Author: City Reporter

Facing Charges in Oklahoma, Pharmacist Plans To Open Shop In
Millington

Clayton Fuchs, former pharmacy manager of Oklahoma-based
Mainstreet Pharmacy, will soon set up shop in Millington, Tennessee. There’s
nothing remarkable about that. But Fuchs is currently under investigation by
the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy (OSBP) and faces potential charges by the
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

According to Cindy Hamilton, compliance officer of the OSBP,
Fuchs is charged with selling drugs such as Valium over the Internet — up to
800 prescriptions a day. This violates Oklahoma state law that dictates a
mandatory face-to-face meeting between physician and client. According to an
official complaint filed by Hamilton, one client used a false identity to buy
a prescription, and other clients have obtained “controlled dangerous
substances” despite being suicidal at the time.

In addition to the OSBP complaint, DEA officers obtained a search
warrant for Fuchs’ Oklahoma home. All charges are pending, and Fuchs will face
the OSBP board this week where he could be handed a suspension, revocation of
his license, and a $500 fine per count.

Dr. Ricky Joe Nelson, the physician allegedly authorizing the
prescriptions, is currently under an emergency suspension pending a full
hearing by the Oklahoma Medical Association.

According to Marilyn Elam, spokesperson for the Tennessee State
Board of Pharmacy (TSBP), a potential conviction would not necessarily stop
Fuchs from dispensing medicine in the Volunteer State. The state of Tennessee
has no laws that enforce a face-to-face visit by client and physician. Says
Elam, “Even if he is guilty in Oklahoma, he’s still licensed in
Tennessee.”

Fuchs has already obtained a license in Tennessee, but Dr.
Kendall Lynch, director of the TSBP, says that, should Fuchs be convicted of
charges, “we’ll go through the standard complaint process.” The
TSBP, he says, “has [the authority] in our statutes to summarily suspend
the license. That is our option.” — Chris Przybyszewksi

One Call Stops Phone Solicitors

For everyone frustrated with telemarketers calling during dinner
— and that’s probably just about everyone — the Tennessee Regulatory
Authority (TRA) can offer some relief.

Consumers may submit their names and telephone numbers to the
TRA’s “Do Not Call” program by either calling a toll-free number (1-
877-872-7030) or completing an online form. Though the program only officially
began on August 1, 2000, some 550,000 Tennesseans have already registered for
the service.

“We appear to have started a pretty popular program
here,” says program coordinator Ed Mimms. “We vigorously enforce it.
After a consumer has reported a violation, we investigate it to make sure the
consumer’s name is on the list and then we send the violating company notice
of the alleged violation. In most instances we get a response from the company
after that.”

Mimms says that a company can be fined up to $2,000 for not
registering themselves as telemarketers with the TRA. The company may also be
fined $2,000 for not responding to a violation notice and can be fined another
$2,000 if they are proven to have called a registered consumer.

The statute defines a solicitor as a company or other
organization that makes more than three calls a week to sell a product. Also,
solicitors may only call between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. and cannot
knowingly block identifying information from appearing on a consumer’s caller
ID device.

While no fines have been levied against any violators to date,
Mimms says his program has already investigated more than 500 cases of non-
compliance.

“It’s a lot like speed limits, though,” says Mimms.
“There’s always going to be someone out there who is not aware of the
regulations.”

The statute provides a few exceptions for telemarketers. If a
consumer has expressed permission for the company to call (i.e., signed up for
a promotion, returned a postcard) the solicitor is exempt from the
regulations. Also, if the consumer and the solicitor have a pre-existing
business relationship that has been active within the past 12 months, the
solicitor may call. —Rebekah Gleaves

Children’s Museum To Expand

For almost 10 years, half an airplane — minus wings and tail —
has stood silent guard in the front yard of the Children’s Museum of Memphis.
Soon, though, the gift plane from FedEx will be featured in an an interactive
exhibit, part of a 16,000-square-foot expansion that will almost double the
size of the facility at Central and Hollywood. Groundbreaking is March
23rd.

“The plane will be the centerpiece of the new
expansion,” says Randy McKeel, the museum’s public relations manager. In
fact, it will be housed inside a glass-walled display, and a spiral stairway
will let kids explore the plane interior and cockpit.

The expansion process started about four years ago when the
museum began meeting with community leaders, focus groups, and teachers.

“The teachers wanted more science-based exhibits,” says
McKeel, and the museum listened. “All the new exhibits are science-
based.”

Exhibits like “WaterWORKS!,” “Growing
Healthy,” “Art Smart,” and “Going Places” will
feature a wide variety of hands-on activities, from weaving to
“virtual” walking tours. “WaterWORKS!” in particular will
give children a chance to get their hands wet.

“It will include a 25-foot model of the Mississippi and an
aquarium of Mississippi River fish,” says McKeel. “It’s the museum’s
first venture into live animals.”

Opened almost 11 years ago, the museum has changed out
“permanent” exhibits but has not had any renovations since then.
Money for the expansion comes from the museum’s “It Takes Real Doh”
capital campaign, which started in January 1999 and ended in December 2000.
The campaign hoped to raise $6 million and ultimately exceeded its goal by
$250,000. That sum will go into the museum’s first endowment fund.

The new exhibits are scheduled to open spring 2002. — Mary
Cashiola

UrbanArt Hosts

Forum for Artists

The UrbanArt Commission is hosting its first diversity forum on
Saturday, March 31st, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Hope and Healing
Center on Union Avenue. The event will allow artists to meet with members of
the commission, a division of the Memphis Arts Council that concerns itself
with the creation and placement of public art, and learn about opportunities
for becoming involved in arts projects. It will also allow the commission
members to learn more about the concerns of local artists.

According to Elizabeth Alley, UrbanArt’s project manager, the
forum came about largely due to inquiries from Ephraim Urevbu, a longtime
artist and gallery owner in the South Main Historic/Arts district. Urevbu was
curious about the number of minority artists who had applied for consideration
and who had afterwards been tapped to create public art.

“Let’s just say that the number of minority artists accepted
is equal to the number who applied,” says Alley, without being more
specific. She explains that the commission’s new goal — and the main reason
for hosting this forum — is to find out why UrbanArt isn’t receiving a more
diverse group of applicants.

“It could be a question of trust,” Alley says, “or
it could be that we just need to do a better job of communicating.”

In addition to seeking diversity among applicants, UrbanArt is
also hoping that this forum will lead to more diversified “selection
committees,” the groups that actually decide which artists will be
selected for various public art projects. — Chris Davis

Adoption “Scandal” — Montagues Say Full Story Not
Told

PHOTO COURTESY THE MONTAGUES

The Montague “estate”in Fayette County.

Andy and Michele Montague did not ask to be at the center of a
citywide debate. They say they’ve only tried to do what was best for their
former foster son, Juan Romo. Now, however, the Montagues say they are
embarrassed to be seen in their Oakland community because of the way they were
portrayed in The Commercial Appeal.

Recently the daily newspaper published several news stories, an
editorial, a column, and many letters to the editor about the Montagues’
experiences with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS). In the
accounts, the Montagues were repeatedly described as “well-off,” and
their home said to be an “estate.” The Montagues feel that these
descriptions led the public to believe that they were wealthy and were trying
to use money to take Juan from his biological mother, an illegal immigrant
with no means of support and five other children.

“I haven’t just been burned, I’ve been fried,” says
Michele Montague, speaking of her family’s experience.

Reporter Shirley Downing, who wrote the stories, told the
Flyer that company policy prevented her from giving comments to other
members of the media. Instead she referred the Flyer to city editor
Charles Bernsen. When asked if he believes The Commercial Appeal
fairly and accurately portrayed all the parties involved, Bernsen responded,
“That’s a silly question to ask a city editor. We have no comment on the
stories we run in the paper.”

The public controversy began last week when the CA wrote a
story referring to the struggle Norma Rodriguez, Juan’s mother, was facing
trying to get her children back. The Montague family was described as
“well-to-do” and their home said to be an “estate-size home on
a 250-acre farm” — both statements the Montagues say are incorrect. In
reality, according to the Fayette County Tax Assessor’s office, they live in a
2,489-square-foot house on a one-acre lot.

Andy and Michele Montague share their three-bedroom, two-bathroom
home with their own four children, and for half of Juan’s life they shared it
with him as well. Furthermore, the home doesn’t really belong to the
Montagues; it doubles as a model home for Andy, a developer, to show to
prospective buyers.

“Put yourself in our shoes,” says Michele Montague.
“What would you do if you had a child for 11 and a half months, you
voiced your concerns, you called [DCS], sent e-mails and letters, and nothing
was done? We were concerned. We definitely didn’t want to go get an attorney
and pay all this money. We definitely don’t have it. We have four kids in
private school, we’re starting a new business, we can’t afford this. But we
were at our wit’s end. We didn’t know what else to do.”

However, the story quickly became one of a wealthy white family
trying to buy the baby of an illegal immigrant. The Montagues contend that
nothing could be further from the truth.

“I feel bad for saying this, but Andy and I didn’t want to
adopt Juan,” says Michele. “I have four children of my own. We love
Juan and we want to make sure he’s safe, but we never had any intentions of
adopting.”

The petition for temporary custody that the Montagues filed was
not to take custody from Norma Rodriguez but to take custody from the state.
The Montagues filed the petition after receiving notice from DCS that Juan was
to BE moved to another foster home. They did not understand why DCS would want
to move Juan into a new foster family. The CA accurately reported that
the Montagues had filed only a petition for custody; but the Montagues feel
the stories still gave the impression that they were trying to take custody of
Juan from Rodriguez.

On March 9th, the daily ran an editorial saying that “no
evidence has surfaced publicly that would justify separating Juan and his
mother.” However, an affidavit of Juan’s treating physician, on file with
the Montagues’ petition, says that when Juan was first removed from Norma
Rodriguez’ home he suffered from “1) Reactive Air Disease, 2) Bronchitis,
3) Development Delay, 4) History of Frequent Otitis Media [inner ear
infection].” While not enough to warrant termination of Norma’s parental
rights, the potential for abuse and neglect became clear when considered with
other factors: the Montagues’ reports that Juan repeatedly returned from his
visits with his mother infested with head lice, Norma Rodriguez’ admission
that Juan sleeps in a bed with her and her boyfriend, and the sworn
testimonies of witnesses who say they have seen activity consistent with drug
trafficking in Norma Rodriguez’ home.

On March 9th, the CA ran a guest column by Richard Wexler,
a Washington, D.C., expert on child-care reform. Throughout his column he
continually refers to the Montagues as “well-to-do,”
“richer,” having “middle-class entitlement” and
“marshaled the network of friends and associates that goes with money and
power.” Absent in Wexler’s column, and in most of the stories on the
issue, was the fact that Rodriguez herself surrendered her children to DCS
last year because she could not care for them.

The CA mentioned that the Montagues offered to let
Rodriguez and Juan’s siblings live in a farmhouse owned by Andy Montague’s
parents rent-free, but Norma refused because they would not allow her
boyfriend to move in with her. There was no mention in the paper of the
approximately $2,000 the Montagues gave or spent on Norma because she told
them that she lacked the money for necessities, like groceries. The CA
also did not mention that the Montagues, though not required to do so, usually
drove Juan from their home in Oakland to Norma’s home on Lamar so that Juan
could visit his mother, who did not have transportation.

And now that Norma Rodriguez could potentially face deportation,
The Commercial Appeal has not reported that the Montagues have
offered to sponsor her so that she and her family can remain in the country
legally.

“I would just love to snap my fingers and have all of this
go away,” says Michele Montague. “Maybe we cared too much, I don’t
know. I do know that this is a 2-year-old who cannot speak for himself. Who
else is going to take care of him?” — Rebekah Gleaves

Jail Hearings Rile Judge, Prosecutor, and Pols

The rumble over jail conditions among the county mayor, the sheriff, the district attorney general, and a federal judge looks like it will easily outlast the XFL.

U.S. District Court Judge Jon McCalla last week set a hearing for April 20th for county officials to get their act together and at least prove they are making progress on jail problems. Last Friday’s hearing was more civil than previous ones but was still marked by sniping between the players.

McCalla called it “amazing” that District Attorney General Bill Gibbons did not appear personally but instead sent a letter. In the letter, addressed to county CAO Jim Kelly, Gibbons said his office would not speed up the pace of indictments or “make prosecutorial decisions or case decisions based upon jail population or jail conditions.” Gibbons added that he is “confused as to what in the world this has to do with the current lawsuit in federal court” over jail conditions.

McCalla, who said he was reading the letter for the first time at the hearing, was miffed.

“Apparently he doesn’t think much of us over here,” he said. “This is not very diplomatic.”

McCalla said the court hearings are aimed at finding the problems in a system that he says “can only move as fast as the slowest cog.”

The overcrowded jail includes prisoners who have been held more than 400 days without being indicted, or “hanging charges,” as they are called. The county mayor’s office proposes to speed up the process by adding the “paper-intensive” attorney general’s office into the existing Criminal Justice Center computer systems. Gibbons says the Criminal Court clerk’s office, not his office, is responsible for the court records.

At different hearings, McCalla has expressed his unhappiness with what he sees as unresponsiveness by county mayor Jim Rout, Sheriff A.C. Gilless, and now Gibbons, whose wife is McCalla’s colleague, U.S. District Court Judge Julia Gibbons. But McCalla stopped short of adopting jail inmates’ attorney Robert Hutton’s suggestion of slapping the sheriff’s department with a $25,000-per-day fine for noncompliance.

“Before we start swinging the hatchet, let’s see what they’re trying to build,” said McCalla. “I could not agree with you more that they’re in contempt.”

While the hearing continued on the ninth floor of the federal building, deputy jailers wearing sandwich-boards picketed outside the Criminal Justice Center. A three-man team of jail monitors is supposed to file its report on the county’s plan on March 26th. Meanwhile, attorneys for Gilless announced that he has hired Kim Hackney as jail population management analyst, to begin work March 16th. — John Branston and Ashley Fantz

Memphis Parent Wins Top Publishing Awards

Memphis Parent, a monthly parenting magazine published since January 1999 by Contemporary Media, Inc., walked off with top honors at the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) Annual Convention, held March 1-3 in Huntington Beach, California.

Memphis Parent received four gold medals, for General Editorial Excellence, Best Overall Design, Spot News Feature, and Calendar Design.

The PPA’s Editorial and Design Awards recognize excellence in journalism, photography, and design achieved by member publications. Faculty members at the University of Missouri School of Journalism judge the competition.

“This was an extraordinary coup for a very talented team,” says Kenneth Neill, publisher and CEO of Contemporary Media, which also publishes The Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine. “They’ve worked hard to make changes in the magazine’s look and editorial content, so this is proof positive that we’re moving in the right direction.”

PPA members compete for gold and silver honors in 17 design categories, 16 editorial categories, and three general excellence categories (Most Improved, Rookie of the Year, and General Excellence). In all, 178 editorial and design awards were conferred.

PPA is a national trade association of regional parenting publications that represents more than 150 magazines and newspapers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The organization was established in 1988.

Watson Wants KIPP in Memphis

If everything goes his way, Memphis City Schools superintendent Johnnie B. Watson may be overseeing a Memphis KIPP Academy as soon as 2002.

At the Memphis City Schools board meeting Monday night, Watson presented his letter of intent to contract with the KIPP Academy.

At KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools, students go to school for more than 9 hours every weekday, attend half-days on Saturdays, and are required to learn a musical instrument.

The commissioners — minus Lora Jobe, Hubon Sandridge, and Sara Lewis — took a day trip Friday to visit the school in New York City. The trip was funded by the Hyde Foundation.

“As board members, we’ll be better prepared to vote on it,” said board president Barbara Prescott of the trip.

Commissioner Wanda Halbert said she had concerns about the number of programs the school system is currently still implementing. The commissioners are waiting for a study, due in mid-April, rating the success of the 18 reform models.

“As superintendent, I have a responsibility to identify and implement programs to help accomplish our goals. One of those goals is student achievement,” said Watson. “If this is a way to accomplish that, I feel I must pursue it.” — Mary Cashiola

Brooks Accepts Entries, Theater Adds Shows

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is accepting entries for a show that will feature only artists from the Mid-South. The submissions deadline is March 23rd.

“Brooks Perspectives” is a juried invitation-only exhibition for the region, and artists who reside and work within a 250-mile radius of Memphis are encouraged to submit work for consideration. The pieces will be chosen by curator Sam Gappmayer, director of the Contemporary Art Center of Atlanta. Installations and electronic media are encouraged.

Artists may submit up to 10 slides along with their resume and artist’s statement to Mary Tinkler, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, 38104-2765.

In addition to its current production of Far East, Theatre Memphis is offering performances of Beauty Queen of Leenane on Sunday, March 11th, and Monday, March 12th. Beauty Queen won top honors at the Tennessee Theatre Convention last October and moves on to regionals in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 14th, where it will compete for a shot at the nationals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in June.

— Chris Davis

Stubby and Cal Sell Tickets, Dawgs Don’t

Ticket sales to local sporting events have vacillated for the past 12 months.

On top of the list is the record-shattering year for the Memphis Redbirds and the brand-new AutoZone Park, which drew 12,110 people per game — up from 5,596 per game in the Redbirds’ first and only season in McCarver Stadium. That places the Memphis team second in AAA baseball behind the Sacramento Rivercats, also playing in a new stadium.

In addition, the University of Memphis’ basketball team has ridden the success of newly installed Coach John Calipari to renewed interest in the team, bringing in an average of 17,434 through the season’s 15 home games. This is up from an average of 11,974 tickets sold per game through the 1999-2000 season.

By comparison, the University of Memphis football team took a hit for the 2000 season, collecting only 26,093 tickets per game over the six home games. In 1999, the Tigers drew in 30,841 tickets per game.

More modest are the numbers for Memphis’ professional sports teams. While the RiverKings have seen a slight increase in this year’s ticket sales, bringing 3,571 tickets per game through 27 games in the newly constructed DeSoto County Civic Center, that is only a slight increase over last year’s number of 3,120 tickets per game at the Mid-South Coliseum, the RiverKings’ former residence.

In addition, the newly created Memphis Houn’Dawgs, also in the DeSoto County Civic Center, have attracted just 1,124 people per game, drawing threats of relocation in a recent open letter written by American Basketball Association 2000 co-founder Joe Newman.

In the first game of the XFL Memphis Maniax, attendance was 30,117. For the game the following week, attendance dropped to 17,063 and then declined further for the team’s third home game to 16,176.

— Chris Przybyszewski

School Board Reviews Tough Cell Phone Policy

A Memphis City Schools student who calls in a bomb threat or assaults another student gets a mandatory board suspension. He or she will also get the same punishment for bringing a cellular phone to class.

That was what the parents of a White Station High School student were protesting at Monday night’s school board meeting.

The student, a National Honor Society member, had put her dad’s cell phone in her backpack when she went to a study group Sunday night. On Monday, the phone was forgotten — until it rang during her calculus class.

“We both assumed the principal would look at her irreproachable conduct and exemplary record, but the principal said she had no discretion in the matter,” said Dixie McLendon, the student’s mother. The student was suspended for three days.

Citing the same punishment for sexual harassment, indecent exposure, and belonging to a gang, McLendon said she realized cell phones can be a distraction, but said she thought the automatic board suspension gives principals too little discretion in the matter.

Board members seemed to agree.

Commissioner Lee Brown said he had heard of several similar cases and that the zero-tolerance policy for cell phones might be a bit out of date.

“Before, having a cell phone or a beeper meant you were involved in illegal activities,” said Brown. “In 2001, babies have a phone in the crib.”

The district’s zero-tolerance policy is currently being reviewed by a parent/staff committee, but the commissioners urged expediency in the matter.

“It looks like this is one that needs to be revised,” said Commissioner Michael Hooks Jr. — Mary Cashiola

PlanetRx Not Closing, Just Restructuring

A March 1st article that appeared in Medical Industry Today announced the impending death of two-year-old PlanetRx.com.

PlanetRx was started in San Francisco by Mike Bruner to serve as an online pharmacy where clients could research and fill prescription drugs and other health-care products. Though the company posted losses its first year, it continued to borrow heavily and in the summer of 2000 opened a high-tech distribution center, customer-care organization, and pharmacy in Memphis.

According to Medical Industry Today, the company suffered for never aligning itself with a “bricks and mortar” pharmacy such as Walgreens or Rite Aid. The result is that PlanetRx will effectively hand over its estimated 1.4 million customers to a top competitor, drugstore.com. This news comes via a message on the PlanetRx.com Web site, which announced, “We are also closing our store on March 12, 2001,” and redirected its customers to drugstore.com.

Denise Bovo, vice president of marketing for PlanetRx, said news of the closing is only partially true. “Our Web site will remain open,” Bovo says, adding that PlanetRx will now focus on providing pharmaceutical distribution toward “more serious disease states,” such as cancer and HIV, instead of over-the-counter medicines as it did before.

This change of focus has included a major company overhaul. “The executives in the company have left the company,” says Bovo, with the exception of CEO Michael Biendorff. However, “There’s still a core group in Memphis.” Bovo says of the rapid growth and decline of the company, “So be it with the whole world of dot-com.”

In addition to refocusing its sales efforts, PlanetRx has begun to sell its highly sought-after satellite sites such as Diabetes.com, Nursing.com, and Depression.com. The sale of these sites, says Bovo, has provided new revenue for the restructuring.

— Chris Przybyszewski

XFL Scores With TV Ratings — In Memphis, Anyway

While the rest of the country stifles a yawn, Memphis continues to prove that the XFL knew what it was doing when it chose the Bluff City as one of eight charter teams in the new pro football league. Sunday night’s game between the Maniax and Orlando at the Liberty Bowl drew a 6.25 rating on WLMT-TV (UPN-30) and reached nearly 40,000 households, or approximately 100,000 viewers in the Memphis area.

The Memphis-Orlando game was the highest-rated sporting event on TV in the Memphis market for the entire weekend, beating a NASCAR Winston Cup race (6.0), the Duke-North Carolina basketball game (5.18), the Knicks-Raptors NBA game (4.85), and even the telecast of the University of Memphis vs. Louisville basketball game on Saturday afternoon (4.9).

With the strong rating Sunday night, Memphis solidified its spot as the top-rated UPN market in the nation for XFL telecasts. WLMT-TV’s season rating stands at 6.1. Memphis also ranks among the top five markets for XFL telecasts on NBC and TNN.

Nationally, it is another story altogether for the fledgling football league. Last weekend’s XFL TV rating declined for the fourth straight week. NBC, which co-owns the league with the World Wrestling Federation, got a 2.7 overnight rating and a 5 share for Saturday night’s game between Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey. The league debuted in February with an overnight rating of 10.3. The ratings have dropped each week since.

Steve Ehrhart, general manager of the Maniax, said this week that NBC executives have reiterated their two-year commitment to the league.

— Dennis Freeland

Death Row Inmate Won’t Appeal

Another Tennessee death row inmate could face execution in just a week.

Stephen Michael West has not filed any appeals that would stop his scheduled March 1st execution. Sharon Curtis Flair, spokesperson for State Attorney General Paul Summers, says that their office is “treating this as if he will be executed.”

“There are no appeals on file and there is no stay,” says Flair.

The inmate has chosen the electric chair — a method of death that he has chosen over lethal injection. West was condemned to death at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the state legislature passed a law that mandates all inmates be lethally injected.

West was sentenced to die by a jury for stabbing Lake City residents Wanda Romines, 51, and her daughter Sheila Romines, 16, near their home by Big Ridge State Park. He also raped Sheila. Twenty-four years old when the crime occurred, West was also found guilty of larceny and aggravated kidnapping of the Romines. Photographs at the trial demonstrated that the mother and daughter were tortured before they were murdered. West did not act alone, though. With him at the time of the killings was Ronnie Martin, who told agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that he instructed West to kill Sheila because Martin had already killed her mother. Martin and Sheila also knew each other; they had attended the same high school.

In January of last year, West’s defense attorney John Rogers argued before the Tennessee Supreme Court that his client had been victimized as a child, telling the court that West was born in a mental institution to a mother who constantly abused him throughout his youth and adolescence.

Tennessee Department of Corrections spokesperson Steve Hayes says that no attorneys have since represented West, but Chattanooga firm Miller and Martin is now reviewing the inmate’s case history.

Death penalty abolitionists are speaking about West’s decision to speed up his sentence.

Randy Tatel, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing in Nashville, says West’s death is a form of state-assisted suicide.

“It points out even more reasons why the death penalty fails as public policy,” says Tatel. “The state of Michigan is prosecuting a doctor for doing that, but here we have a man who’s expressed a wish to die in which the government is complicit in carrying that wish out. Tennessee has executed one person in 40 years. Are we going to become like Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, where the state is a killing machine?”

But Tennessee Department of Corrections spokesperson Steve Hayes suspects that West’s position is a false alarm of sorts.

“This has happened before,” Hayes said. “But perhaps not this close to an execution date.” — Ashley Fantz

Work Putts Along For Whitehaven Golf

Golfers in Whitehaven will have to wait a while longer before they’ll have a course in their neighborhood. Though the city council voted almost a year ago to purchase the former Whitehaven Country Club property, construction isn’t likely to begin for another year.

“The residents really want a golf course in Whitehaven,” says Councilwoman Tajuan Stout Mitchell, who represents the area. “The council made a decision and appropriated the money for the course, so it’s not money that we’re waiting on.”

Whitehaven residents have been asking the city for a golf course since McKellar Park was acquired by Memphis International Airport six years ago. The council approved $2 million to purchase the former country club last spring and the purchase was finalized last October.

Earlier this month the park commission submitted a four-phase master plan to the city council, which shows that planning on the Whitehaven Community Park will not be completed until the end of September of this year, with construction to begin after the final plans are approved.

“It’s a slow process,” says Patrick Carter, a Whitehaven resident and golfer. “We’d like to see something done before it all goes to weeds.”

Residents also say they’d like for the Whitehaven Community Park to have a recreation center and a municipal pool. District 3 does not have a community swimming pool.

John Vergos, chair of the city council’s parks committee, says the Whitehaven Community Park will not be included in the city’s enterprise fund, which dictates that city golf courses be financially self-sufficient, relying on greens fees and not the city. — Rebekah Gleaves

Jail Rape Is Still Under Investigation

A February 19th Commercial Appeal story reported that an internal investigation by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department has been unable to verify a rape that allegedly occurred in the county jail. But according to the sex crimes investigator in charge of the case, it’s still ongoing.

Lieutenant M.A. Featherstone told the Flyer that she has not officially closed her probe into a complaint Joseph Liberto filed against the jail administration. Liberto claimed that he had been assaulted by four inmates who forced the 54-year-old to perform oral sex and then anally raped him with a spoon. Liberto went public with his story in the Flyer‘s January 18-24th cover story, “A Night in Hell.”

According to The Commercial Appeal story, Liberto’s allegations were uncorroborated by witnesses the department interviewed, including an inmate who supposedly had full view of Liberto’s cell and perhaps might have seen the incident.

Liberto’s medical records indicate that he suffered tears to his anal cavity, intimating forced entry.

Attorneys Richard Fields and Kathleen Caldwell are representing Liberto. Caldwell calls insinuations that Liberto’s injuries are self-inflicted or that they occurred outside of the jail “preposterous.”

“In terms of [the sheriff’s investigators] asking questions — they’ve tended to be leading or suggestive to what they wish him to say or for others they’ve interviewed to say,” says Caldwell. “Of course, if you ask questions a certain way, you’re going to get the answers that you want — in this case those that don’t corroborate Mr. Liberto. Of course,[the sheriff’s department is] trying to take this case out of the pattern of other problems occurring at the jail. But that’s not going to work.”

Fields called the police department’s statements about the case “propaganda.”

The CA story does not quote Liberto. During the internal affairs investigation, Liberto told the Flyer that he wasn’t shown any photos of people whom he recalled seeing while at the jail.

“It’s curious that the paper didn’t try to contact Liberto,” Caldwell added. “When [he] went into the jail, he didn’t have these problems. When he came out, he did.”

Chief Deputy Don Wright had not returned phone calls at press time.

— Ashley Fantz

“Stolen” Vehicle Stolen By Police

Two weeks ago Todd Pack discovered that his Chevy Blazer was no longer parked in his apartment building’s lot. Fearing that it had been stolen, Pack filed a stolen vehicle report with the Memphis Police Department, only to learn that the truck had been taken by police themselves.

Now Pack must pay the Memphis Police Department approximately $250 to get his own car back. Officers told him that the truck, which had a broken driver’s side window, had been towed under suspicion that it was a stolen vehicle.

“I shouldn’t have to pay for anything,” says Pack. “I especially don’t understand why I have to pay for an impound. It’s not like I was driving with expired tags. The truck had been parked in the apartment building’s lot until I could get it fixed.”

Mike Jerden, a service representative at the police impound lot, explained that citizens sometimes complain about vehicles and officers can tow them if the officer deems the vehicle suspicious.

Jerden says that the report completed by the officer and on file at the impound lot authorized the towing of Pack’s truck because the truck had a broken driver’s side window and a popped steering column. According to Jerden, this and the truck’s expired out-of-state tags would be reason enough for the officer to have the truck towed. However, Pack says that the steering column was not popped and the window, which he had broken accidentally after locking himself out, was covered in plastic.

Jerden also says that unless the vehicle is actually stolen and recovered, citizens must pay a $75 towing fee and the $10 a day lot fee, even in situations like Pack’s, where the “stolen” car had never been stolen. — Rebekah Gleaves

School Board Tackles New Issues

With a proposed budget deficit of $34 million on the table, the Memphis City Schools public budget hearing lasted all of 10 minutes. And then a discussion of district consolidation, student athletics, required remediation for competency, and a consent agenda took over three hours.

Only one community member at the sparsely attended hearing posed a question. The same Memphis City Schools parent also made the only comment, telling board members that they could not expect people to make comments on something they do not know anything about.

The proposed operating budget shows expenditures at $678 million and expected revenues of almost $644 million. The cost of the 10 new schools opening in August — for 155 more staff members and operational expenses — is estimated at just over $8 million.

“We’re always disappointed we don’t have more individuals that come [to the budget hearings],” said Board of Education president Barbara Prescott before moving into the regular meeting agenda.

Prescott and Commissioner Michael Hooks Jr. also brought up a previously passed resolution dealing with the pending state legislation on county and “special” school district consolidation.

“I would like to research this issue collectively,” said Hooks. A resolution was passed by the board in 1998 that asked the superintendent’s staff to study consolidation but was never conducted or presented to the board.

“Rather than take a stand, we would like for the board to receive a study,” said Prescott, “so we can be prepared to take a stand.”

“It would solve some of our funding issues,” said Prescott. “We always seem to be in competition with the county schools.” It would also create a district of more than 150,000 students, and size seems to be a concern already.

During a discussion about alerting student athletes to NCAA eligibility regulations, Prescott said that some of the schools were already doing an adequate job.

“In a district this large, we have difficulty enforcing some of these things we struggle with.” — Mary Cashiola

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PHOTO BY CHRIS Przybyszewski

Oops!

A yellow sign tells drivers the precise height of the railroad span that bridges Nettle-ton downtown. Here’s what happened last week when a truck was a few inches too tall.

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Commercial Appeal Changes Size, Format

Noticeably absent Sunday in a Commercial Appeal story about the daily decreasing the size of its pages was a disclosure about the potential millions of dollars in paper costs the newspaper stands to save after the switch.

The story, penned by the paper’s editor and president Angus McEachran, mentioned several other benefits the smaller paper size will yield, such “less clutter” and being easier to read in cramped spaces. But the paper failed to mention that in reducing the size of the printed page, the Commercial Appeal will be reducing its operating expenses and possibly reducing its news hole — the amount of space available for news stories.

When there’s less paper space, stories must be cut or shortened. And when papers elsewhere have used smaller print to keep from reducing the number of stories, as the CA’s new design does, some readers have gotten upset.

In his column, McEachran maintains that by using a new, smaller, typeface the paper will be able to reduce the size of the paper without cutting into the number of stories. He goes on to write that the “letters will be clearer and appear bigger although their computer-assisted design actually makes each word more compact.”

McEachran did not respond to the Flyer’s request for comment.

The Commercial Appeal is not the first newspaper to adopt the “smaller is better” logic. Papers nationwide, including USA Today, The L.A. Times, and The Washington Post have already made the switch. Major newspaper publishers have discovered that by going from 54 to 50 inches they can save a bundle on the cost of newsprint. And with the cost of newsprint currently on the rise, many papers have succumbed to temptation and cut back on paper usage. The Boston Globe, which recently reduced its paper size, expects to save about $4 million this year. News industry experts estimate that newsprint can constitute as much as 60 percent of a paper’s total costs, so the Memphis paper’s profitability could improve significantly.

Nationwide, page sizes aren’t the only newsroom casualities. At many of the other shrinking papers the editorial staff has also been cut. At The Asbury Park Press, the second largest paper in New Jersey, newsroom staff has dropped from 240 to about 180 since 1997. And The Akron Beacon Journal announced earlier this month that it will lay off some 60 employees in order to meet financial goals set by Knight Ridder, its parent company.

According to sources at The Commercial Appeal, the paper has a hiring freeze on new reporters and positions left empty after the departures of Sara Derks, Bobby Hall, and Larry Rea. Warren Funk, the Commercial Appeal’s director of human resources, did not respond to calls from the Flyer, nor did Deputy Managing Editor Otis Sanford.

It’s possible the Commercial Appeal is feeling pressure from its parent company, Scripps Howard, to help maintain the company’s impressive profit margin of nearly 30 percent in its newspaper division. As the second largest paper in the Scripps chain, the Memphis paper would seem to be in a position to greatly impact profit margins. But the newspaper division is the slowest growing of the Scripps ventures. (The cable channels Home and Garden Television, the Food Network, and Do it Yourself are more aggressive properties).

Whether or not the CA will have less news when pages are reduced a couple of inches remains to be seen. And the new size may be indeed be easier to handle in cramped spaces and beneficial to trees. But other beneficiaries will no doubt include Scripps Howard and its stockholders.

— Rebekah Gleaves

Another Week, Another County Lawsuit

Last October, Shelby County jail chief Marron Hopkins was accused of

threatening his subordinate guards, instructing them not to

talk to court-appointed jail monitors assigned to

report on the jail’s efforts to cut down violence and

reduce overcrowding. Hopkins told jailers that the

monitors were “not their friends” at a meeting he

called just a week after federal judge Jon McCalla

had taken a surprise tour, led by the chief, of the

troubled downtown lockup.

All that would have gone unnoticed if jail commander Robert Ivory
hadn’t told jail

monitor Curtis Shumpert of Hopkins’ improprieties. As a result, inmates
attorney Robert Hutton

filed a complaint at the request of Judge Jon

McCalla, who is overseeing the implementation of

the four-year-old court order.

Ivory was terminated the same day that Shumpert told the judge about
Hopkins’

actions. Months before, Ivory had been following the court’s mandate to
cooperate with

the monitors by answering Shumpert’s questions, locating documents, and
providing

requested assistance to the monitor.

Ivory held four jobs at the jail since being

hired in 1997 to be in charge of sanitation. He

was fired despite having a clean personnel record. Though 201 Poplar is known
for its unclean

environment, Ivory’s employee evaluations state

that “he has been working very hard to meet

deadlines in improving the overall sanitation

condition of facility … follows established policy,

guidelines, and procedures … and is competent

and effective … exceeds expectation.”

This week, attorney Saul Belz filed a $2 million wrongful termination
suit

against Shelby County Sheriff A.C. Gilless and Hopkins. Belz says the
situation is

reminiscent of Sheriff’s Deputy Harold Hayes’

termination, which came after he spoke out about the

Ray Mills and Stephen Toarmina badges-for-cash scam two years ago.

Ivory has been unable to get a job since being forced from his post in
October.

“There’s no reason why this man

shouldn’t be working,” says Belz. — Ashley Fantz

Music Commission Holds First Town Hall

Roughly three years after its formation and almost two years after

hiring Jerry Schilling as its president, the

Memphis & Shelby County Music Commission will hold its first town hall
meeting this week.

The event, which will take place at

Strings & Things music store at 1555 Madison

Avenue, is scheduled to run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and be moderated by WREG-
TV’s

Alex Coleman. Schilling says that all of the commission’s 20 members who will
be

in town that day are expected to attend, but that a select few members will be

on the panel that takes audience questions.

Panelists, in addition to Schilling, will include

Pat Mitchell of the Blues Foundation, Jon Hornyak of the

Recording Academy, Kevin Kane of the Convention and Visitors Bureau,

John Frye of Ardent Studios, and Onzie Horne of the House of Blues.

Schilling anticipates that there may be some negative responses from
the

audience but says he relishes the opportunity to

bring the commission closer to the community.

“I think that people who are going to

take the time to come to something like this will either have really
legitimate criticisms or

some really great ideas that we could

incorporate,” he says.

To prepare themselves, last month the commission convened the first
meeting of

its Musician’s Advisory Council, a commission offshoot designed to give
contemporary

working musicians more voice on the commission. Members of the still-forming
council

include Jim Dickinson, Reba Russell, and the Pawtuckets’ and MADJACK Records’

Mark McKinney.

“I want to get the city behind this

event, not just the music community,” says

Schilling. “I want to get the Memphian there who

might think, ‘Why do we need a music commission?’ I know down deep that
Memphians are

proud of our heritage, but I want them to also be proud of what’s going on
today.”

But apparently not everyone is looking forward to the event.
“There are a few

commissioners that are a little afraid of this,” Schilling

admits, “but my feeling is that if there’s

something that we don’t know, then damn it, we

should know. If somebody can bring something up

and we don’t have the answer then we’ll damn well look for it. We don’t want
to be sitting

behind the desk, comfortable. We want to be on the

firing line.” — Chris Herrington

“Gibson Experience” Put On Hold

The Gibson Guitar plant located downtown is slowly getting up to

speed. According to plant manager Mickey Butler, Gibson is producing 71
guitars a day

and employing 67 people. When Butler first arrived in Memphis from the Gibson
plant

in Nashville, the Memphis site was producing only four guitars a day. Butler
says that

he has plans to increase production to 100 guitars a day and hire up to 120
people by

the summer.

However, the site is also supposed to house the “Gibson
Experience,”

which would include a factory tour, Gibson museum, theme restaurant, and a
live

music venue. This has yet to materialize and, according to Gibson chairman and

CEO Henry Juskiewicz, is going to take time.

The Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum, operated as a division of the Smithsonian

Institution, opened last year on the second floor of the Gibson factory.

“It’s going slower than we’re pleased

with,” says Juskiewicz. “I hesitate to give dates.

The fact is that we’re four and a half years behind.”

Juskiewicz says the delays stem from “problems with construction.
Things

didn’t get done.” Those things include an

installed kitchen for the restaurant. According to project manager Bryan
Campbell

of MCDR Incorporated, the construction firm that built the plant, his company

was never contracted to install the kitchen. This matter is currently being
contested in court.

Despite the roadblocks, Juskiewicz is confident about the success of
the

Memphis operation.

“We’re pumped about Memphis,” he

says. “We’re not happy about [the delay], but

we’re committed to Memphis and we will fill our obligations. We’re going to
make the

community proud.” — Chris Przybyszewski

Velsicol Blast

Worries Residents

As the sky filled with thick black smoke after an explosion at

the Velsicol Chemical Corporation’s plant Thursday, the surrounding North

Memphis neighborhoods were in “sheer

panic” for about 45 minutes, says resident

Reverend Balinda Moore.

Knowing the plant stores many dangerous chemicals, several residents
fled in

their cars, while others without transportation awaited a call from the
automated

hazardous materials phone service that never came. The sirens at the adjacent
school

and community center also didn’t sound, Moore found out later from the fire

department, because the accident didn’t pose a health threat.

Moore says she tried to call Velsicol to find out what happened, but
no one

answered the phone. The community should be informed after an accident, she
says,

to calm fears or detail evacuation routes.

Though no one was injured in the blast, 75 firefighters and 22 pieces

of equipment were dispatched to the scene when the top blew off a

50,000-gallon chemical storage tank, according to a fire department press
release.

Working with the Concerned Citizens for Douglas Bungalow Crump, a

neighborhood group focusing on environmental

concerns, Moore has been fighting Velsicol to clean up

its act. Though the company is working to remove toxic waste on its site ,
Moore blames them

for causing cancer and asthma in her neighborhood.

— Andrew Wilkins

Applegate Era Ends At Channel 5

A tumultuous period for THE local TV news industry came to an end

last month with the long-anticipated promotion of WMC-TV vice president and
general

manager Bill Applegate to the same positions at two stations in Cleveland,
which were

recently purchased by Raycom Media, WMC’s parent

company.

Applegate arrived at WMC, long the market’s most powerful and
respected news

station, in April 1998, with a reputation as one

of the most controversial executives in the industry. A cover story in this
paper that ran

shortly after his arrival characterized Applegate as

a tough, abrasive administrator who would boost ratings and cut costs at the
expense of

product quality and staff morale.

It didn’t take long for those predictions to

come true. Less than a year after Applegate’s arrival,

local print media were taking note of the increasingly hysterical tone of the
station’s newscasts,

especially the station’s rather loose interpretation

of the term “breaking news.” The Commercial

Appeal reported that half of the newsroom had

left or been fired in the first year — a figure

confirmed by staffers who were there at the time.

Richard Enderwood, director of promotion and audience development at
WMC from

1993 until November 1998, and who now works in a similar capacity at stations
in Oklahoma

City, echoes many former Channel 5 staffers in decrying the stylistic shift
that Applegate

introduced.

“I believe that many of the special stories

that were written and produced for news sweeps

were frivolous and lightweight and were done in an attempt to attract viewers
without addressing

issues that actually impact the lives of

Memphians,” Enderwood says. “I’m sure there are industry

reasons for those changes too, but the kinds of

frivolous newscasts that were going on around the country were not going on at
WMC or in

Memphis really until [Applegate’s] arrival.”

“They are less traditional than they were

before he came, there’s no doubt about that,”

says Dr. James Redmond, chair of the journalism department at the University
of

Memphis. “Whether that’s good or bad is open to

interpretation — it depends on what kind of news you prefer.”

The ratings at the station under

Applegate’s tenure partially bear out his approach,

however. The first May sweeps under Applegate’s

watch, which occurred just before he brought in equally controversial news
director

Peggy Phillip, reflected trouble. The station had

been knocked out of first place at 5 p.m. for the

first time in five years, losing to WREC-TV Channel 3 by half a ratings point
and finding

themselves in a tie with Channel 3 at 6 p.m. The station held a two-point lead
at 10 p.m.

During the November 2000 sweeps, the last under Applegate’s watch, WMC
was back

on top by a full point at 5 p.m., had pulled ahead considerably at 6 p.m., and
was maintaining

a similar lead at 10 p.m.

But many lament what has been lost in the ratings wars.

“To look at the organization as a whole

in the community, I don’t think they’re as

involved as they used to be. I think they pick

their spots,” says Harold Graeter, associate

executive director of the AXA Liberty Bowl, whose position of sports director
was eliminated

by WMC in the fall of 1998.

Some former staffers and media watchers have expressed hope that
Applegate’s

successor, Howard Meagle, who served for several years at a Raycom station in
Cape

Girardeau, Missouri, will return some of the

station’s community service focus.

But many question whether Applegate’s approach has even been a success
at

WMC. Media watchers point out that his record has largely been one of
improving ratings in

the short term but leaving stations worse off than when he arrived. His real
impact at

WMC may be more accurately reflected in the

next few sweeps periods.

“Sometimes you trip over dollars to

pick up nickels, and sometimes you make changes that’ll make the ratings spike
a

little bit but in the long term will actually contribute to a further
decline,” says

Redmond. “How that all shakes out [at Channel

5] remains to be seen.”

“I don’t think he had a dramatic

impact on the ratings, and I certainly think he affected morale in a negative
way,” says

Graeter, in an opinion echoed by many other former WMC staffers. “But as
long as you have

that core group of Joe [Birch], Dave [Brown], and Jarvis [Greer], that station
will maintain

its position in the market, because it’s about personalities.”

— Chris Herrington

More Dirt On Downtown School Construction Costs

Shortly after approving a plan to borrow $50 million through the city

government, the Memphis City Schools board voted to

allocate $2 million in additional funding for the

new downtown elementary school.

The money — more than 20 percent of the

school’s accepted bid price of $9.4 million from

Jameson-Gibson Construction — was requested to replace

a four-foot layer of unsuitable soil.

“An engineer determines what needs to

be done to support the building,” says Melva

Williams-Argaw, coordinator of Memphis City Schools Office of Facility
Planning. “You

have to take out the rubble, old concrete

foundations, and soil that does not have characteristics

conducive to supporting a building.” According

to Williams-Argaw, both soil and rocks will be brought in to fill the hole and
carry the

weight of the 85,000-square-foot school building.

Williams-Argaw could not say how much of the money was for excavation,
how much

for stone and soil, and how much for transportation of the material to the
site because the

official change order for the project has not yet

been issued. The $2 million is essentially an

estimate by the staff based upon recommendations

from the project’s architects and engineers.

According to several local grading companies, however, removing a
cubic yard of bad

soil generally costs $5 to $10. Replacing it costs about the same amount,
depending on

what type of fill you’re using, how far you have

to move it, what type of area you’re working in, and whether or not the site
retains water.

But even if the entire seven-acre site

needed an extra four feet of excavation, at $10 a

cubic yard for removal and $10 for fill, the

construction should cost about $900,000 — about

half the amount approved by the board.

According to Williams-Argaw, the staff

took the estimated $2 million to the board in

order to keep the project moving.

“We had to make sure we had the

money,” she says. “If we slowed down the process,

by the time the construction company is ready to do the work, then we’d have
to wait on

the board to approve the funds. Because of the

time factor, we’re asking to proceed with the work while we work out the
price.”

Each school has an amount for construction contingency — money to be
used for

additional, unexpected costs. But in this case,

the project’s size dictated the staff go to the

board with a funding request.

“This change order would wipe out the

contingency,” says Williams-Argaw. “We’re at the

very beginning of this project. We’re just coming

out of the ground, so we’re bypassing that pot.”

The original specifications for the

school, scheduled to open in August 2002, included

excavating and replacing eight feet. Although standard testing was done to
determine how

much soil needed to be replaced, it was recently

determined that a total of 12 feet needed to replaced.

“We have a differential of four feet. It’s

based on a test, but we’re still dealing with a

margin of error,” says Williams-Argaw.

If the soil replacement does not cost all

of the $2 million, the money will go back to

the capital improvement fund. If it goes over, the staff will have to use the
contingency

money or go back to the board.

Originally part of a 15-school package proposed by Inman-Beers
Construction,

the downtown school was slated to cost$12.4 million. After school officials
announced

last year that there wasn’t enough money to build all the schools, the board
decided

to award a smaller nine-school package bid. The downtown school and

five others were re-bid individually. Jameson-Gibson Construction

eventually won the contract with a bid of $9.4 million.

Managers at Jameson-Gibson declined to be interviewed.

— Mary Cashiola