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Welcome. Come on in and pull up a chair.

You're now a member of the News & Record's virtual editorial board.

Through this forum you can participate in our daily editorial board meetings, where we discuss the topics we might write about and set our slate for tomorrow's paper.

Who are we? Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson led today's 9:30 a.m. meeting. Allen was joined by Ken Irons and your blogger today, Doug Clark.

Our lineup varies from day to day. Ken normally is with us just two days each week, although he's been pulling full-time duty lately to help us through vacation season. Keith Monroe joined our team a few months ago on a once-a-week basis, although some weeks he's worked more often than that. And, about the middle of next month, Elma Sabo will resume editorial writing a few days a week. At one time a full-time editorial writer, for the last few years she's been our part-time editor of the Sunday Ideas section and book pages.

Publisher Robin Saul is the final member of our Editorial Board, but Robin doesn't sit in often. He does typically review editorials before they are published.

The purpose of this blog is to give you a look at how we work, let you know what we're working on, and ask for your input. We'll give you a chance to comment on our editorials before we write them -- which means your views can influence our final product.

Occasionally, we'll also use this space to solicit your opinions about the various features besides editorials that we include on our pages. Which columnists do you like, or not? Which features? You're our customers, and we're in business to satisfy you -- although we know that sometimes we're bound to make you mad.

So, back to today's discussion. We focused mainly on three subjects:

* The startling story that an alleged local drug dealer discussed hiring a hit man to "touch" Rhino Times editor John Hammer and possibly author Jerry Bledsoe.

After noting that it's pretty flattering for journalists to provoke murderous intent in the people they report about, we quickly agreed that this is a serious issue and, even if the Rhino is a rival publication, we've got to stick up for fellow journalists. The idea that Hammer and Bledsoe, a former N&R reporter and columnist, might be the targets of a mob-style hit is just outrageous. The allegation demands serious investigation. I'm planning to write on this subject for publication later in the week. Your thoughts?

* The disturbing case of retaliatory action taken against a high-level DMV official who blew the whistle on possible improper actions by his boss.

This one is Ken's. We strongly believe that state employees who report improper behavior in their agencies should be protected, as the law requires.

* And a national report that some experts think the problem of criminal gangs, especially involving young people, is overstated.

Allen plans to take a closer look at this report and check it against what local authorities say about youth gang activities here. Allen has written about gangs many times before. His impression, based in part on what law-enforcement sources say, has been that gangs are more of a problem here than most people want to believe. He may develop this topic into our lead editorial for Sunday.

We have a couple of editorials written earlier in the week that we plan to print in tomorrow's edition. But in this business, the news can change our plans in a hurry so we try to be flexible.

That's it for now. Thanks for joining us. We're anxious to hear from you.

Welcome back to the N&R Editorial Board. Allen, Ken and I held our meeting to 30 minutes this morning, briefer than usual. Sometimes we carry on for an hour or more. Guess we just didn't have any disagreements today.

We start out by sharing the top stories and editorials in the state's other leading newspapers - Charlotte Observer, News & Observer of Raleigh, Winston-Slaem Journal and the High Point Enterprise. Then on with our own agenda.

Some of it was carried over from yesterday. We decided to bump up the DMV edit from a No. 2 to tomorrow's lead in light of the director's sudden resignation. Ken is recasting that one. For our No. 2 edit tomorrow, we plan to run a commentary on the story about a possible "hit" on Rhino editor John Hammer or author Jerry Bledsoe. I spoke with Jerry yesterday, but he declined to comment on the record. This matter strikes me as very serious and alarming. Allen is pursuing the subject of gangs for our Sunday editorial, and he'll post some further thoughts about that on this blog later today.

I'm going to work on an edit about the powers of initiative, referendum and recall outlined in Greensboro's municipal codes. This is a timely topic because of the upcoming recall election, but otherwise these powers aren't used all that often. I think they're good tools to have in the democratic toolbox, although of course they have to be used responsibly. This editorial will have some shelf life, so you might not see it in print for a while. But I certainly would like to get some feedback. Do you favor these powers for the public? Should they be used more often? Do they help hold elected officials accountable, or can they override the legitimate authority of those officials?

You can read the codes here. Go to Chapter II, Subchapter D, Article 2.

Here's more on a gang editorial in the works for Sunday's paper:

I've had a look at a summary of the "Gang Wars" report from the Justice Policy Institute in Washington.

Among its findings:

--That placing gang members in jail may not curb gang behavior and may in fact reinforce it.
-- That a number of programs across the country have proven effective in addressing youth crime and violence.
-- That President Bush's proposed funding cuts in juvenile justice programs, including the planned shutdown of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, will hurt efforts to combat the gang problem.
--That education is a "protective factor" against youth crime.

A critic of the report, Wes McBride, director of the California Gang Investigators Association, said the report was written by "thug-huggers."

"Are they saying we can't put a thief in jail, we can't put a murderer in jail?" McBride said. "That we should spank them, put a diaper on them, pat them on the bottom, hug them and let them go?'

The Justice Policy Institute, for the record, does as its core mission advocate alternatives to incarceration.

We're pumped!

Editorial writers love hotly contested local elections featuring lots of interesting candidates, and that's what we've got coming up in Greensboro.

We're going to write an editorial for tomorrow complimenting the contenders, encouraging them to run vigorous campaigns and urging voters to pay attention and, this time, actually show up at the polls.

We've already begun making plans for our election coverage, which includes inviting all the candidates for Editorial Board interviews. As there are at least 30 of them (with filing open until noon), this will require a good bit of time, but we love it.

The interviews will help us determine our endorsements.

On that subject, what's your view of newspaper endorsements? Do you pay attention to them? Vote with them? Vote against them? Appreciate them? Resent them?

And on the topic of the day, what's your impression of the field of candidates? How do you think the campaigns will shape up?

Tammy Faye Messner, formerly Bakker, was nominated as a topic for discussion at this morning's Editorial Board meeting. She died last week of cancer the day after a remarkably hopeful and upbeat interview by Larry King on CNN.

Everyone around here of a certain age remembers Tammy Faye, the alternately chirpy and teary-eyed PTL Club co-host with then-husband Jim Bakker. They built a Christian empire just outside Charlotte, and then saw it collapse under a ton of fraud and scandal. Jim went to prison, Tammy Faye divorced him and remarried.

Interesting as that story was, the four of us attending today's meeting -- Allen Johnson, Ken Irons, Keith Monroe and your reporter -- didn't think T.F.'s death warrants a separate editorial. Were we right or wrong?

New developments in the Tolly Carr story were another matter.

Carr's attorney, Locke Clifford, said Friday that former WXII news anchor Carr plans to plead guilty to all charges related to the March 11 incident in which pedestrian Casey Bokhoven of Winston-Salem was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by Carr. The guilty pleas aren't big news. Carr faces almost certain conviction on DWI, death by motor vehicle and other charges anyway. The interesting story is that Guilford County Schools officials would like him to speak to students about the dangers of drinking and driving.

We think Carr could be a very effective messenger on that score, and the court or the Department of Correction should consider allowing that assignment after his conviction. At the same time, Carr must be sentenced as the law requires. Public service, and celebrity, can't be means to avoid the appropriate punishment, which could amount to more than four years in prison.

If Carr were sent to the Guilford Correctional Center at McLeansville, a minimum-security facility, he could be released during school days to meet with students. Do you think that makes sense?

We also will be working on commentary about the dire need to keep this nation's infrastructure in order -- as recent problems in New York City and on Wendover Avenue in Greensboro have dramatically pointed out. Keith noted that the American Society of Civil Engineers puts a $1.6 trillion price tag on current infrastructure needs in this country -- billions in North Carolina.

Another topic worth a look is the call by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research to do away with legislative "blank bills" introduced by lawmakers with contents to be filled in later -- often when it's too late for the public or potential opponents to figure out what they are.

We appreciate feedback on these and other issues.

Stanley Battle said everybody's going to start early and finish late during his tenure as chancellor at A&T.

He's even put our Editorial Board on that schedule, granting us an interview at 7 a.m. Thursday.

The session will provide the basis for a Q&A in print and possibly an editorial. We'll also produce a NewsMaker video interview, which you'll be able to see on our Web site.

What questions would you like to see us present to Chancellor Battle?

Today's a real meeting day. Our Editorial Department team is getting together later this morning to discuss possible changes in what we do and how we do it. Everything's on the table -- including your ideas. What Editorial/Second Opinion/Ideas features do you think we should get rid of? What should we do that we're not doing?

By the way, our Editorial Department team consists of editorial assistant Becky Layton, page designer Dennis Shelton, Ideas/Books editor Elma Sabo, editorial writers Ken Irons and Doug Clark and Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson.

Getting back to Battle: We get his point about starting early, but finishing late? We definitely try to avoid doing that.

We're doing three interviews Thursday:

1. A 7 a.m. interview with A&T Chancellor Battle.
2. An 8 a.m. video interview by Doug with Chancellor Battle for our NewsMaker series.
3. A 10:30 a.m. NewsMaker video interview by me with Grasshoppers General Manager Don Moore.

The Moore interview will focus on the Hoppers' ability to keep breaking attendance records even though the newness of First Horizon Park has worn off. We'll also talk about some fans' desire for the team to move up to double-A, a higher level of competition.

If you have other questions, about baseball, or A&T, that you'd like for us to ask, let us know.

Among the discussion topics today was state Attorney General Roy Cooper's campaign to make it tougher for sexual predators to seek victims on MySpace.com.

The social networking site counts 29,000 registered sex offenders among its profiles.

Cooper advocates a state law that would require parental permission before children would be allowed to create social networking profiles on such sites.

We agree, but the bottom line is closer parental supervision, period, of children's online activities.

Toward that end, a number of parents place their children's computers in common areas of their homes, where they can keep an eye out.

What do you think?

We're also working on an editorial about the a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 16-year-old who married her former South Brunswick High School coach.

The parents are suing Guilford County Schools, where the coach previously worked, alleging the county failed to alert authorities that Brenton Wuchae, the 40-year-old teacher, had inappropriate relationships with female students at Southern Guilford High School.

Said the parents' attorney: "It is regrettable that sometimes school systems do not have the backbone to take decisive action to protect students from inappropriate behavior on the part of their teachers and coaches."

We understand the parents' angst. We're not so sure about the strength of their legal case.

Your thoughts.

Stanley Battle isn't kidding. He arrived early for his 7 a.m. Editorial Board interview this morning.

The new chancellor at A&T says he's tightening up the work ethic on campus.

No wonder. The university has important goals to meet: improving retention and four- and six-year graduation rates, strengthening the nursing program and ensuring financial accountability, among others.

There will be incentives for students to meet standards: "Every dollar I can get that's legal is going to students in terms of support," Battle said.

He also talked about reaching back to help young people long before they're old enough to apply to college. Coppin State University in Baltimore, where Battle served his previous presidency, managed an elementary and middle school and operated an academy for high school students on its campus. Similar efforts are possible here. He said he has a commitment from Bill Cosby "to come here to help us with some things."

"Everything is not where it should be" following critical audits at A&T, but the university is working very hard, and very closely with the UNC general administration, to put things right, Battle said.

Less than a month on the job, Battle says he likes Greensboro and finds people very friendly here. He and his wife, Judith Lynn Rozie-Battle, a lawyer, are visiting churches every Sunday and eventually will find one to join. Both are looking for ways to make a contribution as individuals, he said. They have one daughter, Ashley, who is a journalist in San Francisco.

Battle is a classically trained singer who promises he will perform at some point here, a "connoisseur of the Bible" and a faithful runner, which affords him "my time to talk to God."

Our plan is to present our interview with Battle in the Aug. 12 Ideas section, as well as audio and a separate video interview.

After that, it was into our regular Editorial Board meeting. A couple of topics we decided to write about are the apparent approval of $58 million in state funding for the proposed school of nanotechnology that will be jointly operated by A&T and UNCG and carries the potential for an enormous economic impact, and Matt Brown's latest, and strangely secretive, idea to create an ACC hall of fame inside the coliseum rather than on a separate and yet-to-be-acquired property nearby. Our view is that this reflects what's possible to like and not like about Matt Brown, the coliseum's managing director. He comes up with some very good ideas, but he sometimes seem to pursue them in a cloak-and-dagger style. We think this one is certainly worth considering.

Your view?

We'd like your feedback on our editorials today:

An inside-the-box idea about Matt Brown's latest proposal to fit an ACC Hall of Champions inside the Greensboro Coliseum Complex; and

Guilford schools aren't liable, about the lawsuit filed against GCS by the parents of a 16-year-old girl who married her 40-year-old coach at South Brunswick High School. Brenton Wuchae taught for nine years in Guilford County.

Our Editorial Board is curious about the Pulpit Forum's planned role in District 1 politics. Will it confine its support for T. Dianne Bellamy-Small to the recall election, or will it continue to promote her candidacy as she seeks re-election to another full term? We hope today's press conference will shed some light on that. Allen plans to attend.

We will write an editorial for tomorrow about Skip Prosser's death. ACC basketball coaches are important people around here, and Wake Forest is the Triad's ACC representative.

Prosser's teams were generally successful on the court, but more importantly he promoted the right values and priorities. He was well liked and respected. His death is a shocking tragedy.

Some could say that anything about a basketball coach, no matter how fine a person he was, belongs on the sports pages and not the front page or editorial page. We don't agree. Prosser's death is the most compelling story in the Triad today. Many of us are consumed by ACC basketball for five or six months every year, and we come to know the players and coaches almost on a personal level. We care about them as people, not just sports figures.

Other sports stories lately have commanded news headlines: Michael Vick's arrest on charges related to dog fighting, the doping scandal that's turning the Tour de France into a travesty, and Barry Bonds' pursuit of baseball's all-time home-run record. Sure, none of it is as important as the war in Iraq or other world crises, but in their own way they present human drama showing us at our best and worst. They are the news of the day.

We've been running Short Stack in place of editorials on Mondays for a few months now. Our reasons:

It gives the page a different look once a week.

It lets us hit some topics that might not warrant a full editorial.

The format lends itself more readily to occasional attempts at humor, or at least a somewhat breezier style.

Ideally, some Short Stack items would more closely resemble what you might read in a blog than in a traditional newspaper editorial.

What do you think?

Our best discussion in today's Editorial Board meeting dealt with the proposal that we say it's time for North Carolina to give up its ABC stores. Why should the state continue to monopolize the sale of liquor?

This was prompted by last week's report that businesses with ABC contracts provided free liquor and other perks for hundreds of ABC officials meeting at the Grove Park Inn last week.

We weren't all agreed. The argument in favor of the current system is that it does more effectively regulate the availability of a product that, well, should be tightly regulated. There's a limited number of outlets and limited hours of operation. Prices are higher than they might be in a more competitive environment, which helps discourage over-consumption. And profits provide revenue for local governments.

The opposing view is that liquor sales should be left to the private sector, as are sales of beer and wine, which can be regulated by statute. The government monopoly of the spirits trade is an anachronism left over from the post-prohibition era. Would it make sense for the state to take over the sale of tobacco products, pharmaceuticals or any other commodity? So why liquor? Why shouldn't consumers benefit from the full range of products and competitive pricing that the private sector could offer? And, if ABC officials are potentially subject to the influence of special interests pouring drinks at fancy resorts, is the system any purer than private enterprise?

Can you help us sort this out with your opinion?

Our Ken Irons has been following the story of Bluegreen Communities and its planned residential-golf course development near Haw River State Park. He attended a meeting last week with Taft Wireback and Bluegreen representatives.

The story illustrates the issues involving development vs. preservation. People want to live in or near beautiful natural areas, and local governments benefit from the tax revenue generated by new homes, golf courses and other "improvements." At the same time, there's value for everyone when land can be secured for state parks. So, compromises are called for.

Ken is working on an editorial for tomorrow. Your input is welcome.