Month: February 2006

We Recommend

Post author By
Post date February 24, 2006

thursday February 23

“Pink Globalization”

Lecture by Christine Yano

FedEx Institute of Technology, 7 p.m.

University of Hawaii anthropology professor Christine Yano discusses the growing popularity of Japanese kawaii (cute), explaining why, for instance, the adorable Hello Kitty brand is such a ferocious marketing tiger.

The Princely Players

Elder Performing Arts Center,

7:30 p.m., $10-$20

The eight members of the Princely Players originally formed during the civil rights movement. Reunited in the late 1970s, the group tells African-American history, from slavery to the civil rights movement, through song.

friday February 24

Care Bears Live

DeSoto Civic Center, 10:30 a.m. and

7 p.m., $12

Musical in which Care Bears teach a little girl how to make new friends.

Booksigning by Lawrence

Weschler

Burke’s Book Store, 5-6:30 p.m.

Art historian and journalist Lawrence Weschler signs his book of essays Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences.

Measure for Measure

Theatre Memphis, 8 p.m., $20

Opening night of this Shakespeare comedy, in which a regent charged with cleaning up a morals-challenged Vienna propositions a soon-to-be nun.

saturday February 25

P. Allen Smith Appearance

Memphis Antiques, Garden & Gourmet Show

Agricenter International, 10:30 a.m.

Garden designer and TV host P. Allen Smith presents his latest book, P. Allen Smith’s Colors for the Garden: Creating Compelling Color Themes.

Psychic Fair

Holiday Inn, 2490 Mt. Moriah,

10 a.m.-7 p.m., $5

Dying to know what your future holds? Someone at Mid-South Sanctuary’s first-ever Psychic Fair might be able to help. The fair will feature Tarot card readings, aura photography, a talk by energy healing expert Shelley Kaehr, and more.

sunday February 26

Artists Showcase

Le Pavillon, 1052 Brookfield Rd., 1-6 p.m.

Showcase and sale featuring work from Colin Ruthven, Monty Shane, Jeff Unthank, Helen Wunderlich, and Judy Vandergrift. A portion of the proceeds go to the Church Health Center. The showcase continues on Monday,

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Menopause, the Musical

The Orpheum, 3 p.m., $40-$50

Menopause, the Musical features 25 reworked songs from the ’60s and ’70s celebrating and commenting on

“the change.”

sunday February 26

The Soul of Ray Charles

Friends for Life Concert

New Daisy Theatre, 6:30 p.m.

Shelby County mayor A C Wharton emcees the ninth annual concert, benefitting HIV/AIDS service organization Friends for Life. Among the artists performing Ray Charles songs are Eddie Harrison and the Memphis Jazz Orchestra, Teresa Pate, Reni Simon, and the Tennessee Mass Choir.

monday February 27

The Temprees

Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 7-9 p.m., $20

The Temprees are the featured artists of this month’s Last Monday in Studio A! concert. The Temprees are also known as the “Lovemen,” and their hits include “Love’s Maze” and “Love … Can Be So Wonderful.”

Black Boy

Rhodes College, McCoy Theatre,

7:30 p.m.

Rhodes alum Charles Holt performs his one-man show, Black Boy, based on the autobiography of Native Son author Richard Wright.

wednesday March 1

“Literacy: Within Reach”

Joysmith Gallery, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

First day of annual exhibit of works that pertain to black literacy. Show includes pen-and-ink and charcoal drawings by featured artist James Pate.

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art First Wednesday

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art,

6-9 p.m., $5

The theme of this month’s First Wednesday is “Double Take,” a celebration of photography. The event will include music by Kelley Hurt as well as a photography-inspired dance by Ballet Memphis, a talk about digital photography, and admission into the museum’s two photography exhibitions.

News News Feature

Potential Terror?

Post author By John Branston
Post date February 24, 2006

Prosecutors believe that Mahmoud Maawad, an Egyptian student at the University of Memphis arrested last year by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, was planning or participating in a potential terror attack inside the United States, the Flyer has learned.

The latest disclosures in Maawad’s case are contained in a February 16th letter from assistant U.S. attorney Steve Parker to Maawad’s court-appointed counsel. Maawad, who was living illegally in the U.S. for six years with a bogus Social Security number, has been held without bond since he was arrested. Federal agents have searched his computer hard drive and examined his e-mails, college records, chatroom discussions, and Western Union transfers.

Their conclusion: Maawad, whose e-mail sign-on was pilot747, “was linking to Web sites that are associated with Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarquawi. Many news reports refer to Mr. Zarquawi as leading the Al-Queda group in Iraq.”

Maawad was living in an apartment on Mynders near the U of M campus which was furnished with little more than a bedroll, desk, and computer he used to order $3,300 worth of pilot gear over the Internet. He ordered a DVD titled How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act and a map of the Memphis airport terminal, even though he is not a pilot. He also purchased a private-pilot course, flight-simulation software, and instructional programs on “airplane talk” from Sporty’s Pilot Shop, an online retailer.

The government has indicated it plans to introduce evidence that will show Maawad’s motivation for buying flight material.

“The computer indicates that the defendant was entering searches on the Yahoo search engine that indicate that he was attempting to investigate how guns and bombs could be smuggled through airports’ magnetometers,” according to documents the Flyer has viewed. “There are also remnants in defendant’s computer indicating he had entered a search using the term ‘car bomb.’ Additionally, [Maawad] made specific searches seeking to purchase commercial flight uniforms.”

Most disturbing, though, was Maawad’s participation in an Internet chatroom that starts with a posting thanking Allah “for all your Jihad” and stating that the only legitimate regimes in Arab states are Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The posting says Iraq is standing alone in the face of “zionist-crusader aggression” and the “fierce aggression from the supposedly Arab brothers.”

A posting by Maawad, identified as an engineering student in the United States, states, “i [sic] union with you and i [sic] completely agree.”

If the case goes to trial, the government also plans to introduce as evidence e-mails between Maawad and the Transportation Security Administration in which he is denied permission to undertake flight training. The government says Maawad was angered by this and stated “he would violate the law.”

Maawad worked for cash at a convenience store on Chelsea in North Memphis. He was cited last March for selling liquor to a minor. He told authorities his bogus Social Security number was issued to him in 1998 in New Jersey. He entered the U.S. at New York City from Egypt in 1998, and his visitor’s visa expired in 1999. He lived in Olive Branch, Mississippi, for an unknown length of time before moving to the address near the U of M campus last summer.

Maawad’s case is one of two Joint Terrorism Task Force cases in Memphis involving Muslims in Memphis. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee has said that anti-terrorism is its top priority. The other case involves Rafat Mawlawi, a U.S. citizen with dual citizenship in Syria. He was arrested last April after federal agents searched his home and found illegal guns and jihadist videos. He pleaded guilty in January to weapons and immigration charges and is being held pending sentencing.

News The Fly-By

Back to School Shopping

Post author By Mary Cashiola
Post date February 24, 2006

Sugar Creek Charter School in Charlotte, North Carolina, isn’t your typical little red schoolhouse. Sure, it serves 525 students, grades K-8, all of whom wear a uniform of polo shirts and khaki pants. But if the windowed front looks a little familiar, it’s because the building used to be a Kmart.

Here at home, the county school system is converting a Schnucks in southeast Shelby County into a temporary school to ease overcrowding in the area.

“It’s an interesting idea that’s working around the country,” says Maura Black Sullivan, director of research and planning for SCS. “Memphis City Schools could look at it, as well. In Florida, they’ve converted whole shopping malls.”

But it’s an interesting idea that has generated controversy here. Last week, because they didn’t want students going to school in a Schnucks, a County Commission committee discussed additional, emergency funding for the school system.

The district initially looked at the grocery store several years ago. “That particular building kept coming up from the owners. At the time, we were looking at a long-term lease, adding another whole wing, a gym, and a new front, so it would look just like any one of our current school buildings,” says Sullivan. “I think people were so excited about the possibility that they started talking about it before a full study could be done.”

I can see why. With new school construction seemingly out of control, renting a big empty building could be a bargain as well as a benefit for the community.

A few years ago, drivers could travel south on Germantown Parkway from Cordova and actually see empty, undeveloped land. Now, virtually the only land that’s “empty,” is where a Wal-mart and a Kmart have both been built, used, and now abandoned.

Across the country, communities are struggling with what to do after big box retailers ditch their old buildings for new ones, sometimes only a few miles away. And because they don’t want the buildings used by their competitors, they often sit empty.

Unfortunately, the Schnucks school project has hit several speed bumps. First the district realized the long-term lease would cost more than $37 million.

“We have had several private developers come to us with the building lease idea before,” says Richard Holden, chief of operations. “None of those ideas ever panned out, because no one can borrow money cheaper than the government. … One part of the Schnucks equation is that it was built as a grocery store, and it would take extensive renovation. Adding all that in, it costs the same as building a whole new school, especially with the cost of the long-term lease.”

The school district still plans to use the building — albeit only for one to three years — because the other option is adding more portables, and the district already uses 145. But some parents are concerned that the facility can’t compare to other school buildings. How do you go from “clean up on aisle three” to teaching the ABC’s?

Under the current plan, the school will use the building’s existing lighting and HVAC system. Because of fire codes, classroom back walls will reach to the ceiling, but the remaining walls will only be 60 inches high.

The administration is still unsure how the district will use the building, but it’s expected to present a plan to the board in March.

“It looks like the way it is set up, it will lend itself better to a K-8 environment,” says Sullivan. “We have to decide: Do you do a grade, a series of grades, or draw a little attendance zone and do K-8?”

One popular idea is moving the kindergarten and first grades of Highland Oaks and Southwind elementary schools to the Schnucks building. Only, the former grocery store cannot accommodate more than 37 classrooms.

“To do that, we would need 42 classrooms. Those are the kinds of problems that we’re battling to get the right environment for kids,” says Sullivan.

I hope they figure it out, if just to show that schools can work in buildings that once saw blue-light specials and people going Krogering.

“It’s costly,” says Sullivan, “but if it’s a building that has value to the community and it gives it new life, I think that’s a smart use.”

Big boxes aren’t necessarily valuable in themselves. Their design is almost anti-architecture; they’re not historic; and they’re certainly not rare. But abandoned and empty, they’re like a retail black hole, sucking the value out of the surrounding area.

In the case of the Schnucks school, the long-term lease was too expensive for the school district. But if a retailer has a building that they’re going to let sit empty anyway, why not offer a discounted lease to the local school board? Could we get a price check on that, please?

Opinion Viewpoint

A Chance To Reform

Post author By Molly Ivins
Post date February 24, 2006

Reform follows scandal as night the day, except in these sorry times when it appears we may not get a nickel’s worth of reform out of the entire Jack Abramoff saga. Sickening. A real waste of a splendid scandal. When else do politicians ever get around to fixing huge ethical holes in the roof except when they’re caught red-handed? Do not let this mess go to waste! Call now, and demand reform!

Sheesh. Tom DeLay gets indicted, and all the Republicans can think of is a $20 gift ban. Forget the people talking about “lobby reform.” The lobby does not need to be reformed. Congress needs to be reformed. This is about congressional corruption, and it is not limited to the surface stuff like taking free meals, hotels, and trips. This is about corruption that bites deep into the process of making laws in the public interest. The root of the rot is money (surprise!), and the only way to get control of the money is through public campaign financing.

As long as the special interests pay to elect the pols, we will have government of the special interests, by the special interests, and for the special interests. Pols will always dance with them what brung them. We have to fix the system so that when they are elected, they’ve got no one to dance with but us, the people — we don’t want them owing anyone but the public. So the most useful reform bill is being offered by Representative David Obey (D-Wis.) and Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.): public campaign financing. We, the citizens, put up the money to elect the pols. This bill won’t cost us money; the savings will be staggering.

We’re also looking for a way to control the system of earmarks, which has gotten completely out of hand. “The rush to revise ethics laws in the wake of the Jack Abramoff political corruption scandal has turned into more of a saunter,” reports The Washington Post. The Republicans keep dicking around with the gift ban idea (opposed by those stalwarts who claim “you couldn’t accept a T-shirt from your local high school”).

But the best anti-reformer is Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio), the new House majority leader, elected as a “reformer” (puh-leeze), a man after Tom DeLay’s heart. Boehner argues that gift and travel bans would amount to members of Congress being “treated like children.” (Actually, children are seldom offered golfing vacations.)

The lobbyists, of course, have pulled together to work against efforts to control them. Fish gotta swim; birds gotta fly. Tom Susman, chair of the ethics committee of the American League of Lobbyists, is reported in Legal Times as saying a gift ban would lead to “unnecessarily awkward dividing lines between lobbyists and members.” God forbid.

The House Democratic leadership has proposed reinforcing a gift and travel ban with an attempt to control earmarks by prohibiting “dead of night” provisions — inserting language into a law without a chance for review. Members would be given 24 hours to read bills (which they don’t, but their staffs can).

The cosmetic fixes — gift ban, travel ban, disclosure, and slowing the revolving door between staff, Congress, and the lobby — cannot stop the effects of the K Street Project. That’s the cozy arrangement whereby lobbyists are Republican activists and Republican activists are lobbyists, and they underwrite campaigns in return for special privileges under the law — tax exemptions, regulatory relief, tariff dispositions, etc.

One of the most dangerous things about this whole corrupt system is that people who are given special privileges inevitably come to regard them not as special but as natural and right and will fight furiously if you try to take them away.

Those who remember when conservatives called for fiscal restraint may get sour amusement from the situation. But what is truly not funny is the pathetic spectacle of the United States of America, a nation with the greatest political legacy the world has ever known, letting itself be gnawed to death by the greed in a corrupt system that can be so easily fixed.

Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Post author By
Post date February 24, 2006

Thanks

Thanks for running Andria Lisle’s comprehensive and insightful look at the various African-American photo exhibits showing around Memphis (February 16th issue). A more fitting tribute to Black History Month would be hard to imagine. Nice work.

Joseph Jacobsen

Memphis

We’re Not So Bad

While New Orleans has many challenges ahead, I think there’s a lot to be learned from living in other cities. And as a New Orleanian, one thing I learned while living in Memphis for the past five months is how much better Memphians are regarding two aspects of daily life: driving and littering.

In Memphis, drivers don’t throw their fast-food refuse or empty their car ashtrays anywhere but into garbage cans. And if there’s an automobile accident, it seems a city worker has swept up the debris within a day.

Memphis drivers don’t blow car horns at every opportunity; they seem to have an abundance of patience. Memphis drivers use their turn signals, whether switching lanes, merging, or turning. Memphis drivers don’t cut off other drivers; they either slow and drop behind or speed up to merge.

Most Memphis drivers don’t run stop signs or traffic lights, and most even stop at yellow lights. Memphis drivers always seem to give pedestrians the right of way and follow the speed limits. Memphis drivers don’t tailgate.

I hope that while we New Orleanians rebuild our city we also rebuild ourselves and learn to be better drivers and to litter less.

Gary Smith

New Orleans

Great catch

John Branston’s appraisal of The Pyramid/Bass Pro Shop deal is right on target (City Beat, February 16th issue). We Memphians need to get past the idea that Bass Pro Shop is some roadside bait shop that sells nightcrawlers and crickets. Anyone who doubts this should pay a visit to the Bass Pro store at Sycamore View. The first things you see when you walk in the door are $10,000 boats and a complete men’s and women’s clothing department.

The proposed super store for The Pyramid will dwarf the current Memphis store and draw tourists and shoppers from hundreds of miles around.

K.R. Bryan

Memphis

Good News

The good news is that the man wounded by Vice President Dick “Dead-Eye” Cheney is improving and hopefully will suffer no long-term consequences from his firearm-inflicted injuries.

The bad news is that the prognosis for the other 300 million Americans harmed by Cheney’s boneheaded policies is not so good. It may take decades before we recover from the damage caused by the Cheney-Bush cabal.

B. Keith English

Memphis

New Contract for America?

Democrats need to offer Americans a new version of the Contract for America that will resonate in the mid-term elections. It should include:

The minimum wage has to be raised from $5.15 an hour.

Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations must be rescinded and the funds redirected to domestic and national priorities.

We need to fast-forward the shift from dependence on fossil fuels to alternative energy sources.

We must provide affordable and universal health care for all Americans.

And finally, we must rescue America from Republican deception, secrecy, and corruption.

Democrats have to take the high road while hammering home the fact that there is an alternative to the malaise that has settled over the country under this administration.

Ron Lowe

Nevada City, California

An Idea

I continue to read about Memphis’ budget problems. Much of them are due to failing to think outside the box. Here’s one example: the city of Memphis has hundreds of vehicles, most of them large sedans or SUVs. What’s stopping the city from using smaller, more efficient vehicles? Think of the savings in gas alone. Except for police cars, there’s no reason city officials and others who drive taxpayer-supplied vehicles shouldn’t be cruising around in fuel-efficient cars. It just makes sense: It would help balance the budget and reduce pollution.

Lisa Finlayson

Memphis

Politics Politics Beat Blog

The Twain Meet

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date February 24, 2006

There are no two ways about it. The joint appearance in Memphis on Monday of Illinois U.S. senator Barack Obama and Tennessee senatorial candidate Harold Ford Jr. was a huge success for the latter’s campaign. The crowd that greeted the two politicians was large, demonstrative, and liberally sprinkled (no pun intended) with converts to Ford’s cause.

The throng of several thousand that jammed the ballroom of the University of Memphis-area Holiday Inn on Central Avenue was, quite literally, standing room only. It was made up of hundreds of Memphians who had dutifully R.S.V.P’ed to an invitation that had gone out on the local Democratic Party network by e-mail, letter, phone call, and word-of-mouth but included as well several hundred additional attendees who had responded merely to advance news reports of the event.

So obvious was it that an overflow would occur for the affair billed originally as a luncheon, event organizers dispensed with the idea of providing tables for the party regulars and other political-circuit types who thought they had reserved them — and who stood in long check-in lines to get in. Provided instead were finger-food buffet tables at one end of the cavernous room and a few folding chairs next to the stage for early-bird arrivals.

Here and there in the crowd were Democrats who had been skeptical about Ford’s candidacy on ideological grounds — fearing that the Memphis congressman was too cautious or too politically conservative — but were beginning to succumb to what they saw as reality. One such, acknowledging that a Democratic alternative existed in state senator Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville, dismissed those who maintained that Kurita still had a fair chance of prevailing in the party primary, scoffing, “Give us a break!”

That attitude was based in part on financial disclosures showing that Ford had raised upward of $3 million — much of it, as Republican senatorial candidate Bob Corker has recently charged, from outside Tennessee — while Kurita was still well south of her first million. But much of it too, stemmed from an unremitting news focus — including an abundance of statewide and national media accounts — that has been trained on the Memphis congressman.

And, finally, much of the drift to Ford was a consequence of the seemingly obvious fact that Democratic Party officialdom, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, had made a conscious decision to put the party’s eggs in Ford’s basket.

One indication of the hierachy’s preference was Obama’s visit on Ford’s behalf, clearly calculated and not too coincidentally timed in conjunction with NBC anchor Brian Williams‘ well-publicized confusion of the two in televised coverage of President Bush’s State of the Union message.

For obvious reasons, both Obama and Ford played off the two-peas-in-a pod metaphor. Once introduced (by local power lawyer Arnold Perl, one of several dignitaries onstage with Ford and Obama), the Illinois senator, who was elected in 2004 and promptly became a national figure, looked out on the large, racially mixed crowd and jested, “I know about half of y’all are related to Harold.” Obama, the son of a Keniyan father and Kansas mother, went on to do send-ups of his own African name, maintaining that he had been called everything from “Alabama” to “Yo’ Mama.”

From there he elaborated on the supposed connection between himself and Ford, laying on the irony at one point: “You can’t elect a black Democrat to the United States Senate. You all heard that, I know.” He recounted his own against-all-odds success in Illinois — even in supposed unfriendly climes like downstate Cairo, Illinois — and concluded with a peroration that owed much to the oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King. “As Dr. King said, the arc of the universe bends toward justice,” Obama said, proclaiming a vision of the fall campaign to come that located Ford’s candidacy within the King tradition. “We put our hands on that arc, and we’re knocking on doors. … Wherever we go, we’re spreading the word about a new young man that’s going to turn it around in Washington.”

He beckoned to Ford — and to thunder from the audience.

And yet there were two ways about it, two distinct personas on display at the Holiday Inn on Monday. There was even an inadvertent irony when Obama, in his introduction for Ford, evoked what he saw as the mission of the Democratic Party in words almost identical to those used on the stump by Kurita. “I am my brother’s keeper,” said Obama, speaking of himself as a Democrat. “I am my sister‘s keeper.”

And, in his catalogue of the “simple values” that animated Democrats, Obama made reference to a series of presumed expectations held by the party’s largely working-class constituency: “They expect [that] if they’re able to do the work, they should be able to find a job that pays a living wage. … They expect that they shouldn’t be bankrupt when they get sick.” And so on.

Obama’s oblique reference to last year’s congressional passage of a strict, loophole-closing bankruptcy bill proposed by the Bush administration, a bill opposed by Obama and by the Democratic leadership in both houses in Congress, constituted an even larger irony. After all, Ford whose 9th congressional district overlaps with what has been called “the bankruptcy capital of America,” had been among the minority of Democrats who had voted for the legislation. This was the vote that, along with Ford’s support of the Iraq war, is often cited by his critics as evidence that Ford is too pliable in relation to the president and his administration.

Even Obama’s concluding point in his characterization of Democrats — “They do think that government can help” — was later counter-pointed in an odd, even awkward way by Ford himself.

Speaking at one point of an impoverished mother he’d met at a campaign stop, Ford said, “She wasn’t complaining to me about her salary, Senator Obama. She wasn’t even complaining to me about the working conditions where she worked. She was complaining basically because of the same reasons why my mom and dad loved me and raised me the way they did, sending me to church every Sunday and making sure I did my homework and wanting me to do better. She wanted the same thing for her kids. And all she wanted to know was, why was government getting in the way, why was government making it harder?”

Like so much of what Ford says on the stump these days, the statement had a political ambivalence that obscured whatever political philosophy lies at its core. Ford continued, denouncing “one group [that] dedicates themselves to finding division, and finding the point of separation and amplifying every moment that can tear us apart and amplifying every moment that forces us to see division where it may exist and encourage division where it doesn’t exist.”

In contrast, Ford designated another group that he said included himself and Obama: “We have to be in the business of uniting and pulling people together. We have to be in the business of not just identifying what’s wrong and yelling loud about it but … working harder to make it right.”

Ford spent much time defending himself and his extended family against a variety of criticism, including “narrow and intolerant and asinine statements” apparently emanating from the media. “I know they write a lot about my family, but they raised us right.”

Identifying himself with “a new generation of leadership,” Ford said his critics were frustrated “because they can’t label me.” Liberals thought he was “too conservative,” he said, while conservatives characterized him as “too liberal.” All he was trying to do, said Ford, was to follow the gospel of Matthew and “take care of the people.”

He concluded with a promise that, regardless of “all that they say about my mama and my daddy and my aunt and my uncle,” he intended to go on to the Senate and “make Tennessee and America a better place.”

When the tumult that followed his remarks died down, Ford and Obama, who had arrived together, went to opposite ends of the room on handshaking and autograph-signing missions before each finally departed to his own separate mission and itinerary.

News The Fly-By

With Friends Like These …

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date February 24, 2006

Last week, 44-year-old Helen Sparks and 32-year-old Lechetta Duff were arguing over money at Duff’s home in South Memphis. The fight became physical, and by the time police arrived, Duff had been fatally struck in the head. Sparks was charged with voluntary manslaughter.

According to local homicide statistics from last year, half of the city’s homicides were committed by acquaintances of the victims. Fifteen percent were committed by relatives. Homicides were also more likely to occur as a result of an argument or altercation.

A recent story in The New York Times reported a national trend in rising homicide rates resulting from petty disputes and arguments. But Joe Scott, homicide director for the Memphis Police Department, says angry disputes have been Memphians’ fatal motivation for years.

“It’s been that way for a long time,” Scott said. “You’re 65 percent more likely to be killed by someone you know. That’s not a new trend.”

In 2005, there were 153 homicides, and 132 of those were classified as criminal homicides. The other 21 were considered justified, meaning they were cases of self-defense.

Twenty-nine percent of homicides were a result of arguments or altercations, and 15 percent were classified as domestic homicides, meaning they occurred between relatives. Only 8 percent were considered gang-related.

Other homicides occurred during a robbery or other crime (16 percent) or the cause was unknown (15 percent).

While police can deter gang killings and other crimes through youth education programs, Scott says there isn’t much that can be done to stop two people from arguing in their homes.

“If someone decides they’re going to kill you in the heat of passion, the best thing we can do as a community is make sure felons don’t have guns,” Scott said. “A lot of people who commit homicides have come through the [justice] system in the past.”

Scott also advises people to stop and think before acting impulsively.

“If someone would back up and look at the situation, their anger may decelerate,” Scott said. “If you can teach people to say wait a minute, I’m mad enough to kill right now, but let me think for 10 seconds and see if I’m still mad enough to kill.”

At press time, the MPD has recorded 16 homicides in 2006. This time last year, there were 13.

Cover Feature News

13 Questions About the Grizzlies

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date February 24, 2006

At 29-23 heading into the NBA All-Star break, the Memphis Grizzlies seem poised to make the playoffs for the third consecutive season. But despite their success, this year’s model has been a hard team to get a read on. Their best player — Pau Gasol — has suffered through two or three mini-slumps en route to his first All-Star appearance. Due to either injury or ineffectiveness, the much-celebrated trio of veteran guards team president Jerry West brought in during the off-season — Damon Stoudamire, Bobby Jackson, and Eddie Jones — have had less of an impact than most fans anticipated. And despite a great pre-season, the team’s explosive rookie — Hakim Warrick — has struggled to find playing time.

There’s been only one constant all season: splendid team defense. But there are plenty of questions. At midseason, here’s an attempt to answer some of them:

1. Are the Grizzlies the best defensive team in the NBA?

Not quite. Everyone from broadcasters to reporters to fans has made that claim this season, and it’s based on the fact that the Grizzlies hold opponents to the fewest points per game (87.7) of any team in the league. But that doesn’t really mean they’re the league’s best defensive team. That the Grizzlies hold opponents to an extraordinarily low scoring average is a combination of having one of the league’s best defenses and playing at what has been the slowest pace in the league, a style of play that keeps scoring low for both teams. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs are really the league’s best defensive team.

But even if the Grizzlies’ defensive excellence gets overstated, they’ve still played terrific team defense, third-best in the league (behind San Antonio and Indiana) when judged by points allowed per possession, which is a more accurate measure.

2. So how have they done it?

The matrix of teamwork, effort, and execution that drives the Grizzlies’ defense isn’t easily explainable, but if you want to understand what’s happening in terms of individual players, the addition of Eddie Jones is a good place to start. At 34, Jones is no longer the same player who led the league in steals six seasons ago, but he’s retained the size, quickness, and work ethic to be a viable defensive stopper on the wings, something the Grizzlies lacked a year ago with James Posey hobbled.

Jones has had something of a defensive rebirth for the Grizzlies. He’s 10th in the league in steals per game, and his presence has been beneficial to Shane Battier, whose lack of foot speed was exposed at times last season when forced to defend elite scoring guards. With Jones now handling those assignments, Battier has matched up more with forwards and secondary scorers, allowing him to showcase the versatility, smarts, and hustle that make him one of the NBA’s best all-around defenders. Put Jones and Battier together and the Grizzlies have one of the finest defensive tandems in the NBA. And they’ve gotten help at the top of the defense: After jettisoning defensive sieve Jason Williams, the Grizzlies have also gotten more consistent defensive play from the point-guard position despite having four different players get meaningful minutes there.

But it isn’t just on the perimeter that the Grizzlies have received improved defensive play. One of the most under-recognized elements of the season is the modest yet tangible defensive improvement from Gasol. Gasol isn’t necessarily a good defender yet, but he’s far from the obvious liability he was a couple of seasons ago. In this breakout season, Gasol has become a more consistent shot-blocking threat, gets manhandled less in the paint, and is more aggressive guarding the pick-and-roll. He’s also bounced back on the boards after a poor rebounding performance a season ago, and the teamwide improvement in defensive rebounding is another aspect of the team’s defensive improvement that hasn’t been acknowledged enough.

The Grizzlies are still a bad rebounding team, of course, but they’ve been better than they were a season ago despite a terrible performance from starting center Lorenzen Wright and more reliance on small lineups.

After finishing 26th in defensive rebounding percentage a year ago, the Grizzlies have moved up to 23rd. Part of that improvement has come from Gasol and from better boardwork from the team’s frontcourt reserves. (Rookie Hakim Warrick has rebounded the ball slightly better than Stromile Swift did a year ago, and back-up center Jake Tsakalidis has significantly improved his performance.) But a lot of it is the result of a teamwide commitment from the perimeter players. The addition of Stoudamire (before his season-ending injury in late December) and Jackson has given the team much more rebounding help from the point-guard slot, and sixth-man Mike Miller has done an outstanding job on the boards.

The result of this group effort is that the Grizzlies have been able to get away with a lot of smaller lineups, with Battier often playing power forward. This has allowed Coach Mike Fratello to find more minutes for his best players and has also given the Grizzlies more quickness at the defensive end. Combine that quickness with a commitment to team defense among the coaching staff and players, and you have the amoeba-like defensive coverage that’s marked Grizzlies basketball at its best this season.

3. That’s great, but can they keep it up?

Barring serious injuries, you’d think so. But there are a couple of concerns. One is fatigue. Gasol, Battier, and Jackson are all averaging significantly more minutes per game than they did a year ago, while defensive stalwart Jones isn’t getting any younger. Something else to worry about is that the team’s offensive struggles will affect their defensive play, something that seemed to become an issue on the Grizzlies’ recent road trip, when the normally reliable team defense seemed to come and go on almost a quarter-to-quarter basis. There were times on the road trip when missed assignments and bad body language suggested a strain on the teamwork and trust that has fueled the defense. One thing is certain: Unless the Grizzlies can fix their faltering offense, they can’t afford to lose any of their defensive edge.

4. Why has the offense been so bad?

The Grizzlies boasted the 18th most productive offense in the 30-team NBA a season ago, when Gasol missed 26 games with a foot injury and a bunch of erratic shooters (Williams, Earl Watson, Bonzi Wells, etc.) all slumped at the same time. With their seven-foot star back and with a new, ostensibly steadier group of shooters to surround him, the Grizzlies seemed poised to make a major improvement on the offensive end. Instead they’ve slid down to 22nd in the league in points scored per possession, a major disappointment.

The preseason assumption that the Grizzlies’ offense would be heavily dependent on the relationship between Gasol and the team’s phalanx of outside shooters was correct. When the Grizzlies hit 38 percent or better from three-point range (a number that indicates good, not great, outside shooting), the team has gone 19-5. When Gasol’s assist-turnover differential has exceeded +2 (an indicator of both the quality of Gasol’s decision-making and his teammates’ ability to knock down shots), the Grizzlies are 18-6. But when there’s any break in the chain that starts with Gasol and extends around the perimeter, the Grizzlies’ offense falls apart.

Despite a couple of mini-slumps and still-lingering questions about his ability to respond in crunch-time situations, Gasol has done the job this season. With his assists up and his turnovers down, Gasol has emerged as one of the two or three best-passing big men in basketball, but the three-point shooters who surround him have underachieved.

For starters, this Grizzlies team has never had the depth of shooters that they seemed to have when the season began. After hitting 38 percent from three last year, Dahntay Jones’ outside shot has disappeared. (Jones hit only two of 14 long-range attempts in November and basically stopped shooting after that, taking only six three-point attempts since.) Brian Cardinal has shot the ball fine, but his rehabilitation from off-season knee surgery has been so slow he hasn’t been able to establish himself in the rotation. So that immediately cut the Grizzlies’ potential seven shooters down to five.

Another blow came from losing Stoudamire, whose clutch shooting (from behind the arc and from the free-throw line) was an underrated factor in the team’s good start. The Grizzlies replaced Stoudamire with another three-point specialist in free agent Chucky Atkins, but at 28 percent three-point shooting in a Grizzlies uniform, Atkins hasn’t been able to match Stoudamire’s production.

And while the team’s four remaining shooters (Miller, Jackson, Battier, and Eddie Jones) all are shooting fine on the season, they’ve all slumped in January and February, the primary factor in the 3-12 slide the Grizzlies experienced before their current three-game winning streak. Put it all together and the Grizzlies are 12th in the league in three-point shooting percentage (36 percent) while taking the fourth most attempts (19.4) per game. And that’s not good enough.

That the Grizzlies are so dependent on three-point shooting is the natural result of a roster heavy on ostensible three-point threats but light on dynamic athletes capable of creating shots off the dribble. Put simply, when the Grizzlies don’t shoot the ball well from three-point range, they haven’t been able to score.

Of course, there are a string of other factors that have hampered the offense this season, starting with some truly abysmal free-throw shooting. The Grizzlies are 29th in the league in free-throw percentage (69 percent, after hitting 76 percent last season) and poor foul shooting likely cost the team games at Boston and Philadelphia and at home against the Dallas Mavericks. And there’s no real explanation for what has been a teamwide problem, with every veteran except Atkins and Miller shooting below their career averages.

Other problems have stemmed from a lack of consistent frontcourt scoring beyond Gasol and a lack of true point guards who can help set up teammates with open shots.

5. Can the Grizzlies do anything to improve their offense this season?

They need to either shoot the three-ball better or become less reliant on it, and the way this team is constructed, the former is probably the better bet. But there are a few other specifics worth addressing. For starters, the team could get more production from its two most talented offensive players, Gasol and Miller.

Gasol may be having his best season, but not because he’s become more of a scorer. Gasol’s improvement has been in his all-around game — passing, ball-handling, defense, and rebounding. As a scorer, his point production and shooting percentage are both down a little this season. On a team with so few reliable scoring options, you’d like to see Gasol produce more points, even against the constant double-teams he draws.

Equally frustrating at times is Miller, who always seems to either fall into a slump and or get sidelined with a minor injury whenever it appears he’s about to put it all together. Relegated to the bench with the addition of Eddie Jones, Miller struggled in November but seemed to find his groove off the bench a month into the season, averaging more than 15 points a game in December and January on 40 percent three-point shooting. But Miller hit a rough patch in the middle of the team’s late January slide and was on a 7 of 28 shooting stretch from long-range when he twisted an ankle at Phoenix before the break. On this team, Miller needs to be a consistent 15-points-a-night scorer, but he’s yet to show he can consistently do that.

The Grizzlies would also get a significant boost if either Warrick or Cardinal could emerge as a reliable bench scorer in the second half of the season. And, in terms of overall play, the Grizzlies could look at altering their style a little bit.

And their style is what, slow?

Pretty much. Like I mentioned earlier, they play the slowest pace in the league. Part of that comes from a defense that denies easy shots and forces opponents late into the shot clock. But a lot of it is the result of a very deliberate offense.

6. So the Grizzlies should run more?

Not necessarily. There are definitely some fans and some in the media clamoring for a more exciting run-and-gun style of play, but I’m not sure the Grizzlies have the personnel to play that way: Their rebounding deficiencies have necessitated guards crashing the boards rather than leaking out into transition. There’s no pure point guard to run the break. And with a bunch of older guards (Jackson, Jones, Atkins) and below-average athletes in the frontcourt (Battier, Cardinal, Wright), the Grizzlies don’t really have the horses to play fast-break basketball.

But that doesn’t mean the Grizzlies wouldn’t benefit from speeding up their offense. To get a sense of what impact the slow pace has on the team’s offense, it helps to take a closer look at when the Grizzlies are taking their shots. So far this season, the Grizzlies have taken only 32 percent of their shots within the first 10 seconds of the 24-second shot clock, the third lowest such percentage in the league. They’ve taken 20 percent of their shots with four seconds or less left on the clock (up from 14 percent a year ago), tied for second highest percentage in the league.

This is meaningful because shooting percentages in basketball tend to decline the later a team gets into the clock. The only team more extreme than the Grizzlies on both early and late attempts is the Utah Jazz, one of the league’s very worst offensive teams. The only other team to take a lower percentage early is the San Antonio Spurs and the only other team to take a higher percentage late is the Cleveland Cavaliers, both teams with offenses built around MVP candidates and with all-star-caliber second options that the Grizzlies don’t have. But even in Cleveland, Coach Mike Brown has been getting grief all season for micromanaging possessions.

The Grizzlies may not have the personnel to run, but by getting into their offensive sets quicker, they could bring down that too-high 20 percent for attempts late in the shot clock. Earlier offense should equate to better shots and thus more scoring.

7. Have the new guys been disappointing?

Just Jackson. Stoudamire was a little erratic before getting hurt, but his clutch shooting and ability to balance his scoring with point-guard duties have been missed. Eddie Jones has been exactly what should have been expected: a quality defender and locker-room guy whose marginal offensive contribution comes largely from spot-up three-point shooting. Those who thought he’d be the team’s clear-cut second option on offense apparently hadn’t seen Jones play in years.

But Jackson has clearly been a disappointment. His 37 percent shooting is by far the worst of his career, and he hasn’t been able to find a consistent groove all season. He struggled mightily at the start but seemed to settle into his standard instant-offense role in late November, only to miss three weeks in December with a minor injury. Upon his return, Stoudamire went down and Jackson was forced into an unfamiliar starting role. He put up numbers as a starter but also put up an awful lot of shots. When the team signed Atkins and moved Jackson back to his bench role, he seemed to fall into a funk rather than embrace it. Along the way, his propensity for forcing shots on the break and his struggle to finish at the rim have been perhaps more frustrating than his erratic outside shooting.

8. What about the kids?

Antonio Burks and Dahntay Jones certainly haven’t taken the steps this season you would have hoped, which is disappointing since their athleticism and defensive ability could really give this team a boost. Keep an eye on those guys in the second half.

But more important has been the development — or lack thereof — of first-round pick Warrick. The jury’s still out on the rail-thin but explosive forward, who has demonstrated an ability to score in the paint and rebound but not do much of anything else. In order to play consistent minutes for this team, Warrick will have to be able to guard in the halfcourt, but right now he seems too light to defend in the paint and too stiff to guard small forwards on the perimeter. He also needs to increase his shooting range and work on his ability to put the ball on the floor.

Warrick did get double-digit minutes in five of the last six games heading into the break. He’ll have the chance to establish himself as a regular in the rotation down the stretch, and his scoring ability could give the offense a boost.

9. What’s wrong with Lorenzen Wright?

What isn’t? If Warrick’s minutes increase, it’ll likely be at the expense of Wright, who is having by far his worst season as a pro, shooting career lows from the floor and the free-throw line and bobbling passes with regularity. Wright’s been such an offensive burden that his minutes have plummeted in recent weeks. Wright is still capable of helping this team defensively and on the boards, but if he doesn’t turn it around soon, this offensively challenged team may not be able to afford to give him significant minutes.

10. Did Pau Gasol deserve to be an All-Star?

Absolutely. Ostensible all-star snub Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets may score more points than Gasol and may be a bigger celebrity, but Gasol has done more things while leading his team to a better record with a less impressive supporting cast. And Gasol’s selection as backup center isn’t just defensible, it’s accurate. Gasol may have a “PF” next to his name on the line-up sheet, but watch the team play and that designation seems arbitrary: Gasol is a post player on the offensive end, a shot-blocker on the defensive end, and is taller than frontcourt mate Wright. There’s no particular reason why Wright should be considered the center and Gasol the power forward in the Grizzlies’ lineup.

11. Will the Grizzlies make the playoffs?

Yes. Fans shouldn’t get too concerned about the team’s late-January/early-February struggles considering how loaded the schedule was with road games and games against elite teams. Based on opponent winning percentage, the Grizzlies have built their current 29-23 record against the toughest schedule in the NBA. But things will get a lot easier after the break.

The Grizzlies have already played seven of their 10 games against the league’s three primary title contenders (Pistons, Spurs, Mavs). By contrast, the Grizzlies have played only one of six scheduled games against the league’s three worst teams (Knicks, Bobcats, Hawks) and also have games left against such lottery-bound squads as the Raptors, Sonics (twice), and Celtics. Last season, the Grizzlies needed to build up a cushion in order to survive a murderer’s row of an April schedule. This year, the rough stuff is already out of the way. Barring injuries, look for the Grizzlies, currently seventh place in the Western Conference, to move up to sixth in time for the playoffs.

12. Can they finally do some damage when they get there?

Now that’s a tougher question. Gasol has proven himself a viable post-season scorer in past playoff series and should be even better this time around. And the Grizzlies brought in playoff-tested veterans like Jones and Jackson expressly for a shot at better playoff success. But the biggest reason for optimism has less to do with the Grizzlies than their potential opponent. After playing sacrificial lamb to the defending champion Spurs and conference-leading Phoenix Suns the past two seasons, the Grizzlies will likely go into the playoffs this year with a match-up against either a less explosive Suns team or (if they settle in at the sixth seed) an underperforming Denver Nuggets squad that could even yield home-court advantage to the Grizzlies. There’s no reason the Grizzlies couldn’t be competitive against those match-ups.

13. So, Jerry West’s off-season makeover has been a success?

That remains to be seen. The Grizzlies may have a shot at better post-season success this season, but the 2005-2006 Memphis Grizzlies still feel like a transitional team. The old guards West brought in (ridding the team of Jason Williams’ long-term contract in the process) may only be bridging the gap from Hubie Brown’s 10-man-rotation squad Mike Fratello inherited a year ago to a bigger makeover to come in the next year or two. And if the Grizzlies can’t win at least a couple of games come playoff time, you have to wonder if the franchise would have been better served starting the real rebuilding immediately — with more young talent to grow alongside Gasol — than in taking a short-term stab at a limited playoff run.