Month: June 2005

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News The Fly-By

Yours, Mine, and Ours

Trammell Crow may have won the Memphis City Schools’ facilities maintenance battle, but the company’s predecessor is still in the war. At this week’s meeting, school board members questioned district administrators about the management transition since awarding Trammell Crow the contract in April.

MCS chief operations officer Lavon Alston presented an update recently during a committee meeting. While his report included a timeline of completed events, it also revealed a problem with existing maintenance equipment previously used by Aramark.

The company has said that much of the equipment now used in the district’s schools and warehouse — mops and buckets, as well as larger items like electric waxers — belongs to the company because of the initial contract agreement. But the district says they own some of the equipment. Superintendent Carol Johnson said administrators have talked with Aramark and that the company has other plans for their equipment and will not leave it with the district after their contract ends June 30th.

“The debate is who does own [the equipment]. The contract was signed 12 years ago [with Aramark] and the language is vague,” said Alston.

According to that June 1993, contract “all equipment provided by ServiceMaster [Aramark] in connection with management services … shall remain the property of ServiceMaster [Aramark].” But the contract also maintained that existing maintenance service equipment shall be provided by the district.

“The issue really is that much of the equipment is now outdated,” said city schools attorney Percy Harvey. “Since we decided to have Trammell Crow bring in new equipment anyway, it may not be worth it to challenge [Aramark] on it.”

Whether Aramark pursues legal action, it will not deter Trammell Crow from beginning their contractual obligations on July 1st, company representatives said. Trammell Crow’s $2.7 million bid, including costs for equipment purchases, was the lowest of those considered by the district.

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Editorial Opinion

EDITORIAL

What are they smoking? The current Supreme Court majority, the current Congress, and the current administration all would doubtless describe themselves as strict constructionists and states’-rights advocates. As in, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” That’s the Tenth Amendment — the final piece of polishing applied to the Constitution by the Founding Fathers so as to ensure the proper degree of constructive local autonomy.

So why is that twice now, since the beginning of the year, these branches of government — acting singly or in unison — have gone out of their way to flout that principle? The echoes have barely begun to subside from the Schiavo case — with its egregious congressional override of the authority of Florida’s courts, aided and abetted by the Bush administration. And now we have the other branch of government, the Supreme Court itself, getting into the act of deconstructing strict constructionism with its 6-3 decision imposing a de facto federal veto on medical-marijuana legislation in the states.

What makes the court’s ruling even more troubling is that, while it doesn’t invalidate outright the state laws in question, it fails to provide any clue as to how such laws might be rewritten so as to stay within bounds of the newly defined federal writ. Indeed, the decision would make such good-faith efforts irrelevant. Eschewing the kind of clear guidelines that characterized Roe v. Wade, Monday’s ruling merely says to the states: Do as you will; we’ll override you as we see fit.

Basically, what the court did was to classify the prescription of marijuana not as a medical matter but as one having to do with interstate commerce, relegating its control to the same law-enforcement agencies — the Drug Enforcement Administration, for example — that are currently charged with the interdiction of crack cocaine. According to the federal Controlled Substance Act of 1970 — rushed into passage during a time of reaction against the easy-riding attitudes of the 1960s — marijuana in whatever form and employed for whatever purpose is illicit. So bring on the crime-busters!

Never mind that marijuana has proved in clinical trials, as well as in actual practice, to be the only palliative to which a large number of patients with a wide variety of serious ailments are responsive. The most obvious way in which its efficacy has been demonstrated is as an antidote to the hardships afflicting cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. What Monday’s court decision does, unmistakably, is put both the prescribing physician and the suffering granny who is using the stuff in jurisdictions like California under a threat of prosecution.

We don’t know what the short-term remedy is to this state of affairs — short of hoping that the federal oversight agencies, whose scope in the matter is now both arbitrary and absolute, exercise a proper degree of restraint and caution.

In the long term, Monday’s decision makes as good an argument as any for continued vigilance — both indirectly, as voters, and directly, as duly elected representatives of the people — over future appointments to the federal judiciary.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Star Trek

She may be a professional chef, but former Food Network star Nathalie Dupree still makes mistakes — like the time she baked a large fish for a dinner party and then dropped it on the floor.

“We had to pick it up quickly and pile it on a plate. You know, the 30-second rule,” says Dupree. “It sure didn’t look pretty, but it tasted delicious.”

Dupree, who hosts PBS’ Comfortable Entertaining, will be showing off her skills at Wolfchase Galleria on Saturday, June 11th, as part of Simon Super Chefs Live!, a traveling-chef show that stops at malls across the country. The demonstration is free and will be set up in a central location in the mall.

In addition to the Dupree demo, Simon Super Chefs will feature local chefs, wine seminars, food and beverage sampling, and an autograph session with Dupree, who will sign her cookbooks. Her latest, Nathalie Dupree’s Comfortable Entertaining (Viking), will be for sale, but Dupree says she’ll be happy to sign her previous cookbooks that people bring from home.

At the end of the daylong event, a couple of audience members will be chosen to compete in a cook-off.

In her demonstration, Dupree will be teaching the crowd how to prepare oranges in a caramel sauce.

“I always try to demonstrate something that people wouldn’t do at home without learning it from someone else,” says Dupree, who’ll be taking questions throughout her demonstration.

Hopefully, the oranges won’t suffer the same fate as the fish. But if she does drop them on the floor, she probably won’t freak out. On her show Comfortable Entertaining, Dupree teaches her audience how to deal with such situations in a dinner-party atmosphere without stressing.

“You don’t have to be perfect,” says Dupree. “The people don’t come over for the food. They come over because they like you.”

Over the years, Dupree has hosted many shows on the Food Network and the Learning Channel. She’s also the author of 10 cookbooks, several of which deal with the “New Southern” cooking movement, which Dupree is credited with starting in the 1970s.

New Southern cooking is the blending of classic French cooking methods with traditional Southern ingredients. Dupree gives the example of preparing grits with whipping cream or yogurt rather than water. More complex dishes include a turnip-green-and-tomato-sauce soufflé roll and turkey scaloppine with mustard and marjoram.

Dupree attended the Cordon Bleu when she was in her 20s. Since she grew up in South Carolina, she says New Southern cooking was a natural marriage of cooking techniques.

Today, there are New Southern restaurants across the country, like Felicia Suzanne’s in downtown Memphis.

Dupree began cooking professionally when Julia Child was one of the few female chefs in the business. At the time she attended cooking school, it was still rare for a woman to run a professional kitchen.

“My mother told me ladies do not cook,” she recalls. “There were no women chefs back then, except women whose husbands ran restaurants or in boarding-house kitchens. They didn’t do fine dining.”

Dupree took an interest in the culinary arts after the cook at her student house fell ill and took a leave. Dupree stepped in to take her place and got her first taste of preparing meals for large groups.

Her first mass meal was tuna casserole. However, the dish took a turn for the worse when she failed to realize it wasn’t necessary to increase the amount of fat in the recipe when multiplying the ingredients for a large group. The casserole came out of the oven with a layer of fat on top. She threw in some more seasonings, mixed it all up, and proclaimed it “Tuna à la King.” Everyone loved it, and Dupree realized her calling.

After culinary school, Dupree served as master chef at three restaurants, one of which, Nathalie’s, was named after her. But these days, Dupree is taking it a little easier, taping her cooking show for PBS and touring with Simon Super Chefs.

When she hits Memphis, she won’t be setting up shop in some fancy hotel suite with a kitchenette, preparing gourmet meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead, she’s going on a quest for the best local barbecue.

“I don’t really go to restaurants for gourmet experiences when I travel,” says Dupree. “I like the local flavor.” n

Nathalie Dupree with Simon Super Chefs Live! at the Wolfchase Galleria, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, June 11th

Categories
News The Fly-By

Forest Fight

When Joby Dion was shopping for a new home last year, he wanted something in a woodsy area. The self-professed “tree-hugger” finally settled in LaGrange Downs, a subdivision located near the corner of Macon and Raleigh-LaGrange roads, in a house that looks out on a small forest.

Now nine months later, a proposal for a new subdivision, to be called LaGrange Commons, puts 16 acres of the woods in jeopardy. Developers Al Yearwood and Sam Reeves proposed the 133-lot development assuming there’d be no fight, but neighbors want to keep their woods. The proposed neighborhood was approved by the Land Use Control Board (LUCB) on May 12th but must also be approved by the City Council and County Commission before any construction begins. Dates for those meetings have not been set.

Besides the woods, neighbors have a number of concerns, including traffic congestion during rush hour and the size of the proposed lots.

“This new development has smaller yards than ours, zero lot almost. We’re afraid this could lower our property values,” said resident Mary Ellen Smith.

The developers have attended a couple of neighborhood meetings, and when the issue was brought up, they agreed to make changes in the plan. But when they came back with a revised plan, the number of homes had only decreased from 133 to 130.

“The lots have to be smaller because the price of the land is so high. It’s zoned commercial. But it can still be a nice subdivision with smaller lots,” said Ronald Harkavy, the developers’ attorney.

Harkavy said the lot sizes are consistent with every development in the area built within the last six years.

The plan was recommended for rejection by the Shelby County Division of Planning and Development because it left no room for tree-lined streets, but the LUCB approved the plan anyway.

Harkavy said they have considered the advice of Planning and Development, and they’ve added one tree in the front yard of each home.

But the neighbors want more dramatic changes. While most say they’d rather not have this development in their backyards at all, they’re willing to compromise.

“Even if they went from 130 to 100 homes, that would make a huge difference,” said Dion. “We’re willing to work with them, but they’re only thinking with their pocketbooks.”

Categories
Opinion

Hillary for President?

What the hell are top Democrats doing playing footsy with Hillary Clinton? Do they have a secret death pact we dont know about? If they want to lose a third general election in a row, go ahead, run Hillary for president of the United States of America.

The reasons not to do such a thing are obvious to anyone not drinking the Clintonite Kool-Aid. Let me list just the ones that roll off the top of my not-so-bright head:

Hillary Moonies cite recent polls showing that likely Democrat voters would vote for Hillary if she ran. Yes, this is true ‹ but why? The answer is not reassuring. Its because the less voters see and hear of Hillary the more they like her. Which means the converse is true as well. Just get her out on the national campaign trail, on the news every night, in dozens of ads on TV, and in nationally televised debates and watch those poll numbers plummet. I will bet my first-born on it. Hillary grates on people. Maybe thats unfair. But its still true.

Hillary has triangulated herself into irrelevance with her hawkish support for the war in Iraq. She did this in order to show she could be tough, just like a man. All she really proved was that she could be a conniving politician, just like men.

Alls fair in love, war, and politics. So expect all that Kenneth Starr crap about the Clintons to make a big comeback. I know that Starr and his Dark Side minions failed to prove most of the allegations, but the Clintons own sloppy ethics provided the very fuel on which the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy ran. If Hillary runs for president, the Swift Boat Veterans will be back in a new form. They will pound her relentlessly. Unfair? You bet. Go tell it to John Kerry.

Finally, theres Bill. Imagine Bill as first husband, rambling around the east wing of the White House with nothing but time on his hands. How long would it be ‹ days, weeks, a month? ‹ before the stories about White House maids getting made began? Then the nation and the world will be again treated to four years of Live From the White House ‹ The Jerry Springer Show!

Look, I loved Clintons domestic policies. Hell, I profited from them. They were the best years of my life financially. They were the best years the nation had seen in decades. The trouble was that Bill Clinton is not one person, but three.

Theres Bill the Brilliant, who balanced the federal budget, built a giant surplus that could have been used to repair Social Security, reformed welfare, and kept us out of stupid-ass wars.

Theres Bill the Self-Indulgent, who could not resist exploiting the aphrodisiac of power on female targets of opportunity. The Bill that played with the truth like a cat plays with a mouse. The Bill who faced the world on TV as the bad little boy making lame excuses after being caught red-handed misbehaving.

Finally ‹ and more to the point ‹ theres Bill/Hillary, the package deal. They are co-dependents and mutual enablers. Bill has been president, and Hillary is not a bit interested in vying against Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan for the top slot at the First Lady Hall of Fame. She wants to be Americas first woman president. Even serial marital infidelity, exposed in fine detail to the entire world, could not break the bonds of this union. Its a Bonnie and Clyde relationship. Right or wrong, they will go down together, fighting. And they always attract a fight.

So, dont do it, Democrats. Instead of wasting time on Hillary, you should be searching right now for inspirational candidates. By the time the 08 general election rolls around, Bushs policies will have created such ruin, pain, and embarrassment that voters will be starved for a real statesman. Someone who can do for post-Bush America what Roosevelt did for post-Hoover America.

If the best the Democratic Party has to offer voters in 08 turns out to be Hillary Clinton, they deserve to lose ‹ again.

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including Inside Job: The Looting of Americas Savings and Loans, which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Four More Years?

It’s time to bring our sojourn in Iraq back into some focus. And a few recent events and news stories should help us on our way.

First, there was the recent story by Walter Pincus in The Washington Post, in which it was revealed that two of the Army intelligence analysts most responsible for the notorious aluminum-tube snafu have been given performance commendations in each of the past three years. It would be one thing if this were just a close call that someone got wrong because of incomplete evidence. But every report and investigation into this blunder shows that the mistake resulted, at a minimum, from seriously flawed tradecraft.

And yet here we find that pretty much over exactly the period in which the poor performance of these two analysts has become more and more evident, they’ve been getting commendation after commendation — the institutional equivalent of pats on the back for a job poorly done.

Not long before that, there were the revelations of the secret British government memorandum in which the head of British foreign intelligence, a year before the invasion began, told Prime Minister Tony Blair that in Washington “intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy” of going to war.

A few months before that revelation, a related — but much less noted — event took place.

Last year, you’ll remember, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, under the leadership of Sen. Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas, prepared an elaborate report on just what went wrong in our prewar assessments of Iraq’s phantom weapons of mass destruction. To the relief of Republicans and the consternation of many Democrats, the upshot of the report was that the intelligence community just didn’t do its job and gave bad information to the decisionmakers who had to make the tough decisions in the lead-up to war.

Of course, committee Republicans had insisted — and their Democratic colleagues foolishly agreed — to limit the inquiry to the actions of the intelligence community itself and not to look into the political pressures the administration may have exerted to get the information it wanted from the community. That part of the story was supposed to be investigated after the November elections.

But then this spring, Roberts blithely announced that the committee had more pressing matters to deal with and that the second phase of the investigation would probably never occur.

And then there was Vice President Cheney’s appearance on Larry King Live the other evening. The big press came in response to his improbable claim that the Iraqi insurgency was “in its last throes.” But that wasn’t his most telling remark. Cheney told King that he was confident the Iraqi insurgency would be quelled before President Bush’s term of office expires — or, in other words, before January 2009.

A year or two ago, such a remark would have been roundly decried as the worst sort of defeatism if uttered by one of the president’s critics. And now it’s something the vice president says, seemingly to reassure people.

If the Iraqi insurgency is finally quelled at the end of 2008, that will mean that the war went on for almost six years.

I know these probably seem like disparate and not wholly related events. But they all add up to a picture so obvious that it scarcely needs stating but about which the country seems in an odd and eerie sort of collective denial.

The United States is now fighting a long and bloody guerrilla insurgency in one of the most conflict-ridden and dangerous parts of the world. Our military is stretched thin. Recruitment is becoming more and more difficult. And the more we find out about how we got to this point the more it becomes clear that the entire effort was premised on a fraud.

Not everyone was acting in bad faith, perhaps not even most. But the upshot of what happened is that the American people were led into a costly and horribly bloody war for reasons that were pretty much entirely bogus.

That’s a national scandal of immense proportions — one that should transcend partisan politics, especially since the presidential election is now over and the repercussions for both parties are not as immediate and tangible as they were last fall.

Talk about the admirable successes or at least the continuance of the new Iraqi government is important but beside the point on this basic question of just what happened to this country during the lead-up to war in Iraq. Eventually, it’s something we’ll all have to reckon with. For now, we’ve hardly even started.

Joshua Micah Marshall writes for The Hill and TalkingPointsMemo.com.

Categories
News The Fly-By

KEEPING IT REEL

Close to 600 illegal copies of newly released films such as Madagascar, The Longest Yard, and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith were recently confiscated by the Shelby County Sheriff¹s Department. Investigators believe the movies, which were being sold out of an SUV and a bookstore in South Memphis, were copies from master reels.

News of the bust came as a terrible shock to dozens of crackheads who have camped out for months, each hoping to be the first indigent to see the final installment of the Star Wars saga. ‹ Chris Davis

Plante: How It Looks

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Opinion

Nuclear War

The radioactive waste incinerator on Presidents Island is about the size of two 55-gallon drums. Or as Radiological Assistance, Consulting, and Engineering (RACE) Center president Bob Applebaum describes it, “the size of a large barbecue smoker at Memphis in May.” On a recent tour of the facility, Applebaum told the Flyer the incinerator is 90 percent complete.

But after residents who live nearby began protesting the proposed incinerator, the Office of Code Enforcement said that RACE didn’t have the necessaary city special use permit. In fact, it turned out that RACE didn’t even have an occupancy permit from the city for its Presidents Island location.

Both permit issues will go before the Land Use Control Board on Thursday, June 9th. RACE also has applied for a permit to store radioactive material at a location on Trigg Avenue.

“We didn’t realize we needed a special use permit,” Applebaum says.

RACE, which specializes in reducing the volume of radioactive waste for disposal, has been working on securing the proper licenses for the incinerator from the state and county since 2003. The company now holds a construction permit for the incinerator from the Shelby County Health Department and an operations permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

In an article for the Downtown Neighborhood Association’s newsletter, city councilman Myron Lowery wrote that he was concerned that a company that couldn’t figure out which permits it needed is planning to operate a nuclear waste incinerator.

“I don’t see how it could have gone on this long without them knowing they needed a special use permit,” Lowry wrote.

Since the news of RACE’s proposed installation broke in February, activist groups have formed to fight the incinerator, which RACE claims will be used solely to burn low-level radioactive waste, such as carcasses of research animals and hospital waste.

Members of the Riverview Collaborative, the Sierra Club, and Memphis Truth worry about long-term damage as radioactive particles from the incinerator escape into the air.

“There are several food-processing plants on the island, and my fear is that if the ash escapes, it would contaminate the food,” says Kelly Fitzpatrick, founder of Memphis Truth, a group formed to fight the incinerator. Already, Memphis Truth has hired attorneys Saul Belz and Rich Fields, who are both experienced in activist issues, to look into possible action against the company if the Land Use Control Board and the City Council approve RACE’s permits. The group operates a Web site, MemphisTruth.org, which features links to informational sites on nuclear waste.

Members of the Riverview Collaborative represent the largely African-American Riverview neighborhood in South Memphis located close to Presidents Island.

“We’re worried that the constant output of radioactive material in the air could cause health problems, maybe short-term, maybe long-term,” says the Rev. Ralph White, pastor of Bloomfield Baptist Church and leader of the Riverview group.

Applebaum says these concerns are unfounded because the level of radiation released will be so low. “You’re exposed to about 350 millirems [of radiation] each year from naturally-occuring radon gas,” he says, adding that the air released from the incinerator is “scrubbed clean” while in the machine.

Sitting in RACE’s boardroom, Applebaum picks up a small test tube filled with a white powdery substance labeled “Radiation.” He pours some on the table and runs an instrument over it to measure the radiation. It begins beeping rapidly. Applebaum picks up a pinch of the powder and drops it on his tongue.

Then, sarcastically, he says, “There’s no way! You’ll die!”

He says the substance is Nu-Salt, a salt substitute that contains potassium chloride. Potassium is naturally radioactive.

But the activist groups aren’t buying it. Applebaum says he offered to let the Riverview group tour the RACE facility, but they declined the offer.

“They’re already operating out of compliance, and they’ve been cited several times [for labeling and storage issues],” White says. “We are just not for it, and no tour will change our minds.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

DIRTY DANCING

It¹s not just the name of a sting operation! On Friday of last week, pointed out that “Tennessee Waltz” is also the name of a country classic by Pee Wee King, a flowering shrub, a never-ending line dance, and a foul-sounding Schnapps-based cocktail for which they graciously supplied the recipe. What the CAfailed to mention is that “Tennessee Waltz” is also the name of an ambitious sexual position requiring a large orange and several volunteers. ‹ Chris Davis

Plante: How It Looks

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Drinking It In

Sommelier (soh-mell-yay) is the French term for cellar master or wine steward. He or she is the person who advises customers on selecting wine to go with their meal, their tastes, and their budget. In the movies, he’s the guy working for the swanky restaurant who offers up the cork to be smelled. A sommelier is also a well-educated expert who has to be passionate about wine and willing to do whatever it takes to learn more.

Last year, the International Sommelier Guild (ISG) teamed up with the University of Memphis to bring Mid-Southerners a curriculum of wine programs to help restaurateurs, retailers, distributors, wait staff, and wine lovers further their study of wine and food. The next classes begin June 7th at the U of M.

Founded in 1982, the ISG’s mission is to provide expert teaching and consultation to the growing number of sophisticated wine consumers by breaking down the intimidation factor that seems to be associated with this industry.

The beginner and intermediate courses fall under the category of Wine Fundamentals Certificate Level 1 & 2. Level 1 is an introductory course for the novice wine enthusiast and provides a great introduction to the basics of wine. It covers grape varietals, terminology, and sensory evaluation. The goal of Level 1 is for you to feel confident in the selection of wine and gain an appreciation for all wine has to offer.

Level 2 covers vinification, viticulture, and geography. Students blind-taste wines from each region, an exercise that helps them understand different taste profiles and the characteristics that set each grape varietal apart. (To try blind-tasting at home, see “Taste Test” on the following page.)

The next level is the Sommelier Diploma Program. For students considering careers in the food and beverage industry, this program provides an in-depth look at wine evaluation, wine management, and how to create a wine and spirits menu, in addition to cellaring techniques, investments strategies, and serving and storage requirements. This diploma is the benchmark for the ISG program, and upon completion you will receive career assistance.

Finally, there’s the Grand Sommelier Diploma, a master’s degree program that must be completed in a seven-year period. This is for serious career professionals and is one of the most comprehensive wine degrees in the industry, according to the guild.

The first fundamentals course started at the University of Memphis in February 2004, and to date, approximately 15 students have completed this portion of the program. The majority of students are in the wine and spirit industry and have traveled from throughout the Mid-South to take the course. Employers have even opted to help finance the class for some students, but most pay the fees out-of-pocket.

Taught by certified sommeliers/wine educators from all over the United States and Canada, the classes run six hours per week over the course of 12 weeks for the Level 1 & 2 prerequisite course and eight hours for 23 weeks for the diploma course. Tuition is $1,500 for the prerequisite course and $3,100 for the diploma course. Tuition fees include all wines for tastings, textbooks, and examinations. n

Classes for the first semester are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, June 7th. For more information, go to InternationalSommelier.com or contact Toya Coppage at the University of Memphis’ continuing education program by calling 678-5573.