Riverfront Times, May 12, 2021 by Riverfront Times

“This new addie is SMOOTH! Not like the other instant release where u r tweaking and sweating” MAY 12-18, 2021 I VOLUME 45 I NUMBER 18

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“THESE FUCKIN NIGGERS ARE THE SAME AS THE ST. LOUIS NIGGERS.”

"Ooooohhh!!! Took a head shot w the taser!!! Hahahahhaa Santa and I just smoked 2 dudes"

ROTTEN APPLE Disgraced former St. Louis police ofﬁcer DUSTIN BOONE hasn’t denied texting these statements — he just doesn’t want you to know about it

“I don't know if sarge is cool w taking any of that cash. I GRABBED THE 20S FOR US but I don't know how he will Be about it??” “Caught him in some THICK over grow in a side vacant lot, there was nobody around except me. Shaw, shithead and god... he is at the hospital now... poor guy.”

By DOYLE MURPHY

“There r so many damn RTCC cameras in the fifth now, I had to literally drag him behind a privacy fence to avoid one. CAN'T BELIEVE HOW INCONVENIENT THEY HAVE MADE THINGS!”

“IT'S ALREADY A STATE OF EMERGENCY! THERE R NIGGERS RUNNING WILD ALL ACROSS THE CITY AND EVEN

IF/WHEN WE CATCH THEM..... THEY DON'T GET IN ANY TROUBLE BECAUSE

THERE ARE PLATE LIPS RUNNING THE CAO!” riverfronttimes.com

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MARCH 6-12, 2019

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THE LEDE

“ Honestly, we went to Taco Bell, and then I was really trying to get out the house, because, like me, I struggle with anxiety and depression a lot. So I try to go to places like this to clear my mind. ... It’s just really peaceful for me. ... When I come down here, just hearing the water and stuff like that. Feeling the breeze, regardless of the smell from the trash and stuff. Ha! It’s really cool down here. I love it! I love it! I love it!”

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

Shauny yancey, right, photographed with her SiSter daria twitty at the gateway arch riverfront on thurSday, May 6 riverfronttimes.com

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Take Your Pick

SMOOTH! Not like the other instant release where u r tweaking and sweating” RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM I FREE

“THESE FUCKIN NIGGERS I ARE THE SAME AS THE ST. LOUIS NIGGERS.”

t’s hard to tell you where to start with this issue. Veteran journalist Denise Hollinshed writes with grace and humanity about losing her brother to COVID-19 and trying to prevent the same from happening to Beverly Jones, whom she’s covered during the pandemic. RFT staff writer Danny Wicentowski dives into the chaos of Rockwood School District, where teachers and administrators are fending off conspiracy theories and threats. And our cover shines a light on the shocking text messages of an ex-St. Louis cop who reeled off racial slurs and gleefully described violence against those who crossed his path. If all that feels a little heavy, Tommy Chims is back with some sage advice on the latest in St. Louis’ budding cannabis scene and Cheryl Baehr has a recommendation for a restaurant — and perfect patio — that you will definitely want to try. As always, thanks for picking up the RFT. —Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

hhh!!! Took a head shot w the taser!!! TABLE OF CONTENTS haa Santa and I just smoked 2 dudes"

OTTEN APPLE

rmer St. Louis police ofﬁcer DUSTIN BOONE hasn’t denied e statements — he just doesn’t want you to know about it

COVER

w if sarge is g any of GRABBED R US but how he will Be about it??”

me THICK over ant lot, there nd except me. nd god... he is w... poor guy.”

Rotten Apple

Disgraced former St. Louis police officer Dustin Boone hasn’t denied texting these statement — he just doesn’t want you to know about it Cover design by

EVAN SULT

By DOYLE MURPHY

“There r so many damn RTCCINSIDE cameras in the Lede him behind5 fifth now, I had to literally The drag Hartmann a privacy fence to avoid one. CAN'T BELIEVE7 NewsMADE THINGS!”9 HOW INCONVENIENT THEY HAVE The Big Mad Feature Cafe Short Orders Reeferfront Times Culture Savage Love

DY A STATE OF EMERGENCY! THERE R NIGGERS WILD ALL ACROSS THE CITY AND EVEN

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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, Mike Fitzgerald, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Theo Welling, Ymani Wince Columnists Thomas Chimchards, Ray Hartmann Editorial Interns Jack Killeen, Riley Mack A R T

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25 29

31 CATCH THEM..... THEY DON'T GET IN ANY TROUBLE BECAUSE33

RE PLATE LIPS RUNNING THE CAO!”

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

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HARTMANN Greitens’ Revenge An ugly mission continues against Kim Gardner BY RAY HARTMANN

ircuit Attorney Kim Gardner has acquired some powerful enemies as an unblinking reform prosecutor intent on disrupting St. Louis’ broken criminal justice system. The disruptees are striking back. Gardner may soon find herself before the Missouri Supreme Court fighting to save her law license — and her job — in disciplinary proceedings. It’s the only chance Gardner’s enemies have to defeat her politically in the foreseeable future, and they are going for the jugular. Superficially, the case against Gardner is an act of retribution almost as sleazy as the guy for whom it presumably was launched — disgraced ex-Governor Eric Greitens. His attorneys filed complaints against her license in 2018. But Gardner’s central problem isn’t Greitens and his pathetic attempt to rewrite a sordid history. It is that she has become the target of a personal vendetta waged by power players held in the highest esteem by the very judicial system that holds her fate in its hands. Greitens had assembled a local legal dream team to fend off Gardner’s criminal cases against him. That was no surprise. The most powerful person in the state with incalculable dark resources from across the globe wasn’t going to surrender like some bound mistress. Those lawyers gave Greitens every dark penny’s worth, fending off Gardner with great skill in court and only falling short in Jefferson City, where Greitens’ own bitter enemies — led by powerful Republican legislators — went for his political jugular and got it. Against Gardner, Greitens’ dream-team lawyers served him well. Gardner dropped charges against their client in the sex-related case — after they had out-

foxed her into becoming a witness in the case. Whether they won when she dropped a second case alleging campaign violations is more open to debate, since it coincided with his resignation as governor. But the bottom line is this: Greitens’ advocates brilliantly managed to convert two compelling criminal cases against Greitens into one unprecedented ethical case against the prosecutor herself. That was a pretty slick trick. And no matter how many times those lawyers furrow their brows and speak in hushed tones to the media and others as to how they’ve just never seen such horrific prosecutorial misconduct in all their decades of practice, the ethical case against Kim Gardner can be summed up in one accessible word: Nonsense. Don’t take my word for it. I am, as they say, without portfolio. But I did interview Professor Bennett Gershman who — to borrow a phrase from the folks at ProPublica — “literally wrote the book about prosecutorial misconduct.” Gershman, an original faculty member at Pace Law School and a former Manhattan D.A. prosecutor, is widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading experts in the field, and both he and his authorship on the subject are cited often. Gershman told me that he has read the public documents in Gardner’s case but is not personally involved on either side and doesn’t purport to have intimate knowledge of all the details. That said, he apparently has seen enough. “It’s startling to see them go after a prosecutor at all, much less in a case like this,” Gershman said. “It is really extraordinarily rare for the disciplinary people to engage in the kind of pursuit they are making against [Gardner].” Gershman said “the crux of the case” is in his wheelhouse professionally. He has written, testified and lectured extensively about the Brady Rule — named after the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland — which requires prosecutors to disclose any evidence favorable to a defendant with respect to innocence or guilt, witness testimony or sentencing. “I’m an expert on Brady v. Mary-

land, and I’ve never seen Brady used the way it is being used here, which is to go after a prosecutor for conduct during the investigative phase of a case,” Gershman said. “The record focuses almost exclusively on Brady v. Maryland. I’ve never seen Brady injected into the way a prosecutor investigated a case, as it has been here. “Courts don’t micromanage the way prosecutors handle investigations, but here it’s the focus of the case. It’s a trial right of the defendant, and an obligation of the prosecution, to disclose before or during trial evidence material to the defendant’s guilt or punishment. But here the defense got every piece of relevant information in a timely fashion before trial. “There was absolutely no way they could show that anything Gardner had done prejudiced the case or affected their ability to protect their client. I could not find anywhere in the record that Gardner made any knowingly false statement [regarding the evidence] or any knowingly false statement she made with the intention of obstructing any legal proceeding.” Gershman also said the case against Gardner touched upon another area that he has written about extensively — how prosecutors’ “work product” is privileged from disclosure — and here again he found the ethics complaint to lack merit. At issue was her failure to provide the defense with bullet-point notes she had made on her iPad after interviewing Greitens’ alleged victim in an Illinois hotel room in 2018. Gardner has argued that the bullet points were her summary of the accuser’s testimony and did not contain direct quotes from her. She also claims she did not know the bullet points had even been preserved. They were discovered through a sweeping seizure of electronics from Gardner’s office, which itself prompted Gershman to say, “I’ve never seen that, either.” “The bullet points were clearly Gardner’s own impressions and clearly work product privileged from disclosure,” Gershman said. “And you can’t fault her for not disclosing work product she didn’t even know existed.” Gershman also agreed with Gardner’s claim that she was not

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responsible for the statements of William Tisaby, the outside investigator she brought in after city police refused — and the FBI failed to respond to — Gardner’s request for outside assistance. Gershman said it was understandable that Gardner would seek outside help because sex cases are extremely difficult to prosecute and because she was “up against some of the top lawyers in the area who had a great advantage in resources over her.” He rejected that she should be held responsible for Tisaby’s statements in depositions, noting that Gardner had not been charged with perjury — or as an accomplice — along with Tisaby (whose case is pending). “The argument seems to be that Gardner should have intervened when Tisaby made mistakes in his testimony. First, she’s not his lawyer. And she has no obligation to intervene in the proceeding to stop the deposition and say, ‘No, this is wrong.’ What are they talking about here?” Gershman is, of course, just one person with an opinion. But it’s an expert opinion, and I trust it a lot more than the claims made — with deafening repetition — by members of the very legal establishment that so despises Gardner. When I asked him to characterize the gravitas of the investigation against Gardner, Gershman responded with a rapid-fire stream of adjectives. “The matters they are talking about are peripheral, marginal, attenuated, trivial, technical. There’s nothing central to the [Greitens] case. I haven’t seen anything she did that violated Brady or any other rules.” But Gershman isn’t part of the system in St. Louis or in Missouri. And here the question isn’t whether Gardner broke any rules. It’s whether some new ones are about to be established just for her. 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).

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NEWS Ex-Cop: Sanction Prosecutors Who Released Racist Texts Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

former St. Louis cop facing a criminal charge in the beating of a Black undercover detective has asked a judge to sanction federal prosecutors for disclosing text messages in which he uses the N-word freely, brags about sending people to the hospital and talks at length with other cops about prescription drug use. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office had previously released a number of texts sent and received by ex-police officer Dustin Boone and other cops accused of assaulting St. Louis police Det. Luther Hall in 2017 after mistaking him for a protester — but these messages had not been publicly disclosed in previous filings, and they expand beyond the Hall case. Prosecutors say the texts and other information described in their recent filing show Boone was biased against Black people and that he had no problem violating his oath as a cop and the rights of those he encountered on the streets. “There are r n------ running wild all across the city and even if/when we catch them..... they don’t get in any trouble because there are plate lips running the CAO!” Boone wrote in a group text to other officers in July 2017, two months before the assault on Hall. CAO is apparently a reference to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, which is under the supervision of the city’s first Black circuit attorney, Kim Gardner. Boone was one of five officers who were indicted in relation to the September 2017 attack on Hall. He was assigned to the Civil Disobedience Team, better known

Ex-St. Louis cop Dustin Boone walks into federal court in 2018. | DOYLE MURPHY

“There are r n------ running wild all across the city and even if/when we catch them..... they don’t get in any trouble because there are plate lips running the CAO!” Boone wrote in a group text to other officers. as the riot police, that cracked down on protesters following the acquittal of ex-officer Jason Stockley in the killing of Anthony Lamar Smith. Hall later told investigators that his fellow officers beat him “like Rodney King,” even though he wasn’t resisting and posed no threat. Two officers pleaded guilty, but Boone, ex-officer Christopher Myers and current officer Steven Korte went to trial this spring. None were found guilty, but jurors deadlocked on a charge against Boone. They acquitted Myers on one charge in the beating, but couldn’t decide whether he was guilty of smashing Hall’s phone to destroy a recording of the assault. Boone and Myers are set for another trial in June, and as prosecutors prepare for Round Two they

filed a 33-page memo that outlines new evidence they plan to use this time. Large sections of the filing have been blacked out, but the parts that haven’t detail a trove of previously unreleased text messages attributed to Boone and others, including other cops. Boone’s attorney, Patrick Kilgore, argues in a court filing that the nowpublic information is “inflammatory, irrelevant, and highly prejudicial” and disclosing them violates a judge’s order to file much of the information under seal. He notes that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote about the texts and other information from the prosecutors’ filing and claims it could taint the jury pool and keep Boone from receiving a fair trial. Additionally, Kilgore writes that the memo includes the names of Boone’s relatives and

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police officers who haven’t been charged. A spokeswoman for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police said the department would have no comment on any investigations or disciplinary action against any of the officers in Boone’s texts. In the memo, prosecutors say that the texts, many of which describe incidents separate from the protest where Hall was beaten, show a pattern of wrongdoing. In April 2017, texts show Boone gloating about a violent confrontation with an unnamed person. “Ooooohhh!!! Took a head shot w the taser!!!,” Boone writes in a group text with members of his family. “Hahahahhaa Santa and I just smoked 2 dudes.” Santa is apparently a reference to now-former St. Louis police officer Kyle Santa, another texting partner of Boone’s. A few hours later, Boone sent a group text to multiple St. Louis cops: Timothy Strain, Christopher Narez, Marcus Biggins, Shawn Griggs and Matthew McInerny. All of those officers are still on the force, except for McInerny, whose time with the department ended March 28. “Dude caught a tampering 1st, resisting stealing of a motor vehicle out of the county and a TASER to the fuckin dome?” Boone writes, adding, “Caught him in some THICK over grow in a side vacant lot, there was nobody around except me. Shaw, shithead and god... he is at the hospital now... poor guy.” Griggs, who is still a city cop, wrote back: “Thats fuckin hilarious! Strong work!” That thread continues with more details from Boone: “Hahaha we made him tell the other officers on scene that he is a pussy! Hahaha he was puking on himself while EMS was looking at him and saying ‘I’m a pussy, in a pussy.” And crying...... it was the greatest moment of my short career! Lol.” Boone adds in a text message to two other men that the person was “puking and seizing.” Prosecutors’ cache of text messages and other evidence cuts across a wide swath of activities that they say show Boone’s rampant misconduct. There was a message in December 2017 to Myers about taking money: “I don’t

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know if sarge is cool w taking any of that cash. I grabbed the 20s for us but I don’t know how he will Be about it??” And Boone’s reply when nowformer St. Louis police officer William “Beau” Wethington wrote he hoped Boone “beat that kids ass” in a March 2018 message. “We didn’t take him to children’s for nothin! Lol,” Boone responded, adding, “There r so many damn RTCC cameras in the fifth now, I had to literally drag him behind a privacy fence to avoid one. Can’t believe how inconvenient they have made things!” And then there were the texts and FaceTime videos with his then-girlfriend Ashley Marie Ditto. Prosecutors say that Boone hooked his phone on his uniform and livestreamed Hall’s beating for Ditto. The hour-long video wasn’t saved, but prosecutors say Ditto’s messages back and forth with Boone prove that she watched what happened — and that Boone was involved. Afterward, Ditto wrote “That was SOOOOOO COOL!!!!” But Boone learned the next day that the protester police had assaulted was actually an undercover detective, and prosecutors say text messages to Ditto show he was worried. “Nothing about that story to anyone please,” Boone wrote the day after Hall’s beating. “Not something I am proud of and not entertaining at all at this point. I love you.” Ditto replied: “No way. I would never say anything. My heart

GOP Rejects Medicaid Funding, but Fight Continues Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

epublican state legislators last week refused to fund voter-approved Medicaid expansion in the state budget sent to the governor, but that battle is far from over. Democratic lawmakers in favor of expansion say the state is obligated to accept the will of voters who in August approved a constitutional amendment to extend the health-care benefits to Missou-

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texts between Boone and hearts for you.” Detective Marcin Zajac over Prosecutors want to introtwo days in May 2018. The duce the messages and a log first day, Zajac tells Boone to that shows the times and “bring the pills.” duration of their FaceTime The next day, Zajac desessions, because they don’t scribes feeling “very enerthink they’ll be able to comgized” and “happy.” pel Ditto to testify against Boone writes: “Hahahaha Boone now that she is his your motivation and energy wife. In fact, they claim that should be through the roof! Boone married Ditto durIt’s good stuff. And lasts all ing the investigation into day.” Hall’s beating to ensure that When Zajac writes that he wouldn’t happen. wants to have his doctor give Large sections of what him more and asks for the prosecutors had to say about name, Boone tells him it’s that theory was redacted in Mydayis. It’s a prescription the public filing. After nearly medication that contains amtwo pages of blacked out text, phetamine. prosecutors wrote, “These Apparently, none of the facts indicate that at least one Det. Luther Hall’s face after he was beaten. | COURT EXHIBIT messages or details contained of the reasons that Boone and in the prosecution’s filings are Ashley Marie Ditto were marthings that Boone and his atried is so that she would not and supplier. The texts show fel- torney wish to see out in the open, have to testify.” But parts that were released in- low officer Kyle Santa asking for much less at trial. In the request clude yet another theme of wrong- recommendations on pills for for sanctions, they ask not only doing described by prosecutors: someone named Busso — appar- for prosecutors to be punished but ently a reference to St. Louis po- for the judge to order even the represcription drug use. dacted version of the memo to be Multiple texts show Boone dis- lice SWAT officer Joseph Busso. “Depends on if he wants to feel pulled from a public view. cussing medications with multiple Prosecutors responded on Monpeople. In one exchange between like a he feels like seeing in HD the officer and Ditto that was in- and making night turn into day day, noting that they had previouscluded in the prosecutors’ filing, (adderall) or if he just wants to feel ly notified Boone and his attorney he asks about an apparently miss- a really really focused white guy that they intended to introduce ing bunch of Concerta, a stimulant (concerta). Adderall is essentially the information at trial and had that is primarily approved to treat cocaine base in a compressed read some texts and summarized attention deficit hyperactivity dis- pill form....... it’s pretty special. It others in telling them that. Prosecutors argue that the remakes u chew on ur tongue and order but is often abused. Ditto replies: “We have both lick ur lips like a crack head and dacted filing falls in line with the been taking concerta since the u can’t stop talking for the first 8 court orders. They don’t take a poadderall was out and at that con- hours. It is also nearly impossible sition on whether the redacted filcert I gave Gavin and Karen the to get drunk AND cures hangovers ing should be retroactively sealed, rest of that bottle except for like 5 in a matter of 11 minutes. I’m not but they note the texts would be because you already had another even lying about ANY of that Kyle! discussed in the open during a court hearing. bottle. They have been taking that Lol I’m serious!” Sealed or not, prosecutors arBoone added: “I’ll give him some concerta she said lol.” gue, Boone’s texts were going to In messages with other cops, of each so he can experiment.” n The filings include a string of become public. Boone plays the role of adviser rians making less than $18,000 per year. Even before Republicans officially rejected funding expansion through the budget, Democrats promised to go forward. “We will fight,” said Sen. Brian Williams, D-St. Louis County, who joined Black pastors from across the state on May 6 for a news conference in front of the Missouri Supreme Court. “We will continue to push until we get this in front of a judge.” Missouri is one of just fourteen states that haven’t moved forward with expansion, and the only state besides Oklahoma where expansion has been approved but not implemented. The expansion would extend Medicaid coverage to another 275,000 Missourians. Williams and other Democrats have urged Missourians to sign up for coverage when they become eligible on July 1 under the constitutional amendment

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passed by voters. Republicans who fought expansion have claimed Missourians were tricked into voting for it and that GOP lawmakers know what’s best for them. “I am proud to stand against the will of the people who were lied to, ‘cause that’s our job,” Rep. Justin Hill, R-Lake St. Louis, said early last month during a floor debate. Rep. Peter Merideth of St. Louis is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee and has fought heated battles through the session to expand Medicaid, pointing out that the state would be leaving billions of dollars on the table by spurning the federal match. After last week’s budget vote, he said in a public statement that Republicans had dismissed the will of voters — “The GOP legislature basically gave them the middle finger today.” Gov. Mike Parson will still have to ap-

prove the budget, and he has not yet announced a decision. “We will assess our options and legal requirements on how to move forward with Medicaid expansion, once the budget is finalized,” he said in an April 29 tweet. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, appealed to the governor to side with voters. “As a former sheriff, the governor built a solid reputation for respecting and upholding the law,” Quade said in a written statement. “We don’t believe he will sully that reputation by playing political games with the lives of 275,000 of his fellow Missourians and refusing to fulfill his constitutional duty. Despite his previous opposition, the governor consistently has promised to carry out the will of voters on Medicaid expansion, and he has given us no reason to expect he will fail to honor his word.” n

THE BIG MAD The Whole Damn Orchard Bad apples with badges, the bums’ Rush and a bear’s lament compiled by

DANIEL HILL

elcome back to the Big Mad, the RFT’s weekly roundup of righteous rage! Because we know your time is short and your anger is hot: BAD APPLES: The insane, aneurysm-inducing context of ex-St. Louis cop Dustin Boone’s texts isn’t really even about Boone. It’s that when he texted “fucking n------” there was a fellow cop on the other end to receive it. When he bragged about tasing some guy in the head and then forcing him to say “I’m a pussy” while the guy puked on himself and cried, there were five other cops on the group chat. “That’s fuckin hilarious!” St. Louis police officer Shawn Griggs replied. “Strong work!” Boone was so amped about the taser “head shot” that he texted his parents, his then-girlfriend, other family members and, for good measure, a couple of buddies, whom he told that the guy was suffering seizures. We wrote a full story with more details about Boone’s texts, including his advice on prescription pills, racist slurs, his enthusiasm for violence and his hatred of surveillance cameras that inhibit said violence. But here’s an infuriating takeaway: Boone is just the one dumb enough to write all this in texts and get caught. He’s off the force. His audience? They’re still out there. LEAVE THE BEARS BE: One cute little black bear takes a stroll through the St. Louis suburbs over the weekend and everybody completely flips out. First spotted in the Kirkwood area, the solitary bear was out walking and minding its own business — probably searching for picnic baskets — when a bunch of uptight suburbanites decided to make a whole damn fuss, ultimately leading to our furry friend being tranquilized and carted off. It’s the same fate that befell his cousin Bruno last year, too, when homie tried to roam through our area in search of a little, erm, honey pot, if you know what we mean. But why can’t we just bring our pets inside, secure our trash cans and leave these poor bears to do their thing? After all, they lived here first, right? Everybody is always saying they want to experience more nature, but when nature

comes wandering straight up into their backyards they totally flip out. Now poor K.B. (Kirkwood Bear) has been dragged out of a tree, tranquilized and dropped in less populated lands. And our tax dollars paid for it! Well, we say let the bears pay the bear tax. We’ll pay the Homer tax, thank you very much. THE QUIKTRIP DIVIDE: For more than a year, QuikTrip patrons in St. Louis City have lived with the unbearable lightness of not being filled with tubeshaped meats — an absence that was also a disparity, as just minutes away, enshrined in QTs very much like our own, privileged snackers in St. Louis County were noshing on delicious taquitos and corndogs. When it came to QTs, It was the city versus everybody else: In the heart of the pandemic, health officials in the county and St. Charles allowed QTs to sell roller grill items as long as they remained shielded under a plastic cover. The city’s pandemic rules against buffet dining carried no such allowance, which means that, for city residents wandering into one of the “other” QTs this year, the experience was a gauntlet of saddening self-restraint. Instead of the county’s bounty, we instead find the roller grill barren, an object out of time, like a sentinel who exists only to stand before our hopes and whisper, “No.” In county QTs we passed as sojourners through foreign lands, staring at the taquitos rolling, the corndogs corndogging, the buffalo chicken bites tanging the air with their sharp scent of temptation. Thankfully, St. Louis’ new health order means the city’s eight QT locations are installing the protective covers and readying a return to roller grills — but the months of deprivation and meat-tube-related jealousy still sting. Tempt us no more, QT! Give us this day our daily taquito! Please, with all haste, give us back our roller snacks! THE BUMS’ RUSH: Officially codifying its preference for hot air pushed by bigoted blowhards over hard news delivered without fear or favor, the Missouri House voted this week to give conservative radio host and flabbergastingly racist fan of pills Rush Limbaugh his very own annual day in the state of Missouri, immediately after shooting down a similar effort for fellow Missouri native Walter Cronkite. It’s not surprising in the least, but it is remarkably depressing, a symbol of how the conservative party in this state would much rather reward those who yell and scream and peddle anger and outrage than those who deal in soberly delivered facts, uncomfortable though they may be. To that end, when’s Big Mad Day? n

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About 200 people attended a forum in Eureka after an online group focused on reopening schools morphed into a hive of conspiracy theories targeting lessons on diversity. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

The ‘Concerned Parents’ of Missouri Who Aren’t Racist, Damnit

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As Rockwood School District teachers face harassment and even threats, parents inflamed by online conspiracy theories claim their kids are targets of anti-white indoctrination BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

verwrought and on camera, a white Rockwood parent opened her soon-to-be viral moment in a trembling voice: “Just because I do not want critical race theory taught to my children in school,” she told a room filled with parents, “does not make me a racist, damnit!” Within hours, her tearful declaration had been viewed thousands of times, the clip shared in a tweet that included a Twitter user’s twoword caption of its subject: “A racist.” Yet, as she stood among the 200 or so attendees who had gathered on a sunny Friday for what was billed as a “community conversation” about the Rockwood School District curriculum, the majority of the room’s reaction to her outburst wasn’t mockery, but approval — and they gave her the loudest applause of the day. In the week after the forum, its drama was featured in multiple national publications that framed the event as yet another flashpoint in the ongoing ideological battle over how race, history and societal responsibility are taught in American classrooms. But, in fairness, those weren’t the terms being thrown around at the April 30 event. Instead, speaker after speaker, including two state senators, accused the district’s teachers of inserting “indoctrination,” “Marxism” and “racism against white people” into lesson plans. It wasn’t just Rockwood. Before the “I’m not a racist” mom’s comments, another speaker rose to claim that critical race theory was “rampant” in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton. She added that her seventh-grade daughter no longer wanted to be white after learning that her skin color made her an “oppressor.”

Video clips and this screenshot of a Rockwood parent went viral on social media after she declared that she wasn’t a racist, while speaking against critical race theory. | KSDK/SCREENSHOT “To me,” the parent declared, “this is child abuse.” But to the district’s administration, teachers and a handful of parents who showed up to the forum to support the Rockwood curriculum, the crisis is getting out of hand — and starting to get scary During the past two months, what began as a Facebook group of “Concerned Parents” who wanted Rockwood to reopen classrooms to in-person instruction has morphed into something even messier and more detached from reality. Instead of the COVID-19 lockdown, they’ve directed their rage at a purported conspiracy to use critical race theory to propagandize the district’s 22,000 students — of which 75 percent are white — with the goal of transforming the kids into guilt-ridden leftist activists. But behind their fury, these parents have produced little sub-

stance to back up their concerns. And, as the forum demonstrated, declaring you aren’t a racist is one thing. Showing it is another.

he lead-up to the raucous April 30 meeting built slowly over time with seemingly minor policy clashes and internet spats — and then, all at once, it was raging out in the open. For instance, there was the March 16 email sent by Rockwood Superintendent Mark Miles informing parents about “the decision to remove baseball caps at Eureka High School that display a thin blue line flag.” He explained that the symbol “represents different things to different people” and that “any political or potentially divisive symbol has no place on our uniforms.” The reaction was swift, and torrential. “Get a backbone and grow

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a set,” one parent’s email read, according to documents obtained by St. Louis Public Radio’s Ryan Delaney. Another email began by calling Miles “a disgrace,” and added: “I hope you sleep well at night and are not in need of law enforcement.” Soon after, someone put up a sign near a heavily traveled road in the district, urging passersby to call Miles. Above his phone number, the sign proclaimed, “ROCKWOOD CANCELLED.” Three weeks later, Miles announced his retirement at a school board meeting. (In a recent remark to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Aisha Sultan, he acknowledged that his decision to end his nearly three-decade career in education was related to “some of the anger expressed and disrespectful language that has been shared with me.”) Things were also getting weird online. As the Concerned Parents group splintered on Facebook, members began collecting screenshots and forming a countermovement to the hardline group of conservative parents who had taken control. The screenshots were passed to local journalists — and to TikTok star “Aunt Karen,” who blasted out outraged updates about the Facebook group’s activities to her 626,000 followers. At the same time, the parents who saw the district’s diversity curriculum as a threat to their children’s emotional well-being had their own sources — inside the district. On April 22, Natalie Fallert, a district literacy coordinator, sent a three-page memo to the district’s middle and high school English teachers, addressing the “recurring messages” she had received from “a cell of parents” upset about book selections

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and assignment descriptions. After more than a year of virtual learning, the parents had become accustomed to seeing their children’s assignments on the district’s online education portal, Canvas, and they were using that access to generate alarm about lessons involving concepts like power imbalances, gender norms and “cultural intersections,” Fallert wrote. It wasn’t just the book selections, but the language used in assignments. Some parents accused the district of “pushing an agenda,” as well as “making white kids feel bad about their privilege,” and “teaching kids to be democratic thinkers and activists.” The parents had also accused the school of teaching critical race theory, though on this point Fallert added a note in parentheses: “I had to look this one up! There are a ton of definitions, so to know which they are honing in on specifically can be tough.” In the email to teachers, Fallert pointed out that the lessons had been taught throughout the district and showed “a huge success” in multiple classrooms. She didn’t believe that students were going home “feeling bad” and “depressed” as parents claimed — but she also acknowledged that the parents who made these claims weren’t just being a nuisance, or limiting harassment to the administration, but “coming after individual teachers.” “I am REALLY sorry for this,” Fallert wrote. “I don’t know how to stop it!” Unfortunately, Fallert’s solution, which she wrote out in detail, would only ratchet up the harassment: Believing that the parents’ misplaced concerns could be diverted by changing the language in the curriculum — particularly removing the word “privilege,” which the parents automatically read as “white” — she encouraged teachers to create a separate parent-facing curriculum on Canvas. The tactic was about self-protection, and it was intended to cut off the parents who were looking for further evidence that teachers were trying to turn their kids into anti-police liberals. “This is not being deceitful,” Fallert wrote. “This is just doing what you have done for years. Prior to the pandemic you didn’t send everything home or have it available. You taught in your classroom and things were peachy keen.” But things were far from peachy

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Missouri state Senator Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, agreed with parents invited to the forum that critical race theory was a danger to students. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI keen, and when the email leaked, the apparent cover-up became a bigger story than the alleged offense. The district released an apology — “Asking teachers to conceal anything from parents does not reflect the mission, vision and values of the Rockwood School District” — but the story quickly hit Fox News and its morning show Fox & Friends, where one of the concerned parents was given a chance to hold forth on the “cop hate” and “foul language” in the books her ninth grader was assigned to read for a unit on cultural identity. Fallert had her personal info shared online, including her phone number, but she was far from the only target. Two Black administrators, Terry Harris and Brittany Hogan, confirmed to St. Louis Public Radio that they had received death threats, prompting the district to hire private security for them. The calls started pouring in. “You fucking cunts,” an unidentified male voice said in a voicemail to the administration, a copy of which was obtained by the RFT. Between shouted streams of profanity, the caller said that he’d recently read coverage of the curriculum controversy on the conservative website the Daily Caller. Rockwood’s teachers, he said, “are raping children, and now you’re raping their minds, teaching them how to hate and divide and lie about critical race theory!” “The good news,” the voicemail continued, “is it looks like there’s caring, loving parents who won’t put up with your fucking bullshit anymore. And they’re going to

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stand up and take their schools back from the communist, assfucking pieces of dogshit cunts that you are.”

n April 30, several dozens of cars pulled past the gates into Brookdale Farms, a picturesque wedding and event venue in rural Eureka which played host to the “community conversation.” After months of tension and controversy, the roughly two-hour meeting operated at the tenor of a Facebook comment section. Conversation, and community, were distant afterthoughts. This was much bigger than a Facebook group. What was once contained in social media now featured the “distinguished guests” of Missouri state Senators Andrew Koenig and Cindy O’Laughlin. Both affirmed the concerns of parents who believed schools across the state were succumbing to a dangerous ideology. To illustrate that danger — and what, exactly, critical race theory even is — the event began with a largely incoherent Zoom presentation from Bion Bartning, who cofounded the popular lip-balm brand Eos and is the head of FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism. As he explained, he had helped found the group after realizing that the diversity curriculum being taught in his children’s elite New York private school was actually indoctrinating them into a form of “racism masquerading as anti-racism.” If the audience was hoping for clarity on the issue, this wasn’t it. Technical troubles made much of

Bartning’s 30-minute presentation difficult to follow as he coined new terms like “neo-racism” and “the New Orthodoxy.” In one slide, a chaotically arranged graphic claimed to show the academic and historical factors behind critical race theory; the slide did this by placing arrows and red boxes around terms like “Post-modernist philosophy,” “Stockley Carmichael,” and “Intersectionality” while using green circles to show the roles of “Thought reform,” “Ku Klux Klan & Jim Crow” and “Fall of Religion, Rise of Tech.” In another slide, Bartning presented a chart of checkboxes comparing “FAIR values” to “the New Orthodoxy” and “Ku Klux Klan ideology” — the latter two presented as equivalent, equally lacking in a list of defined “character strengths” including “judgment,” “curiosity” and “forgiveness.” However, in his remarks, Bartning did not explain his theory’s references to the KKK or how the racist group was now, apparently, stoking anti-racist activism in the classroom. Two slides later, Bartning encouraged parents to model their counter-activism against critical race theory on “MLK’s civil-rights movement.” When it came time for the attendees to speak themselves, several repeated claims that diversity lessons were forms of Marxism or liberal propaganda — but, like Bartning, they drew on their own feelings and anecdotal descriptions of the lessons’ impact on their kids. Lost in the noise was any evidence of what was actually happening in these classes. No lesson plans were discussed, no assignments read. No Rockwood teachers or administrators appeared at the meeting. Of the two self-identified students who rose to speak, one said she had never heard the term “critical race theory” ever mentioned in her classes; the second said she dreaded her English assignments — but it wasn’t critical race theory she was concerned about. Rather, she decried the “disturbing literature” featuring violence and sexual content that, as a Christian, threatened her “purity.” And while a white parent crying out about how she’s “not a racist, damnit!” became a viral hit, it wasn’t the only moment caught on camera that day that revealed the overriding self-concern at play among the concerned parents. When Amy Ryan took the mic, she discussed the racism she’d experienced growing up as a child of Asian descent in Wildwood, and, more recently, through messages she had received about “going

back to China.” “For years, I have been judged,” Ryan said — and at the table next to her, an older white woman shook her head in disagreement and mouthed, “No.” At another point, a different parent defended the school’s diversity efforts. She pointed out that most of the room was white, and that “we need to understand that our perspective as white people is not everyone’s perspective.” The crowd listened in silence but erupted as she began to defend the concept of white privilege — several men shouted back, “You just called us racist!” and “You judged this entire room on the color of our skin!” Meanwhile, the senators in attendance attempted to control the crowd — but only insofar as establishing critical race theory was the real threat. Responding to Ryan’s story of encountering racism against Asians, O’Laughlin, who is white, made it about herself — responding that she too has “had people say things to me that were hurtful and ugly,” and adding that although “some people do things they shouldn’t do, or shouldn’t say, we don’t want to tell our students that we are basically a horrible nation.”

Charity Ikpe, a Rockwood school parent, urged the white attendees at the April 30 forum to consider how minorities experience racism. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI Koenig, who is also white, then picked up his mic, and, like O’Laughlin, similarly sidestepped the experience of racism he’d just listened to so that he could talk about how the real racism is critical race theory. “The reality is mankind is sin-

ful,” he said, and added that “there’s always going to be a lot of racism out there, but, honestly, there’s no better place to live, in human history, than the United States right now.” Koenig could be right, but, for Rockwood School District, the

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United States is a place where teachers and students are being buffeted by paranoid Facebook moms and Republican politicians who wrangled a free 200-person rally out of the district’s publicized distress. The consequences are already hitting. Along with the resignation of Rockwood Superintendent Mark Miles, Brittany Hogan announced that she’s leaving her job as the district’s director of educational equity and diversity — less than one year after she was hired. Defenders of the school aren’t staying silent, however. On May 6, members of the Rockwood school board took turns reading a statement addressing the “sometimes hateful and certainly hurtful social media posts, emails and voicemails” sent to the district staff, and calling on “all stakeholders, parents, community members, staff and students to stop spreading hate and shame.” “We implore you to think about what you say,” said Board President Jaime Bayes, reading aloud from the statement at the meeting’s conclusion. There was one other thing. “We want to be very clear,” she continued, “the Rockwood School District is not teaching critical race theory.” n

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Vaccine Hesitancy Meets Vaccine Urgency

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 12-18, 2021

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A grieving reporter rushes to get the vaccine while her subject resists

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center as part of Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson’s 63106 Project, a St. Louisbased nonprofit racial equity storytelling project.

BY DENISE HOLLINSHED

Beverly Jones, left, and journalist Denise Hollinshed have formed a bond beyond reporter and subject. | PIERRE GUERIN

hen it comes to COVID-19 everyone is vulnerable. Including Beverly Jones, the person whose life I am chronicling as part of Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson’s 63106 Project. Including me. Jones has been a longtime resident and worker in the Preservation Square housing complex in ZIP code 63106. According to a recent study, 67 years is the average life expectancy for a child born in 2010 in that ZIP code. That compares to an 85-year life expectancy in 63105, the region’s most prosperous ZIP code, also known as Clayton. And this was before the pandemic. Jones would appear to be Exhibit A when it comes to being vulnerable. At age 58, she suffers from lupus, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and, perhaps most significantly, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung ailment that makes it hard for Jones to breathe through a mask. Last October, she contracted the coronavirus. It made her feel ill for a few weeks. Still, Jones survived it without hospitalization and kept on keeping on, working full time as a resident advisor supervisor for the Job Corps program. She is the matriarch for a large family, a mother to four daughters, grandma to seventeen, plus she has two great-grandchildren. Two of those grandchildren have been living with her, because until recently their mother had been in jail. “I don’t have time to be sick,” Jones said when we visited last September, “because I am helping everybody else.” Including me. On February 4, I lost my brother, Darnell “Dino” Walker, age 76, to COVID after a struggle lasting four weeks. On that day, I had texted Jones to postpone an upContinued on pg 18

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coming interview. She called me right away to see how I was doing. It both surprised and touched me as I knew she had her own burdens to bear and didn’t need to listen to mine. I held back tears and asked her about how she was holding up after overcoming the virus herself. She told me that her struggles were continuing. She is a caregiver to her 87-year-old father, who suffers from dementia. She continues to parent her seventeenyear-old granddaughter who is living with her. And she is deeply concerned about her twelve-yearold grandson who is dealing with behavioral issues. Meanwhile, another grandson, Michael, is incarcerated at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific for vehicle theft and assault. And another daughter, Danielle, is serving time on a murder charge at the state prison in Vandalia. If there was any good news, it concerned her grandchildren’s mother, Linda, who had been held at the St. Louis City Justice Center on a gun violation. She was released on March 22 and given two years probation. Jones helped her find a job as a cleaner at a Metro Transit station. Linda was quarantined after exposure to COVID at the Justice Center but did not contract the illness. Danielle contracted COVID at the Vandalia facility, but with mild effects. Knowing this and that my brother died from COVID, I asked Jones last month whether she was thinking about the vaccine. “I ain’t in no big hurry to get it,” she responded. Those words shook me to the core. I had to struggle to listen to her explain. “I still haven’t read anything that said that we should take it,” Jones said softly. “My doctor basically said that she was going to leave it up to me. There’s nothing out there that said what effects it will have on the person with lupus anyway.” She asked me if I had gotten the vaccine. The answer was yes, of course. My husband and I took the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on February 24 and the second on March 17. Jones’ vaccine hesitancy had me revisiting the dark place I was in beginning January 11 when my brother, Darnell, was hospitalized with COVID. “I can’t breathe,” he would say with his voice straining on the

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Beverly Jones with one of her grandchildren, Michael. | COURTESY BEVERLY JONES voicemails he left me. “I can’t breathe, Denise.” Those were the last words my brother said before he was placed on a ventilator in late January and died a week later. I wasn’t able to be with him, hug him or hold his hand as he battled the virus. I shed tears from afar on a smartphone. After his death, I discovered a voicemail from Darnell that escaped my attention. It haunts me to this day. “Hi Denise, it’s your brother Darnell, thank you very much for that picture. I never did know where Steve [our brother who died of Crohn’s disease in 2008] was buried at [Calvary Cemetery]. It was so nice to see it. And so thank you very much I appreciate it. “Denise, I want to say I love you, and I don’t know what’s going on with me but I’m just not well. But let me say that I’m very happy that you are my sister. I wish that we would have had more time together, but as you know I was in that mental hospital for quite a while. And I was a bad boy and they sent me over to that maximum security building. I didn’t like the way they were treating

Blacks. I didn’t like the way they were treating me. Anybody from the city, they treated them bad. They called us City Six. “But anyway I got the pictures. Thank you very much. Please get in touch with me. I have something to talk to you about. … If you get a chance, give me a call and I’ll talk to you later.” Yes, just like Jones, I had a family member who served time; in his case more than ten years for a burglary charge. He was incarcerated at Fulton State Hospital because a judge took into consideration that he was dealing with mental health issues. Just like Jones and her kin, I never stopped loving and praying for my brother, nor did our other eight siblings. And I am proud to say he more than made up for his crime when he was released some 30 years ago. In fact, his light shined so brightly that he was the subject of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch feature story on his shoe-shining skills at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. His outgoing, friendly manner brought customers back to him again and again. Darnell would shine service members’ shoes for

Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson, a nonprofit racial equity project, is telling the story of families in 63106 one by one over the course of the pandemic. This is the second chapter on Beverly Jones’ life. Hollinshed will be following the challenges she faces until the pandemic abates. The Riverfront Times has published other stories as part of the project, and so have other St. Louis media. You can find an archive of the stories at https://beforefergusonbeyondferguson. org/63106-project/.

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free. “You are doing something great,” he would tell the soldiers. “Just give me a hug when you come down from the chair.” On March 25, my family members and I took Darnell’s boxed ashes to Calvary Cemetery to our family plot located not far from Tennessee Williams’ headstone. There we put Darnell’s ashes atop our mother’s grave. My husband Pierre sprayed water over them with the thought that they would drift down through the earth and mix with Mom’s remains. I’ve spent more than 30 years as a journalist focused on public safety and have seen far more bloody crime scenes than anyone should have. Even so, writing these COVID stories has been draining and extremely sad. I am having a hard time understanding how Beverly Jones or anyone with health issues might put off getting the vaccine. But journalists aren’t here to judge. Mostly what we do is listen, and then in the best way possible, write a story that helps readers see the world as they do. Physicians and public health workers with a special expertise in such ailments as lupus and COPD have tried to reassure patients they can trust that the vaccine will protect them and do no harm. Those who have already been infected — as Jones has — do indeed create antibodies against the disease. But experts don’t know how long this protection lasts. Getting a vaccine, they say, can also help protect those around you. Still, Jones is skeptical. In March, she said: “We take enough medicine as it is, and now you want us to inject something else into us?” But in late April, she seemed to soften just a bit on the subject. “I still haven’t made my mind up because I have all these underlying issues. I have lupus, COPD and osteoarthritis. No one is able to tell me what effect that shot will have on my condition. Just like the flu shot, I took my time to get that. If they can show whether it’s going to benefit me, I will consider getting it. But not until then.” As we like to say in the storytelling business, “To be continued.” We will keep you apprised as Beverly Jones and her family struggle to stay safe in the time of the pandemic. Denise Hollinshed served as a crime reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 21 years until retiring in 2019. In her work, she has specialized in writing stories that go beyond crime to examining root causes, such as poverty and social determinants of health.

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CAFE

[REVIEW]

Slice of Life Edera Italian Eatery is serving up magic in the Central West End Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Edera Italian Eatery 48 Maryland Plaza, 314-361-7227. Tues.Thurs. 5-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m. (Closed Sunday and Monday.)

his winter, Edera Italian Eatery proved itself the gold standard of pandemic dining, setting up an outdoor dining area of individual glass chalets that turned its already stunning back courtyard into a fairy tale. Between the twinkling lights dancing off candlelit glass and the gentle snow falling, it was an absolute dreamland that had diners clamoring for a chance to partake in such a lovely experience. Now, the chalets have been taken down for the season, but that doesn’t mean diners cannot still bask in pure magic, courtesy of Edera. All you have to do is snag a seat at a table in the ivy-adorned courtyard and order the ’nduja honey pizza, a work of pizza majesty so glorious it will put stars in your eyes. The crust — yeasty, chewy and char-speckled perfection — puffs up around the edges about two inches off the plate, then dramatically drops off to a thin interior covered with a layer of tomato sauce that mixes with the rendered drippings of spicy ’nduja sausage. It’s like a tomato-y buffalo sauce that has just a hint of heat, which contrasts beautifully with a drizzle of honey. Hunks of the sausage and whole cloves of roasted garlic adorn the pie like meaty, earthy jewels — it’s positively magical. It’s no surprise that such pizza perfection is on display at Edera. The restaurant, which opened in the former Scape space in October of last year, owes much of its identity to Mike Randolph, the celebrated chef who serves as the restaurant’s consultant. Known for such former gems as Randolfi’s, Privado and Pùblico, Randolph

Margherita pizza, capellini and clam pasta, tomato salad, arancini and king cut sirloin. | MABEL SUEN

Chef Andrew Simon returned to the familiar space for a new concept. | MABEL SUEN made his initial mark on the city’s dining scene at the Neapolitaninspired pizzeria the Good Pie, which single-handedly changed St. Louis’ pizza landscape. Randolph came on to the project after the Koplar family, who had

owned Scape since its inception in 2007, decided to give the restaurant a complete overhaul last February. Having closed Scape in April of 2019, they were not willing to let the space go, but instead wanted to see a completely different concept

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take its place. For them, Randolph was an easy choice; they’d enjoyed dining at his now-shuttered Randolfi’s and wanted to bring something in that spirit to their spot in the Central West End. The result of that relationship is a restaurant that has pieces of Randolfi’s elevated red-and-whitecheckered-tablecloth feel with Scape’s Central West End stylishness. The outdoor courtyard (the focus of this review) remains the most beautiful patio in St. Louis, its brick and stone column walls covered in verdant ivy that gives it the feel of a Roman palace. Beautiful foliage creates a garden feel, with tables spaced out amongst the greenery. Here, you forget for a moment that dining al fresco is a pandemic-related choice (or in many cases, need), for there’s no better seat in the house. With a backdrop like that, the Edera team could serve you Chef Boyardee and you wouldn’t notice. However, the restaurant pulls out all the stops to create an upscale Italian affair that goes beyond its outrageously good pizza. Though

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Randolph’s touch is indeed felt, much credit goes to chef Andrew Simon, Scape’s former executive chef who came back to the restaurant a few months ago after shuttering his Clayton eatery, Charred Crust. Building upon Randolph’s foundation, Simon balances the comfort of easy Italian fare with the modern elegance of the space’s previous iteration. Burrata, served with prosciutto and pesto, is an easy crowd-pleaser; served with charred bread, the luxuriously creamy cheese is pure decadence. Meatballs, another small plate, balance the sweetness of pork with the earthiness of lamb. The meat is spiked with just enough spice to warm the palate, then dressed with vibrant tomato sauce. The scampi impressed by deviating from the typical form of butter, garlic and bread crumbs. Here, the shrimp are sautéed with kale, potatoes, roasted garlic and Calabrian chili oil, which serves as a drizzle for the dish and allows the shellfish to shine through without drowning in sauce. The highlight of the smallplates menu, though, is the arancini. The golden-fried rice balls are

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Capellini and clam pasta with preserved lemon, herbs and bagna cauda. | MABEL SUEN served alongside rose-shaped rolls of prosciutto, rich peppercorn Asiago cream and cured egg; it’s perfection of the form. The ’nduja pizza may dazzle, but it doesn’t outshine Edera’s other magnificent pies. The Margherita is, hands down, the best version of the classic in town, thanks to its outstanding crust. Simple crushed tomatoes are spread atop the dough,

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then topped with fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. It doesn’t get better, even in the mother country. The restaurant also succeeds with the ricotta pizza, which pairs the garlic herbed cheese with caramelized onion, mozzarella, Calabrian chili oil and pieces of pulled chicken that magically do not turn into chicken jerky in the 900-degree oven. It’s masterful.

Other noteworthy dishes include the pappardelle with Bolognese, which pairs ribbons of housemade pasta with rosemary-perfumed creamy pork ragout. A veal chop served with rainbow chard and pancetta is enlivened with pickled fennel, and an off-the-menu branzino special impressed thanks to the addition of crabmeat and chilioil-dressed cauliflower. The dish that left the biggest impression at Edera — perhaps even more so than the pizza — is the almond tart that ended the meal. A dense, almond-shortbread crust served as the base for almond custard and fluffy pastry cream that tasted as if amaretti cookies fresh from the Italian bakery’s oven had a baby with a slice of almondbuttercream wedding cake. That you can bask in such a wonderful sendoff under the stars and twinkling lights on Edera’s patio seems like such a gift, especially considering what dining has become this past year — it’s a little slice of heaven even more magnificent than that ’nduja pie.

Edera Italian Eatery Arancini ..................................................... $14 Honey ’nduja pizza .................................... $18 Veal chop .................................................. $30 • Carryout, indoor dining, outdoor dining

P L E A S E D R I N K R E S P O N S I B LY WHISKEY SPECIALTY, 35% ALC. BY VOL., (70 PROOF.) JACK DANIEL DISTILLERY, LYNCHBURG, TENNESSEE. JACK DANIEL’S, TENNESSEE FIRE, AND TENNESSEE HONEY ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS. ©2021 JACK DANIEL’S. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

In For a Penny Born of necessity, Sando Shack endures thanks to a strong local following Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

an Jensen remembers the experience that gave him the bug for the food and beverage business well. Growing up in Chicago, he was intrigued by his two uncles who were chefs, so he jumped at the opportunity to work alongside one of them at the city’s annual food festival. Though that decision was made almost on a whim, it would set in motion the career path that led him to where he is today. “When I was seventeen years old, my uncle asked me if I wanted to work with him at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park,” Jensen recalls. “It sounded like a good time, so I said sure. It ended up being really cool, and I liked doing it. After I graduated from high school and went on to college, it just stuck with me, so I started working in restaurants.” Jensen traces a fairly straight line between that one-off food festival gig with his uncle to Sando Shack, the Japanese sandwich food truck he owns with his partner, Amy Guo. As he explains, once he got into the business after that event, he never left, working everywhere from Chicago and Houston to Miami and Seattle. Throughout his mainly front-ofhouse career in the industry, he’s built upon that initial passion that struck him, developing a true appreciation for all that goes into running restaurants and hotels. That’s why he wanted to open his own business. Having managed restaurants and a food hall, he and Guo were looking to go into business for themselves. At the time, they were living in Seattle after relocating for Guo’s job

Dan Jensen’s path took a detour to Sando Shack. | ANDY PAULISSEN in marketing and public relations. Eager to strike out on their own, they quickly became discouraged by how cost-prohibitive such an endeavor would be in that city. They knew that their dreams would likely not come to fruition in Seattle, but they weren’t ready to completely throw them out the window. “We started looking around in St. Louis and someone gave us a broker’s name who told us about the City Foundry project,” Jensen says. “It looked cool and seemed like there was so much potential in it. It sounded like they were doing all this next-level stuff and that it was going to be great when it opened.” Jensen and Guo decided to sign on for a stall at City Foundry and knew right away that they wanted to do poke. Living in Seattle with what seemed like a poke spot on every corner, it was a staple of their diet, and they figured that

the market in St. Louis had room for such a concept. Full steam ahead, they made plans to move to town as soon as the project got close to opening. However, delay after delay kept pushing back their timeline, until one day, they got the greenlight that things were heating up. Jensen quit his job, and he and Guo moved to St. Louis thinking that they were on the cusp of opening. Then, they got hit with another stall. “We moved here last July thinking it was going to open, and as soon as we got here, we found out it wasn’t going to,” Jensen says. “If they would’ve told us ten days earlier, we might not have moved, but here we were trying to figure out what we were going to do with our time.” Jensen and Guo did not want to sit around idly and wait for City Foundry to open. They couldn’t. He had quit his job, and she had been laid off from hers, making

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income a necessity. Determined to find a way to make ends meet, they came up with the idea of doing a pop-up based around Japanese sandos, another style of food they enjoyed eating in Seattle. After getting great feedback and developing a following, they decided to go all-in on the concept and launched a food truck in April of this year. Jensen is thrilled with Sando Shack and plans to keep it going even when he and Guo’s poke spot, Hello Poke, opens in City Foundry (assuming he can find enough staff to work for both concepts). Though he admits he didn’t initially see himself as the owner of two different restaurants right out of the gate, he’s excited to see where it all takes him. “If I have my choice, I will continue to do both, because I think they will complement each other,” Jensen says. “Right now, though,

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DAN JENSEN

Continued from pg 25

we’re just having fun. The important thing is that people really seem to be enjoying our food, so that’s what matters.” Jensen took a moment away from Sando Shack to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant community, Jensen took a moment away from Sando Shack to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant community, his love of food from far-flung lands and why communication is key to a great restaurant experience. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I love to travel and learn about new and different cuisines. Growing up, I watched some family members in the food industry, but it wasn’t until I left my home in Chicago and traveled to differ-

ent cities in the states and internationally that I started learning about all the history, culture and unique flavors of different foods. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Coffee and planning out the day. Who is your St. Louis food crush? One of my favorite dishes that I’ve tried so far is the “Chicken Cooked in Yogurt” from Lucky Accomplice. Will need to go back again soon! Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? I’m not sure if it represents my personality, but I do love cheese. Maybe pepper jack cheese because I can really go with the flow on anything, but I got a little heat, too. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? I have always been in the restaurant business (in Chicago, Seattle and now St. Louis). It’s been my dream to own my own restaurant. This new food truck has been a very cool experience for

me. If not in the restaurant business, maybe a government-related job or a first responder so I can help people. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? Food product, quality and availability. Food product prices have increased due to lack of product availability, so it has been more of a challenge to get the quality of product that we want for the right prices — and now, the shortage of staff is an issue. What do you miss most about the way you did your job before COVID-19? Being social and giving handshakes and hugs to our friends and customers. Meeting new people and engaging with our customers are both very important to us, so we can’t wait to gather together again in a safe environment. What do you miss least? Heavy traffic. What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately?

Ice cream. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? The level of communication and transparency between the businesses and its customers. Since the pandemic, businesses have over-communicated about what they’re doing and how they’re taking the proper precautions of keeping their customers and staff safe and healthy — which is great. We believe that this level of communication and transparency should stay a consistent goal, even after normalcy returns. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? This community and the amount of support we see everyone giving each other. From trying each others’ foods, offering help, to spreading the word through advertising, collabs and social media, this community has shown that working together is the key to getting through a crisis like this. n

[BEER]

Schlafly to Open Brewpub in Illinois Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

chlafly Beer (multiple locations including 2100 Locust Street, 314-241-2337) fans east of the Mississippi will no longer have to travel across the river to enjoy the brand’s brewpub experience. The craft brewery announced today that it will open its first Illinois restaurant in Highland, Illinois, late this fall, breathing new life into a historic building in the heart of the city’s Town Square. The yet-to-be-named brewpub is a partnership between Schlafly Beer and the City of Highland to revitalize the 71-year-old building that was most recently home to the city’s chamber of commerce. As the brewery’s cofounder Tom Schlafly explains, it also represents a sort of homecoming for the brand. “Our family’s American dream

RIVERFRONT TIMES

A rendering of the forthcoming Schlafly Beer brewpub that will open in Highland, Illinois, this fall. | ARCHITECT’S RENDERING began in Highland, Illinois,” Schlafly says. “After immigrating from Switzerland, the Schlaflys landed in New Orleans in May of 1854, and made their way up the Mississippi and settled in the town now known as Highland, Illinois. Now, 167 years later, David [Schlafly] and I are excited to give back to the same community where our ancestors set roots so many years ago.” The forthcoming brewpub will consist of an 80-seat dining room and 100-seat three-season patio. Additionally, the space is located

MAY 12-18, 2021

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right next to the city’s park that will serve as an ideal venue for beer-centric outdoor events. As for the menu, guests can expect Schlafly’s pub fare, as well as specialty beers brewed specifically for the Highland location. The Highland establishment will be Schlafly’s fourth brewpub. The beer maker has the original Schlafly Tap Room in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood, Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood and its most recent addition, Schlafly Bankside on Main Street in St. Charles, which

took over the former Trailhead Brewing Co. As Breann Speraneo, director of community development for the City of Highland, explains, her town is happy to be the latest property in the iconic brand’s portfolio. “We’re very excited to welcome Schlafly to Highland,” says Speraneo. “We’re a vibrant community with many downtown festivals, and we look forward to Schlafly hosting their own festivals in town.” We know that Schlafly will fit in perfectly with our motto of “Celebrate Today.” n

[ T U B U L A R M E AT ]

Roller Food Returns to QuikTrip Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

t wasn’t quick, but months after selfserve food and drink items returned to QuikTrips outside the city of St. Louis, the company now says that new health orders will allow its city locations to once again stock fountain drinks and other self-service items — including the delicious and conveniently tube-shaped roller-grill meat cylinders. “It’s good news for us,” says company spokeswoman Aisha Jefferson-Smith. “Right now we’re waiting to have product come in, because of course we haven’t had these products delivered since the city health mandate has been in place.” Along with the logistics of shipping the food and drinks themselves, QuikTrip’s city locations will also have to install plastic covers over the grill stations — measures that first appeared last year in locations in St. Louis County and St. Charles County. There are 76 QuikTrips in the St. Louis region, with eight within the borders of the city itself. The split in health restrictions left St. Louis residents missing the popular items as the city retained its strict pandemic rules on food services. Meanwhile, QuikTrips in St. Charles County were allowed to start selling self-service food items barely a month into the pandemic, in April 2020, while

[BARBECUE]

Sweet Meat Learn BBQ from a Sugarfire master to help Operation Food Search Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ugarfire Smokehouse (multiple locations including 9200 Olive Boulevard, Olivette; 314-992-2301) is giving away its trade secrets for a cause. The award-winning St. Louis-based barbecue restaurant will host Operation Barbecue, a virtual cooking class, on Thursday, May 13, with proceeds benefiting Operation Food Search. Sugarfire’s executive chef Matt Glickert will lead the class, giving cooks of all levels the know-how they need to cook chicken, shrimp and vegetable kabobs,

relaxed restrictions in St. Louis County permitted QuikTrips there to roll out the company’s buffet-style offerings in October, said Jefferson-Smith. The division between city and county QuikTrips locations hasn’t been ideal. She notes that the roller-grill items are “a hot seller in our stores.” But last Monday, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and County Executive Sam Page appeared in a joint press conference to announce new health orders that lift capacity restrictions on bars and restaurants. Although the two mayors did not discuss QuikTrip specifically, Jefferson-Smith said the May 3 announcement coincided with a “notification” to the company that it can start working to bring its city locations in line with the measures already in place in its other regional stores. “The city is mirroring what the county has laid out,” she explained. “Once we’re at the point where we have covers for all our grill items, we’ll be able to start reselling them.” Still, Jefferson-Smith said the company isn’t yet ready to announce a specific date for the return of the items. The company is assessing the logistics of restarting food deliveries and the time it will take to fabricate grill covers. St. Louis isn’t the only town that’s been sorely missing the cheap pleasure of grabbing a steak-and-cheese taquito or a corndog for the road: In March, Fox4 News in Kansas City reported that the company had finally responded to “repeated questions about the return of roller food and pastries in the Kansas City market.” The company response came in the form of a two-word statement, announced via a Twitter press release: “They’re back.” n

creamy lemon-herb cole slaw and grilled Yukon gold potato salad. Tickets for the interactive event are $65 for two adults or $100 for a family pack that serves four people. Included in the price are event access and ingredients required to prepare the meal Glickert will demonstrate. Beer pairings that consist of four cans of 4 Hands City Wide Beer are available for an additional $12. Proceeds from the event will go to support Operation Backpack, an initiative of Operation Food Search that provides weekend meals to food-insecure children throughout the school year. Operation Backpack is part of the organization’s overall mission to end childhood hunger by providing families with access to healthy and affordable food — a need that has come even more into focus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Riverfront Times is on Operation Food Search’s Friends Board and is helping out with the event. For more information and to purchase tickets for Operation Barbecue, visit operationfoodsearch.org. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

REEFERFRONT TIMES

[DISPENSARY REVIEW]

Tommy Chims Smokes Proper Cannabis’ Weed Written by

THOMAS CHIMCHARDS

n retrospect, it’s a little surprising that police dogs were ever even able to smell the subpar pot that dominated the black market back in the day. That vacuum-packed, seedfilled, so-called “schwag” weed — or “Bobby Brown,” as my group of friends dubbed it — certainly wasn’t anything to look at, smashed into bricks as it was, let alone anything that one would call “aromatic.” And yet I vividly remember sitting in a friend’s kitchen once as he and his dad cut open some tires to free the sealedup packages within, which had been soaked in mustard so as to keep the K-9’s off the scent. That memory came to mind as I walked into Proper Cannabis (7417 South Lindbergh Boulevard, 314-328-0446) on a recent sunny afternoon, whereupon I was instantly punched in the face with the absolutely overwhelming smell of high-quality weed. Proper Cannabis was the first group in the state to be granted a license to both cultivate and manufacture medical marijuana under one roof, and while that work doesn’t technically happen at this location, the considerable size of the brand’s operation — its wares can be purchased at multiple otherwise unaffiliated dispensaries in the St. Louis area, even — makes it easy to imagine they keep a lot of product in this building. In other words, were I a dog tasked with helping The Man hassle other human beings over the things they put into their own bodies, I would have begun barking

RIVERFRONT TIMES

er’s cultivation license has kicked them a couple steps ahead of the game and allowed them to stay pretty well stocked. I went with an eighth of Alien Rock Candy ($60), a gram of both GMO Cookies and Cookies & Cream ($20 each) and a Honeybee peanut and pretzel chocolate bar containing 100 mg of THC ($35). Proper offers first-time customers 20 percent off their purchase, so after taxes ($14.03 altogether) my total came to $122.03. As I checked out, I remarked on the building’s overwhelming aroma; my budtender chuckled and mentioned that he Proper’s south county dispensary has a modern apothecary feel. | PROVIDED BY PROPER CANNABIS can’t even smell it anymore, which is frankly remarkable. I dug into the Alien Rock Candy, wildly the moment I stepped foot flower strains, concentrates and rated at 15.82 percent THC, first. in the door. Being that I’m just a edibles on hand. At this stage in Its dark green buds are flecked person, and therefore that would the Missouri medical marijuana with a few lighter spots and dark be regarded as completely insane game, it’s pretty much a cultiva- orange hair clusters, and large behavior, I instead walked up to tor’s market — many of the dis- trichomes that have the appearthe front desk, where a kind wom- pensaries that have yet to open ance of tiny water drops. When I an behind glass asked me for my their doors are having difficulty opened the bag I was met with a ID and medical card before buzz- securing product, I’ve been told, warm smell of fresh-cut grass and ing me into the shop’s waiting area and the supply/demand dynamic hints of coffee, and the buds broke — or, as the woman dubbed it, her is currently swinging in favor of up nicely, somewhere between living room. After about two min- the suppliers. So once again, Prop- sticky and keefy. On inhale I could utes, my budtender came and led me into the floor of the shop. Let me tell you, this place is something. For fans of Schitt’s Creek, this will be super easy to explain: Imagine if Rose ApotheFrom the altered mind of cary gave up on selling Body Milk THOMAS CHIMCHARDS and got into the weed business instead. For the rest of you, think Welcome to Higher Thoughts, wherein ol’ Tommy Chims smokes one strain from clean, crisp lines, midcentury this review — in this case, Cookies and Cream — and then immediately writes modern furnishings and an overwhatever comes to mind in the hopes of giving you, dear reader, a clearer picall high-end, boutique feel. Proper ture of its overall mental effects: no rules, no predetermined word counts and, teamed up with the locally based most crucially, no editing. Here we go: construction, design and contracting firm IMPACT Strategies to renovate this building and the I THINK THEY should do a remake particular set of skills,” or whatever, brand’s Warrenton location with of John Wick wherein Keanu Reeves instead of a cool speech it’s just this a classy black-and-white design dies but the dog lives, and then the dog gripping a phone with its paw and featuring wood accents, geometdog goes on a blood-spattered, action- barking into it with an icy stare on its ric fixtures and millwork finishes, packed killing spree all the way up the face while the guy on the other end and the end result is sophisticated chain of bad guys, leaving a river of pisses his pants. but inviting and without pretense. What’s that you say? That’s from gore and hot lead in his wake as he Upon entry, my budtender led exacts doggy revenge. There could be the movie Taken? I guess this is the me to a long glass counter with a training scene in Dog Wick where part when I admit that I have never a line of barstools, where he dithe dog learns to fire a gun and use seen John Wick or Taken, honestly. rected me to sit down while we a sword with his little paws, and he They’d both be better movies if the discussed the shop’s products. could do all sorts of cool karate moves main character was a gun-toting baSince Proper Cannabis cultivates and shit, maybe using his tail or some- dass karate dog, is all I’m trying to say and manufactures its own weed, thing. And then during the one scene, here. In retrospect I am sorry for my he was exceptionally knowledgewhen Liam Neeson is like, “I have a outburst. able about all of the offerings on Was that helpful? Who knows! See you next week. hand, speaking about each one with a casual authority that inThomas K. Chimchards is RFT’s resident cannabis correspondent and aspiring dicated clearly that he knows his door-to-door doorbell salesman. Email him tips at tommy.chim@riverfronttimes. stuff. At the time of my visit, the com and follow him on Twitter at @TOMMYCHIMS. shop had a pretty wide variety of

MAY 12-18, 2021

S T HIGHER THOU G H

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detect some light, sweet berry and citrus flavors, and I found the strain to be fairly cough-inducing. Alien Rock Candy delivers a relaxed, mellow high that makes your body feel fantastic without pummeling your brain into a stupor. Proper’s website refers to the strain as its “calling card,” and it’s easy to see why. Next up was the battle of the cookie strains. The GMO Cookies boasts beautiful, light green little popcorn nuggets speckled with dark green spots and thick, crystally orange hairs throughout. Breaking these buds up was a breeze, bringing a strong, fuel-like smell along with something I couldn’t exactly identify. (I wrote “old peoples’ house” in my notes, but that’s not quite right. Maybe some floral hints? But like, sour ones?) On inhale this strain is exceptionally smooth with a great, fairly pure “weed” taste that will be familiar to anyone who has smoked their fair share of the good shit over

the years. With a whopping 25.7 percent THC rating this stuff left me feeling relaxed and hungry immediately, with a creeping pressure behind my eyes and even the onset of a little paranoia, which, as I’ve mentioned in a previous review, mostly just serves to indicate that I’ve gotten myself pretty outrageously stoned. Considering its sky-high THC content, though, that’s not a surprise. The Cookies and Cream struck me as remarkably similar in both appearance and effect. A 22.53 percent THC hybrid strain, the main differences were in its smell and taste (this one was sugar sweet and robust on inhale) and how it breaks up — I’d definitely recommend a grinder here, unless you like getting your fingers all sticky. My budtender had mentioned that this strain hits different people in different ways, with some experiencing a more energetic high and some a more sedating one. I definitely fall into

the latter camp. I was pretty excited to try the Honeybee chocolate bar — I’d already sampled some Honeybee black cherry cola gumdrops I’d picked up at Jane Dispensary for a previous review, and they were easily the tastiest edibles I’ve ever had. Honeybee, Proper’s edibles line, is spearheaded by longtime St. Louis chef Dave Owens, who formerly worked as chief chocolatier for Bissinger’s for twelve years, and I figured if the gumdrops were phenomenal, Owens’ professional background must mean the chocolate is absolutely divine. Boy was I right! The peanut and pretzel milk chocolate bar is creamy and sweet, and a little salty, with a nice satisfying

crunch from the nuts and pretzel, and almost no taste from the THC — really just top-tier stuff. As far as effects are concerned, I ate three and a half squares, or 35 mg’s worth of THC, and found it to be a relaxed but not overwhelming body high that was absolutely phenomenal for my chronic pain — I’d been having a particularly rough day in that department, but the pain melted away as soon as the edible kicked in. In the short time it’s been open, Proper Cannabis has already begun positioning itself as a heavy hitter in Missouri’s nascent medical marijuana industry, thanks to its quality products, vertically integrated business model and its to supply other dispensaries in town. I suspect that as time goes on the brand will only grow bigger and better, especially since they’re already off to such a great start. In other words: That smell when you walk in the door? Well, that’s just the smell of success. n

Add-On to Police Protection Bill Could Change Harsh Drug Law

— including one that could finally open a door for some inmates who have spent more than ten years in prison serving sentences as “prior and persistent drug offenders.” As the RFT has reported previously, the designation allowed prosecutors and courts to enhance otherwise low-level drug crimes if a defendant had two prior drug felonies. For example, with a “prior and persistent” designation, a felony charge for second-degree trafficking — which put an average drug offender in prison for about five years before they could be paroled — became a ten-year minimum sentence without the possibility for parole. The law resulted in extreme sentences for moderate amounts of drugs. But while lawmakers repealed the state’s uniquely harsh version of a “three-strike law” effective in 2017, the repeal wasn’t retroactive. That was where Rep. Cheri ToalsonReisch came in. A Republican lawmaker representing Boone County, ToalsonReisch had advocated for the case of Dimetrious Woods, the subject of multiple RFT cover stories and a convicted “prior and persistent” drug offender who had managed to win his own freedom in 2018 by arguing that the repeal did, in fact, extend into the past, and therefore meant he was eligible for parole. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately disagreed with Woods, ruling in 2020 that

he had been “erroneously released” — but, with the advocacy of Toalson-Reisch and others, Gov. Mike Parson intervened and commuted Woods’ sentence in 2020, allowing him to remain free. Of course, that avenue for freedom is limited to the governor’s clemency powers. Toalson-Reisch is trying to create a different option through the legislature. Her bill, filed this year, would restore parole eligibility to “prior and persistent” offenders who were convicted of trafficking and have already served ten years in prison. “With the original bill I filed, I was reaching the people that fell into what I call ‘the crack’ of the law that went into effect in 2017,” she says. Toalson-Reisch wasn’t the only one looking at long-term drug offenders left behind by the repeal. “The Department of Corrections actually came to me and said, ‘Hey, we’ve been studying this and working on this with our attorneys, and we would like to expand your bill to encompass more people.’” And that’s what she did, expanding the bill to include both first-degree and second-degree drug trafficking. According to an analysis from the Department of Corrections, the law, if passed, would affect a total of 35 drug offenders convicted of trafficking, eight of whom have already passed the ten-year mark in their sentences. Toalson-Reisch acknowledges that

her bill-turned-amendment reaches only a portion of the total number of “prior and persistent” drug offenders, many of whom were convicted not as drug traffickers, but for other drug crimes like “distribution” or possession near public housing or schools. According to 2020 prison data, more than 230 offenders are currently serving prison sentences on the now-repealed 2017 law. While dozens appear to have already served ten or more years, records show that legal delays in 33 cases meant that their convictions, despite falling after 2017, are governed by the drug laws as they existed at the time of their offenses — meaning they are in the early stages of serving their ten-year minimum sentences without possibility for parole. Now an amendment to Senate Bill 26, the fate of Toalson-Reisch’s proposal is contingent on whether it makes it into the bill’s final version, which is currently being negotiated by the House and Senate. From there, the matter will be in Gov. Mike Parson’s hands. Parson, though, is clearly aware of the issue. Along with Woods, Parson has issued nine commutations of “prior and persistent” drug offenders since 2020, including four cases backed by ToalsonReisch. “I’m concentrating on the nonviolent drug offenders,” she says. “That seems to be, so far, the ones the governor’s office has been most open to.” n

Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

n 2017, the Missouri legislature tried and failed to fully repeal a law that traps non-violent drug offenders in prison for decades — but as the end of the current legislative session approaches, an effort to finally finish the job hinges on what is arguably the most controversial bill of the year. That bill, Senate Bill 26, is stuffed to the absolute gills with new laws, many of them dealing with police. One headlinegrabbing provision would target protesters by creating a crime for intentionally blocking a roadway. Another component, a sweeping set of protections for cops accused of misconduct, is so officer-friendly that the chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department came out to oppose the measure because it would undermine the department’s ability to investigate crooked cops. On May 5, the bill got even busier, as the Missouri House approved the legislation while adding some 40 amendments

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

CULTURE

[SCHOOL]

Could, Should and Did St. Louis fifth graders’ fandom for Jeff Goldblum finds a way Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

fifth-grade class in Webster Groves responded to the challenges of virtual learning by bonding over their shared fandom of Jeff Goldblum — and, as you can imagine, he is completely delighted by this information. In an April 21 Instagram post, the famed actor said he recently learned that he had become “a seed of creative inspiration” for the students in a particular class at Bristol Elementary School. “Thank you to these valiant and heroic students for honoring our shared enthusiasms so fantastically!” Goldblum wrote, attaching several examples of the sorts of artwork he had inspired. The selections include an image of Jeff Goldblum’s face made of

[EXPLOSIONS]

Sky Candy There are going to be fireworks all summer along the Mississippi River Written by

JAIME LEES

very Thursday night from June 3 until September 9 there will be a professional fireworks display over Grafton and Alton, Illinois. The show will start at 9 p.m. and will provide end-of-the-evening entertainment for other weekly events like Grafton’s Music in the Park and the Night Market on Broadway in Alton, which both happen on Thursday evenings.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

A fifth grader’s portrait of Jeff Goldblum, who truly contains multitudes. | VIA INSTAGRAM many tiny Jeff Goldblums, in addition to one student’s admirable attempt to crop and insert a casually dressed Jeff Goldblum into a photo of a formally dressed horse. Along with visual expressions of the Goldblumian oeuvre, some students submitted written works that captured not just the warm irreverence of the man himself, but the confidence. “It was a sunny day in Jeff Goldblum town,” begins one short story, in which the effortlessly cool actor demonstrates how to answer the phone (“This is Jeff Goldblum who is this?”) and later becomes so enamored with riding a “Fancy Horse” that he gives away his car. The Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois announced the riverside fireworks, encouraging visitors to “make the fireworks part of a mini vacation by spending the day in the historic river communities, enjoying meals at locally owned and operated restaurants and then turn in at a local hotel or guest house.” The weekly event provides an opportunity for businesses in the area to offer something special to visitors, too, like discounted lodging, sidewalk sales or food and drink specials. Cory Jobe, president and CEO of the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau, is quoted at RiverBender.org as saying that both Illinois towns have tourists visiting on the weekend but that during the week visitors can “enjoy the same dining experiences, outdoor activities and all of our great attractions without a lot of crowds.” So if you’re looking to get the kids out to see something special this summer (without having to deal with crowds or

MAY 12-18, 2021

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(The story ends, “Then they rode off into the sunset like they do in the movies.”) Goldblum’s post included a touching letter sent by parent Tara Scheer, who explained that “what started simply as one kid’s fandom has quickly spread to the entire class.” The pandemic and a year of virtual learning had been hard on the kids, Scheer wrote. “One of the biggest challenges in a virtual environment is building community and fostering relationships.” “As funny as it sounds,” her message continued, “Jeff Goldblum has brought this class together in a way no one could have imagined when the school year started in August. I’m honestly not sure this would ever have happened if they were learning together in-person.” According to the Webster Kirkwood-Times, Scheer and other parents had conspired to collect their kids’ creations and sent them to Goldblum’s publicist as evidence of his ascension to the status of grade-school muse. Then, on April 14, Scheer checked her voicemail for a new message. “Hello Tara, it’s Jeff Goldblum calling,” the message began, per a recording published by the Webster Kirkwood-Times. “That’s the sweetest letter that you sent and what those kids are doing and what you all are doing there is so adorable — I was very touched by

“As funny as it sounds, Jeff Goldblum has brought this class together in a way no one could have imagined when the school year started.” it. I just wanted to say hello and see if there’s anything I could do, but if nothing else, give a big hug and a kiss to all of those kids and tell them I really appreciate what they’re doing.” Before signing off, Goldblum noted that he was calling from Australia, where he’s working on the latest film in Marvel’s Thor series. “Anyway, I won’t pester you anymore,” he said, as if anyone could be pestered by Jeff Goldblum. “Thanks so much.” After hanging up the phone, we imagine Goldblum immediately went outside, mounted a horse dressed in a three-piece suit, and rode off into the sunset. n

The fireworks will provide end-of-the-evening entertainment after other Thursday evening events in Grafton and Alton. | VIA FLICKR/@LITTLESTAR19 refinance your house to be able to afford a vacation), the fireworks and other childfriendly activities along the Mighty Mis-

sissippi might be the perfect solution. Visit RiversAndRoutes.com for more information. n

The Grey Fox is the center of an unofficial gay village within the city. | JUSTIN LEHMAN

[BOOKS]

The Alleys of Grey Fox Hills Written by

CHRIS ANDOE The following is an excerpt from Chris Andoe’s forthcoming book, House of Villadiva.

ne early summer evening, prepandemic, I decided to stay home and clean while Kage went down to the corner. I carried out the recycling and thought about how the decommissioned alley behind our house was like a country road in the middle of the city. It required mowing, but still had patches of busted concrete and asphalt in sections, gravel and dirt ruts in others. I had to hike down it to get to the dumpster on the main alley below, which was inconvenient but didn’t bother me. As I descended, I could hear laughter and Kage getting high pitched — as he was prone to do when excited — while telling a story on the Grey Fox patio, which was thoroughly obscured by a forest of bamboo and an ivy-covered crumbling brick wall. Looking up I could see the illuminated penthouse atop the art deco South Side Tower a few blocks over. The penthouse was home to a leather daddy and his tribe, and featured a sprawling terrace. It was a goal of mine to see and write about it, but it had yet to happen. Looking down the main alley to our street I could see the steep steps leading to the charming cottage where the elderly previous owners of Grey Fox still resided. I met them at

a block party, and even though they lived across the street from the bar and could see down into the patio from their porch, they hadn’t been inside since they sold it many years earlier, and inquired about what it was like now. There was such a village feel to this rolling corner of the neighborhood, which I dubbed “Grey Fox Hills.” It sometimes felt everyone lived here, it was so dense with homosexuals, and there was a camaraderie. These were people who wanted to have fun. Tough, diverse personalities who weren’t quick to frighten. One night at the Grey Fox we were invited to the after party of a young guy who lived around the corner and had a framed tax form in his home proving he’d earned $80,000 one year showing his impressive penis online. He was a character and reminded me of an earlier incarnation of Rick, the former Melrose bad boy, in how jovial he was. He couldn’t sit still. The last Saturday of July 2020, a couple three blocks over posted a photo of their lovely backyard drenched in the golden evening sunlight with the caption, “Only missing friends.” After tossing that week’s recycling in the dumpster I noticed the quiet. No music or laughter. COVID-19 had swept through and impacted many in our orbit, from Zeeke to the Abernathys — our favorite Grey Fox bartenders, and even the guy with the $80,000 penis. I wondered when things would return to normal. Chris Andoe is a St. Louis-based author and former editor of Out in STL, a sister publication of the RFT. The premium Society Edition of House of Villadiva will be released on June 3 with all pre-sale profits benefiting Food Outreach. The black and white edition and ebook will be released on June 10.

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MAY 12-18, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 12-18, 2021

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SAVAGE LOVE DRAMATIS PERSONAE BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m someone who does gay porn for a living. How do people who do gay porn meet someone who doesn’t just sexualize or fetishize them? I can’t eat, sleep and breathe my work constantly, but the guys I meet want me to live out the “porn persona” version of myself all the time. How does someone who does porn know who you can be yourself with? Aiden Ward @aidenxxxward “Living with two identities is definitely a balancing act,” said Devin Franco, an award-winning gay porn performer. “Being in porn means juggling the ‘real world’ person I actually am — a person who has to navigate rent, healthcare, bills and a social life — and a porn-star alter ego. And these days our porn alter egos don’t just have to perform. We also have to do a lot of our own shooting and our own PR while maintaining our images. It’s a lot. And reality always comes knocking no matter how much fun you’re having. The bills always come due.” Franco’s first bit of advice is to remember that you are not your alter ego. “It’s a beautiful and sexy part of you that you have the opportunity to show to the world,” said Franco. “But it’s not all of you. That will help you stay grounded.” It also helps to remember that being “porn famous” doesn’t mean everyone knows who you are. “A lot of people you meet will have no idea who you are,” said Franco, “which means a lot of the time you’ll get to choose when you want to introduce yourself as your porn alter ego or when you want to just be yourself. This makes it easier to create boundaries between your real life and your porn life. Knowing you get to decide when or even if you want to introduce yourself as your actual self or as that fantasy version of yourself — your alter ego — means you can control how a lot of people perceive you.” So even if you get as porn famous as Franco is, Aiden, you’ll

still have lots of opportunities for people to get to know the real you — not the porn persona — before you tell them what you do for a living. As with so many things (being HIV+, being trans, being kinky, being polyam, etc.), when you tell a guy you do porn, Aiden, you’re telling him one thing he needs to know about you — but his reaction will tell you everything you need to know about him. If he starts shaming you about what you do— or if he goes from seeing you as a person who is also an object to seeing you as just an object — that’s really all you need to know: Don’t see him, unfollow him, block him. “Now lots of the people who fetishize and sexualize you are your fans — they’re your audience, they’re the ones who pay your bills, and you have to recognize that and you do have to keep them interested,” said Franco, “but you don’t have to give them all of your time and attention. Because at the end of the day, it’s your work and you’ve got other shit to do. You will meet people both in and out of the industry who recognize that you are a real person, with a real life, and who will get to know the real you,” said Franco. “And you’ll sometimes find that some of the people who fetishized you at first don’t anymore once they get to know the real you.” Franco shared your question with CagedJock, another high-profile porn star that Franco works with regularly, and CagedJock shared his strategy for finding guys he can be himself around: “I like to hang out with people who work in the same industry,” said CagedJock, “because they don’t sexualize me. Devin and I have been friends since 2019. He’s super sexy and I adore him. While other guys might only see him only as fantasy figure, I don’t. Because I know our work doesn’t define us 24/7. We’re friends.” Follow Devin Franco on Twitter @devinfrancoxxx and CagedJock @cagedjock. Hey, Dan: I’m a gay male in his 30s and during the pandemic I stayed with a straight male friend and his girlfriend. He’d periodically been flirty with me over the years — sending me nude photos and drunkenly telling me that he loved me. When his girlfriend was away visiting family we got drunk together. He bought all the alcohol, he mixed

At some point in our gay lives every gay man learns not to mess around with a friend’s drunk straight-identified boyfriend. it, and he served it. During this time we had a series of drunken encounters. The first time he took out his cock and asked me if I wanted to play with it. There was some brief licking and he grabbed my hair and finished on my face. He hugged me and rubbed my back after. The next two times were less serious, but he took off his shirt and pants. On one of those occasions his girlfriend called and he put his clothes back on, took the call, then came back and took his clothes off again. All three times it happened he was fully engaged and communicating his wants and initiating things. His girlfriend eventually found out about one of the incidents. After a month of drama, he told her everything and they broke up. Shortly after, he claimed that I took advantage of him and claimed he was too drunk to give consent! I am not sure what to make of this. First, he is the one that supplied the alcohol and made us both really strong drinks. He also drinks a lot regularly, so his tolerance is much higher than mine, but we drank the same amount and I was much drunker than he was. Third, he continued to hang out with me until his girlfriend found out. I am deeply hurt. I’ve lost of two friends — which I admit that I am partially to blame for. I knew they were together. But I don’t know what to do about the accusation that I forced him to be sexual without his consent. I have played events over and over in my mind and I don’t understand how he could say this. He supplied the alcohol, he was an active participant, and when I asked if he really wanted to do this, he said yes. I am not sure if he is gaslighting me or if he honestly remembers things

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differently. Boy Lost And Hurt At some point in our gay lives every gay man learns not to mess around with a friend’s drunk straight-identified boyfriend. No matter how many dick pics they send us, no matter how much they claim to wanna, when it comes to shit — as it invariably does — the gay guy is gonna get the blame. It’s a lesson most of us learn earlier in life (I was sixteen when I learned it), BLAH, but it’s a lesson most us learn after messing around with the drunk straight-identified boyfriend of a friend. We fuck around, we find out. Anyway, your male former friend obviously wanted to mess around with another dude — he wasn’t sending you dick pics by accident — and the drinks he made were as much about lowering his inhibitions and yours (about cheating with him) as they were giving him some plausible deniability (“Man, I was so drunk last night!”) if the worst should happen. And it did: You fucked around, she found out. But after you guys got caught — which almost everybody does — instead of taking responsibility or coming out as bi or bi-curious or at the very least heteroflexible, BLAH, your former friend weaponized the toxic stereotype of the predatory homosexual against you. It’s understandable that you’re upset. If it’ll make you feel better — and it would certainly make me feel better — you could send screengrabs of the dick pics he sent you to him and his girlfriend. Because if anyone was making passes here, it was him. If anyone taking advantage here, it was him. You could send those screengrabs, but you shouldn’t — as wrong as it was of him to weaponize anti-gay stereotype against you, BLAH, using his dick pics against him would also be wrong. And probably a crime under revenge porn statutes. But you have every right to push back against the accusation that you forced yourself on your former friend — and while you have the receipts and he knows it, BLAH, you shouldn’t produce them. Maybe just knowing you have them will make you feel better. mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

MAY 12-18, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 12-18, 2021

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MAY 12-18, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Riverfront Times, May 12, 2021

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