LIVE TO EAT: The News and Tribune really likes A.S.S.

Now THAT's a great multinational beer list.

Allow me to make an observation, but before I do, kindly note that my point is not directed at the establishment known as A.S.S. -- or, American Smokehouse Stadium, which is located somewhere in Jeffersonville, slightly removed from my usual migratory route.

Mundane beer list aside, I have nothing whatever against the establishment, and what's more, I don't know anyone involved with it -- and by the way, A.S.S. is not a dig; it's purely intentional on the part of ownership (see logo above).

May they live long and prosper.

Rather, I find it fascinating that today's News and Tribune article about A.S.S. is the third one since September last year, and the second to be tagged as a "feature."

The first article previewed the restaurant, the second surveyed its progress, and the third (today's) offered insights into a recent ownership shuffle and menu reboot by a new chef.

In short, the sort of routine things that occur fairly regularly in the restaurant business.

 

Am I missing something?

Is it normal for one restaurant of many to be given this much attention?

How many local restaurants have had three separate News and Tribune stories in a seven-month period?

Does Bill Hanson's nephew work at A.S.S.?

Is the restaurant paying to play, given all this coverage?

Or, is A.S.S. the one cowering in terror behind the cabinetry -- "please, no, not another article; coverage from the Tom May Gazette is the kiss of death."

With the newspaper two reporters down (Morris on leave and nary a replacement for the departed Beilman), New Albanians already know which areas of coverage will be cut first.

Perhaps there are two asses, not just one.

"News and Tribune" changes its name to "Tom May Compendium."

Now Karl May ... there was a writer.

First the newspaper doubled down on its weekly Sunday coverage of religious superstition with two columnists, one local (Tom May) and the other not (Nancy Kennedy).

Now May gets a second column slot (albeit it one not published weekly) at a time when the newspaper surely would be better served by a newfound commitment to diversity.

Let's see: May, Cummins, Dodd, Stawar, Moss (all male, all white, average age probably 60 if not greater) ... versus Anderson and Beam (white and female; Kennedy is, too, but she doesn't count because religion is bunk and she's syndicated).

WTF, management?

Is this May character a former employee of state government in Alabama, entitled to some sort of weird pensioner columnist's kickback?

This being the News and Tribune, it gets even worse.

May's first offering in his second column slot was about sports, and someone in Indy liked it, so now the newspaper must inevitably devote column inches to praising itself for its own columnist.

Hand me an air sickness bag, and allow me to repeat: Has diversity ever occurred to anyone in Hanson Ad Sales Land?

Spoiler alert: The first sentence of Morris' paean to May is not offered in an ironic sense.

Indians offer May season pass after reading column, by Chris Morris

NEW ALBANY — Tom May figures he was at the right place at the right time — twice.