Conaway: This ballot ‘triggers’ memories but also possibilities
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway is a lifelong Memphian, fascinated and frustrated with his city, but still in love. A columnist since 2010, his distinguished advertising career has branded ribs in the Rendezvous and ducks in The Peabody, pandas in the zoo and Grizzlies in the NBA. Stories in Memphis tend to write themselves. He’s helped a few along. Two book collections of his columns have been published.
The Daily Memphian welcomes a diverse range of views from guest columnists on topics of local interest and impact. Columns are subject to editorial review and editing for length and clarity. If you’re interested in having a guest column considered by The Daily Memphian, email Eric Barnes.
There’s enough hypocrisy to pave I-40 from here to Nashville and back again.
The quote below is from a column I wrote for The Daily News in 2013. I wrote it as the state was hammering us yet again, and only us. That time it was Civil War monuments, but it was far more than that.
David Pickler was then chair of the Shelby County School Board and led the successful move to allow new, separate school districts, cleverly structured to apply only in Shelby County.
He was aided in that fight — in fact, enabled in that fight — by then Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, a Memphian, and now a federal judge on the bench right here. Former Collierville Representative Curry Todd carried Norris’ water in the state house.
I’m sure all of the clever came from Norris. Many things can be said about Todd but, in my opinion, none of them are clever.
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