CITY REPORTER continued

City Officials Dispute U.S. Census Count

by Jackson Baker

Two Shelby County cities which, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates, have lost population, are in a mood to challenge the new figures. Officials speaking on behalf of both Memphis and Germantown dispute the federal

PHOTO BY JOHN LANDRIGAN

Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy says Germantown took a “head-by-head” count of its population.

government’s preliminary counts, released Tuesday, showing Memphis’ estimated population to be 596,725, some 4 percent lower than the 1990 census figure of 618,652, and Germantown’s to be 31,772, also 4 percent lower than the 1990 figure of 33,016.
Dexter Muller, director of the Memphis/Shelby County Office of Planning and Development, charged last week that the U.S. census was the result of an “undercount” of Memphis’ African-American population. And Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy was quick to complain, too. “We took a head-by-head, block-by-block, house-by-house count just this year,” she said, and the city’s own 1997 special census, taken by city employees but verified by state officials, shows Germantown to have a population of 37,130. (Municipalities are permitted by the federal government to offer three independent, verified counts during each decade.)
At this point, self-esteem is more an issue for the cities than are negative financial consequences. Various kinds of revenue-sharing from both state and federal sources are based on population totals, but, practically speaking, no change in allocations is made until the issuance of official U.S. census figures at the end of each decade.
Meanwhile, for planning and other ad hoc purposes, both Germantown and Memphis will stick to their guns, assuming larger populations than last week’s U.S. figures indicate. Memphis planning director Terry Emerick says the city has not yet decided whether to conduct its own special census between now and 2000.
Last week’s U.S. figures showed population gains for Bartlett (35,735, +24 percent), Collierville (24,685, +41 percent), Lakeland (1,275, +6 percent), and Millington (18,142, +2 percent), and a 9 percent loss for Arlington (1,414). n

Flyer Lawsuit Goes Back to State Court

by Phil Campbell

The Flyer’s lawsuit to force the city to open certain out-of-court settlement records for public inspection is dragging on, but now in a different courtroom.
The Flyer is suing the city to gain access to legal records involving lawsuits against the city. The city recently settled out of court with the family of Adam Pollow, who died after allegedly being mistreated by Memphis police officers. In early 1993, Pollow was eating dinner at Bennigan’s in East Memphis when he began choking. The police were called because the manager thought he was on drugs, according to the suit. Pollow was put in a restrictive police constraint called a hog-tie, a practice that police director Walter Winfrey banned in 1994.
Pollow, left in the back of the police squad car, choked on his own vomit. The lawsuit claims that the officers initially ignored his pleas for help, but eventually took him to the hospital. Pollow died three days later. The city settled shortly after the trial began, and it has kept the details of that settlement confidential.
When the newsweekly filed its petition in state chancery court three weeks ago, city attorneys removed the case to U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons’ court, who oversaw the original Pollow case. But, after a hearing, Gibbons put the case back in state chancery court. Chancellor Floyd Peete is now considering the case.
Assistant City Attorney Sara Hall claimed in a hearing in Peete’s courtroom that the city is stuck “between a rock and a hard place.” If it doesn’t release the information, it’s in violation of state open-records laws. If Peete orders the city to release the information, the city’s compliance could be in violation of the settlement agreement Judge Gibbons apparently oversaw.
If that’s the city’s argument, then the city has apparently bound itself. David Pollow, Adam Pollow’s father, says the city insisted on a confidentiality agreement during settlement discussions. Pollow says he’d like the agreement made public.
Questions remain about what type of settlement agreement Pollow made with the city. When Gibbons sent the case back to state court, she noted that there “may be a question of the proper interpretation of the confidentiality order as applied to the City.” Gibbons left open the question of whether her order precludes the city from releasing the settlement agreement at all.
The federal judge says she put the issue back in state court because the Flyer is suing under a state law.
The newsweekly has recently taken the depositions of three city attorneys involved in the Pollow case. Their statements were taken to try to determine what kind of settlement agreement was reached and how the confidentiality order should be interpreted.
No new court date has been set. n

Child Advocates Object to Supreme Court Initiative

by Jacqueline Marino

The pilot project of a commission charged with improving court practices in child-abuse and child-neglect cases has sparked strong objections from child advocates in Shelby County.
The Tennessee Supreme Court-appointed commission will spend some of a

CMI FILE PHOTO

Judge Kenneth Turner wants to use federal grant money to get kids out of the foster-home jungle.

nearly $200,000 federal grant trying to increase advocacy for children and for parents in danger of losing their parental rights. But Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth Turner, who is also a member of the commission, believes the project will be counterproductive to the primary goal of placing children in stable, permanent homes as quickly as possible.
“The money should go toward services that will get children out of the foster-home jungle,” Turner says. “I don’t think the money was intended to provide representation for derelict parents.”
After completing a two-year assessment of child dependency and neglect, the commission found that less than 20 percent of parents and children are represented by attorneys during preliminary legal proceedings involving parental rights. In such proceedings, the state is supposed to act in the best interest of the children, but does not actually represent them. Other states require legal representation for both children and parents.
“I think everyone benefits from a process that’s fair,” says Cindy MacLean, a consultant to the Tennessee Supreme Court and coordinator of the federal grant providing the majority of the funding. “I don’t think it’s fair when you have parents who aren’t represented fighting against the state that’s very well-represented.”
Because this type of family law is relatively low-paid and complex, many counties in the state do not have enough attorneys who specialize in it. Over the next two years, $175,000 will be used to train attorneys in six counties. Because Turner disapproves of the project, MacLean says Shelby County will not receive any of that funding.
Barbara Holden, executive director of the Memphis and Shelby County Community Services Agency, shares Turner’s feelings about the project. She says the system gives parents many opportunities to prove they can care for their children before they end up in court. She fears training more attorneys to represent parents will prolong legal battles, which will inevitably keep children in foster-care limbo longer than necessary.
“I don’t want to sound like I want to diminish parental rights. It’s the most sacred thing we have,” she says. “But when it becomes counterproductive to the children, then we are starting to diminish their rights.” n

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