Developments across the Triad and beyond, compiled by Y!W staff
Greensboro council split
The Greensboro City Council voted 5 to 4 to annex the Whitehurst Village, Hartwood Village and Laurel Park subdivisions near McLeansville. Casting the dissenting votes were Mayor Yvonne Johnson, at-large Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw, District 4 Councilman Mike Barber and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade. City Attorney Terry Wood explained that because the motion did not garner six votes, approval would require a second vote at the next meeting on April 21. Assuming the current 5-4 majority holds, the land will be annexed. “Currently we’re seven miles away from the edge of the real city… the rest of the contiguous part of the city,” argued Walter James Penrod, a Whitehurst Village resident. “We have no community center within twelve miles. There’s no bus route within seven miles, no libraries definitely within walking distance. There’s no city parks for our children. There’s no bike trails or walking trails or public golf courses. There’s a fire station that was put out there, but when you think about Replacements Limited and the city buildings and the commercial buildings out there, one truck for all of those areas is somewhat questionable…. It’s just not fair. The Cardinal had city water and sewer for thirty years. Plus Sedgefield still isn’t part of the city, and they have city water and a lot of services. Look at the Cardinal. You grew out to the Cardinal and that was probably the right time to annex them, and look at all the bus routes and services that are provided them. Sedgefield with a shopping center to the north of it, and one proposed to the south of it. So how is it fair that Sedgefield is not a part of the city and they have million-dollar homes, and our homes are not nearly [worth] that? So I believe the right thing for you to do, not just for your city residents but for everyone, is to delay the annexation.” Trudy Wade, who made a motion to delay the annexation for an additional year, said, “I think the city is having its own, shall we say, financial challenge in order to meet the budget this year, and I just don’t think at this time we can put parks up, and put streetlights up and take on another financial burden at this time.” At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins argued that granting the delay would set a bad precedent. “I just am looking for a way to differentiate this from any of the other annexations that have been petitioned for water and sewer service with the same type of language in the record,” he said. “And I understand the hardship aspect of the economy and the increased city taxes, but I also am struggling to make this different from the many different annexations that we’ve done over a period of time, and also looking toward future annexations where other neighborhoods will come in and make this same argument. I think what we’re doing if we vote to delay this again is doing a gross disservice to the 250,000 people that already live in the city limits of the city of Greensboro.” — JG
Conservatives activated
The anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity holds a “tea party” rally at Center City Park in Greensboro at noon on Wednesday to protest tax increases proposed by Gov. Beverly Perdue. “The taxpayer well is running dry, Americans for Prosperity state director Dallas Woodhouse said in a prepared statement. “North Carolina is tired of serving as the governor’s relief fund anytime the state cries ‘bankrupt.’” The UNCG Republicans will also take part in the anti-tax protests as part of the group’s Joe the Plumber Day. Declaring “UNCG in dire need of traditional moral values, the campus Republicans are hosting their 6th annual “Morals Week.” Beginning with Pro-Life Day on Monday, Alamance Pregnancy Services provides a fetal development display. Tuesday is Support Our Troops Day, with Flagg Youngblood speaking at the New Science Building on the topic of “Hey Hey, Ho Ho… Anti- Militarism Has Got to Go.” Thursday, being Fine Upstanding Democrats Day, pokes fun at figures such as Edward Kennedy, Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi. The Republicans will serve hamburgers and hot dogs on Friday for PETA BBQ Day, whose purpose is “to remind people that eating meat is not immoral.” According to a press release issued by the group, “The College Republicans endorse and promote the message that morality and values are absolute, and that Americans need to return to those traditional principles.” — JG
Keep military academy open
Academic faculty and staff agreed to forego five weeks of salary to Oak Ridge Military Academy, the school announced on April 10. The Guilford County preparatory school, which was founded in 1852, has fallen victim to budget shortfalls and lower than projected enrollment. “I’m extremely honored to work with a group of professionals so willing to put everything on the line for the academy,” said Col. Roy W. Berwick in a prepared statement. “Many people have stepped up and helped with contributions but we are still well short of meeting our financial needs. We are viable and continue to win new students.” Oak Ridge Military Academy announced that unless additional funding can be obtained, the school may be forced to close. The board of trustees is evaluating numerous options to keep the school open. — JG
Harris Teeter pulls pistachios
Harris Teeter announced on April 11 that it is recalling Harris Teeter Natural Roasted & Salted Pistachios from shelves. A press release issued announced that the grocery chain was pulling products supplied by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella in California and, in compliance with the US Food and Drug Administration, products supplied by Bremner Food Group, because of potential contamination with the salmonella organism. — JG
School position cuts rise to 163
Guilford County Schools Superintendant Mo Green proposed a $651.8 million budget for school year 2009-’10 on April 7. In response to a request from the Guilford County Commission to keep local funding flat and an anticipated $10.3 million cut in Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposed state budget, the school budget includes $21.8 million in cuts. With the unveiled budget comes an escalation in the number of positions the school system plans to eliminate to 153 positions — up from 90 previously. The school system plans to cut 90 positions from school sites, primarily media assistants, while an additional 63 positions would be trimmed from central office, primarily from the Academic Services division. — JG
Blue Cross Blue Shield audit
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) reports that legislation appropriating money for the State Health Plan for teachers and state employees to make up for a $250 million shortfall appears to be headed to the full chamber for consideration. “I offered an amendment to the bill which removed the troubling wellness provisions and required that future contractors receive the scrutiny of an independent audit,” Harrison wrote in an April 9 update. “The current $100 million contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield cannot be audited due to the terms of the contract.” — JG
Anti-peddler ordinance
The Greensboro City Council will consider an anti-peddler ordinance requested by District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny that would restrict the hours when solicitors and beggars may operate to the period between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. when it next meets on April 21. The council officially tabled the agenda item at its last meeting, but Matheny asked City Attorney Terry Wood to bring back some language for a new ordinance for the council to consider. “We’ve talked about safety and parking decks downtown, and that has been of great concern,” Matheny said about the impetus for the proposed ordinance. “District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade added, “A couple of the community meetings I’ve attended, they’re having problems with solicitors, but not so much when they come as the fact that they come and then they come back and then they rob the house.” Mayor Yvonne Johnson said she would support the proposal as long as groups that solicit households for charitable purposes received adequate notice. At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins heaped scorn on the idea: “This is going to affect the bell ringers in the department stores, won’t it? Because they’re going to be ringing the bells at nine o’clock at night. They’re soliciting. That’s a solicitor. So you’re going to shut them down at six o’clock. So the guys at the Rotary Club can’t go stand in front of Belk’s at seven o’clock. So you’ve got a lot of unintended consequences. You know, if a citizen doesn’t like what he or she sees going on in front of her house on Halloween and calls the police, the police have got an ordinance they’ve got to enforce. This has all kinds of holes in it.” — JG
Still no word on Dell job cuts
The Dell computer-assembly plant in Forsyth County still refuses to share information about how many people it currently employs after three rounds of layoffs in recent months. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines called upon company officials to provide detailed information about its workforce in a statement released April 3. Still, Dell has not shared the information with city officials. In a statement, Joines said that he and the city council are “increasingly concerned by the company’s withholding of employment information related to incentive requirements.” The city’s financial incentives to Dell are based on the company meeting specific benchmarks, including a requirement the plant employ a least 1,700 people at an average yearly pay of $28,000 by October 2010. Winston-Salem City Councilman Dan Besse said Forsyth residents should remember that the Dell incentive package was carefully crafted to give the public more than the city and county are putting into the plant. The city and the county have paid Dell $22.2 million in incentives so far, including $14.5 million in site-preparation work for the plant. In exchange for the incentives, Dell had to invest $100 million in the plant. “If they don’t meet their benchmarks this year, they don’t get their payment next year, or the payment is reduced based on actual performance,” Besse said. If Dell shuts down its Forsyth plant, the company would have to pay back the incentive package money, “but we don’t anticipate that happening,” Besse added. — KTB
Tasers approved for WSPD
The Winston-Salem Public Safety Committee unanimously approved the use of Tasers by the Winston-Salem Police Department during the committee’s regular meeting on Monday. However, the funding source for the Tasers, which use electrical current to stun and incapacitate criminal suspects, remains uncertain. Police Chief Scott Cunningham told committee members that the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is seeking a 50-50 split of the city’s Justice Assistance Grant funds the city applied for through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. North Carolina municipalities will receive more than $50 million in law enforcement grants as part of the economic stimulus package. “I don’t believe I should give up $350,000 to the county,” Cunningham said. The city of Winston-Salem generates the bulk of the revenue and the crime in Forsyth County so it’s only fair it gets the majority of the funds, he added. Mayor Pro Tem and committee chair Vivian Burke instructed Cunningham to remain steadfast. Cunningham informed the committee that the application deadline is May 18 and if an agreement is not reached by that time, the funds go back to the federal government. City councilwoman and committee member Molly Leight said the city might have to make an end run around Forsyth County Sheriff Bill Schatzman. “I think the city manager and the police chief are going to try to talk to the county manager to try to sort this out,” Leight said. “It’s totally unacceptable.” — KTB
