LOCAL ZEROES.(The Talk of the Town)(Richard Scrushy)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 28-MAR-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Three years ago, Richard Scrushy embodied the hoariest of American myths. He was the home-town boy made good, the scrappy local who went from the community college to the executive suite. His town was Birmingham, Alabama, and his company was HealthSouth, a medical giant beloved by Wall Street and central to Birmingham's economic well-being. Scrushy was eccentric--while serving as HealthSouth's C.E.O., he released a country-music record, sponsored a girl group, and co-hosted a bizarre talk show with the former child star Jason Hervey, from "The Wonder Years"--but he was also rich and famous. In Birmingham, the locals called him King Richard, and they were surrounded by Scrushy tributes: a life-size bronze statue outside the HealthSouth Medical Center, a Richard M. Scrushy Campus at Jefferson State Community College, a Richard M. Scrushy...

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