and questionable scouting. So, in lieu of the big score, West has rebuilt one of the least-successful franchises in professional sports with a series of ostensibly minor trades and free-agent signings, each of which has left the team with more talent (and, thus, more trade options) than it had before. In conjunction with an owner willing to spend to win, West has, in relatively short order, assembled one of the deepest teams in the league and, without question, the most talented in franchise history.

With quality depth at every position, the 2003-2004 Memphis Grizzlies are a team built around Coach Hubie Brown’s system, which uses two five-man units and seeks to wear down opposing teams with a fast-breaking offense, full-court pressure, and waves of fresh legs. Unlike last season, Brown will be able to impose his style of play with a full rotation of NBA-quality players (nice knowing you, Mike Batiste), and the team will be better able to withstand the minor injuries that are unavoidable over the grind of an 82-game regular season.

The Grizzlies have performed so well in the preseason — the only loss a hard-fought, jet-lagged battle with defending champion San Antonio in Paris — that fans are wondering if the team may be ahead of the three-year schedule West outlined last year, when he implied that playoff contention was on the calendar for next season, the team’s scheduled debut in FedExForum.

As a realistic Brown constantly points out, one shouldn’t put too much stock in preseason results, especially when the team has played mostly mediocre Eastern Conference teams. But the way the Grizzlies have performed in those games — winning convincingly without treating the games as anything other than preseason — has instilled cautious optimism in the fan base. Could the Grizzlies give The Pyramid the goodbye present of a playoff game? There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered first, and here are a few that will frame this season.

What is Pau Gasol’s ceiling?

Depth is great, but evidence suggests that stars win in the NBA, and the Grizzlies’ only real shot at moving swiftly up the rungs in the Western Conference is for forward Pau Gasol to develop into an elite player. But Gasol’s development this season isn’t just crucial to the team’s mild playoff hopes; it’s the defining issue for the team’s long-term future. Gasol will be eligible to negotiate a contract extension next off-season, and the Grizzlies must decide this year how much he’s worth.

Gasol comes into this season with considerable momentum after thriving at the European Championships this summer, where he led Spain to an improbable second-place finish and scored at will against constant double- and triple-teams. And that performance has carried over into the NBA preseason, where Gasol has dominated offensively, shooting 56 percent from the field and scoring at a clip that, per 38 minutes (about the amount of time fans can expect him to play per game this season), comes to 26 points a game.

Gasol seems to have added much-needed muscle over the off-season without losing the quickness that makes him special. He also seems more confident and at ease with his starring role than ever before, a maturing process perhaps helped by the team’s trip to Gasol’s native Barcelona in the preseason, where Gasol’s reception put his status in perspective for his teammates, and his much-celebrated hosting of a final-night team dinner implied a newfound willingness to exert some locker-room leadership.

It all has Gasol primed for a breakout season. With his deft footwork, freakish length, soft touch, and ambidextrous shot arsenal, Gasol is already one of the most adept post scorers in the game. Factor in his ability to run the floor and finish on the break and his ability to put the ball on the floor for soaring forays to the hoop, and Gasol has as much raw talent offensively as any big man in the league. As he becomes strong enough to hold his ground in the post — an improvement that has been apparent in the preseason — he’ll become even more effective.

Because he does most of his damage on the inside, Gasol goes to the free-throw line a lot. In fact, last season, Gasol made more trips to the line per 48 minutes (9.3) than any other comparable power forward not named Tim Duncan or Karl Malone. As Gasol’s star rises and his team improves, that number should go up, which brings us to the only chink in Gasol’s gleaming preseason armor: He has struggled at the foul line, shooting just 64 percent.

While there’s little doubt that Gasol is on his way to becoming an elite scorer, there are other elements to his game that must improve. For starters, Gasol has to become more effective in the clutch, which, given his skills and temperament, seems like a safe bet. More questionable is Gasol’s room for improvement on the other end of the floor. As a defender and rebounder, Gasol will likely never be on a par with Duncan or Kevin Garnett, but he has shown that he can still be a factor on the defensive end. Last season, the Grizzlies went 28-54 but played .500 ball (8-8) whenever Gasol snatched at least 12 boards. Gasol has looked better this preseason, grabbing more rebounds and blocking more shots per minute than he has previously in his career. But, given the Eastern Conference competition the Grizzlies feasted on in the preseason, it’s hard to gauge Gasol’s improvement in those areas.

So, how good can Gasol be? Most NBA observers would rank Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki as a Top 10 player in the league. Well, Gasol outplayed Nowitzki in the European championships and, though their games are different (Nowitzki is primarily a jump-shooter), there are some similarities. Nowitzki, as a 25-year-old entering his sixth season, is a dominant scorer, decent rebounder, and mediocre (at best) defender. Gasol, a 23-year-old entering his third season, can be all of that this year, and, because of his shot-blocking ability, actually has more potential defensively.

Will the real Mike Miller please stand up?

Mike Miller will showcase his all-around skills as a vital cog in the Grizzlies offense.

After coming over from the Orlando Magic at midseason, former rookie of the year Mike Miller seemed like a different player. His playing time fell drastically in Memphis as Miller found himself in and out of the lineup and hobbling up and down the court due to a fluke back injury. But relative to his playing time, Miller was still far more effective as a Grizzly last season. After making the move from Orlando to Memphis, Miller’s shooting percentage and three-point percentage rose significantly, and, on a per-minute basis, he got to the foul line more frequently.

After signing a six-year contract extension in the off-season, Miller has come back to earth a little in the preseason, his 42 percent shooting a couple of points lower than his career average. And this has left Grizzlies fans with reason to wonder: Who is the real Mike Miller?

The thought here is that Miller’s effectiveness with Memphis last season was no fluke but rather the result of finally being placed in the right situation. In Orlando, Miller was stuck in the role of one-dimensional sidekick to ball-dominating superstar Tracy McGrady, floating on the perimeter waiting for McGrady to kick the ball out for a three-point shot. But Miller’s strength is his versatility. He’s not an overwhelming talent in any one area, but, on offense, he is adept at pretty much everything.

As a featured player in the Grizzlies’ offense, Miller got to showcase these skills more regularly, becoming less dependent on three-point shooting to generate offense. After taking 76 percent of his shots from the perimeter in Orlando, the number fell to 54 percent in Memphis.

The change of scenery has Miller primed for a breakout season as well, but there are still questions. One issue is Miller’s three-point shooting. Miller’s career 39 percent mark from behind the arc is more than respectable, but his success rate has declined each year of his career, and he was extremely erratic last season, his shooting fluctuating wildly from month to month. This concern has only been underscored during the preseason, where Miller’s abysmal 2-16 shooting from three-point range is almost single-handedly responsible for creating what has been perceived as a team problem.

Miller may not be dependent on the three-ball to score, but with the team’s two best three-point shooters, Wesley Person and Shane Battier, coming off the bench, Miller needs to be the top perimeter option in the starting five. If he continues to struggle with his shot, it could be a big problem.

Fans expecting Miller to dominate from the perimeter should understand that he isn’t really that kind of player. Miller won’t be the kind of player who routinely creates something out of nothing. Last season, with the Grizzlies, 74 percent of Miller’s baskets were assisted; with the Magic, the number was 64 percent. By comparison, every two-guard in the league who scored 20 points a game had fewer than 60 percent of his baskets assisted. For dominant scorers like McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Paul Pierce, the number is under 50 percent.

But precisely because Miller will get his shots within the flow of the offense, he should make an excellent backcourt mate for Jason Williams. Miller never got to play with a quality point guard in Orlando and, since good shooting is partly dependent on good passing, should benefit mightily from having Williams around to find him on the move for open looks. Similarly, Williams has never had the luxury of sharing the backcourt with another dynamic offensive player during his Memphis tenure. The panoply of spot-up shooters, defensive specialists, slow-footed journeymen, and sub-NBA talents whom Williams has been forced to play beside over the past two years has put undue pressure on him to create offense from the perimeter, especially at the end of the shot clock. Miller’s triple-threat ability to handle, shoot, and pass should correct that.

Who’s the man in the middle?

At 7’ 2” and 290 pounds, “Big” Jake Tsakalidis gives the Grizz needed bulk.

After watching his team get pushed around in the paint all last season, West vowed to upgrade the center position. It wasn’t easy, but after striking out on a few reported attempts to acquire an established center, West finally made a move at the start of training camp, trading three unneeded players to the Phoenix Suns for two post players who will help immediately: Jake Tsakalidis, a 24-year-old, 7′ 2″, 290-pound monster who might have been Phoenix’s starter, and veteran energy guy and immediate fan-favorite Bo Outlaw. It was a salary dump by Phoenix, and West took advantage of it much as he had the previous off-season by shipping washed-up shooting guard Nick Anderson to Cleveland for Person.

The move gives Brown options, and the center position was the only truly up-for-grabs spot in the starting lineup during training camp. Brown started Stromile Swift in the first four preseason games, Tsakalidis in the last four. Neither emerged as an obvious victor, and, as of press time, it was still unclear which way Brown would go.

Swift, who has been a cipher since being selected second overall in the 2000 draft, was having yet another disappointing season last year until the tragic death of Lorenzen Wright’s infant daughter thrust him back into the lineup on March 1st. Swift responded to the opportunity, his numbers during March and April nearly doubling his output prior to that point, including an eye-opening five-game stretch in which he scored at least 20 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds in each game, all Grizzlies victories.

There was hope that Swift would build on that finish heading into this, his fourth season, but the team decided to wait and see and has declined to offer Swift a contract extension. It’s impossible to say for certain whether Swift’s reaction to that decision has had a negative impact on his play, but he’s had a rocky preseason, which only makes the front office’s reticence to ink him long-term seem more prudent.

After a solid first game against Milwaukee, Swift has been his old sleepy, inconsistent self, mixing the occasional high-flying finish with an all-too-familiar repertoire: not being prepared for passes (he blew probably four dunks in the first half against Washington), freezing up with the ball in his hands, committing a couple of the worst bad-pass turnovers you’ll ever see, and otherwise disappearing.

When Swift is on, he brings a lot to the table. He’s an electric athlete whose physical gifts can make up for basketball skills that are distressingly limited for this stage of his career. On the other hand, at 6′ 9″ and a mere 225 pounds, Swift is a little undersized for power forward, much less center, and that lack of bulk can be exploited in the halfcourt defense, something demonstrated in the preseason by the ease with which beefy mediocrities like Milwaukee’s Daniel Santiago and Washington’s Jahidi White were able to back Swift down for easy buckets.

Going with Tsakalidis gives the team a completely different look. Big Jake is not quite as slow getting up and down the floor as you might expect from a man his size coming off back surgery, but his lumbering gait is still a problem in transition defense, as illustrated by Orlando’s undersized center Andrew DeClercq beating him down the floor for lay-ups in the preseason. Tsakalidis’ size isn’t as much of a problem in the team’s running game, because, unlike Swift, his primary role will not be to finish plays but to start them. A team can’t run if it can’t get stops and defensive rebounds, which is why Tsakalidis could serve an important catalytic role in the team’s fast-breaking approach despite his lack of speed.

In the halfcourt, Tsakalidis isn’t much of an offensive option. He’s flashed a decent little jump-hook in the post, but he’s got questionable hands and is remarkably slow finishing around the basket: He pauses to gather himself before declaring war on gravity to push his massive frame toward the hoop, which gives the defense more time to react, resulting in as many fouls as baskets. And this is a particular problem because he’s such a poor free-throw shooter.

That said, Big Jake is probably better than his box scores. He doesn’t garner as many rebounds and blocks as one might expect, but his size is a factor in the halfcourt defense. Tsakalidis’ primary attribute is the way he alters shots and discourages penetration, assets that have been clear this preseason whenever he’s on the floor. He also, for the first time in Memphis, gives the Grizzlies a wide body who can bang with the league’s true centers.

If Brown isn’t satisfied with either Swift or Tsakalidis in the first five, there’s always local favorite Wright, who has played exclusively as the second-team center in the preseason. At 27 and entering his eighth season, there’s no mystery left to Wright’s game. At 6′ 11″ and 240 pounds, he’s undersized for the pivot but gets by with aggressive rebounding and a crafty feel for the game’s little tricks. Wright boasts a reliable 12-foot jumper, especially from the baseline, but has real problems catching passes under pressure.

Can the Grizzlies stop anybody?

Point guard Earl Watson should be a defensive menace again this season.

Last season, the Grizzlies were respectable offensively but horrible on the defensive end. Out of the league’s 29 teams, the Grizzlies ranked 27th in points allowed, 28th in opponent field-goal percentage, and 25th in rebounding, and allowed more 30-point games from opposing scorers than any team in the league. Team defense was just plain bad from top to bottom and was so atrocious early on, before Brown took command, that it sometimes seemed as if Battier was guarding all five opposing players.

Grizzlies management responded to this by focusing on defensive improvement in every off-season move, adding the defensive-oriented big men from Phoenix, trading for athletic guards Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones on draft day, and, most importantly, using the team’s entire mid-level exception to sign defensive specialist James Posey.

At first blush, it seemed that West had overpaid for Posey, a four-year veteran and role player whose career numbers of 9.4 points per game on 41 percent shooting aren’t too exciting. But Posey came to the Grizzlies with a reputation as a lock-down defender and has been a true defensive force in the preseason, putting up five-steal games in limited minutes against Milwaukee and Orlando and brutalizing overmatched opponents against FC Barcelona.

Posey was miscast in Denver early last season as a primary option on one of the worst offensive teams in NBA history. Though he averaged an impressive 14 points per game for the Nuggets, it took him a lot of shots to get there. Posey shot the ball both considerably less and considerably better — far from a coincidence — after a mid-season trade to the Houston Rockets.

With the Grizzlies, Posey will be the defensive stopper, guarding the other team’s most explosive perimeter scorer each night, and a complementary scorer in an offense built on ball- and player-movement rather than isolations. After struggling to find his place in the offense, Posey has been an extraordinarily effective and judicious scorer, shooting 58 percent in the preseason.

Posey will start ahead of Battier at small forward even though Battier, who has also been wonderful this preseason, is a better shooter. Though it might sound odd to a lot of Grizzlies fans, he’ll do so because he’s a better one-on-one defender. Battier is a brilliant team defender and in transition because of his smarts and hustle, but while he’s solid straight-up, his athletic limitations are sometimes exposed when isolated against the McGradys and Bryants of the league. Posey (whose ball-denial defense on McGrady in the preseason was stellar) is quicker and stronger at the same size and is better equipped to handle such assignments. And Battier’s increasing prowess as a spot-up shooter will be more useful on a second unit in need of scorers.

Combining Posey and Battier with Earl Watson gives the team three first-rate perimeter defenders in the 10-man rotation. Watson will step in as the full-time backup point guard and should garner significant minutes behind Williams. Watson was arguably the team’s best defender last season, quick enough to stay with point guards and strong enough to body-up scoring guards, and he was the engine that drove Brown’s full-court-pressing defense that was so effective late in the year.

Watson is an improving shooter with a knack for knocking down big shots. His problem has been his lack of speed, vision, and creativity as a ball-handler and passer, especially on the break, but he’s shown clear strides in those areas in the preseason. If Watson’s offense keeps improving, it’ll be interesting to see if his pronounced defensive superiority to Williams gets him more court time.

Which leads to what is perhaps the crux of the Grizzlies’ problems on defense: Though the team has added a lot of defensive talent over the off-season and though the team defense has looked much-improved in the preseason, the team’s three most talented offensive players — Williams, Gasol, and Miller — are largely ineffective defenders. That trio will likely lead the team in minutes played, so for the Grizzlies to improve from bottom-of-the-pack to at least mediocrity on defense, they will have to step up their play as well.

What to expect?

As the Grizzlies began the Jerry West era last season, whatever optimism fans may have felt was undercut by two nagging problems — coaching instability and a brutal early schedule. And these problems fed off one another, an 0-8 start leading to the entirely predictable firing of lame-duck coach Sidney Lowe.

Coaching is no longer an issue, but once again the league’s schedule-makers have done the team no favors. The Grizzlies won’t play a home game against a non-playoff team until December 3rd, a full 18 games into the season. Of those first 17 games, 11 are on the road. Conventional wisdom suggests that the seven best teams in the NBA this season will be the Lakers, Kings, Spurs, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Nets, and Pistons. In their first 17 games, the Grizzlies will play those seven teams eight times.

If the Grizzlies open this season with another long losing streak, how will it affect the team’s psyche? What damage will it do to the optimism fans are bringing to the season? The irrational exuberance of playoff talk could turn swiftly to irrational malaise if the team stumbles out of the gate.

All of which makes Halloween night’s season-opener against the Boston Celtics more compelling than an early contest in an 82-game schedule has any right to be. The Celtics, while a playoff team, were an uninspiring 44-38 in a soft Eastern Conference last season and traded their second-best player, forward Antoine Walker, late in the preseason, so they’ll still be trying to make all the new parts fit. The game also affords an early read on Posey’s ability to “d”-up the league’s best perimeter scorers when he matches up with Paul Pierce. And fans can see if Gasol can continue to dominate mediocre frontlines when he matches up with the Celtics’ undersized interior defenders. Winning on opening night would soften the blow if the team struggles in the tougher games to follow.

How will the Grizzlies do? Realistically, they’ll finish anywhere from 7th to 12th in the 14-team West this season. The top six slots in the conference playoff picture seem set, with the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers favorites for the final two slots. But Houston has been beset with chemistry issues all preseason in adapting to new coach Jeff Van Gundy, and Portland will field perhaps it’s thinnest and least-talented team in 20 years (during which they’ve never missed the playoffs). If one of those teams stumbles, someone has to be there waiting to step in. And if the Grizzlies can survive that early schedule to the tune of 6-11 or even 5-12, they’ll have a great chance to bypass soft Seattle, in-transition Golden State, still-a-year-away Denver, perennial disappointment L.A. Clippers, and rebuilding Utah to become that team.

Playoffs? Don’t count on it. But don’t rule it out either.