Hey, gang, greetings and salutations. Today is Friday, Nov. 19, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump will deliver the keynote at the Southern Justice Summit Awards Ceremony (the event will honor state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, Criminal Court Clerk Heidi Kuhn, Innocence Project director of special litigation Vanessa Potkin and attorney Michael Scholl). 

And since it’s Friday, here’s some fun stuff. The University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music will host Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, “Ruddigore.” And you can get a “Clue” this weekend at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center as Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard and others try to find a killer. 

Plus, you’ve got Tigers basketball against Western Kentucky, Tigers football against Houston and Tigers soccer playing Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament tonight. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Terrance Whitelow writes his respects to Young Dolph on the wall of Makeda's Homemade Butter Cookies Nov. 18, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Killing reverberates: Memphians have continued to react in the wake of the Airways Boulevard fatal shooting of rapper Young Dolph. Fans created a memorial outside of Makeda’s Cookies to Dolph and, though no suspects have been named, the Memphis Police Department did release surveillance footage of the shooters. MPD also detained three suspects yesterday after a shooting near the memorial left another man in noncritical condition. Earlier yesterday, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Dolph’s slaying would not necessitate a city curfew: “With targeted killings, what we try to do is avoid retaliation. And that is a limited number of people.” Memphis Tigers coach Penny Hardaway also released a video on Instagram, joining the number of music industry insiders, athletes and fans reacting on social media. 

A SkyCop unit sits on a lamppost outside of Wet Willie's on Beale Street. Is it a deterrent to potential crime? (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Watching for crime: In the past 10 years, Memphis has spent more than $10 million on SkyCop cameras, but during that same time period, crime has gone up. Considerably. Yesterday, The Daily Memphian published an analysis of how effective the 2,100 surveillance cameras have been in Memphis, both in deterring crimes and in helping solve them after they’ve happened. And the story is part of a planned, year-long investigation into the issue of crime in Memphis and the surrounding area. 

Pre-holiday COVID check: Shelby County Health Department director Dr. Michelle Taylor noted yesterday that the area’s 7-day average of COVID-19 cases is slowly ticking up once again. And the reproductive rate is above 1, meaning every person who is sick is infecting at least one other person. Taylor was also asked about the various school systems who are not requiring students to continue masking, despite the Health Department directive requiring them to do so. She said they are investigating the situation — and what measures the department can take — but could not comment much due to pending litigation. 

QUOTED

A statue of Tupelo native son, Elvis Presley, is in Fair Park in that city’s downtown. Elvis — or the spirit of him, at least — became an effective ambassador for Tupelo when it was courting Toyota.  (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

“Elvis is always gonna be around, but thank goodness he’s passed, because he can’t do anything bad now to ruin his image.”

— Tupelo’s David Rumbarger 
In our ongoing series about Ford Motor Co.’s local plans, today we turn our attention to Tupelo. In the early 2000s, the Mississippi city was in the middle of a nationwide recession and its furniture makers were offshoring the area’s jobs to China. So Tupelo’s leaders bought 1,500 acres of land and made a bunch of Elvis Presley pins to give to prospective auto makers and food processors. 

THE NICE TO KNOW 

Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Sr. was hit with an ethics complaint last year but it was later dropped. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

Stop talking??? Close readers of The Daily Memphian’s politics coverage may have found themselves somewhat puzzled? taken aback? shocked? to learn recently that a Memphis City Council vote devolved into “a personal attack on an aide to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris by council member Edmund Ford Sr.” And that the attack was due to the aide attaching her personal pronouns near her signature on a letter. As many people do. But, The Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries also reminded us yesterday that this isn’t the first time Ford has made questionable remarks. Like when he called then-Memphis City Councilwoman Carol Chumney “baby” and told her to stop talking. As recently as a year ago, another council member, JB Smiley, filed an ethics complaint against Ford for a “pattern of verbally abusive behavior.” Now another councilman is saying members of the body were wrong not to intervene during Ford’s outbursts on Tuesday. Due to a fairly recently change in its decorum policy (wonder how that came about), the council chair is now allowed to cut off other members’ microphones.

A dedication ceremony was held at the Renasant Convention Center yesterday. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Convention on tour: Though it’s been open for months and even hosted more than 1,200 AutoZoners in September, the Renasant Convention Center is now official. Area leaders were on hand yesterday to dedicate and tour the renovated building, with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland calling it “a strong symbol … of what’s happening in our city right now.”

Death row reprieve: Pervis Payne hasn’t been exonerated of two 1987 Millington murders, but his death penalty sentence has been stayed. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich announced yesterday that Payne’s sentence would be changed to two consecutive life sentences after a state-appointed expert was unable to determine if Payne was intelligent enough to qualify for the death penalty. Now Payne’s defense team will turn their attention to getting his sentence to run concurrently instead of consecutively.

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT 

Blue lights from a nearby police cruiser light up the memorial at Makeda’s for Young Dolph. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Wednesday’s Young Dolph shooting has produced another victim: Makeda’s Cookies. 

The business’ Airways Boulevard location has been boarded up in the wake of the fatal shooting, but the community is coming to their aid, by sharing their cash app, pledging donations, starting a GoFundMe and encouraging people to buy their cookies online. 

The thing I really like about the above idea is it results in delicious cookies. 

Thanks for being with us during this turbulent week. Just a reminder, The Early Word will become a subscriber-only newsletter after Thanksgiving. If you find this email valuable and helpful to start your day, and you’re already a subscriber, you are set — and I thank you for it. If you’re not a Daily Memphian subscriber, you still have time to subscribe or enter our contest to win a month’s subscription for free. 

As always, we’ll be back Monday, bright and early. Have a great end to your workweek and a wonderful weekend! 

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