Blake’s Blog

It sounds like DeSoto County’s mayors have an interesting little competition in the works.

In an effort to drum up turnout for tomorrow’s congressional election, they’ve made a pact that the mayor whose town has the fewest number of voters participating will buy the other mayors dinner. And grow a beard.

That kind of voter-participation contest would never work in Shelby County, of course. I don’t think there’s any way Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy or Collierville Mayor Linda Kerley could be convinced to grow a beard.

At first blush, there won’t seem to be much similarity between college wrestling, a sport with rules derived from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the glitz and gore of professional cage fighting matches.

Two state senators from east Tennessee are trying to make such a connection, though, and one Shelby County legislator isn’t too happy about it.

State Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, introduced a bill this year that would update the state’s boxing regulations, create the Tennessee Athletic Commission and legalize mixed martial arts and kickboxing matches in the Volunteer State.

Todd believes the combative sports could bring big bucks to Tennessee, particularly at a time when state government is hurting for money.

His bill easily passed in the House this week, but it’s run into a snag in the Senate.

Two senators from the Chattanooga area have attached an amendment to the bill that would funnel revenues generated from event fees that aren’t needed to support the commission’s operations to any NCAA-approved collegiate wrestling programs in the state.

Conveniently enough, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga is the only school in the state with such a program. (I hope my mother and sister, both UTC alumnae, will forgive me for writing about this, by the way.)

Todd said he’s not in favor of the Senate amendment because, among other reasons, it would violate NCAA rules.

The amended version of the bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee Monday. Todd is hoping the amendment will get taken back out before the full Senate takes up the issue, which could be sometime later next week.

So what would it mean for Memphis if Todd’s bill passes?

Well, FedExForum officials are hoping to make a deal to book a mixed martial arts bout involving Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight champ who grew up in South Memphis.

Given the popularity of the UFC in general and Jackson in particular, expect for Todd and some of his allies to do some serious arm-twisting in the next couple of days.

During her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has compared herself to Rocky Balboa.

But according to U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, she may be starting to more closely resemble another famous movie character: The psycho lady played by Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction."

When asked about whether Clinton should drop out of the race on Fox 13’s "Good Morning Memphis" program today, Cohen said: "Glenn Close should have stayed in that tub."

As fans of "Fatal Attraction" will remember, Close’s character gets into a struggle with Michael Douglas’ character in a bathroom near the end of the movie. Close’s character seems to have drowned during a struggle in a bathtub, then revives and makes one final charge toward Douglas, which results in her being gunned down by Anne Archer’s character.

(Had that last part not happened, "Near Fatal Attraction" would have probably been a more apt title for the movie.)

Anyway, I can’t help but wonder if Cohen might be starting to feel the same way about Nikki Tinker, who’s running against him for the congressional seat for the second time.

I had another one of those choke-on-my-coffee moments as I was reading this morning’s newspaper.

In a story about the arrest of four suspects believed to have broken into Police Director Larry Godwin’s truck, police officials were saying they didn’t handle the investigation any differently than they would have handled any other reported car burglary.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

According to our story, police used fingerprint evidence to help make the arrests.

Well, I’ve had my car broken into four times in the 10 years I’ve lived in Memphis.

And let me tell you, it’s a struggle just to convince the police to actually come to the crime scene to take a report.

My experience has been that they would much rather handle that kind of grunt work over the phone.

(To be fair, I can’t discount the possibility that they referred my cases to a psychic, who could be working them right now.)

And if they do send someone out, you’re about as likely to get your car dusted for fingerprints as Mayor Willie Herenton is to win Miss Congeniality in this year’s Miss America pageant.

In fact, I'll give a free Commercial Appeal umbrella or coffee mug (even if I have to steal my boss' umbrella) to anyone not affiliated with Memphis city government or any Shelby County law enforcement agency who can provide me a copy of a police report that shows police dusted for fingerprints on a car burglary case.

That Jim Strickland is one audacious fellow.

On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council decided to spend $3.6 million for locker room improvements at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

But before the vote was taken, Strickland, the chairman of the council’s parks committee, had the nerve to suggest the Liberty Bowl’s tenants, particularly the University of Memphis football team, should pay a portion of the cost.

"This is a huge investment into the Liberty Bowl for, basically, items that the general public will never see," Strickland said. "If the (University of Tennessee) or Tennessee-Martin wants to build skyboxes or locker rooms, they have to build it themselves or get the state to pay for it; they don’t get the city to pay for it."

It’s true that the Liberty Bowl is a bit different from on-campus college football stadiums because the city owns the building.

But would it really be that crazy to ask tenants to pitch in for those kinds of improvements?

It seems to me like Strickland might have just been making a little bit too much sense.

So the big news out of Mississippi today is that Vice President Cheney will be stumping for Republican congressional candidate Greg Davis in Southaven next week.

That should really give Davis’ campaign against Travis Childers a big shot in the arm.

Or, you know, maybe a shot in the face…

Sheesh.

You just have to wonder about some of the elected officials who represent communities throughout the Mid-South.

During an executive session last week, the Germantown Board of Mayor and Aldermen was having a discussion about plans to cut city funding for four nonprofit groups.

Alderman Mike Palazzolo suggested inviting the leaders of those groups to attend one or more budget meetings to get an idea of the financial challenges the city is facing.

"Maybe it would be good for those groups to see the budget process," Palazzolo said.

That idea apparently didn’t sit too well with Alderman John Drinnon, who suggested that too much openness could be a bad thing.

"It is getting to the point (where) it is risky to have a work session because you are exchanging ideas and opinions," Drinnon said. "And then the press picks up on it. (Like I’m doing right now.) And the citizens read about it before we have even acted on it. And I resent that. We get criticized and get all these phone calls before any action is ever taken."

Good heavens, what a nightmare!

Citizens getting a chance to provide input to their elected officials on how to spend taxpayer dollars BEFORE decisions have already been made.

That whole representative democracy business is a real drag.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division officials are apparently going to take a few days to decide what to do about Armstead Ward, their vice president of human resources, who was found to be living in a $600,000 home in unincorporated Shelby County while claiming a $26,000 home inside the city limits as his official address.

That, of course, is a no-no, since Memphis city employees, with the exception of police and paramedics, are required to live in the city.

There’s been talk about firing Ward, but I’ve got a better idea.

Why not force him to live in the $26,000 home, and lease the $600,000 home to Shelby County government for use as a community center?

Not only does that punishment have a poetic justice element to it, but it could also help the city raise some much needed scratch to help avoid a property tax increase.

Tennessee legislators have come to their senses on the issue of carding beer buyers. Well, almost.

A year ago, they passed a law requiring grocery and convenience stores to request IDs of everyone buying beer, no matter whether the prospective buyers were obviously of legal drinking age or not.

The law was set to expire July 1. But now it’ll be extended with one big change: It’s no longer necessary to require identification of anyone who appears to be 50 or older.

Great, just great.

For a while after I reached my 21st birthday, it made me mad whenever I got carded. Didn’t I look old enough?

Then, as I got closer and closer to my middle-aged years, getting carded seemed more like a compliment. Looking youthful seemed (and still seems) like a good thing.

But under this new legislation, if I DON'T get carded, it’ll mean that I look a lot older (OK, somewhat older) than I actually am.

Seems like common sense ought to factor into the equation somewhere. Then again, maybe that’s just too much to ask.

I know nothing about this subculture of our society, but apparently videogamers are all atwitter about this week’s release of Grand Theft Auto IV, which allows players to electronically live out fantasies about stealing cars, running drugs, street racing and other unsavory acts.

Analysts have predicted the new game, priced at $59.99, is expected to surpass $300 million in first-week sales.

Here’s my question: With all the crime we’ve got in the Memphis area, why would anyone shell out $59.99 for a videogame version of something they could see on the streets for free every day?