Author: Janel Davis

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News The Fly-By

Court Is Adjourned

On Monday evening, a few minutes before 4 o’clock, Judge Robert Childers thanked the attorneys in his courtroom, promised a ruling as quickly as possible, and adjourned court: a typical ending to an atypical case. The final closing arguments ended almost four years of litigation in a custody case involving a 5-year-old Chinese girl, Anna Mae He. Childers has 30 days to rule on whether to terminate the parental rights of Anna Mae’s biological parents, Jack and Casey He.

The Hes sat quietly as their attorneys, David Siegel and Richard Gordon, recounted the events which ultimately landed the couple in Childers’ court, beginning with the girl’s birth in January 1999. At that time the Hes, unable to financially care for their daughter, sought assistance from a foster care agency. Through the agency, Jerry and Louise Baker were contacted to foster Anna Mae for a 90-day period. When that time elapsed, Mr. He was facing a separate obstacle with a sexual-assault allegation and agreed to extend Anna Mae’s stay with the Bakers. He was later acquitted. When the Hes’ financial situation improved, they sought the return of their daughter, but agreed to wait until Mrs. Baker gave birth to her youngest daughter. When that arrangement did not work out, the Hes filed their first petition in Juvenile Court in May 2000 for the return of Anna Mae. The following day a written agreement signed by Mr. He and Mr. Baker addressed options to leave Anna Mae with the Bakers until age 18.

Although the Hes visited their daughter during the subsequent year, Larry Parrish, the Bakers attorney, called their visits “token” attempts at maintaining a relationship with the child and attacked the Hes’ backgrounds, characters, and motives during his argument. After an incident at the Baker home on the child’s second birthday, police told the Hes not to return. After four months, the required time to prove abandonment by Tennessee law, the Bakers filed to terminate the couple’s parental rights.

The arguments opened old wounds for both sets of parents, with Siegel accusing Mrs. Baker of keeping a “surreptitious” journal of the visits, establishing a paper trail against the Hes. Linda Holmes, attorney for the child’s court-appointed guardian, called the Hes liars, saying that their actions were those of parents “who do not want to parent.”

The case has been put under an international microscope with news stories appearing in USA Today, People magazine, and on CNN. “I’m just waiting for the [National] Enquirer to call me,” said Holmes during closing arguments on Monday. In addition to the facts of the five years, the case has also revealed culture clashes by each side. The Bakers have long cited a Chinese culture which is unfavorable to female children as their reason for wanting to keep Anna Mae, while the Hes have said their daughter was “kidnapped by white Christians.”

Both sides are expected to appeal pending the judge’s decision. “We are still fighting an uphill battle,” said Mr. He. “The Chinese Embassy has agreed to help us appeal as high as we can go.”

“We only did what a couple asked us to do, and that was to raise their child until age 18,” said Mr. Baker. “Sometime during this process, they decided to do something else.”

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

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News The Fly-By

All Aboard

While most people her age are playing cards, enjoying retirement, and watching over their grandchildren, one woman is making the most of her golden years with community service. On a stop in Memphis during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration weekend, Doris “Granny D” Haddock made a speech about King’s legacy, attended a hip-hop voting summit, and registered groups of voters before moving on to the next city on her cross-country tour.

Granny D gets out the vote.

Haddock is traversing the United States in a bus and spreading the message about voting and democracy. The 94-year-old widow, a mother of two and great-grandmother of 16, left Boston in October on a mission targeting working women to get out and vote. She hopes to visit 36 states before returning to her home in New Hampshire in time for the November election.

Haddock targets segments of the community not being reached by other voter-registration outreach groups. While in Memphis, she and her two-person staff worked with residents of public-housing developments along Vance Avenue, answering questions about voting and the importance of that right.

“We found a lot of young men who couldn’t vote or thought they couldn’t vote for life because of criminal records and felony convictions,” said volunteer and writer Dennis Burke. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding that exists out there, and there is not enough being done to answer those questions.”

Haddock also spent time with the reform organization ACORN and the local Democratic party to address voter apathy, which she feels is caused by party disorganization and voters becoming disenchanted with the process.

“I feel that gradually we’re giving over our democracy to corporations and losing our democracy,” she said. “People have gotten discouraged and think that their vote doesn’t count. And if they aren’t voting, then people are losing their power.”

For Haddock, this voting-rights campaign and the sacrifice to a cause are nothing new. In 1999, she began a walk across the United States to highlight campaign reform and “soft” money regulations. Traveling from Dublin, New Hampshire, and walking 10 miles a day for 14 months, she made it to Washington, D.C., in February 2000.

Although she considers herself a Democrat, Haddock said her 15,000-mile journey is a nonpartisan effort. After leaving Memphis, the delegation headed to St. Louis on its way to the swing states. Since beginning her journey, Haddock said she has signed up about 3,000 volunteers to assist with voter registration.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

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News The Fly-By

Weight Watchers

Instead of driving to the new doughnut shop that opened down the street, Memphians should probably walk — or not go at all, according to a statewide program aimed at our waistlines.

Tennessee on the Move (TOM), launched earlier this month, is the latest health promotion program sponsored by the federal government. As a spinoff of the national campaign, America on the Move, TOM encourages healthy eating and active lifestyles, both of which are lacking in Memphis and other metropolitan areas, said TOM representative Siri-Datar Khalsa.

Based on statistics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the state’s obesity rate of 24.6 percent is higher than the national average of 22.2 percent. Memphis’ rate is even higher — 27.5 percent — garnering a 20th position (up from 21st in 2003) on Men’s Fitness magazine’s “25 Fattest Cities” list.

Nationally, the obesity rate has more than doubled since 1990. The program is designed to stop an average weight gain for individuals of one to three pounds per year. Tennessee was granted $500,000 for the program.

As part of the effort, Tennesseans are encouraged to walk an additional 200 steps a day and decrease their caloric intake by 100, which can be as simple as switching from regular to diet sodas. Specific to the state is the third initiative, recommending inclusion of three to four servings of low-fat dairy products each day. This portion of the plan is based on research conducted at the university, said Khalsa.

Participants are encouraged to register for the program on the state’s Web site, either individually or through civic and religious organizations.

“Something has got to be done to bring the [obesity] numbers down,” said Khalsa. “In addition to inactivity, there is also an over-consumption of high-calorie foods and [people are] exercising less. That’s the big problem.”

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

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Cover Feature News

Easy Targets

The Family Dollar store in Southgate Shopping Center loses an average of $2,000 a month to burglaries.

On March 10th at 2:30 a.m. most Memphians were in bed, savoring a few more hours of sleep before work. But for one man, that early morning hour was a time of opportunity.

The thief used a sledgehammer to knock a hole into the back wall of a Dollar General store at 2228 Lamar, then crept inside, grabbed some items, and escaped the way he came in. Total time: 16 minutes. Witnesses: zero. It was four hours before someone noticed the hole in the wall and notified police. The thief was long gone, leaving store owners with a mess to clean up, a wall to repair, and inventory sheets to modify. For police, it meant adding another tally to the city’s growing number of business burglaries.

Later that same day, police responded to a burglar alarm. This time, surveillance tape showed a man entering a Fred’s Discount Store after breaking the front-door glass. Once inside, the man grabbed cartons of cigarettes, stuffed them into a plastic bag, and left. It was the second of 11 business burglaries reported on March 10th.

It’s a disturbing trend in Memphis: Discount stores are being robbed with record frequency. Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Big Lots, chain stores selling discounted merchandise, have become significant targets for burglaries (see accompanying chart). Consequently, the Memphis Police Department has launched an all-out effort to curb these crimes and to assist store owners and managers in taking preventative measures.

Crime of Opportunity

 

Memphis discount chains are plagued by burglaries, despite increased security. This chart shows a disturbing trend.

So far this year, Memphis police have recorded 587 business burglaries. In 2003, there were 2,770 such crimes, up from 2,720 in 2002 but less than the 3,219 recorded in 2001. In 2002, almost 45 percent of burglaries nationwide occurred in the South.

Burglaries should not be confused with robberies, says Memphis Police Department burglary bureau commander Billy Garrett. A burglary occurs when a person enters a business or home to commit a crime. Robbery involves taking property while in the presence of the victim, either through violence or threat.

Memphis police counted 156 discount store burglaries in 2003, 177 in 2002, and 139 in 2001. These numbers have helped garner Memphis the second-highest crime rate in the nation for cities with a population of more than 500,000. Only Tucson, Arizona, outranks Memphis in 2002 FBI crime statistics.

“Many times, burglaries are just crimes of opportunity, and in the scheme of things, these are considered petty crimes,” says Garrett.

Still, police director James Bolden has made burglaries a priority, beefing up the burglary bureau to 34 investigators and starting collaborations with the crime prevention bureau and area businesses. This focus has paid off, says Garrett, who cites more than 1,600 arrests made last year and a business burglary clearance rate of 13.5 percent, half a percent higher than the national average. Garrett attributes the burglary problem to a larger issue: “Memphis’ major problem is substance abuse — drugs and alcohol. If we could find some way to combat that problem, a lot of the other crimes we see could be drastically decreased.”

Easy Targets

For discount stores, the problems are exacerbated by their location in poor neighborhoods, workforce limitations, high corporate expectations, and even the type of merchandise on store shelves. These conditions work together in a kind of malignant harmony to negatively affect daily operations.

“I’ve had cars backed through the front doors of my store by people trying to steal,” says Citi Trends store manager Alzeda Nickelberry. Standing in her enclosed cubicle/office, the 25-year retail veteran rattles off incidents on her fingers. In her three years at the 1967 S. Third Street location in the Southgate Shopping Center, she estimates about 15 burglaries have occurred. “We sell a lot of popular name-brand clothing and that’s what [criminals] take because they can resell it on the street,” she says. “When our weather changes, we get a lot of problems, since many [burglaries] happen when it gets warmer.” The store has reinforced its security bars, added more surveillance cameras, and raised customer services counters.

Police records show Nickelberry’s store had five burglaries last year, with two in April. Her store is one of six Memphis locations of the Savannah, Georgia-based retailer, which sells clothing, shoes, and accessories for men, women, and children. The store’s motto is “Fashion for less.”

The FBI estimated burglary losses in the South in 2002 at $3.3 billion, with an average value of $1,549 per offense. Because of the type of crime and the areas where crimes occur, recovery of goods and cash is difficult.

Citi Trends’ Web site describes prime real estate locations for its stores as a “tenant mix comprised of dollar stores, rent-to-own stores, beauty supply, and other value-priced retailers,” with its target demographic being households with a median income under $35,000.

In Memphis, such sites are in strip shopping centers or shopping malls in poorer neighborhoods from Frayser to Hickory Hill.

“These kind of stores are easy targets because of where they’re located,” says Jane, a Family Dollar store manager in Frayser who didn’t want her last name used. Although it has been about a year since the last burglary at her Frayser Boulevard location, she has been robbed by criminals as young as 6 years old. She pushes back a dolly full of boxes to reveal a plywood-covered hole where criminals broke in through the wall. “Out here, we’ve got poor people, people looking to get by. People break in and take whatever they know someone out there will buy.”

Risky locations and discount prices go hand-in-hand because the benefits of such locations far outweigh the problems, says Dollar General corporate spokesperson Andrea Turner. Speaking from company headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Turner says, “Our stores are in areas where people are most in need of the products that we sell. We sell to a niche market of underserved customers that are on low or fixed incomes and senior citizens. We recognize that the areas are high crime areas, but we have to serve our niche.”

In 2003, the Dollar General chain listed loss of revenue for unaccounted for, or “shrink,” merchandise as 3 percent, or $207 million, of the company’s $6.9 billion revenues. While the number includes merchandise lost to damage and accounting errors, most of the loss was due to theft. Only nine of Dollar General’s 6,800 stores are in Shelby County. Police records for the last three years show the six stores with only three burglaries.

For rival discount chain Family Dollar, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, business burglaries in Memphis are an ongoing problem. Police records show 28 break-ins for 15 of its 34 locations in the city during 2003.

The company, which reported $81.4 million in earnings in the second quarter, averages $9.13 per customer transaction. Unlike Dollar General, a Family Dollar spokesperson refused to discuss the burglary situation in Memphis. Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots, which operates four Memphis stores, also declined to comment.

At the 4433 S. Third Family Dollar in South Memphis, which reported four burglaries last year, the manager refused to discuss any of the incidents. “We’ve got metal bars [on the windows and doors], and we haven’t had any problems,” he said. But records show the business was burglarized three times within 14 days last April.

In the company’s Southgate Shopping Center location, manager James Wright talked freely about his store’s problems. “We do experience a lot of burglaries, and divide them into two categories: those we see, and those we don’t see,” he says. “Those we see, we press charges against.” Wright sees no end to the problem. Just two days before, a new reinforced steel security door had to be installed at the back of his store after a burglar used a crowbar to pry open the original lock.

In addition to cash and clothing, the most popular items stolen from Wright’s store are hair and beauty accessories, including permanent kits and deodorant. Clothes are resold on the street, usually by drug abusers. Wright has responded by installing an alarm system, motion detectors, and cameras within the store and attaching security tags to clothing.

Wright has also dealt with employee crimes, including those who “hook up” friends and family with free merchandise, as well as monetary theft. Six months ago, an employee staged a robbery, telling Wright that armed men broke into the store during his shift, threatening him and taking money. The story was discovered to be false and the employee was caught with $6,000 in stolen company funds. Wright says many of his store’s problems can be attributed to its location. “I used to manage a [Family Dollar] store on Perkins and it was much better than this one,” he says. “The [amount of] crime has a lot to do with the area.”

Whitehaven Family Dollar store manager Mike Jones echoes Wright’s concerns but also blames the company for a lack of staffing. “We’re targets because we don’t have enough people working in our stores,” he says. “Many times, it’s only three people working the whole store. When it gets busy, I’ve got to put both of them on the registers, leaving me alone to patrol the store.” Jones works almost 70 hours a week, usually seven days a week, to meet the company’s earnings goals.

Jones says the company also mismanages inventory. His stockroom is overflowing with merchandise. “It’s hard to maintain control in here,” says Jones, pointing to boxes stacked to the ceiling. “Someone could easily hide here between these boxes, wait until we leave, and have their way. Or worse, they could surprise you with a gun to your head while you work back here.”

Family Dollar locations have been plagued with more burglaries than any other local discount chain in the last three years. Memphis police won’t say for certain, but the numbers indicate some sort of organized effort. “We have our share of suspicious situations,” says Garrett. “It’s really tough for the business owners to get good-quality workers. We advise employers to trust them with just what they need to know. If their area of responsibility is stocking merchandise, don’t extend them to working cash registers.”

At Jones’ Millbranch location in Whitehaven, three incidents have occurred during his year-and-a-half tenure. He thinks they all could be employee-related. “The problem with people [in Memphis] is that they want something for nothing. In other places where I’ve managed stores, we didn’t have these problems as much,” says Jones. “Here they’ll beg you for a job and then they don’t want it. A lot of these crimes could be inside jobs because they [employees] know where to go.”

Fixing the Problem

Garrett says increased police presence has begun to work. Officers from large precincts, as well as smaller community COACT units, patrol the neighborhoods where most of the stores are located. The Southgate Shopping Center even has a COACT unit based there.

In addition to increased visibility, police have installed COBRA alarms in many businesses. The alarms, which cost around $2,500, are installed free of charge by the department and transmit a signal to the police when a store is burglarized. Alarms are moved from business to business as needed. The program is funded through law enforcement grants and taxpayer funds. Police also coach owners and managers on instituting safer business practices, including better internal controls like drop boxes for cash, better screening of potential employees, and common sense.

“Generally, the smaller the business, the more lax the security,” Garrett says. “If care was taken to do little things, like not displaying or counting large sums of money in front of customers, it would really help a lot.”

For Family Dollar managers, the fight against buglary remains a challenge. A Hickory Hill Family Dollar store was burglarized last Wednesday. Police found no fingerprints and a security camera at the location may not have been working.

“You can never stop it,” says Wright, looking around his store. “All you can do is try to control it.”

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News The Fly-By

On the Auction Block

Four weeks after hanging out a “For Sale” sign, the county has received five bids for its oldest long-term health-care facility.

Companies from as far away as Roanoke, Virginia, submitted bids to buy Oakville Health Care Center at 3391 Old Getwell Rd. Bids were due to the county’s purchasing office by March 17th. The sale will include all 29 acres that make up the 237-bed facility, which currently houses 187 patients.

The five prospective out-of-town owners include the nonprofit Nashville firm Americare Corporation; Management Enterprises Development and Services of Huntsville, Alabama; Smith/Packett Med-Com of Roanoke, Virginia; and Provident Group of Brentwood, Tennessee. TMS, LLC was the only Memphis-based company to submit a bid.

The proposal leaves the interested companies an option to build a new facility in place of the 83-year-old building, which may be the only option in the deal, according to Provident CEO David Stewart. “On the one hand, the physical property doesn’t determine the quality of service, but unfortunately it does limit the amount of quality services you can offer patients,” Stewart said. “We’re not looking to take the title [to the building] but are looking to maybe serve the residents at another area closer to the Regional Medical Center [The Med] or other areas where we have a more clinical relationship.”

In addition to managing about 750 beds in facilities from Florida to California, Provident has also operated the Graceland Nursing Center in Whitehaven since 2000. Its new facility would include acute pediatric services, a dementia unit dealing with Alzheimer’s and other illnesses, and a respiratory-care wing.

Adam Garff, Smith/Packett’s director of development, said his company, if selected, would privatize the facility and build two new facilities to better distribute the number of beds and patients. Smith/Packett has been involved in 100 acquisition and development projects in its 20 years of business, including three replacement homes for government facilities like Oakville.

“What the county should be careful of is someone to come in and offer to run the facility as it is, incur the same losses, and then fall into bankruptcy, leaving no place for residents to go,” said Garff. “A three- or four-story building is not an efficient model to meet patient needs with a reasonable amount of staff.” The current facility has three stories.

Oakville has had it share of recent troubles. Shelby County Government has been forced to provide subsidized funds to support the facility which generates $3 million less than its $12 million annual operating expenses. Oakville has also earned a negative reputation based on several lawsuits citing improper patient care and maintenance. In addition, the facility received less than satisfactory ratings on its most recent state evaluation. Corrective action has since brought the facility into compliance.

About 96 percent of the Oakville staff will be offered other positions within the county, and both Stewart and Garff said their companies would be willing to offer employees positions at their new facilities.

A five-person committee will make recommendations on the proposals to the Shelby County Commission by mid-April. That board has the final say in choosing the overall bid.

Calls to the other three potential buyers were not returned by press time.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

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News The Fly-By

Contract for the Classic

Last week’s announcement of a contract renewal for the Southern Heritage Classic, played annually at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, got little press. But the announcement included several interesting features, including the future of the game, administrative policies at the schools involved, and city renovations which factored into the final decision.

The new contract offered by Summitt Management Corporation, which has sponsored the classic for 15 years, included a five-year deal to both Tennessee State University (TSU) and Jackson State University (JSU), beginning in 2005. TSU accepted the five-year offer, while JSU agreed to only three years.

Is JSU considering other options after three years? Both Fred Jones, founder of Summitt, and JSU athletic director Roy Culberson agreed that the decision was merely an administrative matter.

“It was a decision by [JSU] president to have all future contracts at three years,” said Jones. “According to the Tennessee Board of Regents policy, we could only offer TSU five years. In Mississippi, the school president makes those decisions.”

Although the length of his school’s contract was shortened, Culberson said that was no indication that administrators would look to end the relationship with Summitt.

“Memphis is a great venue to play in, and we have a large fan base that enjoys [the Classic] and looks forward to it,” he said. “We would be open for renewal after three years.”

That renewal could come at an increased payout for Summitt, which renewed this year’s contracts with an additional $50,000 for each school. The new contracts call for each team to receive $230,000, while the $20,000 paid to the school’s bands remained constant. When asked about negotiations after the 2007 game, Culberson would not say if JSU would ask for more money but said “cost of living” increases to allow for rising transportation and hotel costs were a factor. In addition to the Southern Heritage Classic, JSU also plays annually in the Capital City Classic in Jackson, Mississippi, against Alcorn State University and participates in two or three additional invitational games each year.

Jones and his organization admitted that these are plumb contracts for the two schools. Unlike other college classics or bowl games in which teams must adhere to ticket-selling quotas or other requirements, neither TSU nor JSU is required to sell a single ticket. With production costs, contract payouts, and additional expenses related to other events surrounding the game, Jones estimated his company spends $1 million to produce the Classic.

“We have to start from the ground floor each and every year,” he said. “We’ve taken this situation and started it from point zero with just a name.” To continue those obligations, Summitt has brought on corporate sponsors in recent years, specifically FedEx as a title sponsor.

Renovations to the Liberty Bowl and the Mid-South Coliseum, which traditionally houses a concert as part of the Classic’s events, could also be a factor in the future. As much as $50 million had been predicted for renovations, but no decision has yet been made, said Pete Aviotti, assistant to city mayor Willie Herenton. Although Jones discussed plans for initial removal of some seats from the stadium, Aviotti disagreed.

“I don’t know of anything that would take place prior to the beginning of the season in September,” he said. A meeting with Summitt, the University of Memphis, and Liberty Bowl officials is planned for the first Monday in April. Aviotti also said none of the contract agreements made with the schools included any provisions for city renovations.

Despite the uncertainty of events beyond 2007, Jones is still optimistic. “One thing that needs to be made clear is that TSU and JSU want to play in Memphis and the Southern Heritage Classic,” said Jones.

The Southern Heritage Classic is scheduled for September 18th.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

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Sports Sports Feature

A League of Their Own

I recently received an intriguing press release about the Memphis Rockers, a new women’s tackle football team. The team was reorganizing with a new coach and a new name. And — they were looking for players.

I decided to try out.

Growing up with three brothers, I had seen enough football to be pretty proficient in the rules, plays, and strategies of the game. I had watched The Longest Yard, Rudy, and Remember the Titans. “How hard could it be?” I thought. Early Saturday morning I found out.

“You don’t have to be the best at throwing and catching,” said Rockers general manager and head coach Ray Tarkett. “As long as you have the heart and are committed to playing, we’ll teach you the rest.” On this particular morning — the third of four tryouts held for the team — only one other new recruit showed. (About 20 women had shown up for the previous tryout, and with the mild weather, the coach was expecting a better turnout.)

While we waited for more jockettes to show up, I asked Tarkett a few questions: How many teams are in the league? Six. How long has the league been in existence? Three years. How many women have already made the team? Five. How much do we get paid? Nothing, yet. In fact, a $45 registration fee is collected from players to help pay for the team’s license fee from the league. The league is nonprofit, with sponsors hopefully covering expenses.

The age limit for players is 18 to 35. The other woman trying out was named Yolanda, a children’s services caseworker and police academy candidate who was a lean, mean, athletic machine. She was, however, 39. “No problem,” said Tarkett.

Tarkett was joined on the field by assistant coach Tony Powell. Both men live in Rutherford, Tennessee, and make the four-hour round-trip to Memphis and back for each tryout. In the Women’s Football League, players are not the only ones going without paychecks. Coaches aren’t paid either.

The morning began with a timed 40-yard dash and assurances that the day would not include tackling or pads. Yolanda went first and posted a decent time. Thinking my youth, longer legs, and recent home-video aerobic workouts would guarantee a better time, I stepped confidently to the line. Forty yards and a pounding heart later, I got the bad news: My time was much slower than Yolanda’s. “You probably weren’t warmed up yet,” she encouraged me. “Try it again a little later.” Sure, that’ll happen.

Timed cone drills were next. My agility was a little better, but my muscles were aching. Tarkett and Powell preached sacrifice and commitment, so I pushed on.

Later in the morning, we were joined by the team’s quarterback, a woman named Amanda. The 25-year-old science teacher from Greenville, Mississippi, bounded over, ready for action. “Sorry, I’m late,” she said. “I made a wrong turn and my usual two-hour trip here turned into three hours. Let me do a quick warm-up, and then we can go through some drills.”

My warm-up consisted of 10 repetitions of an orange-juice bottle to my mouth, followed by stretching to tie my shoes, with a twist of the wrist to start the car for a finale. Amanda’s warm-up: a half-mile around the track, calisthenics, and a 40-yard dash (for which she posted the best time).

Amanda had the goods. She zipped the ball like a pro. We began throwing-and-catching drills — learning pass routes and taking handoffs. I lined up at safety as Yolanda played receiver. Hoping to demonstrate my athletic prowess and newly learned back-pedaling skills, I waited for the count. As Yolanda ran the route, I covered her like a glove until a painful stiff-arm to the face ended my defense. Still, Tarkett offered me a spot on the team, citing my “good spirit” and “agility.” Still grimacing from the blow, I decided that football for me would remain a spectator sport.

After practice, I was approached in the parking lot by two women who played in another female league. They tried to recruit me.

“No thank you. I’m not very good,” I told them.

“You don’t have to be able to catch and throw as long as you want to work,” they assured me. I’d heard that before. Those words had led to a bruised lip and ego. “Sorry, you’ll have to find someone else.”

The inaugural WFL season begins May 1st. Tarkett is still searching for a home game field — and more players to fill the roster. Wherever they play, tickets will be $10, and I’ll certainly be in attendance when the Rockers take the field. I’ll be able to say, “That’s my team.” Even if it’s just from the sidelines.

The next WFL tryout will be Saturday, March 13th, at East High School. For more information, call 731-855-4374.

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Opinion Viewpoint

What Will AMH Think?

It has become the civil case of the year: a custody struggle over 5-year-old Anna Mae He by two couples intent on providing her with their version of the best care. On one side are the girl’s biological parents, Jack and Casey He, who voluntarily placed the child in foster care at three weeks of age while they were having financial difficulties. Since then, the child has lived with foster parents Jerry and Louise Baker, who now want to adopt Anna Mae.

When their financial situation improved, the Hes sought their daughter’s return, but relations had broken down between the two families. Weekly visits made to the Baker home by the Hes were discontinued after a disagreement on the child’s second birthday. For the next five months, the Hes made no visit, following an order they said was given to them by police. The Bakers filed for custody, citing the Hes for abandonment and failure to pay child support. A three-year battle ensued in juvenile and chancery courts, culminating with this week’s trial to determine if the birth parents will lose their parental rights.

While the biological and custodial parents have had their personal lives exumed during testimony and cross-examination, provisions have been made to protect Anna Mae. Judge Robert Childers issued an order to the media covering the case, outlining rules for what images to show, where to place cameras, and initially forbidding the use of the child’s name in court.

For the first few days of the trial, Anna Mae was referred to as the “ward.” But that word doesn’t translate into Chinese, making it confusing for the birth mother, who understands little English. Anna Mae then became “the child in question.” When that got too cumbersome, the plaintiffs’ attorney Larry Parrish began referring to the girl by her initials, AMH — a strategy that worked until Louise Baker took the stand and repeatedly forgot to use the acronym. “It’s just hard [not to use her name] when that’s what I call her every day,” she said.

Unfortunately, what she or any of the parties involved is used to doesn’t matter anymore. What does matter is Childers’ decision: whether or not to terminate the Hes’ parental rights, thereby allowing the Bakers to adopt the child. The child gets no say in the matter. Monday, the court heard from Anna Mae’s spokesperson, court-appointed guardian, Kim Mullins. During testimony, Mullins stated that Anna Mae is “perfectly and completely at home with the Bakers, views them as mother and father, and views their children as her brother and sisters. There’s no distinction between them and her from what I’ve observed.”

The foster parents testified to Anna Mae’s intense relationship with their 4-year-old biological daughter, her outings with Jerry Baker, and her involvement in school, play dates, and family events.

When asked if Anna Mae has seen herself on television, Louise Baker said it was inevitable. “We try to keep her away from [television] when we know something’s going to be on about the case. But yesterday she did manage to see something, and she said, ‘There’s Mommy and Daddy [referring to the Bakers], and there’s Casey [He].'”

Thankfully, Anna Mae is too young to read newspapers. If she could, she would have read unsettling things: questions about Jack He’s paternity of the child; Casey He’s numerous breakdowns and outbursts; a journal kept by Louise Baker recording every visit made to her home by the Hes; and Jerry Baker’s offer to pay the Hes $3,000 to give up custody. Throw in Jack He’s criminal assault charge (which he was acquitted of in February 2003), the couple’s immigration woes, and the Bakers’ financial straits, and the waters get murky. Whether or not all the accusations hurled between the couples are true, the long-term damage to their reputations has been done.

Adult and child psychologists and Chinese cultural experts have testified that removal of Anna Mae from one family to the other will be difficult. Witnesses on each side cited cases in which children have been negatively impacted during such transitions or cases in which children grow up resenting their foster families for denying them access to their ethnic background. Some observers view the case as cultural racism, with the Bakers as “Bible-thumping” Christians intent on enforcing their will and religion on the child. Still, the fact remains that for five years Anna Mae has known nothing else.

Casey He opened the trial by telling a Chinese story: Two women fight over a child, and in the end the biological mother gives up to keep the child from suffering. In this case, neither side so far is willing to give up.

When she becomes old enough to fully grasp the events that marked the first few years of her life, maybe Anna Mae will understand that it was all in her “best interest.” Hopefully by then, she’ll be too happy to care.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

Categories
News The Fly-By

New Owner for Oakville?

Shelby County government put its long-term health-care facility on the market Friday, seeking to find a new owner for residents at 3391 Old Getwell Road.

Selling the Oakville Health Care Center is one option being considered by the county, said spokesperson Susan Adler Thorp. “Keep in mind that the main driving force behind the decision is the quality of care for the patient,” she said. “[The county] is still a distance away from a decision, and … the final decision rests with the County Commission.”

Proposals are being taken for the facility until March 17th. So what’s the going rate for a 237-bed, skilled-nursing facility? “There is no going rate,” said Thorp. “We’re just taking offers.” No offers had been made as of press time.

Options include finding a private group to manage the facility, transferring some or all its beds to the Medical Center, closing the facility, or continuing its current operation by the county. Oakville’s operating budget is $12 million per year, with $9 million of generated revenue, leaving the county to pay the $3 million deficit.

In addition to rising health-care costs, Oakville has also received negative publicity for its ongoing legal battles with patients and its most recent state evaluation citing 10 deficiencies. That number was two above the average of other Tennessee facilities and three above the country average. Officials at the state’s Department of Health Care Facilities said the hospital has since rectified those deficiencies and has remained in good standing since a surprise visit to the facility in January.

Relocating some of the facility’s beds would include moving the patients to the former UT-Bowld Hospital, said Thorp, which would provide that university with a skilled nursing facility for its students. The county has also been meeting with administrators of the Regional Medical Center (The Med) to streamline senior services in the community. While many patients from Oakville are treated at that hospital, and vice versa, relocating the patients to The Med is not an option.

“The Med itself has no unit that would be appropriate for long-term care,” said hospital spokesperson Sandy Snell. “Also, The Med doesn’t have a license to operate a skilled nursing facility like Oakville.”

Two years ago, Oakville nurses picketed when talks arose about closing the facility. “In these times of tightened budgets, that $3 million is tough for the county to pay,” said Thorp.

Oakville negotiations are just part of a countywide efficiency study expected to be completed in a few months.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Shake It, Baby!

André Diaz was late to the first day of tryouts. Coaches told him he had missed the cut. Unwilling to accept his fate, Diaz returned the next day, determined to prove that he deserved a place on the team.

He stepped onto the court and sized up his competition. Some of the guys were good, real good. Some were taller, with more muscles and more experience. Diaz knew it would be tough.

I’m just as good as these guys. I’ve worked all my life for this, said the voice in his head. Show them what you’ve got.

So, with nothing to lose, Diaz did what he does best: He danced.

Justin, JT, Britney Spears’ ex, Janet’s wardrobe stylist — call him what you want, but Diaz calls Justin Timberlake his savior. It was Timberlake’s boy band, ‘NSync, and their catchy ditty “Dirty Pop” that got the part-time salsa instructor his job as one of eight male dancers for the Memphis Grizzlies Dance Team.

“I put my resume down on the table and told [the judges] that they had to give me a chance,” Diaz says. “The other guys had learned the routine to that song the day before, so I was behind, but I worked to catch up and got on. It’s my third year, and I’ve learned a lot. And these guys [fellow dancers] know I’ve grown.”

The other men lounging on the dance studio floor nod in agreement.

Grizzlies dancer André Diaz busts a move.

Dancing Machines

It’s Tuesday night, almost 8 o’clock, at the Mid-South Dance Studio. Youngsters in tights and jazz shoes, fresh from class, race through the building as their parents try to wrestle them into coats. The professionals are just arriving for rehearsal.

The members of the dance team practice twice a week during basketball season. First, they warm-up individually. Some do the first positions of ballet. Others do jazz toe-touches or tumble like cheerleaders. Then, for the next three hours team coach and studio owner Kathalene Taylor takes the squad through time-out, television break, and special event routines.

Tonight the 16 female members of the troupe have a new routine to learn. Taylor presents the piece in a series of steps, each one more difficult. “Got it?” she asks. “Good, because you have perform it for the game tomorrow.”

The men are released to work on their own while the women practice.

“Make sure you write this in your story in capital letters,” the men say: “WE ARE NOT CHEERLEADERS!” We agree, but the dancers have an image problem: Nobody takes them seriously.

“Memphis is not used to having males in this industry,” says team captain Isaac Lias. “When [fans] get used to seeing us do this, we hope they will take us just as seriously as [they do] the girls. We’re working with the Grizzlies front office to put us out there on TV for promotions and things just as much as they do the girls.”

Most of the men come from dance backgrounds, including school teams, studio training, and cheerleading squads. A couple began as high school athletes who took up dancing on a dare. Lias, who prefers to be called “Lee-Lee,” played high school football before an injury ended his gridiron career. His talent for tumbling led to a place on the cheerleading squad and a college scholarship.

The other athlete on the team is baby-faced Zurick Thomas. At 23, the former track star has the perfect characteristics for a dancer: shining pearly whites, bubbly personality, and eternal optimism. “Track was my heart,” he says. “But one day we got a new dance teacher at high school, and she started a dance club. I went to the auditions just joking around, and she told me to do some moves. Every move she did, I could do it too. I’ve been dancing ever since.”

From the 24-member squad, Taylor selects 12 women and four men to perform at each game on a rotating basis. Members must audition each year to retain their positions.

So, what does it take to make the team? An understanding of basic dance styles, a good attitude, and a commitment to games, rehearsals, and community appearances. Oh, did we mention that a sexy body with tight butt and abs doesn’t hurt? The pay isn’t much, about $50 per game, and $25 for promotions and rehearsals. And there may be an unexpected downside.

Dancers are warned that “if the Memphis Grizzlies lose games, you may become symbolic recipients of fan displeasure.”

“I remember the first year we were here someone wrote in the paper that having guys on the dance team was bad karma,” says dancer Donald Frison. “I don’t agree with that at all, because we’re some of the best guy dancers that you’ve ever seen.”

Frison’s body is sinewy and compact, shaped by almost two decades of dancing. At 36, he is the “dad” of the group. Frison began as a Libertyland dancer in 1987. After eight years, he left for a stint off-Broadway. When he heard about the Grizzlies auditions, Frison took the opportunity to return home. “I always wanted to dance in the NBA. I remember watching a game with the Atlanta Hawks and they had guy dancers, and I immediately knew that was something I wanted to do someday,” he says. “When people see us down here having fun, I want them to know that it took a lot of hard work to get here.”

Darrius Bell, Taurus Hines, Donald Frison, and Isaac Lias.

Game Face

For a recent game against the Clippers, Lee-Lee and Frison are joined by Taurus Hines and Darrius Bell as the male dancers. Taylor, who once danced for the Clippers, is asked: “Who plays for the Clippers?”

“Who knows?” she says.

During pregame warm-ups, the women dancers rehearse a sexy number. Then a school-age dance group takes the floor to practice. As the kids prepare for their rehearsal, Frison and company warm-up on the side. Pure adulation shows on the faces of the younger dancers, especially the boys, whose own postures seem to straighten as they watch. Appreciation is easy to get from kids, but with adults, the task is tougher.

For instance, Commercial Appeal basketball writer Ron Tillery has been a relentless critic. Tillery began his jibes against the men soon after the team’s start in The Pyramid. He has called for their removal from the squad so many times in his weekly basketball wrap-up column, “10 From Tillery,” the guys have lost count. His usual refrain: “Whose idea was this anyway?”

Last year, Tillery cited the male dancers as one of the reasons the Grizzlies failed to advance to the postseason. When Mayor Willie Herenton proposed a $4.5 million infusion to renovate The Pyramid, Tillery sarcastically asked if the mayor’s plan included money to keep the male dancers. Then suddenly, in mid-January, the negative campaigning from Tillery stopped.

“Let’s just say I was asked to discontinue writing about them and have stopped,” says Tillery. He declined to say who made the request and why, but since then, he has been true to his word.

“One of the stereotypes is that we are gay because we can do things with our bodies that the average male can’t. Or, that we only got on the team to date the girls,” says Lee-Lee. “Sometimes we do feel like we’re being used as a gimmick and that the [front office] is hesitant to get us out there.”

Not so, says Taylor, who has been involved with the dance team since the Grizzlies’ move from Vancouver. “The fans have their own opinions, but we really want the guys to stay,” she says. When the team was in Vancouver, male dancers were used sparingly, performing only for special occasions. “I encourage guys to perform because they bring a certain strength and masculinity to the routines,” Taylor says. “You can do more with guys on the team. And they are less dramatic, don’t take themselves as serious as the girls, and improve faster.”

The Memphis male dancers are part of a disappearing breed. Only one other NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks, has males on its dance team. The Seattle Supersonics, the first NBA organization to include a male on its team in 1998, returned to an all-female troupe this year. “At the height of the male dancer phase, about two years ago, we had five full-time dancers, and our dancers were well received,” says Supersonic director of marketing and events Brett Ballach. “We had a couple of men try out for the 2003-2004 year, but they didn’t work out, and the organization had decided to go in a different direction by then.”

In 2002, Cleveland Cavaliers dancer Bryan Martin was let go when fans objected to his presence on the court. The NBA leaves all hiring and firing decisions up to the individual teams. “The truth is that in basketball, we’re on the bottom of the totem poll,” says dancer Taurus Solomon. “Actually, as male dancers we’re under the totem pole.”

The guys admit that they sometimes hear negative comments from the audience, but some female fans have given them nicknames and even flirt with them, asking for dates and phone numbers. As for male fans, they have one question: “How do I get to the girls?”

But none of the negative attitudes really matter, says Lee-Lee. “We’re combining three loves: getting paid, getting to dance, going to all the home games and having the best seats in the house, and as a bonus, being around some of the most beautiful women in Memphis.What more could you ask for?”