Expert Witness
Last Sunday, Alexander Rogers Coleman was shot by an off-duty police officer after he pulled a knife on his brother at New Life Baptist Church in South Memphis. Michael Conner, the suspect’s brother, told WREG-TV that Coleman “came back with the knife or whatever, and I guess he saw the dude with the gun or whatever and he turned around and that’s when the dude shot him in the back.” Police officials have described the shooting as a “personnel” matter and have promised an internal investigation. Or whatever.
Headline of the Week
Last Tuesday’s Commercial Appeal contained a story titled “Leaders get behind ED plans.” To their credit, our leaders decided to stick with their plans even after it was explained that ED stands for economic development and not erectile dysfunction.
Fly Girl
CA columnist Bart Sullivan recently revealed that Nikki Tinker, the ambitious attorney who hopes to unseat 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, has been courting the Baptist Ministerial Association. She even arranged for Pinnacle Airlines, her employer, to provide a free airplane ride to select members of the ministers’ congregations. “After declaring her candidacy, Pinnacle Airlines flew the group in circles around Memphis on June 23rd,” Sullivan wrote, without ever explaining the point of flying them around in circles. Maybe they were trying to get a little closer to Jesus?
Pinnacle spokesperson R. Phillip Reed added that the “trip” was “not directly or indirectly associated with the Tinker for Congress campaign.” It was simply a chance for Tinker to fly some Baptists around and around in circles.
Sullivan went on to cite Tinker’s D.C. spokesman, Cornell Belcher, who didn’t really say much, but anytime you can attribute a quote to someone named Cornell Belcher, you should.