1. The Avenue Carriage Crossing in Collierville opened last week, the largest retail center in Tennessee. Developers and reporters took pains to describe the collection of stores as “open air” where customers “are allowed to park near the store of their choice.” Before the world of malls, we can vaguely remember places like this. We called them “shopping centers.”
2. Two women described in court as “very large” were convicted of the armed robbery of several local clothing stores, snatching money and “plus-size” items. One of the culprits allegedly wore a lime-green pantsuit during one crime, which witnesses found hard to forget. The prosecution clinched the case by showing jurors an identical pantsuit taken from the home of one of the women, who claimed in her defense, “I would not rob somebody in a large green outfit.” No, and you shouldn’t even be wearing it, either.
3. A federal judge says the Love in Action cannot treat patients who are taking medication for mental illness. The group claims that, through counseling and other means, it can turn gay people straight. Well, if they can do that, why can’t they fix the other things that are supposedly so “wrong” with them?
4. The Central Library is being renamed the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library this week. Hooks is a former executive director of the national NAACP and the first black member of the Federal Communications Commission, so he deserves the honor. And it’s not a moment too soon. With Janet Hooks resigning from the City Council and Michael Hooks Jr. resigning from the school board and Michael Hooks Sr. under federal indictment, the library might soon be the only government building with a Hooks connection.
