Tim Lennox OFFair & ONline

Landmarks

2009-12-09T14:37:00.003-06:00

Folks who lived in Birmingham between the mid 1930's and the 1980's may recall telling friends to "meet me under the Loveman's clock". For newcomers, A brief history lesson:

Loveman's was a department store.
It was in downtown Birmingham, which used to be kind of like The Summit...but with taller buildings and more of an edge.
The store had a clock above it's main entrance, and the clock became a landmark to use for meeting up with friends.

The store, like virtually all other retail establishments downtown, closed and stayed empty for a lot of years. Eventually part of the building's structure became what is now the McWayne Science Center.
The clock was preserved, and is somewhere inside the center now.(see update below)

Loveman's wasn't the only place with a clock that became a meeting landmark...in Downtown Montgomery there was a freestanding clock outside the Klein & Sons jewelry store on Dexter Avenue. And people in the Capital City would say "Meet me under..."

Like the Birmingham retailers, Klein & Sons closed their 1930's downtown store a long time ago, and eventually took their clock with them, in 1986, to a relatively suburban shopping stretch on Zelda Road.

Now the clock in back on Dexter Avenue. The family donated the clock to the city, which has put it back exactly where it was originally.
The story in the Montgomery Advertiser says they were able to use the original wiring to install the clock (which may say more about how little has beeen done to Dexter Avenue than anything), and the story quotes the Mayor as saying "This is the beginning of the revitalization effort of this street."
The clock is pretty much surrounded by empty buildings...like a lot of Downtown Birmingham.
There has been lots of great renovation work in the cities' downtowns, but absent from both is retail.
It's nice that the Loveman's clock was saved for posterity, but it sure would be a lot nicer if there were an actual Loveman's store in Downtown Birmingham too (or something like it, since Loveman's was long ago swallowed up.)
And the Klein & Son's clock is nice too. But an actual store would have been even nicer. In fact the store they moved to Zelda Road? It's closing too. The family is moving out to Eastchase with the rest of the retail world. I guess it was just a matter of time.

[UPDATE: From the folks at The McWayne Science Center

The clock is still on the exterior of the building on the corner of 19th St. and 3rd Ave. North. It is not on display as an exhibit inside the museum. The image you posted was taken after the McWane Science Center renovation. Thanks for your interest. Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Erik Lizee
Director of Exhibit and Media Development]

And speaking of criminals...

2009-12-07T14:39:00.001-06:00

....no Miranda warning for the creep who pick-pocketed the iPhone of a co-worker's daughter at a football game. It is that time of year, when theives try to steal your hard-earned stuff to give themselves some Christmas presents.
Here are some tips from the Alabama Department of Public Safety!

• Use debit or credit cards if possible, or carry only enough money to pay for your errands. If carrying large amounts of money, separate the money into amounts needed and place them in different pockets.

• Be extremely careful using ATM machines. Use them in populated places and constantly pay attention to what is going on around you.

• If you have to carry a purse, carry it close to your body and always zipped.

• Park as close as possible to the mall or shopping center.

• Park in a well-lit location.

• Have your keys ready to open your vehicle before you exit the mall or shopping center.

• Remember exactly where you parked your vehicle.

• Avoid shopping until you are exhausted. You are more alert when you are less tired.

• When hurried or in a crowded shop, make sure you get all forms of identification and credit cards returned to you before leaving.

• Use an escort or mall security if you have too many packages or if you are leaving the mall after closing.

• Keep gifts or packages out of plain view inside your vehicle.

• Keep gifts hidden from view through outside windows of your residence.

• After opening gifts, break down the boxes of expensive electronics and high-end stores and put them in plastic bags to hide the fact you have valuable items in your home.

• Carry a cellular phone and have emergency phone numbers available.

Miranda Plus?

2009-12-07T14:29:00.000-06:00

Could this U.S. Supreme Court actually be headed toward expanding the famous Miranda Warning to suspects?

Life After handling $700-Billion

2009-12-07T13:21:00.000-06:00

     Well-written, interesting Washington Post profile of one of the faces that became central to the almost- collapse of the economy. Remember Neel Kashkari? The story was in Sunday's paper, but I'm just now catching up with reading and posting.
      I can almost hear the Washingtonians saying aloud, or to themselves, could we do that? He looks awfully happy compared to us.
     Just went back to the story and found it is the 4th most read story on the Post website.
     Could we do that?

MMMM # 73 - The Mayor's Message: $pend money!

2009-12-07T01:00:00.009-06:00

Here in Montgomery, where the unemployment rate is in double digits, Mayor Todd Strange and the President of the Montgomery County Commission, Elton Dean, have been videotaped for "Public Service Announcements" urging the public to get out there any buy stuff. The messages are running on local TV Stations.
Yea, it sounded familiar to me too...like G.W. Bush urging Americans to go travel somewhere, anywhere...go buy something, anything!...in the wake of 911:

We've got quite a crowd traveling today, all of whom -- all of whom are here to say as clearly as we can to the American public, get on the airlines, get about the business of America. (Applause.) That's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (Applause.)

   And now, in the midst of The Great Recession, we have city and county elected officials broadcasting the same message, though the drama of the planes and the World Trade Center is missing.
    Of course it would be a good thing for the cycle of buying & hiring to resume! But there's an air of desperation to the new ads. They seem to violate the "Don't let 'em see you sweat" mantra many politicians follow. They might lead people to ask: If the economic situation is really not all that bad, and it's OK to go spend, why do they have to go on TV to beg people to do it?
      The message is also very controlled. It's not on YouTube. It's not even on the Montgomery City or The Montgomery County web sites!

It is a tough, maybe no-win situation that proves again how interconnected our economy is. People don't buy, stores don't hire. Your move!
I suspect the 10% sales tax in Montgomery helped cause the drop in retail sales...people will spend, but they'll also spend wisely. And it wasn't the Great Recession that caused the Montgomery Mall and all of that other commercial real estate to empty out along the South and West Boulevards.

I don't know how much of an increase in salary Mayor Strange received when he was elected (he was a County Commissioner before that), but the half-million or so dollars budgeted for salaries in the mayor's office is a bit higher for 2009 than it was in 2008. So right there are at least a few consumers who will be able to spend freely this Christmas.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Presidential (NOT) Library

2009-12-06T19:37:00.000-06:00

Work has begun on the newest Presidential library in America. Not for George Bush, nor for Barack Obama...it's for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
The original Davis library, in the Mississippi house he last lived in, called Beauvoir, was heavily damaged by Katrina.

The Davis library is not recognized by the Federal Government. There are 13 on the official list, including one for Richard Nixon.
FDR started the system in his second term, in 1939, to preserve his papers...but Congress didn't established a formal framework and budgets till 1955.

As far as I know there are no exceptions, every serving president can use the system to preserve the papers connected to his (or her, someday) presidency...after all, Nixon has one, and he was thrown out of office!

The Mississippi property is owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but FEMA funding related to Katrina damage is paying for about 90% of the repairs.

So since we're all friends again, or at least friendly, almost 150 years has passed since the Civil War. I suggest we let Jeff Davis join the list, and make it 14 Presidential Libraries.

What 'cha think? Was he an American President? And should his library be recognized? Could there at least be a page on the official web site recognizing his library and his place in U.S. history?

This Blog's MVP*

2009-12-06T16:49:00.000-06:00

The number of visitor to this blog has varied widely in the two year's + that I've been writing it, and I thought there might be some interest in an occasional report on the most visited posts during a quarter of the year or so. Anyway...here are some of the most read blog entries since September:

Assault on New York, Part 1 (The start of a four-part post about Raphael Semmes, Captain of the CSS Alabama during the U.S. Civil War.)
Assault on New York, Part 3
Riley's Gambling Gauntlet (The Governor tackles BINGO!..or at least some of it.)
15 Years after Wedowee... (Another prom, another ban..at first.)
Assault on New York, Part 4
Assault on New York, Part 2
Loss of an Icon (The fire at The Hotel Talisi)
The TV Reporter on ABC's V (An entry in the MMMM, a regular blog feature, about the TV show "V" and it's TV reporter character.)

Thanks for visiting!

*Most Visited Posts

Air Force Job

2009-12-06T09:18:00.003-06:00

Here's a job listing I spotted on Twitter this morning:
================================================

Explosive Technician - new

Air Force - Montgomery, AL

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) ApprenticeEOD technicians safely handle live explosives on a daily basis. The profession is varied in mission and scope. It is extremely satisfying but very demanding. EOD work begins in dangerous situations and ends in producing safe solutions.......

===============================================================
Just a thought...I would think the LAST thing the military would be looking for is an explosive technician. You would think they would want them to be calm and relaxed...especially with all of those explosives around!

How much is that window in the window?

2009-12-06T06:57:00.000-06:00

Thanks to reader J.C. (No, another one) for directing me to an MSNBC story about the Baptist Church in Vermont that has decided to sell an historic part of itself to keep funding operations, including a homeless mission.

These are tough times all over, but my prediction is that a donation will appear to cover the needed funding...allowing the church to stop the sale.

Far be it from Rev. Tim to preach, but as I recall, that other J.C. didn't build church one. And the only dealing he had with bankers and the lot was to toss 'em out.

Amen.

Coal Ashhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

2009-12-05T21:24:00.000-06:00

There are some things the EPA knows about Coal Ash ponds in the U.S. that it is not telling. And now the Sierra Club has filed suit to force the agency to disclose that information. The environmental group claims the EPA has information about 135 sites that it refuses to share.

The agency is starting the process of writing new regulations about coal ash storage this month...one year after the spill at the TVA Kingston power plant. The coal ash from that spill is carried by train to a commercial landfill outside Uniontown in Perry County, Alabama.

Will there be a wave of support now?

2009-12-04T16:57:00.000-06:00

One of the candidates for Mayor in Birmingham has been found dead in his apartment...according to the Birmingham News., apparently of illness. The story says his name will remain on the ballot on Tuesday, when the electorate decides who will replace the ousted Larry Langford.

Ironically, the News ran a profile on him today.

I just wonder if there will be people who will vote for Mr. Ernie Dunn out of sympathy, or because they want to make a statement that they are disenchanted with the crop of remaining folks on the ballot?

RIP

Let it SNOW!

2009-12-04T16:42:00.001-06:00

Yea, once again we Alabamians are going nuts over snow in the forecast. The picture at the top of the blog right now--and the ones below on this posting-- show the LAST show we had here in Montgomery..March 1, 2009. It was just a light dusting, and that's exactly what's in the forecast for us tonight/tomorrow morning. Just enough to make it pretty for a while and then it will warm above freezing.
I lifted this information from the folks at the National Weather Service, who have a great site to explore if you are like me, a weather geek. (Remember I am not a meterologist, but I did play one on TV once. Ch 42 in Birmingham 1995-1998 or so).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birmingham Area

•Perhaps the closest resemblance to a White Christmas in Birmingham was December, 1985. Flurries falling on Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning lightly dusted some areas, but snow was not deep enough to measure.

•Eight other trace snowfall events occurring in 1961, 1963, 1966, 1980, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1995 were reported at the Birmingham International Airport on either December 24th or 25th.

•Weather records show that 5.5 inches of snow fell at the city office on December 22, 1929. On December 24th, there was still 2.5 inches of snow on the ground at 7 PM. However, most of the snow melted Christmas Day when the temperature climbed to 51 degrees.

Montgomery area

•For Montgomery, there has not been a White Christmas since 1919. The closest Montgomery has come to a White Christmas was in 1962 when a trace of snow was observed on December 24th. However, a near miss occurred in 1935 when 1.4 inches of snow fell on December 21-22.

Tuscaloosa area

•Tuscaloosa has only reported two trace snowfall events in 1962 and 1985 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Anniston area

•Anniston has reported a total of seven trace snowfall events in 1963, 1970, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1995 on either December 24th or 25th, but has never seen a true White Christmas.

[UPDATE: Not a flake (of snow) in Montgomery...though there was a trace in places including Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Media reports: "Basically the precipitation outran the cold air," said Holly Britton, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "That's why we didn't get as much snowfall as expected."]

Water, water, everywhere....?

2009-12-03T16:54:00.000-06:00

I am surely not a scientist, so figuring out what's what with the Global Warming question has been a process of deciding who I believe.
In the past few days I've read two stories about the potential for damage from rising seas. The first is a summary of efforts worldwide to prepare for the higher sea levels. The second is the story of Alabama sticking its head in the sand at the rapidly rising seashore.
Who do YOU believe?

Mercedes Incentives, Part II

2009-12-02T12:56:00.000-06:00

     Sixteen years after Alabama offered $253-Million in incentives to lure Mercedes to locate a plant in Alabama, The Birmingham News reports this afternoon that new incentives of as much as $100-Million were used to convince the company to move production of its C-class auto from Germany to Vance, Alabama, site of it's sprawling M-class plant.
     Of course $100-Million isn't what it used to be, sixteen years ago,
     What the News does not report is the uproar the decision has caused at Daimler AG's Sinelfingen plant in Germany, where the cars are manufactured now. The Tuscaloosa News has an AP story about the mass-protests by some 12,000 employees, who are vowing to fight the move.
     Alabama so-called "right to work" status (i.e. anti-union) has been one of the unwritten incentives used to lure auto assembly plants and other companies to the state. Germany's workforce is highly unionized. And its workers receive higher pay and generous benefits because of their unionization.
     The News story indicates some of the new incentives are in tax breaks and AIDT training, but some cash is being used from the State and local governments.
     Just where that cash will come from is anybody's guess. The state has cut the budgets of all government agencies during the Great Recession.

Alabama Property Tax Collections are UP????

2009-12-02T10:15:00.000-06:00

...that's what an online story by The Birmingham News reports today.
It's only a small part of the story, but the 13.8% increase jumped out at me.

Home values have plummeted just about everywhere...
Foreclosures are abundant...
Sales are almost uniformly down...

How can property tax collections be UP compared to last year? Virtually all other taxes are down...even cigarette tax collections are down!

Isn't this an example where our controversial every year appraisals should be working for us?

M(T2)MMM - # 72 - You Will Pay for News

2009-12-01T16:26:00.000-06:00

One of the biggest media moguls around says you will just have to get used to paying for quality news on the net.

Rupert Murdoch's comments came during a Federal Trade Commission hearing on the future of journalism. His Wall Street Journal has already started charging for online content, and there's little doubt that other news sites will follow suit.

While folks with more disposable income will no doubt be willing to pay up, what will the rest of the population do for news? Barbershop or beauty salon gossip? The headlines in the tabloids* in the checkout line? TV?

25 years from now there will be some great books written about this time of turbulence in the news business. I just wish I knew what they would say!

[The Monday Morning(in this case Tuesday) Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

M(T)MMM - Is this the Future of News?

2009-12-01T15:17:00.001-06:00

A Japanese TV report on, what else, Tiger's accident...is there merit in the use of re-creation anime as a tool for stories that are "video poor"? [The Monday (in this case Tuesday) Morning Media Memo is a regualr feature of this blog.]

Another Manual Type-Writer

2009-11-30T20:05:00.000-06:00

     Having just finished a story for WBHM Radio in Birmingham about three Alabamians who still use manual typewriters, I was interested to read a N.Y. Times story on the same theme...though it focuses on one well-known writer who has pretty much worn out an Ollivetti.
     It's Cormac McCarthy, who's books have been read by millions and turned into movies like "No Country For Old Men". The old, worn machine is being auctioned off.
   And there's an idea for longtime Birmingham News sportswriter Clyde Bolton, one of the three men in my story. An auction Clyde! An auction! Once you're done with it, of course.

2 Big Gambles - 1,700 miles, and many political ages apart

2009-11-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

     Investors in brand-new gaming ventures in locations many miles apart will open their doors tomorrow...one in the Sin City of Las Vegas, Nevada...the other in the Bible Belt town of Dothan, Alabama.
     In Vegas, the $8.5 Billion, 67 acre "City Center" complex will open, complete with hotels (5,900 room's worth!), restaurants and one solitary casino.
     In Dothan, the $70 Million, 500 acre Country music star fueled "Country Crossing" entertainment complex will open for business on the same day, with a bed & breakfast, restaurants, retail shops, a 10,000 seat amphitheater and a thousand or so electronic Bingo machines.

Las Vegas's heart is in gambling, and a complex that hired more than 100,000 workers in the middle of The Great Recession has been welcomed with open arms, casino and all.

Alabama's money may be in gaming (check the license tags at the Mississippi casinos), but Governor Bob Riley has been leading a charge against electronic Bingo, an effort that resulted in a State Supreme Court ruling that set up a six-part test to determine if a machine is legal bingo or illegal electronic gambling. The last of the six parts says the winner must literally have to shout out "Bingo" to win.

There's an excellent story on Riley's fight against bingo (including the feud between him and Attorney General Troy King) in the Southern Political Report.

     In dueling editorials, The Birmingham News argues for the Governor to go shut down Country Crossing, while the Dothan Eagle invites him to come by and explain his rationale in trying to stifle development and the 500 immediate jobs the facility will create.
     Will Riley's gambling task force show up with court orders against Country Crossing tomorrow morning? Will the much bigger gamble in Las Vegas pay off?
     Remember: never bet against the house.

Loss of an Icon

2009-11-30T07:44:00.005-06:00

An iconic building in Alabama has been destroyed.

     The Hotel Taisi in Tallassee was destroyed by fire early this morning. The fire started in a small consignment shop behind the old brick hotel, which became well-known for serving a a traditional Sunday buffet dinner.
     Mayor George McCain says the owners of the consignment shop say only their computer was turned on overnight. The State Fire Marshal's office will investigate.
The destruction of the hotel means a drop in tax income for the city during an already difficult economy, and a loss of jobs for the dozens of people employed there.
     The hotel was built in 1924...it had been purchased by new owners just a month ago. Wylie Troupe, Dawn Bodenburg, Patti Elliott, Nancy Bahr, Gwen Holley, Patti Harrelson, and Karen Newman became partner/owners on October 14th.

In Janary of 2006 another historic building in that city was destroyed...the old Tallassee Mill warehouse, which used to store military equipment all the way back to the Spanish-American War.

[UPDATE: CBS-8 reports a juvenile suspect is in custody...the fire may have been intentionally set.]

MMMM # 71 - The Swiss Cheesy Image

2009-11-30T01:00:00.012-06:00

      LBJ had his mushroom cloud/daisy/little girl commercial. Then there are the more recent graphic "Hope"poster for Barack Obama as a candidate. And let's not forget the Abu Ghraib prisoner photos.
     There is no denying the power of images to influence people.
     But I thought it was just in America where an image + a dumb argument for or against something actually worked to convince citizens how to vote.

     Enter Switzerland, where a xenophobic poster helped sway a majority of the voters in that usually tolerant country to ban the towers often constructed with Muslim mosques. The shape of the minaret's were perfect for the right-winger anti-immigrant forces, who made posters showing minaret missiles. Allow the minarets, and Switzerland would quickly be governed by sharia law they argued. Really.
     If you think the anti-immigrent battles in the U.S.have been fierce, you haven't see what's happening in a lot of Europe.
     Here in the U.S., we are, after all, a nation of immigrants (except for the Native Americans), so fighting againt the latest wave of newcomers is an old game.

Europeans are new at it, since, till recently, they lived in pretty insular communities. The Irish lived in Ireland. The English lived in England (except when they decided to live in Ireland too, starving the Irish to the extent those who managed to survive suddenly wanted to live somewhere else too). The Germans lived in Germany (except during two World Wars when they wanted to live somewheer else.Same for the Japanese). Anyway, you get the idea. This whole xenophobia thing is relatively new to a lot of Europe.

Here in the good old USA, most of us are used to "foreign" people living among us. And the rest of us are those foreign people.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

365 Days, Mr. President

2009-11-29T01:00:00.027-06:00

     One year from today, the United States will match the Soviet Union in the number of days it sacrificed its young in Afghanistan. The Soviets pulled out after a long and bloody nine years, one month and 23 days.
   The next day, November 30, 2010 (presuming we are still there!), we'll hold the modern record.
     Yay team.
     The anniversary date comes as President Obama is set to disclose his plan to succeed in, and then depart from, Afghanistan.
     Mr. Obama is a thoughful man, not given to impulse "gut" decisions, so unlike his predecessor. The slowness of his decision about Afghanistan has been fodder (like everything else) for GOP critique, but I would rather he truly give this, especially this, as much consideration as he feels necessary.
     The President will address the country from West Point Tuesday night.
     I'm not sure, and really nobody can be, whether success is possible. Do we define victory as helping to create a country where human rights are respected, a place where the people have the power to define their futures? Or will it be enough for them to just stop providing shelter for anti-American terrorists? And if the fighting in Afghanistan is really just a proxy war between India and Pakistan, can we convince them to send their own young people there to die?
     The Soviet goal was to defeat the Islamist Mujahedeen Resistance and maintain a Marxist (i.e., friendly to them) state. That's why our CIA was helping the "rebels".

Now it seems The President just wants us to "finish" and go home, hopefully leaving one less threat against our own security. We want the Talliban gone, and we want a government that is friendly to us in power. We've seen what Sharia law can inspire, and would just as soon keep the government in friendlier hands.

The Russians certainly poured blood and money into their effort, but in the end, left in defeat.

Now one man who should know is advising President Obama to avoid a similer fate by starting to withdraw troops, instead of adding tens of thousands more. Mikhail Gorbachev tells Bloomburg News there is no chance for an American military victory. And he had 3, 342 days, 15,000 deaths and 35,000 wounds from which to learn his lesson.

America's military has been there 2,976 days already. 928 military men and women have died, 4,434 have been wounded.

Other than increasing those sobering numbers, what difference will another year make?

[PLUS: Editorial against sending more troops.]

Alabama County Has Among Highest Food Stamp Usage

2009-11-28T20:40:00.002-06:00

Perry County is on the list of the top fifteen counties in America when it comes to residents receiving food stamps, according to a story about food stamps in The New York Times. An interactive map included with the story shows several other Alabama Black Belt counties also having high rates.

According to the Times story, Perry County has 10,550 people receiving food stamps...41% of the population, a 7% increase over the past two years.

Perry County has been in the news this year because hundreds of tons of coal ash from the TVA spill at the Kingston Power Plant in Tennessee is being carried by rail to a huge commercial landfill in Uniontown.

Supporters of that project say it has provided employment, and fees paid by the landfill owners have helped offset proration of the Alabama Education Budget.

Even the 41% figure for Perry County may be low. A recent study found Alabama providing food stamps to just 65% of the resident who are eligible. That put the state about mid-way on the list of states.

Spelunking.

2009-11-28T06:15:00.003-06:00

An incident over the holidays in Spanish Fork, Utah reminds me of one of those horrible accidents you drive past and you can't not look.
A young medical student, a father one one about to become a father of two, a skilled cave explorer. And tragedy. Worst yet, the story only got sadder as the holiday weekend progressed.

He became stuck in a tight 10" x 18" passage in a cave.
A rescue team worked for a day to free him.
At one point they succeeded, but he fell back to the trap.
There was nothing else they could do.
He died

And somehow even all of that wasn't enough of a tregedy. The latest development came this morning. The New York Times has the story.

[Note: the photo shows my High School classmate Tom Padovano. Our class went cave exploring in upstate New York, near Ellenville, numerous times. I remember squeezing through some very narrow passageways. Sucking in our already pretty skinny guts was part of the process.]

The Facial Beauty Test

2009-11-27T19:10:00.000-06:00

Are you beautiful? How's that for a question just in time for Saturday night? I came across a site that allows you to upload a photo of your face, zoom in so it fills the frame, click to leave marks on 17 certain places (like the top and bottom of your ears) and then have the program calculate your beauty score.

The program is called Anaface, and here's the link: http://anaface.com/

The results are on a ten scale. And no, I'm not telling you mine, but I will say the computer thought my ears are too long. (-:

I used the photo on the left for the test. Hmmm. My ears DO look long....!

Give it a try!