A group of OP99 players tee off at Overton Park 9 Tuesday. (Photo: Toby Sells)
They played 99 at OP9.
That is, a group of friends played 99 holes Tuesday at Overton Park 9 for the good of Memphis golf.
The 15 friends started at 6 a.m. — three groups of five. The goal was to play 11 consecutive rounds of the nine-hole course. They’d walk the whole thing. One of the group said total milage would be around 25 miles.
For this, they raised money, all the money going to the Overton Park Junior Open, the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC), and the Loren Roberts Scholarship Fund through The First Tee.
Will Frazier’s face was sun-reddened by around 4 p.m. on the eighth round of the 11-round OP99, as they called it. His feet hurt but his spirits were still up. His irons were still crisp. His sense of humor was still intact.
“I just wish somebody else would’ve put this on,” Frazier joked. “From the beginning I said this is a good idea. This should happen. Sounds great. Who’s going to be the guy who’s going to put it together?”
The guy turned out to be him and his “partner in crime” John Irvine. Frazier had survived a similar golf event in East Tennessee, that one a total of 100 holes called the Hundred Hole Hike. That event helped to subsidize golf rounds up to $5 for kids there. Memphis kids play every city-owned course for free. So no need to help pay for rounds.
Instead, the OP99 funds will help fund the Overton Park Junior Open. The tournament has been a staple of the Memphis golf scene since it began in 1947. While free and open to all Memphis youth ages 7 to 16, organizing and creating the event is not.
Funds for the OPC will support the OP9 golf course, of course.
The Loren Roberts Scholarship fund through The First Tee is awarded to a graduating Memphis student who participates in the First Tee program. That program introduces youth to the game of golf with coaches and practices. The scholarship came from PGA Tour member Loren Roberts, who wanted to make an annual contribution to the Mid-South Junior Golf Association (MSJGA).
As of Thursday, OP99 had raised $54,400.
“I have two little boys — an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old — who love the game of golf,” said OP99 golfer Daniel Connerley. “When [Frazier] said we’re doing this, and we’re going to get it going for the growth of the game and to get more kids involved in it … I’m like, absolutely.
“I grew up playing golf with my dad and I want to do the same with my boys. If there’s more places to do that and more opportunities for them to do it, that’s what I’m here for.”
Game play on the eighth round was still brisk and competitive. Word on the fairway was that Chase Harris, a former University of Memphis golfer and current PGA golf pro at Chickasaw Country Club, had set the OP9 course record on one round. He was on pace to break his own record in following rounds. Harris finished the day with an astounding 55 birdies, more than half of 99 holes he played.
Frazier is ready to do it again.
“So the game plan is to try to build enough momentum from this that it just sort of rolls on itself because it’s a great idea,” Frazier said. “We’ve got 15 guys out here. But I bet there are 50, 75, 150 guys in Memphis that would love to do this and these legs aren’t going to hold up forever.
“I can do it a couple of times. But not forever.”
The OP99 players were Frazier, Irvine, Connerley, Harris, Stephen Ellis, Tucker Fox, Justin Smith, Alex Ransone, Davidson Alexander, Brian Abraham, McCown Smith, Luke Jensen, Alex Butterworth, Foster Smith, and Jimmy Beard.
A bass-and-drum beat boomed over a party that pulsed around the twilight-and-neon-painted patio of Rock’n Dough.
Pizza scented the warm air. Plastic cups flowed with golden beer. Corn hole bags rattled, flew, and fell home. Balloon animals squeaked in the hands of delighted children. Duck pins crashed occasionally somewhere inside. Laughter and raucous conversation raised high over the entire scene, building a cathedral dome of fun and positive energy.
A new light switch flipped on in The Edge District that Friday night in early May. The once-vacant building (that formerly housed Trolley Stop Market) came alive again and drew scores to its shores for the promise of something new, exciting. The promise was delivered. The energy was electric, especially for that corner of town. But that sort of vibrancy is becoming more and more commonplace there.
New light switches are being flipped on all over The Edge. No task force was formed for its revitalization. No hashtag was blasted on social media. No special study for it was ordered by the Memphis City Council.
That new energy is largely organic. It’s been fueled with years of care and investment by the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC).
But an ad hoc group of Edge stakeholders is forging the neighborhood, too. They gather and strategize (as they did recently) over a lunch snack of ribs and catfish bites at Arnold’s BBQ and Grill. Ad hoc, maybe, but their members are mighty. Henry Turley Co. The MMDC. Longtime landowners who own and manage key properties in The Edge. If you’ve ever been to Strangeways Wednesday for free food and drink, you’ve experience a portion of this group’s influence. You’ve also experienced their overall mood for The Edge: fun, communal, welcoming, and connected to the neighborhoods around it.
Let’s Go to The Edge
The Edge is just quirky. Its mother might say, “It has character.” And it certainly does.
No one can agree on its boundaries, for one. Not really. Is it Union and Madison from Manassas to Danny Thomas or onto Fourth? Broaden that to capture Health Sciences Park and Jefferson, right up to Victorian Village? No facts exist on this. Only opinions. The Edge doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page like so many Memphis neighborhoods. Border disputes aren’t new or controversial, though. Just ask a local to define Midtown.
The streets in The Edge perform mind-bending shifts from the traditional city grid. Arrow-straight Monroe terminates in the heart of The Edge, only to curve slightly north where it transforms into Monroe Extended. What? Marshall crosses Monroe in the center of the neighborhood at an angle that defies the city’s parallel street design. Madison flies up and over (for one of the best views of the city) to meet up with its old self on the west side of Danny Thomas. Why? The DMC website says the “odd, zig-zag streets and alleys” were laid out to accommodate railroads in the 1800s.
Arnold’s BBQ and Grill (Photos: Ziggy Mack)Sharrion Smith showcases Regular Order of Ribs combo at Arnold’s BBQ Shop in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
Those twists and turns make The Edge full of surprises, too. Siri led me to Arnold’s on a recent visit. I arrived. Nothing around but Mutt Island. But Arnold’s was right on the map. I turned and spied a sign with a pig and an arrow on it. I followed it. Through a brick archway, down some stairs, and across a grass lot, I spied another pig sign. I followed it (and the scent of pork and hickory smoke) to Floyd Alley and found Arnold’s. I felt like I’d joined a secret club.
Years ago, Tommy Pacello, the late (and missed) director of the MMDC, gave me a big surprise on a bike tour of The Edge, which even then brimmed with opportunity in his endless optimism. We stopped at a weedy spot on the Madison bridge. He bid me look over. I found a deep, overgrown, urban canyon. From his experience with the successful Tennessee Brewery Untapped project, he said to imagine what could be done down there with some string lights and a few kegs of beer. That abandoned, forgotten canyon became The Ravine years later.
The Ravine (Photo: Ziggy Mack)
In The Edge, paint and body shops sit cheek by jowl with architect firms, tattoo parlors, salons, arts organizations, souvenir shops, brand-new condos, breweries, the headquarters of one of the city’s biggest homegrown banks, and that huge, gold guitar hoisted high outside Sun Studio, maybe one of the most photographed spots in Memphis. All of this sits just outside the steel canopy of Downtown skyscrapers and the glow of summer lights over AutoZone Park.
For all its quirks, defiant nature, and surprises, one thing is a fact about The Edge: Mike Todd, president and CEO of Premiere Contractors, came up with “The Edge” name. When he first got there, he said the place “was a total wasteland.”
“The Last Place on Earth”
Todd likes and dislikes the moniker “the Mayor of The Edge,” even though he admits it’s kind of true. His company bought Premiere Palace in the 1970s. Even though the area was not even close to up-and-coming, he decided Downtown and the Medical District were good bets. So he placed his.
The auto shops were there, giving credence to the area’s first use and nickname, “Auto Row.” The shops serviced the Downtown community, diminished as it was after white flight following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination years before. Later, officials planned the area for a Biomedical Research Zone (BRZ). Landowners would get rich if they held onto their buildings, Todd says. But they never did because the BRZ never panned out.
But Todd didn’t leave. His company doubled down and bought the Stop 345 building on Madison in 1997. At one time he leased the building to a club called The Last Place on Earth, which hosted Eddie Vedder and Sonic Youth before its eventual close, he says. The trolley project came and took years longer than promised. This closed Madison and killed traffic there forever, Todd says. Tenants moved out but Todd didn’t give up.
“I couldn’t let this place just become this shit place under the bridge,” he says. “So, we ran that place for 20 years as various entities. Los Comales just moved in less than a year ago.”
Scott Bomar was 19 the first time he went to The Edge. His band, Impala, was recording an album at Sam Phillips Recording.
“I thought, man, this is where I want to work,” Bomar says. “Cut to a couple of decades later. Well, that’s where I work now.”
Even back in his teens, Bomar thought The Edge was cool. The automotive factories and auto shops were all there. He loves the new energy, too.
Rootstock Wine Merchants (Photo: Ziggy Mack)Images of Rootstock in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
“We have a lot of clients who come in from out of town,” he says. “It’s really great to be able to walk across the street to the wine shop [Rootstock Wine Merchants] to pick up something if we need it, or to go down to French Truck and get a coffee, or go to Rock’n Dough and get food. … It’s exciting that there’s so much stuff down there now that’s walkable.”
The Edge was “quiet” when Anthony Lee first got there back in 2004. Well, quiet during the day, anyway.
“It would activate at night because of the club there, which was at one point 616 Club, and then Apocalypse, and then Spectrum,” Lee says. “Then, it was a strip club. So that one little building used to activate it on weekend nights.”
Sun Studio (Photo: Ziggy Mack)
Lee is now the gallery manager at Marshall Arts, an Edge pioneer, founded by Pinkney Herbert. The studio and gallery was converted from an automotive shop, Lee says, just like Sun Studio and many other buildings in The Edge.
“Makers and the craftspeople and the artists kind of converted some of those buildings and [The Edge] took on another quality,” Lee says. “It became sort of like the craft district.
“Pinkney Herbert was probably the first artist that imported that format from New York City. He created Marshall Arts in 1992 with his wife. He saw what they were doing up with there with all those old buildings in SoHo and the Lower East Side and decided to bring a similar idea back to Memphis.”
Lee lists a bevy of artists and craftspeople still working in The Edge with woodworking shops, recording studios, a greeting card studio, and more. With the club gone, he says, the area shares a “two-fold personality” with car maintenance and the arts.
“For years, this was a forgotten neighborhood, but sandwiched by growth in the Medical District and the vibrant Downtown Core, all eyes are now on The Edge as businesses, breweries, and restaurants have all become neighborhood staples,” says the DMC website.
New(ish) Faces
Energy pulsed into The Edge before Orion Federal Credit Union got there. High Cotton opened in 2013, for example, and Edge Alley in 2016. But the Memphis company’s 2019 move from Bartlett to Monroe in the old Wonder Bread factory was a power station large enough to buoy confidence and development in the neighborhood.
“The location in The Edge was chosen when the Orion leadership agreed that the organization could strategically position their corporate headquarters to anchor a historic Memphis neighborhood, end blight, spur commercial and residential growth, and reinforce a critical connection between the Medical District and Downtown Memphis,” says Orion’s board chair Andre Fowlkes.
The Wonder Bread factory sat vacant from 2013 to 2019, making the stretch of Monroe near the building and several surrounding properties “a visible eyesore that could be seen from high-traffic areas including Downtown Memphis and Sun Studios,” the company said in a statement. Instead of tearing down the factory and leveling the block, Orion chose to keep the original shape and bones of the building and added a third story. A new, period-appropriate exterior facade was made of reclaimed bricks from the original building. And, of course, Orion kept that iconic, old-school Wonder Bread sign.
“A better Memphis means a better Orion, and the headquarters move to The Edge was our commitment to the city,” says Orion CEO Daniel Weickenand. “A strong city core can create a ripple effect for development and energy throughout the region. We’re proud to be a part of that.”
That ripple effect is real (just check our sidebar with a list of all the new businesses and real estate developments). The energy is clearly there. Chef Joshua Mutchnick saw it and grabbed on tight. His JEM (Just Enjoy the Moment) restaurant opened in The Edge in April.
“Since day one, we had our eyes on The Edge District because we saw it as this up-and-coming neighborhood that has some iconic landmarks in it, like Sun Studio, Sam Phillips Recording, the Edge Motor Museum,” Mutchnick says. “It has so much potential and we feel very lucky to be a part of that, and that we got on the boat before it left the harbor.
“There was concern once we saw Orleans Station being built. We were like, ‘Maybe we missed the ship. It’s too expensive or we’re getting boxed out,’ but we nailed it.”
Sheet Cake Gallery (Photos: Ziggy Mack)Interiors of Sheetcake Gallery in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
Sheet Cake Gallery, a contemporary art gallery, opened on Monroe late last year. Its owner, Lauren Kennedy worked closely with MMDC and DMC on many art projects through her work as executive director of the UrbanArt Commission.
“I was familiar with all of the work and investment they have been making in The Edge, and that felt like something I wanted the gallery to be apart of,” Kennedy says. “The support I have felt from both groups from when I first started looking at spaces through to being open has been incredible for me. Everything has felt just right.”
When asked what drew Memphis Made Brewing Co. to open a new taproom in The Edge, co-founder Drew Barton says the answer was simple: Tommy Pacello.
“When we told Tommy we were looking for a bigger production space, he immediately began telling us about every space in The Edge he could think of,” Barton says. “It didn’t take long after that to find our new spot. We walked into what is now the production space and knew it would be perfect for us.
“At that point we didn’t even know about The Ravine. Once we heard more about the massive outdoor space tucked away in The Edge, we couldn’t wait to open a taproom with The Ravine being our backyard.”
As for when that taproom will open, Barton says, “We did end up having to wait a little while during the pandemic, but we are aiming to have the taproom open in late July.”
Leaders
At least three groups look after The Edge: the DMC, the MMDC, and that group of local stakeholders. (An Edge District Association is listed on the DMC website, but the link to the group takes you to a foreign football gambling site with the URL northcountrycremationservice.com.)
The DMC has for years offered a host of incentives to spur growth in The Edge and throughout Downtown. It offers tax breaks, loans, grants, and other programs to promote the vibrancy of all Downtown.
The MMDC is in its eighth year improving and transforming the Medical District for some of the city’s biggest medical anchors like University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and Regional One Health. The group’s quiver of incentives helps people improve their properties, recruit new businesses, create new signage, and more. MMDC has invested $2 million in grants alone since its inception.
More than 20,000 people work in the 700-acre Medical District. But less than 2 percent of them live there. MMDC president Rory Thomas says most people would want to live close to where they work, “but if you don’t have the right housing stock and supply, that becomes a challenge.”
Bridging this gap is now a strategic objective for MMDC. Thomas rattles off a long list of new-ish, available apartment buildings — Orleans Station, The Rise Apartments, The Tomorrow Building headed for the Cycle Shop — all of them in The Edge. Fill those with professionals or students from the many medical organizations and The Edge would buzz with new foot traffic that could then drive new business recruitment and overall improvement of the commercial corridors there.
The DMC and the MMDC work closely together on all of this and more, Thomas says. They both work with that less formal group of Edge stakeholders that met at Arnold’s recently. This group (which featured members of the MMDC that day) has eyes on the bigger picture but also focuses on more on-the-ground issues.
How can we make The Edge more walkable and connected? Could Memphis Brand do a “We Are Memphis” billboard for the neighborhood? Should we make flyers with a QR-code link to an events calendar that we hand out to visitors? All of it to promote the neighborhoods, connect them, and bring more folks in.
Alex Turley, CEO of Henry Turley Co., praised the success of other Memphis neighborhoods like Cooper-Young and South Main. But he says The Edge, the Medical District, and Victorian Village have something those neighborhoods don’t: a major employment center.
“One of our goals was to create a seamless connection from those institutional buildings right into a neighborhood,” Turley says. “That informed the scale and the design of what we built at Orleans Station.
“You have Victorian Village and The Edge. There’s this opportunity to help populate this neighborhood. You already have an established brand for a neighborhood. But how do we get those people who work and go to school in those institutional buildings to come across Manassas? That’s what we keep hearing. They say, ‘We never come across [Manassas].’”
“Wasteland” to Next Big Thing
Remember when South End didn’t have a name? It was vacant, derelict, and spooky, according to some. Remember those blighted warehouses? Now think of how busy it can be at Loflin Yard or Carolina Watershed. Now think about all those apartments — completely filled — where those spooky, old warehouses used to be.
It’s a familiar cycle now if you think of South Main back in the 1990s or Broad Avenue a decade ago. The Edge could be next.
Energy continues to build there and energy has a way of attracting more energy. Big pieces are in place. Optimism is high. Leaders are motivated. And it truly is a community effort in The Edge.
“A win for one is a win for all,” says Meredith Taylor, communications and engagement associate with the MMDC. “Talk to the businesses in The Edge and they’ll say one reason they decided to choose it for the roots of their business is that they feel supported by one another, that when they succeed, all the other businesses succeed as well.
“I do think that’s something that’s very special to The Edge District. I think The Edge is a good backdrop to create and build on the sense of place that’s already existing.”
… … … … … … … … … …
New Neighborhood Businesses Opened or Announced:
• JEM
• Rootstock Wine Merchants
• Inkwell
• Ugly Art Co.
• Sheet Cake Gallery
• Contemporary Arts Memphis
• HOTWORX – Edge District
• Rock’n Dough Pizza
• French Truck Coffee
• SANA Yoga
• Lavish Too A Luxe Boutique
• Memphis Made Brewing Co.
• Flyway Brewing Company (announced)
• Cafe Noir (announced)
• LEO Events
• Hard Times Deli (announced)
Real Estate Developments:
• Orleans Station – 372 residential units, 16,000 square feet commercial space
• University Lofts – 105 residential (micro) units
The Memphis Zoo plans to invest $250 million over the next 20 years on a comprehensive campus plan to “fortify our reputation as a world-class zoo.”
Zoo president and CEO Matt Thompson announced the plan in an email sent Monday morning to zoo members and community stakeholders. That email came with a link to a survey seeking opinions to guide the planning process.
“As we look to the next twenty years and beyond, we seek to invest upwards of $250 million to reimagine this home for wildlife, to unlock opportunities for animal care and conservation, and strengthen our position as a community amenity through guest education and enhancement,” Thompson wrote. “This comprehensive campus plan aims to improve outdated priority areas across our campus and will create world-class animal exhibits and unforgettable family memories for decades to come.”
The plan calls for general infrastructure improvements but will focus on these exhibits: Great Lawn and Stingray (coming in 2025), Africa, Penguins, Oceans to Forests Journey, Nature Adventure and Ambassadors, Weird and Wonderful, and South America.
The first exhibit set for improvement is the Africa Veldt, home to “some of our most iconic and loved species, the African elephants and giraffes.” The plan could increase habitat space there by four times and cost $75 million.
“The existing facilities are dated and the habitat provides insufficient space for new and improved levels of care for our elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hyenas, and mixed hoofstock,” Thompson said. “Our reimagined habitat will increase acreage by four times to improve naturalistic features by unlocking time-shared and mixed-species spaces.
“The improved infrastructure will also provide the community with new ways to connect and learn about wildlife with a new Africa lodge and immersive guest experiences such as a new giraffe feeding zone.”
Zoo officials have hired CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising consulting firm, to guide its campaign planning efforts. The zoo said a “vital step” of their work will be to gather feedback and advice from leaders and friends of the zoo on the scope, leadership, timing, and key messaging of a potential major fundraising campaign for the first phase of these efforts.
Jerry’s Sno Cones will close its original location in the Berclair/Nutbush area.
The iconic Memphis establishment announced the move on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. They gave no reason for the closing. But they said the Jerry’s location at 1601 Bonnie Lane in Cordova is open.
Jerry’s Sno Cone’s via Facebook
“We are grateful for the past memories and are looking forward to new family memories at our Cordova location,” the owners said in the post. “We will be voting soon on a new location. God loves you and so does Jerry’s Sno Cones!”
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 17 states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government over new rules that would mandate pronoun respect in the workplace.
In September, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to approve updates to its workplace harassment rules. The new rules reflect changes in such laws, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to protect employees against discrimination because of sexuality or gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County), the #MeToo movement, and emerging issues such as virtual or online harassment.
The rules were published and given a period for public comment, and became federal law in late April.
“Harassment, both in-person and online, remains a serious issue in America’s workplaces,” EEOC chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement at the time. “The EEOC’s updated guidance on harassment is a comprehensive resource that brings together best practices for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifies recent developments in the law.”
The EEOC said between fiscal years 2016 and 2023, more than a third of all discrimination charges received by the agency included an allegation of harassment based on race, sex, disability, or another characteristic covered by the laws enforced by the agency. Also, since fiscal year 2018, harassment has been alleged in over half of federal sector equal employment opportunity complaints. Among the 143 merits lawsuits that the commission filed last year, about 35 percent of them included an allegation of harassment.
However, Tennessee AG Skrmetti said companies should be able to use whatever pronoun they choose to use for their employees. As he has done in several such lawsuits in the past, Skrmetti claims the federal government is overreaching into powers given to states.
“In America, the Constitution gives the power to make laws to the people’s elected representatives, not to unaccountable commissioners, and this EEOC guidance is an attack on our constitutional separation of powers,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “When, as here, a federal agency engages in government over the people instead of government by the people, it undermines the legitimacy of our laws and alienates Americans from our legal system.
“This end-run around our constitutional institutions misuses federal power to eliminate women’s private spaces and punish the use of biologically-accurate pronouns, all at the expense of Tennessee employers.”
Skrmetti also complained about EEOC’s new rule that would make an employer liable if it limits access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility, such as a shower or locker room, based on biological sex and not on gender identity, the AG said. Skrmetti claimed employers also may be liable if a customer or other non-employee fails to use an employee’s preferred pronouns or refuses to share a restroom with someone of the opposite sex.
Tennessee is joined the lawsuit with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
More broadly, the EEOC’s new rules protect an array of what the agency calls ”legally protected characteristics,” including race, skin color, religion, disability, age, and more. Workplace harassment includes saying or writing an ethnic, racial, or sex-based slur, forwarding an offensive or derogatory “joke” email, mocking a person’s accent, groping, touching, or otherwise physically assaulting a person, and more.
If a harassment claim is filed, business owners should investigate the matter and take corrective action, EEOC said. That action can include firing the employee, but it isn’t required. The employer can also mandate informal counseling, give a written warning, mandate harassment training, suspend the employee without pay, reassign them, or demote them to a non-supervisory position.
New rules will change air travel, mandating refunds for flights and eliminating hidden airline fees. In addition, new laws could come soon to limit fees for booting cars in parking lots, and restrictions on “zaza” or “gas station heroin.”
New airline rules
Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued final rules to require airlines to give passengers a prompt, automatic cash refund for canceled and significantly delayed flights, instead of travel vouchers or credits. The idea was proposed, in part, by U. S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), as a ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The new rules were part of Cohen’s Cash Refunds for Flight Cancellations Act and Forbidding Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act. The legislation would also protect consumers from “ridiculous” or hidden fees on certain services, though USDOT has not yet ruled on the idea.
“These passenger protections are long overdue,” said Congressman Cohen. “When airlines are responsible for flight delays or cancellations, or do not provide the services that their customers pay for, passengers should be made whole, not tied to airline vouchers or travel credits. I have also heard from many travelers about their frustrations with hidden fees for checked bags, seat assignments, and flight change and cancellation fees that far exceed the costs to provide these services.”
New rules for “booting” and towing cars
In Tennessee, a bill is headed for Gov. Bill Lee’s desk that would prohibit unlicensed individuals from booting vehicles and cap the fee to remove a boot at $75. The legislation was sponsored by state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin). It also proposes new rules for towing and parking.
“This legislation will protect vehicle owners in Tennessee from bad actors seeking to profit off of immobilizing and confiscating vehicles,” said Johnson. “I’ve received complaints from many constituents who have had to go through unreasonably long and expensive processes to regain control of their vehicles which were unfairly immobilized or towed.
“Unfortunately, our current laws do not provide legal recourse to punish parking enforcers engaged in certain nefarious practices. This bill targets those bad actors and protects Tennessee vehicle owners.”
The bill would require booting be done if only a licensed parking attendant is present in a commercial parking lot. Boots would also have to be removed within 45 minutes of a driver’s call. The legislation would also ensures that vehicle owners are properly notified if their vehicle is being towed, sold or demolished by a towing company. Also, if the towing process has begun, but the vehicle hasn’t left the parking area, the bill requires towing companies to release vehicles to the owner for a fee of no more than $100.
Getting “gas station” heroin out of gas stations
Another piece of federal legislation would ban the sale of tianeptine — sometimes called “zaza” or ”gas station heroin“ — at retail stores, like gas stations. The proposal is from Rep. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) who said the drug is causing an uptick in calls to poison control centers and emergency room visits. America’s Poison Control Centers said 391 tianeptine cases were reported nationwide last year.
Tianeptine is most commonly used for treating anxiety and depression. However, the drug has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sometimes the drug is abused to create a euphoric, opioid-like effect. A common tianeptine brand is called “Neptune’s Fix.”
“It’s clear that these harmful tianeptine-containing products pose a serious threat to consumers and are jeopardizing the health of our communities, particularly our kids,” Pallone said in a statement. “These dangerous products do not belong on store shelves, which is why I’m introducing a bill today to empower FDA to prohibit the marketing of ‘gas station heroin’ to protect consumers.”
Soul & Spirits’ Hoochie Coochie wins this year’s Beer Bracket. (Photos: Justin Fox Burks)
Soul & Spirits Brewery’s Hoochie Coochie IPA is the best craft beer in Memphis, according to the more than 800 voters of the Memphis Flyer’s 2024 Beer Bracket Challenge, sponsored by City Brew Tours, Eagle Distributing Company, and Cash Saver.
This marks the first time Soul & Spirits has won our challenge. The brewery had not yet opened its doors in 2021 when we last held it. Their win unseats Crosstown Brewing Company, who has held onto the VanWyngarden Cup since 2021. Back then, Crosstown’s Traffic IPA upended Meddlesome Brewing’s three-year reign atop the Flyer’s annual beer bracket contest with its 201 Hoplar.
Soul & Spirits takes home the prestigious VanWyngarden Cup.
Ghost River Golden took top honors in 2017, the first year of the competition. But it’s been IPA all the way since then. That’s five wins for an IPA — apparently the top style in Memphis — almost every year we’ve done this.
Since Soul & Spirits opened in 2021, it’s won top honors — Brewery of the Year — in 2022 and 2023 in the Tennessee Championship of Beers.
“Winning a competition against your peers is really cool but to have people locally vote for us — that this is their favorite beer in Memphis — that means a lot,” says Blair Perry, who co-founded and owns Soul & Spirits with her husband, Ryan Allen. “We’re still really new, so it is nice that people acknowledge that we’re around and like what we’re doing.”
Allen and Perry say Hoochie Coochie IPA started as an American IPA, “but it just turned into chasing a flavor.” When asked what flavor, Allen says “goodness.” Hoochie Coochie’s hops change from batch to batch, he says, based on what’s available.
“But just trust me, we’re going on a road,“ Allen says. “We’re going on a journey.”
Perry says they’re always chasing a “juicy, citrusy flavor with a nice bitterness that makes you want to keep drinking.”
As for the name? It’s fun to say, they note, and one of the first beers they named. But it also fit with the Soul & Spirits naming convention. Memphis-area music plays onto the labels and into the names of Soul & Spirits beers. So conjure up “I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters next time you sip a pint and search the can label for song references.
Blair Perry, Ryan Allen, and the ever-famous writer Toby Sells
This year was completely different for the Beer Bracket. First up, we opened up the challenge to any brewery in Memphis, any size, whether or not they had beers in stores or not. That brought in Boscos, who, one could argue, blazed the path for craft beer in Memphis. The change also made room for some newcomers like Urban Consequence Brewing, Memphis Filling Station, Cooper House Project, and Memphis-area beer bar and brewpub, Mississippi Ale House.
Gone were any divisions that have, in the past, separated our bracket into very basic beer categories — light, dark, IPA, and seasonal. The beers commingled — stouts vs. IPAs, for example. Though, we made sure no two beers from the same brewery were seeded against one another.
In the end, we had 32 beers from 16 breweries. Each brewery selected two beers for random seeding. (I literally pulled the match-ups out of a hat.) These went right on our bracket. That bad boy was digitized, and over two weeks these beers faced off, fell out, or advanced to the next round.
The final round had Hoochie Coochie up against Cooper House Project’s Midtowner lager, which won a narrow victory over Hampline’s Tandem Pilot double IPA to make the finals. In the end, Hoochie Coochie emerged as the winner, edging out Midtowner by only 130 votes.
The Memphis Flyer Beer Bracket had more than 10,500 votes this year from states across the nation, though most votes came from Midtown Memphis.
You know we love beer at the Flyer. And we know you do, too. (Well, at least hundreds of local voters do, anyhow.) So, we felt a duty to let you know that state lawmakers had you on their minds this year. Here’s rundown of some legislation that could find its way to a pint glass near you.
The Law and Your Beer
It wouldn’t be a regular session of the Tennessee General Assembly if lawmakers didn’t change the way you drink, or try to, anyway.
Lawmakers thought about cold beer, drunk cops, and Sunday sales. They also thought about more serious matters like date rape and treatment programs for DUI offenses. Some ideas worked. Some didn’t.
No Cold Beer for You
Rep. Ron Gant (R-Piperton) knew his legislation “got quite the buzz,” a phrase pounced upon by another GOP lawmaker with “no pun intended!” Har har.
That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores. So you don’t have to go back and make sure you read that right, here it is again: That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores.
But when Gant first spoke about the bill, he said “the buzz” about banning cold beer sales was moot. It was part of the original legislation, but after meeting with stakeholders across the state (probably meaning lobbyists for retailers), it was no longer part of his proposal.
He clarified this during an early committee review of the bill. The intent was never to target 12-packs or 24-packs, it was on “high-alcohol, single-serve containers.”
“Some people have educated me on this,” Gant said. “They call them 2x4s or tallboys. You see them laying on the side of the road where they’ve been obviously thrown out. So, we know that they’re being abused, and people are drinking these, and not making it home to enjoy at their house.
“So, there was never going to be any intent — by me as the sponsor — to take away the right and the privilege for the good actors of being able to buy a 12-pack or 24-pack and take that home as responsible adults. I just want to make that clear, you know, for the record. So that everybody feels at ease. But none of that is included in this legislation.”
And feel at ease they did, it seems. Those hard headlines that read like “Proposed Tennessee Bill Bans Selling Cold Beer” (from VinePair) had softened to jokier ones like “Tennessee’s Cold Beer Ban Bill Is Officially On Ice” from Nashville’s News Channel 5.
For many, though, the idea seemed in range and on-brand for the GOP. Memphis Reddit users called it “stupid shit” and “bullshit” and that (sarcastically) these lawmakers were “tackling the real issues.” It also reminded them of another GOP fave: gun control.
“But … but … beer is an inanimate object,” wrote u/Boatshooz. “It doesn’t drink itself. And we don’t need to pass further laws that just hurt responsible drinkers, we just need to enforce existing laws.
“I swear I’ve heard that same argument from those same legislators about something else … can’t remember what it was. Why are they taking the opposite stance with beer?”
The law would, however, create a new group to study alcohol consumption and abuse in the state, with a report due annually. Gant said (but didn’t cite sources for his information) that drunk driving and alcohol consumption has surged in recent years. The bill was passed by the legislature but had not been signed by Gov. Bill Lee as of press time.
Sunday Sales
You’ve been there, probably. You’re headed to your Sunday Funday, walk into the grocery store only to find the beer section dark, maybe with shades drawn over them or a lock on the cooler door.
Then it hits you. That backward-ass state law says I can’t buy beer here until noon. You may even have a thought about some pious state lawmaker sitting in a church somewhere, praying that the law will somehow nudge you out of the beer aisle and into a pew somewhere. Well, those beer lights will remain off on Sunday mornings, at least for another year.
Nashville Democrats Rep. Bob Freeman and Sen. Jeff Yarbro tried to change that. They described the bill simply as “the alignment of the sale of alcohol on Sunday to every other day of the week.” They said many sporting events are overseas and on different time zones. Some venues, they said, would like to sell alcohol to those who want to watch them.
The only real vocal opponent of the bill was Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), the former Shelby County Register of Deeds. He tried hard to marry the Sunday-sales legislation with another Freeman bill focused on preventing sexual assault.
He called them “twin bills” even though they could not have been more different. But still he told his GOP colleagues that limiting Sunday sales could save a life, and someday, maybe, end up on your end-of-life sizzle reel.
“Now, any of us that have drunk the alcohol [yes, he said the alcohol] before … it will just naturally reduce the natural defenses of some. It’ll increase the natural aggressiveness of others,” Leatherwood explained. “Hence, it’s good to be aware of what can happen, as we will hear more about later. If you vote no on this bill, you may never know what young lady you save from sexual assault and harassment, to use the language coming up. You may never know. But then again, on the other hand, in that final judgment we will all face, you may find out who you save by voting no on this bill.”
For his part, Freeman tried to separate the two, saying, “You should be able to drink responsibly without being raped.”
Loaded Cops, Loaded Guns
Sen. Joey Hensley swore he had no idea where the idea came from or how it ended up in his legislation. But there it was, raising almost as many eyebrows as the cold beer ban: We were going to allow drunk cops to carry and use concealed firearms.
“As introduced, allows law enforcement officers to carry a firearm when under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and certain other circumstances,” reads the bill description on the state website.
Hensley said all he wanted to do was allow everyone to carry weapons on college campuses, for crying out loud. (That idea didn’t even get the support of his GOP colleagues. The bill failed.) The drunk cops thing was added without his knowledge, he told Fox 13. But there it was in black and white pixels and the damage was done.
“TN GOP probably: Wait guys, I’ve got an idea,” tweeted Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). “I know Missouri one-upped us with their bill arming 3 [year olds], but I think we can counter with arming police officers who are drunk or high. Hear me out on this one …[three clown emojis].”
One supporter, though, over on a forum at tngunowners.com had another take.
“I know many seem to find fault with the concept of being armed and drinking, but really, as long as you’re not impaired,” wrote a user named Defender. “If you feel that strongly against it, maybe we should allow cars at bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.”
Date Rape
Rep. Freeman’s legislation (discussed earlier here) on alcohol and sexual assault passed this year, was signed by Lee, and will go into effect in January. That law will require anyone who serves alcohol to the public to take a course on the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment and on recognizing and reporting signs of human trafficking.
“If any of you remember, several years ago, the horrible rape case on a university campus here locally where a bunch of men carried a passed-out woman past 20 or more individuals that allowed it to happen,” Freeman said. “Not one of them stopped, said anything, felt empowered to do it, [or] understood what they could say.”
After this, the Safe Bar Tennessee program was developed by the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee. The program’s slogan is “See Something. Do Something.” Such training is already underway in Nashville, including some 50 bars Downtown, Freeman said.
Odds and Ends
Right now, certain folks under 21 can taste alcohol legally in the state. But they can’t drink it. Make sense?
Motlow State Community College, Jack Daniel’s, and Uncle Nearest have developed an associate’s degree in distilling that could produce more professionals in that industry’s workforce. Tasting the product gives students “real-world, practical experience” to “meet the critical need for their industry.” But they have to spit it out.
If you get a third DUI or BUI, you’ll have to wear a transdermal patch that will send a report to law enforcement if you have a drink. The main part of this legislation reduces jail time for the third DUI. Yet that only serves to give more time to commit to a 28-treatment program.
But the stranger, kind of Big Brother-y part of the law would make you wear that tattletale patch under your skin (so many questions) for three months or until your case is resolved, whichever came first. It goes into effect in July.
A bill would have yanked the alcohol license of a venue that served someone who later got into a car wreck that killed someone. It failed. Another bill sounds like it’s from the Prohibition era. It would have reduced “from two to one the number of credible witnesses who must be present when a law enforcement officer destroys an illegal distillery, a still, fermenting equipment, or related property.” It failed, too.
The White House will remove cannabis from the federal list of the country’s most dangerous drugs, according to the Associated Press, a move that could lead to looser laws in Tennessee.
In 2022, President Joe Biden promised to reevaluate cannabis’ placement on Schedule I. Schedule I is the federal government’s classification for some of the worst drugs, such as meth and heroin. These drugs are highly addictive and have no medical use, according to the government.
Biden promised cannabis reform in a statement in October 2022. It outlined three steps his adminstration would take to end what he called the government’s “failed approach” on cannabis so far.
Back then, Biden pardoned all federal offenses of simple possession and urged governors to do the same. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee did not make any cannabis pardons.
Biden said the next step to reclassify cannabis was to check with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Attorney General to “expeditiously” review how cannabis is scheduled under federal law.
Those conversations went on, apparently, behind the scenes, even out of Congressional view. Last summer Congressman Steve Cohen and Congressman Matt Gaetz grilled Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram for details during a meeting of the House Judiciary Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee. They got very few.
Milgram said her agency couldn’t move on the matter without word from HHS. She said DEA had not heard anything and had not even heard of a timeline for when HHS might send word.
On Tuesday, The AP reported that DEA will move to reclassify cannabis, citing five anonymous sources. That proposal must then get the approval of the White House Office of Management and Budget and go through a public comment period. If approved, cannabis would be listed on Schedule II, alongside drugs such as ketamine.
Tennessee lawmakers have long said they wouldn’t approve any looser laws for cannabis unless the drug was moved from Schedule I at the federal level. Despite the creation of the Tennessee Cannabis Commission years ago, a group tasked with establishing a cannabis program for Tennessee, no material changes have been made in state laws.
State Rep. Jesse Chism (D-Memphis) said he hopes that with the reclassification ”we can start the ball rolling soon and begin having serious discussions here in Tennessee.”
“Our state has spent millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to enforce cannabis laws that are outdated and harmful to a lot of people, including many Tennesseans who are trying to get relief from painful chronic medical issues,” Chism said in a statement. “In addition to wasting those dollars, we’ve completely ignored the financial benefits that could be coming the state’s way.
“I’ve filed several pieces of legislation ranging from allowing medical use to decriminalization to even trying to put a non-binding referendum on the ballot to hear from Tennessee’s voters. The main point of contention has always been its federal classification. Hopefully, with this movement we can start the ball rolling soon and begin having serious discussions here in Tennessee.”
Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) applauded the move, saying it will will have benefits for Tennesseans seeking medicinal cannabis.
“Reclassifying marijuana as a less-dangerous drug at the federal level is a historic decision, driven by common sense,” Lamar said in a statement. “Republican lawmakers have kept Tennessee in the dark ages on marijuana policy — wasting our tax dollars locking people up for a plant. While my ultimate goal is still legalization in Tennessee, this is incredible news for folks who would benefit right now from natural medical cannabis to treat chronic pain or illness.”
Cohen, a longtime advocate for cannabis reform, was frustrated by delays in the process during that Congressional hearing last year. “I’ve been here 17 years … and I’ve seen DEA heads, I’ve seen [Federal Bureau of Investigation] directors, I’ve seen attorney[s] general, exactly where you’re sitting, say governmental gibberish about marijuana. They’ve done nothing for 17 years, and for years before that. It goes back to the [1930s].
“The government has messed this up forever and you need to get ahead of the railroad. You’re going to get something from HHS. Biden understands [cannabis] should be reclassified. He said from [Schedule I to Schedule III] and it should be classified from [Schedule I] to 420. We ought to just clean it up and get over with it.”
The Biden adminstration paused a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes last week after it received an ”immense amount of feedback” on the move.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the long-awaited move toward a menthol ban in April 2022. The agency has worked on the issue since at least 2011. A 2009 law banned all flavors in cigarettes, except for tobacco and menthol.
The FDA estimated in 2019 that more than 18.5 million people aged 12 and up smoked menthols in the U.S. It recorded high rates of use by youth, young adults, African-Americans, and other racial and ethnic groups.
The FDA said banning menthol cigarettes in the U.S. would lower smoking by 15 percent nationwide in the next 40 years, and over that time, an estimated 324,000 to 654,000 smoking deaths overall and 92,000 to 238,000 African-American deaths could be avoided.
The FDA opened the proposal up for public comment in April, a necessary step in federal rule-making. The comment period was expanded by 60 days in June at the urging of lobby groups advocating for convenience stores, truck stops, and marketers of gasoline and diesel.
The ban was first delayed in December 2023, and plans to finalize the ban in March never materialized. However, administration officials said they were still committed to implementing a ban. White House officials said last week comments from the public led to the pause.
“This rule has garnered historic attention and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”
Banning menthols would only push sales underground, said officials with NACS, the national lobby firm for convenience stores and gas stations.
“Real-world data and results have shown that prohibition of menthol cigarettes does not reduce smoking or advance public health. Instead, like the experience with prohibition of other entrenched products, it simply leads to more illicit sales,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel at NACS. “We hope the weight of evidence showing the ineffectiveness of what was originally proposed leads the Department to change course entirely.”
The NAACP pushed for the national ban. That group is now calling on states to issue their own bans on menthols. Tobacco-related chronic illness is one of the lading causes of death for African Americans, it said.
”The targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes to Black individuals has contributed to about 77 percent of Black smokers using menthol cigarettes, compared to 23 percent of white smokers,” reads a statement from the NAACP. “This statistic is no accident; it is the result of decades of marketing strategies by tobacco companies. Menthol use has resulted in increased rates of lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke among Black Americans.”
Some said, though, that the ban would unfairly target African-American consumers. Writing in The Washington Post, columnist Eugene Robinson said he understood tobacco companies targeted Black consumers for years.
“But I can’t rush to cheer a new policy that puts a terribly unhealthy — but perfectly legal — practice enjoyed so disproportionately by African Americans on the wrong side of the law,” Robinson wrote.
Enforcement of the new law would have only addressed manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers that deal in cigarettes. The new rule would not have included a prohibition on individual consumer possession or use.
