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December 25-31, 2002

cover story

What Happened Next

by Howard Altman, Debra Auspitz, Deborah Bolling, Daniel Brook, D.B, Juliet Fletcher, H.A, Gwen Shaffer and David Warner

"Train-ing Cramp," Jan. 10

The story: The Kimmel Center spurred an unsightly parking boom in its transit-accessible section of Center City, but the performing arts center's leadership hadn't taken any steps toward getting audience members to leave the cars home and take the train.

What happened next: Kimmel Center publicity materials released soon after the story was published gave mass transit directions and a map highlighting how close the building is to Suburban Station. As of yet, Kimmel Center officials have not studied whether any of the materials are convincing patrons to leave their cars at home.

"Fear Factor," Feb. 28

The story: In order to move minor criminal cases through the court system, Philadelphia defendants are asked to waive their right to a jury trial. Critics of the system say the case-routing system is rigged, forcing defendants who demand a jury trial to go before Judge Eugene Maier, the toughest sentencer in Philadelphia.

What happened next: In May, court administrators announced they were changing the way these cases were routed. Now defendants who demand a jury trial have an equal chance of going before any of roughly two dozen Philadelphia judges.

"Chasing Shadows," March 14

The story: A journey to find the shadow government headquarters -- "Site R" in Waynesboro, Pa. -- turned into an espionage investigation as someone from that location e-mailed City Paper offering to sell interior photos of Dick Cheney's top-secret hiding place. The individual, calling himself "mrfantastic_76," said the shadow government was "the hottest story of the year" and that we should make his efforts "worthwhile." At the urging of the late great Sam Klein, City Paper's then-attorney, the FBI was contacted and, later, the White House. Senior FBI officials urged City Paper to string Mr. Fantastic along, the White House asked us not to name Site R's location and the U.S. Attorney's office asked us to delay printing the story until they could catch Mr. Fantastic. We politely refused those requests.

What happened next: On Sept. 11, 2002, U.S. Army Spcl. Maurice Threats, who was an MP at Site R, was indicted on espionage and bribery charges; the FBI videotaped agents posing as newspaper employees in a sting. On Dec. 8, he plead guilty to one count of soliciting a bribe. Threats, who was on duty the day City Paper visited Site R, had sent the e-mails. His federal public defender, Thomas Thornton, said that Threats offered to sell photos because he was facing financial hardships. (Last week, Thornton told the AP that Threats had offered to sell pictures for $600.)

Threats will be sentenced early next year. He faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. The U.S. Army is awaiting his sentence before making any determination about his future.

The story garnered international attention, making headlines on CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian (U.K.), as well as television broadcasts and other newspaper accounts across the country and around the world.

"Must See TV," March 21

The story: The Philadelphia Public Access Coalition (PCAC) sued the city in federal court, demanding that Philadelphia enforce a City Council ordinance creating cable access channels. Because the nonprofit organization that would administer the public access system of Philadelphia was never incorporated, millions of dollars earmarked for public access television have been flowing into the city's general treasury.

What happened next: The city's Law Department filed a motion to dismiss the PCAC lawsuit in late July, and activists immediately appealed that move. Since then, however, both sides have agreed to negotiate. With a new legal team -- headed up by attorneys Cliff Haines and Jonathan Stein -- PCAC members met with city attorneys Oct. 30 for a "mediation session," and the city has not made any moves to continue with its appeal of the lawsuit since that session. Sources predict that Philadelphia officials, after nearly two decades of stalling, may be ready to cut a deal.

Still, PCAC campaign manager Danielle Redden remains guarded. "Mayor Street's official response to all this is that the city will litigate," she says.

Deputy City Solicitor Milton Velez acknowledges that settlement talks are under way "in lieu of continuing with the appeal."

"There have been discussions, but I can't say what they will lead to," Velez adds.

Although the original Council ordinance and the franchise agreements call for the creation of one citywide public access training center and eight neighborhood training centers, Redden says activists are willing to settle for a financially "more feasible" arrangement. "We'd be ecstatic if we could get one kick-ass center to start with, and expand from there," she says.

"Biting Back," May 23

The story: Activists from the Philadelphia area contend that mercury amalgam dental fillings -- the silver-colored ones, which are 52 percent mercury -- are unsafe for patients and dentists, causing varying levels of toxic exposure. Some claim to have experienced mercury poisoning; others who work in dentistry claim that simply handling the liquid metal, which in its pure state is classed as hazardous, poses a risk. While the American Dental Association (ADA) disputes some scientific findings that suggest mercury vapor leeches out of the fillings at significant levels, activists including Freya Koss from Consumers For Dental Choice and Carol Ward from Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome have continued to lobby in support of Bill H.R. 4163, which would eliminate mercury from dental use in the U.S. by 2006.

What happened next: On Nov. 14, the Committee on Government Reform, headed by bill co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, held hearings on the scientific evidence behind claims of mercury toxicity in dentistry. Representatives of the ADA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health were questioned on the apparent safety of dental amalgam. In his opening statement, Burton said, "From research, we now know that mercury vapor continues to leech from amalgams for as long as it remains in the mouth. The fumes are inhaled into the human body and minute particles chip off and are ingested into the stomach as fillings wear. This has important health implications, since mercury has a long half-life and has the potential for doing significant damage to the kidneys and brain." He also questioned the FDA's "bipolar" approach to protecting the public from mercury, removing mercury from most products but retaining it in amalgam and vaccines.

Elsewhere, Consumers for Dental Choice plans to fight the FDA's attempts to classify the dental amalgam kits as a Class 2 product, the second safest classification, which they say would preemptively block their legal efforts to ban it. Koss, Ward and other representatives also attended sessions of a working committee in Geneva exploring the environmental impact of mercury, and argued for the inclusion of a paragraph alluding to the scientific dispute over amalgam. While the ADA points to the ongoing studies examining mercury levels in groups of children, Koss believes the anti-amalgam movement's success is simply "opening the issue up to dialogue, under Congressional record."

"Rx Express," June 13

The story: Forty or so seniors from the Philadelphia area took a bus trip to Canada, hoping to purchase name-brand prescription drugs at prices lower than those in the United States. The trip, dubbed the Rx Express, was one of 16 planned throughout the country, which organizers estimated would result in savings close to $1 million. While some Philadelphia travelers were successful, many were turned away when the Canadian physician enlisted to fill prescriptions supplied by the seniors' hometown doctors scaled back his offer at the last minute.

What happened next: That trip, says Pedro Rodriguez, executive director of the trip's local sponsor, Action Alliance, and a national vice president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, netted the lucky seniors savings totaling $3,200. Overall, the 16 trips saved $600,000. But the really good news is that since returning, Rodriguez says his organization has solidified a business partnership with Script Sense, a Canadian pharmacy chain that now provides affordable name-brand prescription drugs to U.S. citizens via mail.

"Script Sense came to us in June and the first mail transaction occurred in November," Rodriguez says. "They're offering one of the lowest prices in Canada, there are no hidden costs and the shipping fee is very affordable."

Rodriguez says that the new mail-order program is still in its initial stages, providing services to only 40 Action Alliance members. He says he expects it to be fully operational by the middle of next month, when it will be available to all Pennsylvanians over the age of 55 who are Action Alliance members. Currently, Action Alliance has 12,000 members in the Philadelphia region. Membership costs three bucks a year.

"Big Trouble From Little Thailand," June 27

The story: Angered by an ad for Saint Jack's bar depicting the king of Thailand as a bling-bling hip-hopper, a Royal Thai deputy consul general threatened to cut off relations with the U.S. if the ad, which ran once in City Paper, was repeated. The ad and the column touched off an international incident -- Thailand's prime minister wrote a letter to the State Department asking the U.S. government to intercede. In addition, letters were written by the Royal Thai consul general in New York to Gov. Mark Schweiker and Mayor John Street. City Paper received thousands of e-mails from Thais, some wishing us painful sex with elephants or expressing hope that Osama bin Laden would engineer another attack on the U.S.

What happened next: Thai officials promised massive demonstrations in front of City Paper and Saint Jack's. In addition, the Thai government said it was considering a lawsuit against City Paper. Neither occurred.

Saint Jack's manager Sherry Levin is, interestingly enough, continuing her education in foreign affairs that began before the controversy. "I am finishing my first semester at Arcadia University, where I am studying international peace and conflict resolution," says Levin, adding that she applied for school "before the Thai king controversy." Levin says her goal is to get a job with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

"Pipes' Dreams," July 18

The story: Since 9/11, conservative, Philly-based Middle East commentator Daniel Pipes has become the region's most popular political talking head.

What happened next: In September, Pipes launched a new website, www.campuswatch.org. The site's aim is to keep an eye on university professors who express anti-American or anti-Israeli sentiments. Pipes asked students to send in "dossiers" on their professors, sparking calls of McCarthyism from left-wing critics. Campuswatch.org no longer uses the word "dossiers" but still has a "Keep Us Informed" section that allows students to make anonymous complaints about their professors.

"Good Things, Small Packages," July 25

The story: Last summer, Pig Iron Theatre Co.'s managing director Damian Sinclair joined with the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia (TAGP) to start up a Small Theater Collective. Part of the collective (representatives from 10 companies and TAGP) came to City Paper's offices in July to cheer on the city's theater scene and bitch about the lack of viable, affordable theater spaces in this town. (The story was a sidebar to "Today Philadelphia, Tomorrow the World," which took a look at the collaborations between and the successes of Pig Iron, New Paradise Laboratories and Headlong Dance Theater.)

What happened next: So far, not much. Sinclair left Pig Iron and Philadelphia in November to be marketing director for Washington, D.C.'s famed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co. TAGP Executive Director Melissa Shaner says, "We haven't had another meeting since that meeting we had with you guys, but I'm working on putting together a series of workshops" for smaller companies. Shaner will spearhead the collective until they can find someone to fulfill "the coordination and enthusiasm role that [Sinclair] filled so well." Shaner assures that the Small Theater Collective is "certainly not something that died now that [Sinclair's] gone."

"Down to Zero," Sept. 19

The story: Neil Bernstein, an artist who has been raising hackles ever since his days with the old Highwire Gallery in Old City, made a move this fall that threatened to be his most controversial ever: He opened a gallery a few blocks away from Ground Zero and filled it with politically charged sculpture he'd made from World Trade Center dust and detritus. An architect and part-time oil broker, Bernstein hoped that the WTC show would be the first of many exhibits in his new space. City Paper visited the show on the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and talked to a steady stream of visitors, from victims' friends to European students to curious cops.

What happened next: The show attracted only minimal attention from NYC media, and after the 9/11 anniversary the tourist population in the neighborhood dropped "by 75 percent," says Bernstein. But he still managed to sell four of the 12 pieces, including one for $4,000 to "a pretty big collector" and another, a bin Laden-taunting playhorse souped up with car parts, to "a mechanic in South Jersey." A World Trade Center official stopped by and drilled Bernstein about whether he was going to try to sell artifacts on eBay, but once it was explained that any proceeds would be fed back into the gallery and art workshops, the official left. "I don't think he was particularly happy with the works," says Bernstein.

But if local interest was low, the European arts community may make up for it. There's been coverage of the show in Der Spiegel in Germany and in the Bulgarian magazine Podium. Contacts in both countries want to include Bernstein's work in a touring show of five American artists that is slated to open in Johannesburg, South Africa, in February and then travel to, among other places, Turkey, Austria and Australia.

The gallery space? It went back to the landlord -- "it was an expensive place to keep." But Bernstein is working on a new series of smaller works using WTC debris, and the show prompted him to finish the last chapter of a book he's working on. The chapter title: "Truth in Art."

"Love Burns Bacon," Oct. 31

The story: Ed Bacon, the 92-year-old former city planner who created the concept for Love Park, rode a skateboard (with assistance from City Paper) to protest Mayor Street's ban on skateboarding there.

What happened next: During an appearance in Philly at his Boom Boom HuckJam Tour, world-famous skateboarder Tony Hawk had a message for Street: "Wake up. Get with the times," Hawk said in an interview just before the show that would bring so much love into Philly pockets.

Earlier this month, city officials finally unveiled preliminary plans for a new skatepark at Schuylkill River Park. Though frustrated that it has taken so long, skateboarders say the plans are a good first step.

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