Making News
"Imagine your child kidnapped from daycare by a total stranger,"
said news anchor Pam McKelvy at the head of the top story on Monday night's
6 o'clock news on WREG-TV Channel 3. Now imagine your child kidnapped by
reporter Steve Hayslip.
Without a breaking news tie-in or even so much as a statistic, the "top
story" consisted entirely of Channel 3 employees springing kids from
daycare, allegedly proving that anyone can just walk in and nab your kid
at will. Truly, a "horrifying" story.
On the bright side, if kids begin disappearing and turning up in ominously
bittersweet, slow-motion video-montages over strains of somber music, it
looks like we've got a lead.
A Way With Words
Sunday on George Lapides' Channel 3 program Sports Time, Oilers baron
Bud Adams discussed why he chose to move his team to Tennessee. Clearly,
Los Angeles was out for the progressive-minded Adams. "I always thought
California was for nuts and fruits," he told Lapides. Quite a wit,
that guy. When he apologized for the comment, Lapides put him at ease for
his unoriginality, saying, "I think people have heard it before."
So, What's Your Point?
"Back to Marx!" -- Professor Zavarzadeh, Syracuse University
"The Marxian moment is now!" -- Professor Meister, University
of California, Santa Cruz
"There is no future without Marx." -- Jacques Derrida
These quotes arrived in a letter from someone in Colorado with a question
at the top: "What do these college professors know that the rest of
us don't know?"
Um. Is it Marx?
Extraterrestrial Expertise
"UFO's, Black Helicopters, and Government Interventions"
"Crop Circle Update / Signs of Change"
"Awakening to the Omega Point"
"What Our Goverment is Not Telling Us"
"Preparing for Contact"
"Reptilian Abductions"
-- just some of the interesting-sounding lectures scheduled as part of this
weekend's Contact '97 conference at the University of Memphis. The
conspiratorial conference is being billed as "Tennessee's 1st Annual
UFO Awareness Conference."
Stuffing the Ballot Box?
There's a movement under way to rename a portion of Malone Road in DeSoto
County after Jerry Lee Lewis. The Commercial Appeal reports, however,
that the Board of Supervisors viewed the petition entered for the cause
with some suspicion.
"About 140 of the names appear to be legitimate," the daily reported
Tuesday. "But there were other names ranging from Joe Camel to Tom
Cruise, Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe."
A Lewis spokesperson reportedly blamed the names on a "bunch of teenagers
who got ahold of the petition and started making up names."
Flyer Sues the City for Full Disclosure in Lawsuit
by Phil Campbell
he
Memphis Flyer has filed a petition in Chancery
Court to force the city of Memphis to disclose the details behind an out-of-court
settlement from a lawsuit that alleged police brutality.
On September 17th, the city settled with relatives of Adam Pollow, a University of Memphis student who, four years ago, was allegedly the fatal victim of a hog-tie by police officers.
A hog-tie is a type of restraint in which a person's hands and legs are tied together behind his or her back, similar to trussing up an animal. The police department has since banned the practice, which can sometimes induce asphyxiation.
In early January of 1993, Pollow was a patron at Bennigan's in East Memphis. During his dinner, he began choking on food. The restaurant manager called police to complain that Pollow was "under the influence of drugs." Police arrested him shortly after arriving at the restaurant. He was struck with a nightstick and shoved in the back of the squad car, the suit claims. He was later hog-tied, despite the fact that he had been vomiting. According to the suit, he was unable to lift his head from his own vomit, and consequently began choking on it. The Pollow family claims the arresting officers ignored Adam Pollow's pleas for help. He was placed on life support and died three days later.
According to the autopsy report, no drugs or alcohol were found in Pollow's body. He had a bruise on his skull, but no bones were broken. The autopsy ruled that he had died of choking on his own vomit.
The city settled with the family shortly after the trial began. The details of the settlement have been kept confidential.
It's uncertain how much the Pollow family might have won either in a jury trial or an out-of-court settlement. If the lawsuit had been filed in a state court under claims of negligence, caps on tort awards would have meant the family only could have won $130,000. However, this case was filed as a civil-rights action in federal court, where no such caps exist.
The Flyer tried a number of avenues to obtain access to the information before seeking disclosure through legal action Tuesday morning. One of the first actions it took was to request the information in writing, citing the Tennessee Open Records Act and the Federal Freedom of Information Act as legal supports to its claims.
Open-records laws, or sunshine laws, are intended to make public records accessible to both the public and the media, which, in the eyes of the law, is not granted any special treatment separate from the general public. Sunshine laws work like this: If a particular type of public document or record is not given a specific exemption under the law, it is presumed to be open for public inspection. Court settlements made by municipal bodies are not specifically exempted under the law.
Flyer editor Dennis Freeland says the city has a responsibility to make the settlement details public. "This case involves allegations of police brutality and public money," he explains. "There is no question in our minds that the settlement should be part of the public record."
Interim city attorney Kenneth McCown responded in writing that, "under both the settlement agreement and the order of the court, all parties are prohibited from releasing the terms of the settlement."
Part of McCown's statement -- "order of the court" -- seems to contradict U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons, who presided over the case. Responding to a letter hand-delivered by the Flyer, Gibbons wrote: "In the letter you say, this case was settled with details of the settlement sealed under court order. I am not sure where you obtained your information but this is incorrect. The settlement agreement is not a part of the court records."
The Flyer also waited a week to see if incoming city attorney Robert Spence would disclose the information. The answer was still no.
"What we feel like is that we're living up to the terms of the other parties, which is enforced by the court's order," assistant city attorney Ronald Wyatt said Monday.
Randy Fishman, the Pollow family attorney, told the Flyer he wasn't sure how family members felt about disclosure, but "until the agreement is modified, we're not going to be found to be in breach of the agreement."