Adam Dread has shared more thoughts on my post from earlier this week. Here’s a quote, and the rest is in the comment on the original post:

“I’m not a “blogger” per se (not enough time in the day) but thanks for giving me the opportunity to clear up what I consider an uncalled for attack on me, followed by a ridiculous “false-light” accustaion, when I responded to the first attack. Yes, they may buy “ink by the barrel”, but I don’t take much sitting down, and will jump into battle if I think I am being unjustly slighted…

Upon reading this attack, I had a flurry of back-n-forth emails with my friend Clint Brewer, the editor. He admitted error and promised a retration of sorts for Tuesday. That didn’t happen. The damage had already been done. Both my wife and I were worn out with calls and comments about some BS reporting. The retraction didn’t run the next day as promised, but Wednesday. Yes, I commented on his timing in bashing me in one sentence, and in the next one, asking me to vote a particular way. That is ironic no matter what the issue.”

If I were Adam, I wouldn’t be happy to see these writeups in print, either, but I stand by my point in my original post: I don’t know whether the events at the concert are accurately portrayed in the articles or not, but I don’t think much benefit has come from attempting to set the record straight.

But that’s just me: I get that Councilman Dread wanted to respond, and I fully respect his right to do so. At least now you can read both the articles and Dread’s take, if you are so inclined.

Update: I can’t find the City Paper’s clarification from the paper’s April 18th issue online, but here it is from the hard copy:

“In Monday’s ‘Rex and the City’ column, an appearance by Metro Councilman At-Large Adam Dread onstage at a local concert to emcee the show was termed ’self-appointed.’ Dread was acting in the role of emcee on behalf of the show’s corporate sponsor. In addition, Dread tells the newspaper he did not tell the joke from stage: ‘I’m engaged in a 40-year struggle with anorexia.’ Instead, Dread said the joke he told was: ‘I’ve been beating anorexia for over 40 years.’”

The scheduling conundrum regarding Davidson County’s likely runoff election continues to evolve into a full-blown mess, as this morning’s City Paper reports:

“I was shocked and dismayed when I read the pleadings purportedly filed on my behalf by the Department of Law, particularly the cross-claim in which I am named as a party suing my employer, the Davidson County Election Commission,” [Davidson County Administrator of Elections Ray] Barrett said in a Monday statement to [local attorney Dewey] Branstetter. “This cross-claim in my name seeks to compel the Davidson County Election Commission to reschedule the runoff election back to September 13, 2007.”

As reporter Bill Harless goes on to point out in the article, there are legitimate concerns for ensuring that the Election Commission is on solid legal ground in rescheduling the date, but the situation is bordering on absurdity at this point. I hope the General Assembly will swiftly pass legislation that will allow the commission to move the date without creating the opportunity for similar legal quagmires in the future.

I hope to see the results for this unscientific Nashville Business Journal poll change dramatically in the next few weeks. I have no idea how many readers have voted at this point, but, as someone who would prefer Briley, Dean, Dozier and Gentry over Bob Clement, this isn’t the starting point I’d have chosen.

How much of this is sheer name recognition? With the major players ramping up their advertising campaigns, we should have a good idea by June or July.

A friend who works in Williamson County just reported the following to me:

“It’s the off-season…just saw Kimmo Timonen at Starbucks.  Relaxing and sipping coffee.  He had no where to be.  Very sad.”

Do you know the old saying that “Never start a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel?” At-large Metro Council member Adam Dread may or may not know (or care about the consequences of) this time-honored journalistic maxim, but he (and the rest of us who read the City Paper) are seeing its results this morning:

Dread expressed his anger over the piece at length in a series of e-mails to City Paper managers. In at least two exchanges over Monday and Tuesday of last week, Dread mentioned the anti-news rack ordinance the Council was set to vote on Tuesday night where Metro government would permit and tax all newspaper racks in the city.

“That being said, good luck on your news racks (expletive),” Dread wrote in one exchange with City Paper Executive Editor Clint Brewer over the column. “The last ones I saw were in complete disrepair. Just kidding. Sort of.”

The second comment on the news racks came when Dread was contacted via e-mail by City Paper Publisher Albie Del Favero on Tuesday as Del Favero was making a last minute effort to stem the tide of the Council vote against the city’s newspapers.

“Albie- If this didn’t run…I ain’t voting for it!,” Dread wrote at the head of an e-mail to Brewer he forwarded Del Favero demanding corrections in the original Dread/Spoon concert item.

[Note: Dread did in fact vote for this bill and, consequently, against the City Paper's position.]

The New York Times asserts that the Internet is giving the public the opportunity to reject the “ink by the barrel” philosophy. I agree that the Internet is changing how journalists interact with the public (and vice versa), and I’ve seen what Katherine Coble and an army of angry bloggers can do. I still think the “ink by the barrel” wisdom applies, though, especially when you are working with (or in this case against) reporters on the local level, and when you want to have productive and professional ongoing relationships with them.

Has Dread done anything here other than make more people aware of his behavior and implied what appears to be a pretty unethical tie between his vote on the newsrack bill and the paper’s consideration of his side of the story? I personally don’t think so.

Great words here from the authors of the Egonomics blog:

During [yesterday's Virginia Tech] assembly, Dr. Nikki Giovanni, Professor of English at the University, delivered a powerful poem. One line of that poem read: “We are better than we think, and not quite what we want to be.” That is a near perfectpainting of humility. Humility reminds us how far we have come, and at the same time how far we have yet to go. Our progress, and the difference we can make whether measured individually or collectively, largely rests on ourdevelopment of that one trait. If we miss the first or last phrase in the poetic line from Dr. Giovanni, then we fail to understand the real power of humility. Our prayers and thoughts are with those student’s families, friends, and everyone affected by a tragedy that there is no language or vocabulary to adequately describe.

I agree. The challenge of authentic humility, I think, is to balance courage and compassion at the same time. It is a high calling and a worthwhile challenge.

I support this idea:

Silence can say more then a thousand words… On April 30th, 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor towards the victims of Virginia. 33 died at the US college massacre… This day shall unite us all about this unbelievable painful & shocking event and show some respect and love to those who lost their loved ones… The Blogosphere is in deep mourning.

Update: Steli Efti is one of the people behind this creative and heartfelt effort.

Buck Dozier led off his remarks by saying that he grew up in Sylvan Park and that he didn’t come from “great wealth or a political pedigree,” subtle but clear shots directed at Dean, Clement and Briley. Perhaps taking a page out of Purcell’s original campaign book, the one where Purcell used a desk to make his case for being Nashville’s neighborhood mayor, Dozier said that the symbol that best represents his campaign is a table, one where everyone in the city could sit down to solve Nashville’s problems. Dozier explained that the table makes sense for his campaign because he is a “natural consensus builder.”

As every candidate did, Dozier said that education would be his top priority as mayor. A teacher and coach for 10 years and a youth minister for 14 years, he discussed his innovative and ambitious Athens project intended to raise a $1 billion endowment for public education during the next 10 years that would not be used for “brick and mortar projects.” Dozier said that public safety would be his second priority in office and noted his experience as Metro Fire Chief in making the case that he would be the best candidate to make Nashville the “safest city in the nation.”

Dozier wrapped up his opening remarks by describing his management style as “steel and velvet” because leadership requires both great courage and great compassion. I tend to agree with that statement, and I’m only worried about one and not the other when it comes to Dozier: I sense that he has plenty of courage given his public service background, but I wonder whether he has the open-mindedness and the compassion required to lead an increasingly cosmopolitan and progressive Nashville. Seeing Dozier tonight for the first time as a candidate, I’m not sure whether he does or doesn’t, yet.

Bob Clement, widely considered the frontrunner in Nashville’s mayoral race because of his considerable war chest, followed Karl Dean by thanking the Metro Council members and other elected officials in attendance sprinkled among the crowd of 200 or so people. It was a small thing, and admittedly I’m probably stretching here, but it struck me as telling that Clement chose to open this way: While the rest of the candidates sounded like local community leaders ear to share themselves and their ideas to an audience of potential voters, Clement sounded like a man who wants to be back in the “club.” Doing little to dissuade me from this initial impression, he went on to say that he’d spent half his life in business and half in public service developing the “contacts to work on Nashville’s behalf in Washington and overseas.”

After sprinting through campaign priorities that included a “developed riverfront, connected communities and a 24-hour downtown that is safe,” Clement emphasized that he is running for mayor “for all the right reasons” (without explaining what those are) and that he considered “all of the candidates to be [his] friends.”

Clement then claimed that his opponents all had “good ideas” and that he didn’t care who got the credit for implementing all of them. His approach as mayor, he explained, would be to identify good ideas and run with them regardless of where they originated. The irony emerged when Clement answered a question about mass transit a few minutes later. “I was the guy,” he said, reading his prepared response, “who got the federal funds for mass transit. I’m the guy who coauthored legislation for walking and biking trails across the nation. I’m the guy to take Nashville from good to great.” For someone who doesn’t care who gets the credit, Clement had plenty to say about his accomplishments.

It’s a good sign that you’ve paid too much attention to a political race when you find yourself thinking “rerun” when you hear a candidate making his stump speech. It’s especially bad when it’s the fourth or fifth time you’ve heard it, and the election is still three-and-a-half months away.

I had a rerun moment tonight listening to Karl Dean give his opening remarks at the Nashville Civic Design Center forum at the Main Library. Dean, the first candidate to speak, launched into his introduction about how he came to Nashville for education and stayed for love after he met his wife, who Dean says is smarter than he is, at Vanderbilt law school. He then cited Nashville’s 16 years of “high quality, progressive, ethical leadership” under Phil Bredesen and Bill Purcell and begins to make the case that he is their natural successor. To be fair, this isn’t a bad parallel to want to draw as a candidate, and Dean is getting more comfortable making the speech. I have to keep in mind that, with his poll numbers supposedly in the single digits this early in the race, I’m one of the few people in the city who’s heard Dean speak.

As usual, ahem, Dean mentioned that his top three priorities are education, public safety and economic development.

A student blogger is weighing in on this morning’s events:

Right now the number is 22 dead and 28 wounded and that includes one shooter dead. They believe he/she acted alone, but that is not confirmed. There is no apparent motive currently other than they believe the shooting at West AJ this morning was a man shooting his girlfriend and Resident Advisor.

From all reports, this is the worst school shooting ever. School is closed today and tomorrow and there is supposed to be some type of service in Cassell Coliseum tomorrow at noon.

If you have family or something that you want to reunite with, they are telling everyone to go to the Inn at VT off Prices Fork Road. Also, if you call someone and do not get them; do not be automatically alarmed. The cell towers are jammed like crazy, so it may be difficult to get through.
I will keep everyone updates as much as possible, but it hard to say how long it will take to fully grasp what has happened.

The Virginia Tech student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, is publishing text updates via its parent company Web site.

Update:A Nashvillian who visited Blacksburg over the weekend has shared her thoughts. A graduate student at VT is also blogging. The Tennessean is looking for local VT alumni to interview.