2 | LAGNIAPPE | September 3, 2015 - September 9, 2015 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• LAGNIAPPE WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 – September 9, 2015 | www.lagniappemobile.com Ashley Trice BAY BRIEFS Co-publisher/Editor The Prichard Water Board is scrambling [email protected] to manage its system after its unpaid Rob Holbert contractor bolted. Co-publisher/Managing Editor 6 [email protected] COMMENTARY Steve Hall Marketing/Sales Director It’s a bad time to be a cop and the [email protected] dark underbelly of social media. Gabriel Tynes Assistant Managing Editor 14 [email protected] Dale Liesch BUSINESS Reporter Local real estate agents got some [email protected] national exposure on the series Jason Johnson finale of HGTV’s “Beach Flip.” Reporter 20 [email protected] Eric Mann Reporter CUISINE [email protected] The Meat Boss on Kevin Lee CONTENTS Cottage Hill Road Associate Editor/Arts Editor offers brisket, Boston [email protected] butt, ribs and more Andy MacDonald Cuisine Editor with homemade [email protected] sauces you have to try. Stephen Centanni Music Editor [email protected] J. Mark Bryant Sports Writer 22 [email protected] 22 Stephanie Poe Copy Editor COVER Daniel Anderson Local public school Chief Photographer systems have greatly [email protected] expanded and tailored Laura Rasmussen Art Director programs offered www.laurarasmussen.com to students over the Brooke Mathis past decade as they Advertising Sales Executive respond to workforce [email protected] opportunities and Beth Williams Advertising Sales Executive compete for dwindling [email protected] public resources. 28 Misty Groh Advertising Sales Executive [email protected] ARTS Kelly Woods Watt Key’s new book “Among the Advertising Sales Executive Swamp People” is the perfect guy [email protected] gift for local outdoorsmen. Melissa Schwarz 30 Editorial Assistant [email protected] MUSIC Mary Burts Distribution Manager Kenny Brown [email protected] apprenticed with Contributors: blues legends such Asia Frey • Brian Holbert Holden Barnett • Ron Sivak as Johnny Woods Jeff Poor • Jennifer McDonald and R.L. Burnside On the Cover: School choice by Dan Anderson and carries on the Hill Country blues legacy. LAGNIAPPE (USPS 20) is published weekly, 52 issues a year, Volume 13, Issue 36, every Thursday by Something, Extra Publishing, Inc. Entered at the Mobile Post Office, 250 St. Joseph St, Mobile, AL, 36601. Periodicals postage paid at Mobile Post Office, 34 250 St Joseph St., Mobile, AL 36601 34 and other locations. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 3003 Mobile, AL 36652. Editorial, advertising and production offices are FILM located at 1102A Dauphin St. Mobile, AL 36604. Mailing address is P.O. Box “The Riot Club” is a film full of promise 3003 Mobile, AL 36652. Phone: 251.450.4466 Fax 251.450.4498. Email: ashley- that comes up empty with a weak [email protected] or [email protected] cast and incomprehensible, boring LAGNIAPPE is printed at Signature Offset, 2610 Lakeview Road, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 42 story. All letters sent to Lagniappe are considered to be intended for publication. Member: Association of Alternative Newsweek- MEDIA lies and Alternative Weeklies Network All rights reserved. Something Extra Publishing, The Legal Schnauzer is causing a stink Inc. Nothing may be reprinted, photocopied or in any way reproduced without the expressed again. permission of the publishers. Individuals may take one copy of the paper free of charge from area businesses, racks or boxes. After that, papers are $3 per 46 issue. Removal of more than one copy from these points constitutes theft. Violators are subject to prosecution. SPORTS Help support Lagniappe Weekly by The University of South Alabama becoming a “Friend with Benefits.” kicks off its 2015 football season by Scan this code for more info: 48 hosting Gardner-Webb at Ladd- Peebles Stadium. STYLE Boozie has all of your Beerfest gossip and the latest on all of the local stars 54 in town. September 3, 2015 - September 9, 2015| LAGNIAPPE | 3 GOING P OST AL POLICE DISPA TCH “Flashed by stupidity” Two shot in downtown entertainment district early Sunday In response to the letter to the editor in last week’s issue, “Flashed by the Federal Govern- BY JASON JOHNSON/REPORTER | [email protected] ment,” my suggestion is that you should have first knocked. This common gesture of courtesy Though authorities have been tight-lipped with court for attempted enticement of a minor last year would have allowed the man in the restroom to respond and let you know the room was oc- details, the Mobile Police Department reported two and is currently serving a 19-year sentence for cupied. “BAM,” your entire problem solved. people — a man and woman — were shot during that charges. Fifteen of the 20 years in the child Secondly, why would you allow a young child (boy or girl) to run to the bathroom alone? an altercation in the heart of downtown Mobile’s pornography case will be served concurrently with That, in and of itself, is poor parenting. When your child is old enough to go to the restroom entertainment district in the early morning hours of the enticement sentence. alone, please teach them to knock on the door before entering, not because of unisex bath- Sunday, Aug. 30. When his current sentence expires, Ford will rooms, but because it is the courteous thing to do. At approximately 2:30 a.m., off-duty officers serve the additional five years for the child pornog- As far as unisex bathrooms are concerned, who cares? How many times has the women’s working downtown heard several gunshots and raphy offense, meaning he won’t be eligible for line been too long and the men’s so short that some women’s “expediency” trumped the com- responded to the intersection of Dauphin and release until at least 2035. forting sign that read “Women?” Rest assured there will always be a commode in the unisex Joachim streets. There, a male and female had both Robbery, vehicle break-in reported on room, no one is asking women to use a urinal. The whole LGBT movement is real, and it is been shot in the leg. The victims were transported Broad Street recognized. Which room would you suggest that Caitlin Jenner use? to a local hospital for medical treatment. Police say a man pulled a knife on multiple Kristen Keller A report from Lt. Billie L. Rowland said people Sunday afternoon at a Chevron service sta- the shooting occurred two minutes after police tion on Broad Street in Mobile. Separate but equal, for the children’s sake received an initial call about a fight in the area. According to authorities, around 2 p.m. 54-year- Though the well-attended Dauphin Street Beer Lagniappe’s Aug. 27 edition featured two articles I believe to be related. The first, a letter old Oscar Thomas Jr. unlawfully entered a vehicle Festival had occurred earlier in the evening, of- belonging to a customer at the store. When the to the editor entitled “Flashed by the federal government,” describes how the writer went to ficials say the event ended several hours before the victim and his passenger returned to the car, they the Social Security Administration to apply for retirement benefits and had to go to the rest- altercation. saw Thomas attempting to remove property from room. Instead of usual men and women signs, she found two unisex bathrooms. Authorities say video of the incident taken the vehicle. She entered cautiously and immediately “a man turned around shaking his penis — and from nearby businesses is being reviewed, but as After confronting him, police say Thomas smiled.” I totally agree with her concern, “What about little girls who unsuspectingly run to of Tuesday afternoon, no suspect had been identi- pulled a knife and threatened the victims. those bathrooms, fling open a door and are quietly pulled in?” fied. Thomas was arrested by the MPD Sunday I had just finished reading a Bay Brief in the same issue entitled “Intended sex acts debated Ford gets 20 years for sending, receiv- evening and charged with first-degree robbery and in Jockisch appeal,” which noted three federal appeals judges who seem to have trouble with ing child porn in Semmes unlawful breaking and entering. a jury’s decision. If I had been a juror and heard this individual say to a 15-year-old girl, “I U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown announced last Woman arrested for abandoning child want to make love to you” and “I want to make you feel good,” my vote would be to put week the sentencing of Thomas Franklin Ford, 37, on porch him away for the 10 years as he is obviously very sick and a threat to humanity. The article to the statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for Monday at noon, officers responded to a home mentions a similar case involving a former assistant district attorney in Mobile County who receiving child pornography. on Dexter Avenue to find a young child had been “continues to practice law.” Following his release from prison, Ford will be left unattended at the residence. I kept wondering while reading the article just how many young children had received supervised for the rest of his life and be required to According to authorities, a disorderly conduct similar telephone calls which could have involved “second-degree statutory rape, sodomy and register as a sex offender. complaint brought Mobile police to the area after sexual misconduct.” At least the FBI are trying to protect young people. Ford pleaded guilty to receiving child pornogra- an individual reported Shakieria Stanley, 22, had I totally support the letter writer, Kate Basttiste, as she hereby calls Mayor Stimpson and phy via the Internet, admitting he sent and received left an unattended child on her front porch.