News-Record.com

Tyler Perry's latest movie, "Madea Goes to Jail," has led the nation in box office receipts two weeks in a row.

"Madea" whupped both the Jonas Brothers and Oscar winner for Best Picture "Slumdog Millionaire" in selling the most tickets.

The film, a glossier, updated version of one of Perry's more popular gospel plays, dramatically proves the lasting appeal of Perry's rambunctious, law-flouting, gun-toting grandma, whom he plays in drag, in addition to portraying her lawyer son and her white-haired, pot-smoking brother (you have to be there).

Perry has done so well with his movies that he can attract A-list talent to his cast. Among the cast members of "Madea" are Viola Davis, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in "Doubt."

But that doesn't mean "Madea" is an A-list movie. It isn't.

In a story that involves a corrupt assistant DA in Atlanta, among other threads, Perry's work still lacks quality dialogue and fully drawn characters.

Perry does touch a chord, especially with black audiences, because all of his movies have a warm heart at their core. Virtue is rewarded. Bad guys always get their comeuppance,.
And all of Perry's films depict smart, upwardly mobile African Americans.

But Perry's comedy is too broad and his serious story lines too maudlin and almost always predictable. His characters and direction still give the impression he's still putting on one of those gospel touring plays in War Memorial Auditorium.

Perry, who worked his way from homelessness into prosperity, on his terms, is a remarkable, inspirational success.

But I wish he would learn the value of subtlety.

I am one of the people who saw it.

I would like t

Let’s say it all together now: We’re ... No. 34!!

Despite the high interest and strong turnout in 2008’s historic election, Guilford voters did merely OK, according to a “Voter Activism Index” created by Democracy North Carolina.

The index ranks North Carolina’s 100 counties based on these criteria, among others:

• New voter registration.
• Overall turnout.
• Voter turnout by party and race.
• Early voting.

The top 10 counties in voter activism:

1. Chatham
2. Wake
3. Person
4. Moore
5. Davie
6. Forsyth
7. Orange
8. Durham
9. Transylvania
10. Nash

Given the high interest in the Hagan-Dole race and all of the Obama-McCain excitement, I thought we would have done better.

But it did rain on Election Day (as, of course, it did in Forsyth, which ranked sixth).

Then again, Charlotte had a gubernatorial candidate and placed only 65th. So there.

For all of the rankings, and more, click here.

In an unusual arrangement, long-embattled City Manager Mitchell Johnson was fired Tuesday night but will remain employed by the city in an unspecified job until July 15.

Was it fair? Was it the right move for the council?

That's debatable.

Johnson may have had his issues, but so did the council. It did not manage the manager very well and could not rise above the distractions caused by a sharp split among the council members who were for and against him.

The council repeatedly failed to give the manager clear performance goals and measures by which his effectiveness could have been evaluated objectively.

So it boiled down to a matter of who wanted Johnson to stay and who didn't.

Johnson enjoyed a slender margin of yes votes until Tuesday night, but the issue of his future popped up time and again in meetings, creating two opposing camps that often fiercely disagreed.

Johnson had his weaknesses. He struggled to delegate effectively and council members complained that he did not communicate well.

He might have had the chance to grow into the job, but when he was selected to succeed Ed Kitchen as manager, Johnson almost immediately walked into a lasting and monumental controversy barely before he could warm the manager's seat.

He forced the resignation of former Police Chief David Wray, a man he played a key role in hiring. The issue split the community, raised allegations of racism on both sides and dogged Johnson during his entire tenure.

Was the ouster of Johnson the right thing to do?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But it does remove a wedge that had been driven so deeply into city government that often nothing else seemed to matter.

At least Johnson and the council have been put out of their misery.

.

Who will be the acting city manager?

If possible, someone without a dog in anybody's fight.

Someone unconnected to any faction or special interest.

Someone familiar with the art of herding cats.

Someone who will command the council's respect and someone who won't be afraid to tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

Someone who would have little fear because he would have nothing to lose.

Ed Kitchen comes to mind, but I doubt the former city manager would touch this job with a 1,000-foot pole. He already has a very good job with the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, plus he is connected to Mitchell Johnson as his former boss.

But former County Manager Roger Cotten might fit the bill.

If he could survive all those years with the commissioners, the council should be a piece of cake.

More proof that the ACC Tournament fits in a dome about as snugly as Rush Limbaugh at a MoveOn.org convention:

Entering today's session, 5,000 tickets remained unsold.

The fact that tickets were available for public sale at all speaks volumes.

Chalk up part of the problem definitely to the soft economy.

But no matter how enthralled college basketball's powers may be with domes, they are typically horrible places to watch hoops.

Also, the ACC's mystique is diminished in such humongous and sterile echo chambers.

This event belongs in a basketball arena. In Greensboro.

This week's column.

Dr. Harold Martin
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
University of North Carolina General Administration
P.O. Box 2688
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27515-2688

Dr. Martin:

I know this letter may be presumptuous. But I have heard your name mentioned so often and so favorably over the years — especially now — that I could not resist writing.

I don’t expect a busy man such as yourself to respond in any formal way, and I would be pleased if you would simply think about the proposal that follows.

As you know, N.C. A&T is about to begin the search for a new chancellor. It needs a CEO who has a clear understanding of, and appreciation for, teaching and research.

Someone whose credibility with deans, department heads and, most of all, professors and students, would be unquestioned.

Someone who can help A&T grow and adapt in a challenging economy that places an increasing demand on higher education.

Someone who can navigate the prickly politics of academia, especially at A&T, where cherished, old traditions and new ideas sometimes clash noisily. And where, with the right leadership, neither has to thrive at the exclusion of the other.

Someone who recognizes A&T’s critical value to the local and state economies as a center of thinking and innovation; as a major employer; as a campus especially known for its science, engineering and technology programs.

Yes, I know the search committee just held its first meeting with your boss, UNC President Erskine Bowles, only two days ago. And I know other strong candidates may emerge.

But this is an especially crucial time in A&T’s history. It will have seen four chancellors in four years when the successor to Stanley Battle is hired.

It needs vision, focus and a steady hand at the helm.

And your background uniquely qualifies you for the job.

I am sorry to see the demise of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for more than one reason.

The first is obvious: It is yet another sign of the treacherous state of the newspaper industry.

It also is the second daily recently in a two-daily newspaper town to take a fall, preceded by the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.

I worked for a while in Denver at the height of the Rocky's war with the Denver Post. I was on a sabbatical from teaching journalism and spent most of my time on the Post's copy desk.

I remember requesting an interview with the editor of the Rocky at the time -- Ralph Looney -- and haviing him accuse me of being a spy for the Post. He kicked me out if his office. True story.

But I digress.

My connection to the P.I. is its inventive editorial page editor, Mark Trahant, whom I met about 20 years ago as a fellow judge for what was then called the Penney-Missouri Journalism Awards at the University of Missouri.

He is one of the brightest people in the business.

He is also out of work.

Mark, by the way, is Native American. He is the guy who asked President Bush about tribal sovereignty at the UNITY Convention of minority journalists in Washington in 2004.

The president was not prepared and stumbled through an answer that basically said his opinion of tribal sovereignty for American Indians was that it was, well, sovereign.

The rest, as they say was history and it was broadcast live on C-Span.

As for Mark, he was always forward-thinking.

And he is now.

Richard Prince reports that Mark shared this message with colleagues on the P.I.'s last day:

"So what's next? My plan is to write. I have a couple of books rolling around in my mind (one, a monograph on Sen. Henry Jackson, the late Washington state Democrat who championed defense issues, is well past deadline). It's time to extract these ideas and transfer them to paper. I'll also be giving speeches — contact me, if you're interested — and tackling any other project that suits my interests (while wondering, 'does it pay?') I'm ready for the challenge and excited by the outlook because I know it's only black until dawn — and I've always loved mornings."

In the good times and the not-so-good, a class act.

Louisville may have slipped ahead to the top spot in the polls, but the UNC Tar Heels remain No. 1 at the cash register.

According to Forbes, the Tar Heels are one of the few college basketball teams in the country that is worth more in revenue than the football program -- to the tune of more than $25 million.

Now we know why Ol' Roy is paid so well.

In my recent "Newsmaker" interview with Greensboro Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown, he broached the idea of yet another bond referendum in two years to fix crumbling War Memorial Auditorium.

That will be a very tough sell.

Not only that, but he says he'd trim the price tag from $50 million to $35 million.

But he conceded voters are naturally going to wonder why they couldn't have done the project for the lesser amount in the first place.

He'll have a whole lot of splainin to do.

Here's the video interview:

Update: Matt's got to be feeling his oats these days ... crowds of 20,000-plus for the NCAAs. and now the Taylor Swift concert sells out.

This week's column.

It’s hard to leave a conversation with Nido Qubein without feeling as if someone just clamped jumper cables onto your chair and jolted you with a dose of optimism.

A self-proclaimed disciple of “the art of the possible,” Qubein is that upbeat. All the time.

Small wonder he’s so relentlessly cheery.

He’s a self-made millionaire, CEO, author and motivational speaker.

He’s also a college president who has transformed once-sleepy High Point University into a rising star in higher education.

And he’s done it his way.

Who else would ply his students with free ice cream and pamper them with concierge service?

And who else would include in his administration a “director of WOW”?

And lest you think Qubein’s approach is a case of style over substance, think again. Even in a listing economy, HPU is thriving.

The school’s trustees heard two weeks ago that HPU has hired 35 new faculty and staff members in an era in which most institutions are cutting positions. Enrollment for next fall is projected to grow from 1,900 to 2,300. Campus construction is booming. Freshman SAT scores are up. The school’s financial standing is solid, thanks, in no small part to Qubein’s ability to raise $108 million in four years at the helm.

And Qubein has accomplished all that (egads!) without a doctorate.

For all the excitement this time of year can bring, I grimace at the sound of young college students mangling the English language in tortuous post-game interviews.

I am not alone.

One interview with a player from the champ of the Southern Conference, Chattanooga, yielded this reaction to the NCAA pairings:

“When we seen that we got UConn, I mean, we was happy to be up there on the board. Coming here, we believed we can be one of the teams in history, to make history and beat UConn. It’s all about believing in the system, believing in yourself. When you toss up that ball, anybody can win. Ain’t just ‘cause they UConn it’s a lock. It’s a basketball game. Both teams we got to play, they just like us.”

The player in question is African American.

The quote came up in a listserv for black sports writers. The issue: Should you correct the grammar in such quotes when including them in a published article?

The bigger issue, of course, which also was broached in the online discussion, is why you’d have to consider changing it in the first place.

College students should have better command of the language than that.

To be fair, manglers of the King’s English come in all shapes and colors.

And some of the very best interviews — and interviewers — are African American.

Some presidents who will remain unnamed have done horrific things to perfectly innocent words.

But too many young black men sound like that.

There is something fundamentally wrong when a “student-athlete” speaks so poorly.

In light of Sunday's column, reader Jon Maxwell pointed out another dramatic example of a very effective college leader who took the post sans Ph.D.: Terry Sanford of Duke.

Armed with (only) a law degree, Sanford "did a great job years ago of revitalizing Duke," Maxwell e-mailed.

Indeed. Sanford, the former governor, led one of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions for nearly 16 years, from 1969 to 1985.

In fact, as Jon mentioned, Sanford is largely credited with elevating Duke's national standing and even mounted a long-shot campaign for president of the United States along the way.

"He gave Duke even more class," Bill Snider, the former News & Record editorial page editor, wrote upon Sanford's death in 1998 at age 80.

He didn't too badly after that, serving in the U.S. Senate after retiring from Duke.

He was one of the boldest and most visionary leaders in state history.

Time was when universities were considered recession-proof.

Not anymore.

UNCG has announced that it will cut possibly 100 or more faculty and staff jobs.

Similar moves should follow at N.C. A&T.

Everybody is cutting, including Harvard and Yale.

The first to go at A&T and UNCG probably will be part-timers -- not good news for people like me, but a logical place to start.

The issue of cuts in the UNC system has sparked some unsually pointed words from UNC President Erskine Bowles, who disagrees with proposed cuts in Gov. Bev Perdue's budget.

Bowles described as "ludicrous" Perdue's suggestions that the UNC system could get by with eliminating just 73 jobs.

Perdue responded that Bowles' words were unduly harsh.

But if the impending UNCG cuts are any indication, he was right.

Bowles favors furloughs as one way to minimize job losses. Perdue disagrees.

But the two are still talking about it. Good.

This is going to be hard and painful, given the importance of strong public universities to the state's economy.

There is a delicate balance between saving in the present and investing for the future.

You have to give Sheriff BJ Barnes credit.

He doesn’t mind facing potentially very skeptical audiences about sensitive issues.

On his calendar for next week are not one, but two such events, both about the controversial 287 (g) program.

On Monday the sheriff speaks at New Light Missionary Baptist Church at 6:30 p.m.

Judging from the fliers, he probably won’t face the most receptive audience.

Sponsored by the “Guilford County Coalition for Just Laws and Peace Among Street Organizations,” the program is called “Not in Guilford County.Not in My Community.”

The flier features a photo of man lying on pavement and being handcuffed by police officers.

The flier adds:

What is wrong with the 287 (g) program?

• It encourages Racial Profiling.
• It disrupts Families.
• It Takes Resources from Communities and Programs meant to help Immigrant communities.

The second, scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, at 6 p.m. at Iglesia Cristiana Internacional (219 S. Elm/Eugene St) and will feature both the sheriff and Police Chief Tim Bellamy. It also will be communicated in both English and Spanish.

I don’t agree with all aspects of 287 (g) and worry that its liabilities might outweigh its benefits.

But I’ve always appreciated Barnes’ candor on his choice to adopt a form of the program in Guilford County. And his willingness to have a reasonable conversation about it.

The Greensboro Police Department also has been more than willing to discuss its approaches to policing in immigrant communities.

Both programs, hopefully, will advance the discussion in a civil, constructive manner.

This week's column.

Hold on to your hard hat.

Steve Arnold and Skip Alston’s extreme makeover of county government continues unchecked.
Alston, the chairman of the county commissioners, and Arnold, the vice chairman, are not only rearranging the furniture, they are blowing stuff up (in a figurative sense, at least), firing top leaders, laying off people, and re-engineering critical functions.

And they say they are doing it in the “best interests” of the citizens — even though they haven’t seen fit to ask the citizens’ opinions — or in most cases, even their fellow county commissioners’.

Presumably we are supposed to shut up and let them do their thing. After all, they know best.
Input? They don’t need no stinkin’ input.

Specifically, on the issue of the layoffs, Alston has said, “I don’t feel that we have any obligation to let the public know.”

The calculated chaos in county government even prompted local business leaders to demand better behavior on the part of both city and county elected leaders in a March 22 op-ed. They have a right to be concerned. Consider the damage (so far):

Alston and Arnold led the ouster in December of County Manager David McNeill, for reasons that remain unclear, and without the benefit of an evaluation.

They eliminated the job of Deputy County Manager Ben Brown.

They forced the resignation of County Attorney Sharron Kurtz.

Since then no fewer than three interim county attorneys have come and gone in the span of only three months.

They have flouted the state’s open meetings laws.

They have planned and executed one round of layoffs, cutting 35 positions, with another round on the way.

They essentially have taken the model of county government, in which a manager runs the day-to-day operations, and turned it inside-out. Now they manage the county.

And no one seems to care.

Ten reasons for the collective yawn that has greeted the Alston-Arnold coup: