Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Terrorism: The Oldest Profession?

We at Ear were as shocked as anyone at last week's revelations that some of our local Asian spas were allegedly involved in something besides back rubs. Shocked, we tell you. But even that didn't prepare us for the weighty implications contained in the FBI press release announcing the big booty-call bust. R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the Knoxville division of the FBI, said the joint investigation (codename: Operation White Spider) was more than a blow against hanky-panky. "As we continue our global war against terrorism," the release quotes Clark saying, "it is crucial that the FBI, in partnership with local law enforcement, continues to address this type of criminal activity that has such a negative impact on our communities in East Tennessee." He went on to note, "Our investigation determined that this activity not only affects neighborhoods in East Tennessee, but neighborhoods in many communities across the nation." You mean there are Asian spas in other cities? Say it ain't so, Joe! One question—didn't the Taliban arrest prostitutes too?

Familiar Face

Look for Mike Cohen to be named a top aide to County Executive-elect Mike Ragsdale. Cohen, formerly a city public information guy and a school system public information guy, will be leaving a job as public information guy with the Public Building Authority.

Midlife Crisis?

Überlawyer-lobbyist Arthur Seymour Jr., who has had a long and successful career representing developers and business interests before County Commission and City Council, is exhibiting some unusual symptoms. He is representing a Sequoyah Hills homeowner who is accusing a developer of "overbuilding" by erecting too many houses on a neighborhood lot, advocating sign control in Turkey Creek and has represented a strip club that was attempting to open up a branch "office" in the Old City. You know, some guys just get a red convertible...

Seeing Orange

State Rep. H.E. Bittle is fire-eating mad at Gov. Don Sundquist over the state Department of Transportation's choice of the Orange Route for the Knoxville Beltway. Bittle says that Gov. Don Sundquist had made him "an explicit promise" not to choose the controversial Orange option, which will run through still-rural Hardin Valley. On Wednesday morning, Mayor Victor Ashe said on WNOX radio that the choice of the Hardin Valley route was "no coincidence," and was meant to damage Bittle politically because Bittle opposed Sundquist's tax reform efforts. The announcement was to be made Thursday morning at Strawberry Plains, on the other end of Knox County from Hardin Valley, and Ashe told radio host Hallerin Hill that DOT Commissioner Bruce Saltsman "doesn't even have the nerve to go to Hardin Valley and face those people." Bittle said Sundquist made an oral promise while they were talking eyeball-to-eyeball. "The fight is on," he promised.

Pass the Bananas

Tuesday's New York Times offered a chilling assessment of New Jersey's abysmal state-budget problems—the state's facing a likely $22 billion shortfall—exacerbated by the short-sighted policies of former Gov. Christie Whitman. Columnist (and Princeton professor) Paul Krugman offered one consolation, though: "Mrs. Whitman's policies were by no means the worst among the states. That honor may fall to Tennessee...."

Krugman does place Alabama at a close second, which may add a whole new thrill to the Vols-Tide contest this fall. "The fact is that in recent years many states have been run like banana republics," Krugman continues. "Responsibility gave way to political opportunism, and in some cases to mob rule. When Tennessee considered a tax increase last year, legislators were intimidated by a riot stirred up by radio talk-show hosts. Only when lack of cash forced the governor to lay off half the work force did the state, which has the second-lowest per- capita taxes in the country, face up to reality.

"The only reason Tennessee doesn't look like Argentina right now is that it isn't a sovereign nation; since the federal budget was in good shape until recently, there's a safety net."

Red-faced Rotarians

Who would've thought that the office of Downtown Rotary Club Song Leader would have been so fraught with peril and controversy? Downtown Rotarian Brad Maynard, who chooses the song for the weekly group sing, got up and delivered an abject apology to his fellow club members this week after a spate of bad PR occasioned by his song selection at a recent meeting. Many of Maynard's fellow club members had been mortified when (as reported in Ear last week) they were asked to stand and sing "Dixie," particularly in the presence of guest of honor Dr. Sidney McPhee, president of Middle Tennessee State University, who is African American. Maynard said he has since done some research on the song and realizes now that it could have been offensive, and said he hasn't gotten a night's sleep in the past week. He got a round of applause, although there is some sentiment that future meetings should feature, as one member put it, "some standard patriotic songs—patriotic to the United States of America, not the Confederate States of America."