Lance Strikes Back
Former Christian Brothers High School student Lance Sanderson and his parents have filed a lawsuit against CBHS that asks the school to pay damages of $1 million for sexual discrimination and failure to fulfill a school contract.
Lance Sanderson
The school barred Sanderson from bringing a male date to prom in 2015. His full complaint against CBHS was filed last week. It lays out the timeline of events leading to his prom date request being denied and actions prior to the event that were alleged to be discriminatory.
Lipscomb Prosecution Dropped
Time ran out on prosecutors to charge Robert Lipscomb, the former city leader, on allegation of rape from six accusers.
Documents released Monday showed the statute of limitations expired on the cases, which stretch back to 1988, before Lipscomb could be charged.
All of the charges against Lipscomb were dropped last week, according to a spokesman in the Shelby County District Attorney General’s (SCDAG) office.
Robert Lipscomb
Larry Buser, a SCDAG spokesman, said “prosecution has been declined” in the case and said his office would offer no further statement.
A spokesman in Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office said last week “this administration has no involvement with any issue facing Robert Lipscomb, and we have no comment.”
Then-Mayor A C Wharton fired Lipscomb as director of Housing and Community last year when the accusation came to light last year. Wharton said he and then-Memphis Police Department director Toney Armstrong spoke to an adult male “who made a criminal complaint of a sexual nature” against Lipscomb. According to the story, the accuser would have been a minor at the time of the alleged rape.
At the time, Wharton said he was going to refer the matter to the SCDAG’s office. He did. But Lipscomb was never arrested or even formally charged with anything.
Lipscomb’s attorney Ricky Wilkins said: “I don’t expect Mr. Lipscomb to provide any public statements with regard to this matter. As you know, he’s a very private man, and I’m sure he is happy about this announcement so that he can put this issue behind and move on with his life.”
Parking Plan Pooh-Poohed
The city’s concept for the Memphis Zoo’s expanded parking plan got a big thumbs down from park advocacy groups, reviews that can be summed up in three words: “Nope, nope, nope.”
Get Off Our Lawn filed an open records request for the proposal (so did the Memphis Flyer to no avail) and the group published it on Facebook Thursday.
“Approximately two acres of public parkland would be paved and converted to private use,” said the group’s Facebook post. “Nope, nope, nope.”
The city’s concept plan for new zoo parking.
An equally stinging review of the plan was published by GOOL’s parent group, Citizens to Protect Overton Park (CPOP).
“We oppose this land grab,” read a Facebook post from CPOP. “There’s no good reason to sacrifice two acres of irreplaceable public parkland for a handful of private parking spaces.”
But the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) and the city of Memphis urged patience in the process and explained that the plan published Thursday was a concept and is by no means final.
