News-Record.com

I attended the city hall press conference Friday conducted by Mayor Keith Holliday and City Manager Mitch Johnson but didn't get around to blogging about it until now.

I fully concur with Margaret's take on the "dating the same woman" question put to Johnson. It was embarrassing. Johnson handled it gracefully and with better humor than it deserved.

As for greensborocheckyourfacts.org, well, that's a puzzler. It's certainly odd and seems pretty defensive.

Can you see the White House trying this?

Myth: President Bush lied about Iraq.

Fact: Not at all. He just misunderestimated things a little.

Or Dennis Hastert's office?

Myth: The Republicans covered up for Mark Foley.

Fact: No, they thought he was sending IM's to Tom DeLay.

Or Jim Black's office?

Myth: The speaker bribed Michael Decker to change parties.

Fact: No, Black simply owed Decker $50,000 after losing a video poker contest.

Of course, the city of Greensboro isn't involved in anything like that ... as far as we know.

But when you undertake something like this, you have to be sure you get it right. And a couple of entries on this site don't seem right. For example:

Myth: David Wray's public statements explaining his resignation were justified.

Fact: Disclosures of personnel information violates North Carolina law.

That's not a "myth," it's an opinion. The "fact" may be a fact, but in this case it's a non sequiter. David Wray was perfectly entitled to make public statements explaining his resignation. Doing so was not a violation of state law per se. Perhaps there's some hidden allegation here, but on its face this entry is just baffling.

Then there's:

Myth: Questions concerning the police investigation of Project Homestead arising from City release of audit documents.

That's not even a complete sentence, let alone a myth. The "fact" goes on to explain that Wray improperly gave documents to the FBI in order to stop the city from releasing them to the media. But is it a fact that was Wray's motive? Whether it was or wasn't, this strikes me as an unnecessary effort to further tarnish Wray's reputation.

A city Web site to present facts and information is a good idea. It just shouldn't have an agenda.

By the way, here's a link to today's editorial about the police chief search, which is just getting started more than 10 months after Wray's resignation.