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>> female announcer: This is a
production of WKNO, Memphis.
Production funding for "Behind
the Headlines" is made possible
in part by..
>> Kimsey: Controversy involving
Forrest Park at the Memphis City
Council and what's the final
price tag for the merged school
system.
All that and more coming up on
"Behind the Headlines."
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♪♪♪
>> Kimsey: Good evening and
welcome to "Behind the
Headlines."
I'm Pierre Kimsey sitting in for
Eric Barnes who's on assignment.
Joining us today is Bill Dries
from the Memphis Daily News.
Jackson Baker from the Memphis
Flyer.
And Michael Kelley from the
Commercial Appeal.
Welcome, Michael.
>> Kelley: Thanks.
>> Kimsey: Well, our first topic
has to do with something that's
been brewing for a while and
it's not a new controversy.
But it's the controversy
involving Forrest Park and
Jefferson Davis Park and some of
the other parks in the city.
Everybody knows they pass the
statue on their way down Union
on their way Downtown.
Tell us what exactly happened.
There was a lot of discussion
about that at the Memphis City
Council.
>> Baker: This thing really
begins around 2005 when there
was a big flurry of demands that
the statue be removed, that the
General Nathan Bedford Forrest
who was a Confederate Calvary
leader of great abilities and
great defects, personal defects,
be disinterred and taken by to
Elmwood Cemetery once he came.
>> Kimsey: From the military
standpoint, he was supposed to
be a great leader.
>> Baker: One of the best.
The original guerilla.
>> Kimsey: He can take 50 men
and make it seem like it was
300.
And he used to scare the Union
on a regular basis with that.
>> Baker: The famous quote
attributed to him was, "Be there
fustest with the mostest."
He later complained about that
saying.
"I didn't say that.
"I said first."
But in any case, he would very
rarely have the mostest.
He usually was in the minority.
That's one of his brilliances,
that he could overcome superior
forces with tactics.
>> Kimsey: But of course, the
center of the controversy is..
>> Baker: There's three strikes
against him which are that he
was a slave trader before the
Civil War, that he is accused of
having black Union troops who
were trying to surrender
massacred at Fort Pillow during
the war.
That's a big issue at the time
and has remained one.
And that he was a founder of the
Ku Klux *** after the war.
And it's very hard to recover
from all of that in the 20th and
21st century.
And indeed, this is why the core
of criticism mounted in 2005.
The Center City Commission, at
the time, took it up.
Voted almost unanimously to
change the name of the park and
alter its function.
But the City Council had to act
on it and it didn't at the time.
Now, there's a really
interesting story as to how it
happened to flare up again this
year.
And I've got to say, you talk
about the fact that we all drive
by Forrest Park and see the
statue of the general back in
the background matted on his
charger.
I was driving by that park back
in early December and happened
to notice a big granite marker
with big capital letters,
"Forrest Park."
I thought, "Where'd that thing
come from?"
Because I flashed on that
controversy of 2005.
And I thought things were in
equilibrium and here, we had
this brand new add on.
Where'd it come from?
And apparently, it had been
there for months and a lot of
people had never noticed it.
But it's kind of blatant.
And I ended up talking to George
Little and asked him about it.
He said, "Well, the city didn't
do that."
Basically, he thought the Sons
of Confederate Veterans had put
it there which basically, they
had done.
And so he had two courses of
action.
One, he could just leave it
there and let it go or because
it didn't go through procedure,
he could have it removed.
Make a long story shorter, the
Sons of Confederate Veterans,
Lee Miller, a member of the Sons
of Confederate Veterans, also a
member of the Tennessee
Historical Society, had agitated
to put the marker there, had
written a letter to Cindy
Buchanan, formerly city parks
director.
She had forgotten about it when
I asked her about it.
But she had written him back
saying, "That sounds like a
pretty good idea."
But that's not going through
procedure.
Therefore, they raised ten
thousand dollars, put it there.
And Walter Bailey, the Shelby
County Commissioner, was very
interested in anything having to
do with the vestiges of the
Confederacy complained.
But then it kind of sat there.
But once George Little realized
this thing may rise again, he
did yank it out.
We know the rest.
The Confederates have
complained.
On the other hand, people who
wanted Forrest Park altered
anyhow, they said now's the time
to do something.
But the real catalyst was when
Mr. Miller, same Lee Miller, got
in touch with Steve McDaniel,
who is an influential member of
the Tennessee legislature from
West Tennessee and said, "Can we
have legislation that could stop
any possible name change?"
Legislation was prepared, HB-22,
House Bill 33.
That did it.
The city council said, "We have
got to do something right now or
Nashville has, once again,
intruded on our province."
And unanimously, nine votes for
three abstentions.
They decided to make the name
changes last week.
So Forrest Park, after all this
controversy, just like that in a
snap of a finger became Health
Sciences Park because UT manages
it and it's in the medical
complex surrounding.
And two other parks, Confederate
Park and Jefferson Davis Park,
had their names changed also.
And it's a fait accompli.
Although, the legislation may
still go forward in Nashville.
And they may try to make it
retroactively.
And its possible this will also
impact another subject we'll be
talking about today which is the
old one of city schools,
suburban schools and the merger
because this may generate some
sympathy for the people in the
suburbs if they try to link the
two things.
>> Kimsey: One of you heard Bill
about what they're going to do.
I've heard this is not going to
be the end of it.
This is going to be a continuing
thing.
>> Dries: These are all
temporary names for these parks
that the council approved this
past Tuesday.
What happens next, there are
actually several other
resolutions and ordinances that
the council got started on as
well with this.
They're going to form a study
committee to look at what the
parks ought to be called, to
come up with permanent names.
The reason they chose the names
Health Sciences Memphis and
Mississippi River Park was on
the advice of the council
attorney Allan Wade who said
there's this legislation that
says you can't change the name
of any park that is named after
a war event or someone in the
military.
So, pick any name you want as a
temporary name as long as it has
no connection to that.
So, the council's going to study
the issue.
They're going to look at what to
call these parks and it's a
pretty safe bet that those parks
will not be called what they
have been called for several
decades when the council gets
around to that.
>> Kimsey: Well, I think that
this is just the beginning.
>> Bakers: There are rumors that
the Ku Klux *** will come here.
>> Kimsey: I've heard that.
Yeah, yeah.
>> Baker: Which they did a few
years ago, remember.
>> Kimsey: And I also heard that
the city's maintained that, you
know, well, the Ku Klux *** has
a right to gather as long as
they have the proper permits.
>> Dries: Well, it will be a
real interesting moment because
there are some proponents of
keeping Forrest Park as it is
who will try to tell you that
they believe that Forrest
probably wasn't in the ***.
There are many different
versions of a very controversial
life.
Forrest was the first Grand
Wizard of the Ku Klux ***.
>> Kimsey: Right, right.
Absolutely.
And also, Memphis City
Councilmen, at one point.
And Alderman, right.
Absolutely correct.
Well, that's not the last we'll
be hearing about that.
Let's move on.
You we're going to say
something.
>> Kelley: Well, I was going to
ask Jackson.
You spend a lot of time in
Nashville.
Does it say anything about the
future of this legislation that
they had to go to-where was it?-
Lexington, Tennessee to find a
sponsor rather than the local
delegations, somebody in our
local community here to push
this issue.
>> Jackson: It may but Steve
McDaniel is somebody who is
really in to Confederate
reenactments and that sort of
thing.
He's a member of every kind of
Confederate's Memorial Society
you can think of.
So in the sense, he'd be the
logical person to do it.
And Lexington's not that far.
Although, what is very
interesting is is it used to be
before the switch over from
Democrats to Republicans in west
Tennessee, Henderson County,
where Lexington is, that's it's
county, used to be the only
county in west Tennessee that
consistently voted Republican.
It did so since the Civil War
because it had been a Union
County.
So, it's very interesting that
Steve McDaniel, who is this
really-He's kind of a moderate
legislature but he's a
Confederate fanatic-that he
sponsored this legislation.
>> Kimsey: Alright, well, moving
on to our next topic.
We heard a lot of discussion
this week about the merged
school budget.
And Michael Kelley with the
Commercial Appeal, you covered
it this week.
What were some of the goings on
involving the board?
>> Kelley: Well, the board heard
from its transition steering
committee this past week some
rather grim news about the
revenue situation which is well
known, the loss of $63 million
in revenue to the unified
district from the withdrawal of
the city from its involvement in
education.
And there are other factors that
have painted a really difficult
revenue picture.
They calculated that if the
unified district just took the
place of the Memphis City
Schools and Shelby County
Schools and moved forward as is
that they would have a $157
million deficit.
Of course, that's not the final
word on the matter.
The preliminary general fund
budget actually is somewhat less
than that, eighty to ninety
million dollars in the red
because of certain investments
and certain efficiencies, or we
like to call them cuts, in this
preliminary proposal.
>> Kimsey: Now, there was some
talk that they're going to have
to go in front of the county
commission to talk about this
budget.
Is that correct?
>> Kelley: February 23, yes.
>> Kimsey: What's the reaction
been so far?
>> Kelley: So far, what we've
heard from the county commission
is don't come to us with that
80, 90 million dollar budget out
of balance.
Do the trimming there at the
school board level.
And that' not-There's been no
vote or anything like that yet.
That's going to happen on
Tuesday.
So we'll see on Tuesday what the
final decision is on what to
present to the county
commission.
>> Dries: This is a real
interesting situation because
what has driven the number up,
the gap up, the dollar figure
there, has been that a lot of
parents are really upset that in
order to save money, some of the
pupil-teacher ratios are going
to go up.
Some of the staffing levels are
going to be cut.
And a lot of parents say that
affects the quality of classroom
education.
There are arguments on the other
side that it might not have
quite the impact that the
parents believe it does.
But the school board ahs a real
decision to make.
And those staffing level are
going to be, I think, a key part
of the decision that they have
to make.
>> Jackson: And some of those
issues that Bill just mentioned
are reasons why.
I mentioned something that the
whole Forrest thing could have a
very indirect impact on the
suburban desire to have
independence in schools.
But certainly, this could
because people in suburbs are
already complaining our system
was just fine.
We're going to have all our
support people eroded from this
because of budgetary reasons.
That's going to give yet another
reason to insist on legislation
in Nashville.
And they probably will get some
sympathy there.
>> Kelley: Memphis City School
parents are very concerned, too.
They actually made up the
probably the majority of the
people who showed up for a
couple of community sessions on
the budget earlier this week
because this merger.
In this merger, there's no
guarantee, there's no real
guarantee that programs such as
Clue, such as Apex, such as the
fine elementary foreign language
program, Chinese, Russian, so
forth.
They find music and other
performing arts programs that
they have will necessarily have
to continue as maintenance of
effort, so to speak.
And so there's a lot of worry on
the city side, too.
>> Kimsey: Well, moving from
school boards, we go to the
general assembly and you spent a
week in Nashville, Jackson.
And you had your ear to the
ground out there.
What are you hearing from the
general assembly?
>> Baker: Well, the big
development this past week was
the quick passage through the
senate judiciary committee of a
bill sponsored by Ron Ramsey,
the speaker of the senate and
the lieutenant governor,
probably the most influential
man of state government short of
the governor and some say more
so than the governor.
And basically, this is the old
guns in parking lots bill.
And there were rumors before the
bill actually made its way
through that they would be all
kinds of hedges giving employers
a lot of control over who could
park in lots.
But really, all employers can do
according to this bill is post
signs saying -- If you do not
have a permit, basically, you
can not park-conceal a weapon in
your car on this lot.
But otherwise, anybody with a
permit to carry can do so.
And the other striking picture
of this bill is even though
governor Haslam had insisted
that colleges and universities
should be exempted from a bill
allowing guns in parking lots,
they are not exempted in this
bill.
And the senate judiciary
committee passed that thing
eight to nothing with one
abstention.
The one abstention was Ophelia
Ford, who in her speaking,
advanced the bill in a very
indirect way, made herself a
little bit of a spectacle.
Most people who see the show
have probably seen that viral
image of her.
But she was right on the issues,
I think.
Just as she's the messenger, in
the case, harmed the message, I
think.
So, the prospects for the bill
are that it will probably pass.
Although, the house still has a
chance.
The governor's going to put a
lot of pressure on that.
He wants the colleges and
universities out.
And if it gets to him without
that exemption, then he'll be up
against it to veto it.
>> Kimsey: Well, you still have
some very powerful people who
are against the bill.
I mean, last year, FedEx.
>> Baker: Chamber of Commerce
people.
>> Dries: We should also point
out that in Nashville this week,
the suburban leaders from Shelby
County were there for some
closed door sessions, as well,
to talk about the school issue.
And I think everybody agrees,
the possibility of some kind of
charter schools legislation.
>> Kimsey: Yeah, that's been
talked about a lot.
As a matter of fact, I was
struck during the governor's
speech, the particular emphasis
that he put on charter schools
in the State of the State
Address.
>> Baker: Of course, he's always
done that.
That's always been part of his
reform program.
But the creation of a state
authorizer that basically that
veto power over what a school
board does is going to be a very
controversial issue.
>> Kimsey: Well speaking of
controversial issues, the
Memphis airport-The situation
out there was steamed some
people in this city.
But everyone has been talking
about Southwest and their
airfares and how its going to be
so low and how they're going to
come in like the knight in
shining armor and save the day.
Tell us about what Southwest is
going to do.
That almost sounded like a
commercial but I apologize.
But in any case, is it unfair to
sit there and pretend that
Southwest is going to solve
everybody's problems at Memphis
International Airport?
>> Dries: Well, Southwest's
presence at Memphis
International, which is going to
happen probably in November of
this year, will not be a Delta
hub presence.
Southwest system doesn't even
really have hubs in that sense
of the word.
But Southwest announces this
week that they are going to
expand Air Tran service here at
Memphis International coming in
August.
They'll add some flights that
will be going some place other
than Atlanta starting in August.
But again, this is the Air Tran
brand that they bought last
year.
Ho9wever, within that
announcement, there was a bigger
story and that is that we will
see the Southwest brand come to
Memphis and to other markets
where they promise to expand in
November.
November is when Southwest will
sell off the 717s that Air Tran
flies to Delta Airlines and the
point in which Air Tran really
ceases to exist.
So Southwest is coming probably
in November.
In August, they will expand the
Air Tran service as a
preliminary to that.
>> Kimsey: But ultimately, one
of the things here is that Delta
has the power to undercut any
great savings that Southwest may
bring.
>> Dries: And it certainly has
in the past.
But Delta's service at Memphis
International has been cut to
such an extent and their
capacity has been cut across
their system.
And permanently, according to
their CEO and top management,
who have said that repeatedly
that it looks like there is now
the possibility for competitors
to come in and not have to fear
what happened to Frontier at
Memphis International.
Frontier came here a few years
ago and came in with lower
prices, competitive fares,
competitive routes and Delta
flooded the market here with
competing service and dropped
the price below, actually,
probably what it cost Delta to
put those flights out, simply to
run Frontier out of town.
And they did.
And a lot of the folks who have
been recruited to come here to
provide some competition for
Delta over the years have
brought up that very example of
what happened to Frontier as
their reason for saying thanks
but no thanks.
Well, now the Delta service has
dropped to such a level that
obviously, some of these folks
are taking a second look here.
>> Kimsey: Well, you've heard
the controversy.
And I don't want to get in to
the grand rehash about this but
we we're told, I believe it was
the middle part of last year,
that we were extremely lucky to
have Delta at the airport and we
should do everything, you know,
we can in order to keep Delta.
Meanwhile, most of the people I
know are flying out of Little
Rock and Nashville.
And there's been a change on the
airport board.
Is there any reason to believe
that there's going to be any
grand changes as a result of
that?
>> Dries: I think you're going
to see Delta continue to
retrench.
I don't know that that's as much
a function of a different
philosophy on the airport
authority as it is just Delta's
moving away from Memphis.
Not only that, but Delta also is
providing the lease space that
Pinnacle Airlines is going to
move in to at the Minneapolis
Airport when they move their
headquarters there.
You know, the new chief
operating officer of Pinnacle
who is to become the CEO after
they move is someone who has a
strong background with Comair
which was Delta's holy
subsidiary that did regional
airfares.
Delta's moving away from
Memphis.
We can cheerlead all we want to
and talk about y'all just
support Delta while it's here,
but really, that kind of
cheerleading talk has fallen by
the way side because Delta is
leaving.
They're just leaving.
They still call it a hub but
it's a hub in name only.
>> Kimsey: Alright, well, we'll
continue to follow that.
Big changes, moving on to the
side bar here.
Big changes at the Department of
Children's Services.
Bill, tell us a little bit about
that.
>> Dries: Kate O'Day, who has
been the commissioner of what
has been a troubled department
through several administrations
in Nashville, announced her
resignation this week.
This comes on the heels of a
court ruling that said,
basically, the department's
records on children who have
died from abuse and neglect have
to be open to the public.
The department made a big stand
against doing that and lost the
court battle.
And her resignation followed
that very closely.
Looks like we're going to be
seeing some more changes at DCS.
>> Kelley: It looks like, um,
another example, as if they
needed one among government
officials, to recognize the fact
that transparency, lack of
transparency blossoms in to a
much bigger problem than the one
you originally had.
>> Dries: Because now, we're
going to be talking about-okay,
what was in those files?
How did the department react to
these deaths?
This is the discussion that the
records request was meant to get
at.
But instead, we go through this
court battle and now, we're
finally getting to the issue
that we the purpose for seeking
those records in the first
place.
>> Kimsey: The other topic that
popped up on the side bar this
week was the residency
requirements for teachers.
Apparently, there's going to be
some changes made.
Jackson, tell us about that.
>> Baker: All of our stories
this week are related to each
other because this has to do
with the fact of the merger of
city and county school systems.
And the Memphis City Schools did
not have a residency requirement
requiring their personnel to
live within Shelby County.
Shelby County has an overall
policy of that sort.
So Walter Bailey introduced a
resolution to exempt the Memphis
City School teachers from the
policy.
And there were counter
resolutions.
There was finally a resolution
passed giving those employees a
five year moratorium.
Now, and there's even a further
upshot.
Terry Roland, the famous Terry
Roland, is going to be proposing
a referendum to eliminate
residency requirements in the
county.
And that will be interesting to
see what happens to that.
>> Kimsey: Has the county been
lobbied?
Have they been lobbied on a
regular basis by teachers to
change that requirement?
>> Baker: Yes, that's what
caused the resolution in the
first place.
>> Kimsey: Well, also, Bill, did
you want to add something?
>> Dries: Yeah, for the time
being, the teachers in the
Memphis City School system who
do not live in Shelby County
have five years to move within
the county.
The earliest we could get a
referendum on the charter change
would probably be 2014 elections
on that particular point.
>> Kelley: It's a very large
number of employees, too.
It's, I think, 1400.
>> Baker: Fifteen thousand-I
mean, 1500, yes, something like
that.
>> Kelley: A very large-This is
a big problem for a lot of
people uprooting their families.
>> Dries: And the commission
discussion was interesting
because, basically, you had nine
votes for this policy which they
will vote on on Monday which
represents some people agreeing
who really haven't agreed on
much of anything in terms of the
consolidation of the two school
systems.
>> Kimsey: Like who, for
instance?
>> Baker: The famous five.
There are five people in the
suburbs-Terry Roland, Chris
Thomas, Wyatt Bunker, Heidi
Shafer.
Who's the other one?
Anyhow, that group that's always
been-pardon?
>> Kimsey: Basar?
>> Baker: Basar-Steve Basar, the
new one.
That group has always been on
the losing end of eight to five
votes on every school merger
issue.
Eight to five, they lose.
This time they claim the victory
and they are entitled to claim a
victory.
>> Dries: Well, they were
basically sitting around a table
and they all figured out that
none of them really who were
involved in the committee
discussion agreed with exempting
people from a residency
requirement.
They had that common ground and
so Bailey withdrew his
resolution.
And we've got the vote that's
coming up on Monday.
>> Kimsey: Well, that's all the
time we have for this week.
I want to thank everybody for
joining us.
And join us again next week.
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