Category: Opinion

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

Postscript

Pearl Before Swine

To the Editor:

I found it irritating that the review of the live Pearl Jam album Memphis 8-15-00 (“Shortcuts,” April 12th issue) was written by a person with such disdain for the group. To call the live albums the band released from every stop on their past tour “virtually indistinguishable,” an “affront to discretionary income,” and “one of the most horrifying acts of consumer fraud I’ve ever encountered” is merely the opinion of a writer who clearly hates the band. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think calling the band’s decision to give their fans what they want a horrible thing is a bit unfair. I have bought four different concert recordings and have enjoyed them immensely.

Dan Kurina, Memphis

Only $7 Million

To the Editor:

With due respect to Commissioner Buck Wellford, the fact that $7 million of taxpayers’ money was paid out to settle lawsuits against the county over the last five years is, in his own words, “irresponsible” (“Letters,” April 12th issue). It is not $40 million, but it is an amount that taxpayers should be up in arms about. He states that any settlement over $50,000 must be approved by the county commission. As a county commissioner he has approved the wasting of taxpayer dollars on lawsuits that should be paid by the guilty party. Our illustrious sheriff has had two sexual harassment lawsuits settled. Why should the citizens of Shelby County pay for the affairs of our sheriff? Numerous other lawsuits have cost the taxpayers, as Mr. Wellford’s figures indicate, millions of dollars. Why not demand that no money be paid out? If you did that, we would not have articles written about waste in our city or county government.

I also wonder if the raise that Mayor Herenton wanted for Herman Morris was justified? It seems as if Morris does not know how to run a public utility (“The Perfect Storm,” April 12th issue). It is obvious that our leaders at MLGW were not on top of things.

Keep up the good work, Flyer. You are a voice for those who have none.

Fred Sheron, Memphis

Wrong Orientation

To the Editor:

I have been a longtime weekly reader of the Flyer and I find your perspective refreshing and pretty humorous. However, in the April 12th issue, I was deeply disturbed by Susan Harrell’s restaurant review (“Wealthy Tastes”). I found her use of the term “Oriental” offensive and appalling. Using Oriental to describe anything aside from a rug is not just politically incorrect but ignorant.

Oriental comes from the Latin “orient,” meaning “east of.” “The Orient” was so named because it was east of Europe and at the time Europe arrogantly considered itself the center of the world for trade and culture. Today, many people, including Asians, find this concept ridiculous. Scientists and scholars have discovered that China and Africa have been around thousands of years longer than Europe. Therefore, the Orient really is not “east of” anything, and thus is no longer appropriate

Referring to a type of food, person, music, or art as Oriental needs to stop.

Nora Boone, Memphis

Diverging Opinion

To the Editor:

While we appreciate Chris Davis’ coverage of the UrbanArt Commission’s Diversity Forum (“City Reporter,” April 5th issue), the very nature of the event made it difficult to cover with the detail and sensitivity that it warranted. The event itself was conceived as an informal discussion where people could express their ideas and concerns about our programs. Taken out of context, many of the ideas expressed seem extreme and perhaps controversial, when, in fact, the discussion often led to a better understanding of the issues and the facts by the audience as well as the panelists.

The Diversity Forum was the first step in what we hope will be an ongoing dialogue to address issues of diversity within the UrbanArt Commission’s programs. Prior to the forum, we noticed that we had not received as many submissions from the local arts community as expected. This was particularly true of minority artists. To our best estimate only 20 percent of the applications received to date have been from minority artists. While 20 percent of the artists selected for projects have been minority artists (suggesting that the selection process reflects the diversity of the pool of applicants), it is clear that a large number of artists, minority and otherwise, are not applying. We wanted an open dialogue to find out why.

While many different opinions were expressed at the forum, I believe almost everyone left with a better understanding of who we are, and we left with the clear message that we need to do a better job of communicating to the local arts community, not only about the type of opportunities we offer, but also about our commitment to diversity. Our success depends on the diversity of our projects — diversity not only in the race, color, creed, national origin, sex, and age of the selected artists but also in the style, subject, and medium of their work.

Carissa Hussong, Executive Director, UrbanArt Commission

Memphis

The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

An Arsenic Era

The new administration’s intention to mine for arsenic in Yellowstone National Park, first reported here last week (what, you didn’t notice?), may well be reversed before it makes it to the president’s desk, should he be there and not in the gym, working out. I have this on the best of all possible sources, an irrepressible imagination.

The fact that you might have accepted just a bit of the first sentence tells you something about the George W. Bush administration and how it is not as smart as it, for one, thinks it is. Nothing could illustrate this better than the new standard for arsenic in drinking water.

The Cheney administration, as it is sometimes called, finds itself on the wrong side of the arsenic issue. That takes some work, since nothing makes the average American shudder more quickly than the word “arsenic.” It is, after all, the poison used in the movie Arsenic and Old Lace by those kindly spinsters, the Brewster sisters, who dispatched lonely old men to a better place. They offered their guests homemade elderberry wine with only a teaspoon of arsenic. It does the trick.

I have no idea, really, whether a teaspoon is sufficient. And I do not know whether the arsenic standards the Cheney administration rescinded are too stringent, as it maintains, or simply prudent. But I do know that an administration about to embark on the wholesale rape and pillage of the land (and the skies) should have waited a bit before becoming pro-arsenic.

It would have been one thing if the administration had rescinded the arsenic standard and done nothing else. Then we all could have debated the standard and listened to one expert call another expert a fool. But the new standard was really part of a package — an environmental approach that would make Smokey the Bear weep.

The administration wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It is considering opening vast areas of the Rocky Mountain West for oil and gas drilling. It has dropped the Kyoto treaty on global warming into the wastebasket and will not, as George W. Bush himself once promised, reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Much of this is to solve an energy crisis that many experts say simply does not exist.

It is EPA director Christie Whitman’s task to explain this or that bright idea from the brain of some conservative ideologue. Even though she argued for the United States not to renounce the Kyoto treaty, she later tried to explain why doing so was just a dandy idea. The other day, she said the administration was working hard to develop more balanced arsenic and CO2 standards than the ones scuttled. The new standard for arsenic may even be tougher than the old one, she said.

We are now beginning to understand the meaning of the phrase “compassionate conservative.” It refers to the attempt to lull most Americans into believing that George W. Bush is, at most, a millimeter right of center. In this sense only is the administration compassionate. By all means, the people should be comforted.

But now, by dint of some knuckleheaded thinking, the administration stands revealed as deeply, passionately, and insanely conservative. It talks about an energy crisis without mentioning conservation. It argues for the repeal of the estate tax for farmers who have lost their land to the IRS — only these don’t exist. It has a reason du jour to justify a huge tax cut, but, really, it just wants to starve the government. As always, it’s your money but not, for some reason, your government or your national debt.

I sincerely doubt the administration will mine for arsenic in Yellowstone. This feeling, I have to tell you, is hardly based on the Bush administration’s reverence for the environment but rather on my guess that there’s no money in it. If, however, there is a buck to be made in arsenic, Old Faithful will have to go. Poor Christie Whitman will explain why.

Richard Cohen is a member of the Washington Post Writers Group. His columns frequently appear in the Flyer.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Feeling the Heat

In case anybody wonders why so many people are suspicious about the

public burdens to be borne in the case of a proposed new NBA arena, all we need do

is remind them that the citizens of Shelby County have been had, and had

quite recently, by a large entity that supposedly exists for their welfare.

And this is no private enterprise that would supposedly benefit everyone

by catering to the entertainment appetites of a relative few. This is a public

agency that is, quite literally, responsible for the comfort, safety, and even survival

of the entire community.

We mean, of course, Memphis Light, Gas & Water, better known as

MLGW. The Flyer‘s Rebekah Gleaves has looked behind the numbers doled out to

the media by the giant utility after the astronomical rate hikes of the winter

and found them superficial and misleading. Indeed, MLGW seems to have

misled not only its customers but perhaps itself in its efforts to justify the squeeze

it imposed on the consumer.

As Gleaves pointed out last week in an exhaustive study of the matter

(updated in the current issue of the Flyer), MLGW ignored its own expert’s

advance estimates of the winter’s drastically higher natural gas prices, lulled

rate-payers (and, again, perhaps itself as well) into complacency with

announcements of a relative rate decrease that would theoretically offset the price

increases, then slapped them hard on their frostbitten cheeks with bills that

were literal budget-busters to most households.

Rates would have gone up astronomically in any case because of the

free-market factors that drove gas prices up. But, in the end, local rate-payers were

charged a full 25 percent more than the national average for December and January.

Why? Because of MLGW’s poor estimates, followed by its willingness to be

disingenuous and to overcompensate itself at the expense of its customers. Readers

interested in just how local rates were manipulated by MLGW are advised to

consult Gleaves’ article, “A ‘Perfect’ Storm,” in the

Flyer‘s April 12th issue. Her cost-accounting is far more revealing than anything the utility itself ever released.

All this is bad enough, but MLGW then made promises to the public it

could not, or would not, fulfill. It offered a variety of rate-payment and

rate-reduction plans, one of which did not take effect until the natural gas emergency was over

— a fact that greatly minimized its impact. Worse, many customers were told

by MLGW office employees that certain plans did not exist.

Worst of all, while it was still officially winter and with cold days potentially

yet to come, MLGW sent technicians around to households throughout its

service area threatening immediate cutoff unless the company’s extravagant and

unexpected winter bills were paid on the spot, to the penny.

Many factors went into this sad performance, including a documented

lack of gas futures purchasing experience on the part of MLGW’s current

leaders. But perhaps the foremost one was the utility’s willingness to leave its

customers in the dark, so to speak, even after it had caught on to its own

mistakes. There has been a Newtonian result of sorts: MLGW’s cold-blooded

behavior has produced a seething response in its customer base, and it is no

wonder that other professed benefactors — such as the city’s NBA arena proponents

— are feeling the heat.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

Unforced Error

Drumroll, please.

We screwed up. Last week’s cover story, “Prescription for Disaster,” asserted that the taxpayers of Shelby County had paid out more than $40 million to settle lawsuits filed by inmates at the Shelby County jail since 1996. This is incorrect. The county has only paid out around $7 million to settle lawsuits from all departments since 1996.

In point of fact, pending legitimate lawsuits totaling much more than $40 million have been filed by inmates, but these have not been adjudicated yet. The reporter made an error and the editors failed to catch it. The buck stops with me.

This error became “news” when county commissioner Cleo Kirk raised questions about the story at the tail end of this week’s commission meeting. In an attempt to clarify the situation, Flyer senior editor Jackson Baker — who was covering the meeting — told the commission that the paper had been apprised of the likelihood of error and would not hestitate to take whatever corrective measures proved necessary. A Commercial Appeal reporter then filed a story on the incident, which became top-of-the-page news in last Tuesday’s CA. Rather than simply running a “correction” in this week’s Flyer, as is standard practice for newspapers, I felt that the added coverage of our mistake warranted a fuller explanation.

The most unfortunate aspect of this affair is that the solid reporting in the rest of the story has perhaps now become overshadowed by the error in its lead paragraph. Correctional Medical Services, the company hired by the county to provide health care to downtown jail inmates, has had more than its share of troubles across the country — and now here in Memphis. Inmates and their families have filed hundreds of suits against the company totaling millions of dollars nationwide. It’s a story that had not heretofore been told locally.

Our reporter documented CMS’s hiring of doctors with questionable backgrounds — including sex offenders and drug abusers — doctors the company could get to work for the $55 an hour it pays physicians. In Shelby County, CMS’s director of inmate services — John Perry — is called “Dr. Perry” even though he only holds a master’s degree in administration and psychology. We also reported on the eight suicides at the jail since 1993, which included two 16-year-old boys. Suicides that could have been prevented if the jail had been run better.

There are huge problems with the jail, problems that don’t seem to be getting better, as we’ve reported over the past few months. Federal judge Jon McCalla has ordered the Sheriff’s Department to come up with a plan to reduce crowding or be held in contempt. Gangs have ruled various aspects of the jail, even going so far as to stage mock gladiator-style fights between hapless inmates. Wrongful deaths, assaults, and rapes have occurred far too often. The citizens of Shelby County are already out millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements due to problems with the Sheriff’s Department and the jail. We will all keep paying until the problems are fixed.

The mistake in last week’s Flyer can be, and should be, publicly corrected. The mistakes being made down at 201 Poplar are going to be much more difficult and costly to fix.

And you can take that story to the bank.

Bruce VanWyngarden is the editor of the Flyer.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Postscript

Errors of Fact

To the Editor:

Last week’s cover story (“Prescription for Disaster”), which stated that Shelby County taxpayers have “paid out $40 million to settle lawsuits filed by jail inmates” over the past five years, is irresponsible. As the chairman of the county commission’s Law Enforcement Committee for three of those five years, I can assure you that the amount paid by the county for such claims is nowhere remotely close to that figure.

Any payment by the county must be made in a manner that is disclosed as a matter of public record. Any settlement of over $50,000 must be approved by the County Commission. There have been less than 10 such payments, to my recollection, over the past five years, and probably closer to five. According to the county attorney’s records, since 1996 the county has paid less than $7 million for all claims against all departments of county government, whether by settlement or judgments.

In addition, and importantly, the county’s contract with CMS, its third-party health services provider for the downtown jail, contains an indemnity provision requiring CMS to carry at least $3 million in coverage per year for any such claims. It lists the county as an “additional insured” under the policy. Any payment made by the county for CMS’s negligence is going to be made by CMS’s insurance company, not the county. I don’t believe we have exhausted the $3 million limit at any time under the agreement.

I contacted the reporter for this piece, who has apparently left for a job with another publication, in order to see where she got the information for her inflammatory assertions about the CMS contract being “an especially costly pill for Shelby County taxpayers to swallow,” since all of the things referenced above are easily accessible through public records. She at first agreed to show me her documentation but then declined on the grounds that sharing her notes would not be “ethical.” I can only assume that she confused the amounts inmates seek in legal filings, which is an arbitrary number that means nothing in and of itself, with payments made by the county. This, frankly, is incredible and if true, absolutely indefensible. I suppose the “taxpayers” should consider ourselves fortunate that some prisoner hasn’t made a claim for $100 trillion, because, under your reporter’s reasoning, we would all be in big trouble.

There are plenty of problems with the downtown jail that can and should be the subject of media scrutiny. Making up numbers about taxpayer payments in order to draw attention to one aspect of the jail’s operations, however, is quite another thing, and that’s essentially what the reporter of this piece appears to have done.

I am a regular Flyer reader. I find its political reporting generally first-rate, and sometimes the Flyer finds an angle on a newsworthy issue that other local media outlets miss. You seem to be relying, however, more and more on young journalists with limited experience on important investigative pieces, and you are going to have to do a better job of double-checking some of their assertions. This particular reporter had an obvious talent for observational reporting. She is a good writer. That does not make her a good reporter, at least not yet, as this piece demonstrates.

The article warrants a retraction of the “$40 million in taxpayer money” message. I hope the retraction will be as prominent as the cover of your last issue.

Buck Wellford, Shelby County Commissioner

Editor’s note: Shelby County, as Commissioner Wellford asserts, has not paid out $40 million in lawsuit settlements for inmates, as last week’s cover story reported. Please see this week’s “Viewpoint” (p. 13) for more information.

Environmental Feedback

To the Editor:

The United States is now the last major nation of the world refusing to sign the Kyoto agreements (“Deja Vu All Over Again,” April 5th issue), agreements that do very little very late. This is outrageously arrogant for a nation that produces many times its share of greenhouse gases and pollution. By refusing to sign on with the overwhelming majority of nations around the world, President Bush is not only the quintessential tool of the fossil fuel industry, he is a traitor to our country and economy and he is a traitor to the planet.

The truth is that the recycling of our obsolete fossil- and nuclear- fueled technology and the building of new, appropriate, cleaner, safer technologies, fueled with renewables, could be a boom to our economy like no other in our history. If we allow this oilman and dimwit to get his way, we truly are “the great Satan” of the earth.

Don Johnson, Minneapolis, MN

To the Editor:

In Bruce VanWyngarden’s “Deja Vu All Over Again” he recognizes that the pursuit of truth is what our democracy embraces, not an “us” against “them” mentality when it comes to environmental issues. In Andrew Wilkins’ “Poisoned” (April 5th issue) it’s obvious that the bottom line of industry should not be more important than the health of the common man. Can’t we as citizens bond together to produce a common working relationship where both parties gain? We can if people take an active role in our democracy and prevent the far right from instigating yet another war that doesn’t realize the gray areas! Common sense is not universal unless parties agree on respect for debate to achieve truth.

Ran W. Foster, Memphis

The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

An NBA Rationale Now

If NBA boosters in Memphis want the city and state to spend some serious money, they should make a serious argument.

So far they haven’t done that. The detailed financial package given to the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission last week relies too heavily on “found” money — new money spent at the new arena or within the special taxing zone around it. That presumption is overly optimistic if not deceptive. At least some of the money spent on the NBA is “transfer” money that would have been spent somewhere else in Memphis and Shelby County.

Other parts of the presentation lacked substance. A higher tax on rental cars? Then tell us how many cars are rented, and what the current taxes are. A refitted Pyramid would cost $192 million? Then show us the documents and the architectural studies — if they in fact exist. And why are we being asked to pay $250 million for a new arena when other cities have built them for considerably less?

There’s a better source of money for a new arena. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley, we read, is a billionaire. The annual interest on $100 million at 5 percent is $5 million. That would service a substantial amount of debt. Heisley keeps his billion. All he gives up is the interest on one-tenth of his wealth. It’s not too much to ask. Repeat the process until private investors foot the bill for half the cost of the new arena. Then ask the public sector to match it.

It’s hard to see how a new arena will win approval otherwise. NBA owners are losing $40 million a year in Vancouver and Charlotte. It appears to be a business where expenses and revenues are simply out of balance, and it would be foolish indeed for Memphis and the state of Tennessee to invest $250 million in such a venture without laying off some of the risk.

The “NBA Now” team is not helping its cause by being impenetrably close-to-the-vest on the location of the proposed arena. The south side of Union Avenue between Danny Thomas Boulevard and the bus station seems like the best one. Paint this picture: An arena will do for the south side of Union what AutoZone Park did for the north side.

Finally, in this necessary matter of making sense of the proposal’s nuts and bolts, where are the salesmen? Where are investors Staley Cates and his partner Mason Hawkins of Southeastern Asset Management? Why are we hearing from Gayle Rose and Marlin Mosby? Pitt Hyde and Rose are giving it a good shot, but they’re not the most dynamic speakers around. And it’s disconcerting that they’re not really hardcore basketball fans. They don’t seem to recognize how troubled the NBA is right now. One of the things that made AutoZone Park successful was Dean Jernigan’s lifelong love and knowledge of baseball. That’s missing in the NBA Now team.

Where is the demand for the NBA? There has been no appreciable demonstration of public support. This deal looks strangely artificial, as though all the “support” has been drummed up from public relations firms and people with a vested interest.

Even in state government, where first reports indicated a clear disposition to support an NBA franchise for Memphis, serious doubts have set in. They, too, are of the “Show-Me” variety.

NBA Now needs to put the first team on the floor and give the public the information it needs to make a decision. Now. Or no NBA.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

PostScript

Hoops, We Did It Again

To the Editor:

Why do so many of us feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog
Day? Despite a list of failed pro sports ventures longer than the personal
bankruptcy filings in West Tennessee, we get up every morning and the same
politicians and civic boosters (who earn 10 times the average local wage) are
telling us we can easily afford $1,600 season tickets to watch one of the
worst teams in pro sports. They are “excited” about the opportunity
to cough up $200 million of our money to build a new arena for a
multimillionaire owner. Everyone will respect us more, we’re told (just as
Vancouver is so highly respected now?).

If we’re lucky, Groundhog Day will soon be over and,
miraculously, viable life will resume in Memphis without these latest sports
mercenaries.

Richard Massey, Memphis

To the Editor:

I just read the very informative March 7th article (“Hoop
Dreams”) concerning the NBA. Now I have an idea of who’s really for the
Grizzlies coming here and who’s against it.

John Calipari echoes my opinion concerning the relocation, and I
especially appreciated his candor. He knows it could damage his endorsement
opportunities here but feels the potential for improved recruiting at U of M
outweighs any personal financial benefits. Even though the Grizzlies are a
pretty bad team, their arrival would put this city on the national sports
scene. The Jazz were garbage when they left New Orleans for Salt Lake City in
the early 1980s, and the then-Oilers were mediocre when they left Houston for
Nashville four years ago.

R.C. Johnson’s comments pretty much show what side of the fence
he’s on: “As the [U of M] athletic director, I have absolutely no desire
to have any major-league sports team here.” I respect his honesty, but I
vehemently disagree with his statement. The U of M Tigers are the dominant
force in the Memphis sports scene, but Johnson’s regarding Memphis as his
sports fiefdom is in line with the provincial thinking that has stalemated
this city while Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville have expanded.

Memphis also needs to go ahead and start planning the financing
for a new arena. The Pyramid has long been obsolete by NBA standards. For
financing, I would propose the city, county, state, and corporate communities
split the costs four ways over the course of several years. The two local
governments could impose a special lodging tax on hotels and motels so
tourists would feel more of the brunt than the taxpayers living here.

The arrival of the Grizzlies could really be a source of civic
pride, something that finally transcends the racial and class barriers we
Memphians seem to enjoy imposing on ourselves and each other.

Derrek Paulk, Memphis

Lottery Lover

To the Editor:

I moved to Minnesota four years ago. There is a lottery here and
every year I have been here the state has had an extremely large surplus. I
disagree with the way a lot of Memphians want to point out the negatives and
fail to mention the positives of a state lottery. Minnesota’s elected
officials run their state much better than their counterparts in Tennessee,
and it shows in the quality of life here. Tennessee should look to other
states that are doing well for solutions to its revenue problems.

Stan Fogg, Minneapolis, MN

Bad Taste?

To the Editor:

I was disappointed with the February 22nd issue’s “Fly On
the Wall” featuring Brimhall Foods’ new product line targeting the
growing Latino population of Memphis. Chris Davis mused: “It is not known
if Brims will develop a line of fried chicken or watermelon-based products
aimed at Memphis’ burgeoning African-American community.”

I wonder what prompted this reporter to pen such a line. I know
Mr. Brimhall and have some experience working with his staff. I cannot imagine
why a responsible reporter would cast aspersions on this man and his company,
which produces quality products and employs many Memphians.

This is a gratuitous misuse of the First Amendment freedoms
granted to all citizens and explicitly to the press. Unspoken in the grant of
such freedom is the responsibility to use it judiciously and without malice. I
believe that Davis and the editorial department of the Flyer have
failed their community and their profession and caused unnecessary harm to
this man, his business, and to all the employees of Brimhall Foods.

Richard Mumm, Cordova

The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to:
Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-
9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All
responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should
be no longer than 250 words.

Categories
Opinion

Disclaimer

We regularly see actors on commercials claiming to have had their
migraines, diarrhea, psoriasis, hemorrhoids, halitosis, depression, colds, and
flatulence cured by some new and/or improved miracle potion that is up to 10
percent more effective than the other leading brand, the liquid or capsule
answer to a visit from Glenda the Good Witch. We don’t know what these
performers actually promote once the cameras have stopped rolling, nor can we
be sure they actually suffer these accursed ailments. We see Britney Spears
hawking Pepsi, though (at least according to official request documents
obtained by the Web site The Smoking Gun) she requires that a number of Coca-
Cola products be available backstage at her shows. It’s a mixed-up muddled-up
shook-up world out there in TV land, where money puts words into the mouths of
influential people, celebs, jocks, nameless ravishing beauties, and unknown
comics; words that might never have been there without significant financial
remuneration.

And then there is Jared Fogle. He’s the once-morbidly-bese, now-
thin-and-ultra-chipper spokesman for Subway Sandwiches’ low-fat menu. He
claims to have lost 245 pounds — over half his body weight — by walking and
eating nothing but a steady diet of Subway sandwiches and baked potato chips.
It sounds like just another marketing ploy cooked up around a conference table
by smartly appointed advertising types in black outfits and chunky designer
eyewear. But no. Before he started munching chicken and veggie-sandwiches
Fogle really did weigh nearly half a metric ton. Now he’s long and gangly.
Thanks to a combination of fortitude and good fortune Fogle is the rarest of
TV spokespersons: He’s the real-meal deal.

Fogle stopped in Memphis recently during a promo tour for
Subway.

Flyer: Did you set out on this diet hoping to become
the TV spokesperson for Subway?

Jared Fogle: Halfway through the diet, around the fall of
1998, my mom wrote a letter to Subway. Never got a response. Maybe the letter
got lost in the mail, I don’t know, but it never got a response. I didn’t
think Subway was going to care anyway and that just reinforced it for me. But
that was okay because I was doing this for me.

You stress the importance of walking as part of your weight-
loss program. How far away did you live from Subway?

I actually shared a wall with them. They were right next door.
Obviously I was eating a lot of Subway as it was, just not the low-fat. I was
eating the steak-and-cheese and the meatball and stuff like that.

So you didn’t get the exercise actually walking to
Subway?

No.

Good thing they didn’t put in a Pizza Hut or
something.

Yeah.

So how did you eventually hook up with Subway?

A friend of mine who wrote for [the Indiana University] newspaper
wrote a story about me. He hadn’t seen me for eight or nine months, so I was
close to the end of the diet, and he didn’t recognize me. This happened all
the time — people I knew wouldn’t recognize me because it was such a dramatic
weight loss. Anyway he thought it was the neatest thing and wanted to write a
story about it. That got everything snowballing. They are a big enough paper
that the story went out over the AP wire and got picked up all around the
country: Portland, Oregon, San Diego, Boston. Shortly after that I got a call
from Subway’s national advertising agency.

Do you still eat only at Subway?

I don’t. I mean I eat at Subway a couple of times a week, but
I’ve had the weight off for two years now. When I’m going to have fast food I
eat there, because I don’t like the grease or the heaviness of your typical
fast food. But I eat what I want now; I just don’t eat the quantities.

Now for a math question. Let’s say I want to lose 50 pounds by
walking to and eating at Subway three times a day. I live five miles from
Subway, but only work five blocks from Subway. How long before I lose the 50
pounds?

That’s the frustrating part. I don’t say to go out and do exactly
what I did. For some people it might not take any time at all; but for some
people it could cause more problems than it helps. You need to talk to a
doctor first because your body could react badly to it.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

Everyone’s Children

There are more than 11,000 children in the custody of the state of
Tennessee today. Some of them are in foster care with the state or with
private agencies, and it is sad to see them characterized as “Nobody’s
Children,” as in the Flyer’s recent cover story.

They are “Everyone’s Children,” and we know that they
face enormous obstacles. When a child is removed from his or her home for
whatever reason, the odds of success in adult life begin to diminish.

Six years ago, Youth Villages partnered with the state of
Tennessee to design a new service model that helps to reduce the length of
time children are in out-of-home placements. It also allows millions of
dollars to be used for prevention and reunification efforts — services for
the entire family that give children a better chance for long-term
success.

Private donations have also made a difference. A grant from the
Day Foundation has allowed Youth Villages to begin a Transitional Living
Program to help children who mature in state custody learn to live
independently after age 18.

It is simply wrong to think that no one cares about these
children. There are countless dedicated foster parents and counselors who work
tirelessly. Many of these children have serious emotional and behavioral
problems that would create extreme challenges for even the best parent. Those
of us who have devoted our lives to this work know how difficult it is to re-
shape the way a troubled child perceives himself and the world around him, to
change his values and behavior.

Surprisingly, many of these children show amazing resiliency and
are capable of beating the odds when they have help and support. In many
cases, the key is a foster parent who refuses to give up.

Here is the story of two children and the woman who made a
difference for them.

Cassandra, 14, had been in foster care for six years when she
moved to another new home, a therapeutic setting to address her special needs.
She didn’t know what to expect from this new place. So she covered her head
with her coat and sobbed.

Derrick, only a month old and classified as “medically
fragile,” entered the foster care system in tears, too. A moment of
violent abuse had left him with a skull fracture, two broken arms and a broken
leg.

Carolyn Kendrick, a therapeutic foster parent since 1995, opened
her home to both Derrick and Cassandra. Derrick wasn’t the first foster baby
she nursed back to health. After months of her constant care, he went home to
live permanently with his grandmother.

Cassandra was a special case. Kendrick saw in her a sweet, kind-
hearted child who desperately needed the security of a real family. There will
be no more uncertain moves for Cassandra. Kendrick adopted her and is now
fostering two young girls and another medically fragile baby. Part of her job
is helping them transition from foster to permanent homes.

We should work toward the day when no child will grow up in state
custody, where help is provided for troubled birth-families before a child
must be removed from the home, and where adoption is pursued earlier for
children who have no viable birth-family options.

In the meantime, we need more people like Carolyn Kendrick, more
people who will stop talking about the need to help troubled children and
actually do something.

I hope that the recent media attention will nudge good-hearted
people to action. Foster and adoptive parents for children with special needs
are desperately needed. There are many organizations in our community that
have a long history of doing good work for the children whose needs should be
in everyone’s heart. To help, call Youth Villages, the Tennessee Department of
Children’s Services, the SNAP program, or other organizations that reach out
to at-risk children.

There are hundreds of children like Cassandra and Derrick. They
are “Everyone’s Children,” and they need our help today.

Patrick W. Lawler is the administrator for Youth Villages.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Postscript

Squashed and Squinty

To the Editor:

You imply nefarious motives behind Editor Angus McEachran’s non-disclosure of the potential cost savings of the change in size of The Commercial Appeal‘s pages (City Reporter, February 22nd issue). I imagine most CA readers, unlike perhaps Memphis Flyer readers, are sophisticated enough to read between the lines. Cost savings go to the bottom line in any business. Far better for the CA to redesign its format and cut its newsprint usage than to resort to the traditional slash-and-burn methods of other industries. Sure I now have less paper to throw out, but I also get some new features, like the color comics. I haven’t noticed a reduction in news content, as you imply.

When I get out my ruler and lay a copy of the reformatted CA alongside the Flyer I find that the “smaller” typeface of the new CA packs 16 characters per inch while the Flyer stuffs a whopping 17 characters into an inch. The CA looks far more readable to me than the squashed, squinty type of the Flyer.

Adam F. Carr, Olive Branch

Perfect Timing?

To the Editor:

Regarding last week’s Viewpoint (“Lottery Yes!” March 1st issue): I hope Senator Cohen and his compadres in the state House and Senate will do a better job of educating the public about the lottery and the need for it in this state than they did with the state income tax, which we need even more. Unless House Bill 273 is passed and enacted before the lottery bill comes up for vote in 2002, their job lobbying for the lottery will be made harder by the fact that our education tax dollars still support multiple school systems in even the smallest of our state’s counties. Jackson Baker may be mistaken when he thinks HB 273 appeared out of nowhere. I think it was a remarkable case of perfect timing in the legislature.

Anne R. Galloway, Knoxville

A Broken System

To the Editor:

Thank you for publishing such an important article (“Nobody’s Children,” March 1st issue) that reveals a broken system that produces damaged lives. Now, please, for those of us who care, tell us what we can do about it.

Lisa Trenthem, Memphis

A True Hero

To the Editor:

Your article about activist pastor Brooks Ramsey (“The Lion in Autumn,” February 22nd issue) was a fitting tribute to a true hero in our midst. Dr. Ramsey’s courageous faith should inspire us all to challenge the comfortable assumptions of the society in which we live, assumptions which can and often do mask injustice. We at Prescott are proud that Brooks and Rebecca Ramsey years ago cast their lot with our congregation. They remain two of our most esteemed members.

Tom Walsh, Council Chair

Prescott Memorial Baptist Church, Memphis

To the Editor:

Many thanks for the fine article on Brooks Ramsey, a treasured citizen of this city. Brooks is both a gentle soul and a man who has never turned away from life’s difficult battles. On a personal note, Brooks was with my family and me the day my father died. His presence and words brought us comfort at a time of great sadness. Brooks, thanks for all you do!

John Marshall Jones, Memphis

Preserving Choice

To the Editor:

Consolidation will reverse the small attempt to have choice in education realized by those who choose to move to the suburbs. However, when Republicans demonstrate that the only voters they care about live in suburban havens, they and we lose. Unless the opposition offers something for all those who vote and who care about the future, the result will be a Democratic majority for the speaker’s bid to become governor and the election of a Democratic administration in Shelby County.

If Republicans responded by proposing choice in education for all Shelby County citizens, their counterattack would win the day. All citizens, especially poor Democratic-voting Memphians, want to send their children to the school of their choice. All parents want the power to be taken seriously as market-makers in education, not just those who have the money to move outside the city. If the suburbs supported choice for everyone, as in charter schools or voucher programs, then the rest of us might care about preserving choice for them.

William W. (Bill) Wood, Memphis

Art Critic Criticized

To the Editor:

I just finished David Hall’s interview with Dave Hickey (“Arousing Dissent,” February 21st issue). Let me see if I’ve got it: 1) Art is not art or isn’t “validated” until someone, preferably someone with money, “likes” it. What if one rich person likes a piece and another dislikes it? Is it art then? Maybe the galleries in Memphis could start handing out ballots for their wealthy visitors to record their opinions. At the end of the evening they could tally up the totals and let everyone know which pieces are the works of art and which are not.

2) The point is moot in Memphis (and all other cities that are “not L.A., New York, and maybe Houston”) because art can never be “a serious, contentious, visual practice” there. I don’t know whether people in Memphis look at art and talk about it seriously or buy it, but I do know quite a number of artists living and working there who are serious about creating it. Some of them even (believe it or not) make certain sacrifices in order to do so. I’m sure other artists do the same in small cities and towns all over the world.

It’s probably true that any artist has a better chance of making a living from their art in a large city where patrons tend to have more adventurous tastes. But most artists realize that their chances of being rich and famous are slim no matter where they live, and most have other motivations, besides money, for producing art. If becoming rich were the primary goal, there are much easier and surer ways of achieving it than becoming an artist.

Finally, as I’ve recently come to realize after making the big move from Memphis to New York, there is good and bad art everywhere, as well as serious and lazy artists. Art doesn’t become “valid” just because the artist lives that much closer to the publishing offices of Artforum. We apply standards to the visual arts that we apply to no other creative field. Can you imagine some hip critic for The Village Voice writing that the Back Street Boys are the world’s most valid musical artists because they happen to have the number-one selling CD and that anyone not selling as many CDs is incapable of making music that matters?

Paul Behnke, Brooklyn, NY

State Money for the NBA?

To the Editor:

I know that most Memphians are excited about the prospect of bringing an NBA franchise to the Memphis area. While there is plenty of local support for bringing the NBA Grizzlies to Memphis, I wonder if the state of Tennessee will do for Memphis what they did for Nashville.

When Nashville made its bids for the NFL Oilers and the NHL Predators, Governor Sundquist and the General Assembly readily opened up the state treasury to fund the construction of Adelphia Stadium and Gaylord Entertainment Center. If our governor and state lawmakers want to convince us that they don’t show perpetual favoritism toward Nashville, they’ll be willing to do the same for us.

Write your state representatives, state senators, and Governor Sundquist today and make sure they support Memphis’ bid for the NBA the same way they supported Nashville’s bids for the NFL and NHL — with cash.

Joseph L. Keene, Colllierville

Likes the Fly

To the Editor:

I find Chris Davis’ “Fly on the Wall” column to be witty, as well as informative. Regarding his recent story (“Shootout at the Circle-K,” March 1st issue), I would ask that you research the statistics of people with legal handgun permits who commit crimes. You’ll find that extremely few legal handgun permit holders perpetrate crimes of any kind. Those who feel it necessary to carry a handgun and go to the trouble of obtaining state certification and licensing tend to be quite law-abiding. I have no fear of a licensed handgun-carrying citizen holding up a liquor store. I do fear the criminals who obtain and carry handguns illegally. We need to focus on stopping the availability of illegal handguns and punishing those who use them in the commission of crimes. I do not buy into many of the NRA arguments regarding gun ownership, but I do support enforcing the many laws that are currently on the books.

Senator Steve Cohen’s argument that a customer with a gun could help prevent a robbery is ridiculous. A weapon should only be used as the last defense of one’s life, never in the defense of property. No one wants a vigilante state, least of all handgun permit-holders (atleast those I know).

D. Jeff Lord, Collierville

The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.