Joining Forces
Inmates and at-risk youth work to revitalize
communities.
by Janel Davis
Two public-private training collaboratives, YouthBuild Memphis
and Building for the Future (BFF), will provide up to 50 homes for low-income
families during the next year.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first house are complete and
program administrators hope to build about one house each week, with 48 to 50
homes completed by June of next year. The new homes will be replacement
housing for the homeless and elderly.
“We must address the housing needs in a dramatic way to have
an impact on meeting our commitments to elderly and disabled who are living in
substandard homes,” says Robert Lipscomb, director of the Memphis Housing
Authority and the Division of Housing and Community Development.
Primary funding for the project will come from the HCD, using
federal Housing and Urban Development funds which have been earmarked for
construction of low-income housing for private ownership. Cost for each of the
1,200- to 1,400-square-foot brick homes will be approximately $60,000.
Volunteer trainees/inmates from the Shelby County Division of
Corrections and students in YouthBuild will participate in the construction.
Instructor/trainers are provided through local trades unions and instruction
is offered through the Tennessee Technology Center at Memphis.
Joe Kerley, YouthBuild manager, is responsible for the prototype
house.
“All the agencies who are on board have offered ideas to
help form the plan,” he says. “It’s been a long time coming. We just
keep working together until barriers disappear.”
The two organizations have a long history of assisting and
rehabilitating members through community development. YouthBuild Memphis is a
federally funded training program that targets 18- to 24-year-old at-risk
youth. The organization’s mission is to provide education and job training,
supplemented with counseling and support services necessary to achieve
economic self-sufficiency, and to expand the supply of permanent affordable
housing. HUD has funded six YouthBuild programs in Memphis. Five grants have
been operated through the Tennessee Technology Center, and Shelby County
recently received its first YouthBuild grant. More than 150 youth have
received training through the program.
BFF is a nationwide community development partnership with 13
agencies collaborating to leverage public money and resources to build homes
and revitalize communities. Volunteer inmates are trained in construction and
employment skills and use these skills in community projects. BFF began
building homes in 1993 and has built 80 new homes and trained more than 1,000
inmates.
Chief Public Defender A C Wharton has become a big supporter of
BFF.
“We have no single-purpose dollars. The dollars must be
spent for more than one purpose,” says Wharton. “The dollar that
rehabilitates also educates.”
Keeping Us In the Dark
MLGW won’t elaborate on additional security measures.
By Rebekah Gleaves
In light of the recent terrorist attacks, officials at Memphis
Light, Gas and Water say they have an “increased focus on security
measures” at the utility but won’t elaborate on what that means. After an
inquiry from the Flyer about what additional steps have been taken to
protect the utility from terrorist attacks — particularly biological attacks
on the water system — Mark Heuberger, MLGW’s chief communications officer,
faxed the following:
“MLGW has a very well-trained, professional, and effective
security force, which oversees and enforces security measures at the utility
on a daily basis. The recent tragic events have brought increased focus to the
company’s ongoing efforts to protect its facilities, employees, and customers.
As a result, the utility has engaged in additional measures across the board
to further strengthen the effectiveness of its security activities.”
Heuberger did not respond to specific questions about whether
MLGW had hired additional personnel, installed new security systems, improved
existing systems, conducted background checks for employees, or implemented an
ID badge system for employees. Nor did he respond to additional calls from the
Flyer.
No More Flip-flops
County defines casual-day dress code.
By Mary Cashiola
county officials might be tightening their belts due to the
budget, but for employees in one Shelby County department, the issue of the
day concerns the tightness of their pants.
In what was called a final reminder, Shelby County Clerk Jayne
Creson recently issued a tersely worded memo to her staff redefining the
department’s casual-day attire allowed each Friday. Included in the new
restrictions were no tennis shoes, T-shirts, or tight pants.
“Jayne changed the casual-day policy because it had gotten
ridiculous,” says the county clerk’s office administrator, Katherine
Kirk. “People were coming to work looking like they should be washing
their car in their yard.”
The department instituted a casual day five or six years ago,
says Kirk, but more recently, the policy was shifted to a business-casual or
dress-down day to try to formalize the employees’ dress.
Kirk says the casualness of the wear had gotten worse, with
employees wearing everything from flip-flops to short, body-hugging
skirts.
“Six months ago, there was something in The County
Line that said casual day had become sloppy day,” Kirk says,
indicating the county’s in-house newsletter. “It’s not just our problem.
It’s all over the county.”
The county’s official dress code says that male employees who
work with the public should wear coats and ties, and female employees should
wear dresses, suits, or coordinated pants suits. Each department has the power
to create its own casual-day policy, however.
Creson’s memo also included restrictions on shorts, jogging suits
and sweats, Spandex pants, and shirts that show any midriff.
“We would never have said, ‘Don’t do this or don’t do that,’
if it hadn’t been done,” says Kirk.
The policy went into effect immediately and Kirk said the first
day of the stricter casual day worked very well.
Wrong Number?
BellSouth could face a lawsuit over its subsidy
programs.
By Rebekah Gleaves
In the coming days BellSouth may face a class-action lawsuit for
not communicating the existence of the Lifeline and Link-Up programs to half a
million of Tennessee’s needy residents. A Memphis lawyer, William F. Burns,
says he is currently gathering information on the programs in order to file a
complaint against the telephone service carrier.
“We are in the process of investigating the factual issues
involved in this unique and complex regulatory scheme,” says Burns.
“From our initial review, we anticipate pursuing any and all legal
remedies on behalf of Tennessee consumers in the very near future.”
Burns also says that associates in his office have already spoken
with members of the potential plaintiff class.
Last week’s issue of the Flyer featured a cover story on
the phone subsidy programs that only 36,000 Tennesseans receive though half a
million are qualified. The programs are funded jointly by the state and
federal governments. Lifeline reduces the cost of monthly services to $8 for
qualified participants and Link-Up covers half of the connection charge.
In 1991 the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) ordered
BellSouth to generate the state subsidy amount by adding a fraction of a cent
to the basic rate charged for every telephone line in the state.
The issue came before the TRA again last fall when a competing
telephone service provider, Memphis-based Discount Communications, enrolled
customers who were qualified for Lifeline and Link-Up and attempted to get the
state to subsidize the bills. BellSouth refused to pass on the monthly state
subsidy of $3.50 per customer, saying that Discount should be required to
generate the subsidy for its customers from among its own customer pool.
The Tennessee attorney general’s office submitted a brief to the
TRA on the Lifeline issue, stating that BellSouth should be required to pass
on the subsidy money. TRA did not follow the attorney general’s opinion.
“We only intervene when we think there’s a matter important
to consumers,” says Vance Broemmel, the lawyer in the attorney general’s
office who drafted the brief on Lifeline. “We took the position that the
Lifeline money should be passed on. Unfortunately it’s somewhat common for the
TRA to disagree with us.”
Burns says his office has spoken with lawyers in the attorney
general’s office in order to learn more about the issues involved.
Up In Arms
Despite statewide trend, local bank robberies decline.
By Chris Przybyszewski
In a recent AP article, an FBI representative claimed that bank
robberies are on the rise in Tennessee. Events in Memphis, where two separate
fatalities have occurred during bank holdups in the last year, seem to support
that claim.
But Steve Anthony, the FBI supervisory special agent for violent
crimes in West Tennessee and member of a special violent-crime taskforce, says
those statistics don’t hold true in Memphis.
“In the Memphis metropolitan area, actually since 1997, we
have had a steady decrease in bank robberies,” says Anthony. “From
90 bank robberies in 1997 to 62 in 1998 to 50 in 1999 to 41 last year. As of
right now we’ve had 21. This time last year we had 30. We’re down another 30
percent right now.”
Anthony attributes the drop to several factors. “First and
foremost is community involvement,” he says. “That receives the most
credit, in particular the Crimestoppers unit. Especially with the violent
robberies, people are not going to stand and let others be victim to these
kinds of senseless acts.”
Anthony and his group work closely with area banks.
“The banking community has been very cooperative,” he
says. “We train some with them and we discuss security matters and
such.” However, while he emphasizes that the FBI can make suggestions to
banks, “they are a business. All we can do is to recommend they have good
cameras, and good-quality video, preferably 35 millimeter. We ask that they
have alarms and other security devices such as dye packs. All we can do is
meet regularly and suggest.”
Anthony also attributes the declining robbery rate to his
group.
“In some small way, we give credit to the agency and the
taskforce that had the foresight in 1997, when the robberies hit a peak,”
he says. “The heads of the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby
County Sheriff’s Department and now the Collierville Police Department came up
with a unified front — one group of investigators that work together day in
and day out that can handle the leads. The credit goes around.”
Anthony says that the taskforce’s efforts led to the quick
capture of William O. Maxwell, Terrance Johnson Jr., and Aaron Haynes, who
during their July 23rd robbery of a Union Planters branch allegedly left bank
guard James Earl Jones with a bullet wound in the face and bank customer
Sheryl White dead.
“It is a terrible incident,” he says. “It rallied
our taskforce, it rallied the community. It pushed us forward to say that
we’re not going to let this happen. I have been doing this for many years and
whenever you hear over your radio that shots have been fired and someone has
been injured, it’s hard to describe. It’s a tragic thing. You’re pumped up
inside. In the last case, the taskforce literally worked 24 hours a day until
that was solved in two days. We’re going to continue to respond like that and
we’re going to do our best not to rest until the people responsible are put
behind bars.”
Still, Anthony acknowledges that such high-profile crimes scare
customers and bank personnel alike.
“It does come to the forefront that bank robbery, by its
very essence, is a violent crime. Bad things tend to happen when a robbery has
been committed.”
And despite Memphis’ lower-than-average robbery statistics,
“We are, unfortunately, the only city where a customer has been killed in
a bank for the last two years. We’re not happy with that at all. When you have
an instance like that it raises the concern for safety and what we are doing
to catch these people. [It] will hopefully help prevent the
robberies.”
One Month Later
Memphis holds fund-raisers to help families of victims of
September 11th.
By Janel Davis
In the wake of the September 11th tragedy, area businesses are
offering a variety of fund-raising activities. A month later, on October 11th,
Memphians can participate in the following:
· Windows of Hope Fund — The Memphis Restaurant
Association’s member eateries are donating 10 percent of their sales to the
fund, which provides assistance for the families of the victims in the food
service profession. More than 45 Memphis restaurants will participate in the
project. For more information, call 276-1958.
· FedEx Express Live Broadcast — FedEx Express will
broadcast a live, 90-minute program from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to encourage
FedEx employees across the nation to donate to United Way through the
“Now More Than Ever” fund. The goal for the FedEx fund-raising
effort is $11.5 million nationwide. “Now More Than Ever” will be
broadcast on cable channels throughout the area. For more information, call
434-7785.
· Colonial Country Club’s Hero’s Tribute — Colonial Country
Club will donate its golf facilities to the American Red Cross for a Hero’s
Tribute. The Red Cross invites players for an 18-hole round of golf on one of
the two championship courses. Cost will be $150 per person with all proceeds
benefiting the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. For more information,
call 726-1690.
· Freedom Art Exhibit Opening Reception — Two local
artists will display flag paintings at 2093 Madison in Overton Square. The
opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.