Prospective council candidate Jerri Green (Photo: Community Legal Center)
As of last week, the City Council — after lengthy deliberations that ran way past the May 22nd date for pulling candidate petitions — finally mustered enough votes to declare district lines for the forthcoming city election.
And, basically, it’s a case of Meet the New Lines, Same as the Old Lines.
Which is to say, the council districts for the October 5th election conform to the same map that was redrawn for a special election in District 4 last November. Then-incumbent Councilwoman Jamita Swearengen had resigned the District 4 seat after winning election as Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk. She was succeeded by her sister, Jana Swearengen-Washington, who won the special election.
Shot down during the council’s regular meeting last week was a proposed new map that had garnered significant support and would have made major alterations, especially on the city’s eastern perimeter, where District 5, an area largely white in population that bridges Midtown and East Memphis, would have been reshaped to become even more accommodating to whites, including conservatives, while adjoining District 2 would have become Cordova-based and majority-Black.
The new plan was put forth by Darrick Harris, a community member of the council’s ad hoc reapportionment committee. A late-breaking shift of previously undecided council members against it left the old map in place when Councilman Chase Carlisle subsequently moved for “same night minutes,” a parliamentary device which sped up the process of formalizing the vote.
Some supporters of the defeated new map were outraged by the outcome. One of them was Lexie Carter, chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party. Carter had anticipated the creation of a specifically Cordova district in the manner of last year’s County Commission reapportionment. She indicated that she intended to file a protest at the council’s meeting next week, when, reportedly, the body will consider a final tweaking of boundaries.
Carter also defended her action and that of the local Democratic executive committee in recently withdrawing from what had been the party’s long-running litigation against several proprietors of sample ballots at election time, especially those who used the word “Democratic” or party images on their products.
“Let’s face it, that has always been part of the process,” she said of the balloters, who traditionally have charged fees of candidates wishing positions on their sample ballots, which were widely distributed, especially in the inner city.
• Meanwhile, the list of claimants to the District 2 seat continues to grow. Former Councilman Scott McCormick has drawn a petition for it, and Jerri Green, senior policy advisor to County Mayor Lee Harris, has confirmed her interest in the seat. Green, a Democrat, gave Republican state Representative Mark White a close run in 2020 for the District 83 state House seat.
Davin Clemons, a former Memphis policeman and the co-founder of Tri-State Black Pride, will apparently once again be an opponent of incumbent Councilman Edmund Ford Sr., having drawn a petition for Ford’s District 6 seat. Clemons ran against Ford in 2019 with the endorsement of Harris and said this week he hopes to have the county mayor’s support again this year.
As was the case four years ago, that race will likely reflect to some degree the ever-simmering antagonism between Mayor Harris and County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., the councilman’s son.
Editor’s note: After receiving numerous complaints from readers for displaying a photo of Wednesday night’s assailant in this space, we have decided that its news value as an identifier of a dangerous person at-large is no longer applicable, so we’ve removed the picture.
Here is Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s statement in full:
“I want to first, express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families who are suffering from this senseless murder rampage. I’m angry for them, and I’m angry that our citizens had to shelter in place for their own safety until the suspect was caught. This is no way for us to live and it is not acceptable.
The people of our city were confronted with the type of violence no one should have to face. Ezekiel Kelly was charged with criminal attempted first degree murder but pled guilty in April of 2021 to the lesser charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to three years, but only served 11 months and was released on March 16th, 2022 — less than six months ago.
These evil actions show why truth in sentencing is a must, and we should do all we can to make our city safe. We should not be terrorized by anyone who wants to strike fear in our hearts and take away what we love about Memphis. We must unite around this principle and stand up to the challenge of violent crime in our city.
If Mr. Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive.
Thank you state legislature, led by [state House Speaker Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville) and [Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge), for passing truth in sentencing. From now on, three years for aggravated assault means three years.
Our judicial system is too often a revolving door. A citizen emailed me today — ‘until/unless there are real consequences for criminal behavior, it will continue.’
I agree 100 percent. We need the courts and additional state laws to stop this revolving door and I need the public to make their voices heard by those decision makers.
I want to thank the men and women of our Memphis Police Department, and all the supporting law enforcement agencies who supported in capturing the suspect tonight, and aided in the search for Liza Fletcher earlier this week.
This has been a painful week in our city, but I have hope for Memphis, I have love for Memphis, I know that united …..we will endure.”
State House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis):
“Our city is hurting. My heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured tonight. It was an unspeakable horror and it occurred just days after our city was devastated by another tragedy: the terrible murder of elementary school teacher Eliza Fletcher.
“It’s been a sad few months for Memphis. There is a long road ahead and much work ahead for us to do in order to begin to heal our city and we will have those policy discussions. But now we have to lock arms and pray for all of the victims of this week and the past few months and not let these tragic circumstances tear our hearts away from the city we all love.”
Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO Beverly Robertson:
“The Greater Memphis Chamber and our entire business community are deeply saddened by the tragic events our city has lived through in recent days. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those lost to these senseless acts of inhumanity.
“The Chamber remains committed to working with our business leaders, elected officials, and residents to thoughtfully identify real solutions that lead to real results. I have already reached out to the mayor and police chief of Memphis to ensure the business community will be at the table as we move forward.
“We all must play a role in driving positive change in our community, and this journey is just starting. Working together, we will make a difference.”
State Rep. London Lamar:
Lamar
“The book of Psalms says ‘I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.’
This morning, our families in Memphis are crying out for accountability and justice. We are hoping that, together, we can summon the courage to take real action against gun violence.
No community should have to live with the trauma of mass shootings and terrorism. But this isn’t the first senseless tragedy and it won’t be the last if we are unwilling to turn our prayers into action.
I have consistently fought for evidence-based reforms that prevent violent crime. We will continue our work to expand access to mental healthcare. And our mission to end generational poverty never ceases.
But our work is being crippled by policies that make it easier for dangerous people to access deadly weapons. I am a gun owner, but I understand the right to carry must come with meaningful rules and responsibilities.
Again, I am asking anyone at the Capitol who will listen: Please acknowledge the deadly consequences of guns falling into the wrong hands and work with me to end gun violence against our families.”
Taylor
Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor:
“The shootings last night in Memphis that left four people dead and three injured, and the kidnapping and death of Eliza Fletcher are a wake-up call for our community.
Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) extends its deepest sympathies to all the victims, their friends and families, and everyone in our community impacted by this past week’s violent events. We also thank the many law enforcement personnel and first responders who risk their lives every day to bring an end to violent crime in our community and make Memphis a “place of good abode,” as it was called when it was founded.
The principles of public health practice are well suited to implement a violence prevention framework that addresses the root causes of violent crime. The key to addressing the endless cycle of shootings and imprisonment in our community is to heal the generational trauma that makes violence appear to be the only option. Adverse childhood experiences and adverse community experiences have increased over time, due to the structural and institutional failures to address the issues leading to inequality and conflict in our community.
Shelby County Health Department is committed to expanding access to behavioral health resources for everyone throughout their lifespan as a first step to addressing the generational traumas that can lead to community violence. SCHD provides a wide range of prevention and screening services. We are expanding our reach by convening behavioral health resources and acting on our analysis of gun violence as a public health crisis in our community. As a part of that work, SCHD has begun a Cure Violence Global pilot program using a local subcontractor (Heal 901) to replicate Cure Violence’s data-driven, evidence-based approach to crime prevention here in Shelby County.
Please join the Shelby County Health Department in our meaningful and collaborative action to bring an end to the senseless violence that harms everyone in our community. To learn more about how to get involved, please visit our website: shelbytnhealth.com.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis):
Cohen
“What has been happening in my hometown is harrowing and disturbing. I have been concerned for some time about the crime situation and have spoken with the relevant public officials about addressing the issue.
I have suggested convening a summit with the two mayors, the District Attorney General, the Police Director, the Shelby County Sheriff, the school board president, and the juvenile court judge. We need a comprehensive approach involving the schools and the juvenile justice system to help reverse these disturbing trends.
“Today I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to explain the situation in Memphis, noting the high-profile killings in recent days and weeks, and asking him to look favorably on discretionary grants from the Edward Byrne Memorial Grants Assistance and COPS programs and to provide any and all other assistance available from the Department of Justice. I also asked to speak with him at his earliest convenience.”
A coal ash pond at TVA's Allen Fossil Plant. (Credit: Southern Environmental Law Center)
A Memphis City Council committee wants another formal review of Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plan to dump coal ash here, citing concerns from residents and a murky process with little cooperation from the power provider.
Nearly 3.5 million cubic yards (nearly 707 million gallons or 2,169 acre feet) of coal ash were left behind when the Allen Fossil Plant stopped generating electricity in 2018. The ash is now stored in two massive ponds at the old coal-plant site, just south of McKellar Lake and Presidents Island. One pond on the west side of the campus was buried years ago and now looks like a large, grassy park. The other pond — the East Ash Pond — is murky, black, and lifeless but for some brawny strands of what appears to be sawgrass.
Under these ponds, and because of the coal ash in them, TVA found high levels of arsenic and other toxins in groundwater. Arsenic levels were more than 300 times higher than federal drinking water standards. The toxins were deemed a threat to the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of the city’s famously pure drinking water, and TVA made plans to remove the coal ash.
But the TVA failed to tell the council in 2020 just where they’d dump the coal ash. The site was revealed in 2021 as the South Shelby Landfill and the destination was criticized as it would bring trucks, noise, traffic, and air pollution to neighborhoods along the path. Many of those would be predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Since then, council members said Tuesday they’ve heard myriad concerns from constituents about the plan.
“The folks in South Memphis have urged us to ask TVA to do something that TVA seems unwilling to do,” said council member JB Smiley.
Smiley was an original sponsor of Tuesday’s resolution, which asks for TVA to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The report would “provide residents of South Memphis site-specific information about the impacts of TVA’s decision to move coal ash and to provide a meaningful opportunity for the affected community to be heard on how these impacts will affect them.” The report would give the “most current, detailed, and informative information now that the final destination and transportation plan” for the coal ash has been made public.
Council member Chase Carlisle said while he feels someone is “looking just to beat on TVA,” he said he was “disappointed” in the dialog between TVA, Republic Services (the company that is set to haul the coal ash), and the council. Straightforward questions were not given straightforward answers, he said. Answers to follow-up questions went unanswered during the process.
“I was very disappointed in what I thought was going to be a very transparent, ongoing dialog about how we could look for alternative solutions to an issue that concerns a great many people,” Carlisle said. “Instead it was, ‘we’re not coming back and we’re just going to move forward.’”
TVA said its previous review of the situation should stand as “no new information has become available that would change the conditions or conclusions” of it.
“Over the last five years, we have engaged with and listened to the Memphis community about the Allen restoration project,” said TVA spokesman Scott Brooks. “We share the same objectives of prioritizing safety and environmental stewardship while completing the project in a timely manner.
“We are fulfilling our promise to protect the Memphis aquifer, safely remove the coal ash and store it in a highly-engineered, lined landfill, and restore the Allen site for the benefit of the community.”
A Memphis City Council committee passed a resolution Tuesday requesting an investigation of any public safety employees involved in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
The resolution asks Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to “develop and present a plan to the council” revealing those employees and creating a “process to ensure former city of Memphis public safety employees re-hiring status reflects participation in [the] U.S. Capitol riots.”
The council’s public safety committee gave a near-anonymous approval of the resolution with only council member Worth Morgan voting against it. The resolution is sponsored by council members Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Martavius Jones, J B Smiley, and Dr. Jeff Warren.
The resolution comes as “several sworn police officers from departments across the nation now face federal criminal charges as a result of their participation in the insurrection,” it reads. That becomes important, it says, to further “address concerns about the need for increased oversight and accountability within public-safety-based departments, especially in light of 2020’s international call for reform within the criminal justice system.”
“I think we need to amend the resolution in the first recital to say the Memphis City Council hereby requests the director of Police Services to investigate whether any city of Memphis employees, based upon evidence provided by FBI of such participation in the U.S. Capitol riot,” said council member Chase Carlisle. “We don’t need to get sued.”
Jones suggested including the Secret Service and other federal agencies to the groups providing evidence. Council members expanded the resolution to legitimate evidence from citizens who may have captured the event.
The public safety and homeland security committee of the city council convened on Tuesday to discuss a myriad of public issues related to automobile ordinances in the city.
First on the docket was a resolution to accept and appropriate Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for a backup generator at the Office of Emergency. The resolution passed with 7 yes votes and 6 abstains. The resolution will allow the movement of $238,500.
A majority of the committee’s time was spent discussing items two and three on the docket, an ordinance that would punish non-driver participation in drag racing, and an ordinance that would add fines and fees for muffler violations in the city. J. Ford Canale sponsored both ordinances.
Canale addressed the council citing a rise in “drag racing and reckless driving exhibitions” as proof of the need for a city-wide ordinance against passengers in drag racing. The three suggested ordinances are follow-ups to a bill that was filed by Senator Brian Kelsey at the start of the month to deter drag racing statewide. Through the city ordinance, the violation for being in the car with someone found to be drag racing or participating in reckless driving would elevate from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor, equating in a shift from a maximum $50 fine to a maximum $2,500 fine.
“I think that we have all had our fair share of complaints from our constituents about the drag racing issue across the city,” Canale said. “No district, no neighborhood is immune to this. It’s dangerous, it’s reckless, it’s gonna cost lives if it continues, and generally, it’s just a public nuisance.”
Canale was frank in his criticism of reckless drivers in the city and appealed to his fellow council members to listen to their constituents before debate took place.
“I’m willing to bet all 13 of us have received numerous emails of complaining about drag racing, reckless driving, and also loud noises emitting from vehicles disrupting everyone’s quality of life. It’s not only dangerous to other drivers on the street, it’s dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
In 2020, 52 pedestrians have been struck and killed in Memphis, and there have been over 32,000 traffic crashes in the city.
Though most of the council was in favor of the ordinance, Councilman Martavius Jones questioned the fairness of levying fines against someone that was not directly involved in the act of drag racing.
“That’s problematic if I’m just sitting in the passenger seat. I realize that [the driver] is jeopardizing my life and there should be something that I say about that but for me, to ticketed and cited for that I do have some concerns about that part being included in,” Jones said.
The ordinance passed with 12 votes and one abstention.
Councilman Canale’s second ordinance, which would fine those found to be operating cars with tainted mufflers, was vastly more decisive. The debate began with Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas raised scrutiny on the price of the fine and whether the law would be fairly enforced by the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in the city.
“[Officers] would just be going off of supposed sounds and supposed sights to make the decision to pull somebody over to look at their muffler?” asked Councilwoman Easter-Thomas to the MPD representative Paul Wright.
Though Wright assured Easter-Thomas that MPD would be able to accurately distinguish those using modified mufflers, Easter-Thomas was not convinced.
“I understand the intent, Councilman Canale, from citizens who may have called from noise, but as we are a metropolitan city. We’re not gonna be free from noise. I’m having trouble because it just seems as though this will increase pulling over, let me make an assumption and say, Black and brown men in the city.”
Canale countered arguing that the MPD has decibel readers as well as the knowledge to decipher the difference between modified and correctly functioning mufflers.
“This is not an attempt to pull anybody over,” said Canale, “but we all know there is a distinct difference between somebody that has a muffler cutout, that has cut their muffler off, and someone that operates with a normal compliant muffler system.”
Councilman Jones also brought up concerns around the ordinance citing that some cars maybe have disproportionately loud mufflers that could lead to Memphians with said cars being pulled over at higher rates.
“You can tune what or how loud an exhaust may be. As I’m reading this I can have a factory automobile but if I happen to have a sports car or a Mustang or a Charger or a Camaro my muffler is still in good working order but I still run the risk,” Jones said. “I may not have altered my automobile what so ever besides the adjusting what the sound of the exhaust is but am I subject to being pulled over for that?”
Councilman Chase Carlisle took a neutral stance in the debate ultimately siding with but Canale and Easter-Thomas.
“I want to be able to hold people accountable,” said Carlisle, “but sending someone that had a broken muffler or rusted-out muffler or didn’t have the money to fix it, then a court appearance and they get assessed $250 in court fees is a little problematic.”
The ordinance did not pass in a 6-5 vote with two abstentions. The council will meet in the new year to follow up on the ordinances that passed.
Erika Sugarmon resembles her father, the late political and legal eminence Russell Sugarmon, in her determination to set aside initial setbacks as a candidate. The elder Sugarmon ran for a seat on the old Memphis City Commission back in the last days of Jim Crow. He didn’t make it, but persisted until, years later, he won elections for the state legislature and General Sessions Court.
His daughter is 0-for-1 as a candidate, having been a runner-up to Ford Canale last year in a special election for the Super District 9, Position 2, City Council seat. But that loss was a close one, and Erika Sugarmon’s second-place finish in a race where she was having to share an anti-establishment constituency with several other challengers was strong enough to encourage her to make a second try for the council.
This year, instead of taking another shot at Position 2 incumbent Canale, Sugarmon is going for the Position 1 seat in District 9. That’s an open seat, and, instead of six opponents, she has one — developer Chase Carlisle, whom she sees as one more specimen of an elitist constituency that is already over-represented on the council.
Photographs by Jackson Baker
Rhonda Logan (l), Sherman Greer
As she explained to a group of supporters at a fund-raising event at Halle Plantation in Collierville Saturday night, Sugarmon sees herself as a people’s candidate, proud to have several endorsements from labor groups. And, with a nod to her family tradition, she said, “I’m a fighter. I’m for Memphis first.”
She professes to be alarmed at the number of city contracts that go “outside our state” and wants to “keep the money in Memphis.” She talks up affordable housing, a more equitable awarding of city contracts, and the rights of citizens to have a greater say in matters of neighborhood development. These and other issues have a familiar ring in a council race. But Sugarmon has some specialty issues as well. She promises to pay specific heed to the needs of foster parents, the repurposing of the Mid-South Coliseum, and the plight of the hard of hearing, whom she sees as an underserved population.
Her concern for the latter was dramatized at the event Saturday night by a trio of young women who illustrated a musical number, “The Song of Peace,” with choreographed signing gestures, as well as by the fact that the remarks of Sugarmon, a social studies and government teacher at White Station High School, were “interpreted” for the audience in sign language by a White Station colleague Sherry McCrory at her side.
Sugarmon with signer McCrory
The attendees were treated also to offerings from a saxophonist and a ballet dancer and to a formal dinner. The settings may have seemed a bit elaborate, even eccentric, as did the venue, in a relatively remote section of suburban Collierville. But, as Sugarmon explained, “You go where you can.” She is somewhat at the mercy, as was the case on Saturday, of venues offered up as in-kind donations.
That was one reason for the location. Another was, quite simply, that she says she intends to carry her message to all corners of her sprawling super-district — from Idlewild to Raleigh to East Memphis to Hickory Hill. It remains to be seen if opponent Carlisle can match her visibility or chooses instead to run like various other well-funded candidates represented in the past by the Caissa consulting firm — via thickets of yard signs and heavy advertising.
• The council race in District 1, which is based in north Memphis, Frayser, and Raleigh, isn’t exactly a pure one-on-one like that between Sugarmon and Carlisle. There’s a “but” clause to that reality, though.
There are three candidates of record in District 1: Dawn Bonner, Rhonda Logan, and Sherman Greer, and the latter two are considered to be in a de facto one-on-one situation, with the greatest likelihood of ending up in a matchup against each other if the October 3rd vote totals require a runoff.
When it came time last year for the remaining council members to appoint replacements for colleagues who vacated their seats to assume other offices, Logan, it will be remembered, was the preferred candidate for the District 1 seat of various long-term activists in the city’s northern tier — notably state Representative Antonio Parkinson.
There were other applicants, though, and something of a stalemate set in among council members. In the final analysis, after weeks of indecision, the appointment went to Greer, who had a lengthy record of service as an aide to 9th District Congressman Harold Ford Jr., and later to Ford’s successor Steve Cohen.
Both Logan and Greer were on hand Monday for a ceremonial announcement by Parkinson and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland of plans for a new Raleigh Farmers Market on a former storage site for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The site may also include facilities for organized athletics and other community needs, said Parkinson, who emceed the ceremony and had largely brokered the project.
Logan was there as director of the Raleigh Community Development Corporation, as was Greer as councilman for the affected area. Both spoke at the event, and both were introduced by Parkinson, who noticeably stumbled over Greer’s name and made a point of profusely apologizing.
No harm, no foul — except that later, when Parkinson posted a video of the event on his Facebook page, he did so over the following text: “State Representative Antonio Parkinson, Rhonda Logan for Memphis City Council District 1, Willie Brooks For County Commission, Announce Plans for New Raleigh Farmers Market.”
Petitions for elective positions on the October 3rd city of Memphis ballot continue to be pulled, and there has been one major surprise of late — a switch of intent on the part of city council candidate Cody Fletcher, who has withdrawn his petition for the Super-District 9, Position 1 council seat and has picked up another petition for the Super-District 9, Position 3 seat.
The change does not alter the geographical location that Fletcher, a University of Memphis development specialist, hopes to represent, but it certainly shakes up the dynamics of races for the two council positions.
Jackson Baker
Criminal Court Clerk Heidi Kuhn (right) was recently presented with a “Good Samaritan” Award from the County Commission for her heroic life-saving efforts at the scene of a traffic accident. Commissioner Reginald Milton does the honors.
Fletcher’s withdrawal from the Position 1 race basically leaves that contest a one-on-one between two major contenders, Shelby County Schools teacher Erika Sugarmon and developer Chase Carlisle. Previously, Sugarmon, daughter of the late African-American legal eminence Russell Sugarmon, was in a position to take advantage of vote-splitting between Fletcher and Carlisle, who drew on similar East Memphis business constituencies.
Fletcher now finds himself essentially in a mano-a-mano battle for the Position 3 seat with Jeff Warren. It remains to be seen whether the shift, recommended by consultant Brian Stephens, who advises both Fletcher and Carlisle, actually increases Fletcher’s chances since he and Warren, an early and well-established entry in this year’s election, also draw upon similar bases of support.
, • As previously noted in this space, the Shelby County Commission managed last week to approve both a budget and a tax rate, thereby beating the timetable of preceding commissions, which generally were still wrangling well past July 1st, the traditional beginning of a new fiscal year.
One longtime observer of county government isn’t so sure that such promptness was called for or even desirable. Jimmie Covington, longtime reporter on Shelby County government for The Commercial Appeal, before his retirement some years back, still keeps a close watch on county affairs.
In a Facebook post, Covington wrote: “Did the Shelby County Commission act contrary to state law when it approved this year’s county property tax rate on third and final reading on Monday, June 24? For 30 years or so, the commission has been setting the tax rate after July 1 of each year.
“One year, when the late Vasco Smith was serving on the commission, commissioners set the rate before July 1. Smith, who objected to the move, filed a lawsuit in which he charged that state law prevented the county from setting the rate before July 1. Smith won the lawsuit.
“Every year since then, the county has been holding third reading on the rate after July 1. Last year, the rate was set on July 9. … With a new county mayor, new county attorney, and eight new commissioners in office this year, did a mistake occur?”
Covington cites state law: section §67-1-701(a) [our italics].
“Establishment of county tax rate:It is the duty of the county legislative bodies, on the first Monday in July, or as soon thereafter as practicable, to fix the tax rates on all properties within their respective jurisdictions for all county purposes, except that in any county having a population in excess of seven hundred thousand (700,000) … establishing tax due dates other than the first Monday in October each year, in accordance with §67-1-701(a), shall have the authority to fix tax rates for all county purposes at dates prior to the first Monday in July.”
Apropos the seeming loophole of that last clause, Covington notes, “The due date for collecting taxes in Shelby County has not been changed from the first Monday in October.”
Tyler Merbler | Wikimedia | Creative Commons 
Photographs by Jackson Baker 
Jackson Baker