News-Record.com

This week's column (expanded from an earlier post).

The Black Student Movement at UNC-Chapel Hill is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
That makes me feel both a sense of pride and old age because not only am I a UNC alum, but I'm also a former head of BSM.

I hadn't yet arrived in Chapel Hill when BSM was founded in 1967, but I did come along only a few years later.

I never expected to be in that position. I'm shy by nature and have always found public speaking a tortuous proposition.

What's more, you could be kicked out of school. A previous BSM head, Algernon Marbley, was taken before the university's Honor Court for leading a protest during which BSM members shouted down an attempted speech by KKK leader David Duke during my freshman year in 1974.

Marbley ultimately wasn't expelled, but the whole saga made headlines around the nation.
Four years later, there I was, a graduate student in journalism and BSM chairman (that's what they called it back in those days; today it's president).

I'd like to say we were as active on real-world issues as previous BSMs. (Our predecessors had supported a cafeteria workers strike.)

By and large we weren't.

Still, I led my share of student protests, and we made sure to do our homework before taking to the pavement.

I'm working on an editorial on what it will take to build trust in Greensboro and heal some of the traditional rifts in our community.

Social capital studies cites a high level of giving and community engagement but also high levels of distrust.

How do we best address that as a city? What can we do as indivduals?

Syndicated writer and N.C. A&T professor DeWayne Wickham in a column published throughout the country last week: "The next time Barack Obama travels to South Carolina in search of votes, he should spend some time talking about Yvonne Johnson."

Wickham's point: That Johnson was elected in a city that is 56 percent white. He credits Johnson's victory in part to black voters believing from day one in her electability and turning out at the polls accordingly.

He also cites her support by "a sizeable number of white voters"

Wickham contrasts Johnson's victory to Democratic presidential contender Obama's struggle to get black voters in South Carolina to believe his campaign is more than a pipe dream.

"Surprisingly" Wickham writes, "Obama has a lot of work to do to persuade some blacks in the Palmetto State -- where blacks make up about half of registered Democrats -- to vote for him."

Some black voters fear Obama would be assassinated, Wickham wrote. Others don't believe he is electable.

This week's column.

Wearing a smart lavender suit and an easy smile, Yvonne Johnson settled gently Tuesday night into the chair outgoing Mayor Keith Holliday had occupied for the last eight years.

A cluster of photographers fired away as she blissfully sat there, framed by an array of grandchildren who had lined up in front of the council dais. She reared back and took it all in.
For at least a moment, the chair seemed more like a family room recliner than one of the hottest seats in the city.

Johnson, 65, is the first African American mayor in Greensboro's nearly 200-year history. But her victory was neither a surprise nor an upset.

If there was any surprise in the election, it was that Johnson hadn't won by an even bigger margin over her likeable, but overmatched, challenger, Milton Kern, whom she defeated with 57 percent of the vote.

Her election bears testament to her ability to connect to all types of people. It also speaks volumes about Greensboro. Even as the city wrangles with issues of trust and race, it's still forward-thinking enough to judge a leader by the content of her character.

Now comes the fun part.

Johnson listed among her priorities for the next two years making Greensboro more business-friendly; producing a well-educated work force; celebrating the city's diversity; and capitalizing more effectively on the city's "untapped resources," including younger people.

Foremost she called for an end to the debate over the resignation of former police Chief David Wray. The racially charged issue has split the city down the middle.

Johnson has pledged to hold forums for citizens to have their say on the controversy. Along the way she surely will call somebody "sweetie."

With a welcome sense of urgency, the new Greensboro City Council has called an emergency meeting for tonight to address the recent spate of violence, especially in December.

The special meeting is a response to citizen concerns about 32 homicides this year, which are only slightly above average but which seemed to have come lately in bunches.

Among the latest killings is a shooting possibly linked to gang activiity.

Homicides are a tough nut to crack, because they typically defy patterns that police can tangibly address. The gang issue already has been addressed with a new police unit formed expressly to focus on that growing problem, as well as a series of community forums.

In addition, Chief Tim Bellamy has created a temporary task force to pace special emphasis on a wave of robberies, especially in the East Market Street area.

But there are other issues: response times, officer staffing levels, community relations with the police.

The council and the city will benefit from an open, frank discussion about what is happening and what more can be done about it.

I just got off the phone with M. Reza Salami, the N.C.A&T professor who was ticketed recently for driving with open alcohol containers in his car.

We are running an op-ed in Wednesday's News & Record in which Salami shares his side of the story which only began with his ticketing by a Guilford County sheriff's deputy at a sobriety checkpoint on Nov. 24.

Salami subsequently complained that the deputy's patrol car contained a sticker on the divider between the front and the back seat that proclaimed: "Jesus is your Savior."

Professor Salami noted during a conversation that he really likes Christmas, and that his Greensboro house is decorated for the season, as usual.

You see, Salami is himself Christian -- a Catholic, to be exact.

"I am a practicing Christian," said Salami, an Iranian American. He also said his wife and son are Catholic.

"I believe Jesus came to save me," he said.

So, why did he lodge a complaint about the sticker to Americans United for Separation of Church and State?

"Because I believe from my heart in the Constitution of the United States," he said.

He contends he never told Sheriff BJ Barnes that he was offended by the sticker. But he did consider it inappropriate

"The public car should belong to the public. What if they put up 'Satan is Lord'? Would that be OK?"

He added: "We don't want to be someplace like Saudi, Arabia. Do we want that here?"
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I've followed with interest the debate over a proposed Walgreens at the corner of Lawndale and Cornwallis.

I pass that intersection often and, frankly, agree, based on what I know at this point that it seems a poor use of that land. I can understand the neighbors' concern.

Commercial development already threatens to swallow the area. The nearby Target shopping center was a welcome addition and provided more convenient shopping. But isn't enough enough?

Then there is the issue of traffic congestion, which already is a challenge at that corner.

There may be some compelling reason to go forward with the project but I haven't seen it.

The story of the teen driver who struck and seriously injured 8-year-old Mariah Rogers as she was getting off her school bus last week represents a sad convergence of bad trends:

1. An unlicensed teen driving a vehicle she should not have had access to.
2. The teen also allegedly driving the vehicle while intoxicated.
3. An adult's possible complicity in the teen's access to the PT Cruiser.
4. The teen's total disregard for laws regarding a stopped school bus (a continuing problem among sober adult drivers).
5. The safety challenges facing even properly licensed teen drivers.

To add insult to the injury she caused, the teen driver failed to turn herself in to High Point police.Rachel Denise Jones, 16, of 1308 Leonard Ave. in High Point, is nowhere to be found.

She faces charges of felony hit and run, felony passing a stopped school bus causing serious bodily injury, felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, DWI and careless and reckless driving.

Already in police custody are the alleged passenger in the vehicle, Rusandra Lagina Quick, 17, who is charged Friday with felony hit and run and felony accessory after the fact. And the PT Cruiser's owner, Christopher Dixon, 32, who has been charged with accessory after the fact.

Poor choices. Missing adult supervision. And the most innocent of victims.

Here's how utterly frustrating covering the issue of the new drug treament center in Guilford County can be.

Paul Nagy, a Duke University consultant to county mental health officials, attended a tour and news conference regarding the facility Wednesday afternoon.

But when approached later, face to face, for an interview, he declined to talk for the record. I would have to clear it first with Duke officials.

Was he kidding?

No, he said. It's school policy. (A colleague in the newsroom had to jump through no such hoops to contact a Duke law professor on a constitutional issue.)

So, even though we were standing there, face to face, and even though he is being paid by Guilford County taxpayers to be there, I'd have to call him on the phone later. After getting clearance from someone else.

So I called Duke News Bureau, as Nagyinstructed, which referred me to the Duke Medical Center news bureau --. where I got a voice mail, then a callback from a very pleasant person. She asked the nature of my questions, then said she would attempt to contact Nagy.

She called back to say she couldn't reach him.

Two days later I still have yet to hear from him, even though he attended and spoke at Thursday night's commissioners meeting.

Here's the rub: Nagy is being paid by Guilford County taxpayers to do work on behalf of the county. Should he not be willing to talk to local media as well?

County Mental Health Director Billie Martin Pierce said she would attempt to get Nagy to make himself available for an interview.

Maybe Duke is gun-shy in the wake of the lacrosse case. But this is ridiculous.

This week's column.

Just so you know, says M. Reza Salami, the N.C. A&T professor who challenged the appropriateness of a "Jesus" sign in a sheriff deputy's patrol car, he likes Christmas.
And he voted twice for George W. Bush, even though he's a Democrat.

And he is, in fact, a "practicing Christian," who keeps a portrait of Christ by his bedside. "I believe Jesus came to save me," he said.

His wife, Mary, is "a devout Catholic," he says, as is his son, a recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who is now attending graduate school in Chapel Hill. And his nephew, who happens to be a bishop in Santa Fe, N.M.

On Nov. 24, Salami, an Iranian American, was ticketed at a sobriety checkpoint for driving with open alcohol containers in his car.

But that's not what's won him infamy in the News & Record's letters column.

It was his audacity to complain that the deputy's patrol car contained a sticker on the divider between the front and the back seat that proclaimed: "Jesus is your Savior."

So, why didn't he make it clear he was a Christian from the start? And why lodge a complaint about the sign with Americans United for Separation of Church and State if Jesus is indeed his savior?

"Because I believe from my heart in the Constitution of the United States," Salami said.

A round, genial man with receding, gray-flecked curly hair, Salami smiled often and wore an American flag pin on the lapel of his double-breasted suit jacket.

Salami came to America as a teenager in December 1973. He helped put himself through college by working as a dishwasher, among other jobs, ultimately earning a master's degree from Virginia Tech and his doctorate in engineering from the University of Arizona. He became a U.S. citizen 20 years ago.

Salami contends he never said he was offended by the sticker. But he did consider it inappropriate in a county-owned and -operated vehicle.

"The public car should belong to the public," he said. "What if they put up ‘Satan is Lord'? Would that be OK?"

He added: "We don't want to be someplace like Saudi Arabia. Do we want that here?"
Though he is not a Muslim, Salami says, he respects Islam, but not what some extremists have done in the name of Islam.

"I respect all religions," he said, "but not the fanatical ones. I am ashamed of what they have done. I am 100 percent against fanatics no matter what the religion."

School leaders, community members and parents gathered Tuesday to discuss why schools have become such violent places.

Only hours later, an ugly incident at an Oak Hill Elementary School Christmas program, of all settings, provided one unsettling answer as to why: Students are learning such behavior at home.

A fight broke out among adults in the audience while the program was under way. A parent captured the incident on videotape.

Superintendent Terry Grier copied this e-mail to media this morning:

I spoke to the principal of Oak Hill Elementary School this morning. Sara Roberts informed me that three female parents, with a history of disliking each other, attended a school Holiday program last night. During the program they began shouting obscenities at each other. The incident escalated into a chair throwing, hair pulling, fight. Two other female parents tried to break up the fight and also became involved. At the same time, a small group of male parents began shouting vulgarities and obscenities. The police was called, but many of those involved left before they arrived.

Since it was a school activity, many parents had video cameras present and taped much of the fight. Someone sent a copy of their tape to Fox 8. The police are coming to the school this morning to interview staff present. No charges have been filed to date.

What a sad, shameful display. What an even worse shame that it occurred as innocent elementary school children were attempting to perform a Christmas play.

An update from the school's principal, as provided by the school system:

On the evening of December 18, 2007, Oak Hill Elementary had a Holiday Program at 6:30 pm. At approximately 7:30, an argument between parents escalated to physical violence in the middle of the gym. Chairs were thrown. Obscenities were loudly exclaimed. Three mothers did physical punch each other and two other mothers attempted to break up the fight. The fighting continued for approximately 10 minutes in total including the yelling and the physical hitting.

This week's column.

You would think that a record of what you've used and what you owe for your monthly water consumption would be as clear as H2O.

And you would be wrong.

In many communities water statements seem more suited to hydraulic engineers than washers of dishes and waterers of lawns.

For example, bills in Raleigh measure water use in hundreds of cubic feet, not gallons (which seems about as intuitive as measuring gasoline consumption in pounds and inches). Realizing, at last, that such measures mean zilch to average consumers, Raleigh intends to change its statements to more decipherable lingo. But it may take as long as two years to install the requisite meters and software, a city official told the News & Observer.

Despite its well-earned reputation as a paragon of water management, Greensboro doesn't use gallons in water bills either. It prefers something called "units." But the back of the bill does at least explain that one unit equals 748 gallons. It also offers a detailed explanation of how city services are billed and the tiered rate structure, most of it, thankfully, in plain English.

Nowhere, however, does the Greensboro statement tell you how much water you consumed during the previous billing cycle. That's too bad, given the city's sustained emphasis on conservation in light of the ongoing drought. A helpful city services representative said customers may request water consumption histories by telephone. But why not incorporate bill-to-bill comparisons into the standard statement as well?