Downtown Blight May Be Renovated

June 16, 2005

A downtown eyesore that has frayed relations between the city and developer George Barber might finally be resolved. At the June 6 meeting of the City Council’s finance and budget committee, Susan Matlock, executive director of UAB’s Office for the Advancement of Developing Industries [OADI] technology center and president of the Birmingham Entrepreneurial Center, presented plans to city officials. Under the proposal, the two entities would move to the long-abandoned Sears Building on First Avenue North. Barber Properties has reached an agreement to sell the property for $3.05 million, with the city and the Entrepreneurial Center splitting the cost evenly. The city has budgeted $1 million to the Entrepreneurial Center in the past five years. Matlock told city officials that consolidation of the two business incubators under one roof would increase efficiency. She added that the combined incubators would also be of benefit because as residential development continues to sprout in the downtown sector, new businesses will be attracted to the area. Up to 65 companies could potentially operate from the site.

The Entrepreneurial Center, located in the 100 block of 12th Street North, is sponsored by the city of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and private business. Both the Entrepreneurial Center and OADI, which is currently located in the Oxmoor Valley area, would relocate to the Sears property, which will require another $12 million for renovations. The OADI is a high-tech business incubator affiliated with UAB. The Entrepreneurial Center nurtures information technology and service for the light manufacturing industry.

Controversy between George Barber, owner of Barber Properties, and Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid over the dilapidated Sears structure deprived the city of a chance to host to one of the top motorcycle races in the world. A year ago, Barber asked the city to commit $250,000 annually for three years to bring the North American Grand Prix to the Barber Motorsports Park. The race is part of the MotoGP, a worldwide motorcycle racing series that is the equivalent of the Formula One racing circuit for automobiles. In exchange, Kincaid asked for control of the Sears property, but Barber would not comply, arguing that the economic impact to the city should be a sufficient swap. Famed Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, got the Grand Prix instead.

At the meeting, Councilor Carole Smitherman remained skeptical, noting the large expenditure and past problems with Barber as she questioned if the proposal was the best use of the building. “You’re going to have to convince me that this is the best thing to do,” Smitherman said. “We’ve lost money with Mr. Barber because the Mayor demanded that he fix up the blight problem. So we didn’t get a chance to bid on the motorcycle races. So that’s lost revenue.” &

Mr. Barber’s Neighborhood

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Mr. Barber’s Neighborhood

Tempers flare as George Barber reveals plans for his mountaintop condominium.

By Ed Reynolds

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June 02, 2005

Don Erwin of Barber Properties presented former dairy tycoon and current real estate magnate George Barber’s Red Mountain development plan to some 60 residents at the Redmont Park neighborhood meeting May 24. Barber wants to build a six-story condominium and 21 private homes on 15.5 acres at the crest of the mountain. Two-thirds of the audience passionately denounced the proposal, which calls for a construction project estimated at $75 million. The gated community is to be called The Crest on Red Mountain and would be the only such structure standing on Red Mountain.Rumors about Barber’s building plans have swirled around the Redmont community for the past couple of years. “I know some folks thought we were going to build a tall skyscraper that was going to rival Vulcan, but that’s actually not the case,” Erwin told the neighborhood. At the meeting, drawings of the proposed development were viewed for the first time. Afterward, many residents compared the aesthetics of the condominium complex to a prison and others voiced concerns about the impact of an additional 200 cars on their street, as well as the strain on already tenuous sewer and water pressure situations.Erwin said Barber was focused on making the development a unique, attractive place to live. “If we just wanted to do the easy thing, what we could do is do a single-family, cookie-cutter housing development in there and probably do about 35 single-family houses. But that’s not something that we want to do. To us, that would be an example of a less-than-ideal change,” said Erwin. “The truth is that the Redmont Park neighborhood has always been changing . . . change is always going to occur. There’s nothing we can do to prevent it.”Noting that condominiums are vilified because the structures often block residents’ sight-lines of the city, Erwin pointed out that won’t be a problem with The Crest on Red Mountain. “One of the nice features of our project is that our building is right on the crest of the mountain, so we don’t block anybody’s view. By being on the top, there’s no view, that we can find, that’s blocked in any way,” he explained. The condominium units are expected to range from $650,000 to almost $1 million, depending on the square footage. The four 5,000-square-foot penthouses that will comprise the top floor would be about $2.5 million each. The homes are expected to sell for $850,000 on average.

Redmont Park is currently zoned R-1 (single family homes). A change to R-6 (multi-family homes) zoning allows condominium construction, but many residents question why the single-family homes portion of the acreage would need to be rezoned along with the condominium units. Others simply do not want any rezoning at all, preferring that only private homes be in the neighborhood. “My concern is zoning the property at R-6. I’m not convinced that they made the case for why that needs to be,” said Leah Webb, a Redmont resident. “Overall, I think that Mr. Erwin was trying very hard to make the case, but he just didn’t convince me that a [zoning] change had to be made. I don’t see how this is a win-win situation for anyone.”

Warning that the introduction of this condominium on the mountain will invite others to build the same, Redmont resident Bill Mudd predicted, “Sooner or later Vulcan will be a little blip on the skyline . . . Mudd asked Erwin why Barber didn’t build the development downtown, where the developer currently owns one of Birmingham’s more noxious blights, the long-abandoned Sears building on First Avenue North. Erwin responded that not everyone wants to live downtown. “If we’re going to be a viable city, we have to offer all kinds of living arrangements to different kinds of people. We have to offer condominiums in the middle of town. We have to offer lofts for young people; we have to offer single-family houses. We have to offer the whole range,” explained Erwin, who added that a deal was close to being wrapped up regarding the Sears property.

Erwin refused to delay the vote until the next month’s meeting, even though many residents requested a delay so they could have time to review the plans before voting on the project. The final tally from a secret ballot was 42 residents against the project, with 21 in favor. The neighborhood vote is only a recommendation to the Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC) and is not binding. The ZAC will make a recommendation, and then pass its decision along to the Birmingham City Council, which has the final word. The ZAC will take up the matter on July 5.

Barber currently has two residences in Redmont Park. One has reportedly been abandoned for several years, and neighbors have complained about rats and an overgrown lawn at the site. An irate resident who lives in close proximity to the proposed development acreage angrily complained to Erwin that Barber has not bothered to discuss the project with her. Other neglected Barber properties make her doubt the developer’s intentions. “Now you’re going to build a project and keep your word? I doubt it,” she hissed at Erwin. &

City Hall — Homeless Plight and Blight

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By Ed Reynolds

June 02, 2005

With Birmingham City Council elections only five months away, Councilor Elias Hendricks is feeling the heat from downtown and Five Points South merchants who want the city to do something about the urine, excrement, and sleeping bodies discovered on business doorsteps each morning. It’s been 18 months since Hendricks first proposed an ordinance that would crack down on such trespassing. But he “resents” Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s referencing the ordinance as “criminalization” of the homeless. “This is about trespassing and about definitions of trespassing, and how those definitions have to change as we become a more urban environment with people living (downtown),” Hendricks told the Mayor. “It’s not denying anybody access to shelters, and it’s not against the homeless. It’s against a behavior, no matter who’s exhibiting this behavior.”

At his May 24 press conference following the weekly City Council meeting, Mayor Kincaid addressed the issue. “I think there’s a duty to protect the businesspeople and the residents who live downtown, to be sure. But there’s also a duty to provide adequately for that genre of citizens [the homeless]. So we haven’t done all we could do. And the councilor that is presenting this ordinance is the councilor that was most vehement in his opposition to the [abandoned[ Parisian warehouse becoming the place that would house (the homeless). We could have additional housing facilities, we could have counseling facilities, we have job opportunities, all in that property that’s lying fallow sitting over there on 26th Street . . . But NIMBY is alive and well—Not In My Back Yard—and that’s what we get everywhere,” explained Kincaid. “Trespassing is a criminal act. You can’t take a criminal statute and attach this doorway portion to it and pretend it’s not criminal in its scope and nature. Criminal penalties don’t provide for civil remedies.” The Mayor also had a startling suggestion. Referencing Councilor Carole Smitherman’s solution to a vagrancy problem by erecting a fence around the entrance to her downtown law office, Kincaid said, “[Councilor Smitherman] talked about putting up a gate, and when the business is closed, the gate was closed. And the sleeping in her vestibule stopped. Maybe we as a city can make resources available to business owners as a stop-gap measure, to be sure, that will help abate the problem while we search for a permanent solution.”

“That just seems like a gigantic waste of money to build fences for private residences and businesses,” said Jeff Tenner, owner of Soca Clothing in Five Points South, in an interview the day after the Council delayed the ordinance. “If somebody wants to build a fence, they should build a fence themselves. But a much simpler (solution) is to pass this ordinance, which is not really a new law at all. It just defines a certain area to make sure that it’s specific to trespassing.”

“This is just a simple common-sense tool that says you cannot do things on my property that I don’t want you to do.” —Five Points South business owner Jeff Tenner

Tenner had addressed the Council during the Tuesday meeting. “Things need to happen simultaneously. We need to do what we can to get more shelter beds and to be able to help the people that need the help,” said Tenner. “But at the same time, we need to recognize that it’s an economic issue and that if we cannot give the police the tools needed to deal with those certain members of society who are breaking the laws, that it will affect the tax base . . . This is just a simple common-sense tool that says you cannot do things on my property that I don’t want you to do.”

Barbara Dawson, business manager of Chez Fon Fon in Five Points South, read a statement from Frank Stitt, owner of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega, and Chez Fon Fon. Stitt noted that he is “saddened and disturbed by the decline of the Five Points District.” The restauranteur complained of loitering and “very conspicuous drug deals” made in the Five Points South area. Stitt commented that homeless persons sleeping in doorways are also more commonplace now. “Consequently, the daily observance of men and women urinating and defecating on the walls of buildings and in potted plants and alcoves is increasing as well,” he wrote. Stitt added that he had witnessed panhandlers harassing visitors and the “unsolicited rantings of a person or persons gathered around the fountain.”

Michelle Farley, executive director of Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless, was on the original task force that crafted the ordinance, which Hendricks previously delayed so concerns for the homeless could be addressed. “There was work being done on solving the problem rather than putting a Band-Aid on the problem,” said Farley. She explained that Birmingham has a chronic homelessness rate (those homeless for a year or more) of 29 percent as opposed to a national average of 20 percent. While she sympathizes with businesses that deal with excrement and loiterers in doorways, Farley said there is another aspect worth considering. “When people are asked to move along, they don’t really have a place to move along to,” she explained.

City Attorney Tamara Johnson said the challenge for the law department is “to try to fashion a penalty that will allow some kind of punishment for these individuals who are breaking a law that the Council will enact but, at the same time, have some kind of humanity in it.” Johnson added that penalties for loitering in doorways “really depended on the moral compass of the Council in terms of what they actually want in the ordinance.” At the suggestion of the law department, the ordinance will be rewritten to address such items as a lack of specific definitions for “plazas and common areas,” and to make enforcement of the law city-wide. =-

“It was poorly written,” Kincaid said of the ordinance. “No one in the law department takes authorship of this document, and it’s wrought with problems, as I see it, just from a legal standpoint: the absence of definitions, the applicability of one part of it to one part of town and not to the other.” &

Cheap Thrills, and not a Mint Julep in Sight

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2005-05-19 Features

Cheap Thrills, and not a Mint Julep in Sight

While it’s not Churchill Downs (and it’s more PBR than mint juleps) on Derby Day the ponies still run at the Birmingham Race Course.

By Ed Reynolds

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May 19, 2005

“Churchill Downs,” I replied to the shabbily dressed gentleman at the automated betting machine next to mine at the Birmingham Race Course when he asked at which track the Kentucky Derby was being run. Attendance was up at the dog track May 7 for the simulcast of the 131st Kentucky Derby. Nevertheless, the greyhound aficionados are easy to spot; they look as though they divide their time between hanging out at the dog track and the Greyhound Bus Station.

When the track was built two decades ago, the targeted demographic for the $80 million racing venue, originally dubbed The Birmingham Turf Club, was not the lower class. White tablecloth dining, valet parking, and luxury suites were designed to lure the country club set to the Turf Club. There was a genuine sense of excitement, tinged with a touch of snobbery, that Birmingham finally had something Atlanta didn’t. There were bold predictions that Georgians would flock weekly to Birmingham for the golden opportunity to bet on horses. Instead, the rich quickly grew bored, smaller betting pools diminished the quality of the horses, and eventually the dogs moved in. Weeds now thrive where the horses once ran at the Birmingham Race Course. A four-tier grandstand remains largely abandoned. Atlanta residents find few reasons, if any, to visit Birmingham. Instead, Alabamians frequently trek to Georgia for the thrill of purchasing lottery tickets—when they’re not heading to Mississippi casinos.

I’m not much of a gambler. I’ve never had a bookie. (I have had friends place bets with their bookies on the few football games I’ve made wagers.) I’ve played poker maybe a dozen times in my 50 years. And I’ve only been to one cockfight (it was an investigative reporting assignment), where the rooster I bet on blinded his opponent before breaking his wing, only to have the dying bird get a second wind and kill my bird after a 45-minute struggle. I lost $100.




Although the action on the field is the same (above), the view of the track from a vantage point at Churchill Downs on Derby Day (below) is vastly different from the view at the Birmingham Race Course. (click for larger version)

For the past five years, a friend and I have upheld the tradition of driving to the Birmingham Race Course to bet on the Kentucky Derby. We have to wait until he takes his girlfriend to work at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoons, so it’s often close to 4:30 by the time we are on our way to the track. Kentucky Derby post-time is 5:04, which means that betting closes at 5:03. So, from the moment we climb into my automobile, the whole enterprise of getting to the track in time to bet becomes a thrilling gamble: the disturbingly low gas tank has to wait until after the race to be filled, my car darts in and out of traffic at perilous speeds, and the long lines at wagering windows move slower as the start of the Derby approaches, prompting cursing from those forced to wait on the slow betters. My buddy and I formulate our betting strategies on the drive to the track as he reads the picks from that morning’s New York Times to me. Two years ago, he bet $5 on a number 18 longshot. The betting teller inadvertently inverted the numbers, giving my buddy a ticket with $18 on the number 5 horse, which won. My pal picked up a cool $350.

It’s often said that the Kentucky Derby is the greatest two minutes in sports. Even the greyhound aficionados go nuts, their mouths agape as they cheer their chosen horses to the front of the 20-horse pack. Two-thirds of the patrons chain smoke. Budweiser replaces Mint Juleps as the cocktail of choice. Through the haze of smoke, I glance from the television screen to the four betting receipts I clutch in my hand. My picks included an exacta pairing of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s Bellamy Road (the race favorite) and a 50 to 1 longshot named Going Wild. (I liked the name, he was a longshot, and he was trained by renowned Derby legend D. Wayne Lukas.)

My other exacta bet was also a five dollar wager, this time on a horse named Greater Good and another called Greeley’s Galaxy. I chose them because I liked the alliteration of the exacta combination. [An exacta bet means that the horses must finish first and second in the order that you picked them.] Another $10 was placed on Going Wild to win, because at 50 to 1, I’d grab $500. Finally, I bet my last two dollars on Giacomo, simply because he was the horse picked by the New York Times as the least likely to win. Another $5 was stashed in the car for the gasoline to get back home. (I refuse to go to an ATM at a dog track.) At 50 to 1 odds, Giacomo’s victory was the second greatest upset in the Derby’s 131-year history. As I cashed in my winning $102 ticket, the teller asked what made me pick a longshot like Giacomo. I smiled and said, “God bless the New York Times. They were wrong again.” &

Another Swindle Adventure

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2005-05-19 Books

Another Swindle Adventure

By Ed Reynolds

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May 19, 2005Author Michael Swindle has spent a lifetime chasing adventure as he pens stories for numerous national publications, including The Village Voice, Details, the New York Times Book Review, and The Washington Post. His eye for the bizarre has produced a stream of outlandish tales of cockfights and hot dog rodeos in Louisiana, hunting wild boar with pit bulls in the Everglades, and searching for hollering contests in North Carolina after discovering “hollerin’” recordings while on vacation in the Appalachians. “It’s a collection of nonfiction pieces that I have written over the past decade,” Swindle, a former Birmingham resident who now lives in New Orleans, explains of his latest book, Slouching Towards Birmingham: Shotgun Golf, Hog Hunting, Ass-Hauling Alligators, Rara in Haiti, Zapatistas, and Anahuac New Year’s in Mexico City. “I’m going for the longest subtitle of the year award,” he jokes. Among the stories are observations on the fanaticism of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry and his learning of George Harrison’s death while living in Mexico, where Spanish stations suddenly dropped their usual Hispanic music formats to spin Beatles tunes.

Swindle is currently traveling across the country for a series of readings and signings. “I’m going to the West Coast at the end of June. It’ll be the apex of my career. I’m going to do a reading at City Lights Books [famed San Francisco bookstore that was a home of sorts to the beat writers]. Those were the guys who got me started on the road to ruin in the first place,” he laughs. Michael Swindle’s road to ruin stops in Birmingham with a signing at Alabama Booksmith on Friday, May 27, at 4 p.m. He’ll also be appearing at Cosmo’s Pizza in Five Points South on May 29, at 3 p.m.

City Hall — Prohibition: Birmingham City Council-Style

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2005-05-19 City Hall

Prohibition: Birmingham City Council-Style

By Ed Reynolds

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May 19, 2005

When convenience stores apply for licenses to sell alcoholic beverages, the fear of expensive court battles often forces the Birmingham City Council to begrudgingly grant permits. On May 10, the Council found criteria that it believes will stand up in court, should they reject a request and face a challenge by the proprietor. The Council voted unanimously to deny a liquor permit to the 6th Avenue North Package Store due to its proximity to the Hope VI Housing Project, which is currently under construction.

The Hope VI Project is designed to create affordable, desirable housing in downtown Birmingham, targeting low-, middle-, and upper-income residents. According to Jim Stanley, an attorney with the city law department, the approval of the package store “might have a negative impact on the next phase of the Hope VI Project.” Stanley explained that the developer “is applying to the Alabama Housing Finance Authority [AHFA] for low-income housing tax credits, and that the location of a liquor store within a certain radius [a half-mile] of the project would have a negative impact on their ability to attain those tax credits.”

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A scoring system is used to award such tax credits, and five points can be deducted if liquor stores or other “incompatible uses” are in the vicinity. The five-point deduction “would be fatal to most applications,” Stanley explained, as the tax credit process is highly competitive. The attorney did add that a provision exists that allows the AHFA to exempt a Hope VI Project from the scoring application. He warned, however, that low-income tax credits make up 55 percent of the funding for Phase III of the Hope VI Project, so granting the alcohol license might put the final phase in jeopardy. When pressed by Councilor Roderick Royal, Stanley added that current businesses that sell alcohol could also cause the Hope VI Project to lose points.

The three reasons for denial of an alcohol license include: if the business is causing a nuisance, if it violates zoning regulations, or if the establishment is a detriment to an adjacent neighborhood. Councilor Valerie Abbott summed up the City Council’s hearty embrace of the federal standard presented by attorney Stanley. “We rarely ever get to use [one of the three reasons to deny an alcohol license],” said Abbott. “We finally have a project here that truly meets the criteria. It has circumstances that are clearly detrimental to the adjacent residential neighborhood.”

Councilor Elias Hendricks noted that problems arise when alcohol is sold in the area. “Look at any other place around downtown, or on the fringes of downtown, that sells beer and wine, and see the problems and the traffic that it generates,” urged Hendricks in disgust. The councilor, who is a downtown resident, complained that people congregate to drink outside as they harass people in the neighborhood. “We are trying to help downtown, and we are trying to live in our neighborhood. We deserve to live in our neighborhood and have a decent quality of life. Why go back to what we had before?” he asked.

Two weeks ago Hendricks berated his colleagues and downtown businesses for trying to keep The Furnace, an upscale strip club that is within a half mile of the Hope VI Project, out of the area. The councilor expounded on the importance of opening up downtown Birmingham as a future “entertainment district” in conjunction with the city’s desire for a domed stadium in the area. He expressed no concern about The Furnace’s alcohol sales affecting the area’s quality of life.

Ironically, the attorney for the owner of the 6th Avenue North Package Store is Ferris Ritchey. Ritchey represents The Furnace in its battle with Birmingham city government and recently won a round in court that would allow it to open, despite the Council’s and Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s rejections of the gentleman’s club. “A lot of these concerns that you hear from the people are always speculative concerns,” Ritchey explained to the Council. “And you can’t speculate about what might happen.” &

City Hall — Council Says No To Strippers

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2005-05-05 City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

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May 05, 2005

Satan continues to lurk in the corridors of City Hall, this time as a link connecting Birmingham to the global sex trade. At the April 19 City Council meeting, morality crusaders expressed dismay that the city would consider opening a topless bar in an industrial and historic district directly across from Sloss Furnaces.

Known as The Furnace, the club is an imposing structure that has been advertising and selling memberships before receiving the necessary permits to open. The Furnace has been in the planning stages since 1999, when the previous City Council denied a Division II dance permit. The club sued over that decision in January 2000 and an agreement was reached to resolve the lawsuit. However, a battle with the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board has delayed the opening. In November 2004, Councilor Carole Smitherman spoke in favor of The Furnace and its tax benefit to the city. (The Council approved the club’s liquor license in May 2004.) But by April, Smitherman had changed her mind and voted with the majority to deny the club a dance permit by a six to three vote. Councilors Roderick Royal, Bert Miller, and Elias Hendricks voted in favor of the club.

The rhetoric of moral and economic zealots was as fascinating as the car wash drama in the council chambers two weeks previous when a license for that business was denied. “I am a recovering sexual addict myself!” admitted Paul Hughes, a ministry veteran of 23 years who works for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, a campus ministry with an office a few blocks north of The Furnace. Hughes said that he has observed “my peers dealing with issues of sexual addiction and the ‘tsunami’ of social cost that the multi-billion-dollar pornography industry celebrates and profits from in terms of what it’s costing our men, our women, in relationships, in marriages, [and] the destruction of these marriages.” Hughes continued: “I’m made of the same cloth as those who will be satisfied in their desires by these men who are for this. I’m saying that there is a global sex industry that you do not want to say ‘yes’ to in the heart of Birmingham, right between the national historic site of Sloss Furnace [sic] and the Hope VI project!” Hughes finished with a flourish: “They want to be the flagship and put a very pretty face on a very destructive force in our city, with their billboards along every major highway . . . if we continue to say ‘yes’ to sex trade that is global, it won’t only affect young men in Birmingham but also young women in Romania and Eastern Europe, who right now are being imported through Mexico City, pimped and prostituted and then imported into Atlanta, New Orleans, to be a part of the auxiliary illegal sex trade.”

“First and foremost, this is not against the law. It was not against the law when the people initially invested their money, and it’s not against the law now.” —City Councilor Elias Hendricks

Steve Upton, owner of Crane Works at 2728 8th Avenue North, represented the economic interest that seemed to more effectively instill fear in the hearts of city officials; he threatened to pull his business out of Birmingham. Speaking on behalf of a real estate company that he owns as well as Crane Works, Upton said, “As far as statistics go, Crane Works today is already spending $250,000 in property taxes, payroll taxes, sales tax license, and business license,” said Upton. “And that’s in a business that’s only been growing for six years. If things turn for the worse, we could pack our bags and leave the city.” Ironically, the mammoth Crane Works building was erected directly across the street from an adult book store.

Mark Polson, who identified himself as a defense attorney who has practiced law for 30 years and has represented women employed at other strip clubs in town, said that what the exotic dancers share in common are prostitution and drug addiction. “What do you think goes on in those private rooms?” Polson asked the Council, noting that prostitution is how these women pay for their addictions.

Several women addressed the Council next, quoting scripture. One said she had solicited opinions from surrounding businesses refuting information she had received that the majority in the area were in favor of the club. “My friend and I just didn’t believe that,” she said. “We spent three days going around the industrial park. We talked to at least 20 businesses—huge businesses. Most said, ‘We wish it would fall into the ground.’ And I’m going to say ‘an ugly,’ that it is a whorehouse and a drug place. And we don’t like looking at the naked ladies that are painted on the corners of the building.” She added, “It’s an industrial area and should not be a red-light district.”

“First and foremost, this is not against the law,” argued Councilor Elias Hendricks. “It was not against the law when the people initially invested their money, and it’s not against the law now . . . If you have a problem with this, then make it against the law before people [invest] their money.” Hendricks, who lives in the area, has indicated that the neighborhood approves of the establishment. “We are getting ready to have people invest $180 million in an entertainment complex,” Hendricks said. “We cannot, if it’s within the confines of the law, start picking and choosing. If you don’t like Thai food, don’t go to a Thai restaurant. But that doesn’t mean that the Thai restaurant should not exist, if it’s well within the law.” Councilor Roderick Royal added, “We are treading on a slippery slope here because we’ve not so inquired about other applicants as much as we’ve done here, in previous forums.” City Attorney Tamara Johnson disputed Royal’s claim.

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The ABC Board earlier denied the club a liquor license due to concerns about private dance rooms as well as problems with the names on the application. Circuit Court Judge Scott Vowell ordered the state agency to rehear the club’s application. The ABC board had maintained that the owner, Gregory Jackson, failed to include the names of others with a financial interest in the establishment. Jackson’s brother, who reportedly had a drug conviction in 2002, was not listed as one of the owners of the business, although he was reportedly involved in the business. Vowell told Jackson to identify everyone with a financial stake in the business. Furnace attorney Ferris Ritchey maintained that the correct names were disclosed and that no one was trying to hide anything. In early March the ABC Board recommended that the owner be granted a liquor license.

“The fact [is] that the transfer of property was made specifically in order to take someone else’s name off of this application after it had already initially been filed,” complained Councilor Joel Montgomery. The councilor said dance floors are to be a minimum of 15 square feet and permanent in nature, but that he had not been able to confirm that the dance floors are in compliance with city code. “I am not going to ignore the business owners around this establishment,” Montgomery added. “I am not going to ignore their wishes . . . They were here before you got here. I do not appreciate the way that this establishment came into the city of Birmingham, posting billboards up all over the interstates, all over the bypasses, saying that you were going to build it before you had even applied for a liquor license or a Division II dance permit.”

Mayor Bernard Kincaid urged the Council to vote against the dance permit, though he acknowledged that the business could operate without exotic dancing, although it might not be as profitable for the city tax-wise. “There is no absolute right to this license,” said Kincaid. “It might not be as profitable, but it would fit with the terrain that the Council and the Mayor are responsible for protecting.”

Attorney Ferris Ritchey, who has requested nearly a dozen delays from the Council as The Furnace battled with the state ABC Board for a liquor permit, pointed out that there are currently five similar strip club businesses in the city. “[The] only thing is that The Furnace will be much nicer, much more secure,” Ritchey said. He added that cameras will monitor club activity. The attorney said The Furnace would provide between $150,000 and $200,000 in taxes for the city and would employ up to 100 people. The attorney said he would appeal the Council’s rejection to the Jefferson County Circuit Court.

On Friday, April 29, Judge Houston Brown ruled that the city should abide by the 2000 agreement with the club and grant The Furnace a dance permit. As of press time, the city had not decided if it would appeal. &

Shelter from the Storm — The Greater Birmingham Humane Society

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2005-04-21 Features

Shelter from the Storm

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society has a new state-of-the-art facility, but old problems—such as pet over-population and irresponsible pet owners—remain.

By Ed Reynolds

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April 21, 2005Photographs by Mark Gooch




Buddy is a lab mixed breed awaiting adoption. (click for larger version)

“I hope somebody loves you as much as you ought to be loved,” the woman cooed sweetly as she and her husband surrendered a box of puppies to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. Like so many others who bring animals to this shelter, they had an explanation: Their male mixed lab had gotten into the fenced area where their female purebred Husky was kept. Pointing to one black pup, the husband said, “He’s going to make somebody a beautiful dog; I’d love to keep them if they stayed this size.”

The litter was the fifth delivered to the shelter in two days. The couple promised the clinic worker who was receiving the puppies that their male dog would be neutered. As a clinic technician named Tonya took the puppies to the isolation room for medical procedures and observation, she gloomily predicted that the onset of spring and summer will drastically increase the number of puppies and kittens brought to the shelter.

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society has existed in one form or another since 1883. Originally known as the Birmingham Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals, it was the first such facility in the South and the 12th humane society founded in the United States. In 1926 it relocated near the state fairgrounds on Lomb Avenue. Some 50 years later, it moved to another building in the same vicinity. In November 2004, GBHS’s years of fundraising happily resulted in the construction of a state-of-the-art shelter on Snow Drive in the West Oxmoor area. The new facility is considered one of the finest in the United States.

There were 27,000 animals surrendered to the GBHS in 1977, with 20 percent of those adopted out and the others euthanized. The number of animals turned in during 2004 totaled 10,321. Of those, 8,186 were euthanized, while 2,057 were placed in homes. Adoptions, however, are up nearly 20 percent since the move to the new facility. “That’s the result of educating the public,” says GBHS public relations director Melissa Hull. “It’s all about education. If the pet owners are educated, we don’t have to be here . . . People don’t get it. They show up saying, ‘We’re bringing you a donation,’ but instead of money, it’s a dozen black lab, mixed-breed puppies.”




Dr. Miguel Cruden worked at the GBHS shelter while attending veterinarian school. Currently living in Virginia, he flies to Birmingham twice monthly to perform spay and neutering at GBHS. (click for larger version)

According to Jacque Meyer, a transplanted New Yorker who took over as executive director of GBHS seven years ago, black dogs are the most common at the shelter. A head count indicated 22 black adult canines and 20 others of varying combinations of browns, whites, tans, and grays. “It’s harder to find homes for black dogs. People seem scared of them. It’s a stupid perception,” says Meyer. The reluctance to adopt black dogs means that their color makes them a liability. There is only so much space available, and that has to go to the more adoptable dogs. Dogs weighing less than 20 pounds are the easiest to find homes for. Terrier (usually pit bull) and shepherd mixed breeds are difficult to adopt out because they often end up with prospective owners who are simply interested in transforming their pet into a vicious trophy animal. GBHS adoption counselors try to avoid such scenarios when screening prospective owners. “We don’t strive to be a pet store,” says one adoption counselor. “We’re not looking to send them out the door with just anybody.”

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society receives no government funding. It depends on donations, including funds raised by the annual Do Dah Day festivities each spring. The shelter only takes in animals that have owners; strays go to Birmingham-Jefferson County Animal Control. On any given Saturday, the busiest day of the week, as many as 120 animals may be brought to the shelter. Receiving Supervisor Ann Haden, who has worked at GBHS for seven years, is the first person to see the surrendered animal. She has the toughest job because she has to deal with the public more than anyone else at the facility, but Haden is not shy about being direct with irresponsible pet owners. “It’s never an animal issue. It’s always a human issue,” she says. “An animal is not a lawn ornament. It is not an alarm system.”




Dr. Miguel Cruden worked at the GBHS shelter while attending veterinarian school. Currently living in Virginia, he flies to Birmingham twice monthly to perform spay and neutering at GBHS. (click for larger version)

A dog named Ruby was brought in earlier that day. Her friendly demeanor was replaced by a menacing growl after she was placed in the isolation kennels. After going through medical procedures and observation for 24 hours, Ruby will face a temperament test. “It depends on how well she adjusts and how much space we’ve got,” Haden explained about Ruby’s chances of survival. Space is a valued commodity at GBHS. Not all dogs can adjust to kennel life while waiting for adoption, which means they’re not likely to be adopted.

The new GBHS facility is designed to keep both kennel stress and the spread of disease to a minimum. Only staff members are allowed into the actual kennel areas for direct contact with the dogs and cats. Glass partitions allow the public to see all animals available for adoption without getting the animal overly excited. Spay and neutering surgeries can be observed through glass windows for educational purposes. A washing machine and dryers whir in the clinic area of the facility, keeping stacks of blankets and freshly washed stuffed animals available for new arrivals. Cages are constantly being cleaned. Dogs are walked daily. Two vets currently perform spaying and neutering procedures. Dr. Miguel Cruden, who worked at the Lomb Avenue location while in school, flies down from Virginia twice a month. Dr. Vaughn Walker, a local veterinarian who makes house calls, comes in two days a week.




	According to Greater Birmingham Humane Society employees, potential cat owners are less picky than those who adopt dogs. (click for larger version)

Marty Patock, clinic supervisor, is about to begin a series of temperament tests. If an animal reacts with aggression, it is euthanized. Once it is placed on the adoption floor—GBHS tries to put dogs on the floor within three days of surrender—the animal will stay there until it is adopted or shows signs of kennel stress. Ruby is the first dog tested. She quickly tries to bite Patock when he pinches between her toes, one of the primary test procedures. The aggressive behavior leaves Patock with no option other than to mark an “X” on the placard on Ruby’s kennel pen to indicate that she will be put to sleep. (Each dog has a card that gives the name, age, reason for surrender, and various personality characteristics.)

Ruby is led from her kennel to the euthanasia room after several mange-infested puppies have been put down. As many as 100 animals may be euthanized in a week, with up to 60 sometimes put to sleep on Saturdays during the summer when large numbers are surrendered. “It’s hard on the staff. Some days we never leave the euthanasia room,” says Patock. “It’s often because of lack of space, and that’s the worst reason to do it.” Ruby is surprisingly friendly for a dog that growls menacingly at all who come near her cage. “A terrible waste,” says Patock as he injects sodium pentobarbital into a vein in Ruby’s leg. The dog is unconscious within 10 seconds. A minute later, Patock confirms with a stethoscope that her heart has stopped beating. “It enables an animal to leave this word in a responsible way,” he says as he shakes his head. &

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society is located at 300 Snow Drive. The shelter is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m. GBHS adoption centers are located at Pet Supplies Plus, (1928 Highway 31 South) Southgate Village, and Pet Supplies Plus (4606 Highway 280, near Super Target). Adoption costs for dogs and cats are $75 for any spayed or neutered pet, and $65 for any unaltered pet, plus a refundable $65 spay/neuter deposit. For more information, call 205-780-7281 or visit www.gbhs.org.

City Hall — Car Wash Controversies

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By Ed Reynolds

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April 21, 2005

It was the most exciting City Hall drama since former councilor Sandra Little told Mayor Bernard Kincaid that he was “a little man.” In an appallingly self-righteous sermon to the Council, Reverend Steve Green of More Than Conquerors Faith Church alluded to some members of the Council as “wicked rulers.” To hear Green tell it, apparently Satan had arrived at the April 5 Birmingham City Council meeting in the guise of a car wash; the business owner was seeking a permanent address in a commercial area of town where it would purportedly be a threat to services at Reverend Green’s church. Although the majority of the City Council recently approved a $600,000 study to determine if there is a disparity regarding minorities and city contracts, when Jimmie Johnson, a young black entrepreneur, secured a million dollar line of credit to open a Splash-N-Go car wash on Dennison Avenue, the council sided with Reverend Green.

“We believe that a car wash next to a church . . . is as incompatible as gasoline and fuel,” said the obviously confused pastor. Green urged the Council not to revert to the past. “We won’t repeat the things that we have seen in time past in Birmingham, that you won’t take out the hoses, as it were, and begin to put out the fire of the inspiration of this community, as we’re on fire for making West End a better place.” The pastor made a bold prediction: “West End will one day look like Shelby County and (Highway) 280.”

Former County Commissioner Reverend Steve Small spoke out against the car wash as he commended the Council’s record of protecting communities. “(The car wash) will bring an element of criminal activity to our community,” said Small. “We will have all kinds of loud noise and profanity.” Noting that neighborhood residents need to be able to sleep at night, Small added, “They don’t need to hear ‘your mother this’ and ‘F’ that’ all night long! They don’t need to hear it on Sunday mornings either!”

—City Councilor Bert Miller Councilor Valerie Abbott was not so much focused on the church’s congregation as she was on residents in a “very nice residential subdivision” behind the prospective car wash property. “The problem with car washes is they cause a lot of noise pollution,” said Abbott. “People turn their stereos up while they’re working on their cars.” Councilor Montgomery questioned why drive-thru restaurants, where people play boom boxes, are permitted but car washes are not. “I don’t understand how you can create more crime with a car wash than you could with a drive-thru restaurant, a laundromat, (or) a dental office, especially since it probably stores pharmaceutical drugs,” said Montgomery. The car wash would be unmanned but will have 16 cameras operating around the clock. Critics contend that another car wash is not needed since there is presently one on 6th Avenue and another on Green Springs Highway, both within a few miles of the church.Councilor Roderick Royal noted the irony of the Council’s usual insistence on acting business-friendly, but now refusing “a minority who has secured a million dollar loan.” Council President Lee Loder, a reverend himself, is torn. “This is hard because a brother wants to start a business, and that’s good,” said Loder.

“But this is not the best area to try to start in because if we’re gonna try to preserve good neighborhoods, we’re gonna have to be more restrictive.”Councilor Bert Miller was similarly perplexed. “This is a tough decision. Pastor Green is a friend of mine,” admitted Miller. “As a black man in this city, I know the history of our city . . . We’ve been denied the opportunity for so long to enhance ourselves and our city.” Regarding threats of increased criminal activity when car washes are present, Miller, who noted that there are pollen-covered cars all over town, added, “There’s crime in the White House, there’s crime everywhere . . . How can we as a race of people who have been hosed, who have been the victim of churches blown up because of the color of our skin, turn this down?” Miller said that black men die everyday because of lack of opportunity, urging, “Let’s give the brother a chance.” In search of common ground between the embattled factions, Miller asked, “Can we name this More Than Conquerors Splash-N-Go Car Wash?” Pastor Steve Green replied yes, as long as the church gets “40 percent of the proceeds.”Telling the Council that he has been in prayer over the car wash, Pastor Green launched into his sermon. “Pilate had some tough decisions one time, too. And sometimes we can do things that can cause blood to be upon our hands . . . I don’t come before this Council much. I do not abuse spiritual authority, but I’m speaking from a whole other platform. That’s why I say wisdom builds a house. Wisdom builds real insight,” Green preached. “We all know what goes on at car washes. We’ve made movies about car washes. Sometimes it can be an ethnic thing, it can be a racial thing. Let’s not put our heads in the sand. Let’s be for real. We know what the real deal in the community [is] and I’m saying we selected you guys [councilors] to stand in the gap. We appreciate business, we appreciate revenues. But the Bible says when the righteous are in authority—and I believe that we’ve got the right ones in authority—the people rejoice. But when wicked rulers bear rule, then the people mourn. It sounds like to me that the people are mourning. It might be an indication that we’ve got the wrong leaders.” Councilor Roderick Royal was furious. “I don’t think there’s a soul in this world that can claim anything better than any other soul,” said the councilor. “I am a born-again Christian and I resent the remark you just made.” Tossing a final barb, Royal added, “Jesus called the pharisees snakes and vipers.” Councilors Loder, Reynolds, Abbott, Sykes, and Smitherman (a More Than Conquerors member) all voted on the side of the viper. The debate took 90 minutes.

Smoking Ban Approved

The City Council voted unanimously April 5 to enact a smoking ban beginning June 1 in most public places, including restaurants. Exceptions include bars, hotel and motel rooms designated as “smoking,” professional offices, private clubs, retail tobacco shops, and workplaces that are outdoors.Councilor Elias Hendricks agreed with earlier comments by Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid that as the major city in this area, Birmingham should lead the effort. But Hendricks is unhappy that the ban will not be implemented all over Jefferson and Shelby counties, and Councilor Valerie Abbott agreed. Abbott pointed out that war veterans clubs have been deeply concerned. “Since our armed forces have encouraged people to smoke and now they’re addicted, [veterans clubs] have called and said that they want their members to be able to continue to smoke,” Abbott said. She also questioned the unfairness of restaurants not allowing smoking in their bars while bars without restaurants can continue to permit smoking.

Councilor Carol Reynolds remained worried about more government intrusion. “Some things that really disturb me are another layer of government bureaucracy in our lives,” said the councilor. Reynolds complained that Birmingham police have more important things to do than patrol restaurants for smokers. She warned that government bans on fatty foods to combat obesity night be next.”There’s a flip side to everything,” said Councilor Bert Miller, who supports the ban. “We talk about the economic impact. Can we stop for one minute and think about our health? I don’t want my chicken tasting like smoke. I don’t want my fish tasting like smoke.” Miller added that he “just got through with a serious heart condition. I don’t want to smell smoke, no way. I don’t want to look at steam! I’m just that cautious.”Councilor Joel Montgomery balked at the smoking ban because he does not want to place the city at an economic disadvantage. Montgomery said, “Alcohol and tobacco are both tied at the hip. There’s no question about that. I’ve done my own research over the weekend. Alcohol sales in restaurants make up as much as 20, 30, and 40 percent of the gross receipts of restaurants in this city.” He also expressed concerned that Waffle Houses will move out of the city because 80 percent of their clientele smoke, according to the councilor. A remark the previous week by Mayor Kincaid (that a smoker’s freedom ends where Kincaid’s nose begins) continued to bother the councilor. “That’s why we have freedom of choice in this country, folks, so you can check your nose at the front door of that restaurant if you don’t want to walk in there,” said Montgomery.

“I will not be a party to the economic devastation of the retail restaurants in this city. This needs to be a statewide ban.” He finally agreed to the ordinance after an amendment was added to lobby the Jefferson County Commission and to ask Kincaid to lobby the county Mayors Association to get onboard with the ban. Though Montgomery wanted the ordinance to be contingent on the county being included, Council President Lee Loder refused, but did allow Montgomery’s amendment to be included as a “formal request.” At Montgomery’s insistence, Loder also allowed an amendment requesting that the American Cancer Society lobby the County Commission as strongly as the organization lobbied the City Council.

All-American Cheating Game

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All-American Cheating Game

By Ed Reynolds

“It ain’t cheating if you don’t get caught” has been the unofficial motto of drivers and mechanics on the NASCAR circuit for more than 50 years. A related phrase, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t racing,” hearkens to the origin of a sport sired by drivers who developed their skills hauling moonshine (and eluding law enforcement) through the backroads of the Appalachian Mountains at 100-plus miles per hour. Cheating in a race car is as All-American as major leaguers hitting home runs with corked bats. Year after year fines are imposed, but cheaters simply say that others are infinitely more guilty of flaunting the rules. After paying slap-on-the-wrist fines, drivers whine all the way to the bank while plotting their next devious move.

At one time stock car racing may have been the sport of rednecks, but it was a bunch of innovative, scientific rednecks who skillfully souped up automobile engines allowing them to achieve the break-neck speeds for which NASCAR is revered. “Being creative is my job. If I’m going to get fined and penalized for being creative, then that’s just part of it,” said driver Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus, just after his first major penalty three years ago. The following year, Knaus was busted for rigging a refrigerant near the fuel line (cooled fuel provides greater combustion— and therefore more speed—than heated fuel). In 1986, NASCAR inspectors found a metal box containing copper coils and dry ice in Sterling Marlin’s car; the device was chilling and shaking the car’s gasoline to create a high-octane martini.

This year, NASCAR suspended Knaus for two races when it was discovered after the March 13 race in Las Vegas that the winning car Jimmie Johnson drove was lower than NASCAR’s minimum height requirement. The suspension was later lifted after the car’s owner, Rick Hendrick, complained that the increased height was a result of mechanical issues during the race, yet not an intentional effort to break the law. However, Hendrick’s questionable tactics may extend beyond the racetrack. In 1997, he was found guilty of mail fraud, after which he was pardoned by Bill Clinton during the president’s forgiveness spree in 2000. This after Hendrick’s pal Hugh McColl, CEO of Bank America, donated $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation before writing a letter to the president on Hendrick’s behalf. Though the two-race suspension of crew chief Knaus was dropped, the $35,000 fine and loss of points for driver Johnson remain.




Fabled for his years running moonshine, Junior Johnson spent a year in prison in 1956 after he was caught hauling wood to his father’s corn liquor still. President Reagan pardoned him in 1985. (click for larger version)

In 1975, when Richard Petty was in desperate need of a caution flag (in order to lure the other drivers into a pit stop, thus allowing Petty to catch back up to the field), racer Buddy Arrington suddenly stopped his car on the high side of the track. The car was out of the way, so NASCAR kept the green flag out. Arrington then drove his car to a busier section of the racetrack and stopped. The caution flag promptly came out. Petty got his lap back and eventually won the race. Earlier that week, Petty had sold a car transporter (a complete portable mechanic shop that hauls the car from race to race) to Arrington, who was an independent driver operating on a shoestring budget. Speculation was that it was one heck of a sweetheart deal, and somebody still owed someone something.

Petty is reported to have once said that teams must learn to “cheat neat,” although there was nothing neat about Petty’s brother Maurice installing an oversized engine in the blue number 43 at Charlotte in 1983. At the time, the $35,000 fine was the highest ever levied. Petty, NASCAR’s poster boy, was embarrassed and fumed that he was only the driver; his brother Maurice was responsible for the engines.

Though some car owners say that taking away wins following rules violations is necessary to end cheating, NASCAR reportedly feels that this would only confuse and infuriate fans to learn that the winner on Sunday is not the declared victor on Monday. According to Vice President Jim Hunter, NASCAR remains committed to “the integrity of the sport.” The last time NASCAR took a victory away for rules violations was when it stripped Fireball Roberts of his Daytona win in 1955. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun out deliberately at a 2004 NASCAR race in Bristol to put the race under caution because he was about to lose a lap. He got busted when he bragged over the two-way radio to his crew that he did it on purpose. NASCAR was eavesdropping and fined him $10,000. Earnhardt later admitted that boasting on the radio was rather stupid. “What I did wasn’t necessarily the best plan. My mom even admitted that,” he said after the race.

During practice for the 1982 Daytona 500, the rear bumper on Bobby Allison’s Buick Regal had been inadvertently functioning as a parachute that trapped air, slowing the Buick considerably. Nothing could be done about the bumper because it was a “stock” piece of equipment, just like those on Regals purchased from showroom floors. Early in the race, Allison got tapped from behind and the rear bumper came off cleanly. Allison was then able to increase his speed and won the race. Afterwards, as rivals cried foul, he admitted that the bumper had been attached with a flimsy wire welder rather than with the usual heavy-duty welding machine.

Gary Nelson, currently the chief cop for NASCAR’s policing of cheating, was often praised for his skillful skirting of the rules when he served as Darrell Waltrip’s crew chief. Nelson used to flaunt the minimum weight requirement by rigging Waltrip’s car to unload 80 pounds of shotgun pellets onto the track as the pace laps were being run before the race. “If you don’t cheat, you look like an idiot. If you do it and you don’t get caught, you look like a hero. If you do it and get caught, you look like a dope,” was Waltrip’s philosophy.

The legendary Junior Johnson (immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s 1960s Esquire piece “The Last American Hero”) attached 100-pound bands of lead inside each wheel. On the first pit stop, he’d replace the wheels with conventional ones and suddenly be 400 pounds lighter. NASCAR soon learned to weigh cars after the race as well as before.

The reason NASCAR has such a thick rulebook is due primarily to the greatest racing mechanic ever, the late Smokey Yunick. Yunick, in turn, gave stock car racing a lot of rules to write. The mechanic claimed that he never really cheated, because anything not specifically in the rulebook was legitimate in his eyes. NASCAR rules stipulated that a gas tank hold no more than 22 gallons, but said nothing about the size of the fuel line. So Yunick installed a gas line that was two inches in diameter (everyone else ran a half-inch diameter line) and was also much longer than those of competitors. The line held an extra five gallons of gas. NASCAR limited the size of fuel lines the next year and began watching Yunick like a hawk.




Richard Petty called his 200th (and final) win on July 4, 1984, at Daytona Speedway his most memorable because President Ronald Reagan was in attendance. In 1996, when Petty was running for North Carolina secretary of state, he was charged with off-track shenanigans in a hit-and-run incident after he bumped another driver (whom Petty decided was driving too slow) from behind several times before passing him on a Carolina two-lane highway. All charges were dropped. (click for larger version)

At the 1967 Daytona 500, Yunick’s Chevy was actually a slightly smaller version of opposing Chevelles, making the car narrower and lower to the ground so it could slice through the air faster. The next year NASCAR mandated body templates so that stock cars remained identical in size to the production models. “As far as cheating goes, they’ll never stop it,” said Yunick. “There will always be some guy that’ll think of something that’s a little smarter than the average cat, but the reason there ain’t any more of it on a big scale is that the only way it can be done successfully is if only one person knows about it.”

In the greatest cheating story ever told (which Yunick always denied), NASCAR confiscated the fuel tank from Yunick’s black and gold number 13 Chevelle one year at Daytona. As he sat in the inspection area, inspectors chided him for nine rules violations. With supposedly no gas in the car, Yunick suddenly cranked it up and drove off, hollering over his shoulder, “Make that ten!” &

Aaron’s Dream weekend will be held at Talladega Superspeedway April 30 through May 1, featuring the Aaron’s 499 Nextel Cup Series race on Sunday. For more information, call 877-462-3342 or visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.