Hello, Mid-Southerners! Welcome back to The Early Word. Today is Monday, Feb. 22, and Memphis’ boil water notice is still in effect.

The Shelby County Commission will also meet virtually, and a resolution to ask the state to send in the National Guard is under consideration. In Germantown, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen is considering a change back, in which it would return to using a consent agenda after two years of not doing so. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Roy Haithcock boils water at his Central Gardens home on Friday. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Turning on the water works: After shutting down passenger flights at the airport last week, traumatizing restaurant owners and forcing Rhodes to book students into hotels, the area’s water problems continue to wreak havoc. Shelby County’s Downtown government buildings, including 201 Poplar, are closed today because of low water pressure, as are some schools (this is some next level pandemic right here). So far, Memphis Light, Gas & Water has located and repaired 63 broken water mains and, as Bill Dries writes, the utility also recently began work on a five-year, $142 million renovation of its water system. That work is part of a larger, $1 billion upgrade to replace aging infrastructure across MLGW’s electric, gas and water system and one that gave the Memphis City Council a bit of sticker shock when it was first introduced. One last thing, as MLGW asks us to continue conserving water, it is suspending service cutoffs for nonpayment until further notice.

The Chick-fil-A at North Germantown Parkway and Stage Road has two drive-thru lanes. (Tom Bailey/Daily Memphian)

Consulting the experts: Anyone who’s ever driven through for Chick-fil-A has seen (and perhaps been amazed by) the operational efficiency at work. Multiple drive-thru lines, workers on tablets, merging lanes and, generally speaking, hot sandwiches within minutes. So, as the city moves to doing (fingers crossed) more vaccinations in the coming months, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland reached out to local Chick-fil-A franchisee Scott Malone for advice. 

Vaccination station: During Memphis’ week of sustained winter, about 1,300 doses of the coronavirus vaccine were wasted. Though there was some finger pointing about whose fault it was, exactly — the Health Department said if they knew those doses were expiring, they would have tried to get them out — about 2,000 other doses near their expiration dates were provided on an off-day at the Pipkin and at a site on Mullins Station Road. Shelby County is also finally moving on to the B group. People in our area who qualify for phase 1b will be eligible for vaccinations beginning Wednesday. This phase includes school and child care workers, as well as emergency dispatchers and communications personnel.

QUOTED

“In five to 10 years, someone could make a good movie out of this.”

— Baptist Hospital-Memphis assistant administrator Samuel PiehArea hospitals had to pause nonessential operations, and even some non-urgent surgeries, after a week of winter weather affected staffing and a local boil water notice went into effect. And maybe we can file this under “what doesn’t kill you ...” Pieh also said “a lot of the things we’ve been doing under COVID indirectly prepared us. … Had this happened before COVID, I think our operations would have been dramatically hindered.”

THE NICE TO KNOW

Owner Rida AbuZaineh (right) tends to a customer in the eight-foot-wide shop. (Tom Bailey/Daily Memphian)

A tough nut to crack: The Peanut Shoppe has operated out of 24 S. Main St. since 1949, but 2021 could be its last year there. The beloved Downtown roaster and snack purveyor’s lease expires Dec. 31, and the building’s owner is planning a six- to eight-month renovation to “bring that old Downtown Memphis look back, and with a modernized interior.” But that means the Peanut Shoppe, one of three corporate stores opened in Memphis initially by Planters, must find a new temporary or permanent home.

A secret Rendezvous: Downtown’s Rendezvous restaurant (and an as-yet unknown deal) is expected to be featured this morning on “Good Morning America,” as part of a series of pandemic-time deals and steals. “Back in April, it allowed us to hire people back and keep paying insurance,” Anna Vergos said about one of their earlier deals with GMA.

Memphis Grizzlies Justise Winslow (7) motions to the crowd after scoring his first points as a members of the Memphis Grizzlies during a Feb. 20, 2021, game at FedExForum. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Winslow returns: After months on the injury report, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Justise Winslow returned to the court over the weekend. But, it was “not the fairy-tale return many hoped to see” as the Phoenix Suns beat the Grizz, 128-97, on Saturday. On the other hand, Winslow’s return also “turned what would have been just another ho-hum NBA game in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and a massive winter storm into something memorable,” wrote Geoff Calkins. And, if you looked hard enough, you could see why the Grizz believe Winslow is a key part of the team’s future. Though the wing might not have had a great game in terms of scoring, Winslow himself reminded everyone that “defense is half of the game.” And Chris Herrington adds this: “He took on the toughest defensive assignments (in this case, Phoenix’s Booker) and defended well overall in the context of a team that generally was not.” Herrington also has some thoughts on Ja Morant’s chances for the All-Star team. 

Student activism: Area teachers can begin to schedule coronavirus vaccination appointments Wednesday, but with Shelby County Schools educators heading back to campuses very soon, the timing may be just a little off. Students at White Station High School recently started an online petition after learning two AP teachers won’t be returning to teach their classes for the rest of the year. And it remains to be seen how many teachers will opt out rather than go back. 

THIS WEEK’S WEATHER

Sunny days are here again. Well, some sunny days, but I figure we’ll take what we can get, right? We should see highs in the 50s today, with temps getting warmer until Thursday. We might see some clouds, too, but overall precipitation for the week is expected to be light (which I hope will help crews solve our other water problems). 

Hope you have a great start to your (possibly, shower-free) week. All I can say is: Good thing for Zoom! 

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