The Anatomy of a Protest

The Tennessee State Fair is still six weeks away, but last Friday, the field by the James E. Ward Agriculture Center in Lebanon looked like it was already in full swing. More than thirty-five local farmers were behind the wheels of their John Deeres and Kubotas ready to make the 8:30 a.m. trek from the fairgrounds to the Wilson County Courthouse. They were showing up en masse at a Planning Commission meeting that would decide the fate of Tuckers Crossroads, the farming community they call home. 

“I am not a professional protestor by any means,” Jack Pratt, the 48-year-old owner of two farms in Tuckers Crossing said. He has worked the land that his family bought shortly after WWII ended. When he got wind that Texas-based company Hillwood—founded by the son of former presidential candidate Ross Perot—proposed building a warehouse distribution campus on a 1,400-acre parcel it owned, he decided that it was time to do something. “If you don’t act, you don’t get to comment,” Pratt said.

Inspired by the farmers who protested the EU’s new climate rules last year as well as the American Agriculture Movement’s opposition to the federal government’s subsidy policies in the late 70s, Pratt huddled with his neighbors to send a message to the Wilson County Planning Commission about Hillwood’s proposal. “I don’t want to see Tuckers Crossing turn into that,” Pratt said. “So, we thought we all could maybe get together and take our tractors to town.”

Pratt’s idea especially resonated with Michael Swope, 42, who moved to the area after fleeing rural Washington state’s increasingly restrictive farming regulations. “I thought I’d gotten away from all of that when we moved to Tennessee,” Swope said. “I didn’t want to see it happen again.”

Though the residents of Tuckers Crossing are reluctant to credit one person as the leader of their efforts, they all agree that the development site’s fate is especially important because Tuckers Crossing is one of the last undeveloped rural areas in Wilson County. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the suburban county that borders eastern Davidson County has seen the largest influx of new Middle Tennessee residents.

Less than twenty minutes from downtown and boasting a host of amenities, it’s also undergone an identity crisis that forms the heart of the battle over Tuckers Crossing. Such is especially true given Metro Nashville’s sustained hemorrhaging of domestic residents as crime, the woes of the flailing public school system, and the cost of living in the city continue to mount. 

🔪 SCOTUS Takes The Case Yesterday morning, the Supreme Court agreed to review Tennessee’s law banning "gender-affirming" medical treatments for minors. Shortly after the announcement, Attorney General Skrmetti reflected on the monumental decision. "We fought hard to defend Tennessee's law protecting kids from irreversible gender treatments and secured a thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion from the Sixth Circuit,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to finishing the fight in the United States Supreme Court."

In an interview with the Pamphleteer a month ago, the AG was optimistic about the opinions he received during proceedings. “We filed an emergency stay motion with the Sixth Circuit, and got an opinion saying states do have the authority to regulate, limit, and prohibit pediatric transgender treatments,” he told us. “We got an even better opinion from Chief Judge Sutton when they went back and heard the case more thoroughly.”

This is the first time that America’s highest court will consider the constitutionality of a statewide ban on juveniles receiving puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgeries for the purpose of gender transition. Back in May, Skrmetti anticipated the potential importance of the case. “Over and over, the federal courts had held that states could not pass these laws,” he said. “We were the first state to win….If the US Supreme Court takes this case, it's going to be the leading case bringing clarity to how the Constitution applies in gender identity cases.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

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🔎 Who Will Watch the Watchmen? Yesterday morning, Mayor O’Connell attended a pastor’s breakfast, where he was grilled about his support for the Community Review Board. “Do you believe that the Community Review Board should have every power that’s legally available to them as it stands right now?” asked Alisha Haddock, Chair of the CRB. “What we have is a very conservative look and read of the law and the ordinance where we cannot get much done.”

According to WKRN, Mayor O’Connell “doubled down” on his support for the CRB, and stood by the independent investigation he called into retired MNPD officer Garet Davidson’s 61-page complaint—but not without expressing some concerns about the whistleblower. “His first stops were conservative talk radio, and I would go ahead and venture that is problematic,” he told attendees. He also restated his commitment to making every legal resource available to the board as they negotiate a memorandum of understanding with MNPD. 

Hours later, the Community Review Board met for their regular monthly meeting, where Haddock sought clarification on the status of the MOU. “So this morning, I had an opportunity to speak with the mayor… and he stated that we have an approved first draft of an MOU?” she posed as a question towards board member Andrew Goddard. It was then clarified that the only approval had come from the board. 

According to the discussions during the meeting, the CRB’s proposed MOU has been sent to both MNPD and Metro Legal for review. While Law Director Wally Dietz has yet to weigh in on the draft language, MNPD has curated a new committee of department representatives upon the request of the CRB. Assistant Chief Dwayne Greene, Deputy Chief Tommy Widener, and Lieutenant Jerry Hertenstein have been put forward to assist in negotiations with the board’s lawyer, Frank Brazil. Before they moved onto the next agenda item, board member Walter Holloway expressed concerns over the selection of Assistant Chief Greene, and the body agreed to look into potentially switching him out. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

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🗳️ We Should Let the Whole World Vote Only citizens of a country can vote is a pretty straightforward, uncontroversial statement. Nonetheless, a letter signed by Elections Coordinator Mark Goins and delivered to over 14,000 Tennessee residents is raising the hackles of progressives. The letter asks the recipients to make their citizenship status clear ahead of November’s election. The list of recipients was based on those who had interacted with the Department of Homeland Security while not registered as US citizens.

Critics have declared the letter an act of intimidation, pointing to language that notes voting as a non-citizen is an offense punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. To that end, Councilmembers Sandra Sepulveda and Delishia Porterfield directed recipients to an ACLU intake form, presumably to gear up for a lawsuit. 

Last year, Sepulveda made a point of emphasizing that “residents” (not citizens, mind you) 14 years and older could vote on how to allocate $10 million in leftover ARPA funds through an initiative called Participatory Budgeting. “We've had a lot of discussions about the integrity of the ballots,” then-Metro Participatory Budget Chair Jason Sparks said during deliberations in May of last year. “We've really thought a lot about this… because we also want to make this available to people that aren't citizens that just, you know, live in our community.” What does it matter if non-citizens vote, if neither they nor actual citizens bother to show up? The city spent half a million dollars and only netted 13,365 votes ($374 per vote). DAVIS HUNT

DEVELOPMENT

• Raising Cane's founder poised to set Nashville condo record (NBJ)
• Double Dogs on Charlotte closes; WeHo gets a new deli (NBJ)
• Justin Timberlake sells Williamson County land (NBJ)
• Auto technology manufacturer plans $3M expansion (Post)
• Slim + Husky’s to offer Wedgewood-Houston presence (Post)

✹ THIS WEEK IN STREAMING (June 25th)

The Fall Guy (Premium VOD) Ryan Gosling stars as a frosted-tipped stuntman whose misstep on his last big movie led to both a broken back and soul. But when his old boss (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham) calls up out of the blue to offer him work on his ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt)’s directorial debut, not even a kidnapping plot involving the Sydney underworld and a drug-addled A-Lister (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) can keep him down. Armed with a firecracker script and awe-inspiring practical stunts, it’s a tribute to Hollywood’s working class that reminds us of what a star-powered blockbuster movie should be. Do what you have to do, but there’s still a few chances this week to catch it on the big screen.

Free to Choose (Prime) Back in 1980, PBS was the kind of channel that would give economist Milton Friedman a 10-episode TV show, and America was the kind of place people watched such things. Nearly forty-five years later, the guru of the free market’s attempt to make pre-Reagan economic debates accessible for the general public remains an indispensable primer on the policies that govern the nation for better and worse. Friedman’s magnetic screen presence and penchant for dryly hilarious yet respectful takedowns of his opponents expose the gaping hole left in our common culture when we abandoned discourse for emotional grandstanding. 

American Graffiti (Netflix) It may look like a nostalgic trifle compared to other 70s classics like The Godfather and Taxi Driver, but George Lucas’s trip back to 1962 is one of the most resonant films ever made about America’s loss of innocence. Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss star as two college-bound California boys next door spending their last night in Modesto before moving on to the adult world. As the two wade in and out of various local scenes from eating popsicles with Wolfman Jack to drag racing with Harrison Ford, Lucas creates a world both singular and universal. One of the best American movies of all time and tailor-made for summer viewing. JEROD HOLLYFIELD

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 Yellow Days @ The Blue Room, 8p, $38.83, Info
+ indie soul-pop

🎸 Hank Born @ The Underdog, 9p, Free, Info

🎸 Whitten @ The Underdog, 7p, $10, Info
+ pedal steel forward instrumental music

🎹 Ben Rector & Cody Fry Live with the Nashville Symphony @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $89+, Info

🎺 Todd Day Wait @ The Underdog, 11:00p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ Honky Tonk Tuesday afterparty, down the street

🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ American Legion Post 82, 8p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p