Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Meet Now, Seek Counseling Later

Last week's Chancery Court hearing over the internal squabbling within the anti-annexation group Citizens for Home Rule didn't settle much, beyond giving Chancellor Daryl Fansler an opportunity to admonish the two sides to go get counseling. Did the admonition have any effect?

Hard to say. Both factions have probably been too busy calling meetings to kick out the opposition to think about it much. While Fansler didn't seem much impressed with the legal complaint drafted by CHR president (maybe) John Emison (which asked that he be reinstated as president and that the organization be turned over to a receiver), he also dropped strong hints that Emison's ouster may not have been quite kosher, due to a lack of a quorum.

The defendants, led by Patra Rule, who was elected chairman of the board after Emison's ouster, went off to set up a new meeting, presumably aimed at legally expelling Emison. These meetings are closed board meetings, not open to the media.

The plaintiffs, led by Emison, went off to set up a general membership meeting to throw out the Rule faction. This meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m. at the Halls Community Center, 4233 Crippen Road.

Hear the Hype; Cadge a Burger

Nashville Superspeedway held a press luncheon Tuesday at Litton's in Fountain City to hype their emerging multi-track motorsports mega-complex. Exactly two press reps showed up. One was from the News-Sentinel, which has sportswriters to burn, and the other was from Metro Pulse, which has done its obligatory NASCAR piece for this decade, but gets bug-eyed over a free Littonburger. The superspeedway's G.M. Cliff Hawks and track flack Sean Dozier dutifully explained their concept with maps and charts for the gathering of dos. What happened, they found out, was that their noon luncheon fell slap in the midst of a UT press briefing on Vol football subjects on campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It was, well...better attended by news, radio and TV types. The Nashvillians came hoping to attract East Tennesseans to their races next year, which include Craftsman Trucks, an Indy Racing Northern Lights (read lightweights) program and a Busch (read bush-league) Grand National stock car race. They are angling for a Winston Cup date in the future for their 1.33-mile, D-shaped track. When they get one, we will come.

P.S.: They woke up Wednesday to find no mention of their track or visit in the daily, either.

Divulging Unclassified State Secrets

John "Fletch" Fletcher, a member of the Regas management team who has signed on as chef for the new City Brew restaurant and brewpub, soon to open at 414 S. Gay, was chef for the U.S. Embassy in Prague for a year back in 1996-97. He cooked for Ambassador Jenonne Walker, who Fletch says had pretty prosaic tastes in meals for herself (mostly peasant rye bread and pureed vegetables). She could not say so out loud at the time, but now it can be told: Mme. Ambassador, a career diplomat, hated the consistent grease-and-dumpling consistency of Czech food (well-known to MP managing editor Barry Henderson, who happened to be stationed in Prague at the same time). Fletch took the overseas job on a whim after a stint at Lucille's in the Old City. He cooked at Manhattan's after he came back, then helped the Regas' open the Riverside Tavern, and lately he's been toiling in their banquet and catering service.

Going to the Wall for Wal-Mart

While it probably isn't the intention of the venerable County Commissioner Mary Lou Horner to make sure she's got opposition if/when she runs for re-election in '02, she couldn't do a better job of it if she set out to .

Halls, the largest voting block in Horner's district, is up in arms about a proposed new Wal-Mart on Norris Freeway. Home Federal exec David Sharp is the spokesperson for the opposition, which is large in numbers, well-funded and POed as hell. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Planning Commission voted against rezoning the 55-acre tract after residents came to argue that Halls, which is already blessed with a Wal-Mart, doesn't need another shopping center. MPC Commissioner Mike Edwards was the lone "yes" vote.

On the pro side are Wal-Mart developers Budd Cullom and Mark Tarver, who have been squired through the process by Horner herself. In the background is another MPC commissioner, R. Larry Smith, who was, somewhat ironically, appointed to that board through the good offices of Horner. Smith is widely believed to be revving up a campaign against Horner.

I before E, 'cept in East Tennessee

Everybody makes typos occasionally, and we can only hope we never misspell a fourth-grade word in a banner headline. The Volunteer Valley Business Journal, an often on-the-ball economic monthly available at several locations downtown, headlined their current top story about the new effort to stop pump-and-run gasoline pirates with the phrase, in huge type: STOP! THEIF. The state of education in the Volunteer Valley is not often prioritized as a business story, but maybe it should be.