VOL. 131 | NO. 41 | Friday, February 26, 2016
Last Word
Bill Dries
Last Word: Carson Cancels, Haslam Endorses, Bank Numbers and Kobe's Exit
By Bill Dries
Presidential campaigns and the security concerns that come with them aren’t something that comes up a lot in terms of press coverage in this election cycle.
But it has come up leading into what will be a busy weekend locally and in the region among the presidential contenders.
Republican candidate Ben Carson was scheduled to attend both Sunday services at Highpoint Church in East Memphis.
Leaders of the church emphasized it was a non-political event in which Carson would talk about his personal story and his faith but would not make a political pitch.
This is not unprecedented.
In 2008, Republican contender Mike Huckabee attended an ordination ceremony for two ministers at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova – an event that was billed also as a nonpolitical event.
And so the reporters who came to cover the candidate who would win the Tennessee Republican primary days later watched not from the sanctuary but from the room where Bellevue’s video and audio feeds are coordinated. Huckabee talked politics with reporters after the service as he made a run for some barbecue to-go from Corky’s on his way to another city on the campaign trail.
Highpoint’s Andy Savage posted a video to the church’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon saying the church withdrew its invitation to Carson after it couldn’t come to an agreement with the Secret Service about security precautions that “allowed us to have the excellent Sunday experience we all expect every Sunday at Highpoint Church.” No hard feelings, Savage added.
Such measures can turn a regular event with a candidate under Secret Service protection added to the mix into an ordeal.
There are almost always metal detectors for everyone to go through no matter how large the venue and some areas of a building are usually partitioned off.
And the measures often include anyone wishing to attend showing up at least an hour in advance and being effectively sealed in the room where the event will take place.
There is no such thing as deciding at the last minute to go someplace to see a candidate under those conditions.
But some candidates or venues try to make the experience more tolerable which involves the kind of negotiations Highpoint was no doubt having with the Secret Service.
Some times it works out and other times it doesn’t. You usually don't hear about the times it doesn't because there usually isn't any announcement until that matter is settled.
Mason Temple Church of God In Christ hosted then-President Bill Clinton his first Thanskgiving in the White House for a speech.
When he was Vice President, Al Gore attended the Memphis In May barbecue contest where he regularly had a booth back when he was a plain ordinary U.S. Senator.
Gerald Ford, a president who was the target of two assassination attempts during his short tenure, played in the Danny Thomas St. Jude Golf Classic at Colonial Country Club shortly after he left the White House but remained under close watch by the Secret Service. And he hit a hole-in-one.
The Carson event at Highpoint was replaced by an event Sunday at Alpha Omega Veterans Services Inc.
The kerfluffle came during a day in which Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam endorsed Republican contender Marco Rubio.
Gary Shorb, the CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare put a specific date Thursday on his alreadty announced retirement from Methodist.
He will leave at the end of the year
As promised Wednesday, more detail about the early voting turnout in Shelby County and the conflicting numbers.
We know a lot about early voters. Just about the only thing we don’t know is who you voted for.
That information includes what precinct you live in. And those precinct totals give us an idea in this case of where the Democratic turnout is and where the Republican turnout is,
Speaking of numbers, the end of year numbers for the five largest Memphis-based banks released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The conclusion is that the banking business is doing “pretty well” in the words of one of the bank executives featured in our story.
The report also sets a baseline at a time of change in the players in the local bank industry here.
Don Wade has more on Kobe Bryant’s final Memphis appearance, at least as a player.
He also introduces you to the new athletic director at Rhodes College.
Rhodes is an interesting setting for sports that has some large lessons about amateur sports at the college level in what might be considered a smaller setting.
And the story of Jeff Cleanthes’ journey to the campus is an interesting one that includes the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center – the one before 9-11 – and Cleanthes marrying his wife on the Rhodes baseball field.
Bicycling news as spring approaches.
An Italian bike parts maker has signed up Victory Bicycle Studio in Binghampton as its first U.S. service center.
And 3T plans to open a North American distribution hub in Memphis as well, probably sometime in May.
For many Memphians of a certain age, the moment that the world got a really good look at just how funky Memphis was in the 1970s was the night in 1972 that Isaac Hayes emerged on a smoke-filled stage at the 1972 Academy Awards.
Wearing a psychedelic cap and floppy hat, Hayes dramatically shed both to reveal a set of gold chains draped over his torso.
Hayes not only performed the Theme From Shaft, he won an Oscar for it.
The leaders of this racially-divided city were waiting to honor Hayes when he returned home.
The moment is worth remembering in light of the current discussion about this year’s Oscar nominees and the lack of racial diversity among those nominees.
The Hollywood Reporter includes the story of that moment and the Oscar itself.
It’s part of a series that includes a Memphis moment at the Oscars from a different generation – the Three6Mafia Oscar for the movie “Hustle and Flow.”
This has a lot more backstage/after-party in the storyline including encounters with Salma Hayek and Prince.
Just a warning – it’s also much racier. So consider yourself warned.