Archive for July, 2006
on a mountain high
Thursday, July 13th, 2006Heads and tales: Capable or culpable
Thursday, July 13th, 2006
Throw the bums around: Alabama loves its higher edumacation, specifically the two-year variety. Junior colleges litter the landscape, and it takes a strong leader to manage so many centers of learning. The Birmingham News has, in a series of articles, shown how Roy Johnson, the chancellor of the two-year college system, and his relatives have received $300,000 through patronage jobs, scholarships and new houses. The board of education fired Johnson Tuesday (and will likely receive an additional $300,000 plus in pay and retirement benefits) and replaced him with … another official with relatives on the payroll. Also, at least one other board member has relatives on the payroll. Why the heck didn’t we get into school administration?!
• 2-year college chancellor fired [Birmingham News]
Making excuses instead of arrests: Homicides are way up in Birmingham, 56 in the first half of 2006 compared to 42 in the first half of 2005 — a 33 percent jump. Police chief Annetta Nunn blames budget cuts and loss of cops to higher-paying suburbs as factors, while also arguing that the rate for other crime has dropped. Can’t have it both ways: Either you deserve credit for lowering crime with fewer resources, or you take responsibility for more bodies. A North Birmingham teenager found Tuesday night makes this year’s homicide count 57 … and rising.
• Mayor, chief defend city police force [Birmingham News]
The devil is in the dirt piles: Anniston residents, already sick from PCBs, are now sick with worry that a new dump site will cause more problems. Solutia, a Monsanto spinoff, is responsible for the cleanup and costs, but only after residents sued the corporation over injuries to health and property. The city council postponed discussion on blocking the dumping, at a site near … Monsanto Road. Wonder if they want to change the street name, too …
• New PCB dump site makes Anniston residents wary [Anniston Star]
Also:
- Woodville petting zoo suspected as harbor for terrorist llamas
- We’ve got plenty of time to do our assigned reading, so stop nagging us
- Transit solution eludes non-bus-riding, non-carpooling officials
• • •
Send us your news tips.
optimal conditions
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006Heads and tales: The star report
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006Entertainment o’plenty to round up:
Will they make us proud?: Birmingham has made “American Idol” the cultural phenomenon it is today. How else to explain the ties to city champions and runners-up Ruben Studdard, Diana DeGarmo, Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks? Now the show is stopping by to round up the next batch of pop stars (and reality whores) Aug. 21, part of the seven-city audition tour.
Up to 100,000 contestants age 16 to 28 are expected at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, of which 250 will sing for judges Randy, Paula and Simon. (Hicks, by the way, returns Aug. 8 for a sold-out show at the BJCC Arena for the Idols tour.) Remember to smile and know your lyrics — and when all else fails, break out the harmonica.
- The Hoover High football reality show, “Two-a-Days,” has an hourlong premiere at 9:30 p.m. Aug. 23 on MTV. Seven half-hour episodes follow at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays. The real Buccaneers start their season Aug. 26 with a “scrimmage” in Montgomery, then a real game against Union High in Tulsa(!), Okla., the following week.
- Can’t sing? Try out for “Deal or No Deal” (no deal!) July 22 in Mobile. Or try out for “Idol,” because they gotta fill the gag reel with someone.
- A Montgomery native is one of 15 hopefuls on “Project Runway,” which starts its third season at 9 tonight on Bravo. He said TV Guide called him “one of six designers to watch.” Watch what, cry and rant?
• City earns shot at ‘Idol’ audition [Birmingham News]
Taking the Sixth: As reported earlier, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is kicking off its second year of Sixteenth and Sixth, a monthly mixer. Thursday’s $10 event includes jazz by Kenneth Davis and a spoken-word performance by Aisha “Brown” Johnson. Audra Buck, assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will talk about the “Sticks and Stones” exhibition. Admission includes food and drink. The event takes place at 6:16 p.m. at the museum, 520 16th St. N.
• Picks [Birmingham Weekly]
Spike! Dig! Chill!: Hoover has invested $95,000 and brought in tons of sand for its first beach volleyball event. The Met, which has seen Michael Jordan play baseball and high school football players strut for MTV, will have qualifiers on Thursday and a pro tournament on Friday through Sunday. And the dress code for fans (and there is a dress code): guys in shorts, gals in bikinis. Tournament tickets start at $10, and Thursday’s qualifying rounds are free.
• Beach comes to Hoover [Birmingham News]
Also:
- Protesters at fountain use come hither chants
- Arcade machines give 2-1 odds on Pac-Man, 5-1 on Ms. Pac-Man
- Ozone creeps in on little wheezing cat feet
• • •
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night visitor
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006That ’70s showcase
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006
Starting tonight, Rojo will play host to its second film series this summer, the 1970s American Film Retrospective. In case you young’uns aren’t familiar with the ’70s, be glad. Except that you missed some mighty fine films.
Kyle McKinnon announced the series at Monday night’s Sidewalk Salon. The free movies will be shown at Rojo on Southside at 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Aug. 29. The selections include “Network” (shown above), “Jaws,” “Mean Streets” and “Shampoo.”
You can find full details — including maps, more films and links to synopses — in the updated Wade on Birmingham Summer 2006 Movie Guide. (And if you subscribed to the Google calendar feature, your listings have already been updated, you lucky fan.)
Heads and tales: Why we fight
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006
The comeback: Sean Phillips, a 22-year-old Marine corporal from Montgomery, fights the good fight. He’s not in Iraq, not anymore, but at Birmingham’s VA Hospital — after an enemy bullet tore through his brain. In the year and a half of recovery, he has become legally blind, lost half his field of vision, lost some use of his right arm and leg and dropped 100 pounds. Phillips, though, pushes forward with recovery, having regained some of his vocabulary and speech (though he still struggles to name familiar faces) and ability to get up and around on his own. He’s one of 19,000 U.S. military members wounded in Iraq during the three-plus-year war. Meanwhile, the 1,165th Military Policy Company, based in Fairhope, received the president’s highest award for a military unit Saturday for serving longer than any other National Guard unit in Iraq: 15 months.
• Marine fights for life after sniper’s bullet [Birmingham News]
Red alert: Think your job is tough? Try working while blood is squirting from stumps where fingers used to be, or with a foot you broke earlier in this morning. Just another day at the track for Hueytown’s Red Farmer, a member of the Alabama Gang of NASCAR legend. He said, “I have always been a slave to the paycheck. If I didn’t race, my family didn’t eat.” Retirement appears to be out of the question, as the 73-year-old (or 74) still races every Saturday night at the Talladega Short Track. Catch him if you can.
• Busted up, never broken [Birmingham News]
Spare the grog, spoil the child: Should parents be arrested if teens drink alcohol? In Mountain Brook, it’s the law. First strike: $25. Second strike: $200 to $500. Third strike: $300 to $500, plus up to six months jail time or community service. Good news: cocaine and pot, still legal!
• Adult responsibility law for underage drinking passes [Birmingham News]
Heather has one or two mommies: If one lesbian can be a mom in Alabama, would two be better? A Montgomery probate court denied an adoption application from a lesbian who wants to become the second legal parent of her partner’s baby son, born in December. The couple has appealed the decision. Cari Searcy, partner of birth mother Kim McKeand, said, “Our home is a normal one. It’s filled with love, commitment and support. … Kim and I are dedicated to giving Khaya the best life possible and we’re going to do what it takes to do that.” OK, but a kid named Khaya’s just asking for a wedgie …
• Same-sex partners seek Alabama court’s OK on baby’s adoption [Associated Press]
Also:
- City braces for vocal onslaught of region’s worst singers
- Hoover to be renamed ‘Birmingsouth’
- VBS class takes field trip to see how purgatory works
• • •
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don’t get it
Monday, July 10th, 2006Heads and tales: The game of the name
Monday, July 10th, 2006
Park and deride: Should Caldwell Park be renamed? One former city councilor says yes for two reasons: to honor a former councilor you’ve never heard of and to remove Caldwell, who you’ve also never heard of. Nina Miglionico was one of the few female lawyers in Alabama and served on the Birmingham city council for 22 years; she championed women’s issues, and survived threats, taunting and a bomb found on her front porch. Henry Caldwell was a doctor, president of the Elyton Land Company (which settled early Birmingham), first president of Birmingham Trust and Savings Company, helped organize First Presbyterian Church … and a slave owner. John Katopodis, who wants the name change, has too much time on his hands. Why not name the new railroad park after her, or the new domed stadium, instead of erasing history?
• Rename Caldwell Park, ex-councilman says [Birmingham News]
Mercy is for the weak: The Jefferson County Commission changed the name of Cooper Green Hospital to Jefferson Metrocare Cooper Green Hospital this year. Now it wants to change it again, to Mercy Hospital. But News columnist John Archibald says not only is it a waste of money, it takes away an important honor for the namesake, who served as mayor, commission president, vice president of Alabama Power and football coach. Oh, and he built this hospital for the poor after a poor pregnant woman gave birth on the sidewalk after being denied admission to UAB’s facilities: “We don’t learn from history in this town; we seldom bother to learn it. So we step forward and then back, and don’t even recognize our own footprints.” See those skids? It was then that I was dragging you, my son.
• New name sought for Cooper Green [Birmingham News]
None of the above: Mobile County may have had some voting problems during the June 6 state primaries, in which polling places serving more than one house district possibly handed out the wrong ballots. Worse yet, several poll workers responded rudely when voters raised concerns. Now, why does that sound so familiar? Hmm …
• Some voters may have received wrong ballot [Mobile Press-Register]
Holy vigilante: A 66-year-old Roebuck preacher made a name for himself as an anti-crime activist. While officials were strutting around pleading for less crime, the Rev. Hosea Agee took on drug dealers, gang members and prostitutes face to face — and nearly paid the ultimate price. A June 22 shooting sent his wife screaming, who put an end to her husband’s crusade. Agee, who leads Pentecost Temple Church of God in Christ, still plans to fight crime across Birmingham using new less-confrontational approaches. Reminds us of Mom, a 5-foot-0, 99-pound woman who would chase shoplifters down Second Avenue North. Criminals, beware.
• Crime-fighting Roebuck pastor picks less-dangerous approach [Birmingham News]
Also:
- Hoover Met to hold boxing, motocross and jousting events
- Retail developers, condo developers war over last brick
- Cops to promote “Puppies for Guns” trade
• • •
Send us your news tips.
kudzufication
Sunday, July 9th, 2006novel approach
Saturday, July 8th, 2006The mayor’s new diet
Friday, July 7th, 2006Bigger isn’t always better.
The most recent list from the United Health Foundation, a nonprofit health research group in Minnesota, ranks Alabama as the nation’s fattest state, tied with Mississippi. Among Alabamians, 28.8 percent are considered obese, having a body mass index of 30 or higher.
That’s a lot of unwanted pounds.
It’s time for elected officials to do something about this health crisis with consequences from skyrocketing rates of heart disease and diabetes to staggering financial costs.
And Mayor Kincaid is already on the job.
