This is For You, Herbie

It was a call-in show on Court TV, and viewers from around the nation were voicing their opinions about the Zoo Man trial, which had been on all day. An elderly woman from Kansas called to voice her opinion of one of the defense lawyers:

"I just want to reach in and smack his face."

Her remark brought stifled giggles from the host, who said she knows the lawyer in question.

"Herb Moncier takes no prisoners."

The Family Trust

The stakes just got higher for defendant Victor Ashe, accused in federal court of punishing five city fire fighters for not supporting him in the last mayoral election. Federal Appeals Court Judge David Nelson has ruled that Ashe is not entitled to qualified immunity. This means he could have to dip into his own pocket if he is found liable for money damages.

Nelson ruled that "One would have to be a person of more than ordinary firmness to be willing to pay the price allegedly exacted by the Ashe administration for the privilege of declining a place on the mayor's bandwagon."

The plaintiffs—Gary Sharpe, William Potter, Kenneth Scarbrough, Frank Potter, and William "Red" McGinniss—sued Ashe and the city after a 1995 election that was pretty much a yawner, with Ivan Harmon not getting enough votes to force Ashe into a November runoff. But the polls had barely closed before the firemen started getting calls informing them that their jobs had changed. Deputy Chief Bill Potter, for example, was forced to take a new position requiring him to work more hours for the same pay and move into a converted broom closet.

Ashe has made damaging admissions in depositions, but local media display little interest in reporting about the case or the cost to the taxpayers of defending the mayor from the consequences of his alleged vindictiveness.

An 11th Hour Proposal for 11th Street

The Urban Land Institute's written report about the convention center came out, finally, with lots of interesting comments and recommendations concerning the World's Fair site and downtown as a whole. It was a good deal later than we expected, but after six months, what's another week or two?

Had the ULI report come out one week earlier, some of the report's recommendations might have become an issue in the Jan. 26 City Council meeting that approved the Fort Sanders Forum's compromise with powerful Texas developer JPI, who had planned to build high-density student housing in the center of the Fort, but were in the end persuaded to concentrate much of the demolition and high-density construction out on the fringes—most conspicuously along 11th Street.

ULI was not party to the Forum, and it seems unlikely they could have anticipated the 11th Street agreement. However, ULI found cause to mention 11th Street, anyway. On page 14 of the report, the institute recommends only "medium-density redevelopment along 11th Street," urging "historic overlays to help control designs as development/redevelopment occurs."

The report later adds that "the panel believes that the Fort Sanders neighborhood in particular is an important potential [residential] market for the downtown and the World's Fair site."

Virtual Whiners

Remember the whining from Buckeye Land over the indignity of Tennessee ending up at the top of the heap in football this year when Ohio State had the best team and all? Well, while we were celebrating in the rain Saturday, a radio station in Columbus was broadcasting "the Real National Championship game," which Ohio State won 31-30, making them the 1998 virtual national champs. The game started with Tennessee scoring three quick virtual touchdowns, but was halted just before half-time when the program locked up and the simulation computer had to be rebooted and the first half replayed. Toward the end of the game, Ohio State fans, who comprised about 98 percent of the audience, began playing wav. sound files of "Rocky Top" to mock the Volunteers. Virtually pathetic.