Trash Talk A+, Construction Progress F The soap opera that has become the construction management process for Memphis City Schools took a surreal turn Monday night when school board members attacked each other’s integrity and called each other names. In the end, school officials seemed stunned, and the system is still no closer to building the 15 new schools that must be completed by the fall of 2001 to meet a state mandate to reduce class sizes. Commissioner Lora Jobe criticized fellow board member Jim Brown’s proposal to give the entire new school construction contract — worth nearly $200 million — to Detroit-based Barton Malow before seeing a formal proposal. Brown says a new vote now will save money. Barton Malow representative Derek Albert, who admits his company is lobbying hard to win the deal, is friends with commissioners Brown and Michael Hooks Jr. “This represents a new low in a process that has been contrived … to favor one company,” she said. “This resolution would arbitrarily award a contract not based on the cost of doing business or our own specifications, but rather on self-disclosed friendship. The snakes have crawled out from under the rocks.” Brown took issue with Jobe’s public scolding, warning her, “Don’t attack my integrity; everything I’ve done has been open and above board … you may want to look at your own forked tongue.” The meeting was adjourned abruptly before anyone could get in another word. Later, Jobe said her comment wasn’t directed at Brown or Hooks. Inman/Beers, which is building AutoZone Park downtown, is the other company still vying for the job. And like Barton Malow, the company has its own ties to the school board: Board member Barbara Prescott’s husband, Allie, is the Redbirds’ president and general manager. The issue will come up for a vote at the board’s March 20th meeting. — Tanuja Surpuriya Face National Accused of Fraud Face National, a modeling agency based in North Carolina, recruited more than 50 prospective Memphis models two weeks ago at a Holiday Inn open-call. Two of the women are now saying the agency is a fraud. Summer Hamilton and Racquel Williams say that they gave Face National a non-refundable $175 deposit for photography fees. Agency representative Chad Johnston assured the new recruits that Terry Morton would photograph them for three more $175 installments. Morton, he said, had shot for Vogue and Elle magazines and works for Fashion Files, a modeling-related business in Charlotte, North Carolina. But booking agents at Elle and Vogue say they have never heard of Morton. Fashion Files’ phone number is unlisted and Libby Stone, president of the Professional Modeling Guild of North Carolina, has never heard of Morton, Fashion Files, or Face National. But one name did ring a bell with Stone — Bellisimo, the name Face National used until last April, according to the Better Business Bureau. “What these people do is travel across the country, stay in fancy hotel rooms, advertise and get a bunch of people excited and take their money up front,” says Stone. Johnston declined to discuss Hamilton and Williams’ allegations, but says, “You’ve got some girls who don’t know anything about the business. They should be careful because we have attorneys.” — Ashley Fantz Deputy Fired After Sex With Inmate A Sheriff Department’s deputy accused of raping a female inmate in a holding cell at 201 Poplar was fired on Monday. During a five-month Internal Affairs investigation beginning last October, blood and semen samples were taken from Deputy J.D. Jackson and sent to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation labs. Jackson had been suspended with pay, a common practice for employees who have had criminal charges filed against them, says department chief counsel Don Strother. Deputy Chief Corbett Hart determined evidence suggested Jackson was guilty of two departmental charges. “We found that he was guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and that he was in violation of a local and federal law,” says Hart. Hart would not say what that evidence is or that Jackson’s termination was a confirmation that he was guilty of rape. “This is still in the judicial system,” he says. The inmate’s identity remains undisclosed. She was being held on prostitution and theft charges. — Ashley Fantz WWF Blocks Advertising For Documentary The World Wrestling Federation has gone to war with Beyond the Mat, a documentary that takes a behind-the-scenes peek at the rough-and-tumble world of professional wrestling. The first national commercial for the film was scheduled to run during the USA network’s wrestling program RAW on Monday, February 28th, but was pulled by the WWF, who has the last say over who can advertise during its broadcasts. Likewise, ads scheduled to run on UPN’s Smackdown have been yanked. “The WWF were always neutral. They let us know that they were neither for this movie or against it,” says Mark Urman, co-president of Lion’s Gate Films, which produced Beyond the Mat. “By pulling the carpet out from under us not at the 11th hour, but at the 12th hour, they clearly calculated to do us harm.” Urman notes that Lion’s Gate has been successful in placing advertising with affiliate stations, but it’s not as cost-effective. “You can buy a national ad for $25,000, or you can buy the same amount of time in the New York market for $15,000,” he says. “We had signed [national] contracts to run and will be taking legal action.” Vince McMahon, head of the WWF, could not be reached for comment. “The opening [last weekend] was unaffected by any perceived advertising blockade,” reports Jeff Kaufman of Memphis’ Malco Theatres. “To my knowledge Beyond the Mat was the largest opening of any documentary in the city, ever. We are happy and hope it continues to do this kind of business.” Memphis was selected for the premiere of Beyond the Mat. “All of the gimmicks and the absurdity in professional wrestling came out of the Memphis tradition,” Barry Blaustein, the film’s writer and director, said in a recent interview, explaining why Memphis was selected. — Chris Davis Pollution A Growing Problem In Wolf River Harbor Joe Royer grabs his kayak off the rack that he rents at the Harbor Town marina and prepares for one of his frequent excursions into the Mississippi. Crossing the river, he stares back at the city skyline as he docks his kayak on a sandbar on the Arkansas side of the river. “This is a view of Memphis that less than one percent of the residents get to see,” says Royer, co-owner of Outdoors, Inc. and an avid outdoorsman. “It’s just a shame you have to go through all that stuff to get here.” The “stuff” is the vast collection of litter that drifted alongside his kayak as he paddled through the Wolf River Harbor, the body of water that splits Mud Island from the cobblestones. Cans, bottles, plastic syringes, rubber gloves, and more things than you can imagine are scattered across the surface. In recent years, the harbor has gained more exposure from residents and visitors, thanks to downtown developments like The Pyramid and Harbor Town with its marina. With the increased exposure have come countless complaints that litter and pollution dumped into the Wolf River Harbor from storm drains has gotten out of control. Rainwater and runoff from much of the downtown area flows through downtown storm drains to a drainage basin at the Bayou-Gayoso Pumping Station. The water then flows into the harbor directly by gravity, or if the river is higher than 30 feet, the storm runoff is pumped into the harbor. Proposed solutions to this problem are about as abundant as opinions on the U of M coaching position, but the most common is the bar screen solution. Some pump stations have bar screens to filter out solid wastes before the storm water is ultimately dumped into its final destination. The Bayou-Gayoso station does not have such screens. Jerry Collins, director of public works for the city of Memphis, contends that the bar screen solution is not as easy as it may sound. “When you’re looking at something that is going to cost between $3 million and $10 million,” he says, “that’s not something you can solve three or four months after someone complains about the problem.” Money for bar screens would be drawn from the city’s capital improvement funds, which are used for any proposed city improvements. But something needs to be done, and soon. Don Richardson, chairman of the Chickasaw Group of the Sierra Club, says, “I’ve been studying riverfronts and wetlands since 1994, and I’ve never seen an area as unique, with as much potential as Memphis, in that there is such a vast collection of wildlife right there in Downtown.” The area harbors an assortment of creatures, from hawks to blue herons to occasional pelicans. “I’m against the futility of spending millions of dollars building up the riverfront, for them [visitors] to see it filled with garbage,” says Richardson. Efforts to enhance the Mississippi riverfront have been in the works for years, but there have been no definite plans to tackle the litter problem or improve the actual harbor. Recently, Mayor Herenton’s Riverfront Steering Committee created a new organization, the Riverfront Development Corporation, and appointed former director of public works Benny Lendermon as its executive director. The RDC intends to coordinate planning, programming, and development of five miles of waterfront stretching from the Wolf River Harbor south to Chickasaw Heritage Park. One of the RDC’s first tasks is to seek permission to use the city’s capital improvement funds, the same source that would finance the bar screens, to build the long-delayed $4.2 million cobblestone walkway, named for former First Tennessee Bank president Ron Terry. The 10-foot-wide walkway will wind southward from Jefferson Davis Park to Tom Lee Park. Steering Committee members have stated that designs to reshape and slow Riverside Drive, along with a comprehensive, fresh riverfront master plan, are also needed. But nowhere in the current agenda are there any plans to cure the harbor’s litter ills. “The problem itself hasn’t gotten worse, but the exposure to it has increased with more people taking advantage of the pleasures the harbor brings, which is great,” says Lendermon. He also points out that exposure is usually how problems get solved. Several years ago, a $43 million proposal by the Herenton administration to turn part of the Wolf River Harbor into a lake with new access to Mud Island certainly attracted attention. However, Memphians disapproved of building a Maywood II, and the proposal failed to receive funding or public support. The Clean Water Act, a 1977 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, regulates the pollution of rivers and lakes within the United States. The CWA makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless a permit is obtained under the Act. Memphis has such a permit — technically called an MS-4 (urban storm water permit) —but Lendermon says that the MS-4 does not necessarily apply in this case. “The vast majority of those efforts are not centered around what the problem is here,” he says. “The majority of the problem is floatable materials, which aren’t a pollution problem as far as a hazard is concerned. Not to say that it isn’t a problem, but in looking at what those people are dealing with, they’re dealing with pollution problems that can cause direct harm to humans and wildlife.” Eddie Bouzeid, an official from the Division of Water Pollution Control, concurs. “We deal with industry and chemical pollution; but even though it is out of our jurisdiction, we are working very hard with the city of Memphis, as part of the MS-4, to come up with a best-management practice, which ultimately, is educating the public.” Public education concerning littering and its hazards seems to be the plan of choice. Proponents of the plan realize that it is not a quick fix, but stand by its effectiveness in the long run. “The problem is litter, so if we can convince people to be more appreciative of the fact that whatever is thrown on the street will end up in the river, then that is a big step towards improving that situation,” says Collins. “Whatever litter you see on the curb or in the gutter today, is going to be in the Mississippi River a few days down the road.” There is still one problem: No one is really in charge of the Wolf River Harbor. So if you have a complaint, who do you talk to? Well, that depends. The harbor itself belongs to the state of Tennessee, as does any public body of water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the harbor for dredging purposes, but not for cleaning. All of the land alongside the harbor is privately owned, and according to city officials, it is the owners’ responsibility to keep it clean. There is much debris and garbage along the banks of Mud Island. Who’s responsible? Mud Island. Harbor Town is responsible for its own banks. Responsibility, however, seems to be merely a matter of opinion. As Joe Royer glides through the harbor shouting instructions in cadence to a rather novice paddler sharing his kayak, he stops to comment, “I’m not quite sure whose actual responsibility it is, but it needs to be someone’s.” — Jake Lawhead Verbatim “Yuppies Stay Home!” and “End Tennessee D.O.T. Fascism — Stop the Highway!” — two messages spray-painted on construction barricades along Broad Avenue by people who, we presume, are opposed to the Department of Transportation’s extension of Sam Cooper Boulevard westward to East Parkway. Making A Difference in Millennial Memphis - 38 Know any good jokes that end with the punch line, “No you big silly, I said CANCER.” We didn’t think so. Cancer is just one of those things that people don’t kid about. It remains the elusive and terrifying killer that may only be discussed politely in hushed tones. Of course that is all about to change — sort of. It is doubtful that the Memphis Cancer Foundation would ever endorse laughter as the best medicine, but they have determined that it is, at least, very good medicine. When laughter takes hold of the body, pain is reduced and blood pressure is lowered. There is even a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting that when we laugh “natural killer cells” are produced in the body. These cells destroy tumor cells. The Memphis Cancer Foundation is planning a special event called “The World’s Silliest Indoor Picnic,” for cancer survivors. Humor is the focus of this event, and anytime you can help save lives and make people laugh at the same time, we are all for it. For this worthwhile project, the Memphis Cancer Foundation will receive the 38th Making a Difference in Millennial Memphis grant. As part of its 10th-anniversary celebration, The Memphis Flyer is giving away $50,000 in grants of $1,000 each. The money is provided by an anonymous Memphian who hopes to encourage what might be called good works, little things that improve the quality of life in Memphis. The grants are disbursed by the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis. Grants are available to any nonprofit in the Memphis area. To apply, send a proposal on the organization’s stationery to: Making A Difference, The Memphis Flyer, P.O. Box 687, Memphis, TN 38101

					Reports Of My Death ... "L.W. (Les) Seago Jr., a retired journalist and university public relations official, died _____ of _____. He was _____." --Obituary of Les Seago, as written by Les Seago. The research news reporter for the University of Memphis' media relations officer, Seago had written his own obituary before his death last week, which was then reprinted -- verbatim, blanks and all -- in the next day's edition of the school's newspaper, The Daily Helmsman. On Saturday, 150 people turned out for a memorial in the auditorium of the school's journalism building. "The place was pretty much standing room only," says assistant director for media relations Curt Guenther. "Les was well liked, and everyone turned out to say their farewells." For the record, Seago died Wednesday, March 1st of prostate cancer. He was 61. Send In The Clowns, Part I "I'm certified." -- WMC-TV Channel 5 news anchor Joe Birch , confirming what we already suspected on Friday night's 10 p.m. broadcast. Birch was referring to the "certified ringmaster" designation bestowed upon him by the Royal Hanneford Circus, in town for a weekend of performances last weekend. The certificate should come in handy as Birch presides over the three-ring circus that has become Channel 5 news. Selling The Tigers After the year it's had, the University of Memphis is desperately in need of a makeover. That's why we welcome the news last week that the university will be dropping its old slogan, "Great Expectations." A new one has yet to be chosen, so we would like to offer up these suggestions: · U of M coaches are hands on. · The University of Memphis: We have plenty of parking. · Tic. Tic. He's our man. If he can't do it ... oh, crap. · Hey, if .482 were our shooting percentage, that'd be pretty good, right? · Johnny Jones. Johnny Jones. He's our man. If he can't ... oh, wait a minute. · Washington State University officials agree: Our president is the best. · Calipari, Calipari. He's our man. If he can't do it ... well, who's next on the list? · Come to the U of M: We need the money to pay for our new basketball coach. Send In The Clowns, Part II Speaking of circuses, Channel 5 had the most complete coverage of the one that sprang up at last Monday's Memphis City Schools board meeting around the ongoing school construction controversy (see City Reporter). That's partly because after interrupting the proceedings twice, the reporter for WREG TV Channel 3 left before the issue even came to the table. Channel 3's Karen Carlson was supposed to cover the school board meeting, but arrived late. She cornered Michael Hooks Jr. in the hallway, however, and began to interview him. Unfortunately, Carlson's wireless microphone was on the same frequency as the PA the board was using, and snippets of her interview kept breaking in. Unaware, Carlson entered the meeting only to find the board recessing while they figured out what was going on. Once the problem was figured out, the meeting reconvened, but Carlson became a distraction again when she called the office on her cell phone to relate her humorous experience. Eventually, Carlson learned that the construction issue had been moved to the back of the agenda, and she packed up her camera and her Mr. Microphone and went home.
		Compiled by Mark Jordan with contributions from Jim Hanas and Tanuja Surpurija. Send items to: P.O. Box 1738 Memphis, TN 38101 FAX: 521-0129 e-mail: jordan@memphisflyer.com.