Preview

There is a characteristic moment in any Shelby County Commission debate of consequence when Julian Bolton gets a whiff Ð or thinks he does — of which way the wind is blowing through the audience out there in the auditorium. He begins to lean in the direction of the onlookers, swiveling his head due left so as to be looking right into their faces, and when he talks, it is clear he is addressing the folks out there, not his commission colleagues.

ÔPlaying to the GalleryÕ doesnÕt do it justice. The Second Coming itself might be in jeopardy if Bolton happened to be in charge and in front of some rabid Give-Us-Barrabas kind of crowd when the Blessed Event occurred.

Everybody else seemed perfectly aware that the 75 or so people who showed up early to raise hell against a tax increase for the county schools Monday were the fruits, as Shelby County school board member Ron Lawler put it, Òof ten days straight of Mike Fleming trying to turn a crowd out.Ó Indeed, there had been a dedicated attempt at conscription on the part of the popular radio talk show host on WREC-AM, 600 Ð who is a gentle rain and sweet reason itself compared to his tempestuous counterparts in Nashville, Steve Gill and Phil Valentine.

Everybody knew the game but Bolton, who seemed to think he was in the presence of Vox Populi.