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A tragedy averted
Guilford sheriff’s deputies arrested an armed man holding a hostage in Browns Summit early Friday morning after a tense, 13-hour overnight standoff. The gunman surrendered after officers fired 20 rounds of tear gas into the house.

The life-or-death dilemma in such cases: when to wait and when to make a move. It’s an inexact science.

But Charles Alton Grinnall’s threats to kill himself and his former girlfriend seemed grounds enough to ultimately force the issue. He had fired several shots from the house, and he obviously was agitated. But negotiators also correctly guessed that if he hadn’t harmed himself or his hostage after 13 hours, he probably wasn’t going to.
And a high-stakes game of wait-and-hurry-up ended well.

The Sheriff’s Office, the Greensboro Police Department and Guilford County Emergency Services worked together seamlessly, as they usually do. “We couldn’t have done it without them,” Maj. Tom Sheppard of the Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

No one was hurt, and Grinnall, 36, is where he needs to be, in the Guilford County Jail.

Filling a longtime voidWhat once was a Winn-Dixie shopping center in northeast Greensboro has been a sore point with area residents for years. Not only had the grocery store shut down and left 10 years ago, but the center became moribund and vacant, aside from the McGirt-Horton public library branch and a Family Dollar store.

Now plans call for expanding and renovating the library with city bond money and exploring options to build senior housing there, as well as a neighborhood center and shops.
While good intentions don’t always translate into brick and mortar, this project has support from the city and nearby residents. And the expanded library will provide a helpful anchor.
There’s cause to be optimistic.

The midday train to Charlotte
The state Department of Transportation plans to add a third train between Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh within the next year.

The midday time frame should offer greater convenience and provide an attractive alternative, given the price of gas and clogged workday traffic on I-40/85.

Some skeptics wondered if the restored passenger train service at the historic downtown J. Douglas Galyon Depot would succeed. It has. DOT says ridership increased 26 percent between October 2007 and April 2008.

Some say they take the train because it’s quaint and relaxing. Now it’s becoming practical and convenient, as well.

A break from the campaign
It’s unusual for a candidate for a state office to leave the country for a month during the campaign, but ...

When she’s running for a seat on the N.C. Supreme Court, and she has a chance to teach a summer law course with a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court ... in Venice, Italy ... well ...

“I think you just don’t pass up the opportunity to teach with Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” said Suzanne Reynolds, a Wake Forest University law professor and candidate for the state’s highest court.
Ginsburg and Reynolds will lead a two-week course in comparative constitutional law, examining U.S. and Italian legal issues.

Reynolds will stay two additional weeks teaching comparative family law. Wake Forest has its own place in Venice, called Casa Artom.

Reynolds practiced law in Greensboro before joining the Wake faculty 26 years ago.

Considering she’s a first-time candidate, and she’s running against incumbent Justice Bob Edmunds, a Greensboro resident, giving up a month’s campaign time is risky for Reynolds.

But then, who pays attention to judicial races in July?