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Please bear with us.

The News & Record’s e-mail server is down again and isn't expected to be working again until Thursday, Feb. 2.

Besides the inconvenience this presents for those of us addicted to it as a form of communication (heaven forbid that we'd have to start talking to one another, face-to-face once more, as in the olden days).

But there is a bigger problem: Most of our letters to the editor now arrive via e-mail. As long as our e-mail remains crippled, that means those letters might be stranded in our Inbox until we gain access tomorrow.

If you have a time-sensitive letter that you would like to submit for publication, you may fax it to us at 373-7067 or hand-deliver it to our offices at 200 E. Market St.

Less time-senstitive letters may be submitted the old-fashioned way, through the post office, to News & Record, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro, N.C. 27420-0848.

If you have questions about a letter, call Becky Layton at 373-7037. If you need to talk to someone at the News & Record about delivery, an ad or a news item, please call 373-7000.

Occasionally, someone who writes a letter to the editor has the same name as someone else.

And occasionally, that someone else calls the newspaper and shares a frantic tale that the comments in the letter have been noticed by his friends, family and business acquaintances. "I didn't write those things," he or she will say. "I don't even believe those things."

That happened the other day. The man was good-natured, but he was mildly concerned that his name was attached to words he did not write.

As a guy named Allen Johnson, I can sympathize. There are a lot of guys named Allen Johnson. When once staying in a hotel in Atlanta, I was stuck with a bar tab from a guy named Al Johnson. The one from Charlotte. I have been confused with him before.

But I digress.

When letter writers complain of their namesakes, especially ones who regularly write letters to the editor, we have tried different approaches to help them draw clearer distinctions between one another.

If it happens to you, we'll try to work with the parties involved to come up with a mutually agreeable solution.

Sometimes the solution is as simple as a middle initial.

Sometimes it's the attachment of "Jr." or "Sr." or "III."

In at least one case that wasn't enough.

So this letter appeared in the June 6, 2003, edition of the News & Record:

As general manager of the Greensboro Bats and vice president of the Greensboro Sports Council, I am very aware of the many challenges and issues involving professional sports teams in Greensboro.

I want the readers of your newspaper and the citizens of Greensboro to know that the writer of the letter, "Brown expands reach too far at coliseum" (June 2), is not me, but another individual in this community by the same name.
For future reference, if I were to write any letter to this publication, it will be signed as I have signed below, Donald C. Moore, General Manager, Greensboro Bats.

Donald C. Moore
Greensboro

Donald C. Moore, of course, is now the president of the Greensboro Grasshoppers (uh-oh, more namefoolery).

For the record, according to our letters data base, three Donald Moores have had letters published in the News & Record in recent years.

Two live in Greensboro, one in Eden.

You meant co-ed dorms, right?

That was the reaction when I shared with my A&T editorial writing students Guilford College's consideration of a new policy that would allow co-ed roommates under an arrangement called "gender-blind" housing.

Of course, we had the same arrangement long ago and far away when I was an undergraduate at Carolina. Heck, some couples even set up households in Hinton James dorm, where I lived for three years. Only it was always done on the down-low, winked and nodded at unless somebody complained.

And it was against school policy.

James was a co-ed dormitory by wings in those days. (At least one North Campus dorm, Winston, had room-by-room co-ed halls.

At 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, the doors that offered access to those areas were locked. If you wanted to get to the women's -- or the men's side -- side after curfew, you were out of luck. Or in luck. Dependng on your point of view.

Sometimes poor souls were so desperate to get from one side to the other that they would go to extraordinary lengths, scaling from one balcony to the another.

James is a 10-story dorm.

Guilford has always been, well, a little avant-garde in its outlook.
But official sanctioning of gender-blind rooms is, well, radical.

After all, co-habitation is still against the law in North Carolina.
North Carolina is one of seven states that have laws prohibiting cohabitation of unmarried couples. Guess it depends on how you define couple?

As for me, I wouldn't like codification of such a rule if I were a Guilford parent. Shackin' up is shackin' up.

If I were a student ...?????

I had lunch with Jim Renick Friday.

Over noodles, stuffed mushrooms and sweet-and-sour soup, we discussed the Civil Rights Museum. He was upbeat, despite the remaining fund-raising challenges.

We discussed the Greensboro Partnership. He still wonders whether they should have named it something else. There's already a Piedmont Triad Partnership. Why risk confusion?

We disccussed former Police Chief David Wray. Renick was still having as much of a problem figuring that one out as anyone else.

We talked about the struggling A&T athletics program, but Renick felt confident thenew athletics director, Dee Todd, will turn things around.

And, oh yeah, by the way, he was leaving A&T and Greensboro in June.

Why was Renick stepping down after such a successful run in a job he obviously loves?

Because he is "a change agent," he said, whose biggest strength and greatest satisfaction lie in creating, not maintaining. And because it's time to do something else.

He also noted that he worked his previous job, as chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, for seven years, just as he'd spent seven years at A&T.

Renick also looked forward to more private time in his new job as a senior vice president for the American Council on Education in Washington.

In Greensboro, he said, he is almost always defined by his job, wherever he goes. In D.C., he'll blend in.

He said he'll miss Greensboro. This is a good city, he said, that is far too hard on itself.

He said he had never considered going to another school after A&T. This was his dream college presidency, he said. A perfect fit for him.

But now it's time to go.

David Hoggard on John Hammer and Goldie Wells and racis.

Guilford is Guilford and Greensboro is Greensboro and never the twain shall meet?

The City Council dropped talk of a merger between the Guilford County Sheriff's Department and the Greensboro Police Department faster than you can say "political hot potato" last week. Mayor Keith Holliday, who had broached the topic, says such a notion is "on the table far off into the future." But isn't that the whole idea of long-range planning? To begin, at least, to talk about it now?

Of course, the merger concept has come up many times before. For instance, it surfaced during the county commissioners' retreat in 2003, when then-Commissioner Mike Barber, who now sits on the City Council, suggested a merged metro police force under Sheriff BJ Barnes' supervision. Chief Robert White had just left the Greensboro Police Department for a new job in Louisville, Ky. Now might be a good time to consider a different approach, Barber figured.
Barnes agreed, saying then that he had talked to some members of the City Council, some of whom were receptive. And that was that. No action. No study. No way.

A merger certainly merits more discussion, but so many emotions, personalities and egos are attached that it's tough to do so rationally and objectively.

When the discussion came and went in 2003, an anti-police brutality group protested that Barnes would be the wrong man to head a consolidated police force that would consist of more than 725 officers. The group, which calls itself the October 22nd Coalition, say Barnes was unfit for such a job because of the fatal shooting of a mentally disturbed man, Gilbert Barber, by one of his officers. The group also contended that black residents had little trust or confidence in Barnes.

They are, of course, entitled to their opinions, but by most accounts, Barnes has been a very good sheriff. He'd probably do a fine job supervising a combined agency. But he should have to apply for the job.

The head of a county-city police agency should be appointed, not elected. That ensures a solid professional background in law enforcement and, at least theoretically, makes the position less political.

Yes, the Greensboro Police Department has been embroiled in its controversy in recent months with the resignation of Chief David Wray amid allegations that he abused his power. And yes, this proves bad things can happen even when a police chief is appointed and thoroughly screened by community representatives, as was Wray.

But an appointment process is still preferable to elections and less prone to distraction by partisan politics. And such an important selection requires the same kind of sensitivity, experience and skills that we expect from our judges. And they shouldn't be elected either.

But who and how to select a grand potentate of law enforcement is only one tough question a merger would create.

For instance, is bigger always necessarily better? Police departments depend on trust and good will in their communities to be successful. Smaller departments that focus on smaller communities might be less burdened by bureaucracy and more familiar with the citizens they serve.

And what about economies of scale?

If saving money is the object, it's probably worth noting that Charlotte/Mecklenburg, which has a consolidated city-county police force, has the costliest city government in the state, according to a study by the John Locke Foundation.

The study attributes that greater cost to Charlotte's mass transit tax. But the fiscal implications, as well as the impact on service, certainly deserve a closer look.

They won't get one. At least not anytime soon.

Big ideas like this one come and go around here. They make interesting headlines and editorial fodder. But they can get messy and involved and the political payoff may come years in the future, if it ever comes, so why bother?

What's more, today's City Council could lay the groundwork for such an initiative and some future council with different notions could pull the plug.
Plus, what are the realistic odds of a successful collaboration with the county commissioners?

And what about High Point, which traditionally has resisted efforts to combine anything with Greensboro? Shouldn't it be part of the equation?

So all this merger talk will fade for a few years until someone brings it up again.

And the ritual will repeat, in a dizzying whirl of good intentions headed nowhere.

Much like my perennial plans to clean out my garage. Tomorrow.

As someone who selects editorial cartoons on a daily basis, I can attest to the tightrope people like me attempt to walk as we make those choices.

That's why the disturbing violence in protest of a Danish newspaper's publication of a cartoon deemed offensive and sacrilegious by many Muslims resonates so strongly with me.

On the one hand, the cartoon's attempted point, if I read it correctly, was to point out the tragic irony that the killings of innocents would be viewed by some as a pathway to paradise. That's a valid observation.

On the other, the cartoon's depiction of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his headdress was clearly provocative, especially in light of Muslims' belief that the prophet's image should not be represented in cartoons, period.

Of course, not everybody's a Muslim nor should everyone be expected to adhere to Muslim teachings. But media should try to be sensitive in such matters.

I have chosen not to publish dozens of cartoons over the years because I considered them disrespectful, and even mean-spirited, toward Christians or Jews. I have made similar decisions regarding cartoons that depicted Muslims derisively. I don't always succeed, but I try.

Based on its description, I would not have published the cartoon in question. Similarly, I can't imagine many cases in which I'd have chosen to run a cartoon depicting Jesus.

But I understand why other editors thought differently. And I believe the violent reaction is wrongheaded and counter to the teachings, as I know them, of Muhammad.

That said, to publish or not would be my decision, not the government's and not not anyone else's.

In a free society media have the right to make those calls. But they also have the responsibility not to make them lightly.

President Bush paid high-profile lip service to America's oil addiction in his State of the Union speech last week.

He seems about as serious about this cause as his suggestion previously that we put a man on Mars.

Curiously, the president still can't bring himself to mention the c-word (as in conservation). Maybe the president will prove me wrong and put some meat on the bones of his rhetoric.

But take solace. The president also came out against cloning of human/animal hybrids.

Someone quipped that at least he got the term "hybrids" into the speech.

When I was a teen-ager, my famliy moved into a previously all-white subdivision, Woodmere Park.

When we arrived in 1968, the neighborhood was still majority-white, but that would change in a hurry.

For the time being, however, the whites that remained either ignored us or mocked us.

One man drove his sons down Sharonbrook Drive as they gleefully chanted through rolled-down windows, "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate."

Nearly 30 years later, I wonder how much has changed.

Not a whole lot, I worry. We make some stabs at desegregating over the years, many of the incomplete and half-hearted. But, frankly, not much is integrated -- not churches, not neighborhoods, not many of our schools.

Even worse, that seems just fine by us.

That point became clear when I posted a blog entry recently about resegregated schools and nearly all the 90-plus comments opposed the notion.

I knew I might be spitting into the wind on this one, but I expected more in the year 2006.

If anything, it's gotten worse. Now black folks and white folks seem to have given up on the idea that diverse schools matter.

Anyway, I see from the TV listings the cable TV movie about the school that held separate black and white proms. In 2002.

It's based on a true story, "amazingly," the listing blurb editorialized.

Or, from where I sit, "predictably."

Thank God, a group of prominent evangelicals has come out against global warming.

They include Rick Warren, author of the best-seller "The Purpose Driven Life," and they represent what appears to be a growing movement among Christians.

Not all the heavyweight evangelicals have signed on. But this is an encouraging development nevertheless.

About time. We ought to be better stewards of the Earth.

Ed Cone voices his objection to the local Boy Scout organization hosting an event headlined by Oliver North.

A spirited debate ensues.

Good news on the local blogging front:

David Hoggard is back in form.

And David Wharton hasn't gone so gently into that good night after all. Good to see him back at the keyboard, if only occasionally.

After all, "Little Urbanity" is better than none at all.

Warning: Here I go again, writing wistfully about Wachovia.

As Jim Schlosser has reported, Roy Carroll III doesn't want "historic" designation for the old Wachovia high-rise in downtown Greensboro after all.

Frankly, I don't mind one bit, so long as Carroll still believes he can make the project work without the government sweeteners historic designation would bring.

He seems to.

Here's the kicker: Carroll also has revised his vision. Now he'll remake rather than restore the building, which is an architectural plain Jane -- no matter what experts say about its "corporate modern" heritage.

Carroll, a hometown boy, is thinking big again, and contemplating such embellishments as balconies.

Wonderful.

I don't know about you, but I've noticed that more motorists are wild and crazy guys at Greensboro intersections now that the city has pulled the plugs on its red-light cameras.

Say what you will about Big Brother. The cameras made a difference.

All we had to do as drivers was obey the law.

A footnote to the recent thread of comments about the continuing challenges in race relations (and whether people just flat-out would prefer not to live together):

The notion of separate-but-equal proms, as portrayed last week in a TV movie, may not be all that rare.

Consider this April 2005 report from the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph:

A lot has changed in Treutlen County since the days of segregated schools.

In a county where other traces of Jim Crow custom have faded into history, somehow the prom is different.

Or a little closer to home, this April 2004 story from the Asheville Citizen-Times:

Mary Jane, Jamal and Julio all attend the same school. They sit in the same classrooms, eat in the same cafeteria and cheer on the home team in the same gymnasium. Yet during prom season, these students will be grooming themselves and gearing up for separate proms.

Yes, it may be 2004 for most of us here in America but in the backwater town of Lyons, Ga., you couldn't prove that by the students at Toombs County High School. This year the school has organized three separate proms -- white, black and Hispanic -- to accommodate the wishes of the students attending the celebrations.

The Citizen-Times story goes on to note that the black principal of the high school sees no greater significance in the trifecta of proms than as a sign of different tastes in music.

"Latinos like one kind of music. Blacks like to listen to their music. Whites have their music," he said.

I don't imagine this is the dream Martin had in mind.

The Fox animated hit "Family Guy" can at times be the funniest show on the tube.

It also can be cringingy offensive. To everybody.

The show makes fodder of Democrats and Republicans, black people and white people, even the disabled.

It has featured spoofs of Jesus Christ at least twice.

Sunday night's episode in which the title character's dog falls in love with his daughter's African American teacher (you had to be there) pokes fun at Ronald Reagan, depicting the late president in a fog brought on by his Alzheimer's disease.

How far is too far? Even in a show like this, in which the object is to offend us all, this was too far.

"60 Minutes" reports that the United States can not account for $8.8 billion missing in Iraq.

The TV news magazine noted Sunday night:

When U.S. troops entered Baghdad in the spring of 2003, there was no electricity, widespread looting and little evidence of postwar planning. With the American military stretched to the limit, the Pentagon set up the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to govern the country under Ambassador Paul Bremer, who began hiring private companies to secure and rebuild the country.

The money was a mixture of Iraqi oil revenues, war booty and U.S. government funds earmarked for the coalition authority. Whenever cash was needed, someone went down to the vault with a wheelbarrow or gunny sacks.

Meanwhile, back home in the States, the Bush administration is quibbling over relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The News & Record editorial board will meet soon with new University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles.

Bowles, a Greensboro native, has a lot on his place (make that plate) already, including the tuition increase debate, professors' salaries, chancellor pay and the proper role partnerships with private industry ought to play with UNC campuses.

Anything you'd like for us to ask him?

The next time Fido slips a gulp from the commode, don't fret. Maybe he knows something we ought to know.

A young Florida girl's school science project seems to confirm the notion that we've got made some distorted assumptions about cleanliness.

Seems the 12-year-old's award-winning analysis of ice and toilet water at fast-food restaurants concluded -- gag -- that the toilet water was cleaner.

Now that the Rhino Times has published two of the controversial cartoons that have sparked violent protests in the Middle East and beyond, a few observations:

1. The Rhino has a right to publish the art, but for what purpose? Anyone who wanted to see those cartoons by now already has; they've been readily available on the Internet forever.

2. City leaders commendably have worked to keep the peace and to keep lines of communication as open as possible with the Muslim community.

3. It's particularly heartening to see Jewish faith leaders step forward to denounce the cartoons as unnecessary and unproductive, as Rabbis Havivi and Guttman did in today's letter to the editor.

4. As others have said, it would be equally productive for moderate Muslims to continue denouncing the violent protests, which are inexcusable and indefensible. And to ramp up the volume.

The disturbing violence in protest of a Danish newspaper's publication of editorial cartoons deemed offensive and sacrilegious by many Muslims continues to spread.

The violence did not flare in one burst of reflexive anger. It simmered, then boiled over in a mean, senseless wave of hate and misunderstanding.

On the one hand, the cartoons' attempted message, as I perceive it, was to point out the tragic irony that the killings of innocents would be viewed by some as a pathway to Paradise. That's a more-than-valid observation.

On the other, one cartoon's depiction of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as his headdress was clearly provocative, especially in light of Muslims' belief that the prophet's image should not be represented in cartoons, period.

Of course, not everybody's a Muslim nor should everyone be expected to adhere to Muslim teachings. But media should try to be sensitive in such matters.

That's not always easy in the rough and tumble world of editorial cartooning, where part of the point is to be edgy and provocative.

Still, we choose not to publish dozens of cartoons each year because we consider them disrespectful, and even mean-spirited, toward Christians, Jews or Muslims. We don't always succeed, but we sure try.
Part of those efforts is a recognition that not everybody thinks as we do.

Some people have dismissed the city's Mosaic partnerships as a shallow exercise in feel-goodism and I don't doubt that they are right in some cases.

There probably are at least a few people who enrolled in the program because it looked good on their resumes. Or others who began the program and never finished it.

And still others who invested minimla time or effort in the initiative, which matches people from different cultures, races and backgrounds in an attempt to build better understanding.

But my Mosaic experience has been rich and rewarding. And I suspect that's the case with many others.

In fact, my "cluster," which consisted of periodic meetings of small groups of Mosaic partners, just kept right on meeting after the program had officially ended for our class in November.

The dialogues have become meangingful enough and the comfort level so high, we simply didn't want to stop.

This past Saturday morning's session covered a lot of ground, including a spirited discussion of the ongoing controversy in the Greensboro Police Department and the Rhino's publication of two hotly debated editorial cartoons depicting Muslims.

We didn't agree on many points. And that was perfectly OK. We listened. And we learned from one another.

Talk about a gutsy stance ...

This report made the AP wires today:

ASHEVILLE (AP) — An Asheville pastor says he will no longer perform civil marriages for the state because North Carolina denies homosexual couples the right to legally marry.

"When I sign that piece of paper for marriage, as an agent of the state, I give (heterosexual couples) about 1,100 rights and privileges that gay and lesbian couples do not get," Hoffman said. "I believe in equal rights for all people. As a minister, I was participating in a system that was unjust."

Yes, Hoffman may in one sense be preaching to his choir.

As the story notes, his demonination, the United Church of Christ, officially supports gay marriage, and is the first major U.S. Christian denomination take such a position.

But this can't be an easy thing to say in North Carolina.

I respect his courage.

If you missed this recent thread on Ed Cone's blog, check it out. It is lively and thoughtful with devoid of the childish name-calling that typically accompany such discussions.

The News & Record story on the unprecedented surge of puppies dropped off at the Guilford County Animal Shelter was hearbreaking.

People obviously are buying pupples first and thinking later.

Their excuse: They discovered they simply didn't have time for the pets.

This is in itself a form of cruelty to animals.

These people ought to be ashamed.

When I was invited to take part in a Greensboro Public Library panel discussion March 7 on the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in a series of controversial editorial cartoons, I wondered if the furor might be history by then.

Maybe not.

Local Muslims mulled Wednesday night whether they would protest the Rhinoceros Times' publication of a pair of the politically charged cartoons that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper.

Muslim leaders spoke with Greensboro police Wednesday and reportedly also have submitted artwork by local Muslim children imploring the media not to portray their prophet in future cartoons.

Originally, the organizers of the demonstration planned to protest if the Rhino published no additional cartoons that Muslims consider offensive this week. As of this posting, no firm plans had been determined.

Meanwhile, I will participate on the March 7 panel at the Main Library with a representative from the Muslim community, a local cartoonist, a representative of the Carolina Peacemker and William Hammer, publisher of the Rhino.

I look forward to a lively, constructive dialogue.

As food for thought, here's a brief roundup of responses from other newspapers concerning the cartoons:

The Bush administration's decision to allow some U.S. ports to be run by a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates is, at the very least, incredibly dumb from a purely strategic standpoint.

Let's see. You've survived the whole Cheney hunting accident episode.

You've stood fast on the issue of domestic spying without a warrant and even cleverly turned it into a political asset.

You've stared into the abyss of plummeting poll numbers and lived to tell the tale.

You're still smarting from criticism about government inepitude in response to Hurricane Katrina.

So, what do you do next?

Of course. You unite Democrats and Republicans by springing this highly questionable, clearly controversial arrangement on them. And you undermine your own image as tough on terrorism and singularly committed to national security by taking such a casual attitude toward our ports by entrusting them (at least in part) to a country that is a U.S. ally but whose actions (and inactions) toward terrorists is spotty at best.

Reports The New York Times:

The [911] commission's inquiry found that "the vast majority of the money funding the Sept. 11 attacks flowed through the U.A.E." Its government, the panel said, ignored American pressure to clamp down on terror financing until after the attacks.

Never mind that. You still ambush Democratic and Republican governors with no prior notice of the deal.

You didn't brief Congress about the deal.

And you threaten to veto congressional action to reverse the deal.

This isn't arrogance. It's abject stupidity.

I am on a three-movie losing streak:

1. "Firewall": Harrison Ford stars as a computer whiz in what could have been an engaging cyber-thriller. So, how does he ultimately defeat a bad guy who wants Ford's character to hack into a bank's computer system? Easy. Ford, 63, pummels the younger, stronger guy to a pulp. Yeah, right.

2. "When A Stranger Calls": Don't answer. This alleged thriller contains not one scary moment.

3. "Freedomland": Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore star in this speechy, preachy attempt to be earnest about Important Issues such as race and class.

Maybe I should read a book this weekend.

The Guilford County school board continues to labor so aimlessly with the issue of redistricting because it lacks a clear objective.

Is the goal socio-economic diversity?

Is it racial diversity?

Is is optimum use of facilities?

Is it neighborhood schools?

That depends on who you talk to.

It's hard to get there when you don't know where you're going.

The ever-impressive Joey Cheek will bear the American flag in the closing ceremonies at the Olympics Sunday.

Then the Olympic speedskating medalist and Greensboro native will practice what he has been preaching, heading off on a humanitarian mission to Zambia.

He'll find a lush, beautiful country with warm, friendly people (and wonderful food) when he gets there.

I taught a two-week mini-course for newspaper managers in Zambia in 1996. The students were bright and engaging. And very British.

Zambia, formerly Northern Rhodesia, was for years a British colony and maintains many British customs and traditions. For instance, everyone drives on the left side of the road and says "zed" in reference to the letter "z."

And it was made very clear to me when I arrived that one cardinal rule was not to be broken:

No matter where we were in the lesson -- no matter how robust the discussion -- we must stop for tea each day at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., no exceptions.

The crux of Cheek's visit to Zambia is a health initiative for young people.

Zambia, like other parts of Africa, is ravaged by AIDS.

I saw its widespead impact even back in '96. One of my students there was HIV-positive.

You meant co-ed dorms, right?

That was the reaction when I shared with my A&T editorial writing students Guilford College's consideration of a new policy that would allow co-ed roommates under an arrangement called "gender-blind" housing.

Of course, we had the same arrangement long ago and far away when I was an undergraduate at Carolina. Heck, some couples even set up households in Hinton James dorm, where I lived for three years. Only it was always done on the down-low, winked at and nodded toward unless somebody complained.

And it was against school policy, not that anyone particularly seemed to care.

James was typical of Carolina's new “residence halls” at the time: eminently forgettable, a plain-Jane, red-brick exercise in utility that was about as architecturally distinct as a toll booth.

But it had several saving graces: an on-site computer lab, a large snack bar, and lots of smart, young female residents from places like Oxford, Tobaccoville and Bear Creek by whom guys from Greensboro were considered big-city dwellers.

James was co-ed by wing, a fact that was not lost on nervous fathers who'd show up each fall to drop their young'uns off and then worry themselves silly all the way home about all that brick, mortar and concrete housing all those youthful hormones.

At 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, the doors that offered access to those areas were locked. At the stroke of the curfew hour, you were out of luck. Or in luck. Depending on where you happened to be when the doors closed.

Sometimes poor souls were so desperate to get from one side to the other after-hours that they would go to extraordinary lengths, scaling from one balcony to another.

James is 10 stories high.

But don't jump to any conclusions. Despite what Jesse Helms might tell you, this was not the Southern Part of Sodom and Gomorrah. Most students chose to follow the rules. At least as far as I could tell.
Still, even 30 years later, the official sanctioning of gender-blind rooms is radical, even for Guilford, where being radical almost is a major.

After all, North Carolina is one of seven states that have laws prohibiting cohabitation of unmarried couples.

I accidentally posted this item to the Letters to the Editor on Sunday. Sorry for the confusion.

Deputy Barney Fife may have kept his bullet in his pocket, but he wore his heart on his sleeve.

Despite all his macho posturings and mild delusions of greatness, not so deep inside Barney knew who he really was: a little nerdy, a little scared, a little unsure of himself, but a good friend and neighbor who always was there when you needed him.

Barney was the heart and soul and funny bone of "The Andy Griffith Show."

And now he's gone. Don Knotts died Friday at the age of 81.

Recognizing Knotts' Barney as a breakout character before anyone used that term, Andy Griffith, an accomplished funny man in his own right, graciously stepped back and let Barney flourish.

Small wonder the best-loved "Andy" reruns are the black-and-white shows with Barney.

It'd be nice if Channel 2 would do a "Best of Barney" tribute in this week's "Andy Griffith Show" lineup.

A caller questioned this week why the News & Record keeps fomenting racial discord by rehashing old news and reopening old wounds.

Her latest case in point: the story that Grimsley High School plans to apologize to the school's first black student, who was subjected to racial slurs and ostracism when she enrolled in what was then named Greensboro Senior High School during the 1957-58 school year.

Added a letter writer: "You and your newspaper are doing a terrible harm to a city that was once a great city in North Carolina. You seem to delight in race-baiting and stirring up trouble between the races. Why? Why are you bringing up things that happened 40 years ago?"

Come again?

But we only reported this news. We didn't make it.

Further, the caller noted that the people who turned a cold shoulder toward Josephine Boyd (now Josephine Boyd Bradley) aren't here anymore. That's not true.

At least some of them are, including Judith Abraham, a member of the Class of 1958 who plans to be on hand when Boyd-Bradley is honored at a City Council meeting on March 30 and 31.

This was the school's and the city's idea, not ours, although it's a positive gesture. We learn from our mistakes, and there is more than symbolic value in acknowledging that our community is a better, more enlightened place than it was then.

We also editorialized that some of the students who actually attended Grimsley at the time might have something to say to Bradley, who also will receive the key to the city.

This was not that long ago. Many of these folks are still around.

At least one of them plans to attend when the City Council honors Bradley.

Judith Abraham, Greensboro Senior Class of '58 says she looks forward to standing and applauding.

"I've had a vision of all the people -- all of us who were good to her and all of us who were nasty and now feel badly -- would stand up and applaud when she speaks. The thought of that brings a tear to my eye."

Abraham says she admires Bradley. "What guts, what nerve, what spirit. It was tough enough for me then being a Jewish girl at the time."

Unlike some other historical occurrences, this one is recent enough that many of the participants are still here. It'd be good to hear others' reflections about that time.

As for when Bradley comes home to Greensboro, she might be disappointed to learn that we're still fussing like cats and dogs about who gets to go to which school.