The 901: What Shelby County should learn from its stay-at-home face plant

Good Tuesday morning from Memphis! Housekeeping note: The 901 will be on holiday break starting tomorrow and returning Tuesday. This morning, we're taking a closer look at University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway's newly announced contract extension and why he's worth every penny of it (ba-dum-tss), but first...

After facing pushback from restaurateurs and some local politicians, the Shelby County Health Department yesterday backed down from issuing another stay-at-home order.

Instead of closing businesses Monday, the Health Department opted to tighten occupancy restrictions starting this Saturday, our Micaela Watts and Sam Hardiman report. Restaurant occupancy is now capped at 25% capacity. Occupancy in fitness centers and stores — including grocery stores — is now capped at 50% capacity. And instead of lasting two weeks, as initially proposed, the order sunsets after four weeks.

As Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter noted, that's a significant revision:

"That's not a 'stay at home' order, it's a 'safer at home' order... We are not closing indoor dining," Haushalter said. “We are clearly saying to the public you are safer at home and should not be out and about.” 

Along with the new restrictions, there are also new fines for businesses that disobey them. The Shelby County Commission yesterday voted to fine businesses $50 per health order violation, up to $500, after an initial written warning, our Katherine Burgess reports. The ordinance passed with all eight Democrats and one Republican, Brandon Morrison, voting in favor. She explained her rationale during the commission meeting:

“The vast majority of businesses are complying and it’s just a very few bad actors that are not,”said Commission Vice-Chair Brandon Morrison. “We’re faced with hospitals filling up and people dying needlessly. If we do nothing, I’m afraid we’ll end up with stay at home, and that would be the worst outcome in my opinion.”

But the cracks in the county's unified political front are starting to show.

Some Republican suburban mayors are now openly criticizing more restrictions on businesses, our Dima Amro reports. And when the commission approved a resolution yesterday in support of the latest health directive, all of the body's Republicans voted against it. Two of those commissioners, Amber Mills and Mick Wright, held a press conference yesterday, before the watered-down-order was issued, in support of local businesses following a "Save Our Restaurants" rally outside of the county administration building.

At yesterday's commission meeting, Haushalter apologized, but not for what restaurateurs describe as a breakdown in communication. Instead, she apologized that the draft of the stay-at-home order was "leaked" to the public and criticized the leaker(s). If you didn't know better, you might think she wants the public to be kept ignorant until it's too late for them to do anything but close their eyes and take their medicine.

But if there's a problem here, it's not that the public found out about an order ahead of time; it's that the public wouldn't have found out if the information hadn't been leaked.

There's a lesson to be learned from the epic failure of the rollout of this order — and no, it's not that the Health Department should keep a tighter lid on drafts of its directives. It's that the department needs to do a better job of persuading the public to its point of view. The department needs to be more transparent, not less, if it wants the public's support.

Hardaway agrees to contract extension

The University of Memphis announced yesterday that men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway has agreed to a five-year $12.25 million contract, our Jason Munz reports.

As Jason notes, that's a substantial bump for Hardaway, who signed a three-year, $4.8 million deal in 2018, and who just agreed to a pandemic-related pay cut this year.

And it's not an undeserved bump, either as our Mark Giannotto argues in a subscribers-only column. Hardaway has "reinvigorated" the program, bringing in millions of dollars and star recruits. But, as former Memphis Chief Administrative Officer Jack Sammons used to say, "the optics are challenging." The Tigers continue to struggle to find their groove, especially on offense, falling to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane most recently.

The contract extension gives Hardaway runway; what happens next is up to him.

+ Speaking of sports: Bands, cheerleaders, dance teams and casual observers are now banned from attending high school games, per The Tennessean.

CBU delays start of spring semester

As COVID-19 continues surging in Shelby County, Christian Brothers University yesterday announced it will delay the start of its spring semester two weeks.

CBU's new start date is Jan. 30, our Corinne Kennedy reports.

Here's what University President Jack Shannon and Vice President for Academics Paul Haught wrote in their letter to the school community about the delay:

"As we are all too aware, the COVID-19 public health crisis continues to grow in its severity and magnitude at the local and national levels. While news of the approval and distribution of vaccines gives us all a sense of optimism and hope, the reality is that we are still facing a potentially dark time in the months ahead," the two said in the letter. "Simply put, now more than ever, we must be vigilant and responsible in the steps we are taking — both individually and collectively — to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus."

The question now is whether other schools will follow suit. Shelby County Schools has already pushed back the start of its next term to February.

What else is happening in the 901

• For subscribers: Our Jennifer Chandler previews the new restaurants set to come to the Memphis area in 2021. (Not a subscriber? Please consider becoming one.)
• Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is encouraging other mayors to issue their own masking mandates in the absence of a statewide order, per our Katherine Burgess.
• After an outbreak of COVID-19 on the University of Tennessee football team, Army will take the Vols' place in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

The Christmas Fadeout: Star & Micey

As we continue our series of Christmas Fadeouts, we can't possibly let the holiday pass without playing Star & Micey's 2014 classic "12 Days of Memphis"...

Like The Fadeout? Check out The 901's Spotify playlist. Want to submit a recommendation of your own? Reach me by email, address below.

Columnist Ryan Poe writes The 901, a running commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.

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