TCB Dec. 7, 2017 — 'There is only one chief'

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com December 7 – 13, 2016

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Battling the Klan PAGE 6 Secret speakeasy PAGE 17 #PLTS PAGE 5

‘There’s only one

chief’ PAGE 12

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016

Uncuffed with the GPD

by Brian Clarey

I spent a significant amount of time with members of the Greensboro Police Department over the last few weeks…

none of it in handcuffs.

The reporting informed this week’s cover story, beginning on page 12. I am grateful for the access afforded me on this piece, which I realize is unusual.

“A lot of chiefs would never, ever let a journalist talk to them like this,” Chief Wayne Scott told me.

It started because I sensed a change in the department, which for so many years had inspired little but cynicism and disappointment in media circles, and because I know we’ve entered a new age of policing in this country, one which the tactics of the last century will not serve so well.

And I recognized that the GPD had released not one but two pieces of body-camera footage, which is two more than most of my friends who are still in journalism got to see in their respective cities around the country.

The most damning of it — the scenes of then-Officer Travis Cole roughing up Dejuan Yourse on his mother’s porch — was shown to the public on the recommendation of the chief himself.

That is… unusual.

Remember I go way back with the GPD, back to the days of David Wray, the Secret Police, the Black Book, the RMA Report, the trial of Scott Sanders and Tom Fox and the firing of City Manager Mitch Johnson.

I had a front-row seat for the fracas, which saw a lot of good people get their reputations tarnished and a lot of bad ones walk away relatively unscathed.

It took what was once one of the most innovative departments in the country and exposed the rot beneath the surface.

And it threatened to jeopardize the most important policy of any metro PD: Don’t spook the herd.

I did a lot of thinking about the job of police chief while I worked I this story. I could never decide if the chief was being stretched in a thousand different directions or being squeezed from them.

I did realize one thing about the chief’s job: I could never do it. And not just because of my aversion to handcuffs.

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I work for the city manager. That’s my boss. But I also work for every citizen of Greensboro. I can’t go out to eat at night without people coming up. I do answer to city council; seldom a day goes by that I don’t receive a call from a council member. Don’t forget the legislative body — I have a lot of laws and regulations I am sworn to defend.

— Greensboro police Chief Wayne Scott, in the Cover, page 12 1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey

ART ART DIRECTOR Jorge Maturino

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Dick Gray

brian@triad-city-beat.com allen@triad-city-beat.com

jorge@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

tynesha@triad-city-beat.com

eric@triad-city-beat.com

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

DIGITAL SALES Tynesha Brown

EDITORIAL INTERN Naari Honor intern@triad-city-beat.com

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2016 Beat Media Inc.

CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Kat Bodrie Jelisa Castrodale Stallone Frazier Anthony Harrison Matt Jones

Cover photography courtesy of the Greensboro Police Department

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016

CITY LIFE Dec. 7 – 13

by Naari Honor

WEDNESDAY

the history of a prison site once used for chain gangs that they now intend to turn into a sustainable farm manned by veterans and youth involved in the justice system. More information can be found on the International Civil Rights Center & Museum Facebook event page.

Jordan Flaherty @ Scuppernong (GSO), 7 p.m.

Author and journalist Jordan Flahert, discusses his new book, No More Heroes: Grassroots Responses to the Savior Mentality, and converses on how those of privilege can aid in the fight against white supremacy and Trump’s agenda. More information at scuppernongbooks.com.

Yule ball @ Geeksboro (GSO), 4 p.m.

The self-proclaimed “Hogwarts of NC,” Geeksboro invites the wizarding world to Phoenix, this year’s Harry Potter Yule Ball, for a night of hob-knobbing, gaming, magical music by Tonks & the Aurors and wizard rock group Gred & Forge and a possible friendly game or two of Wizards Chess. More information on Geeksboro’s Facebook page.

THURSDAY

Ron Haviv and Ed Kashi @ SECCA (W-S), 6 p.m.

International photojournalists Ron Haviv and Ed Kashi visit the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art to discuss the integral role photojournalism plays in documenting catastrophic and groundbreaking world events. Work from collections covering the 2016 presidential election, Syrian refugee crisis, Black Lives Matter movement and Arab Spring will be made available for public viewing. More information at secca.org.

Art show & sale @ Temple Emanuel (GSO), 7 p.m.

Temple Emanuel holds its first annual art show featuring more than 30 Jewish artisans, including Jay Rotberg, Gary Fischer, Alexis Lavine, Beatrice Schall and Noe Katz, while showcasing a variety of media such as clay, glass, jewelry and books. More information can be found at tegreensboro.org/calendar.

FRIDAY

Magpie Thief EP release @ On Pop of the World Studios (GSO), 8 p.m.

Magpie Thief celebrates the release of its new EP, Say What You Mean, with the help of a few of their friends, Harry and Vaughn Aed, for a night of beautiful music collaboration and merriment.

More information can be found on Magpie Thief’s Facebook page.

Hoops for Hounds @ Hartley YMCA (HP), 5 p.m.

Local animal rescue groups and pet welfare organizations come together for a first-annual animal basketball fundraiser. Donations are welcomed and the whole family is encouraged to attend this festive fur baby fundraiser. For more info email marquez@ northwoodah.com.

Meditative exploration @ Ohana Arts & Wellness Center (HP), 5:30 p.m.

Reiki master/teacher Dee Dee hosts a meditative workshop that focuses on several forms of meditative healing and energy work.

Break away from the rat race of the holidays to participate in a little self-care and re-centering. More information can be found at ohanaawc.com.

SUNDAY

Holiday home tour @ Historic West End Holiday Homes Tour (W-S), 1 p.m.

The Historic West End Holiday Homes Tour is offering a day of classic car tours of nine historic Winston-Salem properties in the historic district along with wine and food tasting for the holidays.

More information at westendhomestour.com.

SATURDAY

Chain gang make-over @ International Civil Rights Center and Museum (GSO), 1 p.m.

GrowingChange, an organization led by North Carolina youth, hosts “The Legacy of Chain Gangs,” a presentation to discuss

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3. Friday After Next (2002) There are so many epic moments in this movie that make it a holiday flick, but hilarious scenes like Money Mike, played by Kat Williams, placing Damon’s man parts in a death-grip while he hums a little holiday jingle helped get this film on my Christmas movie shelf.

5. Trading Places (1983)

This holiday twist on the “walking in someone else’s shoes” storyline makes this one of those classic movies that forces you to rethink your values and how rich people have too much time on their hands. It sucks watching Louis Winthrope run around the city in a filthy Santa costume, trying desperately to reclaim his place in high society from Billy Ray Valentine, a con artist thrown into the lap of luxury by the millionaire Duke brother’s for experimental purposes only. It is equally pleasurable to watch the pair, Winthorpe and Valentine, come together to teach the Duke brother’s the perils of messing with people’s livelihood for their own personal pleasure.

The return of Ben Carson

by Brian Clarey

Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

Lots of affluent neighborhoods across the country have elaborate Christmas light displays. Greensboro has a simple, more elegant and yet equally majestic play on the idea: lighted Christmas balls.

I honestly don’t know how they’re constructed, but they’re essentially skeletal spheres the size of kickballs that are wrapped in lights and suspended from oldgrowth oak trees. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of them spread throughout the gracious neighborhoods that flank the westward conduits of Friendly Avenue and Market Street. Sunset Hills is the stronghold, with Lake Daniel putting in a respectable showing and enclaves of Lindley Park cropping up here and there. The proliferation of Christmas balls, which have steadily grown over the years, is like a benevolent virus of holiday cheer or the best possible case of keeping up with the Jones.

The Christmas balls are a rite of passage for transplants like me, and probably also for natives like my wife. They certainly helped form my first impressions of Greensboro when I arrived just after Thanksgiving 2004. Having accepted a new job starting at the beginning of December, I worked my connections from the Durham anarchist scene to finagle an offer for temporary housing with a collection of activists, musicians, artists and cultural provocateurs living in a two-story four-square in Westerwood. Liz Seymour, who was like the den mother of the Greensboro anarchist scene at the time, invited me to a concert at Guilford College. After the concert, we loaded into Liz’s minivan and headed back on Friendly Avenue, a journey that struck me at the time as an interminable stretch of suburbia. It was probably 11 p.m., and someone in the crowded minivan suggested we look at the Christmas balls.

I can clearly remember the feeling of awe that came over me. I was a 29-year-old adult at the time, and it was the closest I’ve likely come to reclaiming the sense of childhood wonder at discovering my stocking and a pile of presents under the tree on Christmas morning. The sheer number of those orbs floating in the tree branches while illuminating the landscape seemed to make time stand still for a moment.

A couple years later my mom came to visit for Christmas. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I took her to the Garage in Winston-Salem to see a folk concert. When we were driving home we got the notion to take the Guilford College Road exit so we could drive home through the neighborhoods. The Christmas balls are the essential Greensboro experience, I thought. My mom has to see them.

The same instinct took hold after our daughter was born. In 2014, when she was just over a year old, my wife and I made plans for a Friday evening to drive to Sunset Hills. We parked the car and walked around. I think at the time our girl was mainly interested in sleeping, but her parents still recognized the magic.

She’ll get it someday.

It’s the season of giving, and most of us are racking our brains and running around to find perfect gifts for the people in our lives who mean something to us.

As much as I gripe about the commercialization of Christmas, I do recognize the symbolism of the gesture — it feels great to get a nice gift, and nothing beats a nice pair of socks.

But let’s get real. Nobody is going to get you what you really want: that designer overcoat you’ve had your eye on, those shoes you keep thinking about, the new phone that you sort of, kind of need.

Trust me on that. Nobody is getting you anything good, and you shouldn’t expect them to.

That’s why I’m here to tell you that while you’re out there crossing names off your shopping list, it’s perfectly fine to go ahead and splurge on a little something from your own wish list.

I’ve found a good figure to be about 10 percent of your overall gift-buying budget, allocated for whatever the hell you want.

Call it the “treat yo self” rule.

Because you can’t fully give to the world if you never give to yourself.

The key is to regard it like a gift; buy yourself something that you normally would not. That means a tank of gas or a carton of cigarettes does not count, but a locally made piece of apparel you’ve been hoping someone will give you is fair game. Using the cash for a bar tab does not count, but purchasing some ridiculously expensive craft beer is fair game. Blowing the whole wad at a great restaurant, I would say, is also acceptable, as are spa treatments, pieces of original art, show tickets and hand-blown glass pieces.

Go ahead and do it. You know you want to. And you know nobody else will.

Culture

We’re getting some idea of what the Unites States will look like under a President Trump through media reports and the man’s own Twitter feed, which has become required reading for every journalist in the country looking for a quick few thousand pageviews.

There’s much to discuss, hence this semi-regular space in the paper. This week we’ll focus on a single cabinet appointment: Dr. Ben Carson, the literal brain surgeon and Trump’s onetime competitor for the Republican nomination.

It’s tough to play the Carson appointment straight. He has a painting of himself with Jesus hanging on the wall of his house, both of them in bathrobes. He has said that he believes the great pyramids of Egypt were originally intended as grain silos. And, most importantly, the last time Carson was offered a cabinet position, which was like two weeks ago, he turned it down, saying through a spokesperson that he did not have enough experience and had never run a federal agency. And this was for Health & Human Services, a department in which, as an actual doctor, he has at least some relevant experience.

And this was from a man who ran for president.

But he took a job in the Trump Administration this week, as secretary of housing & urban development. As someone who was both raised in public housing and on government assistance, but who is also on the record as opposing these things in favor of bootstrapping, Carson occupies a lonely position in the landscape of opinion.

But hey: It could be worse. Trump is interviewing Pat McCrory for a spot this week.

by Jordan Green

by Brian Clarey

Cover Story

Christmas balls

Treat yo self

Opinion

4. Unaccompanied Minors (2006) While this movie made me double lock and lo-jack my luggage and stopped me

from ever sending my child anywhere without an adult companion, the kids decorating the airport and bringing Christmas to masses of stranded travelers is a nice heartwarming holiday moment.

News

2. Edward Scissorhands (1990) What makes this movie Christmassy isn’t the spirit of “goodwill towards man” that lands Edward into the judgmental, freak

show, cookie-cutter suburb that welcomes him into their fold only to later hunt him down good-ol’ mob style. It’s the scene of Kate walking out of the house in her white Christmas ensemble as Edward wildly cuts away at a large block of ice to form an angel and simultaneously bring snow within Kate’s reach.

Up Front

by Naari Honor 1. Gremlins (1984) It didn’t take long for Christmas to take over this year. For me it began on Nov. 1, with an immediate onslaught of Christmas advertisements and holiday music. While this brazen disregard for Thanksgiving perturbed me a bit, I was excited for the start of holiday-inspired movies to come on the scene. My personal favorite is the cult-classic Gremlins. While the moment that Kate describes the untimely death of her father while attempting to surprise the family as Santa Claus creeped me out, nothing can top Gizmo or his funky looking offspring and their night of holiday mayhem.

triad-city-beat.com

5 non-traditional Christmas movies I love

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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NEWS

Klan terrorizes Roxboro, evading antifascist counterprotesters

by Jordan Green A much vaunted Ku Klux Klan “victory parade” to celebrate the election of Donald Trump manifested as a hasty drive-thru in Roxboro as antifascists made a show of force in the group’s hometown and anti-Klan rallies took place in cities across North Carolina.

Karla McIntyre, an educator in Person County, became frantic when a former student texted to let her know that the Ku Klux Klan was driving through Roxboro, the county seat due north of Durham, around 3 p.m. on Dec. 3.

The surprise appearance, with members of the Loyal Knights of the Ku Klux Klan cruising through downtown in pickups flying Confederate flags while shouting “white power,” felt frightening and personal to McIntyre. Her oldest son, who is 18, came out as transgender and started a Students for Equality club at his high school. McIntyre’s middle child, a high school sophomore, recently came out as bisexual. The club, which welcomes straight allies, became a safe-haven for all kinds of students in their conservative county.

Then, in April, after the passage of HB 2, fliers listing the Loyal White Knights’ hotline and website began surfacing in residents’ driveways. The literature left no room for confusion about the group’s target.

“Transgender is an abomination, according to the King James Bible,” they read. “These freaks are jeopardizing the safety of bathrooms all across the nation for our women and children. This needs to stop.”

McIntyre recalled, “It was kind of a slap in the face to those of us who are trying to live open and freely. It affected us because our youngest son, who was 11, would not sleep at night because he was afraid the KKK would come and get his brother and hurt him or kill him.”

McIntyre’s former student, who is black, stood on the side of the street and videotaped the parade on his cellphone.

She watched the video streaming over Facebook Live — the social media company later removed it — and felt her heart rise in her throat as she watched Klan members yell the N-word at her former student. State troopers blocked intersections to prevent conflict between the Klan caravan and other motorists.

The Loyal White Knights’ hasty motorcade through Roxboro was the

Anarchists and antifascists armed with baseball bats created a buffer between the rear of an unauthorized march and law enforcement.

fulfillment of a promise by the North Carolina-based white supremacist group to hold a “victory parade” to celebrate the election of Donald Trump. The announcement shortly after the election drew international headlines, fueled by the direct racial appeals used by Trump on the campaign trail, a rash of hate crimes in the wake of the election, and questions about the president-elect’s ties to white nationalists through his chief strategist and senior counselor, Steve Bannon.

Unannounced and fleeting, the parade projected more of a tactical retreat than a triumphant stand, with the Klan dodging anarchist counter-demonstra-

William Ernest Hagen of California

tors and a retinue of international journalists across an area along the Virginia state line for much of the day, as North Carolinians in major cities like Greensboro, Raleigh and Charlotte, along with Mebane, turned out to express their disgust with the hate group.

The cat-and-mouse game began the previous evening when a representative of the Loyal White Knights informed a local reporter that they would parade in the area of Pelham, an unincorporated community in the northwest corner of rural Caswell County where the group is headquartered.

Anarchists and militant leftists, mostly from the Raleigh-Durham area,

COURTESY

JORDAN GREEN

converged at a visitor center, with reconnaissance teams trying in vain to locate the Klan. After relocating to a gravel lane outside the Pelham Community Center, about 150 counter-demonstrators huddled and decided among themselves to march to a nearby church.

Marching behind a giant banner honoring the militant abolitionist John Brown, the protesters chanted, “Racist, sexist, anti-gay — KKK, go away,” and, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Bringing up the rear of the parade, another banner proclaimed, “Against white supremacy: Screw the Klan, the Confederacy and the cops,” with a modified Ghostbusters logo depicting a

Loyal White Knights Imperial Wizard Chris Barker

COURTESY

weren’t trying to taunt people like me.

What they don’t know about me is that I have children in my family that are in a minority group that they are taunting. I have students that call me ‘Ma’ that are on the LGBTQ spectrum who haven’t

told their parents. Some of them are afraid they’re going to be kicked out of their homes or rejected. It’s scary what it’s coming to.”

triad-city-beat.com Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment-

hooded klansman one side of the text In tandem with the Klan’s evasive and a circle-A anarchy symbol on the appearance later in the afternoon in other.

Roxboro — one county over from the Some motorists encountering the group’s Caswell County base — the marchers on the paved state road turned day’s events brought the arrest of the their vehicles around, but one man in group’s imperial wizard, 37-year-old a pickup pulled off to the side and took Christopher Eugene photographs of individual marchers.

Barker.

About halfway through the 1.2-mile Caswell County Sheriff march, a handful of Caswell County Michael Welch reported Sheriff squad cars arrived on the scene that on the day of the and deputies watched as the marchers Roxboro motorcade, passed, chanting, “No hate, no fear, 47-year-old Richard KKK’s not welcome here.” One of Dillon of Indiana the officers pursued the marchers and appeared at the sheriff’s ordered them out of the roadway, to no office and told deputies avail. Another officer, who confirmed he had been stabbed at a to a reporter that the marchers did not Ku Klux Klan meeting have a permit, fumed, “They should be at Barker’s house outside at home asleep like everyone else.” of Yanceyville. Caswell Later, after the marchers rounded a County Sheriff’s deputurn and headed back towards the comties, assisted by the State munity center, a State Highway Patrol Highway Patrol, Alcohol unit advanced with lights activated and Law Enforcement and squawking. A handful of anarchists masked with bandannas and armed with alumiIn tandem with the Klan’s num baseball bats created a buffer at the evasive appearance later back of the march, in the afternoon in Roxboro, along with a vehicle carrying protesters the day’s events brought the that crawled slowly arrest of the group’s so-called behind. When the marchers reached imperial wizard. the community center, they piled into vehicles and streamed the Rockingham County out, with the law enforcement officers Sheriff’s Office, executed happily directing traffic. a search warrant on BarkActing on a hunch, the anarchists er’s house and arrested caravanned into Danville, a small 50-year-old William Erindustrial city 13 miles to the north across the Virginia state line, hoping to nest Hagen of California encounter the Klan. Arriving just after and charged him with fel12 noon, they narrowly missed a small ony assault with a deadly group that regularly gathers in front of weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & They also arrested Barker History to protest the facility’s decision and charged him with fellast year to take down the Confederate ony aiding and abetting flag, according to a local resident named assault.

Robert Bordeau.

Unable to locate their adversaries, the Karla McIntyre said anarchists marched through the streets the Klan’s activity in of Danville at about 2 p.m. to express her community creates their antifascist message. division and threatens LGBTQ youth who “What Trump did was unleash some already feel vulnerable nastiness in the fabric of our society that was heretofore bottled up,” said Andrew enough as it is.

Blum, a software engineer from Cary.

“I’m a mom, a teacher “Shame was what kept it bottled up. and a grad student,” Now, it’s out. I don’t think it will be easy said McIntyre, who is to put the genie back in the bottle, but white. “With the KKK I’m going to do what I can.” coming through, they

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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Violence against police officers cuts into recruitment efforts

by Jordan Green

Some police training programs are seeing the number of applicants drop as concerns mount about the danger of policing and public criticism of the profession.

Addressing the seven cadets in Forsyth Tech’s Basic Law Enforcement Training fall 2016 class, State Highway Patrol Sgt. Joshua Church gave voice to a sense of siege felt by members of the law enforcement community.

Church said that over his 16 years of experience in law enforcement he’s watched “public support and trust for law enforcement drop significantly.” With the rise of technology that allows people to quickly upload video and share information and viewpoints on Facebook, he said many people will “Monday-morning-quarterback” split-second decisions that make the difference in whether law enforcement officers come home to their families.

“Many are out there thinking you should wait to draw your weapon and fire until you’re fired upon,” said Church, who spoke to the cadet class during their graduation at Forsyth Tech’s Main Campus in Winston-Salem on Dec. 2. “Or they think that in any case that you shoot an individual that’s unarmed, it’s unjustified. Guess what, you’ve been trained completely differently — have you not? That just is not the truth, any way you look at it.

You’ve all got the best firearms training that there is to offer, and you’ve seen the studies on reaction times. And I’m sorry, but action always beats reaction, correct?

“So, what I want you to do is remember your training,” he continued.

“Remember that there is countless documented situations where unarmed people have killed officers. Rely on your training. Make good, sound decisions, and do what it takes to come home to all the family members and friends that are here today. You will have their support. You will have our support. And you will have the support of the thin blue line across the nation. That’s how we roll. Criminals have their gangs. Guess what? We do, too, and ours is a whole lot bigger than theirs.”

The Fall Class of 2016 is one of the smallest in reason memory, with previous class sizes ranging from 14 to 20, and W. Lorin Dingler, director of law enforcement training at Forsyth Tech, said that after news broke that five Dallas police officers were killed by a

Cody Conrad (right), president of Forsyth Tech’s 2016 Basic Law Enforcement Traning class, congratulates his fellow cadets.

gunman in Dallas on July 7, half of the people who had signed up for the class decided to drop out.

Dingler said the number of cadets graduating from Basic Law Enforcement Training programs in North Carolina is down from 2,713 in 2013 to 1,067 this year, and that 32 percent of classes across the state had to be canceled because of low enrollment.

“It’s because of the publicity that officers are receiving,” Dingler said. “We have to join together as the community and the press knowing that when the police shoot someone, they’re not intending to shoot them. That’s what the criminals do. That’s the necessary evil of the job.”

Sgt. Church laid out in unsparing detail the widespread public perception of the cadets’ chosen profession.

“You also saw on TV and on Facebook and you read in the newspapers how law enforcement officers were considered to be abusers of power,” he said to the class of six white men and one Latino. “You saw how we took people’s rights away. You saw how we even killed people in cold blood. You saw in the media some officers get tried for murder or murder with a depraved heart or some level of manslaughter.”

The fact that the seven men still decided to sign up for the training program makes them a unique group, Church said.

“When you saw all that, one of two things entered your mind,” he said.

“First was maybe the media was just ly-

JORDAN GREEN

ing to you and being deceitful, and what they reported was false and biased, and you saw law enforcement as an honorable and proud way of life. Or, maybe a small portion of what the media was reporting to you was correct, and you chose to enter the profession to make sure that it did remain honorable, and that those very small percentage of law enforcement officers who might actually be dishonorable were brought to justice.

Regardless, you signed on the dotted line, and here you sit today. Here’s the thing: There were a whole lot of others who believed as you did in the beginning. You’re the Magnificent Seven.

Wish there were five more of you so I could call you the Dirty Dozen.”

Statistics indicate that the number of law enforcement deaths in the line of duty is down. According to a tally kept by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the average number of officer deaths for the first five years of this decade is 131 — the lowest decade average on record since the 1950s. The number of deaths has steadily dropped since the 1970s, with a slight uptick in the 2000s, when the average increased to 166 from 162 in the previous decade.

But Dingler said the statistics belie a disturbing trend about how police officers are being killed.

“Assaults by ambushes and shootings is out the roof,” he said. “Car crashes happen. An officer is standing on the side of the road and van plows into him.

We’ve never had officers sitting in their

cars doing paperwork and having someone come up behind them and shoot them. It’s unacceptable.”

Statistics maintained by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund indicate that shootings and auto crashes are by far the biggest causes of death in the line of duty, with shootings totaling 521 from 2006 through 2015, while auto crashes caused 408 deaths over the same period. Both numbers have fluctuated year to year, with a high of 73 shootings in 2011 compared to 41 in 2015. According to the organization, there have been 62 firearms-related fatalities so far this year, compared with 38 at the same time in 2015, and 51 traffic-related deaths in 2016, up from 46 in the same period of 2015.

Dingler said that due to negative publicity about the profession, enrollment in basic law enforcement training programs is down across the state, including the 10 largest municipal police departments, which run their own police academies.

Lt. Katie Paterson, who is responsible for training and recruitment for the Winston-Salem Police Department, said her agency has also seen the number of applicants drop, along with a decrease in interest at job fairs. The current academy, scheduled to graduate on Feb. 3, has only 16 cadets, compared to 23 graduates the previous year and 39 the year before that.

“I think obviously the current environment for law enforcement is very dangerous, and with law enforcement being targeted, it made people question whether this is something they want to get into,” Paterson said. She added that she doesn’t believe criticism of the police has been a factor in the drop in applications to her agency.

“We have a very good relationship with the community, and we participate in a lot of panels,” Paterson said.

“After Dallas, we had a huge outpouring of people bringing goodies and thank-you notes to the department, and people buying meals for officers,” she added.

The Greensboro Police Department’s current academy, scheduled to graduate on March 7, has 22 students, but the most recent class graduated 37 cadets in late July. Police spokesperson Susan Danielsen said the number fluctuates, but the department always finds plenty of qualified applicants.

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OPINION

EDITORIAL

The old slice-and-dice After a federal court last week ordered North Carolina’s legislature to draw new, legal boundaries for nine state Senate districts and 10 House ones, newly designated state House Whip Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) was quick to respond to a comment on his Facebook page about his party’s plans for a response.

He called the ruling “appalling,” and pledged to appeal the decision and “stand our ground to activist judges.” And to his credit, he engaged in some back-andforth on the thread with both supporters and detractors before things hit critical mass about 12 hours later.

Forget for a moment that Hardister has been trying to push his HB 92, an independent redistricting bill — one that would de-politicize the practice by using an independent commission to draw the lines — through the House since 2015. Remember instead that he has just been elected House whip.

Remember too, that Hardister’s District 59 was one of the ones that flipped after the 2011 GOP redistricting, when its former Democratic representative, Maggie Jeffus, got double-bunked with Rep. Pricey Harrison, both Democrats.

District 59, now covering most of eastern Guilford County, is not one of the ones declared illegal by the court. But all the ones around it — Harrison’s District 57, covering the northeast quadrant of Greensboro; Rep. Cecil Brockman’s District 60, which has portions of east-central High Point and southwest Greensboro connected by a thin sliver along Interstate 86; and the great chunk of Greensboro that is District 58, which is now Rep. Chris Sgro’s turf but will pass over to Amos Quick in the new term — made the list.

The judges’ opinion called for special elections in the fall for all new districts, and while some across the state may not be altered, re-cutting a district is a tricky business, a zero-sum game, and it’s unfathomable that Hardister’s district will remain intact.

Of the state’s 120 Senate districts, just 19 have been deemed illegal. The ones that matter in the Triad are repped by Sen. Gladys Robinson in District 28, which captures much of the African-American population of Greensboro and High Point, and Sen. Paul Lowe inDistrict 3, which covers similar ground in Winston-Salem.

They’ve all got to be redrawn by March, followed almost immediately by a primary in May and then one barn-burner of an odd-year election.

Just as with the special Congressional election earlier this year, we could be looking at dozens of candidates, and it’s possible that an entirely new balance of power could be established in Raleigh, one a little less concerned with disrupting elections and where people go to the bathroom.

CITIZEN GREEN

From chain gangs to immigrant detention

Anne Parsons, director of Not all of the prisoners were black, but the statistics the museum studies program of North Carolina chain gangs ring familiar with today’s at UNCG, didn’t anticipate state prison system. In the 1920s, only 31 percent of the that Donald Trump would be state was black, but black inmates made up 68 percent of elected president on Nov. 8, the chain-gang population. the day the States of Incar“As students we got real attached to the people writing ceration exhibit opened at the letters,” said Leslie Leonard, one of the students. the International Civil Rights The students also formed a bond with Lacy Colon, a

by Jordan Green Museum in Greensboro. formerly incarcerated individual who assisted as a consul“Under the Obama administration there was a real shift tant in the development of the chain-gang section of the to de-carcerate prisons, both by increasing probation and exhibit. The respect and affection goes both ways. shortening sentences, and by reviewing drug crimes,” she “Most of the people on the inside don’t feel like anysaid during a tour of the exhibit on Monday. “In a lot of one cares,” said Colon, who served time in prison from ways it was this positive moment. Now, a lot of that is up the age of 18 to 33 and came out in 2010. “To see that in the air. With stocks for private prisons rising after the they care, that was huge.” election of Trump, there’s a question of whether incarcerAlthough chain gangs were eventually discontinued, ation will increase with the detention and deportation of the state prison system still utilizes prison labor. As a immigrants.” juvenile offender, Colon said he worked in a program Organized and produced by the New School’s called “bootcamp” without pay, pulling weeds in a Humanities Action Lab in New York City, the exhibit cornfield near Fayetteville and cleaning out horse stables. brought together 20 universities to develop different Later, as a prisoner in the adult system, he worked prison sections of the exhibit. Parsons and her museum studies jobs that paid between 40 cents to $1 a day. students researched the “They were sending letters history of chain gangs in to politicians pleading for States of Incarceration, a traveling exhibNorth Carolina, addressing reform,” Colon said of the it about mass incarceration, remains on the twinned questions: “Who chain-gang laborers of the display at the International Civil Rights works for prisons? Who do ’20s. “That’s not the reason Center & Museum in Greensboro through it stopped. The reason it prisons work for?”

Through the State stopped was because in the Dec. 15. On Saturday, GrowingChange, a Archives of North Carolina Great Depression they wantgroup of youth who have been through and the Library of Coned to create jobs and they the juvenile justice system, hosts a disgress, the students curated gave those jobs to people photographs and letters from cussion at the museum about its work to outside of the prison system.” transform a chain gang-era prison into a inmates who worked on the Sonya Laney, also a chain gang to tell the story student in the museum sustainable farm and community center. of the state’s system of racial studies program who helped exploitation through prison design the exhibit, picked labor. State-controlled chain gangs were conceived as a up the thread, noting that history doesn’t always have an progressive alternative to convict leasing and a means to inspiring refrain. build the state’s modern highway network in the 1910s, “We got attached to these nameless people, and as but the county-run labor camps used to administer the historians we want everything to end in a happy box,” she program were rife with abuse. By the ’20s, prisoners and said. “That’s not the way it usually works.” their families were writing letters to North Carolina Gov. With Trump’s election, proponents of reform are harThomas Bickett appealing for reform. boring a faint hope while maintaining a realistic acknowl“These people say we are not human,” one prisoner edgement that racialized systems of control and exploitawrote. tion might well be on the brink of a new mutation.

Another reported, “We are all sick and unable to work “The biggest fear I’ve seen is with immigration,” Colon falling out on the road everyday working in the rain get said. “You have people saying, ‘Please adopt my kids in wet can’t sleep at night.” case I’m detained.’ We’ve talked about prison being the One of the most eloquent testimonials came from a new slavery. If you have people who are illegal immiman who wrote, “I am a Negro of good Christian family grants and their home countries won’t take them back, although I made a mistake in life does not call for the they might wind up being held in prison. Most likely, management of this camp to treat me and my race as they’ll be put to work.” dogs because he has been misled regarding the law.”

News Opinion Cover Story

Habits of serial killers So hilarious! [“Triaditude Adjustment: Thanks for nothing, 2016” by Jelisa Castrodale; Nov. 23, 2016] The pop tart made me quite literally laugh out loud. And it made me hungry. And I have a confession to make about Starbursts.

Alan Hedrick, Greenboro

Up Front

should be looking hard at what we can do to ensure a better future for all. If Cooper is governor, we might have some protection against big government (i.e. NC General Assembly) interference concerning whatever local laws we pass. Maybe.

Guilford County needs all the talent it can get, period. It is painful to listen to old geezers who fear the future more than welcome it... Maybe instead of asking about the money, we in Greensboro should be asking ... do we have the will?

Andrew Young, Greensboro

triad-city-beat.com

They love the ethnic food, but not the people who make it Of all the young people in the area who jump hurdles getting into college, undocumented kids face some of the highest ones [“Say Yes says maybe to undocumented Guilford students” by Jordan Green; Nov. 23, 2016]. Plus, of course, they rightly fear detention and deportation. But let’s also add to the big picture the important details of rising college costs and flat, flat wages, which have the effect of increasing the needs for everybody who is not in the upper middle or wealthy class. Those needs intensify false ideas about who’s deserving (“the board will focus on continued fundraising to build the endowment to meet its obligations to documented students”) because the decisions we make right now are having immediate effects on young people and their families. In turn, our decisions impact Greensboro’s social and economic climate, including our competitiveness.

Trump aside, we in Guilford County

Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

11

Dec. 7 — 13, 2016

‘There’s only one

chief’

by Brian Clarey • Courtesy photos

Cover Story

Greensboro police Chief Wayne Scott stood stock still in the vestibule of Centenary United Methodist Church as his command staff milled around him, all in dress blues, waiting for their moment.

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When it came, they fell easily into formation, with Deputy Chiefs Brian James and James Hinson taking point.

They led the column into the nave, solemnly marching the aisle and turning crisply at the display before the altar, which included tall candles, a large spray of autumn flowers, an American flag folded 13 times into a perfect triangle and the cremated remains of William Edgar Swing Sr., chief of the Greensboro Police Department from 1975 to 1984.

As they sat, the piano faded down to a single-note rendition of “Taps.”

“He was never my chief,” Scott had said the day before.

“But he was a highly regarded chief in the organization.”

Police Chaplain Steven Roberts did the honors.

“He was a great innovator,” he said from the pulpit. “He had a vision for our department that was outside the box so far only he knew where he was going with it.

“He was so far ahead of his time,” Roberts added.

As chief in the 1970s, Swing introduced computers to the GPD, one of the first departments in the nation to do so.

Before computer-aided dispatch, technology that coordinated police activity from the incoming call to the incident report, “we just simply got on the radio and told ’em where to go,” Roberts said. Monitors in the cruisers integrated with CAD and the DMV database, so police could run license plates from the car.

“This, in the 1970s, this was an incredible feat,” Roberts said. “Cases we once thought impossible cleared in record time. And information that seemed unattainable was at our fingertips.”

Chief Swing created the hostage negotiation unit, the K-9 unit, special response team, underwater recovery team, the bomb squad and the community services bureau. He broke patrols down into divisions and changed the workweek for officers from seven days on and two days off to five days on and three off. And he changed the uniform from two-tone blue to solid black.

His efforts had a seismic effect on the department, which was noted as one of the finest in the nation.

But Swing’s transition of the department from a smalltown operation to a modern force did not come without some pains.

He lost an officer, Michael Gray Winslow, who died in a wreck while on duty in 1978. He was just 21.

And Swing oversaw the worst episode in the department’s modern history: The Greensboro Massacre, an attack by Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan against a Communist Workers Party rally that resulted in five deaths and 10 more wounded while the police were nowhere in sight. Though nobody was convicted of the murders, a civil trial in 1985 found the department negligent in protecting the civil rights of its citizens. An independent Truth & Reconciliation effort begun in 2004 found that the police acted in collusion with the Klan by allowing the shootings to happen after they had been warned about the potential for violence.

Froim the conclusion: “The intelligence that violence was likely combined with the lack of police action to prevent it clearly shows negligence by the police in their duty…. The GPD showed a stunning lack of curiosity in planning for the safety of the event.”

In 2009, city council made a formal declaration of regret.

But a eulogist can be forgiven for glossing over this part of the story, even turning it to his advantage.

“At a very busy time in the department’s life,” Roberts said, “the chief was the one we looked to.”

Behind the command unit, several pews sat empty.

Officers from Swing’s era with the GPD filled the final five rows, among them former Chief David Wray, who came to say goodbye to their chief.

Wayne Scott wasn’t one of those kids who had always wanted to be a cop. He grew up in Burlington, and studied photography at Randolph Community College. By the time he was 20, he was running furniture shoots during the day and freelancing some photojournalism for the Associated Press in his spare time. That’s when he first started thinking about it.

He matriculated with the 68th class of the Greensboro Police Academy in 1991, at just 21 years old, under Chief Sylvester Daughtry, who took office in 1987 and made

Before becoming chief, Wayne Scott worked his way through the ranks of the GPD, including time with the motorcycle squad.

his mark by greatly expanding the staff to more than 400 sworn officers. Like Swing, Daughtry received national recognition for his accomplishments with the force.

“As a young police officer,” Scott said “I’m thinking Man, you know, we are a police department that other people know about, not just this rinky-dink operation.”

He remembers his first call, a domestic disturbance with a Vietnamese family in an apartment in the edge of town where a father was hitting his daughter. A few years later, while he was on motorcycle patrol, he took a noise complaint at what turned out to be a bachelorette party.

“They thought I was… an entertainer,” he said.

He got his first big promotion, to sergeant, in 2002 from Chief Robert White, who was the first outside hire for the department. White, Scott said, was distant, but also effective, and brought some modern techniques from Washington DC, where he had previously served.

Scott worked under three more chiefs on his way up the chain of command, garnering a promotion to lieutenant in 2007 and a bump up to captain in 2009, both courtesy of Chief Tim Bellamy.

Bellamy, Scott said, came on at a tumultuous time.

“We needed stability,” Scott said, “and that calmed the waters.”

Chief Ken Miller saw fit in 2012 to bring Scott on as deputy chief.

triad-city-beat.com

He joined the force in 1991, with the 68th class of the Greensboro Police Academy.

Commanding of the Central District, Scott said, “was like being chief of downtown.”

“He had a lot of different philosophies, and brought a lot of new ways from Charlotte,” Scott said of Miller. “He taught me there was more than one way to do things.”

Along the way he began amassing degrees — a bachelor’s in business and management from John Wesley College in High Point, a masters in management from Liberty University and various degrees in leadership and management.

“I am a fan of higher learning,” he said.

It was Miller who encouraged him to apply for the chief’s job in Winston-Salem in 2012. Out of 50 applicants, Scott was one of three finalists, along with Barry Rountree, who eventually got the gig, and Kerr Putney, who was sworn in earlier this year as chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department.

“That is the moment it hit me,” he said. “This is a possibility. Maybe I am the right guy for the job.”

From there it was a short road to the chief’s office, which Scott attained in 2014 after a lengthy search process, beating out Danielle Outlaw, a deputy chief from Oakland, Calif.

“I’ve held every rank in the Greensboro Police Department,” he said. “Right now, I’m the only one in the department who can say that because there’s only one chief.”

The only chief who never promoted Scott was David Wray, who served from 2003 to 2006, when he was locked out of his office and encouraged to resign.

“I’ve held every rank in the GPD,” Scott says. “There’s only one chief.”

By most who remember it, Wray’s department was a disaster. One of his first actions was to return the patrols to rotating shifts as opposed to regular hours, bringing instability to the officers’ home lives and also to the beats they covered.

Any positive actions he took regarding officer training or downtown initiatives would be overshadowed by the revelations that led to his resignation.

To trace the many overarching narratives that contributed to the demise of David Wray would require many thousands of words, but the shorthand is that he was using department resources to investigate his own officers, all of whom happened to be black, and compiling files on them.

Upon hearing this and conferring with city council, City Manager Mitch Johnson locked Wray out of his own office to prevent him from accessing official files.

In the years between 2005 and 2010, the department was awash in the ensuing scandals, which included lawsuits, an EEOC complaint by black officers, a damning report from a third-party investigation, criminal charges and a trial for officers Scott Sanders and Tom Fox, the eventual firing of Johnson and reams upon reams of media coverage. The city’s burgeoning blog scene latched onto the case and its developments, twisting it into a partisan battle. The Rhinoc-

eros Times, in a past incarnation, infamously ran a 97-part series between 2006 and 2009 by true-crime author Jerry Bledsoe that further muddied the waters.

Wray’s tenure as chief, no matter which side it was viewed from, would color the department into the new decade.

“I never saw him,” Scott said. “I was a sergeant in the motorcycle division, more out in the world than in the building.”

But two of his friends on the force, Brian James and James Hinson — both lieutenants at the time — took heavy fire from Wray’s special investigations unit and the Bledsoe series. James, with 38 other black officers, would sign the EEOC complaint, which the city settled in 2013 for $500,000, and Hinson would file a separate suit against the city that he settled in July 2014 for $25,000.

“I don’t feel vindicated,” Hinson said from his desk at GPD headquarters. “No. Because what I went through, nothing can ever give me back those precious years that were taken away from me.”

Chief Miller made Hinson a captain in 2011, and a deputy chief in February 2014, a month before Scott got the top job. Hinson and Scott went through the academy together back in 1991 — “I beat him in the mile-and-a-half run,” Hinson said. “He won’t admit it but I did.” — and Hinson was up for the chief job at the same time as his old classmate.

He’s not bitter about it, though; Scott’s department uses a lot of the policing philosophies that have marked Hinson’s

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016 Cover Story

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career, notably community involvement, civic-minded programs, positive interaction with the people who rely on police the most.

“The more good things you do in a neighborhood, the more bad things move away,” Hinson said. “Criminals are not going to frequent a neighborhood where people are united and work together, and say, ‘We’re not gonna tolerate this kind of behavior.’”

Hinson said the Wray episode still haunts him. Earlier this year, he stopped to give an “elderly, Caucasian female” directions in the labyrinthine hallways of Melvin Municipal Building and he caught her looking at his name badge.

“I’ve read a lot about you,” the woman said. “You don’t seem to be the bad guy everyone makes you out to be.”

“Ma’am,” he said, “you can’t believe everything you read.”

On a warm October Friday, Chief Wayne Scott worked his table at a Big Brothers/Big Sisters event at Revolution Mill in northeast Greensboro. He put both vinaigrette and ranch dressing on his salad, and managed a standing wave as his name was announced from the podium.

As he tried to eat, the giant cell phone clipped to his belt buzzed off phone calls: from City Manager Jim Westmoreland, from each of his deputy chiefs and one from Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, that he excuses himself from the table to take.

“I work for the city manager,” he said. “That’s my boss. But I also work for every citizen of Greensboro. I can’t go out to eat at night without people coming up. I do answer to city council; seldom a day goes by that I don’t receive a call from a council member. Don’t forget the legislative body — I have a lot of laws and regulations I am sworn to defend.”

He oversees the staff of 800 — about 675 of them sworn officers — and a fleet of more than 500 vehicles that includes a boat, a pit-maneuver vehicle and two bomb robots. It’s a bit like being the CEO of a company with a $70 million budget.

“I am also the dean of a college,” he said.

On the way back to HQ, Scott swung through the training facility to get a look at the recruits: 20-40 of them, every 25 weeks.

“I really enjoy training,” he said. “It’s how you are able to affect an organization at its roots.”

He rubbed sanitizer on his hands and popped into a classroom; to a one the cadets swiveled around to see. It’s Homecoming Weekend at NC A&T University, and they’ll be on the street tonight assisting patrols.

“It’s a big weekend,” he told them. “Enjoy the sights, enjoy the city and be careful.

“And don’t do anything stupid on social media,” he added.

“Yes sir!”

Scott’s time as chief began inauspiciously. After being sworn in on March 12, 2015, his department was called out by the New York Times in October for pulling over black motorists at a rate disproportionately higher than white ones, the worst in the state. [Disclosure: Eric Ginsburg contributed reporting for this article, and Jordan Green wrote about the same statistics in TCB five months before the NYT.] It read, in part: “Here in North Carolina’s third-largest city, officers pulled over African-American drivers for traffic violations at a rate far out of proportion with their share of the local driving population. They used their discretion to search black drivers or their cars more than twice as

often as white motorists — even though they found drugs and weapons significantly more often when the driver was white.

“Officers were more likely to stop black drivers for no discernible reason,” it continued. “And they were more likely to use force if the driver was black, even when they did not encounter physical resistance.”

Though Scott pushed back against the report, he issued a special order just a couple weeks later to patrol, instructing them not to make traffic stops based solely on equipment infractions. He told the Times in a follow-up article that officers’ time would be better spent getting to know the people in the communities they police.

Six months later, in May 2016, at the behest of city

council, Scott’s department released a piece of body-camera footage from Chief Miller’s era, showing police officer Tim Bloch shooting a middle-aged and mentally infirm Montagnard woman, Chieu Di Thi Vo, to death in front of her home.

The footage is disturbing — Vo is holding a knife when she crumples to the ground. It’s also incomplete, as the camera is angled towards the sky during the initial part of the confrontation; Scott told reporters that the glasses that held the camera were on the officer’s head and happened to drop just as he fired his weapon.

Though Bloch resigned from the department shortly afterward, his use of deadly force was found justifiable.

Then, in September, another crisis came in the form of another piece of video footage, this one showing Officer Travis Cole roughing up citizen Dejuan Yourse, who was sitting on his mother’s porch.

The videos, taken from Cole’s body camera and that of his partner, Charlotte Jackson, show Cole engaging in conversation with Yourse over the summer, and then initiating a physical confrontation.

At Scott’s behest, city council voted unanimously to release the body-camera footage to the press and the public. It quickly went viral, the latest internet example of police behaving badly. Scott says he took a lot of heat for making the footage public.

“The whole process evolved like any other,” he said. “We did our investigation, asked our own questions about the timeline. You can’t do this in 24 hours. We went through our process, it got to me, and I adjudicated it.”

In August, weeks before the video release, a department board led by Hinson had found that Cole violated procedure on use of force, search and seizure, compliance with the law and basic courtesy. During the course of the investigation, Cole resigned.

“Weeks later we started hearing from the Faith Leaders Council that there were some rumors in the community,” Scott said. “We wanted to get ahead of it. We got ahold of council and showed them the video in closed session.

“Police work is not always pleasant to watch,” he said.

Of note is that it was the chief’s idea to make this footage — the second released in Greensboro in a single year — public. Councilmembers Tony Wilkins and Mike Barber, the two most conservative voices, both said they voted to release the video on Scott’s say-so.

“Not a lot of chiefs would have done that,” he said. “But we wanted to be transparent.”

Deputy Chief Brian James became a lieutenant under Chief Wray in 2004 and was named one of his executive officers. It seemed he was on his way until his name came up in an investigation by Wray’s internal unit.

police department, to working for a chief who had been locked out of his office. Right or wrong, It was a bad day for the PD.”

In Greensboro, here is how we send off a chief.

At the end of the church ceremony, a bugler and a bagpiper entered the nave; under the low-pitched squeal of the pipes, the Honor Guard retrieves the remains of Chief Ed Swing and in formation walks past the congregation of friends, family, and officers past and present. Former Mayor Jim Melvin, under whom Swing served, was here to pay his respects, and just about everybody who’s left from the community of officers and civil servants of his time.

Outside, 21 guns sounded off as the Honor Guard held a rigid salute and a crisp “Taps” emanated from the bugle, sounding off into the trees. The bagpiper started in with “Amazing Grace” and the men gathered in the space sway on their feet, stare into the distance, or look at the ground.

It is cold and cloudless; there is no wind.

Chief Scott holds his salute for the fallen chief, who was not his chief, but now, in a way, they are all his chiefs.

“I have looked back and tried to learn from every chief before me, including David Wray,” he said.

After his resignation, Wray sued the city for discrimination. His suit was dismissed in 2013, but he took the city to court to pay his legal bills, which amounted to $100,000.

Former Chief Tim Bellamy became chief of the NC Central University Police in 2012. He was charged with

DWI in 2014.

Ken Miller left Greensboro to became the chief in Greensville, SC. He and his department are currently being sued by a former officer who claims he was fired for speaking out about the way they handled a Black Lives Matter protest.

Robert White became chief of police in Denver in 2011.

Among his department’s current scandals are an officer-involved shooting of a carjacker in July — the officer was cleared of charges last month — and a lawsuit from a couple who says their civil rights were violated when they were detained in a detox center at a Broncos game.

Sylvester Daughtry became the executive director for the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies in 1999 and served until 2013, when he retired.

Scott is just 46, only two years into a job he intends to hold for a very long time, provided he can keep his various bosses and constituencies happy.

Now he drops his salute and carries the folded flag over to Swing’s survivors: his wife, their kids and grandkids. He leans in and says a few words to the widow. The chaplain offers a benediction, and the officers are dismissed.

They scatter in their dress blues; the chief is headed downtown with his command staff to walk Elm Street during the Festival of Lights.

After everyone has gone, a final member of the Honor Guard loads the cremains of Chief Swing, encased now and forever in a silver urn, into the back of his SUV for one last ride.

triad-city-beat.com

His reputation under fire, James began to question his decision to become a police officer in the city where he grew up. Though he was qualified to apply for other chief positions around the country, his internet footprint — the Bledsoe series in particular, which mentioned him by name many times — made him a less than desirable candidate.

He hung on, becoming a captain in 2009 under Chief Bellamy and in 2011 taking command of Central Patrol.

Chief Scott named him his second deputy chief in May 2015.

James is reluctant to talk about the Wray years, except to say that he is glad they are behind him, and that perhaps there was some higher purpose to it all.

“We’re a better department as a result of that scrutiny we went through,” he said. “We improved our policies and practices.”

The department’s newfound service to transparency, he says, is part of that.

“When we’re transparent, we’re gonna tell you the bad stuff and the good stuff,” he said. “We’re gonna show it to you so you know we have identified it and are addressing it.

“We just want the public to know we’re trying to do things the right way,” he added. “It doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes. But we build that trust so that when we do make a mistake, they trust us to fix it.”

Given his time in the public eye, he is still not sure if the public interprets it that way.

Of Wray’s tenure, Scott said, “I went from working for Daughtry, who brought great honor to this city and this

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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CULTURE By the airport, a local snack machine

by Eric Ginsburg

A

s Jeff Soucy steered his older model Ford Focus towards his company’s future headquarters, he offered a sort of disclaimer, the kind you might hear from a politician who is rolling in campaign cash but who insists he hasn’t lost touch with his humble roots.

It’s easy to understand why Soucy — the manager of product development who wears numerous hats at Creative Snacks — would emphasize the company’s beginning just seven years ago. The new building, designed from the ground up by founder Marius Andersen, is more than 90,000 square feet of warehouse, bakery and office space for the burgeoning food business. Remarkably high ceilings make the future break room and lobby feel like part of an office palace, and in just a few short weeks, the High Point facility should be fully operational.

The comparison to a flush politician is probably unfair; Soucy wore jeans with his dress shoes, and Andersen has come up with some of the company’s recipes in his home kitchen. Creative Snacks isn’t a far cry from its beginnings at all — they’re still in the same space they opened in 2009, and though they’ve expanded considerably since then to more than 90 full-time employees, the company is still relatively small.

ERIC GINSBURG Creative Snacks’ new facility in High Point is a shining piece of evidence of the Small enough that few people locally know about the opercompany’s growth and success. ation, which is currently housed in a nondescript facility that overlooks Piedmont Triad International Airport in northwest stuffs, you’ve got the wrong idea. Creative Snacks typically not to mention Amazon, a tasty snack Greensboro, a short drive from the company’s future High fulfills specific orders rather than churning out food items created right here won’t be hard to find.

Point digs. that could languish on warehouse shelves, and there’s miniCreative Snacks already has its own bakery in High Point — mal waste as most incoming packaging can be recycled, Soucy that’s where the granola is made — which will move into the said. new headquarters once it’s ready. The Greensboro hub will The company won a Sofi Award at the New York-based Fanremain, though Soucy said they’re still figuring out exactly cy Foods Show for its innovative and delicious organic coconut how to utilize the 69,000 square feet after picking up most of snacks baked with chia, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The their operations. snacks, which are sort of like brittle and Wednesday, December 7 @ 7pm But whether or not locals recognize Crethat Soucy suggested using as an ice cream Healing Psychic Readings by Lucía ative Snacks as a neighbor, there’s a good Visit creativesnacks.com to topper, doesn’t include any high-fructose chance plenty of people around here are corn syrup, hydrogenated oils or artificial Thurday, December 8 @ 8pm learn more about this High familiar with the products. That’s because colors or flavors.

Open Mic Night Point- and GreensboroCreative Snacks moves merchandise inside The product hit the market earlier this most major grocery stores in the area, based food producer. year, and it totally blew up. Stores were Friday, December 9 @ 8pm including Harris Teeter, Lowes and even running out of them, and Soucy said the Bradley Steele Sam’s Club, Costco and Walmart. office was flooded with calls from fans The company makes a whole fleet of wanting to know where they could score more, in some cases Satday, December 10 products, likely 200 in all, Soucy said, but many of those are buying a carload at a time.

Tony Low slight variations on the core themes of trail mix, granolas, It makes sense; they’re light and truly delicious, plus coconut mixes and enrobed items like yogurt-covered, pumpcoconut is kind of a big deal right now. Creative Snacks’ dark Monday, December 12 @ 7pm kin-spiced pretzels. chocolate peppermint pretzels are arguably more enjoyable, Mystery Movie Monday At the runway-side operation last week, workers maneuand seasonally appropriate, too. But customers could also vered forklifts full of raw ingredients in the warehouse and opt for the company’s mixed veggie chips, or packaged dried Wednesday, December 14 @ 8pm oversaw machines that auto-filled and wrapped snack packs apricots or one of its trail mixes including the cleverly named Jon Walters of trail mix and group-sized bags of granola. Up front on the “Brain Food.” other side of a wall, a couple employees quietly pecked away Not every carrier will have all the company’s foodstuffs, but at computers inside low-walled cubicles, as warehouse-side considering it’s on shelves from Food Lion to Whole Foods, employees with hairnets covering their heads and occasional beards sometimes passed through.

When Marius Andersen and his wife Hilary opened the comPick of the Week pany in 2009, they wanted to provide products that skewed Diner dining natural and organic without a higher retail price, Soucy said.

Meal tasting @ Zenful Kitchen (HP), 6:30 p.m.

Like Andersen, Soucy worked at the Fresh Market before The Zenful Kitchen celebrates the beauty of American joining the startup, and said the ability for direct input on the 602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro cuisine by combining an elegant farm to table pizazz to products and other aspects of the business is his favorite part the experience.

More information can be found on the of the gig. restaurant’s Facebook page.

If you’re picturing a discreet facility mass-producing food-

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(336) 698-3888

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The Manhattan bare, dim bulbs hanging from the black ceiling, giving was decent, but the room a soft, intimate glow. We had to use light nothing special. from our phones to read the membership options.

Next time, I’ll try Annual memberships range from $5 — up from $1 the Martinez, a lesswhen the dive opened on Nov. 22 — to $750. Golden er-known gin classic placards on barstools indicated some patrons had, that the bartender in fact, sprung for the $500 option, entitling them to couldn’t describe reserve their own seat at the bar. Members can bring without glancing at Hush serves classic KAT BODRIE three guests, who pay $1 at each visit, and everyone and unique cocktails, including the recipe. And we has to sign in before ordering a drink.

Manhattans (left) and the all want whatever Having that sorted, we tried to decipher the dark delicious Blood & Rye. required him to put gold lettering on the black drink menu. Hush offers smoke in an upturned glass, which may be off-menu. only four wines, so it’s saying something that the bubMy favorite was the Blood & Rye, but I’m partial to bly selection is the same length. Draught beers include whiskey; it had interesting additions like cherry vinegar, the disgusting but popular Sweet Baby Jesus and the OJ, sweet vermouth and ginger beer. more worthy Asheboro-made Four But the draw isn’t necessarily the Saints’ stout. Hush has a couple deHush (433-103 Spring awesome cocktails, attentive sercent bottle choices, like Weyerbachvice, multiracial crowd or the (albeit er’s imperial stout, but they don’t Garden St., GSO) is open dwindling) exclusivity. It’s having specialize in craft or local beer.

Tuesday- Saturday from 5 a cozy place to drink, listen to jazz Cocktails, about $10 each, are p.m. to close. and pretend, in so doing, that we’re the clear emphasis, ranging from fighting a government that wants traditional and obscure classics to to regulate our morality. unique concoctions like Checkered Past — an Absolut Peppar mixture made sour with grapefruit juice — and Dusk in Juarez, a delicious tequila drink with elderflower liqueur, lime juice and a “hot Kat loves red wine, Milan Kundera, and the Shins. She citrus tincture.” wears scarves at katbodrie.com.

Up Front

“People love places they can’t get into,” a friend told me before we went to Hush, the mysterious, Prohibition era-themed speakeasy in the new Morehead Foundry multiplex on Spring Garden Street near downtown Greensboro. That seemed

by Kat Bodrie to be the case on the night of Dec. 3, which drew a large crowd by 10 p.m. as the place devolved into a typical noisy bar.

There is no signage inside or outside the building, and the Twitter page, @hushgso, doesn’t indicate where Hush is located. Many bargoers hear about it through word of mouth; others stumble in when they see groups enter.

“There are a lot of speakeasies in DC,” one patron explained when I asked how she knew to follow the late-night crowd straight to the back of the Baker & the Bean, past the restrooms, to the unmarked wooden door. Someone had already punched in the keypad code, found on Hush’s Twitter page, but without it, potential patrons are out of luck if the door is closed; no one will respond to a knock.

Earlier, the atmosphere was pleasantly chill. Small groups lined the high-backed velvet benches beneath tarnished mirrors. Others gathered at the bar beneath

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PARTY 2016

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RAHliday December 15, 4:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

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$10 · Tickets at reynoldahouse.org/holidays

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Have a RAHlly jolly Christmas with the Reynolda After Hours Ambassadors at the holiday party with something for everyone.

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CULTURE Victoria Victoria warms hearts at the Garage

by Anthony Harrison

V

ictoria Victoria — a five-piece outfit fronted by singer-songwriter Tori Elliott — took the Garage’s stage with no ado, Elliott lilting into her numbers without introduction. She and the band embarked on their slow burn of a set, Elliott serenading sweet somethings.

“I live in two cities/ I live on two streets/ And most of my rests are taken in my car,” Elliott sang, vamping on her keyboard.

A touch of chill had swept into Winston-Salem on Dec. 1 in perfect time for the Winter Warmer, a Phuzz Records showcase hosted by the Garage.

Label founder Philip Pledger’s retro pop-rock band Estrangers jangled along with its crispy guitars, bouncy bass and warbling synth. No One Mind, a synth-rock quartet from Raleigh, delivered a haunting set. Guitarist Ellis Anderson conjured swirling, reverb-soaked atmospheres with his Stratocaster and stuttered his vocals like the love child of Suicide’s Alan Vega and XTC’s Andy Partridge. Keyboardist Missy Thangs, dressed in black behind her Korg, wavered in the dark like some phantom, tossing tambourine and maracas over her shoulder like cast-off toys.

But before all that, Victoria Victoria opened with their brand of indie pop.

Elliott moved to Winston-Salem in 2012 from Chillicothe, Ohio at the age of 17 with her friend Hannah Riggin.

“I didn’t want to go to school right after graduating,” Elliott said in an interview. “Hannah had friends here. Winston-Salem, compared to my small town, was blooming with opportunity, so we just said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’”

Elliott, who’d taken up piano at 14 and started writing a few years later, dreamed of playing music.

In December 2015, she and Riggin formed Victoria Victoria as a vehicle for Elliott’s songs, which she began writing as a teenager. Elliott sang and played keys while Riggin backed her up with harmony vocals and synthesizer. The band premiered that New Year’s Eve. Over the past year, the outsiders received a hospitable response from the Winston-Salem arts community. Victoria Victoria added guitarist Ethan Gingerich and drummer Noah Lowdermilk, and produced an album, Coastal Beast, in August.

“There’s so many artists here willing to do things I can’t,” Elliott said. “I can’t film a music video or shoot photos for an album, but people have been so supportive and said they’d be happy to work together.”

Elliott continues to benefit from Winston-Salem’s artistic coziness. Ben Loughran played bass for Victoria Victoria at the Winter Warmer, a recent addition.

“He’s been filling in with us for a few weeks, but he’s been awesome,” Elliott said.

Another replacement became necessary earlier this year.

Riggin moved after the album’s release to enter ministry school in California.

Thankfully, Elliott’s younger brother Noah Elliott could also play the synthesizer. He followed his sister from Chillicothe to Winston-Salem to join the band in Riggin’s place.

The fuzzy synth lines underlying many compositions provide an atmosphere to Victoria Victoria’s songs reminiscent to those of St. Vincent. Elliott’s expansive voice, ranging from a low alto to a sweet mezzo, and the dynamic arrangements of her songs also nod to Annie Clark’s spirit.

One tune, hand-picked for the showcase’s theme, exemplified the similarity.

“I’m going to play a Christmas song,” Elliott bashfully told the crowd at the Garage.

She admitted she may forget the lyrics due to the song being written when she was 17.

“It’s a little bit cheesy, but just the right amount that you want in a Christmas song,” Elliott admitted.

She began the song solo, her keyboard set to the plunky chime of a Wurlitzer electric piano, biting her lip to recall the words that indeed covered the corny holiday theme of togetherness.

“I’d really like to come home to you/ And I wish I could stay,” Elliott crooned.

A look to her bandmates, who stood at attention, and Ohio transplant Tori Collins fronts ANTHONY HARRISON just a hint of guitar quietly Victoria Victoria, the indie-pop quintet joined Elliott’s keys. The that headlined Phuzz Records’ Winter Warmer showcase. synthesizer swelled as the bass drum locked the beat into place. Suddenly, Elliott’s sentimental ballad slid into a moderate neo-pop groove.

As the song concluded, Elliott promoted her album.

“Pick one up for your mom,” she deadpanned. “Pick one up for your aunt. They’re great stocking stuffers.”

Owing to Victoria Victoria’s relatively green status, Elliott counts on album proceeds to directly fund future endeavors.

“I can’t afford to make albums every three years out-ofpocket,” Elliott said. “I’m just hoping one release can go towards the next.”

As for new year’s resolutions, Elliott hopes to expand the band’s horizons.

All Showtimes @ 9:00pm “We are talking about some projects in 2017, but not a fulllength album,” Elliott said. “Just some little things here and 12/7 Karaoke there.”

Elliott also stated her wish to book shows outside of Win12/8 Momma Molasses ston-Salem.

“This year’s been pretty good for building a home base,” 12/9 Buck Gooter, Wandcarver, Elliott said. “We’ve played in Greensboro a little and Ohio, Tinmouth because I have connections back there.”

12/10 Crow’s Nest Presents: A Tribute

to Dimebag

Pick of the Week Musical salon Local music community discussion @ Kleur (W-S), Thursday, 6:30 p.m.

Kleur opens its doors to the public to discuss the state of Winston-Salem’s music community and the obstacles the city is facing in its efforts to grow and remain a viable source for the city’s arts population. The group discussion is free and open to the public. More details can be found by visiting Kleur’s Facebook page.

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CULTURE Revisiting the town of Tuna for Christmas

by Naari Honor

Up Front News Opinion Cover Story

Dixie Dewberry and Pearl Burras act innocent as Sheriff “Rubber Sheets” Givens patrols nearby.

MARYANN LUEDTKE

DJ’s Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie of OKKK radio.

MARYANN LUEDTKE

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Preserving the arts Museum conservation @ MESDA (WS), Friday, 2 p.m.

Have you ever wondered what goes into maintaining the integrity of museum treasures or illustrious family collections of heirlooms on-loan? Daniel Ackerman, curator of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, shares the tricks of the trade with guests in conversation entitled “Putting the Pieces Back together: Museum Conservation.” Call 336.721.7360 or email mesdatours@ oldsalem.org to reserve your space.

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“This is not the original play written in 1989, to clear up the unday afternoon marked the last of a four-day special confusion of one of our guests,” said Carson, who works as a production of the play A Tuna Christmas, brought back chemical engineer, as he laughingly pointed out the culprit in to the Community Theatre of Greensboro stage by the audience. board members and actors George Carson and Doug In keeping with the reason for the reproduction, the actors Heberle to honor the memory of the late Stephen Gee, Hall asked if members from the original Broach Theatre were in the Parrish and David Bell, as well as the now defunct Broach audience, but none joined the crowd on the final performance.

Theatre Co. That didn’t prevent the show from being memorable.

The packed house clapped wildly as the actors, Carson and Audience members could be heard offering their praises and Heberle, appeared on the stage to deliver the theater protocol approval of scenes such as disc jockey Arles Struvie flirting for the evening, which included generating a list of random with Bertha Bumiller, the mom trying to words suggested by the audience that hold her dysfunctional family together the actors would use during random for the holidays. moments of the play.

The Broach Theatre, named And the crowd roared as Carson “Trump,” someone screamed from for TCB publisher emeritus and Heberle ran down the aisles deep in the back of the theater.

Allen Broach, sold its space while waitresses Helen and Anita just “Something you are afraid of,” the discovered they had won the annual lawn actors screamed from the stage. to the Community Theatre contest and broken the winning streak And again, someone responded, of Greensboro years ago. of hoity-toity Vera Carp who used rogue “Trump,” sending the theater into a sheep in her nativity display. hysterical frenzy.

While the night had many twists that A Tuna Christmas used every opportune would make even the most hardened Scrooge crack a smile, moment to include controversial social issues in the updated one could not help but remember why everyone had gathered version of the production. there for the evening.

Some of the improvising included a radio advertisement for At the entrance of the theater a board filled with pictures a “White Lives Matter” fundraiser complete with prizes for from the original shows and of Stephen Gee, Hall Parrish, the winner of the whitest costume contest. One character, David Bell and the Broach Theatre Company served as a firearms store owner DiDi Snavely — whose slogan is: “If we solemn reminder of a legacy that brought years of joy to can’t kill it, it’s immortal” — fit right in with the times. downtown Greensboro, that may have turned out remarkably Despite the up-to-date references included in the differently without the presence of their genius and the work production, the core elements of the show remained, namely of the theater. the 22 larger than life characters from the fictitious town of Tuna, Texas created by actors who are no longer alive and a theater that is now defunct.

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Dec. 7 — 13, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment-

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SPORTSBALL Elite Deacs take out Hokies

I

his first shot on goal, saved by monstrous 6-foot-5 Hokie goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard. Lundgaard halted another strike in the ninth minute of play by Wake midfielder Jon Bakero, who’d scored two goals in the Sweet 16 game against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Regardless of the Tech goalie’s performance, the rabble on the hill lifted a bitter song through the fall chill, playing off the Hokies’ in-state adversary, the Universiby Anthony Harrison ty of Virginia: “You’re not UVA/ You’re not UVA/ You’re not even special/ You’re not UVA.” Virginia Tech, miffed by the insult, fired a quick salvo ies on Dec. 3. of three shots on the Wake goal between the 13th and The whole night at Wake’s Spry Soccer Stadium had been beautiful, but too closely resembled the one a 15th minutes. year prior when the No. 1-seeded Demon Deacons Following this outburst, though, Wake seized conmen’s soccer team dropped their bid at the College trol of the game.

Cup Final Four in an overtime upset against No. 8-seed Over the next 34 minutes — through the rest of the Stanford University. first half and four minutes into the second — Wake Stray clouds crossed the dusky sky. A crisp, electric Forest dominated offensive time of possession, shootchill frosted the air. Fog billowed from the mouths ing on the Virginia Tech goal seven times while the of hundreds of Wake fans filling hapless Hokies didn’t log another the stands and crowding the Walt shot until the 55-minute mark.

Senior midfielder Ian Chyzowych Alumni Hill.

At the game’s end, the Deacs Yes, it felt eerily like that fateful, Harkes launched a long posted 18 shots on goal to Virginia unsettling night last year.

Tech’s five. pass to Ema Twumasi, Harkes had been there, on his The whole time, that damned knees in the middle of the field, Lundgaard held his post like his life a freshman from Ghana crumpled by defeat after he’d tied depended on it, weathering intense, the game for his team and kept their via Connecticut, setting acidic scrutiny from fans on the hill hopes — and the fans’ hopes — alive, directly behind him. Those Demon him up for greatness. if but for fleeting minutes. He surely Deacons crowded on the berm did not want to feel that pain again. would thunder, “Wake!” and the He and the Deacs steeled themselves against failure. fans in the stands would respond to the call, “Forest!”

But Virginia Tech, an upstart No. 8 seed like Stanford which crashed over the pitch and echoed through the the year before, came out aggressive from the get-go. hardwoods, diffusing finally far off on campus.

Anyone could have guessed this game would be a Yet the game remained scoreless. slugfest. Not only was this the Elite 8, but the Hokies These two conference foes seemed locked in a brutal are Atlantic Coast Conference rivals with the Deacons. stalemate, littered with fouls and close calls, blocks Virginia Tech successfully kept the ball in Wake and saves. The possibility of overtime loomed heavily Forest territory for the first tense minutes of the game, ahead with 10 minutes on the clock. scrapping hard for shots on goal, but never found the And then, it happened: Ian Harkes made that long chance to strike. pass to Ema Twumasi, who entered the upper corner of Wake soon worked out of the tight squeeze and hit the box with pressure from a Tech defender. Twumasi back hard. tied up the Hokie, who went rolling into the grass. Two A shot by defender Kevin Politz in the fourth minute short dribbles and Twumasi lined up against Lundgaard went just high, drawing exasperated sighs from the at the left corner of goalie box. The freshman rocketed Deacon faithful. Three minutes later, Twumasi logged the ball low, flailing over the sliding Lundgaard as the t was a beautiful moment.

Wake Forest University senior midfielder Ian Harkes launched a long pass to midfielder Ema Twumasi, a freshman from Ghana via Connecticut, setting him up for greatness.

The pass came 80 minutes into their Elite-8 matchup against the Virginia Tech Hok-

ball skidded just past the imposing goalkeeper and rolled high into the left corner of the net.

Spry Stadium erupted in a blast of cheers.

As Lundgaard knelt dumbfounded, Twumasi flew behind the goal, smile exploding off his face, saluting the fans and teammate Hayden Partain. With the clock still counting time, Partain and other Deacs leapt atop the brick wall dividing fans from the pitch into the swell of the roaring crowd.

Harkes trotted from midfield, pumping his fists in vindication, then ran, arms wide open, to Twumasi.

They caught each other, embraced in the joy of coming victory, the veteran tousling the new hero’s hair.

Two minutes later, Twumasi knocked another shot in after the checkered sphere ricocheted like a pinball twice off Lundgaard, breaking the back of any realistic hope for the Hokies, from a similar angle to the first goal, setting the final score of 2-0, Wake Forest.

But this didn’t goal have the gravity — if anything, the weight lifted — of the previous score.

This decisive first strike redeemed last year’s disappointment. Emotions poured onto the field and merged in osmosis between fan and players. And teammates lifted each other selflessly into glory.

It was a moment in a game exemplifying the best of collegiate sport.

It was a beautiful moment.

Watch the Deacs take on the University of Denver Pioneers in the 2016 NCAA Men’s College Cup in Houston, Texas on ESPNU, Friday at 6 p.m.

Pick of the Week Home-court rematch Raptors 905 @ Greensboro Swarm (GSO), Wednesday, 7 p.m.

The Swarm (3-7) dropped their first five games but since found equilibrium. They can make up one of those early losses this week. If you can’t make it to the Fieldhouse on Wednesday, the Swarm also host the Windy City Bulls and Canton Charge on Saturday and Dec. 13, respectively, all beginning at 7 p.m. Visit greensboro.dleague.nba.com for more info.

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CROSSWORD

‘Ask Your Doctor’ these sound like legit meds.

by Matt Jones Across

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Crunchy sandwiches Corner piece “Dear” advice columnist Place of ‘90s TV Hypothetical space-time shortcut Abbr. on military mail Gambling game played with 80 balls Amazon Echo’s voice service Riboflavin’s group Deodorant option

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11 Coal valley in Germany 12 Math ratio words 13 Out in public 18 Frozen water, in Wittenberg 22 1950s singing star ___ Sumac 24 Encourages a felon 26 Bill of cowboy legend 27 Appetite stimulant 28 Music streaming service since 2014 30 State with an upright panhandle 32 Place of refuge 33 Make up (for) 34 Palindromic pair 37 Eggplant or smiley, e.g.

40 Reputation hurter 41 Available, as retail goods 44 Gets angry against Bart Simpson’s wishes 46 Silverback, for one 48 ___ Lanka 52 Often-mocked cars of the 1980s 54 A goal of NOW 55 Throws in 56 Give up 57 Rescind 58 Skirt length 60 ___ Day and the Knights (“Animal House” band) 61 Item on a bedside table 62 First asteroid landed on by a NASA craft 65 Bulk foods container

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46 “Match Game” emcee Rayburn 47 Dressing places?

49 Brunch drink orders, maybe 50 Small bills 51 Bouncy 53 Ancient road to Rome 55 “Do you sit there and watch your fish swim around? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

59 AL East athlete 63 Fool’s cap wearer 64 “Do you wish you lived on a massive rock at the southern tip of Europe? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

66 Mischievous pranks 67 “Garfield” drooler 68 Luxury rental 69 Packs (away) 70 Sloth and avarice, for two 71 “Raiders of the Lost Ark” creatures

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1 “Dracula” novelist Stoker 5 Rapper ___ Flocka Flame 9 Fundamental principle 14 Brain division 15 European auto brand 16 Desist’s companion 17 “Do you eat chocolate all day long? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

19 Address the crowd 20 Role-playing game in the “Elder Scrolls” series 21 “Do you say things that are self-contradictory? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

23 Agcy. under Elaine Chao, once 25 Concert boosters 26 Some butter 29 “The Mikado” costume element 31 Greetings from Hawaii 35 Albany-to-Buffalo canal 36 Important part of a news story that might get “buried” 38 Hearten 39 Fish and chips fish 40 “Do you watch movies on ancient technology? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

42 News and opinion website since 2014 43 Brando’s Nebraska birthplace 45 Word before clock or glass

A Very Merry Mad Max Christmas

TV CLUB: The Walking Dead Mid Season Finale 9 p.m. Sunday, December 11. Free Admission with Drink Purchase!

Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 13

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Open Mic Comedy Presented by The Idiot Box 8:30 p.m. Thursday, December 15

Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee!

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“You’re done here! Do you hear me? You are not to come back after lunch, you are not to come back EVER!” I heard her stomp across the floor and slam the door as best as she could.

I sat there unwrapping several yards of store-brand toilet paper from my hand and wondering how I’d let the bottom fall out of my life like this. I shook my head a few times, wondering if maybe it was just a weird dream, like the one with the narwhals or the one where I’m married. I walked tentatively out the bathroom door and she was waiting for me, popping out of a nearby office like God’s own ninja.

“Give me your employee ID badge,” she said, pushing her open palm toward my midsection.

“I don’t have it.”

“Go get it, then.” She shook her Suave-scented head for emphasis. “I’m not kidding.”

“Um, actually, I flushed it. Not now, I mean. I couple of weeks ago, I pulled my pants up too fast, it flipped off my belt into the toilet…“ Silence.

“See, since I park in the visitor spaces, I use the main entrance and don’t really need a badge.”

I’d barely finished that sentence when she started yelling “SECURITY!” even though the only security in the entire building was the metal flap that keeps you from reaching into the vending machine.

While she was alerting the office, like Paul Revere with rosacea, I went back to my desk and started cramming pictures and Post-It pads and the stapler and maybe a computer mouse into my purse.

“WE HAVE A SITUATION,” she kept yelling, a phrase she’d no doubt dreamed of using for something other than that time she found a dead chipmunk in one of the air ducts.

When I heard her breathing heavily behind me, I turned around to face her. She was red-cheeked and wild-eyed, her teased bangs listing sadly to one side like a melting snowman.

“I’m going to go move my car now,” I said calmly, walking toward the stairwell.

She stayed on the heels of my Chucks all the way down, screaming threats at the back of my head, repeating oversized Scrabble words like “insubordination” and “insolence” and “insubordination,” again.

I never turned around. I shook my sunglasses out of my purse and headed straight to my car.

I still had to pee.

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also started parking in the visitor space, because that word painted on the pavement was a much more accurate description of my status there than whatever I’d been typing on my résumé. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone ever came to that office unless they were required to: Those matching rows of visitor spaces were more hopeful than functional, much like my prescription for birth control pills.

Anyway, on an otherwise normal Friday, I parked in a visitor space and dragged myself inside. Later that morning, the HR assistant — a man who thought “business casual” meant tucking an oxford shirt into the waistband of his wind pants — materialized beside me.

“Jelissa,” he whispered, mispronouncing my name.

“When are you going to lunch?”

“In about 15 minutes,” I said.

“Okay, after lunch, could you maybe park in the employee lot?”

“No worries,” I told him, and he nodded and disappeared back downstairs.

Five minutes later, the HR director pounded on my cube. I didn’t notice at first, because the walls were made from what looked like discarded Build-A-Bear pets. When I did, she was livid, crimson-faced in a black glittery WWJD t-shirt and creased black jeans.

“Jelisa. Go move your car.”

I glanced at my watch, stood up and said, “Sure, I’ll just head to lunch now, too.”

I grabbed my car keys and Motorola Razr (only the finest accessories for 2006 Me) and made for the bathroom, because I’d already had a half-dozen cans of Diet Coke that morning. I was sitting on the cool plastic seat, leisurely reading the label on the Renuzit can, when she burst through the door with Jack Nicholson-in-The Shining-style force.

“I SAID GO MOVE YOUR CAR!” Now I’m confused. And I can’t pee.

“Sure,” I said, staring at my own distorted reflection in the stall door. “Just let me finish and then I’m out of here.” I put the air freshener on the floor and tried to ignore her little Easy Spirited feet tapping impatiently in front of me.

“MOVE IT, NOW.” I probably shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve stood up and zipped up and made my way to a stall inside the nearest Subway. What I did say was “Miss Daisy, Hoke can’t make water with you standing there.”

And that’s when she lost her mind.

Up Front

was dragging a rowing machine out of the corner of the gym, trying to figure out how to angle it so no one would be distracted by my dry-heaving face during the workout, when a woman tapped me on the shoulder.

by Jelisa Castrodale “I just found something out about you,” she said, the kind of open-ended declaration that could go in any number of terrifying ways.

“My doctor says it’s totally normal for a human body to look like that,” I said.

“Wha– ew, no, I heard that you used to work where I work.”

Oh. That. Yes. The name stamped on her business cards is the same company just outside of Winston-Salem where I used to work, my last office job before I broke up with corporate America forever. I hated that job. I hated it on the first day when I was assigned to a brown, itchy looking cubicle and I hated it on the last day, when I was fired while sitting on the toilet, a thick wad of off-brand TP wound around my hand like a oneply boxing glove.

It’s not like I was surprised when they “let me go.”

That office and I were a duet bound for disaster, like Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. Just say, say, say you’ll give me a good severance package. I spent two years trying to make it work, but my time there felt like treading the blandest kind of water. I was never promoted, I was never demoted, I was just moted — and I was miserable. Sure, my titles occasionally changed but I was always typecast to play the role of “coordinator.” The Research Coordinator. The Marketing Coordinator. The Coordstodian. Whatever. The work was less challenging than finding Waldo and it could’ve been a very good job for somebody, the same kind of somebody who doesn’t have any professional goals beyond getting a laser-etched nameplate, a free flu shot and two drink tickets at the company Christmas party.

I started dreading the chunk of the week that stretched from Monday to Friday and spent several minutes every morning leaning my forehead against the steering wheel of my parked car, fantasizing about career changes and wondering whether someone could become a neurosurgeon by watching YouTube videos. I

Take this job…

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