Tree-cutting and the Law
To the Editor:
I have a few thoughts in regard to your article about MLGW's tree-cutting program in the March 13th issue.
The power company is telling you that they will cut a 10- or 15-foot clearance for their lines on abutting property. This raises an interesting question. In the deed to our property, a five-foot easement is granted to the utility companies. If the utility cuts 10 or 15 feet from the property line, aren't they trespassing? In other words, what legal basis do they have to go beyond the granted easement?
It would be a benefit to your readers if you provided follow-up coverage on this point, which is a real bother to most of your readers.
Henry W. Peabody
Memphis
To the Editor:
The Memphis Flyer reported that the Midtown Mini-Mart at McLean and Tutwiler sold cigarettes to a 21-year-old Flyer intern without asking for identification as required by new federal regulations [March 6th issue].
This information was reported in error. The owners of Midtown Mini-Mart would like to state that we operate a traditional friendly neighborhood grocery and that we follow all the rules and regulations pertaining to our business. We consider ourselves good community and neighborhood citizens.
Riphi Hajjeh
Owner, Midtown Mini-Mart
(Editor's Note: We did not intend to besmirch the reputation of the Midtown Mini-Mart in our story about local response to new regulations requiring clerks to see identification for customers 27 and under who are buying cigarettes. Mr. Hajjeh told us by phone that the intern was a regular customer, whose age was known to him and his staff.)
To the Editor:
I was very disappointed to read the letter from Aaron N. Aaron in your March 20th issue in which he blasted John Griffin for what the letter writer considered bad reporting concerning my listing at 34 Belleair Drive. True, the name was misspelled, as acknowledged in the editor's note, but please! Who checked the facts this young man considered so important? I will attempt to address the most blatant errors in Aaron's letter.
Though the Belz family has done numerous projects benefiting the city of Memphis in the past, this development was not started by that family. The Belz family, as I understand the source information, picked up the development sometime in the 1930s and completed the development. The house referred to in Aaron's letter as being the first on the street was built in 1939, some 15 years after 11 Belleair Drive was built. This information can be verified through tax records stored in the Memphis Room of the Main Library at Peabody and McLean.
A major problem that I have with this letter is not that someone the age of Aaron N. Aaron has made a mistake in facts, but that a paper which we in Midtown respect tremendously has allowed such a letter to be published without support. I am quite frankly thankful that a 15-year-old is reading the Flyer, or any other newspaper for that matter.
The fact remains: John Griffin and I are professionals who depend upon our efforts to pay the bills. If indeed either of us make mistakes and mine can be plentiful, though I'm sure John is not nearly so sinful please use responsibility as journalists and attribute only those correctly ours.
Bill Malone
Broker, Sowell and Co.
Shame on Mr. Aaron! Having lived on Belleair Drive for more than 30 years, I would like to contribute a bit to the debate concerning the history of its development.
The first homes on Belleair Drive were built on the outside perimeter. With only one exception, the Williams home, the first home on the inside perimeter was built by Phillip Belz. Although I am told Mr. Belz owned all the vacant lots in the Belleair Woods Subdivision, he was neither the developer nor the first to build on the street as erroneously stated in Aaron's letter in the March 20th issue.
So who, in reflection, is making "cockamamie" comments here?
Ralph "Sonny" Shankman
Memphis
(Editor's Note: Mr. Shankman provided three pages of public records documenting the above stated facts.)
The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 687, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at memflyer@aol.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.
FLYER SENIOR editor Michael Finger has been a student of the R.M.S Titanic for more than a decade. In our cover story, he retells the dramatic story of the great ship's star-crossed maiden voyage, complete with the excruciating twists of fate that doomed over 1,500 passengers. He also talks with Wonders director Jon Thompson about questions surrounding RMS Titanic, Inc. the company that recovered the relics and is bringing the exhibit to Memphis. Michael's story begins on page 14.
Our other senior editor has been busy as well. Part two of Jackson Baker's analysis of the state budget crisis begins on page 10. Two glitches, one factual and one stylistic, made their way into print in last week's budget story. The amount Governor Don Sundquist plans to save in administrative costs is $50 million, not $15 million as reported last week. The word "conversely" in the last paragraph of the story should have been "controversial." Both mistakes were transcription errors. We apologize.