SCUTTLEBUTT
Developments across the Triad and beyond, compiled by Keith T. Barber and Jordan Green
Besse considering run for mayor
Southwest Ward Winston-Salem Councilman Dan Besse said he plans to run for reelection to council next year, and might consider a run for mayor if Allen Joines were to step aside. “If Allen should happen to take advantage of some other leadership opportunity such as a state level cabinet position — which I’m not aware that he’s been offered — and he should elect to not run again, I would look very seriously at mayor,” Besse said. “I’m not ready to make that announcement.” Besse ran for lieutenant governor this year and placed last among four candidates in his Democratic primary. He showed up at the NC Progressive Democrats’ convention in Greensboro on Dec. 6 to give a post-election analysis of his failed run because, he said, he won the group’s endorsement. Among his troubles, he said, was that he split the progressive vote with Hampton Dellinger and Pat Smathers while Walter Dalton — who went on to win the November general election — was the sole business Democrat to enter the race. Besse concluded from a post-primary poll of 583 Democratic voters that “the Obama/Clinton primary produced a huge turnout; and only Dalton and Dellinger had the money to reach the large number of relatively uninformed voters.” — JG
Troublemaker meets Nature Boy
Blogger Ben Holder, part of the faction intent on ousting Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson and an ardent critic of the manager’s supporters on council, managed to unite erstwhile foes behind a common cause on Dec. 2. The Greensboro City Council approved a motion by acclamation to present the key to the city to professional wrestler Ric Flair during an appearance three days later at Proehlific Park. “On Nov. 24, 1983 in the Greensboro Coliseum, Ric Flair won the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating the legendary Harley Race,” Holder said. “The significance of that match is that it was the first-ever pay-per-view wrestling in the history of our country. Greensboro, North Carolina was an important location in the history of professional wrestling. People from all over the Carolinas came to Greensboro from the seventies through the eighties to watch Ric Flair.” District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny said he was at that 1983 match. Matheny deferred to Holder when it came time to decide who would actually present the key to Flair. When at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins suggested that Holder should hold the honor, the blogger replied with a triumphant “Woooooo!” — JG
Apartment association director angling for District 2 seat
With Goldie Wells’ announcement that she plans to step down from her District 2 seat on Greensboro City Council at the end of her term next year, several contenders are likely to step forward. A likely candidate is Ray Trapp, interim executive director of the Triad Apartment Association, chairman of the county Young Democrats and a member of the Greensboro Zoning Commission. “I would love to serve the community in any way that was needed,” Trapp said Monday. “The city council would probably be a great step. I’m still mulling out the possibility. As of now, I’m probably 90-percent sure.” Trapp said he has not had a formal meeting with Wells. “If I did try to seek the office, I would want to talk to her and would want to get support. I wouldn’t even think about taking that step unless I had an okay from her.” Wells said Monday that two other people have approached her about running, but neither has the same level of experience as Trapp.
“I feel like Ray’s been out there for awhile,” she said. “He seems to have that political interest and didn’t just pop up.” — JG
UNCG hoops to play at coliseum
UNCG’s men’s basketball program will move to the Greensboro Coliseum, where the team will play its home games, starting with the 2009-2010 season, the university and coliseum have announced. The university said former Atlantic Coast Conference administrator Fred Barakat and Winston-Salem-based ISP Collegiate Services Vice President Jerry Reckerd will assist in marketing the Spartans. “UNCG officials are taking a vigorous approach in order to elevate the status of the athletics program and raise the university’s profile in the state and across the nation,” university spokesman Steve Gilliam wrote.
“Other benefits to competition with ACC and other men’s basketball teams include creating a larger community fanbase, heightening partnerships and loyalty in the community, stimulating the economy, and enhancing the student experience.” — JG
W-S council to hear testimony
The Winston-Salem City Council has set a date and time to question former police detective Donald R. Williams about police procedure in the Jill Marker-Silk Plant Forest assault. Deputy City Manager Derwick Paige said
the council plans to ask Williams, the lead detective in the 1995
assault case, specifically about how police procedures were followed in
his investigation during a closed session on Dec. 17 at City Hall. The
council subpoenaed Williams last month after he refused to cooperate
with the Silk Plant Forest Citizen Review Committee.
Williams
was served the subpoena on Nov. 28, Paige said. The city council is not
looking into the guilt or innocence of Kalvin Michael Smith, who was
convicted of assault with intent to kill in the Marker case 11 years
ago, Paige said. Smith is currently serving a 28year sentence at the
Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville. He has steadfastly
proclaimed his innocence. Duke law student volunteers, working on
behalf of the Innocence Project, are reviewing his case. — KB
Would-be state Dems chair pledges to strip racist governor
Isaac Coleman, outreach chair of the Progressive Democrats of North Carolina,
asked candidates for chair of the state Democratic Party during a panel
at the group’s convention in Greensboro on Dec. 6 if they would support
renaming the annual Aycock-Vance Dinner in Asheville, which is the
party’s major fundraising event.
The event’s namesakes are
former Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, an avowed white supremacist who is
widely regarded as the founder of the modern North Carolina Democratic Party, and former Gov. Zebulon Baird Vance, who held office during the Civil War. Candidates Dannie Montgomery and Luke Hyde said they would appoint a task force to study the issue. A third member of the panel, Statesville lawyer David Parker, who
is expected to announce his candidacy, said if elected he would remove
Aycock’s name from the fundraiser. “I strike Aycock,” he said. “My
grandfather changed registration from Democratic to Republican because
he was a populist. Aycock — boom, gone. Vance, I don’t know. You could
maybe argue he was a product of his time.” — JG
Greensboro to spend $6.1 million making buildings energy efficient
The Greensboro City Council approved a $6.1 million contract with Potomac Electric Power Co. to retrofit more than a dozen city buildings to improve energy efficiency through such means as installing solar water heaters and installing new light fixtures. Joe Christie of Potomac Electric Power Co. said the measures would reduce the buildings’ energy use by 28.1 percent, and save the city $484,350 per year. The annual savings would pay down the investment over a 13year period, and Christie said any additional savings in the performance contract would be pocketed by the city. Christie added that he expected at least 80 percent of the work to be performed by local subcontractors. — JG
Guilford gets fit
Washington
State fitness equipment manufacturer Precor announced on Dec. 3 that it
plans to open a new Southeast manufacturing, assembly and distribution
facility at Rock Creek Center in eastern Guilford County. The company
has stated intentions of hiring about 142 employees by 2011 at an
average wage of $38,456 — slightly higher than the county’s average
wage. The office of Gov. Mike Easley took credit for the company locating in Guilford, noting that Precor received a $142,000 incentive grant from the One North Carolina
Fund. The Guilford County Commission voted 9-1 on Nov. 6 to approve
$294,000 in tax incentives, to be paid to the company over three years.
District 5 Commissioner Billy Yow, who cast the lone dissenting vote, called the incentives deal “extortion at its best.” Chairman Kirk Perkins, who has since relinquished leadership of the commission to Skip Alston, said Precor had also considered locating in Columbia, SC and Nashville, Tenn. — JG
Jordan Lake Rules to be reviewed
The NC Rules Review Commission approved the extensive Jordan Lake Rules from June through November 2008. That doesn’t mean the rules, which are designed to reduced the nutrient load dumped from the Haw River watershed into Jordan Lake in eastern Chatham County, are anywhere near the point of implementation. Because of the number of objection letters received by the Rules Review Commission, Jason Robinson of the NC Division of Water Quality said that the rules will be reviewed by the NC General Assembly when it reconvenes in January. Expect municipalities, along with developers and manufacturers to make a full-press lobbying effort to defeat the rules. Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson promised as much during a city council meeting on Dec. 2. “We’ve got to influence our legislators to get this put aside so our taxpayers aren’t saddled with millions and billions of dollars,” she said. “And there’s no proof that this will help [clean up the lake].” — JG
Greensboro progressive on run
Joel Landau, considered
a progressive standard-bearer in Greensboro politics, said Sunday that
he is still deciding whether to run for city council next year, and
will likely decide in January. As co-chair of the Greensboro Community
Sustainability Council and member of the city’s planning board, Landau
has achieved a measure of name recognition. He’s lost two successive
bids for an at-large seat on city council, and made no comment on
whether he might try for a district seat this time around. He was
redistricted into District 4 early this year. If he decided to run for
the district seat, he would have to take on conservative Mike Barber,
unless Barber decides to challenge Yvonne Johnson for mayor. — JG
McCrory’s post-defeat analysis David Parker, a Statesville lawyer who serves on the Democratic National Committee, sat three seats away from Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory at the Davidson-NC State men’s basketball game in Charlotte on Dec. 6 (Davidson won, 72- 67). McCrory lost his race for governor to Democrat Bev Perdue. Parker, who has not announced his candidacy for chairman of the NC Democratic Party but took part in a candidate’s forum, told attendees of the NC Progressive Democrats convention in Greensboro that the Charlotte mayor was “whining” about his defeat. “He says, ‘I couldn’t even carry my own county; I don’t know why,’” Parker recounted. “I said, ‘Pat, you know exactly why.’ He said, ‘The Obama campaign. I’ve never seen anything like it.’” — JG
GPD reaccredited
The Greensboro Police Department has been reaccredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The department received its initial accreditation in 1986 and has been reaccredited every three years since then. The accrediting agency reviews 400 professional standards that, according to a city press release, are designed to “help strengthen crime prevention, improve service delivery and boost citizen and staff confidence in law enforcement.” The city acknowledged that its police department will be required to submit to review of two of those standards next year ahead of schedule. Steve Mitchell, a program manager for the commission said the police department was initially found deficient on standards for annual analysis of police vehicle pursuits and its multi-year plan. — JG
Johnsons awarded for truth
San
Francisco-based Civic Ventures, an agency dedicated to harnessing the
capacity of baby boomers to tackle social problems, has named the Rev. Nelson Johnson and his wife, Joyce Johnson, of
Greensboro as one of 15 winners of its Purpose Prize. The Johnsons,
both survivors of the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings and leaders within the
Beloved Community Center, will receive $10,000 in recognition for their
work to launch the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and
to support the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation, an organization
labeled as a gang by the Greensboro Police Department. A description of
the Johnsons’ work posted on Civic Venture’s website proposes that
“vitriol” against Johnson during the truth process “was paradoxical
proof of the idea’s importance, and the aftermath has proved it: Other
cities have contacted the Johnsons for advice in creating their own
truth and reconciliation projects.
They recently traveled to Mississippi and Alabama
to consult with project organizers there. Greensboro institutions like
the Beloved Community Center now have more access to and dialogue with
area power centers, they say.” The 23-member panel of judges that
selected the 15 winners included actor Sidney Poitier, former presidential advisor David Gergen and National Public Radio reporter Cokie Roberts. — JG
