Month: March 2020

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Tiger Trials: Penny Hardaway’s Team Still Looking for the Smoke

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Let’s start with the positive. The 2019-20 Memphis Tigers will post a winning record, making it 20 consecutive such seasons, an unprecedented stretch for a program that has existed now for more than a century. The Tigers have beaten three teams from “Power Five” conferences (they beat none in Penny Hardaway’s first season as head coach), including regional villains Ole Miss and Tennessee (the latter in Knoxville). The Tigers have suited up arguably the finest freshman in the country, Precious Achiuwa having averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds on his way to all-league recognition in the American Athletic Conference.

Alas, having finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference (with a record of 21-10, the Tigers may need to reach the final of this week’s AAC tourney in Forth Worth to land a berth in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers hope to avoid a six-year Big Dance drought, one that would equal the longest (1997-2002) since the famed 1973 team played UCLA for the national championship.

Larry Kuzniewski

Penny Hardaway

While they’ve beaten the Rebels and Vols, these Tigers also have a 40-point loss to Tulsa on their record, along with a dispiriting home loss to USF in early February that seriously damaged any hopes of a run to the Big Dance.

And finally, while they may feature the finest freshman in the country, his name is not James Wiseman. The Wiseman Case, as it will forever be known, is now in the hands of something called the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), a new agency tasked by the NCAA to measure and resolve infractions. Based on the Memphis program’s track record — two of three Final Four appearances vacated — the fan base should prepare itself for a hammer it didn’t know existed six months ago. All the more threatening, there is no appeal process with the IARP.

“We’ve been through everything you can go through. We’re fighting. These guys are scrapping. I’m proud of the effort.”

— Penny Hardaway after the Tigers beat UConn on February 1st

We asumed last summer the story of these Tigers would be told with Wiseman front and center. We didn’t know the story would actually be told with Wiseman as merely background, offstage. The acclaimed recruit — the centerpiece among seven jewels in Hardaway’s second class — made the kind of debut in November that had the most stoic of Tiger observers swooning: 28 points and 11 rebounds in just 22 minutes of playing time. It proved to be a cruel tease.

Wiseman played in two more games, even after learning he’d been ruled “likely ineligible” by the NCAA for his family having received $11,500 for moving expenses from Hardaway in 2017. It didn’t matter that Hardaway was merely a high school coach at the time. (He coached Wiseman and East High to a state title in 2018.) After some back-and-forth, the team accepted a 12-game suspension for Wiseman, only to have the player withdraw from the program to begin training for his pro career. (Wiseman is expected to be a top-three pick in June’s NBA draft.) This was removing Jagger from the Stones. It was killing off Rachel after the first season of Friends. Hardaway found himself tasked with driving a muscle car . . . minus the steering wheel.

Then in late January, as the Tigers were practicing before a clash with Connecticut, D.J. Jeffries suffered ligament damage in his left knee. The Tigers were 15-5 at the time, thanks in large part to the impact Jeffries had made since joining the starting lineup in late November: 10.8 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, and 51 percent shooting from the field. If Achiuwa was the second-best player in Hardaway’s ballyhooed recruiting class, it became clear the pride of Olive Branch High School was third. Now Jeffries would be as absent as Wiseman for the remainder of the season.

Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

“They’re learning on the fly. The pressure is different on this level than it’s ever been in high school.”

— Penny Hardaway after the Tigers beat Temple on February 5th

The Tigers have clearly lacked veteran leadership on the floor. You don’t get doubled up (80-40!) at Tulsa with the right captain in charge. You don’t surrender the final 15 points in a four-point loss to SMU at home without the right floor general shifting the game’s direction.

Why the leadership void? Five senior starters departed after the 2018-19 season. Four of them were junior-college transfers recruited by Tubby Smith to play but two seasons in blue and gray. Smith brought that quartet to Memphis, of course, thinking he’d be the guy tasked with replacing them. When Smith was fired — and Hardaway hired — at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, a “class gap” was all but certain, and the hurt has been compounded by Wiseman’s absence.

There’s been no superstar center — no “unicorn” — to hide or erase shortcomings among a talented-but-green rotation of players whose roles have changed not just from one game to another, but within games. When Achiuwa and Lance Thomas went down late in that home loss to USF on February 8th, the Tigers finished a tight game with no semblance of a frontcourt. The Bulls grabbed 41 rebounds, 12 more than the Tigers in a game decided by two points.

Larry Kuzniewski

Alex Lomax

Lomax has emerged as arguably the best point guard in what amounts to a committee system utilized by Hardaway. He’s near the top of the American Athletic Conference with an average of 4.3 assists per game. But veteran judgment? The 6’0″ sophomore chose to drive the lane as the clock wound down in a tie game at Cincinnati on February 13th. Instead of dishing to Achiuwa or another forward, Lomax put up a shot that was blocked from behind. The Tigers lost in overtime.

“This is life,” acknowledges Lomax, who has played for Hardaway since middle school. “People hold you to certain standards and expect you to be somewhere. You’re gonna have your ups and downs, no matter what. Stick to the same routine, trust the same people, and don’t let outsiders spread you with negativity. In the end, you’ll be fine.”

Having grown up in Memphis, Lomax knows the intensity of Tiger basketball culture as well as anyone his age. He also knows his coach personifies that culture, dating back to Hardaway’s All-America playing days (1991-93).

In some respects, Lomax has witnessed Hardaway’s development as much as vice versa. “He’s done a great job,” says Lomax. “All the punches thrown his way, he’s found a way to swing back. You lose a starter every three or four weeks, you have to adjust. You can’t play the same way. Players have to step up before you intended them to. You have to grow up faster. He’s trusted us to do our job. And he always reminds us that this is the city’s team. We have to do it for the city. Especially all the fans and boosters. He goes all out, 24/7. It’s been fun for me to be by his side, and see him develop from when I was so young.”

“Where we started, we had a very deep team. We had size, we had shooting, we had speed, we had length. Where we are now . . . we’re just scrapping.” — Penny Hardaway after the Tigers lost to USF on January 12th

Few would describe Achiuwa’s play as “scrapping.” Amid the team’s various stumbles and face-plants, the freshman from Queens has left an imprint unlike many rookies in Tiger history. His 18 double-doubles are a Memphis freshman record and one more than the great Keith Lee had in 1981-82. Achiuwa is only the fourth Memphis freshman to pull down 300 rebounds and he’s 11 points from becoming just the tenth to score 500. He’s a “specimen,” to borrow a description from Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, the kind college basketball gets to enjoy but for a single season these days.

Larry Kuzniewski

Lester Quinones

Though not as consistent as Achiuwa, Lester Quinones (a fellow freshman and New Yorker) has made his own impression on the Tiger program, and beyond his uncomfortably high — for some — shorts and air-guitar celebrations after connecting on a three-pointer. His flamboyance doesn’t mean Quinones hasn’t felt the growing pains. (At times, literally. He missed five games after breaking his right hand in the Ole Miss game.)

“We’ve lost way more games than we expected to,” says Quinones. “[It’s been crucial] for us to stay together and not let outside distractions interfere with where we’re trying to get . . . the NCAA tournament. We’re buying in more — and coming closer together — as the year goes on. No separation, because it’s been tough. Being the youngest team in the country, I feel like we’ve dealt with it pretty well. It’s hard to find a leader with just one senior on the team. We’re going to live up to expectations. We’ll get it done.”

So, what awaits the Tigers for the 2020-21 season? It’s hard to imagine the honeymoon being over for a third-year coach. This city’s love affair with Penny Hardaway runs deeper than most relationships between a community and college coach. It’s a different kind of belief system: This is Memphis, and he’s Penny. But as Hardaway has begun to emphasize, growth is necessary. Graduate transfers — veteran leadership, even if new to town — has become part of the sport’s culture. Look for a transfer or two to provide next year’s team an actual senior class. Among the five current freshmen who may be back — Achiuwa will be a first-round pick in the NBA draft — how many will return? These are variables to consider after the current Tigers play their final game. For now, hope remains, even if but a sliver.

“The low points have been losing our brothers out there,” says Lomax in reflecting on Wiseman and Jeffries. “It’s a family thing with us. But you gotta keep going, bring it together. At the end of the day, you can’t focus on the low points. Make a quick decision, keep your head up.”

And like Quinones, Lomax relishes the expectations of a passionate, if embattled, fan base. Whether it’s internal bravado or the “smoke” of national attention, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “This program can be the highest level,” he emphasizes. “We want to be number-one in the country. It’s not just basketball. We want to be number-one in everything. Fans don’t want mediocrity. We don’t either.”

Could the 2020-21 Tigers — however that roster is shaped, whatever the IARP decides — be a better team for the trials of this winter? “We can be better, just for having been through a lot,” notes Lomax. “Guys who have been here can teach the young guys. But every year’s different. And we’re focused on this year, still have a goal to accomplish.”

Even with possible sanctions looming (a postseason ban? a scholarship reduction?), Tiger basketball will be back in the spotlight, sometimes more so when games are not being played. Such is life for a program built as much on the bruises it’s absorbed as the nets it’s cut down.

“With the amount of players returning, we should have way more experience,” adds Quinones. “And [we’ll be] working hard this summer, expecting things might go south, and how we’ll recover. We’ll have that experience next year. Bigger goals. Bigger accomplishments.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Moondance Executive Chef Joel LeMay Followed in his Brother’s Footsteps

If it wasn’t for his brother, Joel LeMay might not be executive chef at Moondance Grill.

Growing up in New Orleans, LeMay, 27, ran track and was a defensive lineman on his high school football team. He ate hot dogs and bologna and grilled cheese sandwiches.

His big brother, Ryan Aguiluz, was a professional chef who worked in French Quarter restaurants. “He would make all these amazing things,” LeMay says. “And I couldn’t fathom it when I was that young.”

Aguiluz didn’t keep jobs for long, but LeMay remembers the time he saw him working at a restaurant. “He was doing something in this big pot. And I got to see him at work with his apron and his hat on and everything. It was cool for me because I got to see him in a kitchen.”

It always was a special time when his brother cooked at home. “I would actually be able to keep him in one place with me and hang out,” LeMay says. “He was always coming and going. He had a lot of things going on in his life. He had a lot of friends. And I always wanted to hang out with him.”

LeMay helped his brother cook. “When somebody’s in that lifestyle, they’re very up and down. Me, being so young, I didn’t really understand the up and down. But when he was up, it was fun. He was creative, and it would just be so, so fun for me to watch.”

Aguiluz died when LeMay was 13. “He had a pretty severe drug problem,” LeMay says. “It’s part of the lifestyle sometimes, and, especially down in New Orleans, it’s everywhere.

“When he passed away, he had been clean for about two months. It was the longest he had ever been clean. Then he had a heart attack.”

LeMay shut down after Aguiluz died. “I didn’t go to school for a long time. I just basically went into a cocoon for a while and just sorted things out.”

When he was 19, LeMay got his first job in a restaurant, City Diner, as a server, but he soon moved up to prep. “Then they started letting me cook,” he says. “And the second I picked up a spatula, I felt so close to my brother. It was like he was looking down on me. He was like, ‘Man. He got in the kitchen, too.’ I was so inspired at that point in time. And it felt right.”

LeMay eventually was promoted to chef. “Once they gave me that chef jacket, I never took it off. You couldn’t get me to take it off.”

He later went to work for Bonefish Grill, where he moved up the ladder. He worked at the company’s restaurants in Metairie and Baton Rouge, and in California and Texas.

Three years ago, LeMay moved to Memphis to work at another Bonefish Grill. Memphis reminded him of New Orleans “because it was so colorful. You know, there are so many different areas, and every region is so different from the other one.”

After seven years with Bonefish, LeMay decided last year to make a career move. He interviewed with Moondance owner Tommy Peters and corporate chef Oscar Pena. They asked his opinion on the menu. “I come from a corporate restaurant [environment]where I’m told how things should be,” he says.

Over the last few months they’ve been working on “certain twists and seasonings and flavors” they can add to their dishes. “We’re at a place now where the menu that we brought to Moondance is perfected,” he says.

LeMay feels his brother would be proud of him. “As a manager, as a chef, I just feel like he’s definitely been a part of my momentum,” he says. “Me being so fortunate in what my career has been so far, I feel like he has a lot to do with that.”

And, LeMay adds, “I know he would be proud, but I know he would wish he could be here for it.”

Moondance Grill is located at 1730 South Germantown Road, Suite 117; 755-1471.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Producers of the Welcome to Night Vale Podcast Bring Stage Show to Memphis

CREDIT: Nina Subin

Update: This event has been postponed.
A notice from Welcome to Night Vale: 

“Our top priority is the safety of our fans, performers, and the hard workers who help us make these live shows happen on the ground. With that said, after tonight’s performance in Portsmouth, NH, Welcome to Night Vale will be postponing all remaining March and April live shows. We hope to reschedule all events later this year and tickets will be honored for the new dates. We’ll post updates about these events as well as any future changes to social media and our website and you can also visit the venue’s website or reach out to your point of purchase with specific ticket questions. Thank you, Night Vale fans and stay safe!”

Welcome to Night Vale, where all conspiracy theories are true and everything is absurd. Producers of the popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale bring the strange happenings of a small town to Memphis on their “Haunting of Night Vale” tour.

In “The Haunting of Night Vale,” host Cecil Palmer and his partner Carlos build a new house, but it appears that their brand new abode is haunted. In a town that has floating cats with tentacles and where presidential races are settled by knockouts in boxing rings, it’s unclear what could happen.

Nina Subin

Jeffrey Cranor

What we do know is that Jeffrey Cranor and co-writer Joseph Fink developed the plot around a home improvement show placed in a typical haunted house setting.”We were playing with the idea of Cecil and Carlos building a brand-new house together,” says Cranor. “And we just started with the basic idea of, could a new house be haunted already? And we regularly like making jokes about what reality TV home improvement shows are like, so it was just sort of fun to play around with placing the Property Brothers in Night Vale.”

Asked how they come up with ideas for the show, Cranor says, “I think it’s just years of reading and watching strange fiction and liking science fiction and horror and enjoying funny and interesting stories and stuff that is fascinating in that way. Like if you are a professional chef, you can create new flavor combinations that aren’t common. They’re probably based off of something you’ve had before, even if they’re not exactly what you ate before. But over time, you’ve kind of learned what tastes good, and you use your taste buds to play with concepts and hope people like it as much as you do.”

The Haunting of Night Vale, Duncan-Williams Performance Hall at GPAC, 1801 Exeter, Wednesday, March 18th, 7:30-9:30 p.m., $25.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Artist Lawrence Matthews III to Reveal New Mural at Orange Mound Community Center Dedication Celebration

CREDIT: Lawrence Matthews III

Update: This event has been postponed. Check back later for the reschedule date.

After three months of painting and installation, local artist Lawrence Matthews III is ready to reveal his new mural at Orange Mound Community Center’s dedication celebration this Saturday.

Through UrbanArt Commission’s District Mural Program, and with the help of assistants Amber George and Toonky Berry and photographer Andrea Morales, Matthews presents his first permanent large-scale public art piece — one that represents members of the Orange Mound community depicted as the epitome of role models and icons.

Lawrence Matthews III

Orange Mound Community Center mural

“A lot of times, it’s like, let’s put the most famous person or a celebrity on this wall,” says Matthews. “I didn’t want to do that. What I wanted to do was give a platform and give space to people who are just regular working people to see themselves exalted and treated as icons.”

Lawrence says that many people in the black communities don’t have the opportunity to see themselves represented this way often enough.

“And that has residual effects across generations,” he says. “So maybe seeing a firefighter that is 20 feet tall or to see a nurse, a teacher, or somebody graduating high school in the background, this place that you inhabit so much. I thought that was more powerful.”

Much of Lawrence’s work outside of this mural deals with the issues surrounding displacement of Africans living in America, civil rights, and the gentrification of black communities.

“As an artist, I think there is a social responsibility that is a part of making art,” he says. “It’s making things beautiful, too, but also telling stories and navigating different things.”

Orange Mound Community Center Dedication Celebration, Orange Mound Community Center, 2572 Park, Saturday, March 14th, 1 p.m., free.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Onward

It’s strange to contemplate how Dungeons & Dragons has conquered the world. The game began in the early 1970s in a Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, hobby shop. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, and the shop’s owner, Jeff Perren, were avid wargamers who created sets of rules to govern battles between brigades of miniature army men. During one game set in medieval times, someone (exactly who is the source of much controversy and a few lawsuits) had the idea that, instead of controlling whole armies, they could try playing as individual heroes. Gygax added rules for using magic and fantastic monsters to fight and published the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974.

For a game that has been described as combining “the charm of a Pentagon briefing with the excitement of double-entry bookkeeping,” the nerdy hobby spread like wildfire. By 2017, after the game’s fifth edition was released, there were an estimated 15 million players in the United States. But D&D’s legacy goes far beyond the tabletop. The basic concepts introduced by the game — characters defined by a set of skills and statistics whose success or failure is based on random rolls of the dice, and who gather treasure and useful items as they gain experience and advance in level — underlies video games from The Legend of Zelda to Call Of Duty to Grand Theft Auto. But I think D&D’s greatest cultural contribution was the creation of the “generic fantasy setting.”

Tom Holland and Chris Pratt voice the Lightfoot brothers.

J.R.R. Tolkien had taken a scholarly approach to creating Middle Earth, using elements of myth and legend from Northern European antiquity. His numerous imitators were much less rigorous about who they stole from, and Gygax read all of them, gleaning their best ideas and combining them into one syncretic setting. Everything from Shrek to Game of Thrones to Skyrim seems to take place in variants of the D&D world.

Pixar’s newest picture Onward takes the generic fantasy setting as its jumping-off point. “Long ago, the world was full of wonder!” the opening narration exclaims. Bearded wizards in pointy hats palled around with pegasus-unicorns. But magic is famously not user-friendly, so some spoilsport had to go and invent technology, and now the elves and trolls and centaurs live in a world that looks like a Northern California suburb. It’s elf Ian Lightfoot’s (voiced by Tom Holland) 16th birthday, and he’s an awkward nerd who can’t get anyone to come to his party except his big brother Barley (Chris Pratt) and his mom Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The boys’ father died when they were very young, but Laurel reveals that he left a gift for them to be delivered when Ian turned 16. It turns out that accountant dad was secretly a wizard, and his legacy is a magic staff, a Phoenix jewel, and a spell that would bring him back to life for one day only, so he could meet the children he left behind.

Barley is an avid player of Quests of Yore, a D&D-equivalent game that, in this world, is strictly historically accurate. He tries and fails to make the spell work. But when Ian tries, his latent magical powers activate, and he succeeds. Well, he partially succeeds — meaning he brings back just the lower half of his father. The brothers have 24 hours to complete the spell and materialize the rest of dad.

Directed by Dan Scanlon, a longtime Pixar staffer who wrote and directed 2013’s Monsters University, Onward never fails to be fun and engaging. But I think the Pixar label actually hurts Onward. Had this come from any other creative team, it would be hailed as a fantastic film. But since it’s Pixar, it invites comparisons to masterpieces such as Toy Story 2.

Onward is a beautiful piece of animation, even if it doesn’t quite rise to the level of Coco. It features a relationship between two brothers that feels deep and real, even if it doesn’t reach Inside Out‘s depths of psychological insight. Its action sequences are thrilling, particularly the climax where our heroes fight a magic dragon assembled from the rubble of technological society, but they never touch the complexity of The Incredibles.

Onward does have one element superior to its Pixar equivalents: Guinevere, Barley’s custom van airbrushed with a fantasy scene of a pegasus, has more personality than the cars from Cars, and even though it never talks, it still gets a heroic moment inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road.

Like Corey (Octavia Spencer), the manticore restaurateur who has to answer to her investors, we’ve become jaded to Pixar’s techno-magic and worn down by Disney’s domination. But don’t let that discourage you from taking up Onward‘s magic quest.

Onward
Now playing
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News The Fly-By

MEMernet

A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web.

Super Day

Innovators take risks. Unsatisfied with a traditional snap of an “I voted” sticker after he voted, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris went with a thumbs up before he voted during Super Tuesday last week.

Thanks?!

Shelby County Trustee Regina Morrison Newman posted to Facebook that FedEx paid its $25 million tax bill at the end of February. We couldn’t decide if it was weird or not. How much you gotta pay for a post like that?

Fresh Air

Talk about a blast of spring. Last week, Twitter was a gutter of snipes about coronavirus, a gut-check scroll of photos from the Middle-Tennessee tornadoes, and that video of Trump groping the flag. But @memphisweather1 parted the clouds with one sentence:

“Are you ready for an extended period of sunshine (a few days’ worth)??” (Right here is where they put a cute sun emoji. Squee!)

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Shelby County Commission Tackles Issues With State Legislature

The March 3rd Super Tuesday vote, with presidential preference primaries favoring Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, and nominating Joe Brown and Paul Boyd, respectively, as the Democratic and Republican candidates for General Sessions Court clerk, has come and gone.

But there was still politics to be found locally. In a lengthy, oddly contentious meeting of the Shelby County Commission on Monday, political factors weighed heavily on several controversial issues, most of which were resolved either unanimously or via one-sided votes. A pair of hot-button issues were addressed in the form of late add-on resolutions at the close of Monday’s meeting, which had already generated significant steam via the regular agenda.

One of the add-on resolutions opposed Republican Governor Bill Lee‘s proposal for open-carry legislation, at least for Shelby County, and passed the Commission by a bipartisan 10-1 vote, the lone vote in opposition coming from GOP Commissioner Mick Wright, who chose to let his dissent speak for itself.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Republican David Bradford and Democrat Tami Sawyer. The minimal discussion of the measure was itself bipartisan, with, for example, Democrat Reginald Milton and Republican Amber Mills making similar declarations of being pro-Second Amendment but citing opposition to the open-carry measure from law enforcement officials.

Specifically, the resolution’s enacting clause asks that any open-carry measure exclude Shelby County: “Now, therefore, be it resolved the Board of County Commissioners of Shelby County Tennessee be carved out of any and all permitless gun carry legislation.”

It should be noted that in a separate action over the weekend, the Shelby County Democratic Executive Committee unanimously passed its own resolution condemning Senate Bill 2671/House Bill 2817, the permitless-carry legislation, citing similar objections — noting that, for example, “the Memphis Mayor, Memphis Police Director, and the Shelby County Sheriff have already spoken out against the bill.”

Another late add-on resolution at Monday’s commission meeting was introduced by Sawyer. It would have repeated the commission’s previous stand in favor of voter-marked paper ballot machines in Shelby County and included an exhortation to the General Assembly to “support legislation for paper ballot on-demand options,” thereby tying into specific ongoing legislation to that end.

Further, and importantly, the resolution provides an alternative to holding a public referendum authorizing new voting machines, as apparently required under a newly unearthed provision of state law. It underscores the authority of the county commission itself, “as the governing body of Shelby County” to purchase new voting machines, and notes the subsequent reallocation last month by the commission of capital improvement funds as a means of doing so. The resolution would not be acted on directly but was by unanimous consent referred to the next meeting of the commission’s general government committee.

Commissioner Sawyer appended to the resolution a copy of a letter signed by five Republican legislators representing Shelby County and addressed to the three Republican members of the Shelby County Election Commission.

The letter, on the official letterhead of state Senator Brian Kelsey, carried two specific “recommendations” to the GOP SCEC members. One directly opposes voter-marked ballots, stating that “[a]llowing voters to handle and mark paper inevitably opens the election process to numerous unnecessary human errors” and that “reverting back to technology from the 1990s would be a huge mistake.”

A second “recommendation” needs  to be quoted in its entirely: “Second, in order to ensure that everyone has the same opportunity to vote and to limit the financial strains on the taxpayers, we recommend seven days of early voting be conducted at all satellite voting locations in Shelby County, preceded by eight days of early voting at the Shelby County Election Commission office. Opening only one early voting location in the Agricenter, as was done in 2018, was wrong and in violation of state law. The solution we propose will fix this problem.”

Buried in this somewhat disingenuous language is the idea of cutting back the amount of time devoted to satellite early voting from two weeks to a single week.

Sawyer was pointed and defiant in the citation of the Kelsey letter, saying that its recommendations and circumlocutions alike, as well as the confinement of the communication to Republican members of the SCEC, constituted an affront to the commission and to the process of resolving the voting-machine issue in an orderly, conscientious manner.

“The letter undermines this board,” she declared, insisting that her condemnation of the letter be given maximum public exposure.

The voting-machine issue was not the only matter to invoke the possibility of cross-purposes between county and state authorities. An unexpected controversy arose over a proposal, advanced by Commissioners Milton and Van Turner at the behest of County Mayor Lee Harris, to allocate $33,799 for a Veterans Service Officer in Shelby County. Commissioner Mills, who with colleague Edmund Ford, had been to Nashville last week to discuss county-government needs with state officials, asked for a postponement of the action, insisting that she had been promised the prospect of not one, but five such officers for Shelby County via state action, and that county action on the matter could scuttle the state effort.

An argument ensued between Mills and Harris, with the mayor, backed by several members of the commission, expressing disbelief that county action on the matter would provoke a punitive reaction in Nashville. But in the end a narrow vote approved a deferral of the issue to the commission meeting of April 20th.

Modest controversy arose, too, over the commission’s action in approving  a paid parental leave policy for county employees. The annual price tag of the proposal, $830,000, to be paid for by internet sales tax revenues, was objected to by Republican Commissioners Mills and Brandon Morrison, who cited a looming $85 million county deficit, and abstained from an otherwise unanimous vote of approval.

Democrats at the Ready

Jackson Baker

Among those gathered Saturday morning at Kirby High School for preliminary party caucuses before this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee were (l to r) Rick Maynard, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, and David Upton.

Categories
News News Blog

COVID-19: County Health Department Makes Recommendations for Workplaces

Head of the Shelby County Health Department said Wednesday that employers and individuals should begin thinking about taking extra precautions in light of the coronavirus being declared a pandemic.

Alisa Haushalter, director of the health department, said there are no new cases in Shelby County and that the county is still in the containment phase of managing the outbreak, but “at some point we may move into mitigation, which is broader community strategies.”

“When we know that there is increased transmission, either worldwide, or in this case Middle Tennessee, we have to have heightened awareness,” Haushalter said at a Wednesday press conference.

As of Wednesday there are nine confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Tennessee: one case each in Shelby and Sullivan counties, two in Davidson County, and four in Williamson County.

There are more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus in the United States, which have resulted in 29 deaths, according to the latest numbers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Haushalter said the World Health Organization’s declaring COVID-19 a pandemic is important because “that means there is significant transmission worldwide.”

At this point, Haushalter recommends that workplaces and organizations do the following:

• Assess their continuity of operations plan and determine how they would operate if they had a significant number of team members out

• Look at their sick leave policies and ensure they are able to support individuals staying at home if they are ill

• Create an environment where people don’t come to work coughing and running a fever so that if people are sick they are not spreading it in the work environment


For individuals, Haushalter said “it’s critical now that they begin to look very closely at travel and make prudent decisions to avoid places where there is active transmission of the disease.”

Seniors and those who have chronic illnesses should be “particularly aware of travel” and should consider keeping a “social distance” and avoiding large crowds.

Haulshalter also reiterated the importance of hand washing for at least 20 second with soap and water, avoiding touching the face, and staying home if you are sick with any respiratory symptoms or running a fever.

Haulshalter advised that people who think they might have the coronavirus should call ahead before visiting a health care provider.

The county is convening a task force to ensure that the social needs of quarantined families are being met. County officials are also working with the local health care community to make sure uninsured individuals have access to appropriate and adequate treatment, Haulshalter said.

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As of Wednesday, approximately 80 people who came into contact with the Shelby County patient have been quarantined.

“I feel confident that we have an exhaustive list of contacts,” Haushalter said. “Our staff has interviewed all of those individuals and determined what risk category they fit in and taken appropriate action to make sure they are either self-monitoring or quarantined.”

Joris Ray, superintendent of Shelby County Schools also spoke at Wednesday’s press conference. Ray is sticking to the decision to keep schools open, until advised otherwise by the health department.

“We want to consult with the experts,” Ray said. “I don’t want to make an isolated decision. Because at the end of the day, students’ education is so important. And when you close a school, sometimes our students don’t get a chance to eat. You know, breakfast and lunch is provided. And a day without education, is a day that our students won’t learn to read.”

Check the health department’s webpage dedicated to COVID-19 for more information. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center also has a page dedicated to updated COVID-19 information.


Shelby County officials have also launched their own portal with up-to-date, essential information about the virus.


See a list of precautionary measures places around town are taking here.


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COVID-19: What to Know If You’re Planning to Travel.



With the ever-changing news regarding COVID-19, you may be wondering if and when you or your loved ones should travel.

As of mid-week, there are no government-mandated travel restrictions or bans within the United States. There are some actions that could indicate what may yet come, such as the “containment zone” in New Rochelle, New York, and some governmental restrictions on gatherings above a certain number. And there are businesses and organizations that are limiting travel for their personnel. The domestic situation is fluid and could change, and there are international destinations where you will be unable to go for the foreseeable future.

Memphis magazine and the Memphis Flyer asked Deenie Phelan, vice president of HR and Operations for the Travelennium travel agency, to speak to what’s going on in the travel industry and to address what people should consider if they have travel plans.

“Traveling now is a personal decision and can be made based on private information that only you possess. What is your overall health condition? If you are generally healthy and practice common sense, you stand an excellent chance of overcoming any potential colds, viruses, flu, or infection you may come in contact with, whether here at home or on a trip. Only you can determine how comfortable you are with the possibility of getting sick. Travel suppliers are taking extraordinary measures to sanitize everything you might come in contact with, so it might be safer now than ever to be in a hotel or on an airplane or cruise ship.

“If you would be considered unhealthy by medical standards or have an underlying health condition, you should probably not travel during what seems to be the height of the transmission.

“Another valid and pressing concern is regarding your time. If your trip becomes disrupted due to COVID-19, there is a real possibility that you could be detained or quarantined for a period of time — expect two weeks at the minimum. Will you be able to miss additional weeks from your job, child care, pet care, as well as any other responsibilities in your life? 

“Should you conclude that you are healthy and have the time to travel, definitely go and enjoy the lighter crowds. We highly recommend purchasing Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance. Also it would be wise to pack an extra few weeks of any medication with you, just in case.

“If you opt to postpone your travel plans, our best optimistic guess for the future is that this disruption in our normal lives will last through the end of May. The best and brightest medical and scientific minds are studying the virus and 90 days seems to cover the incubation and spread time being experienced in Asia before the upswing occurred.

“When the current situation subsides, know that the travel deals will be yours for the taking. Every travel supplier will be hoping to lure the public back with specials to get you in their hotels, and on their airplanes and cruises. You stand to score an unbelievable value on your travel later this year, and that is great news.

“Our approach is a positive one and should make you feel in control of the travel process.”

— Deenie Phelan

Amtrak

Amtrak is responding to COVID-19 and has announced the following:

  • The rail passenger carrier is implementing enhanced cleaning protocols and is increasing the frequency of cleaning service on its trains and stations.
  • There will be additional antibacterial products such as sanitizers and disinfectant wipes on trains and at stations.
  • There will be no change fees on bookings made through April 30, 2020, allowing for riders to have flexibility in changing plans.

Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines has responded to the outbreak by using a high-grade EPA-registered disinfectant on all flights, a new fogging process used by the food industry, state-of-the-art air circulation systems, more hand sanitizer, more gloves for flight attendants, and additional sanitation procedures for inbound catering equipment at international gateways.

The air carrier is also disinfecting airport kiosks multiple times daily, increased the cleaning schedule of gate areas, and washing and bagging blankets after each flight.

Links for more information:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center Coronavirus Information Center

The Shelby County Health Department Coronavirus Information Website

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High-Ranking Gang Member Sentenced to 25 Years Imprisonment

A high-ranking West Tennessee member of a national street gang was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Wednesday for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

Demarcus Crawford, 36, “chief enforcer” for the Gangster Disciples in Tennessee and responsible for all of the gang’s activities in the state, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John Fowlkes Jr. in Memphis.

DeMarcus Crawford

The case is a part of a larger RICO conspiracy case called Operation .38 Special. The case dates back to 2016, when 16 members of the Gangster Disciples gang were charged with racketeering.

Gangster Disciples is a national gang operating in 35 states, according to court documents. The gang is known for threats, intimidation, obstruction of justice, and violence, including murder, attempted murder, and assault.

In Tennessee, the gang is organized into “sets,” based on region, which were all headed by Crawford. According to the indictment against Crawford, he was responsible for enforcing the gang’s rules and “the administration of punishment.” That included charging gang members with fines, beating them, or in some cases, murder.

In June, Crawford admitted to ordering the shooting of rival gang members for retaliation and in order to maintain his position in the Gangster Disciples. Crawford also admitted to being directly and indirectly involved with the gang’s other criminal activities, including attempted murder and narcotics trafficking.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee D. Michael Dunavant said the case demonstrates his department’s “ability and resolve to aggressively prosecute and hold accountable those who engage in organized criminal enterprises and hang conspiracies in furtherance of racketeering.”

“This office is proud to work with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to disrupt the Gangster Disciples gang and punish their leaders and members for the violence and lawlessness that they perpetrate across West Tennessee,” Dunavant continued. “Crawford is now taking a long trip to the federal penitentiary for his violent gang leadership and activity.”

The case was prosecuted as a part of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is responsible for conducting comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, as well as diminishing violence and other criminal activity associated with the drug trade.