General Denial

General denial:
n. A statement in an answer to a lawsuit or claim by a defendant in a lawsuit, in which the defendant denies everything alleged in the complaint without specifically denying any allegation. It reads: "Defendant denies each and every allegation contained in the complaint on file herein," or similar inclusive language.
(Source: dictionary.law.com)

In other words, an appropriate moniker for a weekly cocktail hour attended by a few Little Rock lawyers, politicians and other select bigwigs. The group gathers at -- where else? -- the 18th floor balcony of the Tower Building downtown, which affords sweeping views to the city's north and west. The balcony is accessed through lawyer Graham Catlett's firm. He also owns the building and has a penthouse-style apartment one floor below that features such things as a library, suite for poodle Savannah, and kitchen wall tiles commissioned to display the Catletts' favorite international sites (i.e. Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Thailand, the Coliseum, etc.). I wish I had photos to share, but I don't. That would have been tacky.

To even attempt to describe the view from the balcony won't do it justice. It was without question the best view of the city I have ever seen. Little Rock never looked so pretty. It is the only place I've stood from where one can see all the city's bridges, as well as across the Arkansas River to Dickey-Stephens Park, the home of our minor league baseball team, the Arkansas Travelers, since it opened in 2007.

P.S. The conversation was good too, as was the wine aflowin' and the fresh dips hand-delivered by Mary Beth Ringgold, owner and chef of the Cajun's / Copper Grill / Caper's restaurant trio.