Tammy Faye didn't make the cut
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.
Comments (5)
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To me allowing Tolly Carr to share his tragic experience will serve multiple purposes. He will be teaching about the consequences of drinking and driving, be a role model for accepting responsibility for ones actions and hopefully begin to heal the wounds of all those involved that fateful night. I hope he gets a deserved chance.
Posted on July 23, 2007 2:11 PM
Thanks, Barbara. I found out the Department of Correction has a program called Think Smart that trains minimum-security inmates to talk to students about the consequences of crime. If he is sentenced to a term in prison, Tolly Carr would be an ideal candidate for this program. He has the potential to make good use of whatever time he might be incarcerated.
Posted on July 23, 2007 3:14 PM
The sink hole on Wendover Avenue reminds us first that there is always a need to maintain our public infrastructure and second that dire outcomes can occur if we fail to keep up with these responsibilities. Local, state and federal authorities need to plan and BUDGET for these responsibilities and for emergencies.
The most sensible budgeting would involve dedicated revenues from user fees and taxes. As much as possible, revenues should be tied to uses of the infrastructure. No one likes to pay these fees or taxes; however, the public is more likely to support these necessary increases if it is convinced that the money won't be diverted to other purposes. The public will support increases that contribute to long-run and sustainable solutions to problems.
Infrastructure maintanence usually escapes our notice--except when that infrastructure breaks down in some spectacular way. I hope that the editorial board will use the recent events to educate readers about the very difficult choices involved and to build support for solutions.
Posted on July 23, 2007 10:06 PM
I hope you will write about infrastructure, and the high cost of neglecting it. (Remember New Orleans, anyone?) I hope you will also draw the connection between the high cost of neglecting public infrastructure -- which also includes education and health care -- and the miserable failure of the backward conservative agenda, which sees repressive government, lower taxes on the investor class, and the glorious free market as the solution to every modern day problem. They have been wrong about everything for the past 30 years, and America is now much weaker as a result.
Posted on July 24, 2007 8:47 AM
I did notice the outfit doing the sewer lines in the neighborhoods I walk through are from none other than a half hour down the road from where I grew up in Connecticut. Must cost a fortune to get them to come down here with all those trucks and equipment, and to put many of them up locally for months.
Posted on July 26, 2007 1:09 AM