News-Record.com

I read the article this week where an HP officer shot a golden retriever in the back. It is being investigated as there were witnesses that say the dog was not threatening. That is sorry to shoot a dog who is not hurting anyone.

Regardless, any owner who has a dog/cat should take responsbility for their pet. Most people do.

The owner broke the law and the dog received the ultimate punishment. How sad.

Even sadder that the real culprit refuses to take responsibility for his own actions.

I am sure that someone somewhere would have taken the Dobie since the owner obviously did not care about the dog.

Doug,

I admit up front that this is off the subject - please forgive me, but I have a favor to ask.

Could you please run a human interest/community service type of column requesting donations of copier paper for the Guilford County Schools?
Schools have already run out of their allocation for the quarter and will not be getting more until November. We still have 2 full weeks of educational time left before then.

Perhaps there are some businesses that could contribute. Or perhaps companies like the News & Record would allow individuals to purchase paper from the company at a deep discount. I'm sure large companies can purchase paper at a much lower cost than I can as an individual.

Thanks!

quest,

You're barking up the wrong tree.

I'd think a serious request would include a real name and email address.

Doug,

You're not a nice person.

This is a serious request. Call the schools - find out for yourself.

You have the ability to publicly request help via the News & Record. You sit on a high horse and preach of your good service to the community. Here was your chance to make a difference to many students in Guilford County.

My lack of a real name does not refute the claim I made.

quest,

If you had simply given a working email address it would have allowed me to contact you privately to determine the legitimacy of your request and ask about circumstances, etc., without veering other readers away from the intended topic.

Your entry suggests that the entire school system is out of copier paper. That seems unlikely. Surely someone within the vast entity that is GCS has a supply of copier paper.

It honestly doesn't sound like a high priority item to me. Given the generally hostile attitudes toward GCS of people who post on N&R blogs, it was easy to suspect that your request was some sort of set-up. If it wasn't, my apologies. Send me a private email from your real email accout and we can discuss this further.

Doug,

Read today's article in the Rhino regarding the most recent BOE meeting. It was noted that the administration needs to buy some new school buses, and they didn't budget for them, so they are reducing each schools budget by $.25 per activity mile to pay for them. Yes, they are passing expenses from central office down to the schools to pay for buses. I know it's shocking, but true.

Darlene Garrett stated that could mean as much as $800 per month out of one school's budget. Where do you think that schools will make-up that kind of money taken from their already reduced budgets?

Talk has been going around for several weeks about various schools rationing paper to the teachers. Terry Grier has denied that it is happening, but the reality is that it is, has been, and continues. Requests are being sent out to parents at some schools to provide these school items that should be a routine part of the school's budget. It's not the teachers or even the principal's fault. It is a central office administration that has $500 million per year to spend, and they don't spend it on things that are needed in the classrooms. What do you think they spend it on?

Check out what's going on at schools. It is rumored that it has happened at Central High, so you should be able to check it easily. quest speaks the truth, Doug. But, don't think that teachers will admit it, because if they do, they'll get called on the carpet. That has already happened to at least one innocent teacher.

Doug,

One other thing of concern. You've made a big deal out of the credibility of posters that don't use their real name. But, how is that any diferent than you writing an editorial and have it published without attribution. You have acknowledged that you do participate and write some of the editorials, but the News-Record doesn't see fit to identify which editor wrote it. Perhaps, a new policy is in order at the News-Record. Ler's assign editors' names to editorials so we can be sure that it has credibility.

I agree with this question about the integrity of posters on the N&R Blogs.. I suggest we start with Mr. Produce.

Let's remember that you can get family members to post and agree with you on every topic and that is OK, even if it comes from the same computer.

Thanks for the interest in editorials.

Editorials are the product of the editorial board. They reflect the editorial board's collective opinion, not one individual's opinion. The names of editorial writers appear at the bottom of the page. If you want to know who actually wrote a particular editorial on behalf of the editorial board, call and we'll tell you.

I know who mrproduce is. He posts only under that name, and he uses his real email address so that he can be contacted directly. I'd prefer that he post his real name, but I regard him as honest in his postings, unlike others who switch names frequently in order to deceive readers.

Doug,
First, since this started out being about dogs, I agree that owners are responsible for the containment of their animals. Dogs after all, are animals and not understanding of the law. I have been bitten by a few dogs, all of whom had an owner who swore the dog wouldn't bite anyone. Memo to ownwers, control your animals or be prepared for the results. We live in rural Caswell County where there is no "leash law". A former neighbor used to let his dogs run loose. Early one morning, his dog chased my wife back into our house as she tried to leave for work. I walked her back to her car and when the dog came after me, I demonstrated the operation of a Ruger P95 to the canine mind. I called my neighbor and helped him bury his dog. Dogs don't run loose in our area much anymore.
On the second point concerning the Guilford County Schools, I frankly think that they operate the usual grossly inefficient government operation. I also think that the anonymity afforded by the computer leads to an abundance of meaningless drivel started by discontented rumor mongers. If they don't like where they work, let them work elsewhere. If they have a serious problem, they should make it public using their real names.

Gilbert,

Thanks for your comments. Under the circumstances, I'd say you were perfectly justified in using deadly force to deal with a dog that was endangering your wife.

Letta Salone,

If you are so credible, my family members want to know why didn't you use your real email address?

Gilbert Jones,

Who said anything about not liking where they work? None of us work at the schools. We are all concerned parents and taxpayers. And, this isn't drivel, it's real life things happening to people. It may sound trivial to you, but to the people that are having their everyday lives trashed by this school administration and board, it's real life. It's against the law in Guilford County to use deadly force on something that irritates you, well, other than dogs, I suppose.

But, I don't suppose that a mind that admittedly suffers random moments of lunacy would have any compunction about taking out one of their favorite guns and shooting an animal in cold blood. Probably felt pretty good didn't it? Dogs shouldn't be left to run loose, I agree, but there are other ways to deal with problems than assassinating them. You seem to be someone who enjoys the use of deadly weapons to solve their problems. Since you live in a rural area, I suppose that there weren't any children in danger as you pumped the rounds into the animal, at least other than your own, were there?

I hope that your school system in Caswell is better than Guilford, but since you don't live here, I don't think that you have any understanding of what happens here. I suspect that if you lived in Guilford, you'd be first in line on this fight, but please given your pleasure with solving problems with deadly force, stay there in Caswell.

Now, Doug, are you going to continue to worry about dog shootings and missing squirrels or are you going to take quest's concerns seriously? There's serious hanky-panky going on in our schools, and you don't seem to want to know about it. At least give quest the courtesy of an honest answer to her concerns.

Hey Stormy, don't pick on my sister Letta. She must have just mis-typed her email address. We just want to make sure Doug knows that if it seems like more than one name comes from this computer, it is not the same person. (He seems to be having a problem with that lately)

If any of you ever feel your comments are unwelcome here on this blog, there is another blog that you can frequent. One inviting entry says this: "We'll inform each other, challenge each other, prompt each other, scold each other, encourage each other, correct each other and connect to each other. My job here is to throw out a thought or two every day or as often as I can and then stand back while the rest of you run with it - in whatever directions you want. Maybe we'll find some continuity, maybe not. All I hope for is participation"

Doesn't that sound inviting? Doesn't that sound like you could post about any topic you want to? Oh wait...that was Doug's first entry on this blog. I guess he has changed his mind.

By the way, me and my sister think Gilbert is sick. Why did you even bother to bury the dog? After shooting like that (and obviously enjoying it) why didn't you just throw it in the dumpster? Or hang it from a tree and take some target practice? Sick!

Yeah, Doug, there is a REAL paper shortage in some schools. How would you like it if the honors class your child was taking couldn't provide a study guide because paper is being rationed? I would think a budget of 500 million would include the cost of paper. No they rather spend it on overpaid central office employees to tell them there isn't a racial achievement gap.

Stormy is right; there is something fishy going on and time will tell what it is.

Like someone said about Guilford County Schools along time ago, "A Fish Stinks from the Head Down".

Except in High Point where apparently the Sewer service also stinks.

Responding to "Leeva Salone":

I haven't changed my mind about the purpose of the blog. When launching blogs, we all had high hopes for genuine, honest conversation among people who would have enough integrity to take responsibility for what they said.

Gilbert Jones's post meets that expectation. Unfortunately, he was subsequently attacked as "sick" by an anonymous poster who has no real idea of the level of threat posed to Gilbert's wife by an apparently dangerous dog. Gilbert's account gives no indication to me that he's "sick."

Doug,

You're right, Gilbert was unfairly called sick. A look at his blog (click on his name) reveals that he said "There' s a country music song about stupid people that I like, I believe the title is "Here's your sign". The singer advocates that stupid people should be required to have a sign identifying them as such. There really is no need for signs. Half the fun in my life is picking those folks out and telling stories about them. An employee performed an act of incredible stupidity and tried to apologize. I told him there was no need to apologize and that my family would enjoy the story. He asked what I meant by that and I told him that the dinner table entertainment at home was stories from work. If I didn't encounter stupid people everyday, it would be quiet at home in the evening."

Gilbert isn't sick, he's just an arrogant ass that likes guns and takes pleasure in using them on others, as well as making fun of others he considers inferior to himself (he definitely considered the dog as his inferior). Gilbert seems to think a lot of himself, but he appears just to be a petty little punk to me. I would encourage you and everyone else to look over his little blog. From looking at his writings on his blog, that dog didn't have to pose much a threat to Gilbert or his wife. Gilbert just thought the dog was stupid, and Gilbert was putting it out of his misery. I'm sure that dog shooting created a lot of entertainment and talk around the dinner table that night. Oh, and I am pretty sure that I won't go eat at Gilbert's restaurant if I ever go through Caswell County, but you might find the experience interesting, Doug.

Here's your sign, Doug and Gilbert.

Doug,

I tend to disagree with you on that one. To say "I demonstrated the operation of a RugerP39 to the canine mind" sounds like a person who really enjoys it. Any psychologists out there?
Not that it matters personally to me, I wasn't in that threatening situation. It was how he reported the incidence.

I remember when my youngest brother-in-law first got back from Nam (he was a little strange for a while), he shot a cat because it had walked on his car he had just waxed. Now he is a local cop but his specialty - sharpshooter - which he never gets to use in the small town where he lives. He is one of the top ones in the U.S. and has placed top nationally. Now he has a legitimate job and is a heck of a nice guy and a great father, but we, in the family, still call him "weird Ronald". He's always loved guns.

There is a difference between self-preservation and enjoying killing an animal.

And I agree with Stormy, no one said they work for the county. And whether they do or do not, they are taxpayers; they are citizens; they can still fight for what they believe is right; to right the wrongs. The easy way would be to "quit" when you believe strongly in something that you feel is morally wrong to children.

Another interesting gun story from Alabama.

When my youngest brother-in-law was first married (not the Marine general), he made his wife carry a cute little daringer (spelling?) to the grocery store. Now this is a town (near where he now works) that used to have two traffic lights, two grocery stores, no McDonald's (they do now). Nothing EVER happens there.

When he was first a cop in Fort Payne where he is now employed, my husband's mom called and said, "Don't panic, if you heard about the cop killing in Fort Payne. It was not your brother."

It seems a policeman was shot. His wife found him in bed with another woman and shot him. That is the extend of the "cop killings" there.

My point again. Some people just like guns but you don't always need a gun to solve a problem.

Sorry, I have a major correction. Just got back from dinner with my hubby. Baby brother is the town "sniper" and holds the top scores in the nation and one of the top in the world tournaments. He is into the specialty guns. They haven't used his skills yet in NE Alabama. Glad of it.

The other brother is the recently retired Marine general; he is into "heavy artillary".

Hubby has an every day type of job. Thank God.

About anonymity, and then I am out of here.

Some people use pseudonymns for a variet of reason. They may work for the schools or they may be a vendor in the school system. If you look at the blogging world, pen names are everywhere.

Also there can be people who share a computer to post.

We did not even own a computer until 2 years ago, on purpose. So there could be many reasons why people choose to remain anonymous.

Drugie,

I heard that you were going around to susieee's and dotieeees this night for cocktails.
One hopes you dont end up like you did last Friday.I heard the cops were almost called.
Too much Pink Floyd "we dont need no Education, we dont need no North control"

Evidently I have stumbled across a nest of bloggers who belong to some kind of bizarre dog worshipping cult. Hey! It's fall in North Carolina , the leaves are changing, every little town is holding a festival, and the weather is great. Get out from behind your keyboard and see what's going on in the real world!! But before you do, a few notes on your comments.
1. Stormy, thanks for labeling me an arrogant ass. After reading your many posts, the only conclusion that I can reach is that you are a dumb ass. In fact, if I had read your stuff earlier, I could have included you in my "I love stupid people" piece. Thanks for the inspiration.
2. Leeva Salone, you need to watch a better grade of Western. You don't throw dead dogs on a fence. You put dead coyotes on a fence. I didn't put the dog in a dumpster because one wasn't handy. If you are bored one day, you and the other dog worshippers should track down what happens to the dogs and cats that are euthanized at the Humane Society and vets offices. Do you think that they are in marked graves in cemeteries?
3.Barbara Ann, you need to communicate more with your relatives. Maybe they could explain to you that it was men with guns who secured our independence from England, and men with guns who have defended it over the last 230 years. It is men with guns, the police, whom you depend on to protect your life and property. I am going to protect my life and my wife and children. If that means shooting a dog who is attacking at 5:30 AM, I will do it. If you value your dog's life, keep it under control.
4. Quest, give it up or go to the Office Depot. If you are really desperate email me and I will donate some. There are businesses all over the country that are out of sometning they need right now. Learn to deal with it. I was at Harris Teeter last night and there was a sign saying that the bottled water supply is limited. I haven't read any comments from HT employees whining about this or asking Doug Clark to do a story about this.
5. ALL OF YOU, you are attacking me and other people while hiding behind false names and enjoying the anonymity the Internet affords you.You are just a bunch of spineless cowards who lack the courage to let others know that you have a free thought.
6. Don't waste the keystrokes responding. I am not wasting anymore of my time here in doggie heaven with the "Ol' Yeller" crowd.

Doug,

I had my "real" email address for several years and had never received a spam message until I started blogging. (I used my real name and real email address on your blog a few months ago.)

After I started getting offensive spams, I contacted my ISP. After a series of questions, their recommendation was to use a fake name and address so as to avoid spam. I replaced my email address and all is well again.

Warmonger Gilbert,
good riddance.

Doug, the problem with you guys from Central HP is that you can’t stand the fact that N.HP is booming and growing and for any new arrivals is the place to live.
It’s not our fault. Concentrate your energy on the City of HP to come up with a plan that reverts this but not by punishing N.Hp but by building on its success.
It’s the same concept I recommend for the schools.
.

Gilbert,

You give rednecks an undeserved bad name. Actually, I like rednecks, pick-up trucks, drinking beer, living in the country, and NASCAR, but you are just stupid. We enjoyed laughing at your stupidity at dinner tonight. My family thought that your writings were pretty rediculous. My wife is a dog owner, and she said that you are living proof why she likes the companionship of dogs more than some people. The canines all agreed and enjoyed a good laugh at your expense. Here's your sign, brother!

Gilbert,

You give rednecks an undeserved bad name. Actually, I like rednecks, pick-up trucks, drinking beer, living in the country, and NASCAR, but you are just stupid. We enjoyed laughing at your stupidity at dinner tonight. My family thought that your writings were pretty rediculous. My wife is a dog owner, and she said that you are living proof why she likes the companionship of dogs more than some people. The canines all agreed and enjoyed a good laugh at your expense. Here's your sign, brother!

My sentiments exactly, Stormy! I love dogs so much more than people!