Kansas City Here They Come

There'll be a color photo of Chamique Holdsclaw rollerblading in the premier issue of ESPN Magazine. Sleek in a red, white, and blue speedskater's suit, Holdsclaw is supposed to represent the race to Kansas City, where the women's NCAA Final Four will be held this month. It was a conceptual thing, dreamed up by the photographer, who had come in from Arizona with two assistants, including Metro Pulse contributing photographer Aaron Jay. Only problem is, Holdsclaw had never rollerbladed. (Thank goodness. Imagine the best player in women's basketball jeopardizing those knees in such fashion). So the photographer duct-taped her wheels to keep her from falling. Holds-claw, an unfailingly polite, obliging sort, struck a pose and held it for around an hour while Tamika Catchings (whose broken nose was in a splint) cracked jokes. The picture was taken out back of the old Tyson Jr. High building and will no doubt demonstrate one of the reasons why there'll be a tennis shoe named after her by and by.

Broadcast News

It was an odd little story to be on the evening news amid accounts of child molesting and murder. But the words "The son of a Knox County Commissioner" were attention-getting, even if the crime for which he was accused—hitting somebody over the head with a two-by-four—didn't rise to the level of Channel 10's usual 6 o'clock mayhem. A rather scary-looking mug shot of a young black man with bleached-blond hair identified him as Taurea (sic) Sullivan, son of Commissioner Diane Jordan.

Nobody was more surprised to see the story than Jordan herself, who, in fact, is not the mother of Taurus Sullivan. Jordan says she immediately called Channel 10 news director Margie Nichols to protest; but her call had little effect, since the broadcast was replayed over and over every half-hour on Channel 10's cable station on Channel 21. The story ran again on the 11 p.m. news, with a slight disclaimer: "A man police say is the son of a Knox County commissioner..." At the end the story, the news reader said Jordan denied that Sullivan is her son.

The following evening, after a call from Jordan's attorney, Greg Isaacs, Channel 10 ran another story, this time saying that "police say" Jordan has "repeatedly" identified Sullivan as her son. Jordan says, in fact, that Sullivan is one of several virtually homeless youths whom she and her husband, John, have taken in over the years and is a friend of their son's.

The question then becomes whether this would have been a story without Jordan's name attached and how the incident came to Channel 10's attention, particularly since Jordan has been one of the most vocal critics of some of the Knoxville Police Department's tactics in the inner city. Was this the work of some reporter digging through police reports, or was it the handiwork of someone—say, a media-savvy city employee—with an ax to grind against Jordan, who is up for re-election this year?

"I don't want to go into that," says Nichols, who says Channel 10 attempted to contact Jordan before the story aired.

Snuffy Captured

A certain Linda "Snuffy" Smith has been bombarding the media in recent days with faxes complaining about the lack of public participation in the process of selecting the World's Fair Park as a convention center site. In her latest self-congratulatory missive, she says, "I wish to express lavish praise for Mary Nelson and the staff of Channel 10 News for capturing me" on last Saturday evening's newscast where she vented that City Council approved the site less than two weeks after it was recommended by the Public Building Authority.

Fact is, the city and the PBA bent over backwards to make the selection process participative over a period of many months. More than 20 focus group sessions were held last fall that were open to all comers. The bound volume of responses to the PBA's request for public comment in January weighs two pounds. So where was Ms. Snuffy when all of this was going on?