Author: Rebekah Gleaves

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Seer-in-Chief

NASHVILLE — Al Gore must hate being right.

Surely the vice president did not realize that he was predicting the future when, on
his last visit to Nashville prior to election night, he joked that should George W. Bush win the
presidency Americans would awaken to a bleak, rainy day.

The early hours of November 8th , in both Nashville and Austin, were just that.

For the first time since the campaign’s start, both Democrats and Republicans found
themselves in the same boat – tired, cold, wet, huddling together and anxiously clinging to Bernard Shaw’s every word on CNN, cheering and groaning, hoping against hope that the night would just end.

Perhaps it was a sign that at around midnight the election, which had seemed to favor the vice president earlier in the evening, began to take a turn for the worst. Rain polluted the skies that had been so clear and brought with it a cold front that starkly contrasted with the early evening’s perfect, warm, weather. If supporters had looked with keen and critical eyes, perhaps they would have seen that Gore’s prophecy was beginning to come true – or at the very least, that the vice president’s luck was washing away.

Shortly after 1:00 a.m. central time the announcement came that Bush had won Florida and thus the election. Dejected and despondent, the crowd began to clear. People by the hundreds filtered to the parking lots and hotels surrounding Nashville’s Legislative Plaza.
But the die-hard democrats remained, cuddling under umbrellas and tucking their cold arms inside short sleeved shirts, waiting to hear Gore’s concession speech and refusing to
acknowledge aloud that America would have it’s second George Bush in the Oval Office.

These same democrats that hours earlier had crowded not only on Legislative Plaza but in
the neighboring bars and at private parties, all cheering the announcement of each democrat-won electoral vote with a vigor typically reserved for the Super Bowl, now trudged through downtown Nashville, dreading the moment that reality would set in.

Perhaps the signs had been there all along. Perhaps the democratic faithful had been warned by some of the other things that went wrong. Regardless, as the evening progressed, Gore’s luck began to dwindle and bit by bit everyone’s spirits began to fall, eventually drowning and dropping into the bog of let downs and false hopes, the political and emotional roller coaster, that characterized Election Night 2000.

Collectively, the signs were there. Too many things were going wrong. From the obvious disappointments to the random annoyances, tides were turning against the Gore camp. All present knew things were bad when Florida was first being chalked up as a Gore win only to later be snatched back. But there were other, seemingly insignificant problems, too.
The brand new walkie-talkie system purchased by the Metro Nashville Police Department with this event in mind malfunctioned and all of the extra officers brought in from across the city had to work in silence.

Many supporters left the plaza because the public address system was not loud enough nor the giant television screens visible enough for all present to stay abreast of the returns. The 2,000 members of the media on hand, arrived from all over the globe, grew angry when they learned that press would be quarantined to a pen off to the far right of the stage with an obscured view of the evenings festivities and absolutely prohibited from entering the main public area. (This created an interesting dilemma: assigned to gather the “human element” of the event but restricted from access to the citizens present, many reporters took to interviewing each other in the lobby bar of the Sheraton Hotel across the street from the plaza.

The opinions of journalists from Tennessee organizations were held in especially high regard by members of the European and Japanese press.)

However, at 2:30 a.m. the remaining Democrats caught a glimmer of the silver lining on the storm cloud that had parked itself over the War Memorial Building. As everyone awaited Gore’s concession speech, news of his first call to the Texas governor had already been heralded, reports came in that the fat lady had not yet sung. Florida had been taken from Bush and placed once again in the “too close to call” column – all was not lost. People began to reappear, members of the press left their barstools and once again reclaimed space in the media risers, the hearing impaired interpreter waited on-stage, not knowing whose speech she would interpret.

The crowd erupted in chants of “recount,” thrusting posters in the air and hugging each other in expressions of jubilation and hope. The evening takes on a minute-by-minute tone. At 2:45 a.m. it is reported that Gore has made a second call to Governor Bush, this time taking back his concession. Anyone officially associated with the Democratic party, either on a national or state level, is mobbed by reporters, all shoving microphones and tape recorders in the officials faces looking for comments.

At 3:00 a.m. Florida is said to be undecided and the announcement is made that regardless of the outcome there will be a vote recount in that state because the votes are so close. Everyone hangs on everyone else’s every word, afraid to move for fear of missing something. All present are soaked to the bone, shivering and physically miserably but too wound up to seek shelter from the rain and cold.

At 3:10 a.m. it is announced that one hundred percent of the Florida precincts have been reported and that Bush now leads by only 1,210 votes – an audible gasp sweeps the crowd, followed by a gaggle of murmurs, everyone is astonished. Bob Butterworth, the attorney general of Florida, makes the announcement that Florida is officially undecided.
There are 5,000 votes left in, reportedly from Dade and Broward counties, it looks as if these 5,000 votes will decide our next president.

Bill Daley, the mayor of Chicago and Gore’s campaign manager takes the stage, saying with eerie resonance, “Our campaign continues.” People in Nashville, seeing that Gore will not take the stage to deliver a speech on that night, leave the plaza, some going home, some crowding around television sets in hotel lobbies. Everyone is exhausted but afraid to go to sleep.

At 3:30 a.m. there is another announcement from Butterworth, this time saying,
“We do not even know how close the vote is.

At 3:40 a.m.CNN posts it’s most up to date poll. In Florida Bush holds 2,902,733 votes; Gore holds 2,902,509 votes. It is reported that only 220 votes separate the two. The word “momentous,” “legendary,” “historical,” and “unbelievable” are bandied about like ping
pong balls.

In its tally of the total popular vote, CNN reports that Gore leads, taking
47,123,818 votes to Bush’s 47,063,088 votes. One can since that in bedrooms and living rooms across Nashville and elsewhere, democrats are cheering.

At 4:10 a.m. all the networks report that nothing will change until mid-morning.
People began tucking themselves in, the blue glare of a television tuned to CNN fills bedrooms across the nation as we all sleep no knowing who our next president will.

Daylight on November 8th illuminates a gray, rainy, day in Nashville as Bush is still favored the winner. Gore may not have thought himself a fortuneteller, but his position as
Seer in Chief seems secure.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Scattered Splatter

NASHVILLE — It was in the wee hours past election midnight. Two Yellow Dog Democrats stood on the 27th floor balcony of a Nashville law firm. To the west they could see the outline of the hotel where Vice President Albert sat in a room wondering whether he was to be the bug or the windshield in this election.

Far down below and across the street, the two old Democrats could see the crowd huddled in the rain on the Legislative Plaza in front of the State Capitol. For hours this crowd had waited for Gore to walk out onto the steps of the War Memorial Building and tell them that he was, indeed, the windshield. Yes, Gore would assure them, it has turned out, indeed, to be a Bush bug smashed on the windshield of this ever so close election.

But that message never arrived. The hours ticked by and the bug was still smashed on the windshield, and nobody could make out the bug’s name.

“What are you going to do tomorrow?” said one of the tired Yellow Dogs as he dragged his tired frame away from the balcony, toward the door and home and, finally, bed.

“I gonna find Ralph Nader and strangle him,” said the other.

Indeed, it would seem that Nader might be the most despised man in American today. The numbers would seem to indicate that Nader, the Green Party candidate, ate into the Democratic vote enough in three states to tilt the election to Bush. On the surface, this would appear to be the case in Oregon and New Hampshire, and nowhere more so than in Florida.

If Nader’s 96,701 votes in Florida had gone to Gore, the election would be over now, there would be no need for an agonizing recount and possible court fight, and Gore would be President. Thus, the anger of the old Yellow Dog on the balcony in Nashville, and the comparable spleen that might be poured upon Nader’s name in the days to come.

And the Democrats, ask: for what? Nader fell far short of his goal of getting 5% so the Green Party could qualify for federal matching funds in the next presidential contest. The latest figures show Nader polling about 3%.

However, before that Yellow Dog strangles Nader he might want to talk to some of the professionals and do a bit more analysis. It will take several days of sifting through the votes and doing follow up interviews to find out just how damaging Nader really was to Gore.

Greg Wanderman, the Executive Director of the Tennessee Democratic Party, says that Nader was not that much of a factor, at least in Tennessee.

“Our polling,” Wanderman said on the morning following the election, “indicated that not many of Nader’s votes in Tennessee were coming from people who would have otherwise voted for Gore. I think they were mostly people who were disaffected with the system and may not have voted at all. Some of them may have been just people who hate the internal combustion engine and care about little else.”

In addition to the debriefing of the Nader vote, there is also on the morning after renewed speculation about the role and the future of the electoral college system. Among other things, if it turns out that Gore wins the popular vote and loses the electoral vote, there certainly will be renewed calls for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the electoral college.

Another line of speculation that ensued on the morning after was the debate about how much, if any, pressure can be brought to bear on electors to defect from their pledged positions and go with the popular vote. Twenty-three states do not require by law that electors vote the way they have pledged to vote

Some were even toying with the idea that Gore should be encouraged to mount a massive lobbying campaign to get electors to do just that. These speculators mused that, should Gore lose the Florida recount, he certainly should try that in the Sunshine State. What has he go lose, they ask.

Frankly, such a scheme has little chance of success. Each party’s executive committee chooses the electors for that party on the basis of their loyalty to that party. In Florida, for instance, there would be 25 Democrat electors pledged to support Gore and 25 pledged to support Bush.

Since it’s a winner take all system, Gore might have to convince as many as 13 Republican electors that they should bow to the popular vote mandate and force Florida’s 25-vote block to go to him instead of Bush. That’s almost impossible to imagine. Even if the rules allowed the 25 votes to be split up, Gore would face the task of convincing at least 10 Republicans to abandon their party and go with him. Again, not likely at all.

No, Gore’s best bet right now is to hope the recounters examine the bug smashed on the windshield and determine that the word “Bush” is written on its side.

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News News Feature

Adam’s Mark Sues Historians

A recent lawsuit filed by the Adam’s Mark Hotels & Resorts chain in the wake of an investigation for racial discrimination is causing the defendants in the suit to question the hotel chain’s motives.

In the lawsuit, filed on August 8th, Adam’s Mark seeks $100,000 in damages from the Organization of American Historians (OAH). A released statement from the hotel chain asserts that the suit was filed because OAH breached its contract with Adam’s Mark.

Adam’s Mark spent the end of 1999 and the early months of this year as the subject of a joint investigation for racial discrimination by the U.S. Justice Department and the Florida Attorney General’s Office. OAH insists that it only canceled its annual meeting at the hotel because the group’s members did not want to be associated with a chain accused of racist practices.

OAH filed a countersuit on September 27th seeking $75,000 in damages. The group of historians now suspect that the hotel chain has targeted them because they were prominently featured in the national press during the Adam’s Mark investigation.

“We’ve talked to other parties who canceled at the same time and Adam’s Mark hasn’t sued any of them,” says Lee W. Formwalt, executive director of the OAH. “We think this is because a lot of attention was given to our decision and the Adam’s Mark is upset over all the coverage our situation received.”

Numerous stories about the problems between the organization and the hotel chain appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The New York Times, The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.), and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Adam’s Mark has not sued any of the other organizations which canceled their conventions at the same time, a group which includes The National Football League, The Episcopal Church of America, The National Parks Service, and The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian political organization.

The hotel chain asserts that the $100,000 in damages were incurred when the OAH changed the venue for its annual conference from the Adam’s Mark Hotel in St. Louis to nearby St. Louis University. The OAH claims that it was compelled to do so because many of the organization’s 9,000 members said they would not feel comfortable attending a conference in a hotel accused of racist practices.

“A number of our historians, both minority and white, were upset that we would consider holding our annual meeting in a facility that was under investigation for racial discrimination,” says Formwalt.

Adam’s Mark’s Executive Vice President Fred S. Kummer III released the following statement in response to the lawsuit with the Organization of American Historians, but no one representing the hotel chain would comment further.

“Adam’s Mark Hotels & Resorts expects all convention groups to fulfill the terms of their contract. Unfortunately, the Organization of American Historians did not fulfill their obligation, despite the fact that ample time was provided for them to do so. Adam’s Mark followed the same policy with regard to the OAH as with every other convention group that books at our hotels. It is unfortunate that it was necessary to take this action.”

The initial racial discrimination investigation was triggered by a class action lawsuit filed in May 1999 by five black guests at the Adam”s Mark Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. The plaintiffs were staying in the hotel as part of the Black College Reunion (BCR), an annual festival that attracts 100,000 mostly young African Americans to Daytona Beach each spring.

The plaintiffs accused the Daytona Beach hotel of charging black guests a higher room rate than white guests and subjecting black guests to stricter security measures. The plaintiffs also claimed that they were not allowed to use telephones, mini-bars, or movies in their rooms without first paying a large cash deposit, and that couches, lamps, and chairs were removed from the lobby the day the BCR guests arrived. The plaintiffs also claimed that BCR guests were forced to wear identifying orange wristbands and that pictures had been removed from the walls of their rooms.

Adam’s Mark Hotels & Resorts settled the class-action lawsuit and the suit filed by the U.S. Justice Department in March of this year. In the settlement, the chain admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $8 million in damages. However, in early October U.S. District Court Judge Anne Conway voided the settlement, saying that case law prohibited class-action payments to a minority group without the members showing individual damages.

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Gore on the Stump in Tennessee

NASHVILLE — “Too dark, it’s way too dark in here, I can already tell,” said a cameraman to a mass of media types, none of whom were listening to him because cell phones were pressed to their ears.

It was just after 10 a.m. and Tennessee State University’s Poag Theater was beginning to fill on this Wednesday morning.

First in was a seemingly endless string of journalists. Cameramen lugged oppressively heavy equipment, trudged to the camera platform and began the Sisyphean task of checking light and sound, assembling and disassembling gear.

Reporters settled into seats in the theater, not caring that their view was completely obscured by the camera platform. Apparently after sitting through a few of these speeches, seeing the candidates becomes unimportant.

Secret Service men, betrayed by the squiggly cord trailing out of their ears, stood rapt in the doorways and attentive at the metal detector, giving each entrant a through, albeit brief, once over. Meanwhile, the reporters continued to mill about, sitting first in one seat, then another, flipping through copies of The Tennessean, then walking upstairs to the balcony, most of them more concerned with finding an available electrical outlet for their notebook computers than gaining a better vantage point.

“Does anyone know what this one is about?” asked one reporter to about a dozen others.

“Education,” came the answer from a disembodied voice.

“Does anyone have the text of the speech?” asked the first reporter.

“Not yet,” came the mystery person’s answer.

After about 20 minutes passed, students at the historically black college began to enter the theater. The rows in front of the media riser filled quickly. Students who sat in the reserved press seats were asked to move to accommodate the visiting reporters, and there was a bit of back-and-forthing, with the same groups of people standing, then sitting, then being asked to stand again, until it was realized there was a seat for everybody, or at least an out-of-the-way place to stand.

After the din of gossip and one-sided cell phone conversations had subsided, a noticeably nervous TSU student body president managed to say a few encouraging words to his fellow students before introducing Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.

Lieberman greeted the group by saying that he’d never had a bad day in Tennessee and then proceeded to tell a joke about a couple of college students who overslept an exam and asked their history history professor for a make-up on the excuse that they’d had a flat tire on the way to take the exam. The prof said fine, okay, then sat the students down in separate rooms, and gave each of them a two-part make-up exam. First part: for 5 points: Who was president during the Civil War? Second part: for 95 points: Which tire?

Thus was the credibility issue, so often vented during this campaign year, vented again at TSU. Ultimately, Lieberman wrapped it up and introduced the head of the ticket, Vice President Al Gore. The two men hugged on stage before Gore took the mike to ask the crowd, “Wouldn’t Joe make a terrific vice president?” The question, like most of the speech which followed was expressed in the vice president’s patented Golly-gee-give-him-a-gold-star Eddie Haskell speaking style.

Shortcuts

Gore’s speech itself was mostly centered on education, and the day’s leitmotif was the word “shortcut.” As in: “If we want our children to learn and grow, there aren’t any shortcuts.” Or: “If we want to raise the standards for every child, there aren’t any shortcuts.” Or: If we truly want to reform American education, there aren’t any shortcuts.”

Gore criticized his Republican opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, for talking about education reform, but not acting on his reform promises in Texas.

The vice president then set out to debunk a Rand Corporation study that Bush had evidently used as proof of education reform in Texas by citing a new Rand study, released only this week, showing, said Gore, that the education gap in Texas is widening.

An audible groan arose from the 200-plus students gathered in the theater, with echoes from the several hundred more who listened to the speeches through speakers positioned in an amphitheater outside of the building, when Gore maintained that Bush’s education reform plan would only increase the number of Pell grants awarded to freshman students, not the number granted to all students.

“That’s not a path to a college degree. That’s a path to a college dropout,” Gore said to enthusiastic applause from the students. He concluded his speech by saying– what else?– that Bush’s education reform plan was a “shortsighted shortcut in education policy.”

Immediately following his speech, the room came alive with the sounds of rhythm and blues music. First, the Jackson Five’s “ABC” blasted over the PA system and many of the students cautiously danced to the song as they pressed forward to get near the vice president. When that song ended, Arrested Development’s “Tennessee” began to play, and the students who weren’t already dancing, began to sing along softly. By the time James Brown’s “Feel Good” came coursing through the room, the crowd had become even less inhibited and the two candidates had left the building, off to meet the plane that would take them the day’s next stop at the fairgrounds in Jackson, the West Tennessee home of Gore’s maternal ancestors, the LaFons.

”Who’s Related to Me?”

Indeed, when Gore and Lieberman and a number of regional and state Democratic dignitaries– former governor Ned McWherter, state Gore-Lieberman director Roy Herron, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Clark, state House Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry, et al, et al.– ended up on a platform at the Jackson fairgrounds, the vice president issued a public call: “How many of you out there are related to me?” A generous number of hands protruded from the 2,000 or so people gathered in the July-like heat.

What the crowd heard was standard Gorefare– the usual talking points about “revolutionary changes” in education, protection of the environment, shoring up Social Security and Medicare, paying down the national debt, and “fighting for the working people” of Tennessee and the nation.

Stripped of his coat and with white shirt-sleeves rolled up to the elbow, the vice president got downright shucksy. The man who was famous for having his surrogates leak his international derring-do to the national press, his friendships with foreign heads of state and so forth, told this crowd: “You know, the local newspaper wants me to talk about foreign policy. I don’t usually do that, but I will.”

He then talked, in a brief and obligatory manner, about his ability to handle foreign crises and quickly resumed the catch phrases of his domestic concerns– “fighting for you,” “an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work,” “pledge to treat teachers like the professionals they are.”

Gore eventually wound to his peroration: “I want you to fight for me so I can fight for you. I want you to feel my passion.” (To which an unfriendly demonstrator– one of several anti-abortion protesters who had infiltrated the rally with their signs– muttered audible, “I want you to feel my passion!”

At the end, though, just before some impressive fireworks and strings of confetti shot from guns, there was impressive enough applause from the crowd, and Gore departed the platform and set to shaking hands and pressing the flesh while the portable soundtrack played the usual staples, including, once again, James Brown’s “I Feel Good.”

Then the veep was off to Kansas City for a rally while running mate Joe Lieberman headed west to Memphis for a private big-ticket reception.

{Jackson Baker contributed to this story.]

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Waiting for Bob Dylan

Christy thinks Democrats are lousy tippers.

“But you know, with these things you expect it,” the young waitress continued. “Everyone figures that they paid their money so they could be here and they don’t want to spend any more on tips.”

The Democrats she’s referring to are the crush of people who filled the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville last week for a concert and party that, together with other passings of the hat Tuesday, netted the Gore campaign $4.2 million.

Christy and the other servers elbowed through the crowd to serve food and especially drinks to the donors, most of whom showed signs of rumpling and sweating, due to the room’s heat, well before the concert actually started. People huddled three deep at the bar, drinking cocktails out of plastic cups (glassware had been prohibited) and leaving the empty cups strewn on all bare surfaces (the secret service had removed the trash cans).

About two hours after the Wildhorse opened its doors to guests, a long string of noticeably weary and disheveled national journalists filed in, settling into the press riser and trying to capture a new angle on a story they’ve already compiled dozens of times during this campaign season.

“If you’re waiting for Bob Dylan, you might as well go home,” said one clearly agitated man to no one in particular. “That’s why I bought my ticket, but Dylan being here is just a rumor that was started by the Bush campaign.”

Though this was apparently a well-circulated rumor, the outspoken man was the only one present with a theory on its origin. Instead of the legendary folk singer, campaign contributors were treated to a varied lineup that began with Billy Ray Cyrus and ended with Tony Bennett, with Kim Richey, Patty Loveless, and Bebe Winans in between.

The very bloated and still mullet-sporting Cyrus took the stage first, playing a handful of songs, including his early Nineties hit, “Some Gave All,” a tribute to Vietnam vets.

“This year we’ve got an opportunity to elect the first Commander in Chief who also served in Vietnam,” Cyrus remarked during his introduction to the song. At this comment, Al Gore, sitting on the saloon’s second-floor balcony alongside wife Tipper and running mate Joe Lieberman and Hadassah Lieberman, pursed his lips into a tight line, wrinkled his brow in thought, and nodded his head slowly and appreciatively, in an expression that seemed to reveal his thoughts — something like “Yeah, that’s good, remember that, use that.”

The mostly B-list performers seemed antsy and overwhelmed at the prospect of performing for the vice president and his running mate, with only Tony Bennett looking completely at ease. Bennett strutted and snapped through a repertoire of his best known hits, equally working a crowd composed of Ann Taylor-clad campaign workers and blue jeans-sporting labor union members. Though Bennett was a daunting act to follow, it was Al Gore who drew thunderous applause from the audience, his reception being second only to the one given to Eddie George, the Tennessee Titans well-loved running back who emceed the evening’s events.

Gore eventually took the stage, markedly at ease and occasionally drawing laughs from the crowd, despite the circles under his eyes and the leaden weight that caused his feet to drag with each step.

The Gore lovefest was only heightened when the veep contrasted the bright, sunny, beautiful day that November 8th would be if he is elected with the dreary, cold, gray day that he says the Wednesday after election day will be if George W. Bush wins the presidency. At this, the crowd cheered and thrust their “Gore/Lieberman” signs higher in the air, pressing forward in an attempt to shake the presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls hands.

As the festivities drew to a close, the secret service men’s faces screwed into looks of deep concentration, cautiously eyeing everyone who drew near the candidates. Orlando, a secret service officer who had been surprisingly chatty earlier in the evening, disappeared at this point, sucked back into a job that called for him to protect Joe and Hadassah and Al and Tipper from the bad tippers.

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

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News News Feature

Mongo Loses Round Two

On Wednesday, October 17th, Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges lost Round Two in his battle to defend The Castle, his controversial nightclub. The Memphis Alcohol Commission indefinitely revoked Hodges’ beer license for the Midtown club, located in Ashlar Hall at 1397 Central Avenue.

The license revocation will have not have an immediate effect on the nightclub as it is already temporarily enjoined from having any alcohol on the premises. The injunction, imposed last week by Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft, will be in effect until November 20th, when a full Criminal Court hearing on public nuisance charges will occur.

The Castle has been the focus of negative attention due to allegations of underage drinking, public nudity, and patrons disrupting the neighborhood. A smattering of the most out-spoken of The Castle’s opponents were on hand for the Alcohol Commission hearing, as was the club’s colorful front man, Prince Mongo.

Outfitted in his now standard uniform of a long gray wig, bug-eye sunglasses, and a military-style frock coat that hangs just over his bare knees and feet, Mongo sat quietly in the city council chambers, where the hearing was held, until his case was called. The outspoken restaurateur, who claims to hail from the planet Zambodia, stood behind his attorneys, Leslie Ballin and Mike Pleasants, and did not respond for several minutes after the board first addressed him, eventually blaming his delayed response on having to “contact my spiritual beings.”

When asked, Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges insisted for the record that his name was simply ”Prince Mongo” and denied that he operated a dance club, preferring to describe his guests movements as “exercising.” (The Castle does not possess the requisite dance permit.)

“We do not allow anyone to dance,” said Mongo, who claimed that a sign near the DJ Booth says, “Atonement Only — No Dancing.” “They can do exercises, but we do not call it dancing.”

Prince Mongo has long claimed that the various bars and clubs he has operated have been religious centers of atonement, rather than night spots.

“When they [patrons] cleanse their bodies and souls to rid themselves of demons they do exercises to release the demons,” said Mongo. “Sometimes we have music, sometimes we don’t.”

At that point, Prince Mongo himself began to dance an improvised jig in front of the Alcohol Board. After several more questions from the board about the nature of Mongo’s religious activities, the Prince continued to dance and began barking and howling, loud enough for the staccato yelps to echo off the chamber walls.

An unidentified board member interrupted Mongo’s outburst to ask, “Are we to understand that what is recognized as a dance floor downstairs is actually a tabernacle?”

To which Mongo simply responded, “Amen.”

Moments later Prince Mongo excused himself from the hearing and left the room, dancing down the aisles, inviting gallery members to his “church,” and greeting various spectators with, “Hi, Spirit.”

After Prince Mongo’s departure, the board heard testimony from a young man who claims his girlfriend passed out and stopped breathing after ingesting a drink that had been spiked with GHB (gammahydroxybutyrate), which is often used as a date rape drug.

The young man testified that several times he and his friends asked security guards at The Castle to call an ambulance and that the guards refused to do so for 30 minutes, with one guard eventually complying.

After hearing this testimony, the board decided that it had enough information to render a decision and all but one member voted to revoke The Castle’s beer license.

Ballin and Pleasants say that they will appeal the decision to the Circuit Court. However, there is no need to do so immediately because Judge Craft’s injunction prohibits Mongo from having any alcohol on the premises until after the nuisance hearing.

In the meantime, neighbors of The Castle say that they enjoyed last weekend, the first quiet weekend they say they’ve had in two years, and plan to enjoy the solitude for the rest of the month.

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

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News News Feature

Council Debates Public Access

Discussion became heated Tuesday, October 17th, when the Memphis City Council discussed a plan in the Personnel, Intergovernmental & Annexation Committee that would limit public and media access to the council members and their documents.

The new policy requires anyone requesting information from the council to pay a minimum $10 per-hour research fee and $1.50 per-page for any copies made, to be paid before the party receives the information. The policy also states that requests for information must be in writing and state a “legitimate interest” in the information. Further, “the council chairperson or vice-chairman must approve all requests.” Upon approval, the requesting party must show proper identification and prove that he is a citizen of Tennessee.

The policy also states that, “If the request is not in person, the requester may secure the above form and have it notarized.” In the procedure list that is included with the proposed ordinance, step nine allows that council staff, “blocks confidential information out of the records.”

Several council members expressed their opposition to the proposed ordinance.

“I think this proposed set of rules could be interpreted, and rightfully so, as an impediment to those who are trying to do fair information gathering, trying to do their jobs,” said Council Member Tom Marshall.

This proposal comes after City Council Attorney Allan Wade sent a letter to Commercial Appeal reporter Blake Fontenay reprimanding the reporter for opening and reading council members’ mail. Wade’s letter also informed Fontenay that his future access to the council offices would be greatly limited.

In a “Viewpoint” article in the Sunday Commercial Appeal, Managing Editor Henry Stokes stated that the newspaper stood behind its reporter, that Fontenay had been set up, and that Wade’s letter and the proposed ordinance were attempts to punish the Commercial Appeal for negative reporting on the council and on Wade in the past.

Besides being the attorney for the city council, Wade is representing Cherokee Children and Family Services, a daycare services broker. The Commercial Appeal has written numerous times about the agency and its troubles. The daily has also written extensively about a telephone that council chairwoman Barbara Swearengen Holt had installed in the council restroom.

In the meeting, council members quickly became divided over the ordinance with Holt speaking passionately about why such a policy was necessary.

“Just because a reporter got angry and wants to teach me a lesson, we shouldn’t go back to the way it was,” said Holt. “The pen, the mighty newspaper, ought not to be able to run our office.”

Her comments quickly met with opposition from council members John Vergos, Brent Taylor, and Pat Vander Schaaf, who complained about the principle behind the new policy, as well as the policy itself.

“I think this is unnecessary,” said Taylor. “We’ve got $13 million in cost overruns on the convention center, a hotel/motel tax increase, and we’re here talking about how we’re going to give information to reporters.”

Vergos further argued that the proposed ordinance, which was copied from the policy adopted by Memphis Light, Gas & Water in 1993, is not applicable to the council.

“I don’t know what MLG&W’s standard is, but that board is not elected, and we are,” said Vergos. “The people I have to answer to are the ones in my district. I will tell my staff that if Blake Fontenay doesn’t have $10 for the information, I don’t care. There is a lot that goes on outside of these meetings that reporters should have access to.”

Vander Schaaf agreed, saying, “We work for the public and the public has a right to the same materials we are given.”

The emboldened Holt did not back down though, and insisted that because of The Commercial Appeal’s actions, the issue had become personal.

“This came about because they [The Commercial Appeal] were trying to teach us a lesson,” said Holt. “They wanted to show us that the pen is mightier than the sword.” Holt then referred to the stories written by the daily on the telephone, which cost $800 to install.

“It’s an effort to try to make me look bad,” said Holt. “Yes, it is personal because Blake decided he was going to teach me a lesson. They have made it personal. Besides, they already have the open records law.Ó”

Council Member TaJuan Stout Mitchell quickly agreed with Holt, saying that some policy should be adopted to control public and media access to the council and to council information. However, Mitchell did not think the entire issue should be pinned on Blake Fontenay.

“I don’t want this to be about Blake,” said Mitchell. “I don’t think that’s fair. Today it may be Blake, tomorrow it may be Lake. It should be about what’s good for the business of the city.”

The council ended discussion on the proposal by postponing a vote until November 7th.

Prior to the end of the meeting, Vander Schaaf turned to Holt and said, “Maybe you ought to consider removing that phone from the bathroom. I, for one, if it rang, I’d be afraid to pick it up.”

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

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The Castle Runs Dry

Between now and November 20th, the only spirits that will be found at the Castle are the ones Prince Mongo conjures.

Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft temporarily enjoined Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges from selling or allowing the consumption of alcohol on the grounds of his controversial nightclub, The Castle, until a full trial is held on November 20th.

“This is one of the few times I’ve been straight-down-the-line-right and gotten so much bullshit for it,” said Prince Mongo before the end of the trial. “I’ve been open for two years, why is all this fuss coming now?”

Craft’s decision came after hearing testimony from undercover police officers as well as from concerned neighbors who feel the club has harmed their quality of life.

“We’re not against him having a business,” says neighbor Meg McCord. “The problem is what he is doing with that business. We think it all stems from him serving minors.”

McCord is not alone. Several neighbors sat in the court gallery all day, at times nodding in agreement and at other times moaning in disgust. Likewise, Prince Mongo, who also sat in the gallery, muttered his approval and disapproval, even standing to protest when Craft rendered his decision.

This hearing came after months of complaints from residents in the Castle’s Central Gardens neighborhood, primarily from residents of the two high rise condominium buildings on either side of the Castle, the Townhouse Apartments and the Mansfield Arms.

Bart Dickinson, who tried the case for the state called eight witnesses in the course of the all-day hearing, to prove the nuisance claim, including Mary Lowry, business manager of the Townhouse Apartments and Prince Mongo’s loudest opponent.

Lowry, who testified to seeing fights, nudity, and the sale of drugs on the property, also submitted video tapes to the District Attorney that she made of events at the Castle. The tapes showed patrons drinking, yelling, dancing, and taunting her as she filmed. Lowry testified that she sits on her balcony filming the Castle from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m., six nights a week.

“I’ve got him on tape driving up and down Central Avenue saying, “Free Alcohol, Free Sex, Free Drugs” on the loud speaker,” Lowry told the Flyer.

Prince Mongo’s attorneys, Leslie Ballin and Mike Pleasants, objected to Dickinson’s attempts to enter noise and parking complaints as evidence of nuisance.

Under nuisance law, an establishment must be found to have instances of unlawful sale of intoxicating liquors, quarreling, drunkenness, fighting, and breaches of the peace. Judge Craft did not allow Dickinson to submit arrest tickets, or evidence of noise and parking violations, finding that these were not violations of the nuisance statute. However, Craft did find that there was sufficient evidence of nuisance to temporarily enjoin the Castle from serving alcohol.

“I do feel the state has shown a pattern of quarreling and fighting, which has gone totally unsupervised on this property,” said Craft. “I don’t want to padlock his business, but I do feel that I need to enjoin Mr. Hodges and his business from serving alcohol pending a hearing.”

Craft also enjoined Hodges from allowing the consumption of alcohol on the property, meaning that guest cannot bring their own alcohol.

“This was just round one,” says Prince Mongo. “Wherever Leslie [Ballin] takes me is where I’m going next. We’ll have another trial, hopefully next time it will be with a jury and a different judge. In the end I’m going to take him [Ballin] with me to my planet.”

The neighbors say they’ll be ready for the trial on November 20th, too.

“Like Mongo says, that’s just round one,” says Lowry. “I’m going to go start videotaping for the next round.”

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)

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Council Fattens Up

Earlier this week City Council Chairman Barbara Swearengen Holt decided to raise the daily food allowance for traveling council members from $20 without receipts and $45 with receipts to $45 without receipts and $75 with receipts.

Holt defends this decision by saying, “You can’t eat at McDonald’s for that,” referring to the daily meal allowance before it was increased.

Actually, Chairman Holt, you can eat at McDonald’s quite a bit for that.

At $20 a day, the previous amount without a receipt, a council member could eat five extra value meals (sandwich, fries and a drink, typically priced at $3.50) and have some change left over. If the council member was particularly hungry, they could opt to “supersize” their meal (for about 80 cents) and still eat four sandwiches, orders of fries and drink four soft drinks. If the council member elected to have an apple pie or a hot fudge sundae, they could only order four regular-sized extra value meals, but could have dessert three times a day. Similarly, at the previous $45 a day allowance with receipts, a council member could eat 12 extra value meals a day, ten if they wanted those meals supersized.

(The Flyer would like to point out that most McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants will not charge a customer for their meal if the customer was not issued a receipt. Therefore, if a council member doesn’t get a receipt from McDonald’s, then they can eat 10 regular-sized extra value meals a day under the $20 per diem.)

Under the new daily allowance, a council member that does not elect to supersize can eat 12 extra value meals a day without receipts (actually 24, if they tell a manager that they didn’t receive a receipt) and a whopping 21 regular sized extra value meals at the $75 rate, and still have some change for a sundae. (This, of course, is not to be confused with Burger King’s Whopper meal — also a sandwich, fries and a drink — which a council member could order about 18 times a day for $75.)

If a council member were required to drive from Memphis to Los Angeles (though we doubt they’d be asked to) the council member could eat at 36 of the 78 McDonald’s along the way, if they stopped for a single value meal at each one on the approximately three day drive under the $45 previous allowance. But now, under the $75 allowance, a council member can stop 63 of the 78 restaurants and order a value meal at each in three days time. However, considering that the council member would be stopping so many times, it is doubtful that they would actually make it to Los Angeles in under a week.

In seven days time, at $75 a day, a council member could eat at every single McDonald’s between here and Los Angeles twice, with ten of the restaurants getting three visits.

With that much fast food, perhaps Holt should have given the council members national memberships to the YMCA too.

(You can write Rebekah Gleaves at gleaves@memphisflyer.com)