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THE LEDE

“I do research [at] Wash U. Medical School, and I’ve been here [in St. Louis] since 2002. I’m very happy because it’s a good community. It’s nice [and] it’s respectful. Honestly, I wanted to tell you I’ve been yelled at twice [and] they said, ‘Go back to your country!’ by a stranger. ... Once was at the Brentwood Metro station, [and another] one was at the Central West End. So I was a little shocked. But [there’s] more nice people. ... I feel very positive and secure and feel very supported [here at the vigil] ... we’re all together.”

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

JENNY SHU, PHOTOGRAPHED WITH HER SON AT THE STL ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY VIGIL FOR VICTIMS OF ATLANTA SHOOTINGS & ANTI-ASIAN HATE ON SATURDAY, MARCH 20 riverfronttimes.com

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Another Trip Around the Sun

ave you read the Big Mad yet? The weekly guide to where you can focus that rage is our latest addition to the paper, compiled under the care of resident madman Daniel Hill. This week’s roundup includes a mysterious LARPer, a political corn cob and a near miss of galactic proportions. After you’ve bathed in the fire of fury, soothe yourself with Cheryl Baehr’s review of a great new pizza spot, and then settle in for a disturbing tale reported by Mike Fitzgerald on the demise of a Normandy man doing time in one of America’s COVID-19 hotspots. It’s a full week. Thanks for reading. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Interim Managing Editor Daniel Hill Staff Writer Danny Wicentowski Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Theo Welling, Ymani Wince Columnist Ray Hartmann Editorial Interns Jack Killeen, Riley Mack A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain, Evan Sult Production Manager Haimanti Germain M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Chuck Healy, Jackie Mundy Digital Sales Manager Chad Beck Director of Public Relations Brittany Forrest

COVER Death Sentence

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

Inside ‘the most effective COVID transmission system we could come up with’

E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein www.euclidmediagroup.com

Cover design by

EVAN SULT

N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News The Big Mad Feature Cafe Short Orders Culture Savage Love

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The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member Riverfront Times PO Box 179456, St. Louis, MO, 63117 www.riverfronttimes.com General information: 314-754-5966 Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977

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Correction: In last week’s The Lede, we accidentally mixed up the photo and caption. Pictured was Kim O’Donnell. We regret the error.

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HARTMANN

Clash of the Two Erics Schmitt and Greitens could’ve been normal BY RAY HARTMANN

hen Eric Greitens and Eric Schmitt were born a year apart in St. Louis County, Republicans were still regular humans. The Republican president back then, Gerald R. Ford, was a truly decent man. Missouri’s Republican governor, Kit Bond, was a bold and progressive young reformer. As for Donald Trump, well, he wasn’t a Republican at all, just some racist trust-fund kid who had been popped by the Nixon administration for refusing to rent New York apartments to Black people. Greitens was born in April 1974 (actually four months before Richard Nixon resigned) and Schmitt just 14 months later, both here in the county. Each man would stake out a fine career, and as recently as 2015 neither the converted Democrat Greitens nor the conventional Republican Schmitt seemed anything out of the order ideologically. reitens ran for office as an outsider who would clean up corruption, ban lobbyist gifts and the like. Sure that all turned out to be fraudulent, but it sounded normal enough at the time. Schmitt was your basic pro-business Republican pushing ideas like developing a China hub for St. Louis Lambert International Airport, an idea far more rational than what he has to say about that nation today. But then came Trump. And people got to know Greitens and Schmitt. And that was that. Today, the two Erics are fully grown politician-demagogues. Both identify as Republicans but are far better described by their wormy allegiance to Trump, who has bloomed into a full-blown fascist and owner of the GOP. Whatever normality they might once have stood for has long ago given away to red-meat, Trump-base politics.

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Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt could have been normal. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Ex-Missouri Governor Eric Greitens could have been normal, maybe. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

The two Erics might be on a collision course for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated next year by retiring Senator Roy Blunt. Schmitt has all but thrown his hat into the ring. It remains to be seen whether Greitens will decide to emerge from his basement hopeful that Missouri Republicans have forgotten how badly he bullied and embarrassed them as a half-term sleazeball governor. There are other career politicians waiting in the wings to go after Blunt’s seat. Two are incumbent Republican members of Congress who would have to give up their jobs to run: Rep. Ann Wagner, St. Louis County, and Rep. Jason Smith, Limbaugh Country. Both apparently are hearing voices in their heads, as translated by their Twitter accounts. Says Wagner: “I am humbled by the outpouring of encouragement from folks across our great state today. I take their outreach seriously, and plan to discuss with my family what the future holds for me in the coming days.” Says Smith: “I am truly humbled by the outreach from Missourians interested in ensuring Missouri continues to have a strong voice in the United States Senate.” What a coincidence. Either Wagner and Smith share a speechwriter or getting humbled by outreach is trending in the political class. Seriously, is there anything more pathetic than a politician inventing a movement to draft themself and then breaking down with emotion over the honor of it all? Whether Wagner or Smith decides that the common folk of Missouri just cannot bear the thought

of them not being senator will likely come down to math: If there’s a solid lane to carve out in a multicandidate field race, they’ll run. f not, the masses will stage a huge outpouring of support for them to stay in their House seats. There of course will be others: Right-wing businessman John Brunner is considering whether he’d like to lose again. Brunner’s main claim to fame was getting famously brutalized by Greitens in a taunting phone call in the 2016 gubernatorial primary race. On the Democratic side, former state Sen. Scott Sifton is already in the race along with newcomer Lucas Kunce, a Yale grad and former Marine. Expect numerous other politicians to receive a humbling outpouring of support. Still, the main attraction would be the Clash of the Two Erics, if God would smile upon the media just this once. Mitigating against it is the fact that Schmitt was one of only two statewide Republican officeholders never to demand reitens’ resignation when his pullup bar crashed upon him in 2018. (The other was Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who has decided not to seek Blunt’s seat). One can only assume, however, that Schmitt’s prior lack of political courage (or was it not having a moral compass?) will not matter to Greitens, the world-class narcissist who has never been known to place principle over self-interest. And what a battle it would be to stake out the claim of being the most loyal subject of The Almighty Orange One. I can see the debate now: Schmitt: “I took the lead among

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all Republican attorneys general in spending taxpayer dollars to stop the steal in 2020! We sued everyone to overthrow this election! Hell, it’s all I’ve done for the last four months.” Greitens: “Yeah, sure. But if I’d been in office, we’d have had some boys from Missouri doing a little recon work in the Capitol on January 6, if you know what I mean. Not to say we didn’t anyway, or that we did. Just like we used to say in the Navy SEALs, ‘Where we go one, we go all.’” Schmitt: “Big deal. Where were you when that urban woman was trying to prosecute the great patriots Mark and Patricia McCloskey? Hell, was one of the first to declare their innocence, and I’m still part of the prosecution side! You add that to me never disappointing white folks, and I got some MAGA going on here.” Greitens: “If I had been governor, the McCloskeys would have felt free to shoot those people, and that would have been the end of it.” Schmitt: “Big talk. I’m the only one who has sued China and personally brought Xi Jinping to his knees.” Greitens: “China? Ha! The home office in oscow says it has never even heard of you.” Schmitt: “Well, I’m the only one making headlines by demanding that the Biden radical socialist remove illegal immigrants to save us from sex crimes.” Greitens: “Big whoop. I was going to close the Arkansas border when I was governor and would have built that wall if it wasn’t for so-called ‘sex crimes.’ By the way, only one of us have an exwife, pal, and someday I may have three, like the Greatest President in the History of Our Country.” There would be nothing like a Clash of the Erics to make Missouri politics great again. Or at least more memorable. Unlike the previous political histories of Eric Greitens and Eric Schmitt. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhar tmann1952@gmail.com or catch him on Donnybrook at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on the Nine Network and St. Louis In the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

NEWS

On Trial: St. Louis Cops Accused of Beating Detective Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

he September 17, 2017, police beating of Luther Hall, a Black undercover detective, was brutal. That much is certain. But in the first week of the trial against three white officers accused of variously striking, kicking and slamming him into the ground, the defense strategy has repeatedly returned to uncertainties and gaps in the evidence — at the same time, witness testimony continues to reveal the swirl of chaos and cover-up that erupted after city and police officials learned of the assault that night. The defendants — Dustin Boone, Steven Korte and Christopher Myers — are each charged with deprivation of rights under the color of law. Their fates will be determined by an all-white jury. The trial continued this week with witness testimony, including that of now ex-cop Randy Hays, who has already pleaded guilty to federal charges related to beating Hall with a baton. But prosecutors and defense attorneys have already covered a lot of ground — so let’s recap the highlights and what we’ve learned.

Police inside the protest September 17 was not Luther Hall’s first protest assignment. Two days prior, demonstrators had begun flooding the streets after a city judge announced an acquittal in the murder trial against ex-St. Louis cop Jason Stockley. On September 16, Hall and his partner, Louis Naes, donned street clothes and embedded with protesters in the Delmar Loop area of University City; both officers testified that they sought to identify and film a group of per-

St. Louis police hold down Detective Luther Hall, who was undercover. Hall was badly beaten during the arrest. | LAWRENCE BRYANT/COURT EXHIBIT petrators who smashed shop windows after the main protest group disbanded earlier that evening. That was supposed to be the way things played out the next day, when protesters staged a “die in” near the police headquarters downtown. Hall testified that he equipped himself for the September 17 assignment with a phone, a handheld DSLR camera and a backpack with his police ID. He bought a small, tight-fitting shirt for his undercover outfit that left his waist and midriff exposed — a move intended to show observers he wasn’t armed.

Undercover — and alone Attorney Scott Rosenblum, representing Myers, spent hours of the cross-examination trying to poke holes in Hall’s credibility, even arguing at times that it was Hall’s behavior that made him appear as a legitimate risk to heavily armored officers on the ivil Disobedience Team. But Hall’s testimony also showed just how isolated the undercover officers were that night. Officers on the ground were not informed of Hall and his partner’s mission, and both testified that there was no “safe word” established to identify them to other cops. The secrecy was intentional, Hall testified. He said previous undercover operations had been exposed by leaks: “In the last pro-

Ex-St. Louis cop Randy Hays with Bailey Colletta, another former officer. | DOYLE MURPHY tests, the department would put out information and the information would get leaked to the protesters and to the media from police officers, he explained on the stand. “We felt the fewer people that knew about our operation the better.”

Using the protesters’ tools against them Hall and Naes both described making accounts on Ustream, the livestreaming platform popular among protesters going back to Ferguson in 2014. Hall’s stream is now a key piece of evidence, as prosecutors say it captured the

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face of officer hristopher yers during Hall’s beating. (Myers is facing an additional charge of destroying evidence for allegedly smashing Hall’s phone.) On the stand, Hall testified he made the switch to Ustream after realizing that the detectives in the department’s Real Time Crime Center — a hub for the department’s surveillance operations — were already tuning in to protester livestreams, and for a good reason: hile undercover officers were handing in footage at the end of the night, the livestreamers filming the demonstrations provided the cops with literal real-time ac-

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cess to the scenes on the ground. Hall even attempted to use his Ustream channel to tip off his police allies about vandalism on Washington Avenue. He said onstream, “They’re going to fuck up Washington” — but no one was watching his channel. Minutes later, Hall himself would be arrested.

Eye in the sky, pointed elsewhere Defense attorneys for the accused officers are attempting to raise doubts as to the identification of their clients, an argument aided by the fact that officers deployed to the protest that night did not wear name tags or badges. Instead, on the night of September 17, the officers who arrested Hall wore heavy body armor and helmets, moved as a group and deployed behind a line of shield-bearing officers — making them difficult to identify even through the camera lens of a St. Louis American photographer Lawrence Bryant, who shot photos of the arrest near the downtown Central Library. But, as revealed at trial, the police did have access to a camera with a perfect angle on the action, as it could point directly at the spot where Hall was standing near the intersection of 14th and Olive streets. The camera was under the control of an unknown officer in the city’s Real Time Crime Center, and it was that operator who redirected the camera’s view to follow a group of people fleeing down 14th Street toward Washington at the same moment as officers took Hall to the ground. According to a review of the footage by the RFT, the camera spent about five minutes pointed south down 14th. Then the camera panned right, resting for less than a single second on the officers around Hall, before moving on to another subject of apparent interest: A person across the street carrying a large homemade shield and a spearlike object. The camera tracked the mysterious figure for several minutes. By the time the camera view returned to the intersection, Hall and the officers were already gone — a frustrating near-miss that’s left investigators, and the public, without crucial evidence of Hall’s arrest and the officers who beat him.

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Hall was one of more than 100 people arrested that night, but only his beating has led to charges against officers. Beyond cop-on-cop crime Hall was one of more than 100 people arrested the night of September 17, but only his beating has led to charges against officers. The non-cop-on-cop arrests occurred just a few blocks away, where police surrounded a mixed group of protesters, bystanders and downtown residents at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard. Officers stood shoulder-to-shoulder, refusing to let their targets leave the area. The mass arrest, which came to be known as “the kettle,” led to dozens of lawsuits and calls for criminal investigations. In 2019, a class action suit sought to name more than 350 officers involved in the kettle, but left many identified only as John Doe or Jane Doe. One attorney cited officers’ “extraordinary measures” to conceal their identities. On the other side, the commander of the Civil Disobedience Team later testified in a civil hearing that officers considered protesters who wore goggles or masks as a threat, as it indicated “they were wanting some kind of confrontation.” For some officers on the protest detail, the lack of identification was seen as a license for indiscriminate violence, and texts from the officers involved in Hall’s beating revealed a startling level of glee at the prospect: On September 15, 2017, Dustin Boone texted, “[I]t’s going to be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these shitheads once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!” Despite the widespread violence that night, only Hall’s arrest and beating led to criminal charges. Earlier this year, Hall reportedly settled a civil suit with the City of St. Louis for $5 million — a sum that will likely stick in the mind of the dozens of others who say they suffered the same treatment. n

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Gov. Mike Parson got his vaccine, and maybe the rest of us can, too? | GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

All Vaccine Phases Opening April 9 Written by

JAIME LEES

ll of those questions about which tier you’re in and how to find out if you’re finally eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine will soon fade away — because all adults in Missouri will be eligible to get vaccinated in a matter of weeks. Missouri Governor Mike Parson announced last week that all adult Missourians will be approved to get the jab starting on April 9. “When we activated Tier 3, we said we would be able to activate Phase 2 within 45 days of March 15,” Parson tweeted. “However, with the progress we’re currently seeing and vaccine supply expected to increase significantly in the coming weeks, we are well ahead of schedule.” Parson also said that “COVID-19 vaccine allotments to Missouri are projected to increase SIGNIFICANTLY by the first week of April” and that “we will be opening up Phase 2 on Monday, March 29th, and Phase 3 on Friday, April 9th.” If supply really is able to match the inevitable surge in demand once everyone is eligible — an open question — this announcement could join a series of potentially great developments in Missouri’s vaccine distribution. Not only are multiple “mega” vaccination events scheduled for the St. Louis area in the upcoming weeks, but St. Louis County

Multiple “mega” vaccination events scheduled for the St. Louis area in the upcoming weeks, and St. Louis County teachers are getting their own mass vaccination event. teachers are even getting their own private mass vaccination event, which is a huge step forward in the effort to keep our kids safe. Parson also says that approximately 18,000 Missourians in Region C (that’s St. Louis and the surrounding areas) will receive shots through a combination of state, county and hospital events in a three-day period, starting Thursday Information on the mass vaccination events can be found at MOStopsCOVID. com/events and Missourians interested in receiving a vaccine at state-supported events can register to receive their shot(s) at the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services’ Vaccine Navigator page. n

THE BIG MAD Missed Connections Distracted cops, rude asteroids and the corncobbing of Andrew Koenig Compiled by

DANIEL HILL

t can be hard maintaining the sky-high levels of fury you’re used to living with in the face of this beautiful weather, and of course the tangible feeling that we’ve maybe, hopefully, finally turned a corner in the battle against COVID-19. But you’re more than up to the task. Put plainly, if you were Lou Ferrigno, your skin would be a startling shade of green. Hell, you’d be flipping cars over by now if such an act wouldn’t result in several costly civil judgments against you — even though you’re not quite sure what, exactly, you’re so angry about. But fear not: We’re here to help. Welcome back to the Big Mad, RFT’s weekly roundup of righteous rage! Let’s dive in: DESTINATION VACCINATION: Even as Governor Parson and Bowtie Health Director Man promise more vaccines are coming to St. Louis, city dwellers are still driving for hours all over the goddamn state to get their shots. The situation is so pathetically mismanaged, in fact, that Missouri is featured prominently in a recent AP report about the states that are most royally fucking things up on the vaccination front — the Show Me State ranks 41st in the nation for its abysmal rollout. Turns out, in addition to the problems caused by the lack of vaccines in urban areas, state leadership’s decision to race as quickly as possible through the tiers of eligibility has created an enormous backlog of people who are qualified but still awaiting vaccines, while at the same time assuring that demand hopelessly outpaces supply. And things are about to get worse: Come April 9, every adult in the state will be eligible for the shot — meaning everyone who wants one will be competing with literally everyone else. May the odds be ever in your favor. NOT READY FOR HIS CLOSEUP: For all of the technical sophistication of police surveillance systems, the trial against white officers accused of the beating of Black St. Louis detective Luther Hall revealed there was a camera that could have been pointed directly at the action — but it wasn’t, since the camera’s operator appeared to be more interested in

zooming in on some LARPer weirdo who showed up to the protest in face paint while carrying a homemade shield and what looks like a spear or a long sword of some kind. Was this a dangerous time traveler from the Middle Ages, worthy of police scrutiny, or just an example of an easily distracted cop staring at a Renaissance fair nerd? Either way, it was a critical miss at gathering evidence of cop-oncop violence, and that’s no fantasy. WRONG-STITUTION: On March 17, Republican State Senator Andrew Koenig (R-Manchester) tweeted a video clip of himself heroically grilling an abortionrights advocate during a committee hearing — an exchange in which Koenig, noted abortion-hater and law-knower, demanded to be shown where abortion rights are contained in the U.S. Constitution. “The reality is that it’s not there,” Koenig said confidently as he argued an anti-abortion position by citing the 14th Amendment’s protections of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — a jaw-dropping answer, considering that is the exact section of the Constitution on which the Supreme Court based its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Naturally, as he spoke, Koenig suddenly turned into a corncob, the sheer strength of his self-own mutating his skin to kernels and his limbs to stalks. Seriously though, who taught this guy to antiabortion? Why would Koenig own himself so publicly? Is it because his brain is butter and his thoughts are salt? We’ve consulted the Constitution, and the reality is that Koenig isn’t anywhere in there, so we can only guess. SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR: It was almost, mercifully, all over. We were a mere 1.25 million miles away from not having to worry about any of this — or, indeed, anything at all — when a humongous asteroid cruised past the Earth this past Sunday. The giant space rock, dubbed 2001 FO32, callously blew right by us at approximately 77,000 mph, according to NASA, sparing nary a thought about its capability to end an entire world’s worth of suffering once and for all. Clocking in at 3,000 feet in width, scientists say it’s the largest asteroid that will pass by our miserable planet in the year 2021, and it won’t circle back around to make an appearance again for another 31 years. In all likelihood we’ll have plenty more opportunities for extinction-level events in the meantime — especially if everyone agrees to keep ignoring climate change — but being that humankind has thus far proven itself surprisingly hard to wipe out when left to its own devices, our best bet might just be to keep our fingers crossed for 2052. n

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Derrick Howard drapes his arm over his father Vernado’s shoulder during a prison visit. | COURTESY VERNADO HOWARD

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DEATH

Inside ‘the most D effective COVID transmission system we could come up with’ BY MIKE FITZGERALD

errick Howard was tough — prison tough. Howard grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Normandy. In his late teens, before his first stretch in prison, he acquired the street name of “The Black Italian Snake.” Proud of the moniker, Howard wore it through his long and ultimately deadly journey through the nation’s prison system. In January 2007, a jury in St. Louis convicted Howard of orchestrating an elaborate murder-for-hire scheme while he was locked up in jail awaiting trial on a gun charge. The federal judge presiding over Howard’s case sentenced him to 60 years in prison. By late 2019, Howard had racked up a string of disciplinary violations while incarcerated, landing him at one of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ toughest lockups, the high-security U.S. Penitentiary Tucson in Arizona. Then COVID-19 hit. The coronavirus surged through the densely packed prison like wildfire, turning it into a world haunted by sickness and death. Howard feared for his life.

The 51-year-old suffered from a series of underlying conditions, including obesity, hypertension, asthma and a chronic lung disease. Inside the prison, face masks and hand sanitizer were in short supply, and social distancing was nearly impossible to maintain. Howard knew he had little chance of survival if he caught the coronavirus, according to Diane Dragan, his St. Louis-based federal public defender. “He did say if he got COVID he’d die because he had lung issues,” Dragan says. On October 22, Howard tested positive for the coronavirus. Four days later, an ambulance took him to a nearby Tucson hospital for further treatment. On October 31, hospital staff placed him on a ventilator, according to BOP reports. But the chain of events of the following weeks, culminating in Howard’s death on December 3, remains a mystery to his family. Did he die from COVID-19? The death certificate issued by ima ounty, ri ona, indicates that he did. Or did his death stem from something else, such as the Continued on pg 14

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fall he suffered — as medical records show — while recuperating at a Tucson rehab facility shortly after he was taken off the ventilator? Medical records also indicate he was conscious but hallucinating, writing notes to hospital staff until shortly before he stopped breathing early on the morning of December 3. “We don’t know why our brother died,” says Pam Howard, his older sister. “He was able to fight his way off the ventilator, and he’s conscious, and the next day he’s dead? We just want to know why.” What’s more, Howard’s family could not contact him during the six weeks between when he tested positive and when he died, his sister says. “I just don’t understand why we couldn’t see him, or get any information from the hospital,” Pam Howard says, adding that she feels “very angry and heartbroken because our brother was in the hospital that long, and we didn’t get a chance to contact him, to write him a letter.” It was not until this past Halloween, nearly a week after Howard was sent to the hospital, that Howard’s family was even notified that he was seriously sick with COVID-19. oon after that initial notification, a hospital staff member called Howard’s family to ask if they wanted to say goodbye to him before he died. But Pam Howard says the offer came with a condition — they could only talk to him if they agreed to take him off the ventilator. The family refused the deal. The next day, Derrick Howard was taken off the ventilator anyway. Medical records indicate he took a turn for the better and was sent to a nearby rehabilitation center to recover. The improvement in his condition was fleeting. few days later, without explanation, Howard’s heart stopped beating. An ambulance took him to a nearby hospital emergency room, where he was pronounced dead.

errick Howard’s death has opened a rare window into a prison medical-care system that is widely criticized for its lack of transparency and systemwide failures to protect inmates and staff from COVID-19 — conditions that public health experts say pose a catastrophic health menace both inside and outside the nation’s jail

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Derrick Howard caught COVID-19 at the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, which has had some of the worst records for infection in the Bureau of Prisons. | GOOGLE STREET VIEW

A hospital staff member called Howard’s family to ask if they wanted to say goodbye to him before he died. But the offer came with a condition: They could only talk to him if they agreed to take him off the ventilator. and prison walls. The BOP’s failures and shortcomings echo similar problems in state prison and local jail systems nationwide. And even though prisons and jails are some of the worst coronavirus hot spots in the nation, the effort to roll out vaccines to inmates has become mired in partisan politics and bad science. The problems are exacerbated by a punitive philosophy that sorely contradicts the warnings of public health experts. “There is a general attitude of, ‘If you don’t want to be exposed to those things, then you should never have done whatever criminal activity you did,’” says Maria Morris, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. From a human rights perspective, the governments that run prisons have a duty to protect people in their care and to provide adequate medical care. But even aside from that obligation, public health experts point out it just makes sense from a medical perspective to take an especially aggressive approach to treating COVID-19 in prison, including the rollout of vaccines, because doing so does a great deal to prevent the spread of the virus and protect communities outside jails and prisons.

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Inmates moving in and out of prisons and jails serve as highly efficient vectors for infectious diseases of all kinds, especially a virus and its variants that have so far killed more than 540,000 Americans. Prisoners live in crowded conditions, have little control over what precautions they can take, and share the same toilets and personal spaces. In low-security settings, those spaces are usually open bays, with no barriers separating dozens of inmates sleeping in the same rooms. What’s more, inmates are constantly back and forth into their communities as sentences begin and end, or they are transferred to county and city jails awaiting trial, or moved to new facilities across the country, as was Howard’s fate. And of course inmates come into close contact with prison staff and corrections staff, who go home after their shifts end and can spread COVID-19 to family and friends. For these reasons, a December editorial in the newsletter of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health called for the federal and state prison systems to make inmates a priority when it comes to administering the new COVID-19 vaccines.

“Prioritizing incarcerated and detained individuals with COVID-19 vaccinations is the smart public health strategy,” according to the editorial’s authors. In the meantime, inmates must try to survive a prison health-care system that is erratic at best, according to Dave Fields. Fields spent 22 years in federal prisons after being convicted on charges of possessing and selling crack cocaine. “They don’t deal with people’s health problems at all,” Fields says of BOP medical care. The 48-year-old served part of his sentence with Howard at a federal prison in Florida before successfully appealing his conviction and winning release in 2017. He credits Howard with helping him regain his freedom, describing Howard as a good friend with a strong sense of humor and a sharp mind. When Fields was working on the research to challenge his drug conviction, Howard’s knowledge of the legal system proved invaluable, Fields recalls. “He’d say, ‘I happened to come across this case. Check it out,’” Fields says. “Nine times out of ten, he’d be on point.” Howard also possessed a keen sense of humor, which is an essential trait for surviving in prison, according to Fields. “If you were standing in line, he’d be the one to tell you a story to make you laugh,” Fields says. “He’d always be telling you a story about his family. I learned a lot from him.” Fields was saddened to hear of his old friend’s death, but he was not shocked when he learned that Howard had gotten sick from COVID-19. “If you get seriously sick in pris-

on,” he says, “you’re not going to make it.”

o far nearly 400,000 people behind bars in federal, state and local facilities have tested positive for COVID-19, with more than 2,400 deaths documented, according to the COVID Prison Project. The true death toll is likely much higher, however, because of jails’ and prisons’ culture of secrecy and their tendency to define COVID-19 deaths very narrowly. Since the pandemic began more than a year ago, some of the nation’s worst outbreaks of the virus have occurred among incarcerated populations, who are especially vulnerable because of overcrowding, stress, poor health care and nutrition, and shoddy sanitation — conditions that have sent coronavirus mortality soaring. Officially, the prison death rate is twice as high as it is in the general population, with four times as many positive cases as overall, according to a report published in December by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. What remains unclear, however, is the full scope of COVID’s impact on the federal prison system, which is responsible for more than 150,000 inmates in dozens of penitentiaries, prison camps and halfway houses nationwide. The , in a lawsuit filed in October, accused the BOP of concealing information and “stonewalling” efforts by the nonprofit and lawmakers to find out how the prison bureau is handling the pandemic. “In the face of that failure the BOP has offered rosy assessments of its own performance and stonewalling in response to requests for public disclosure and congressional oversight,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit further notes that BOP’s own data indicate that more than one-third of federal inmates tested for COVID-19 tested positive for it. At some federal prisons, the positivity rate is much worse. More than 90 percent of the 997 inmates tested at the federal prison in Lompoc, California, came back positive, according to the suit. A separate class-action lawsuit the filed in ay against the BOP and the Lompoc prison described the situation there as a humanitarian crisis of “horrific proportions.” The ACLU and other prison watchdog groups contend the BOP’s testing procedures are woefully inadequate, according to Sharon Dolovich, the director of

Derrick Howard’s family still questions his death in federal custody. | COURTESY HOWARD FAMILY

the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project. “We know that those are under-counts because there are many facilities that are reporting zero, or under ten or under twenty infections,” Dolovich says. “And both because of what we know from COVID, and from what we’ve seen in countless facilities a year into the pandemic, we know that if you’re a prison with twenty infections, you have many more than twenty people who are infected.” Morris, of the ACLU, agreed that BO officials are motivated to under-test and therefore to undercount infections. “And then they can say COVID isn’t a problem in our facilities. ‘Look at how low our numbers are,’” she says. Emery Nelson, a BOP spokesperson, declined an interview request from the Riverfront Times. But in a written statement, he stated the BOP “has taken swift and effective action in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (CO-

VID-19) and has emerged as a correctional leader in the pandemic. As with any type of emergency situation, we carefully assess how to best ensure the safety of staff, inmates and the public. All of our facilities are implementing the BOP’s guidance on mitigating the spread of COVID-19.” Nelson also noted that BOP personnel work closely with local health departments to ensure priority testing is provided to staff who are in close contact with COVID-19-positive personnel, while the federal prison agency has obtained a national contract to perform all staff testing. Dolovich, of UCLA Law, evinced skepticism about the BOP’s diligence in following its own rules. “Whatever policies they have on paper aren’t actually being implemented,” she says. “So they could tell you things that actually sound good in theory. But when you actually talk to people incarcerated in the various facilities, they will tell you that the reality is very different.”

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ne of the hardest hit federal prisons is located in Springfield, issouri, at the BO ’s Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, which houses some of the nation’s most medically vulnerable inmates. The extreme dangers they face were underscored in early February in a scathing opinion written by U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White, of the Eastern District of Missouri, in St. Louis. White slammed the BOP for its handling of the case of a diabetic inmate seeking compassionate release from the pringfield facility. White noted in his order granting the prisoner’s release that, at the time, seventeen MCFP inmates had already died there, while 384 inmates and 212 staff were listed as having recovered from COVID-19 infections. “These numbers reflect a shocking outbreak of cases and deaths at an institution where the BOP places medically fragile inmates,” White wrote. To critics of prison medical care, White’s blistering opinion is hardly surprising. Long before the pandemic started, America’s prisons and jails generated voluminous complaints about tardy, substandard and even unethical inmate medical care, including well-documented cases of coerced human experimentation. “They didn’t get good medical care in good times,” says Dragan, the public defender, whose clients are scattered in lockups across the Midwest. “They’re getting really shitty medical care now because they don’t want to take them out of the facility for any sort of medical care.” Exacerbating these issues is the fact that federal prison inmates often fail to report their symptoms to prison medical personnel for fear of making things even worse for themselves. Sick inmates are usually quarantined in their prisons’ disciplinary housing, according to the ACLU’s Morris. “And people don’t want to go there,” she says. “They’re very uncomfortable units. They are not getting close medical monitoring. They tend to be dirty. They tend not to have a lot of water access. And people are afraid to go in there.” All these factors taken together — the poor testing regimen, the lack of ventilation, the shortages of PPE, the crowding and lack of transparency — draw Dolovich, of UCLA Law, to one conclusion about the federal prison system. “It’s the most effective COVID transmission system we could

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DEATH SENTENCE Continued from pg 15

come up with,” she says.

o far, at least 240 inmates and four staff members have died from COVID-19 in America’s federal prison system, according to COVID Prison Project data. Nearly 50,000 federal inmates — about one-third the total federal inmate population — have tested positive, as well as nearly 6,500 staff, BOP data show. Federal inmates make up a fraction of the total number of inmates locked up across the country in jails and prisons, and they can sometimes be obscured in the statistics. But the federal death toll is significant. f the BO was a state system, it would rank second only to Texas, which has reported more deaths — 257 — but also has a larger prison population, totaling 163,000. Missouri’s system has registered 48 deaths out of a population of 26,000, according to the prison project website. The Tucson prison, where Howard died, recorded the third-highest number of positive COVID-19 cases compared to other federal prisons — 895 — surpassed only by the federal prisons at Fort Dix, New Jersey, with 2,014 cases, and Seagoville, Texas, with 1,240 cases, BOP data show. As far as the deadliest federal prisons, Tucson is officially tied for second with two others that have recorded ten deaths each. The deadliest federal prison is the hospital for federal inmates in pringfield which documented eighteen deaths. Medical records obtained by the RFT show that on the night of October 26, Howard was taken by ambulance from USP Tucson to the nearby Tucson Medical Center after experiencing shortness of breath and respiratory distress. Howard spent several days at the medical center, where medical personnel inserted a tube in his stomach for nutrition. “He wasn’t there that long when a doctor called and asked if we wanted to have him removed from the ventilator,” Pam Howard says. “And I’m like, ‘For what reason?’” she says. “I go, ‘He still has brain activity.’ And she said it’s not up to her. It’s up to the Bureau of Prisons, and the only way we could see him is [if] we chose the end-of-life option. Which I thought was unfair.” Howard was later transferred to Curahealth, a Tucson rehab cen-

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“Whatever policies they have on paper aren’t actually being implemented. So they could tell you things that sound good in theory. But when you actually talk to people incarcerated in the various facilities, they will tell you that the reality is very different.” ter. A day later, he sustained a fall there and went back to the medical center, where he underwent a CT scan, which reported negative results. An ambulance returned Howard to Curahealth, where, just after midnight on December 3, his heart rate dropped dramatically, according to a physician’s notes. “Patient’s pulse was not palpable,” wrote Dr. Bijay Sanjeev. An ambulance took Howard to the St. Joseph’s Hospital emergency room, where he was pronounced dead, according to his ima ounty death certificate. Derrick Howard died alone and cut off from his family, Dragan says. “They never set up a phone call,” Dragan says. “They never set up a Zoom visit … [Howard’s family] didn’t get to be there for him. He didn’t have any idea anyone in the world gave a shit about him.”

ernado Howard, 81, sits in the living room of his O’Fallon, Missouri, home and ponders some photos spread out on the table before him. The photos were taken a few years ago, the last time he saw Derrick Howard in person. One photo shows Howard in the light yellow jumpsuit of the federal prison in Florida where he was being housed at the time. His left arm is draped across his father’s shoulders. Vernado Howard glances at the photo and nods, his eyes lighting up at the memory of that visit to the Coleman penitentiary in northern Florida. “A good day,” he says. But the elder Howard doesn’t shy away from the many bad days that marked the decades before, as his son’s attraction to the criminal lifestyle intensified. Vernado Howard and his daughter Pam make no excuses for Derrick Howard’s life. But they point out they loved him, and he loved them back, and that his life was worth something. “He wasn’t a bad person,” Pam

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Howard says. “He did bad things. But he helped a lot of people in prison.” But Vernado Howard also acknowledges his son put the family through hell, and the memory hits hard. There was that time, for example, when Derrick Howard, still in his late teens, had just returned to the family home in Normandy after serving time in a Missouri prison. Picking up where he had left off, he began dealing crack cocaine out of the house, recalls his father, a retired auto worker. Vernado Howard knew he had no choice. He obtained a court order to kick his son out of the house. “He got angry with me,” Vernado Howard says. “But I didn’t care. I got other kids to take care of.” After more than 80 years on this earth, and helping raise eight children to adulthood, Vernado Howard has learned the great, hard truth that eventually dawns on all parents: You have only so much control over the adult your child becomes. That cha-cha between nature and nurture, between DNA and environment — that confounding little dance never stops. And with some kids you will have little say over the finished product no matter how hard you try — or how much you pray. So it was with Derrick Demetrius Howard, the sixth in line of the family’s eight kids. “He just wouldn’t listen. He just wanted to do it his way,” Vernado Howard says of his late son. “Everywhere he went, he just wanted to be the boss.” “He was very bright, very smart,” says Pam Howard, his older sister. “But I think that life of easy money, quick money, got him into trouble.” More than three months have elapsed since his son’s death, and Vernado Howard says he is still plagued by questions about the circumstances surrounding it. “ e’d like to find out what hap-

pened in the last 48 hours,” he says. As for his son’s death, the elder Howard has adopted a philosophy of stoic realism. “I just deal with it, because I know stuff happens,” he says. “Sometimes it’s out of our control. But all I can do is try to tie up all the loose ends that I can.”

t Pam Howard’s request, the Tucson hospital where her brother died sent her a fourpage report on the external autopsy performed on him a day after his death. Derrick Howard’s cause of death was due to COVID-19, with sarcoid — an inflammatory lung condition — and hypertension as contributing conditions, according to the report written by Dr. David Winston, a forensic pathologist. But the pathologist’s report was external only, and it makes no mention of the fall Derrick Howard suffered just before his death or what could’ve caused his heart to stop suddenly, such as a bad drug reaction, Pam Howard says. “And I was like, that’s very broad. And it doesn’t say his heart stopped,” she says. “Or if he had a heart attack. Nothing.” Howard also noted that Derrick Howard’s body was not tested for COVID-19 after death to determine if the virus truly played a role. “You didn’t do an internal autopsy,” she says. “And you didn’t test the body for COVID. And yet you put COVID on the death certificate. Winston tells the RFT that he knew of the fall that Derrick Howard suffered before his death but did not note it in his report because he did not believe it contributed to his death. As for a postmortem testing of Howard for COVID-19, Winston says a test was not performed because of the notation in his medical records of a positive earlier test. “So he had other lung disease as well,” Winston says. “And so that puts him at higher risk, number one, for getting COVID, number two, for dying of COVID.” Ultimately, no internal autopsy was performed on Howard “because of his extended hospital stay and the documentation of his medical conditions by the records I reviewed,” Winston says. Pam Howard says she is still seeking answers about her brother’s death. “ ’m not satisfied with that, she says. “ won’t be satisfied until we get the last 24 hours of his medical records.” n

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TIMES PR ES EN TS

SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2021 • CHASE PARK PLAZA 11:30 AM-2:00 PM RFT’S UNITED WE BRUNCH RETURNS FOR THE 6TH YEAR!!

There’s no better way to chase away a hangover than brunch with friends. And Riverfront Times is once again bringing together the best restaurants in town with one mission: unite to cure St. Louis’ hangover. In its 6th year, United We Brunch will be more than just bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas — enjoy screwdrivers, bellinis, Irish coffee, beer and more! Plus, all the best brunch hot spots in the St. Louis area under one roof.

EVERYONE IS VIP IN 2021!

VIP Gift Bag with Commemorative Glass Brunch Tastings from more than 20 brunch hot spots Bottomless Bloody Marys, Mimosas, Bellinis, Screwdrivers, beer and Irish Coffee Covid-Protocols: capacity will be significantly reduced, masks required when not consuming beverages/food, social distancing decals, tables spaced apart, individual hand sanitizer provided, and plexiglass between the restaurants and guests.

rftbrunch.com

CAFE

The Bonci pizza with thinly sliced roasted eggplant, garlic chili oil and parsley is a standout in a lineup of pizzas that bring Naples to St. Louis. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

The Moon Hits the Eye St. Louis’ Pizzeria Da Gloria serves up the best Neapolitan pizzas this side of Naples Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Pizzeria Da Gloria 2024 Marconi Avenue, 314-390-2836. Wed.Thurs. 4-8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. noon-8 p.m. (Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.)

O 18

f the many vibrant characters along Joe Kurowski’s pizza-making journey, none are as vivid as Baffo. A 50-year-old Neapolitan piz-

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zaiolo nicknamed for his prominent mustache, Baffo made dough every morning at Italy’s famed Pizzeria Dal Presidente, refusing to measure anything and calculating the mixing time by his cigarette breaks. He was an absolute genius. Kurowski found himself working alongside this mustachioed gent after landing in Naples for a friend’s wedding. Having left the practice of law a short time prior, Kurowski was sure that he wanted to become a professional pizzaiolo, so he set out to Brooklyn and the famed wood-fired pi eria, Fornino. There, he got an adequate education in dough-making that he used to beg his way into Pizzeria Dal Presidente’s kitchen. For a month, he worked with Baffo, learning to make pizza by feeling rather than a recipe and soaking in the energy that defines the quintessential Neapolitan pizzeria. It was a foundational experience that would define his idea of what he wanted to create in a

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pizzeria of his own one day. Kurowski carried his experiences at Pizzeria Dal Presidente with him back to New York, where he worked for Danny Meyer’s pizza restaurant, Marta, and eventually Rad Times Pizza, the roving pizza brand that did festivals across the country. He did some consulting, too, all the while never letting go of his vision to create a Neapolitan-inspired pizzeria back in St. Louis. He would regularly travel between his hometown St. Louis and New York in search of a location, but when he wasn’t having any luck, he decided to move back home so he could dedicate himself fully to locating a spot. After searching around town, he found a storefront on the Hill and began construction on what was to become Pizzeria Da Gloria. While doing the buildout on the restaurant, Kurowski intended to do a series of pop-ups out of his house for research and development purposes. That series turned

out to be a single event when the pandemic turned all of his plans on their head. Forced to rethink his business model, Kurowski threw himself fully into getting the restaurant and his recipes ready for takeout business, finally opening the doors to Pizzeria Da Gloria in late November of last year. When Kurowski tells people that he had to change his business model to accommodate the takeout-focused pandemic, they often do a double-take. Pizza, after all, is the quintessential carryout and delivery food, rivaled only by whiteand-red-boxed American-style Chinese food for at-home dining dominance. However, as Kurowski explains, traditional Neapolitan pies are meant to be eaten straight out of the wood-fired oven. The crust is chewy and char-blistered; the interior surface is so thin and bubbling hot you eat it with a knife and fork. Served fresh from Continued on pg 20

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Margherita pizza with housemade fresh mozzarella and a couple twists. | MABEL SUEN

JOE KUROWSKI Continued from pg 18

the fire, it’s revelatory, but boxed up it can uickly get tough, soggy and flaccid. To combat this he had to adapt, slightly altering his cook times and investing in special boxes with grooves that both trap any grease or li uid and allow for better airflow. The result of his efforts is a truly outstanding specimen of the eapolitan form — the sort of pi a that would make Baffo beam with pride at his prot g . His argherita, which is the standard by which all eapolitan pi a is udged, hits the perfect note of simple, tart tomato sauce, creamy fresh mo arella cheese and verdant basil. However, urowski is so bold as to put his own spin on the classic, adding shredded mo arella and pecorino omano cheese. These welcome twists bind the cheese to the sauce, making for a more user-friendly takeout experience. The ushroom pi a is another example of urowski’s pi a prowess. arthy cremini and oyster mushrooms sit atop a white wine lemon cream sauce base the interplay of earth and tart lemon is breathtaking. ually excellent is the Broccoli abe and ausage pie, which pairs the bitter green with hunks of spicy, housemade talian sausage. hili oil adds to the heat, which is mitigated by the luscious mo arella that undergirds every bite. simple-sounding arinara pi a is surprisingly complex the mix of rich tomato sauce, chili flakes and olive oil is an absolute

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bomb of umami and spice. livers of ra or-thin garlic, a la aulie in Goodfellas, are pungent without being overbearing. ven a aesar salad da les with the addition of kale and a generous sprinkle of ground black pepper and pecorino omano cheese. ike the pi as, the salad was impossibly fresh and crisp, even after traveling for twenty minutes. However wonderful these offerings at i eria Da loria, the restaurant’s indisputable signature pi a is the Bonci, an eggplant and chili oil pie that is unlike any other pi a in town. amed after acclaimed oman chef abriele Bonci, with whom urowski took a life-changing, two-day master pi a class, the dish is a delicious love song to all that pi a can be. There is no sauce and no cheese — ust dough and olive oil layered with eggplant sliced so thin it’s translucent. hili oil and tiny pieces of garlic gild the pi a, soaking into the eggplant like a beautiful, earthy sponge. urowski longs for the day he can welcome people into his pi eria and watch them eat that Bonci pi a. s he sees it, the pi a is important, but the experience is the goal. But if you close your eyes and take a bite of that garlic-soaked, eggplant wonder, it doesn’t matter where in the world you actually are Baffo’s aples is right there.

Pizzeria Da Gloria Caesar salad ............................................. $10 Margherita pizza ....................................... $16 Bonci pizza ................................................ $16 • Carryout only / delivery only

SHORT ORDERS [SIDE DISH]

The Sweet Spot Post-COVID, Kara Newmark is expanding Sweetology to a national audience Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

hen Kara Newmark thinks back on her decision to go to law school, she understands that she was on autopilot. Her dad was a lawyer; so was her husband, her mother-in-law and her father-inlaw. Naturally, it seemed, she was headed down her intended path — but it didn’t take long for her to realize something was amiss. “I started my life doing very little reflection, ewmark says. “I went to Wash U law school, became a lawyer and hated it. I hated it right away, so I left very early on into my career. I realized that I did not like arguing; I liked building. Everything she’s been up to since law school has involved building — building startups during the first dot-com bubble, building her consulting profile with such clients as Monsanto and Boeing, and now building her DIY sweets brand, Sweetology (multiple locations including 1232 Town and Country Crossing Drive, Town and Country; 636220-3620). Born from a desire to throw herself into work that she truly loved, Newmark founded the company after years of soulsearching for something that spoke to her. “I knew I wanted to start a company, ewmark says. “ didn’t know what it was, but I knew I wanted to love it. I had enough miles on my moccasins to know that, if you are going to be away from your kids in that push-pull of being a professional woman, then you’d better love what you are doing. Otherwise, it’s not worth it. Newmark’s years of helping grow startups gave her the know-

Kara Newmark finds ways to connect with her Sweetology patrons. | COURTESY KARA NEWMARK how she needed to start and run a successful brand, but they didn’t necessarily give her the idea. That would come while chatting with a friend one day, who asked her a simple question: What do you love doing? Newmark realized that she was at her happiest when she was in her kitchen with her kids, baking and just having a low-key good time together. When her friend mentioned she should check out a make-your-own chocolate bar shop in New York, a light bulb went off. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I want to do something around cookie and

cupcake decorating,’ ewmark says. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and I came home and wrote a business plan. ewmark opened her first weetology in Ladue in 2014 — a gorgeous, whimsical space that served as an edible art studio for parties, get-togethers and just-because occasions. he moved the operation to Town and Country three years later, then eventually expanded to a second location with a commercial kitchen in O’Fallon in 2020. Though she admits it wasn’t all easy, she was getting into the

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groove and working to launch weetology nationwide, bustling along until the COVID-19 pandemic turned everything on its head. Newmark shut down her two stores on March 5 last year and scrambled to figure out what to do. When she wrote her original business plan years back, she laid out an e-commerce component to weetology. Drawing upon that, she quickly transitioned her business to an online-only operation with virtual classes and camps and DIY kits she shipped across the country. The response was overwhelming, and before she knew it, she was doing virtual parties for huge companies — and shipping 10,000 kits in a quarter. “It was the perfect storm, because at the heart of weetology is the why — why do we decorate a birthday cake for somebody, and make cupcakes to celebrate graduation, and get together every Christmas to decorate cookies and gingerbread houses ewmark says. “It’s connection. I was providing something during the pandemic that really provided that piece, because people were desperate to connect with each other and they couldn’t do that in person. However, they could get online in a virtual room and be together, giggling over a glass of wine, decorating cupcakes. Newmark isn’t quite sure what the future will look like for weetology. Though she sees the online component as here to stay in some fashion, she knows that, when it is safe to do so, people will want to return to in-person gatherings. he’s approaching the future of weetology that way, not ust because she wants to be prepared from a business perspective, but because it’s what she finds the most fulfilling. “What I always got joy out of prior to the pandemic was anytime I was in the store and people were decorating, ewmark says. “ ids were so excited when Grandma took them there, and people would come into the store and say, ‘God, this place is so happy and pretty.’ I’ve missed that. Because of the virtual world, we haven’t gotten to see that as much — even building this thing together with my team has been very rewarding. I enjoy it, but I do miss seeing people in the store. t feels so affirming

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KARA NEWMARK Continued from pg 21

when I can see that they love it.” Newmark took a moment to share her thoughts on the state of the food and beverage industry, how the pandemic has fundamentally changed her business, and why, when she’s feeling especially stressed, the answer is always ice cream. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I am not a great decorator, but it doesn’t matter. Art is a subjective experience. Cake and buttercream always taste good regardless of the presentation. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Coffee. Who is your St. Louis food crush? Gerard Craft. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Butter. I get along with anybody. If you weren’t working in the sweets business, what would you be doing? Entrepreneurship. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about

[REOPENINGS]

We Meat Again Bogart’s Smokehouse reopens for limited indoor and outdoor dining Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

arbecue fans, rejoice! After a dark, brisket-less winter, Bogart’s Smokehouse (1627 South Ninth Street, 314-621-3107) is set to reopen its doors for limited indoor and outdoor dining, as well as carryout. The reopening dovetails with the celebration of the famed smokehouse’s tenth anniversary. Bogart’s announced last week its plans to reopen its doors late this month, bringing to end a temporary closure that began in early October. According to the restaurant, the decision to shutter the Soulard location (as well

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what you are going through? am adapting, finding resilience and creating new opportunities. What do you miss most about the way you did your job before COVID-19? I miss the people. Sweetology is about connecting people through the fun of cake decorating. It was such a buzz to be able to see the excitement and happiness when guests were decorating in the stores, and it was such a daily affirmation that had created something really special. What will you miss least about operating during the pandemic? Zoom. What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately? Ice cream makes everybody feel better. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? For me, my business has fundamentally shifted. I’m scaling for a national audience. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? It will end. People will be craving connection again and, having weathered the storm, it’s going to feel great. n

as its sister restaurant, Southern) for fall and winter was a financial one: Because of the decline in business due to COVID-19, it was simply not financially sustainable to remain open during what is also the restaurant’s slowest part of the year. A temporary closure, though difficult, was the best way that the Bogart’s team could ensure that it would remain open on the other side of the pandemic. Though that other side has not yet come, the warming temperatures and hope that better times are near has given Bogart’s the go-ahead to reopen, albeit at reduced capacity and mindful of COVID-19 safety protocols. In addition to in-person dining options, the smokehouse will continue its online ordering and delivery service and will be offering smoked hams and turkeys for those who celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday. As coowner Niki Puto notes, the support of their customers during the shutdown is what got them through. “The response from our customers has been overwhelming, and we can’t wait to see everyone again when we reopen on the 30th,” says Puto. n

[FOOD NEWS]

Hungry For Justice Chao Baan to donate portion of profits to Asian American groups after Atlanta shooting Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ike most Americans, Chao Baan’s (4087 Chouteau Avenue #5, 314-925-8250) Shayn Prapaisilp watched in horror the news of tragic events that unfolded last week, when a gunman murdered eight people, seven of whom were Asian American, at three Atlanta-area massage businesses. However, as horrified as he was, Prapaisilp was not surprised. “We’d been seeing the warning signs since the beginning of the pandemic and with the last administration’s rhetoric,” Prapaisilp says. “It started out as slurs, which escalated to physical attacks, and culminated with the mass shooting. People think that we’ve acted fast, but these things have been happening for a while now. It’s nothing new. People in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community have been othered and seen as perpetual foreigners forever.”

The recent tragedy in Atlanta spurred Chao Baan’s Shayn Prapaisilp to take material action to address racism against Asian Americans. | MABEL SUEN Moved to take concrete action to help the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Prapaisilp has launched a Dining Out to #StopAAPIHate initiative at Chao Baan. The program will run every Tuesday through April 27, helping raise funds for the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Stop AAPI Hate by donating 10 percent of the restaurant’s dine-in and carryout sales to the organizations. A board member of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, Prapaisilp knew he wanted to do something that would

have material impact when he heard about the mass shooting. Though he believes it’s important for people to process their grief in their own way, he wanted to work through his by using his platform as a prominent member of the city’s dining scene. His hope is that the Dining Out to #StopAAPIHate initiative will not only raise money for these vital organizations but will also bring awareness to the fact that the Asian American and Pacific Islander community has been a longtime target of racism and xenophobia. Prapaisilp’s role in the St. Louis dining

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scene stretches all the way back before he was born. His mother and father, who are from Thailand, started Jay International Foods on South Grand in the 1970s, followed not long after by the iconic Thai restaurant King & I. Over the years, their culinary footprint has grown to include Global Foods Market, Oishi Sushi, Oishi Steakhouse and United Provisions. In June of 2019, Prapaisilp opened Chao Baan as an homage to his parents’ unique culinary heritage, one that brings together two vastly different regional styles of Thai cooking. Prapaisilp draws parallels between the awakening of people to Asian American and Pacific Islander xenophobia and violence and the social justice movement that gained momentum in the wake of the killing of George Floyd last May. Though both movements were born from tragedy, they have helped spur a global conversation about the systemic hate faced by people of color. And though his is just one business in a city hundreds of miles away, Prapaisilp hopes the Chao Baan initiative will play some role in helping to bring about much-needed change. “A lot of times, things happen to people in our community that are not reported as hate crimes,” Prapaisilp says. “Things are muttered under the breath, and there is a lot of soft racism. However, what happened in Atlanta shows what can happen when this is not dealt with. We just want to use this opportunity to educate people that this is a big problem.” n

MARCH 24-30, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

[OPENINGS]

Pop On In Amy’s Cake Pop Shop and Boozy Bites to open in Webster Groves Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

or a decade, Amy Gamlin has been making cake pops as a hobby, sharing her artistry with family and friends for birthdays, special occasions and just because. She never dreamed it would turn into a business, but now, after six months of selling her goodies online, she’s ready to take the next step with a storefront for her brand Amy’s Cake Pop Shop and Boozy Bites (7961 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves). The shop is slated to open sometime next month and will serve as both a retail space and kitchen for Gamlin’s operation. Though space constraints will limit seating to outdoors only, Gamlin plans to engage her customers through in-person interaction when they are in the shop, as well as online cake-popmaking classes and parties. The shop will also serve as a pick-up point for

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custom orders. Gamlin, who co-owns Gamlin Restaurant Group with her husband, Derek, and his brother, Lucas, is excited to take her cake-pop business to the next level — even if she never thought it would happen. “I’ve always had this artistic side and just turned it into cake pops,” Gamlin says. “At first, I thought nobody was going to pay what I would have to charge for them — I was calculating it back then at $1.50 a piece, which is funny considering how much they cost at Starbucks. However, friends and family always told me I should sell them, so I figured, ‘Why not?’” As Gamlin explains, the idea to turn her cake-pop talents into a business originally came to her at a business conference and accelerated when her family’s other businesses began to struggle (1764 Public House, Gamlin Whiskey House and Sub Zero Vodka Bar all closed in 2020). Wanting to help her family, she began thinking through her business plan with her husband and a friend who previously owned a bakery. At first, she wasn’t sure that it made sense to have a storefront and the overhead that comes with it, but after seeing how much interest there was just from online orders, she decided to jump in. In addition to her cake-pop shop, Gamlin plans to use the storefront as a

MARCH 24-30, 2021

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Amy Gamlin will open a storefront for her signature cake pops next month. COURTESY OF AMY’S CAKE POP SHOP AND BOOZY BITES pick-up point for the Missouri Whiskey Society and Women & Whiskey, two (for now, virtual) tasting programs run by Gamlin Restaurant Group. “We know how supportive people

in the Webster Groves community are when it comes to local businesses,” Gamlin says. “We feel like we’re going to be a great fit and are happy to be a part of it.” n

CULTURE

“I have a picture of the ring as we turned the lights off. We thought it was two weeks. Here we are 51, soon to be 52, weeks later, thank you so much Governor Parson, you are such — nevermind, that’s a whole other story.”

[ A C R O B AT I C S ]

High-Flying Cuisine Circus Harmony cookbook takes dinner and a show to a new level Written by

RILEY MACK

ever before has the circus combined performances that make audiences’ stomachs drop with recipes that make them grumble. Circus Harmony, a youth circus group based in St. Louis, is serving up delectable dishes alongside riveting circus performances with their new Interactive Cookbook, which debuted online on March 16. ith a release date specifically chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown, the digital cookbook features more than 40 recipes available for free on the Circus Harmony website, circusharmony.org. Recipes are displayed side by side with video recordings of the students performing fun, circus-skilled adaptations of the cooking process. The recipes, including everything from breakfast to dessert, were chosen by Circus Harmony members and feature some of their family-favorite, tried-andtested dishes. Others, however, are straight from the imagination of the young circus performers. Jessica Hentoff, the 65-year-old artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony, is the brains behind the unique cookbook idea, which seems to be a direct reflection of herself — high-energy, with a million things going on. In a phone interview about the project, she is interrupted at times by the squawking of her pet parrot and the knocking of her nextdoor neighbor, who wanted to ask if she knew there was a man wandering around her property (she did not). Undeterred, Hentoff explains the hard work and immense creativity that went into the creation of the cookbook. “Some of it is very bizarre —

One student, donning a clownfish costume, performs in aerial silks before he becomes a sushi roll for his family’s sushi recipe. | COURTESY CIRCUS HARMONY let’s just say it,” she says. Hentoff gives examples that include her coworker’s famous hair trick, her pets’ roles in the circus acts and chartreuse pickles. And she recounts a chef, a slice of pizza and a monkey riding unicycles for their St. Louis thin-crust pizza recipe. During a guacamole-based performance, a boy dressed as a chef tries to whack another boy dressed as a mole. (Get it, guac-amole?) For a microwave mug-cake recipe, a student does acrobatics edited to look like she’s performing inside the microwave. A costumed turkey (along with his dad, also dressed like a turkey) promotes a tetrazzini recipe by taking to the slack wire. “It’s like kitchen-creative to the max,” says Hentoff. Circus Harmony students, ranging from ages eight to eighteen, were each allowed to include as many as two recipes and accompanying acts in the book. Many

of the acts are filmed inside the students’ kitchens with help from their families. A few stunts were performed in their circular ring in the City Museum. While each student was allowed to choose their own recipes, the entire Circus Harmony team reviewed the options to decide which performances would best suit the storytelling and to ensure there would be a variety of dishes. “With kids, you could end up with all chocolate chip cookies, basically,” Hentoff says. Oddly enough, the cookbook does not include chocolate chip cookies, though “we do have a delicious chocolate chip scone recipe,” she assures. “These recipes are ... what the kids wanted to put in, so I wouldn’t use it to go on a diet.” The timing for the cookbook is no coincidence. The release date is meant to mark 365 days of the American shutdown. Circus Harmony performed about 700 shows a year between

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the students and coaches in the pre-COVID-19 era. They now resort to six-feet-apart circuses outside and some performances over Zoom, and feel that the joy in their audiences has never been the same as before. The cookbook is part of changing that. Still, for Hentoff, there is just a hint of resentment in this anniversary. “We remember leaving the ring; I have a picture of the ring as we turned the lights off. We thought it was two weeks,” she says. “Here we are 51, soon to be 52, weeks later, thank you so much Governor Parson, you are such — nevermind, that’s a whole other story.” Just like speaking with Hentoff, viewers will never know what to expect when flipping through the digital pages of the Circus Harmony Interactive Cookbook (except, of course, the audible sound of a page turning, “a little detail that I adore,” Hentoff says). But, Hentoff explains, viewers are promised one thing: “This is totally something unlike anything else you’ve ever seen, for circus or for cooking.” “Somebody call the Food Network,” she says. “They should be covering this.” n

MARCH 24-30, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 24-30, 2021

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[REOPENINGS]

Little Bevo to Reopen as Events Space Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

ittle Bevo is coming back. The long-dormant younger sibling of the Bevo Mill has new owners who are renovating the historic clubhouse and plan to reopen it as an events space. Nick Fruend, who along with his father Todd Fruend closed on the space early this month, says they will be doing the work in three phases and hope to have the main hall open this summer. “It’s probably got a couple de-

cades of deferred maintenance before we can start the fun stuff,” Fruend says during a recent tour of the building. Just across Morganford Road from the Bevo Mill, the Tudor Revival-style building was built in 1924 for C. Henry Dietz, who ran the Bevo Mill for the AnheuserBusch family, according to a historic district application. Like the mill, it looks like a slice of Germany was dropped into the south St. Louis neighborhood with its stone-and-stucco facade, slate roof and pitched gables. The mill, a tavern and beer hall built for beer baron August Busch Sr., was beautifully restored and reopened in 2017 as Das Bevo by Carol and Pat Schuchard. At the time, they told the RFT they had been interested in Little Bevo as well but hadn’t been able to connect with the owner. And so the building sat quiet, boarded up and vacant. That changed recently when it was listed for sale this summer. Fruend says he along with his fa-

Little Bevo has been vacant for years, but there are plans for it to reopen soon. | DOYLE MURPHY ther and grandfather have always been passionate about bringing back old buildings. His grandfather passed away during the past year, but he and his father continue to carry the enthusiasm forward. He sees Little Bevo as a particular gem.

[DIVE BARS]

Colorado Bob’s Reborn as Bootleggin’ Bob’s Written by

JAIME LEES

hen Colorado Bob’s locked its doors and covered its windows with butcher paper, dive-bar fans feared the worst. Would fans of the Morganford bar scene really never raise a glass at Bob’s again? Well, yes and no. Colorado Bob’s is gone, but now in its place is Bootleggin’ Bob’s, the newest dive bar on the south side. Bootleggin’ Bob’s is owned by Brenton Brown and Eddie Belter, who also own the Bootleggin’ barbecue joint on Washington Avenue downtown. The Bootleggin’ boys jumped when they saw an opportunity to own (and honor) a classic “what made America” tavern. Brown said they’re describing the new space as an “elevated” dive bar. The interior shape of the bar is still the same, but the floors have been updated and the walls are covered in reclaimed wood. Even the bathrooms have been updated, which is an important improvement for any dive bar. But Brown says that the freshly professionally cleaned-out air vents are actually the biggest improvement to the place and that it appears that the previ-

Colorado Bob’s is in the past, but Bootleggin’ Bob’s is just getting started. COURTESY BOOTLEGGIN’ BOBS ous owners hadn’t addressed that particular bit of maintenance for at least twenty years. The bar appears shipshape inside, with the classic nautical theme and the distinctive rounded bar remaining alongside newer coats of paint and a few small flat-screen televisions. What makes this dive bar elevated, though, is not just the style; it’s the menu. These barbecue restaurant proprietors are bringing those meaty, smoky flavors on down to Tower Grove South. The bar sells Pretzel Boy pretzels and pizza, but not just the crappy Jack’s pizza that you’ll find at other dive bars. They’re selling their own pizzas with three distinctive flavors: Buffalo (with smoked chicken), Porky’s Party (with BBQ sauce and pulled pork) and the

Booglegger (which includes brisket, pickles and onion and is basically a hamburger on a pizza). Visitors can also order a pizza to go or get a frozen one to bake at home. The bar has a small patio out front and a big tent in the back. Colorado Bob’s boat is still out there docked on the sidewalk, too, though Brown says it’s likely soon to get an updated paint job. And this isn’t the only project that the Bootleggin’ gang has hidden in its treasure chest. They’re also partnering with neighbor Alpha Brewing Company (4310 Fyler Avenue) to brew up a hard seltzer called Hotel Lobby which is cucumber and citrus flavored, like the water you get in the lobby of a posh hotel. For more info on Bootleggin’ Bob’s, visit facebook.com/bootlegginbobs. n

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“This one ust kind of flew under the radar,” he says. The arched front doorway opens into a long hall with high ceilings. Fruend says they plan to face the ceilings with lumber between the heavy, dark wooden beams, giving it an even more dramatic look. Around the corner is an expansive bar, fronted with stamped metal panels. Curved stained-glass windows remain intact. There is a warehouse at the back of the building that Fruend says they plan to tackle in a second phase and a three-bedroom apartment above that could be converted into an Airbnb getaway in a final phase. While the history of the Bevo Mill is part of the Budweiser lore, Little Bevo is more mysterious. Fruend has heard stories that it functioned as a more-private hangout for a segment of the mill crowd. “Lots of speculation, because nobody knows exactly what was going on over here,” Fruend says. There is, for example, the basement. It has deteriorated over the years, but it’s clear it was no dank afterthought. Five-inch crown molding trims the walls above a ballroom-worthy floor that matches the upstairs hall. Fruend says there are rumors of a tunnel leading between Little Bevo and the mill, although he hasn’t come across any evidence. Work has already begun on the main floor. “There’s some contractors we’ve reached out to who are super excited to be involved, because it’s a historic building,” Fruend says. hen it’s finished, they expect to hold private events while also opening it on a regular basis to charities as a way to help out local organizations. “Everybody is excited to see it,” Fruend says. n

MARCH 24-30, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 24-30, 2021

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SAVAGE LOVE LIVESTREAM BY DAN SAVAGE I want to thank everyone who attended our third Savage Love Livestream last Saturday night. Mistress Matisse was our very special guest, and we tackled a lot of questions about BDSM over a very lively ninety minutes. We didn’t get to every question — there were so many — but I will now, as promised, power through as many livestream leftovers as I can in this week’s column … Hey, Dan: You say people need to be in “good working order” to be in a relationship. What if you will never be in “good working order” because you cope with a mental health condition? Having a mental health condition isn’t proof a person isn’t or can’t be in good working order; likewise, not having a mental health condition isn’t proof a person is in good working order. I mean, we all know people without mental health conditions who are walking disasters. Now someone with a mental health condition who refuses to get help or to stay on their meds might not be in goodenough working order to be in or sustain a relationship. But taking care of ourselves is one of the most important ways we demonstrate that we are, in actual fact, in good-enough working order to fuck, date, or marry. Or all three. So, far from proving you’re not fit to be in a relationship, having a mental health condition that you’re doing something about — having one or more that you’re actively coping with — is evidence you are in good working order. Hey, Dan: I’m way more into BDSM than my huzzben. He enjoys it, but he does not initiate play. How can I encourage him to be the instigator of rough sex? We have negotiated limits and safe words but he finds using restraints and toys to be too much work! Since your huzzben has made it clear that restraints and toys are a too much work, I would advise you to relieve him of the burden

of tying you up and shoving toys in your ass by finding a third who enjoys your kinks and/or regularly attending play parties with or without your husband — when the pandemic ends, of course. Who knows? Your husband might not like doing the work of tying you up but he might enjoy making out with you (or someone else) while someone else does the work of tying you up. Hey, Dan: If my fiancée bought a house, do we say, “We bought a house”? I got laid off at the start of the pandemic, but her career has taken off, and she’s proud of being able to afford a house all on her own. So how do we keep things respectful while still honoring her accomplishment? She wants the house to feel like mine as well. (I’m a dude.) To casual acquaintances you could say, “Hey, we got a new place.” To close friends and family you could say, “She’s doing so well that she bought this house — I’m really proud of her and so lucky to be with her.” Hell, you could say those things to casual acquaintances and close friends interchangeably because both are true. And assuming you live in a marital property state, Mr. Dude, the house becomes yours too after you’re married. In the meantime you can earn a little sweat equity (and homeowner cred) by taking the lead on fixing the place up. Hey, Dan: I have a question about the “tech-savvy, at-risk youth” who work on the Savage Lovecast. Wouldn’t it be nicer to just refer to them as the tech-savvy youth? How do they feel about having the “at-risk” label applied to them? Surely it gives you guys a perhaps deserved pat on the back, but I can’t help thinking that little bit of stigma could be damaging. I was once an “at-risk” youth myself and even though I enjoyed and benefited from programs that were specifically created to help teens/ youth in my situation, I was always keenly aware that it made me feel “less than” and like I needed special treatment. I wasn’t trying to give myself a pat on the back when I started referring to the kids who were working on the Lovecast as the “tech-savvy, at-risk youth.” It was just a joke —

maybe not a funny one — as they were all certainly tech-savvy, for sure, but the only risk they were running was being in the same room with me. I’m sorry if that joke reminds you of a time in your life when you felt “less than.” Hey, Dan: We have a friend who could be a unicorn. They have already subtly expressed interest though they are generally possessive and need to be “number one” in a relationship. We’re interested but we worry about their possessiveness causing problems. I’m guessing your friend is hot — mean, that would explain why you’re willing to overlook how emotionally unsuited they are for the unicorn role. Because if you’re looking for someone to play a sexy-but-subordinate role in your relationship, if you’re not seeking an equal partner and/or you’re not open to your unicorn becoming an equal partner, the last person on Earth you should consider for your unicorn is someone you know to be possessive and interested in being first, not last. Hey, Dan: I’m a 27-year-old queer/ poly woman from NYC. My question: I used to babysit my friend’s baby. And when I would show up to babysit, her husband would be there to let me in to the apartment and we would chat for ten minutes before he left for work. I don’t babysit anymore, but sometimes he texts me a picture of the baby and I’ll reply with, “So cute!” That felt normal. But one day he texted me two selfies. I didn’t reply because I thought that was weird. Is this something I should mention to my friend? I can’t tell if this is weird enough to bring up to her. Or is there something I should have said to him? You don’t know what’s going on in your friend’s relationship — maybe flirting with others is allowed — but you do know how you feel about her husband sending your selfies ou don’t like it. f your silence wasn’t enough to put a stop to it and he sends more photos and/or messages that make you feel uncomfortable, tell him to knock it off. If he doesn’t knock it off, tell him he’s gonna leave you with no choice but to alert his wife. If he still doesn’t knock it off, alert his wife.

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Hey, Dan: I’m 39 years old, cis and female. COVID has really tanked my sex drive. I’ve masturbated like twice in the last four months. I guess my question is ... do you think things are gonna go back to normal? Please tell me yes. Yes. Hey, Dan: I have imposter syndrome when I go to rope jams and such, but I really love the community of kinksters. Is it OK to go to kinky events even if I have trouble identifying my kinks? So long as you’re respectful — so long as you aren’t gawking or taking photos without permission or making shocked faces — you’re more than welcome at most big kink events. Sometimes the hosts of smaller and more intimate play parties have rules that would preclude the attendance of someone who had no kinks of their own or had yet to identify their kinks; at smaller parties the host might want everyone to be in a certain kind of gear or interested in a certain kind of play. If you’re wondering if you’re welcome to observe the play at a particular rope jam or event, email the organizers and ask. Hey, Dan: I’ve got a friend who wanted to do pet-play and talked about being a cow and bought breast pumps to try and start lactation. Have you any advice on how to safely support her in this? I’m potentially open to play with her, if it’s safe, and I’m curious about her even being able to start lactation. Do people keep cows as pets? Regardless, according to the La Leche League, regular use of a breast pump can “induce lactation, which is “the official term for making milk without pregnancy and birth.” So the sooner your friend gets started with that pump, the sooner she can pretend to be your sexy, sexy pet cow. Thanks again to everyone who joined us for the livestream, and we’re going to schedule another one very soon! mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

MARCH 24-30, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 24-30, 2021

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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SWADE

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Bar showcasing loose SWADE flower hand-selected for your order, we’ve examined every detail to make your experience inside SWADE both memorable and enlightening. SWADE offers an inviting atmosphere, informative approach and a love for precision in premium cannabis. Learn More: www.beleaflifesoils.com Contact Us: (314) 209-0859 info@beleafco.com

Riverfront Times, March 23, 2021

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