Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Sit Down and Shut Up

Week before last, Black Business Contractors Association representative Zimbabwe Matavo went to City Council and pointed out that his organization and others who want to revitalize Five Points haven't had much help from the city. He applauded the city's leasing 23,000 square feet of space in the Emporium Building for $185,725 a year for 10 years, but wondered why something like this couldn't be done for East Knoxville business district as well. He asked his Council member, Raleigh Wynn, to call a workshop to discuss the issue, but Vice Mayor Jack Sharp (who was presiding over the meeting so Mayor Victor Ashe could dine with a reporter from USA Today) adjourned the meeting before Wynn responded. Late last week, the city recorder's office called members of Council to set up a workshop, as per Council rules.

Ivan Harmon said he'd be out of town. Sharp had prior commitments. Ed Shouse was busy. Jean Teague and Gary Underwood said no. Larry Cox and Raleigh Wynn didn't return the phone calls. The quorum failed before they could reach Nick Pavlis, who said the night of the last Council meeting that he would rearrange his schedule to attend. Carlene Malone said she'd be there. Bottom line: no Five Points workshop planned in the foreseeable future.

Battlin' Barbara

Twas the morning after the election, and the winners were appropriately magnanimous and sweet as each congratulated his/her vanquished opponent via talk radio. Second District winner Barbara Pelot was particularly gracious toward rival Joe Bailey, as befitted her 36-vote victory.

That probably caused some giggles among those who were present at Deane Hill, Ward 51 Tuesday morning, when the diminutive, 64-year-old Pelot spotted Bailey and went postal. She rose to her tiptoes, reached up and grabbed the strapping, 43-year-old Bailey by the lapels, shoving him backward and accusing him of stealing her yard signs.

"You took every f——— sign I had," said the furious Pelot, who also directed her rage toward firefighter Danny Beeler, who was standing nearby. (Bailey was endorsed by the Knoxville Firefighters Association and heavily supported by firefighters).

"It was those f——— firemen," she said. Bailey and Beeler protested their innocence. Witnesses (who didn't want to be identified) included other candidates, poll workers and voters. Several said that Pelot was asked to "watch her language" in the presence of small children.

Joltin' Joe

Meanwhile, at his victory party Tuesday night, 1st District winner Joe Hultquist couldn't help reminding his supporters of what he'd been through in the last few weeks during opponent Greg Pinkston's relentless dredging up of Hultquist's past legal and financial woes. "You all know my weaknesses," Hultquist said, grinning sheepishly. "You know my past. How could you miss it? It's been in the newspaper! It's been on the radio! It's been in the mail!" As whoops and guffaws broke out, one supporter handed Hultquist a copy of the National Enquirer with a Hultquist brochure glued to the front. Hultquist amiably hoisted the magazine aloft. One observer noted the message from Hultquist's survival of Pinkston's mudslinging should be clear: "That Cas Walker s—- doesn't work anymore."

Everyone's a Critic

A Knoxville restaurant has gotten a bad review from an unlikely source: science-fiction icon Neil Gaiman, the popular comic-book creator (Sandman) whose international cult following has followed him into his career as a science-fiction novelist. In his latest novel, American Gods, he described an unfortunate dining experience here:

"Lunchtime, they ate bad Japanese food while a thunderstorm lowered on Knoxville, and Town [one of the characters in Gods] didn't care that the food was late, that the miso soup was cold, or that the sushi was warm."

Our sources who accompanied Gaiman during the science-fiction convention ConCat here about two years ago say the line is based on a real incident: the offending restaurant was Tomo, which operated in the Old City for several years. In a post on this year's ConCat website, at www.kasfa.org, Gaiman later claimed his reference was to Tomo, which recently moved west on Kingston Pike, where perhaps it's not so likely to draw the attention of famous conventioneers.