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In a list of property owners with the most city housing code violations, Guilford County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston places third, with 15.

The community shrugs. So what else is new?

Odds are Alston, who also is a member of the NAACP's national board of directors and a past state NAACP president, will keep getting re-elected in his predominantly black district — until he decides he doesn't want to.

Flash back three weeks. Alston addresses a fired-up crowd at a protest to end "Intolerable Racism" in Guilford County. The demonstration harks back to the 1960s, with chants, songs and speeches, and a heady parade into downtown Greensboro.

The organizers even call for a boycott, encouraging black people to patronize only black businesses. On Labor Day.

Flash back two years. In a spectacularly wrongheaded move, a community group calls for black parents to protest the underachievement of black students — by keeping them out of school. At the beginning of the school year, no less, just in time for the students to fall behind on new lessons in new classes with new teachers.

Such movements seem based on good intentions and sincere concerns, but they are more about symbolism than substance and, arguably, they have not made one iota of difference. Neither the "Intolerable Racism" rally nor the school boycott was well thought-out. And, so far as anyone can tell, neither worked.

The problem is twofold: 1) a stubborn attempt to address new challenges with outmoded approaches, and 2) the exploitative behavior of some leaders, whom too many in the black community are willing to forgive, over and over, simply because they are black.

NPR's Juan Williams raises a similar point in his new book "Enough." "Where are the black leaders who will make it plain and say it loud?" Williams writes.

"Who will tell you that if you want to get a job you have to stay in school and spend more money on education than on disposable consumer goods? Where are the black leaders who are willing to stand tall and say that any black man who wants to be a success has to speak proper English?"

As for marches, they'd make more sense and hold more credibility if there was more substance behind them. That's probably why another recent book, the national best seller "A Covenant with Black America," has resonated so strongly across the country.

Edited by PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley, the collection of essays by a variety of experts addresses such issues as health care, education and employment. It is thoughtful and prescriptive, proactive rather than reactive. It acknowledges the existence of racism but does not embrace the mantle of victimhood.

It is practical and practicable. And it is long overdue.
Come to think of it, we could use our own "Covenant with Black Guilford County." Among some of the chapters it could explore:

1. "Community involvement in the public schools": The importance of an ongoing relationship between parents and their children's teachers.
2. "County commissioner for life? Think again": Why voters in the black community should hold their elected leaders to greater scrutiny and accountability. How can Alston keep getting returned to office by black people when he treats some of the poorest among them so callously?

3. "Reviving the spirit of black entrepreneurs": How to start and nurture new businesses.

4."Managing finances and building wealth": How to achieve financial independence through careful planning and discipline.

5. "Rededicating ourselves to the stronger black families": How to make black families, and extended families, the community linchpins they used to be.

As for old-school protest modeled lovingly on the Age of Aquarius, the 1960s clearly were an era of profound social upheaval and self-reflection that spawned many positive changes amid all their turmoil. And they have been over for more than 40 years.

Let them go.

District 2 school board candidate Debbie Maines has e-mailed and called to confirm that she is indeed still running.

We had wondered about her status, since we had not heard from her in our requests to schedule an interview.

Maines says she did call us back and left messages but we have no record of those calls. It is possible they went to the wrong extension.

In any event, Maines will meet with us on Oct. 10. We look forward to the chance to hear her views on the issues.

Vernon Robinson seems to be having such a good time right now he can't stand himself.

The GOP challenger to Democrat Brad Miller in the 13th Congressional District, Robinson lobs one memorable stink bomb after another on the Miller campaign with clever commercials that play like bits from Dave Chapelle's show.

Among highlights from Robinson's meeting this week with the News & Record:

He took the GOP Congress to task for driving "fiscal reality into the ground."

He told us he missed the chance to have a side-by-side interview with Miller at the News & Record because he didn't get the message in time from his staff. "It was an administrative foul-up," he said of the Sept. 8 interview.

"I would have loved the chance to excel," Robinson said.

When asked why his ad campaign is so relentlessly nasty, he noted that Miller's last opponent, Republican Virginia Johnson of Greensboro, ran "googly-bear ads and was crushed." He added, in reference to Miller: "You have to give people a reason to fire him."

The country's leaky borders could be fixed lickety-split, he said, with the right military help. "We could secure the borders by midnight with 5,000 Marines and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," he said.

He said the Bush administration "has punted" on enforcement and said he would "hammer employers hard" with fines and jail time on immigration violations.

He discussed his strategy to break the Democrats' stranglehold on the black vote. (A campaign mailer aimed at black voters attacks Miller for living in a predominantly white neighborhood and framing abortion as a form of genocide against black people.)

And he insisted that Howard Coble has endorsed him even though Coble's office doesn't quite call it that.

Coble's PAC has given Robinson's campaign $1,000, Coble's office confirmed, describing it as "support."

"Howard is solidly behind me," he said.

Robinson is a political junkie and, as distastefully over-the-top his riffs on "The Twilight Zone," "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Leave It To Beaver" in his ads have been, they are wicked and, well, inspired.

You could see him making cash hand over fist as a Rovelike strategist for someone someday. But I wouldn't bet on it. Robinson strikes you as someone who would only want to be a strategist for Vernon Robinson.

"No-Spin Zone" indeed.

Saw Ann Coulter shrug "What's the big deal?" about the ex-Congressman Foley scandal in an uncharacteristically gentle interview by Bill O'Reilly.

Should Dennis Hastert resign, as The Washington Times has demanded? Pshaw, she said. He knew nothing, she insisted.

How did she know that for sure? O'Reilly asked.

Well, she just knew, she said in so many words.

After all, she noted, Foley just asked a young ex-page what he got for his birthday. Well, no, he did much more than that in salacious e-mails, which she ought to know if she resides in the same universe as the rest of us.

Says the Times editorial, in part:

Some Democrats are attempting to make this "a Republican scandal," and they shouldn't; Democrats have contributed more than their share of characters in the tawdry history of congressional sexual scandals. Sexual predators come in all shapes, sizes and partisan hues, in institutions within and without government. When predators are found they must be dealt with, forcefully and swiftly. This time the offender is a Republican, and Republicans can't simply "get ahead" of the scandal by competing to make the most noise in calls for a full investigation. The time for that is long past.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it? Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.

I've commented to a posting on Jay Ovittore's blog about a letter from Guilford sheriff's candidate Berkeley Blanks that alleges Sheriff BJ Barnes is using illegal campaign signs -- while himself making the same charge about other candidates.

The letter charged that Blanks' signs are too big, reading in part:

By his own admission, as a candidate, Sheriff Barnes has been given the "rules and regulations," yet a drive through Guilford County reveals that he has chosen to place himself above the law by displaying illegal campaign signs. Is this due to Sheriff Barnes lack of experience as a law enforcement officer, or has he simply become a hypocritical, jaded politician who has placed himself above the law?"

The letter was submitted to the News & Record but was not chosen for publication.

Jay asks why.

The letter was not selected because it makes allegations of wrongdoing that have not been verified by the newspaper.

I explained that to a Blanks campaign representative on Tuesday. I also recomended that she talk to a news reporter, and then transferred her phone call to the newsroom.

That's no guarantee that the news department will write a story about it. They've got lots to cover as it is and it's their call to make. But at least they are aware now.

In the meantime, the campaign worker said she'd send us a photograph as proof. We haven't received it yet.

For the record, here is our policy on election letters, which we publish several times a week this time a year (please note the bold type near the bottom):

Election letters

The News & Record welcomes letters related to Nov. 7 election.
Letters should be as specific as possible. As is the general rule, all letters are subject to editing.

Include your name, home street address and a daytime telephone number. We will not print letters that are unsigned or have been submitted to other publications.

Though we are unable to guarantee that all letters will be published, we will make every effort to see that the full range of competing views is represented. Here are the criteria:

Brevity: Although our firm length limit remains 200 words, the shorter the letter, the better the chance of publication.

Substance: Letters that merely endorse or recite the obvious about a candidate are less interesting to our readers than letters that contain useful information or compelling arguments.

Criticism: Opinions about a candidate’s fitness or unfitness are welcome; allegations of misconduct are not. To raise that kind of issue, call the news department at 373-7001.

Deadline: Noon on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

Finally, letter-writing campaigns are unacceptable. A letter should reflect the writer’s own initiative and effort.

A caller suggested today that I never write anything complimentary about black leaders, especially Skip Alston.

She also said I probably don't live in the black community.

She's right. My northwest Greensboro neighborhood is mixed.

As for Alston, the best I could tell her is that I call it as I see it, and my most recent column's reference to Alston stands. He should do better by poor black folks when wearing his hat as a landlord.

By the way, I have written a number of complimentary words about Alston. He is a smart businessman and a shrewd politician. He and Jones had the vision and follow-through to plant the seeds for the civil rights museum.

I admire his fortitude.

I don't think he fully uses all of his talent. And I believe he could be an incredibly positive force in this community if he were a more selfless leader.

I even suspect he knows that.

In a developing story City Manager Mitchell Johnson has announced a new Web site intended to dispel "urban myths" about the resignation of former police Chief David Wray.

Johnson's is holding a news conference on the police department right now.

More later ...

"Triad Today" host Jim Longworth in Yes Weekly: Brad Miller is afraid of Vernon Robinson:

"As an independent who opposes Bush's strong-arm tactics, I would like nothing better than to see the Democrats take control of Congress. The 13th Congressional District is mainly white and Democrat, but voting for Brad Miller just because he is a white Democrat only validates politics as usual and rewards incumbents who hide from their opponents.

"Ironically, Brad's rant ("I'm not scared of a damn thing! And I gotta go vote."), might just be the rally cry of citizens when they show up on Nov. 7, and demonstrate they're not afraid to vote for an outspoken black Republican over a frightened white Democrat."

Richard Prince points out a cautionary memo to Washington Post staffers about the use of certain loaded words, mostly with which I agree.

Here is an excerpt Prince offers from a staff memo Wednesday by Don Podesta, the Post's assistant managing editor for copy desks:

"We should be careful about:

"anti-immigrant — We've been using this as short-hand for people opposed to increased immigration or to specific proposals involving immigration policy. It has racist connotations that might not apply in many cases. Someone can be opposed to more open or increased immigration or to illegal immigration without being against people who have immigrated into the country legally. Better to use a few more words in the interest of precision, such as 'groups seeking to curb immigration.'

"jihad, jihadist — Here's what our style book says about this: Jihad means a war by Muslims against unbelievers or enemies of Islam, carried out as a religious duty, or a fanatic campaign for or against an idea, etc. For Muslims, it has a more nuanced meaning. In Arabic, jihad means 'struggle' and can indicate a person's struggle with religion versus culture, a struggle to retain faith, a struggle to wear or not wear the hijab, etc.

"Extremist and terrorists groups have adopted this term to justify their activities. We should avoid using it unless it's in a direct quote or in the name of an organization, publication, etc.

"the N-word — We've used this euphemism in more than a dozen stories in the last month. It's trivializing and almost cutesy, as in 'Johnny said the f-word in school today, Mom.' Again, better to take a few more words and say something like 'a well-known racial epithet.' (We've printed the actual word 1,254 times since 1977, mostly in the titles of plays and books, but also in news stories about racial harassment.)"

The following is an expanded and updated version of an earlier blog post:

Vernon Robinson seems to be having such a good time right now he can't help himself.

The GOP challenger to Democrat Brad Miller in the 13th Congressional District, Robinson lobs one memorable stink bomb after another on the Miller campaign with clever but mean-spirited commercials that play like bits from Dave Chappelle's show.

Spots on illegal immigration feature mariachi bands and a parody of "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. ("Well, the first thing you know ol's Brad's a congress-man, with all the sneaky aliens eating from his hand. …")

Then there are classic, oldie-but-goodie riffs on "The Twilight Zone" and "Leave It to Beaver" from his last congressional campaign.

Among highlights from Robinson's meeting last week in a 60-minute interview with the News & Record that stretched into 90:

He took the GOP-controlled Congress to task for driving "fiscal reality into the ground" but he supports staying in Iraq as long as it takes to "fight it out and beat the bad guys."

He said he missed the opportunity to have a side-by-side interview with Miller at the News & Record because he didn't get the message in time from his staff.

"It was an administrative foul-up," he said of the Sept. 8 interview, which Miller had consented would feature both candidates. "I would have loved the chance to excel."

After back-and-forth haggling over possible debates with Miller, Robinson confirmed that he has agreed to joint appearances with the incumbent on WRAL (Channel 5) in Raleigh, WTVD (Channel 11) in Durham and WXII (Channel 12) in Winston-Salem.

When asked why his ad campaign is so relentlessly nasty, he noted that Miller's last Republican opponent, Virginia Johnson of Greensboro, ran "googly-bear ads and was crushed."

A big, beefy bear of a man himself, Robinson added: "You have to give people a reason to fire (Miller)."

The country's leaky borders could be fixed lickety-split, he said, with the right military help. "We could secure the borders by midnight with 5,000 Marines and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," he said.
He said the Bush administration "has punted" on enforcement and said he would "hammer employers hard" with fines and jail time on immigration violations.

"The government needs to send a clear signal that we're not tolerating this anymore," he said.

On the fact that he does not live in the district in which he is running, Robinson said, "It's a nonissue. The reason I don't live in the district is because Brad drew the district."

Robinson is right. While a member of the state Senate, Miller was chairman of a legislative redistricting committee that created the boundaries for the 13th District, where he has won the seat twice.
It is "irrelevant" where he lives, Robinson added.

"Quite frankly, I could do a better job of representing the 13th District on the moon than Brad Miller because his values are off the chart."

The News & Record's endorsement editorials on the city bonds will run in Sunday's editions, beginning a full three-plus weeks of endorsements.

But expect something different. The bond editorials will start on the front page of the Ideas section and continue on Page H3.

A separate editorial will cover each item, meaning 11 editorials in all, although each will be relatively short.

We judged the bonds on on a set of criteria, including fiscal impact on taxpayers; how urgently each project is needed; and its impact on the city's quality of life.

You may with some of our choices and disagree with others. That's fine. But please take time to make your own voice heard by voting on Nov. 7. Or earlier. Early voting begins on Oct. 19.

And remember the deadline for election-related letters is noon on Oct. 16.

The recent calls for more police officers downtown are hardly surprising.

More traffic equals more people and more people equal more opportunities for foolishness, especially on the weekends. And especially when alcohol enters the equation.

There's no small irony here. Part of downtown's problem is its newfound prosperity. Time was when there wasn't anyone there to create mischief.

Another irony: The requests for a more visible police presence downtown used to be a PR move driven more by perception than reality.

Now the need is real.

One final irony: On today -- the same day the News & Record story about the need for more police downtown ran -- the school board was mulling whether to pull SROs from middle schools.

Can't live with 'em ...

I fully understand where my colleague, Doug Clark, is coming from on AIDS testing, even though I don't agree with him.

With Doug, it's basically a matter of his deep trust of, and faith in, his wife. I respect and appreciate that.

Doug's view is not unlike that of a groom-to-be (or bride-to-be)who refuses to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

I've learned the hard way to believe very fervently in pre-nups. I wish I could back-date that faith.

Anyway, I support more comprehensive testing on the premise that you can never be sure.

The HBO series, "The Wire," continues a provocative story arc centering on an inner-city Baltimore middle school.

As part of a fictional University of Maryland's professor's experiment, the school will pull the roughest-edged "corner kids," who are chronically disruptive and many of whom already have begun to sell drugs, from their classes.

The remaining "stoop kids," who tend to be more motivated in class, now presumably will be able to concentrate without the disruptive influence of the corner kids.

As for what awaits the corner kids, I'm not sure. I'll have to tune in next week.

The District 2 school board race, which encompasses North High Point, appears to feature two solid candidates.

We interviewed Guilford County Council of PTAs President Debbie Maines this week and were impressed with her energy, commitment and candor.

She shares many of the views held by her opponent, Garth Hebert.
Both have three children in the Guilford Schools.

Both favor tough-minded disciplinary policies.

Both strongly support neighborhood schools and both opposed the High Point Choice Plan.

Like Hebert, Maines believes children can and should be able to learn in any school, given good teachers and the right approaches.

She says now is an ideal time for her to serve on the school board, given her status as a stay-at-home mom and her deep involvement in the schools.

The choice for voters likely will not be based as much on issues as which candidate is the best choice to take these issues to the school board.

Given the buzz on the post below about Maines and Hebert, here's a notion:

Contimue to weigh in on whom you prefer in this race, but in the spirit of accountability (a big deal in this race), say who you really are.

After all, if you geniunely support a candidate, shouldn't you be willing to step forward and be counted?

Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston has announced a boycott of the News & Record -- and it appears to be my fault.

I am a tool of the newspaper used to attack the black leadership.

I am black on the outside but white on the inside, he says. In short, I am an Uncle Tom.

I am an Uncle Tom because I've dared write things that are critical of Alston.

Black people apparently are not supposed to do that. You're either for Skip or you're against him. It's in the rules.

And for not realizing that, I am profoundly sorry.

Alston has not always done well by the poor black people who have been tenants at some of the properties he has managed. That is unfortunate in and of itself, but especially unseemly for an elected official and national NAACP official.

Alston also has bucked national NAACP policy in his past support of payday lending, which especially has been used to exploit poor people. I've written about that, too.

He has seemed at various times to place his personal and business interests above the greater good of the black community.

I've pointed that out over the years as well.

But I am not supposed to.

I should have known better. Thou shalt not dispute Skip.

Mea culpa.

First impressions on today's ConvergeSouth "un-conference" at N.C. A&T:

1. I shared John Robinson's astonishment that so many people showed for our morning session on "Building a Media Culture within the News Organization."

After all, we were up against Robert and Maryam Scoble. Or as John put it, "the Super Bowl."

The only problem: We needed more time. There were too many subjects, too much passion and too many questions to pack even into an hour and a half.

2. Ed Cone is one heckuva host, so natural he really ought to have his own TV show. He did a great job of helping to moderate Elizabeth Edwards' opening session and parachuting into others.

3. Elected officials in attendance included City Councilwoman (and master blogger) Sandy Carmany, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, Superior Court Judge Stuart Albright (about whom I've written my Sunday column), and N.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison. Is there an election coming up or something?

4. It was good to see Michael Christopher again, and to hear about his new blog on faith.

5. It was cool to see the nervous kick people got from meeting in person, for the first time, people they'd established relationships online.

6. And my Saturday night group dinner at 223 South Elm was relaxing and invigorating. After dinner we wound up congregating with other dinner groups and spent another 40 minutes on the corner of Washington and Elm, ignoring the chilly air and sharing stories and business cards.

All in all, a full, satisfying day.

Don't look now, but a quiet storm is raging ... in a local judicial race.

There may be no Tasers-in-schools impasse or funky commercials set to mariachi bands, but the competition for a Superior Court seat in Guilford County is no less intriguing, or hard-fought.

The civil but aggressive campaign between veteran District Court Judge Susan Bray, 45, and the appointed incumbent, Stuart Albright, 37, raises prickly questions about the role of family ties in judicial selection and how best to select judges in North Carolina. Appointment versus election? Experience versus promise? Diversity versus bloodlines? You be the judge.

Albright, the incumbent, was appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to replace his father, W. Douglas Albright, who retired last year from the judgeship before his term ended. The younger Albright served previously as Guilford County district attorney from 2001 to 2005. He practiced law privately from 1995 to 2001. He says the breadth of his experience has well prepared him to be a judge.

Bray, who also sought the appointment, has served three terms as a District Court judge and worked for seven years as an assistant district attorney. She considers herself "the more qualified, more experienced candidate."

"I like Stuart," she says. But she believes Albright has benefited as much from his name as his credentials. "I have earned the promotion," she wrote in a News & Record questionnaire. "I have never gotten anything because of who my father is. I have not had shortcuts or political favors."

She added, during a joint interview, as Albright sat across the table: "I learned things from the bottom. Stuart started at the top. It's not the same."

Replied Albright: "Every Superior Court judge in Guilford County was appointed just like me. The only difference between me and other judges is who my dad is. There is nothing I can do about my last name and I wouldn't want to do anything about it."

But Bray levies a more serious criticism of Albright: She charges that he sat on the Project Homestead case while district attorney in expectations of being appointed to his father's Superior Court seat. "He got that report in August," she said of an investigation of alleged misuse of city funds by the now-defunct nonprofit homebuilder. "For five months he didn't do anything with it."

Our endorsements continue in earnest this week with legislative, county commissioner and judicial endorsements.

We'll also publish this week some reactions to our city bond endorsements. Some people, obviously, disagree.

The posting of the RMA report on the Greensboro Police Department by stirs turmoil and prompts resignations at Greensboro101.

Read more at the Inside Scoop.

One of our editorials today envisions mounted police in downtown Greensboro, per City Councilman Mike Barber's suggestion.

It's not as wacky an idea as it seems.

An officer perched high atop his or her steed is about as visible as law enforcement can get on a crowded city street on a Friday or Saturday night.

Barber said Monday that his notion of horses and cops (which he stresses is an idea he simply supports, but did not originate) has inspired some witty skeptics.

They have used variations of words with "horse" in them to express their cynicism.

Obviously, I can go only a few days without some reference to the sci-fi groundbreaker, "Battlestar Galactica," which is getting edgier by the minute.

When I ran into several kindred "Galactica" devotees at ConvergeSouth over the weekend, we all agreed that a galaxy far, far away seems suspiciously close to Iraq.

The new season's themes include an enemy occupation, torture, detainees, executions, an insurgency and suicide bombings -- by the series' presumed "good guys," the human beings, no less.

One of the bad-guy Cylons quips to one of his comrades about the violently defiant humans: "What did you expect, for them to greet us with ... oh, never mind."

My sister dropped by my house the other night to bring me an autographed copy of Juan Williams' book, "Enough."

She had met Williams at a conference in Dallas.

Coincidentally, I just quoted that book in a column two weeks ago about the need for more visionary local black leadership.

Not surprisingly,Williams is getting some grief for being critical of some national leaders, reports Richard Prince. "Why not just call me an Uncle Tom?" he wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.

I have not read the entire book yet, but I think Williams raises some important, if unsettling, points.

More on it when I'm done.

As you can tell, we are in full-blown endorsement mode, with three county commissioners races on tap for today.

If you've missed any of the previous endorsements, including Sunday's on the 11 proposed city bonds, you can review them here.

The endorsements follow extensive interviews with most of the candidates. Editorial staff members also are attending various candidates forums.

The process is hard work and very time-consuming. But it can be challenging. And fascinating.

If the 2006 election for the General Assembly were held today, 41 percent of North Carolinians would vote Democrat, while 35 percent would vote Republican, the most recent Civitas poll says.

The poll also finds majority sentiment for the resignations of Jim Black and Dennis Hastert.

When asked which party is more effective at fighting corruption in government, 28 percent said Democrats, 24 percent said Republicans.

At the risk of sounding boosterish -- oh, what the hell -- not many places have anything on Greensboro this week.

For starters, the president comes to town Wednesday night.

Then A&T's weeklong homecoming festivities shift into high gear tonight with two concerts (one for the old folks and one for the young'uns) at the coliseum.

Then there's Oprah's appearance at a fund-raiser for Bennett College.

Then the homecoming parade and football game tomorrow.

Then more parties tomorrow night.

Not to mention the usual buzz (and I mean that in a wholesome way) on South Elm Street.

Who needs Charlotte or Raleigh?

Perhaps our most difficult endorsement decision of this campaign season will be determined Monday and published in Tuesday's newspaper: Susan Bray versus Stuart Albright for Superior Court judge in Judicial District 18-C.

Albright, the former DA, has held the position for 10 months after being appointed by Gov. Easley to fill the seat vacated by his father, Douglas Albright.

Therein lies the rub: Some people, Bray included, contend that Albright received an unfair advantage because of his name and might not have ascended so fast if not for his father and his connections.

But both have done good work, Bray as a three-ternm District Court judge over 10 years and Albright in his Superior Court seat, briefly, and as district attorney.

Here's what I wrote in a column about this race last week.

By the way,District 18-C covers most of northwest Greensboro and northwest Guilford County.

This call could go legitimately either way for very defensible reasons, but we, like the voter, will have to make a choice.

When City Councilman Mike Barber recently suggested that cops on horses could help lasso rowdy revelers in downtown Greensboro, you almost could see the skeptics saddling up.

They used colorful variations of words that contain the prefix "horse." ("Horsefeathers" wasn't one of them.)

They made godawful puns about "Night mares on Elm Street."

They invoked the part of a horse's anatomy where the sun don't shine.

But it's not as wacky a notion as it seems.

An officer perched high atop his or her steed is about as visible as law enforcement can get on a crowded city street on a Friday or Saturday night.

Barber acknowledged last week that his vision for horses and cops — which he stresses is an idea he simply supports, but did not originate — would inspire more than its share of naysayers (sorry, couldn't resist).

But at least hear Barber out. As he sees it, the city could lease trained horses from local farms, thus minimizing the costs of training, housing and feeding the animals. Barber also believes the presence of mounted police would make officers more accessible and mobile than downtown foot patrols.

Finally, he contends that such a program might even save manpower costs by empowering fewer officers to cover more ground.

Coincidentally, police in Chapel Hill plan to enlist mounted police to help control the large, potentially unruly crowds that annually overwhelm the town’s Halloween celebration, which can attract up to 50,000 people, only a handful of them sober.

The Fayetteville Police Department will loan five officers on horses, plus motorcycle patrols, in an effort to prevent a recurrence of violent behavior such as the shootings last spring between suspected rival gang members at the annual Apple Chill Festival.

Chapel Hill officials had heard of New Orleans' success with mounted police during Mardi Gras.

One of my A&T students was pointing his cell phone at a homework assignment I had written on the board tonight.

When I inquired what he was doing he gave me a quizzical look.

He was photographing the board, of course.

Easier than taking notes by hand.

N.C. A&T's homecoming last week was so flavorful and warm-spirited that it almost made me forget the horrific season the Aggie football team is having. Almost.

A mediocre Howard team was probably A&T's last, best chance to win a game this season and the Aggies fell 26-0.

Of course, I could always turn to football at my alma mater in Chapel Hill for consolation ... oh no, better make that basketball at my alma mater.

That said, the parties never stopped, from the beginning of the week to the end, and the air was filled Saturday with so many delicious aromas from tailgate barbecues that they almost floated you down Lindsey Street.

I wish the rest of Greensboro would discover what a good time this event is, from the 8 a.m. parade to the concerts to the wall-to-wall reunions.

Some observations:

1. Among the candidates I spotted in the A&T homecomng parade were Berkley Blanks (sheriff's hopeful) and Bill Wright (state House challenger). Pricey Harrison (state House incumbent) says she was there as well, but she chose to walk, she says, rather than ride in a car as the guys did.

2. The A&T people did what they could to provide shuttle and satellite parking and the Greensboro police were out in force, but the traffic was absolutely awful anyway.

3. If I read the uniforms correctly, the Grimsley High School drum line was a huge crowd-pleaser at the parade. Who are these guys and how did they get so good?

4. The scariest thing about the traffic wasn't moving cars; it was parked cars. Some streets were so clogged with (legally) parked vehicles that passing traffic could hardly squeeze through, especially SUVs.

5. I'd have to agree with the woman who vainly tried to appeal to people's sense of decency at the parade by asking that they not crowd in front of little children who had come early and found choice spots on the edge of the street. But those people, many of them grown-ups, ignored her and blithely blocked the little ones' view. Where's the shame? And where's a battalion of mounted Greensboro cops when you need 'em?

The recent thuggery at the football game between the University and Miami amd Florida International University was exceeded in its sheer ugliness only by its predictability.

As the ACC continues to sell pieces of its soul for bigger TV contracts and heavier hitters (no pun intended) in big-time college football, this is what you inevitably get: players stomping one another and swinging helmets, in what my colleague in Sports, Rob Daniels, writes may become "the most-watched slice of tape since the Zapruder film."

Ironically, the ACC has been expressing concern about "sportsmanship" for more than a decade.

In my previous job as a sports editor, I recall then-ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan visiting and sharing his fears about deteriorating behavior among fans, players and even some coaches.

Wonder what he's thinking now.

A series of public service spots from the league have followed in the years since then, but so did more bad behavior.

Some incidents have involved rowdy fans who have stormed playing fields or basketball courts.

Others have involved mean, profane language that masquerades as being clever but succeeds primarily in being filthy and tasteless.

Things got so bad at University of Maryland home basketball games that the school created a code of fan conduct in 2004. Because they treaded dangerously close to free speech restructions, the rules encouraged only "voluntary compliance although certain circumstances might warrant some type pf punishment, including expulsion from the arena.

A legal scholar argued that that was going too far, noting:

"Perhaps one may not particularly enjoy sitting, or having one’s children sit, in an arena where students are shouting expletives throughout the game. But commitment to a neutral free-speech principle means tolerating a great deal of speech that one personally does not like or does not wish to hear. And there is nothing wrong with hortatory efforts by the university, coaches and, most important, other students to encourage fans, especially student fans, to keep their cheering stylish, clean, classy and creative. The 'voluntary compliance' policies recommended in June by the student committee at the University of Maryland included a program under which students could exchange profane T-shirts for noncontroversial ones, contests that would encourage appropriate signs and banners, having coaches address students about the need for good sportsmanship and fan behavior and distributing newspapers at games with 'creative witty cheers' for students to use.

"The point is that a state university may not formally punish — even via non-criminal sanction such as removal from the arena — those students who depart generally accepted norms by loudly wielding a particular loaded word to inform officials or opposing players that they are not very good at what they do."

The author was Henry Wasserman, an assistant law professor ... at Florida International University.

Beyond all the legal problems is the harsh reality that some coaches -- including Maryland's Gary Williams and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski -- are exponentially more foul-mouthed than many students.

Of course, words may hurt, but blows may seriously injure. The ACC ought to jump all over Miami for the player's criminal behavior. And the university, whose football team has had more bad press over the years than Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert combined, should consider more drastic measures, such as suspending the program or firing the coach.

But it won't.

Syndicated columnist and former High Point resident Armstrong Williams has reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department after a yearlong investigation into his promotion of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" Act in columns and commentaries for which the Education Department paid him.

The Education Department had signed Williams to a $240,000 contract to promote the No Child Left Behind initiative, a relationship Williams kept to himself even as he was writing favorable columns and broadcasting favorable commentaries about the issue.

Specifically, Williams had agreed " 'to regularly comment on' and promote the law during his syndicated TV show — and to encourage other minority commentators to do the same."

Reports Richard Prince: The Justice Department settlement requires Williams to pay the government $34,000 because he did not fulfill all of the terms of his contract with the Education Department -- that is, he did not produce as many TV ads as the deal called for, nor did he try to persuade other minority journalists to support No Child Left Behind, as he had agreed to do.

"In other words, this is over," Williams said of the government's investigation of him in The Washington Times. "I've paid my dues. We admitted no wrongdoing. There was nothing illegal or unethical. You have no idea how relieved I am that this is finally behind me."

Williams may have broken no law but he definitely violated basic journalistic ethics. It was an obvious conflict of interest to write and broadcast what are billed as independent commentaries about an institution while it is paying you nearly a quarter of a million dollars to help push its agenda.

A 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that Armstrong's contract also violated a government ban on "covert propaganda."

Williams did say he regretted not disclosing his contract with the government, but he still would not admit any ethical violations.

Ironically, for all he's written about education, he seems to have learned very little.

Larry Schooler, a former reporter for WFDD (88.5 FM) at Wake Forest University and the NPR affiliate in Austin, Texas, is back in the Triad researching a book on the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation process.

Larry is more than casually familiar with Truth and Reconciliation, which revisited the Nov. 3, 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings in Greensboro and culminated in a flawed but very detailed and thoughtful report on the roots and the legacy of that tragedy.

He reported on the TRC for WFDD, National Public Radio and others. You can access a pair of those reports here and here.

I had dinner with Larry the other night, where I shared my views on the still-fascinating TRC saga and he told me a little bit about his project -- about which he is excited but a tad nervous.

Larry quit his radio job in Texas after signing a publishing deal to devote his full attention to the book.

The working title is "Truth Talks: One Community's Conversation In Search of Reconciliation."

Larry invites those who'd like to share their reactions to the Truth and Reconciliaton process to e-mail him at schoollp@earthlink.net.

Correction: Larry has signed with an agent. No publishing deal yet.

N.C. A&T's homecoming was so flavorful and warm-spirited this year that it almost made me forget the horrific season the Aggie football team is having. Almost.

A mediocre Howard team probably was A&T's last, best chance to win a game this season. No such luck. Even on homecoming the Aggies fell to their D.C. rival 26-0 in a game that wasn't even that close.

This likely will be the first A&T team in history to finish an entire season without a victory. The players try hard. But these Aggies, God bless 'em, have neither the numbers nor the talent to beat anybody this year. In their following game, they lost 70-7 Thursday night at Bethune-Cookman in a matchup that, tragically, was aired on cable TV.
Wait till next year. Or maybe the year after.

Thankfully, the actual football game is pretty much a minor attraction at homecoming anyway. There's so much else to do and so little time to do it.

Even as undergraduates at Chapel Hill, several friends and I would make the weekend trip to Greensboro for A&T's homecoming. Carolina homecomings, at least in those days, were pleasant enough, staged in crisp, fall air under the pines at Kenan Stadium. But the only thing that seemed to distinguish homecoming in Chapel Hill from any other home game was the presentation of the homecoming court at halftime — usually to a smattering of indifferent applause and/or boos.

Some of you have wondered on JR's blog why so relatively few letters have been posted in recent days on the Letters to the Editor blog.

It certainly isn't for lack of letters. In fact, we've gotten so many letters lately that they've spilled onto the Second Opinion page in the printed paper.

But the vast majority of these letters have been election letters for individual candidates or the proposed city bond projects.

We have a firm policy against publishing election letters online ... they can invite spurious claims, charges of impropriety and mudslinging among commenters. Since it would be difficult to monitor and vet such comments for taste and accuracy around the clock, so we chosen only to publish election letters in the printed version of the News & Record.

We communicated that policy earlier but people seem to have forgotten it.

So we’re adding a reminder note to the letters blog today.

Please let me know if you have other questions about the elections letters process.

Months after an ill-advised, risky and utlimately ineffective use of lie detector tests on council members, the city has commissioned a high-tech investigation to uncover who leaked a confidential report on a consultant's investigation of the police department.

According to the News & Record's Margaret Banks, forensic analysts are using "photocopying patterns" to find out who leaked the report on former police Chief David Wray to local reporters and bloggers.

Says City Manager Mitchell Johnson: "The leak of this document is a very, very impactful issue for us."

That may be true. And while it is understandable that city leaders would be concerned about unauthorized leaks of sensitive information, the obsession with who passed the document to outside parties seems to be taking on a life of its own.

Could the quest for the messenger overshadow the message?

Hope the council and Johnson are as dogged in the pursuit of closure (sooner rather than later) to this frustrating, long-running controversy within the police department -- and in ultimately healing the deep wounds it is causing.

My friend David Hoggard is understandably exercised that the News & Record did not endorse the War Memorial Stadium bonds.

"Understandably," I say, because David sees the stadium as a vital key to revitalizing of the Aycock neighborhood on the eastern fringes of downtown. I admire his passion for his neighborhood and the old ballpark and I'd hoped that we'd be able to agree to disagree.

Then David -- who already had raked us over the coals last week in a column ... in this newspaper -- went and called us out on his blog. Defend your newspaper's unenlightened, illogical opposition to the stadium bonds, he said in so many words. Put up or shut up.

Ouch.

Typically, we try to avoid having the last word in the public square, especially where endorsements are concerned. We've got more ink than anybody else in town.

But in cyberspace, everyone can hear you scream. Especially David.

The man has all but challenged our collective man- and womanhood on this. So we'll take him up on his dare to explain our thinking on the stadium.

Yes, it's true. We've consistently supported the idea of War Memorial Stadium's continued vitality. We still see its lasting value as an amateur and collegiate sports venue.

We also like the idea of a facelift. We wrote in September of 2005: "The proposed improvements could be part of an inclusive Parks & Recreation Department bond issue, should City Council choose that route. The money would be well spent."

In a May 7, 2006, editorial, we further observed, if the stadium is worth renovating, "it's worth doing right."

That editorial added: "... This project deserves a spot on the ballot. What better way to gauge public buy-in on whether, and how much, to invest in the stadium?"

However, the editorial cautioned: "As for the bigger question of whether the stadium ultimately deserves voter approval, it's premature to say right now."

And it definitely was.

As the bonds list materialized and began to grow, we had to take that into account. It would be irresponsible not to. Heck, it wasn't until very late in the process that the swim center morphed from a public-private partnership with the YWCA into solely a taxpayer expense. A $9 million one, plus recurring operating costs. There also were fire stations and parks and museums and economic development funds. Eleven items in all.

The point is, you shouldn't view bond projects in a vacuum. You have to take into consideration other factors such as more pressing projects that also compete for tax dollars, looming future county bond votes for new schools and a new jail ... and, of course, the health of the local economy.

We have never editorially written a blank check for War Memorial's renovation.

(In fact, War Memorial proponent have mentioned bonds in the past as only one option for stadium renovation. They also proposed using federal historic tax credits. I don't know where that idea is now.)

The bottom line, as we see it, is that a spruced-up War Memorial Stadium would be a nice thing to have. All 11 bond projects would be nice things to have.

But sometimes you have to make tough choices. As the old song says, you can't always have what you want.

And as someone else famously said, "Can't we all just get along?"