Free Republic

Exams test educator integrity Emphasis on scores can lead to cheating, teacher survey finds By Aimee Edmondson edmondson@gomemphis.com September 21, 2003 The stories she'd heard about cheating started to make sense when Kim McCrary Marsh's eighth-graders asked for answers during annual achievement tests. "My students asked me, 'Are you going to help us on the test a little bit like So-and-So did?' " said Marsh, a former Trezevant High School history teacher. These days it's not just students who feel pressure to cheat. Marsh and other teachers in Memphis and Shelby County tell stories of adults taking shortcuts on the...

GOP bashes Moss for tax hike By Blake Fontenay fontenay@gomemphis.com July 9, 2003 A day after providing a critical swing vote for a 25-cent property tax rate increase, Shelby County Commissioner Tom Moss continued taking hits from his political party's leaders. Moss, a Republican, joined the commission's six Democrats in supporting the increase on the second of three required readings Monday. The six other Republican commissioners opposed it. That fact has some prominent Republicans already predicting that Moss will draw an opponent from within his party if he runs for re-election. Meanwhile, Moss found himself answering conflict-of-interest questions from local...

32cent property tax hike on table Plus a nickel outside city to fund Arlington school By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com July 3, 2003 Shelby County Commissioners struck a deal Wednesday that will send to the floor a 32-cent property tax increase to balance the county books, paired with funding for a new high school in Arlington. The school project would be paid for with rural school bonds requiring an additional 5-cent tax increase charged only to residents outside the Memphis city limits. The unprecedented funding approach for Shelby County would sidestep the ADA (average daily attendance) funding formula, a large factor...

Wharton's budget could hike property tax rate by 35 cents By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com April 17, 2003 Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton on Wednesday outlined the basic details of his first budget proposal to the County Commission, a no-frills plan that could require a 35-cent hike in the property tax rate. The preliminary $347 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 - which doesn't take into account possible added costs for schools - includes no pay increase for the county's 7,000 employees and freezes hiring and nonessential spending. The budget plan also would cut more than...

Rename Civil War parks? It's time, says Bailey By Blake Fontenay fontenay@gomemphis.com November 17, 2002 Many Memphians viewed last summer's heavyweight championship fight between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson as one of the city's crowning moments. But for County Commission chairman Walter Bailey, the event also highlighted a major civic embarrassment. Bailey said Lewis's attorney and some HBO officials were driving through downtown and spotted a monument dedicated to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. "They thought that was a bit unbecoming," Bailey recalled. "That was sort of an awakening call." That uncomfortable experience has prompted Bailey to begin some informal discussions...

Rout, aides 'off-limits,' auditor tells commissioners Ex-mayor says no such order: 'I'm not so dumb' By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com November 16, 2002 Shelby County government's internal auditors were told to steer clear of the financial records of former mayor Jim Rout and his top aides, an external auditor claimed Friday. "They were just told not to look at certain people. . . . Certain persons were considered to be off-limits," alleged David Palmer, who spoke at a hearing before a new County Commission audit committee. Palmer, of the firm Watkins Uiberall, said internal auditor Tommy Cates recently told him that...

Anna Marie Hartman Some county financial records declared off limits to auditor Shelby County Commissioners want to know who gave an order to ignore certain financial records of top officials. County Commissioners have taken it upon themselves to investigate the excessive credit card and travel expenses that has been making headlines for months now, particularly that of Mayor Jim Rout's former top aide Tom Jones. Today, commissioners on the finance committee met with their outside auditing firm to ask why abusive spending did not raise a red flag during their audits. Representatives from that firm say once the report gets...

Lawyer assail stactics used in Jones lunch policy probe Ex-mayor Rout maintains he is unaware of criteria employed in county audit By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com October 30, 2002 Attorney Robert Spence says his client is getting kicked while he is down. How else to explain why county auditors invented policies to apply to former mayoral aide Tom Jones that even former mayor Jim Rout has never heard of, Spence argues. He said a glaring example is Jones is being asked to repay more than $16,000 charged to his county credit card for meals when Rout was not present. Those business...

Taxpayers pick up tabs for officials' NYC jaunts County expenses folded into bond debts By Marc Perrusquia perrusquia@gomemphis.com October 20, 2002 On Broadway, he saw Jekyll & Hyde. After the show, then-Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout stepped into a limo, a jet-black Cadillac that ventured into the Manhattan night. For Rout, the 1997 outing in the Big Apple was magic. He had little idea how portentous it would be. Over three years in the mid-1990s, Rout and other county officials, and their families, spent at least $73,000 on six New York trips - costs paid for, in whole or part,...

State calls for audit of Shelby expenses By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com October 17, 2002 Amid growing allegations of abuses, state auditors have requested an independent review of travel and credit card expenses for all of Shelby County government. Internal controls over travel and credit and procurement cards are "so lax," wrote Richard V. Norment, the state comptroller's director of county audit, "that there is a high probability abuse has occurred and may be occurring throughout Shelby County government." In a letter to county Mayor A C Wharton, dated Oct. 9, Norment requested that the mayor hire an accounting firm to...

Shelby claim against insurance seeks to recover Jones's tab By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com October 9, 2002 The county plans to file an insurance claim over funds allegedly misdirected for personal use by former mayoral aide Tom Jones. That decision was mentioned in a memo summarizing the county's special counsel findings into Jones's personal spending on county-issued credit cards. Jones, former mayor Jim Rout's senior adviser, is being investigated by the FBI and the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office. County Attorney Donnie Wilson said Tuesday that Jones is included under a blanket insurance policy covering losses due to an employee...

$25,000 Australia junket worth it, Rout says By Bartholomew Sullivan sullivan@gomemphis.com October 6, 2002 Nobody ate the kangaroo fillets. But if former Shelby County mayor Jim Rout and senior aide Tom Jones were squeamish about munching on marsupials, it appears they weren't afraid to spend more than $25,000 in taxpayers' money last march on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. Just 135 days before Rout left office, he, Jones and Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau president Kevin Kane - along with their wives - left for the land down under. The couples dined at a five-star restaurant, visited Olympic...

Rout also used card for personal items Screening for misuse toughened By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com August 31, 2002 Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout used the same county-issued credit card for personal expenses as his former top aide, whom Rout recently suspended amid allegations of credit card abuse. Rout, who has his own county credit cards, repaid the charges on his assistant's balance with checks from his mayoral campaign fund, records show. On Monday, Rout suspended his senior adviser, Tom Jones, as Jones was busily submitting checks to pay back at least $45,000 for personal expenses dating back to 1999. Rout...

County card used by Jones to buy books, DVDs, CDs online By Michael Erskine and Marc Perrusquia erskine@gomemphis.com perrusquia@gomemphis.com August 30, 2002 Amid the Christmas season last year, Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout's top aide shopped online with his county-issued credit card. Tom Jones, Rout's senior adviser, spent $112.65 on a variety of books in late December, including The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares, Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar and Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. That purchase from Amazon.com is among dozens Jones made for books, CDs and DVDs in the...

Wharton solidly ahead 11 days out By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com July 20, 2002 Democrat A C Wharton holds a commanding lead in the race for Shelby County mayor, a new poll shows - though a sizable bloc of voters remains undecided with two weeks left. The Commercial Appeal/News Channel 3 poll, conducted July 14-17, found Wharton the favorite of 46 percent of voters compared to Republican George Flinn with 27 percent. Those who were waffling or had no opinion registered at 23 percent. Three independent candidates split 3 percent. "Obviously this is a very significant lead that Wharton has," said...

Schools warned: Cuts will be deep By Ruma Banerji banerji@gomemphis.com July 10, 2002 County and city school officials are bracing for deep cuts after being told county commissioners aren't likely to raise taxes to help patch the schools' multimillion-dollar deficits. County schools Supt. Dr. Bobby G. Webb Tuesday called the situation dire. Memphis Supt. Johnnie B. Watson is reluctant to discuss specific cuts until he gets more concrete figures from the county and state, saying he doesn't want to upset teachers and other school employees. Webb said maintenance deferrals will likely be the first cutback in the county system, along...

Susan Adler Thorp: Angry GOP voters turn out, slap 'ins' May 12, 2002 When Shelby County awoke last Wednesday, one thing was clear: Republican voters were angry. They were angry with Republican elected officials who they believed had ignored their brand of governance, one that promotes reduced taxes and smaller government. These Republicans - mostly white and mostly suburban - were angry with GOP county commissioners who gave themselves a $10,000 pay raise after voting to raise county property taxes and to increase the wheel tax. They were angry with commissioners who had approved tax subsidies to build the downtown...

Voters oust 2 GOP commissioners amid anti-establishment fever By Michael Erskine erskine@gomemphis.com May 8, 2002 Incumbent Republicans Clair Vander Schaaf and Morris Fair were unseated Tuesday in a precedent-breaking County Commission primary election that featured a race decided by one vote. The sea change at the 13-member commission, which will feature at least five new faces, was of tidal wave proportion. Until Tuesday, no incumbent commissioner had been unseated since Democrat Julian Bolton ousted Minerva Johnican in 1982. The upsets came as several hot-button issues were pushed to the forefront by Republican challengers, including commission votes in favor of a...

Flinn upsets Scroggs, will face Wharton in Aug. 1 general election By Thomas Jordan jordan@gomemphis.com May 7, 2002 Political newcomer George Flinn apparently was heading toward an upset of state Rep. Larry Scroggs in the Republican primary for county mayor Tuesday, while Public Defender A C Wharton glided to victory in the Democratic primary. Flinn, 58, a physician and broadcast mogul, will face Wharton, 57, who defeated Carol Chumney, in the county general election Aug. 1. Scroggs, 60, entered the race as the favorite, but Flinn garnered name recognition by spending heavily for advertising in the weeks leading up to...

School plan gets Shelby board's OK in principle Specifics to be negotiated later By Katherine Cromer cromer@gomemphis.com April 26, 2002 The Shelby County School Board on Thursday unanimously endorsed the principles spelled out in the comprehensive school funding reform agreement, but stopped short of approving the document down to the letter. The board had intended to pass a resolution to "endorse and recommend full implementation" of the document. But some members' questions about - or objections to - elements of the plan led the board to agree to the principles and reserve the right to negotiate the details. Thursday's vote...