TCB Sept. 12, 2019 — Where's Bartsy?

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Sept. 12-18, 2019 triad-city-beat.com

WINSTON-SALEM EDITION

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Where’s Bartsy?

The definitive guide to Winston-Salem’s most elusive artist PAGE 6

United Way album drops PAGE 17 Rollergirls of the world unite PAGE 16 W-S 911 recordings sealed PAGE 8

Sept. 12-18, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

The entrepreneur at night The grind beeditorial meeting, because I need the gins before dawn. information just as badly as I need the I pop open my nicotine and caffeine. Maybe even more laptop to check so. It’s my junk. emails before the When I was a freelancer, I worked a kids got out of good four or five hours a day. Most days, bed, before the anyway. Eventually it wasn’t enough. coffee finishes When I was a staffer, I chafed against

by Brian Clarey brewing, before arbitrary restraints and capricious leadermy first cigarette. I check my calendar — I ship. That, too, wasn’t enough. I didn’t still rock the old-school, spiral-bound know until the end that this is what I variety — and flip open my notebook to wanted. start the day’s list, which as always begins This is what I wanted. with anything from yesterday’s list that did In the afternoon I write and edit — I not get done, and it never really ends. smash one staffer’s copy into pieces and Cigarettes. Coffee. I can feel the tenreassemble it like a mosaic; I tear another sion building inside my body, inside my one’s up so viciously I feel a little bad head, like the cabin of an about it. A little. But someairplane pressurizing before one’s got to hold the line.

There’s never takeoff. I don’t mind it. I Someone’s got to say, “Not enough time in like it. Without it I’d never good enough.” Someone’s the day, never survive the day’s tasks. got to care, even if no one There’s publisher stuff: else does. It took me 20 enough days in place some digital ads, track the week, never years to be that someone. down artwork for the print is what I wanted. enough resources This edition, compile a list of ZIP There’s never enough to accomplish my time in the day, never codes, put together a margoals. And yet, keting plan for a prospecenough days in the week, tive customer. somehow, it hap- never enough resources to And then there’s editor accomplish my goals. And pens. stuff, like the list of stories I yet, somehow, it happens. need to write and the queue Now it’s almost tomorof everyone else’s work that I insist must row, so the unchecked items on the list will pass across my desk before going to print. carry over while I allow myself to slowly After I drop the kids at school I start deflate back into something resembling a barking texts into my phone while I wheel normal human, which I sometimes wish I down South Elm-Eugene Street to the was, but not very often. office, where I click through more emails, This is what I wanted. hustle more copy, inhale as many of the This is what I want. day’s news stories as I can before the

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

OF COUNSEL Jonathan Jones EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

FOOD EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka niksnacksblog@gmail.com

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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 COVERS STAFF WRITER Savi Ettinger savi@triad-city-beat.com Greensboro: Mayor Nancy ART Vaughan and producer Andreao ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette “Fanatic” Heard, from the United robert@triad-city-beat.com Way album to fuight hunger.

SALES [Courtesy image] KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price Winston-Salem: Bartsy lives! gayla@triad-city-beat.com SALES: Amber Shove [Photo by Jerry Cooper] amber@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones, Todd Turner, Jerry Cooper, Clay Jones, Jen Sorensen

TCB IN A FLASH @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, each additional copy is $1. ©2018 Beat Media Inc.

Sept. 12-18, 2019

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Sept. 12-18, 2019

CITY LIFE Sept 12-15, 2019

by Savi Ettinger

Up Front

THURSDAY Sept. 12

Good Impressions @ Sawtooth School for Visual Arts (W-S), 7 p.m.

This free event combines printworking and poetry. Crystal Simone Smith reads her words, while guests get to print an illustrated broadside of an excerpt to take home. Find the event on Facebook.

The Legend of Georgia McBride @ Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, 8 p.m.

Fred Chappell @ UNCG Faculty Center (GSO), 7 p.m.

Opinion

News

Catch a performance of this show with the latest show from the Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance. The play follows an Elvis impersonator gets fired, as his former employer hires two drag queens to fill his former slot at a bar. Find out more on Facebook.

Fred Chappell helped form the MFA Writing Program at UNCG, and taught at the university for decades. The program, along with the Greensboro Review, host a visit from the former Poet Laureate of North Carolina, as he shares his work with a free reading and book signing. Find the event on Facebook.

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Buffalo Gospel @ Muddy Creek Cafe & Music Hall (W-S), 8 p.m.

Puzzles

SATURDAY Sept. 14

Community Yard Sale @ South Fork Community Center (W-S), 8 a.m.

Find your new favorite piece of home decor at this collective yard sale, or grab a spot to sell your own clutter. Browse around for free, and discover a fresh addition for collections, living rooms and decorations. Find the event on Facebook.

Red Panda Day @ Greensboro Science Center, 10 a.m.

Buffalo Gospel travels from Milwaukee to deliver their rootsy sound to Muddy Creek. Their set reaches through hyped-up country and slow, soulful Americana. Buy tickets and find the event on Facebook.

FRIDAY Sept. 13

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The Princess Bride @ LeBauer Park (GSO), 8 p.m.

Bring along a blanket or lawn chair for the final night of Spartan Cinema as they showcase The Princess Bride, a blend of comedy, romance and fantasy. The tale involving a pirate, first love and an evil prince plays outside on the lawn of LeBauer Park. Find the event on Facebook.

It’s Pow Wow Time in the City @ Greensboro Country Park, 5 p.m.

The Guilford Native American Association hosts a weekend long Pow Wow. Watch a drum and dance competition, enjoy traditional food or browse the arts featured. Find the event on Facebook.

Remember the Titans @ Bailey Park (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

This outdoor movie night, as part of the Innovation & Cinema series, offers a showing of Remember the Titans. The film stars Denzel Washington as a coach in a recently integrated high school.

Find the event on Facebook.

This educational event allows guests to hop from station to station to learn about the endangered animal. Collect stamps to fill a passport that shows your knowledge on the ginger creatures, and help the Science Center to fund conservation of the animal’s natural habitats in Nepal. Find the event on Facebook.

Fiesta 2019 @ Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts (W-S), 11 a.m.

The 27th year of Fiesta brings artists and vendors, culinary treats and tunes together in a party to celebrate and educate about Hispanic and Latino communities. Dancers, storytellers and paradeleaders gather as a part of the Hispanic League’s day-long event.

Learn more at hispanicleague.org.

Sept. 12-18, 2019

SUNDAY Sept. 15

Up Front

State Street Festival @ State Street (GSO), 2 p.m.

Stop at vendors and activity stands during a walk down State Street during this afternoon festival. The shopping street hosts a craft fair, face-painting and music, along with attractions from local businesses. Find the event on Facebook.

Greensboro Comicon @ Greensboro Marriott Downtown, 10 a.m.

News Opinion

Find yourself face to face with the Justice League, the Avengers along with a whole host of superheroes and supervillians during Greensboro Comicon. The day features discussion panels and an artist and vendor marketplace among other nerdy activities. Learn more at greensborocomicon.com.

Greensboro PRIDE @ South Elm Street (GSO), 11 a.m.

Culture

Gay Chorus Deep South @ a/perture cinema (W-S), 3 p.m.

This film delves into the tour of more than 300 singers as they venture from venue to venue around the South, and the experiences they faced as members of the LGBT community. Director David Charles Rodrigues and Dr. Timothy Seelig — a conductor in the film — visit with the showing.

Find the event on Facebook.

Shot in the Triad

Celebrate the LGBT community of Greensboro with a day full of musical performances, food and vendors, and pride.

Try the GSO Pride Lager at many downtown locations, enjoy live music and drag, or walk around and connect with the local LGBT community and organizations. Find out more at greensboropride.org.

Puzzles

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Sept. 12-18, 2019 Up Front

photos by Jerry Cooper No one really knows exactly when it started, these crude, spray-painted visages of Bart Simpson that have been spotted throughout Winston-Salem in recent months, thrown up in haste on abandoned buildings, construction sites, hard-to-reach blank walls and, even, a Dumpster.

But everybody loves Bartsy, as the anonymous tagger has been dubbed. He’s the talk of barrooms and Facebook groups, the scourge of law enforcement and the arts establishment, a smarmy rebuttal to the four- and five-figure murals that have been so carefully commissioned and executed throughout the Triad.

The work is simplistic, based on those early, “Tracy Ullman Show” episodes by Matt Groening that eventually morphed into the Bart Simpson we know today: The hair is spiky, the eyes more pronounced, the lips just a bit overblown. Sometimes he’s got a soul patch or an earring, or both; sometimes he’s jet black or stark white or true Simpsons yellow; sometimes he’s just an outline. But the pose is always the same: a threequarter profile of America’s favorite brat, brought to us by an anonymous artist who, like his namesake Banksy, allows us to project all our hopes and dreams on his process and motivations.

A blurry still of the artist pulled from surveillance video and released by the WinstonSalem Journal in late August only deepened the enigma.

Meanwhile, the Bartsys (Bartsies?) are slowly being removed from the landscape by people who just don’t understand.

So we present a map and photo essay of every Bartsy we could find, including the ones that are no longer with us, along with an invitation to all the haters to eat our shorts. And we ask our readers to send us any new Bartsy they find out there in the wild so we can complete the study.

Bartsy 1: 1001 Northwest Blvd.

Bartsy 6: 1000 block of Canal Street

Bartsy 2: 1028 Northwest Blvd.

Bartsy 7: 380 27th St.

Bartsy 3: 668 Seventh St.

Bartsy 8: 180 Executive Park Blvd.

Bartsy 4: 4017 Country Club Road

Bartsy 9: Corner of Brookstown Avenue

and Shallowford Street

Bartsy 5: 2897 Reynolda Road

Bartsy 10: 408 Salem Ave.

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The incomplete Bartsy

by Brian Clarey

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Bartsy 11: 600 block Ansonia Street

Bartsy 12: 1314 S. Hawthorne Road Sept. 12-18, 2019 Up Front

Bartsy 13: 200 block Miller Street

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Sept. 12-18, 2019

NEWS

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Judge keeps 911 recordings from Hanes Mall investigation sealed

by Jordan Green Winston-Salem police have at least a dozen people to interview who were potential witnesses to the shooting death of Julius “Juice” Sampson in the parking lot at Hanes Mall in August.

A Forsyth County superior court judge ruled that the public will have to wait at least six months to hear 911 recordings from the shooting that took the life of Julius “Juice” Sampson last month.

Sampson, a 32-year-old black man, was shot in the parking lot of Hanes Mall in broad daylight on Aug. 6 following an argument with Robert Anthony Granato, a 22-year-old white man who is charged with murder. Although Winston-Salem police Chief Catrina Thompson said the police had uncovered no evidence of a racial motive, allegations that a racial slur epithet had been used in the argument prompted a social-media firestorm promoting an unfounded narrative that the city was covering up a racially motivated murder.

Press conferences led by Mayor Allen Joines, Chief Thompson and Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough, along with a vigil for the victim followed.

Forsyth County Resident Superior Court Judge David Hall ruled on Monday that five 911 recordings will remain under seal. The judge said he respects the news media’s First Amendment right to report on court proceedings, but was swayed by learning from District Attorney Jim O’Neill’s office that WinstonSalem police still have at least a dozen witnesses, including one person who lives out of state, to interview.

“In balancing all of these very important concerns, in my discretion I do not want to compromise this investigation,” Hall said. “I do not want to impede, rush the investigation if there is any putative eye or ear witness who we haven’t heard from.”

Hall agreed with prosecutors that releasing the recordings could potentially “contaminate” the accounts of witnesses who have yet to be identified.

“These are people who are giving contemporaneous accounts, people with information only known to the people who were there,” said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Martin. “There are people who are yet to be interviewed who were inside the restaurant as the dispute was unfolding.”

The district attorney’s office and the defendant agreed that the recordings

should remain sealed. Hall said his primary concern was that releasing them could compromise the investigation, but a secondary concern is that they might be prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Prosecutors seized on that issue to argue that any hint that Granato wouldn’t receive a fair trial in Forsyth County could result in a change of venue, causing hardship and inconvenience to Sampson’s family and investigators who might be called to testify. Granato attended the hearing dressed in an orange jumpsuit while Sampson’s family sat in the gallery.

Judge Hall said he will hold a hearing to review the order sealing the 911 recordings on Feb. 26, 2020.

The Winston-Salem Journal and news stations WXII, WFMY and WGHP had sought the immediate STOCK PHOTO The public will have to wait at least six months to hear the 911 recordings from the release of the recordings. shooting that killed Julius “Juice” Sampson last month.

While the media entities — whom Judge Hall allowed asked. “The answer is an investigation wrong.’” to intervene in the criminal case as never really ends…. To say an investigaStevens defended his clients’ editorial movants — did not get their wish, their tion will be completed in 60 days would judgment in covering the story. lawyer Hugh Stevens said the scheduled not be true…. The Winston-Salem Po“When the mayor holds a press conreview hearing was better than having lice Department may need to investigate ference, we cover it,” he said. “When the recordings sealed indefinitely. right up to the time of the trial.” the chief of police holds a press confer“This has been proven to be a good O’Neill and Martin alluded to ence, we cover it. When the sheriff holds way to keep track of the matter and not homicides that have taken place since a press conference, we cover it. When have it fall by the wayside,” he said.

Sampson’s death, and the district attorpeople are upset and they hold a vigil, Judge Hall said he will review the five ney took a shot at the news media for its it’s a story. We respond to events when recordings again and determine whether focus on the Granato case. they unfold. What my clients are trying any parts can be released to the public “The chief made a statement that this to do is let the public know everything without compromising the investigation, case is not about race, but the media has they can without prejudicing either side. but he was doubtful that would be the latched on to that narrative,” O’Neill I make no apologies for the coverage. case. Meanwhile, Paul James, Granato’s said. “When we have a child hit in the The coverage is there because it’s an lawyer, suggested he could get together head while he’s playing with Play-Doh, important matter, and other people have with lawyers from the district attorney’s we don’t get the same push from the made it an important matter.” office and produce a transcript of the media.”

While upholding the order to seal the recordings and potentially release it after While not disputing any of the infor911 recordings, Judge Hall validated submitting it to detectives for review. mation relayed in news media coverage, the legitimacy of news coverage of the Judge Hall indicated that he would have James said some of the “commentary in case. He said he “took judicial notice” no objections. the newspaper was not factual,” and that of the extraordinary interest and media District Attorney Jim O’Neill cauit “muddied” the issues in the case. coverage in the case, of the various press tioned that there’s no definitive time “Mr. O’Neill and I are both conconferences, the vigil, and the formation period when the recordings could be strained by rules of professional conduct, a “Justice for Juice” advocacy group. released without compromising the and we don’t try cases in the media,” “This is an important case,” he said. investigation.

James said. “So we read things that are “When does the investigation end?” he not true, but we can’t say, ‘That’s bloody

Sept. 12-18, 2019 Up Front

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Sept. 12-18, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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Lawyer accused of violating gag order in 2016 downtown arrests case

by Sayaka Matsuoka A Guilford County superior court judge alleges that a local lawyer violated a gag order to not discuss the contents of police body camera footage depicting events between a young black man and his friends and members of the Greensboro Police Department in September 2016, and is now facing disciplinary action.

A group of local activists say the disciplinary proceedings initiated on Aug. 27 by Guilford County Superior Court Judge Susan Bray is an attack on lawyer Graham Holt, and that he plans to defend himself.

“He’s being illegally and wrongfully singled out,” said Lewis Pitts, a local retired lawyer and a close friend to Holt at a press conference on Sept. 12.

Bray says Holt violated the gag order in a message sent to city council members and the mayor on Aug. 9. In the message, Holt describes in explicit detail the interactions between Zared Jones and his friends, and members of the Greensboro Police Department as depicted in police-body camera footage.

Holt, who formerly represented Jones, contends that his former client and his friends were racially targeted by Greensboro police in downtown in September 2016. The publicly released message discloses additional details about the officers’ interactions with Jones and his friends that were not previously available in a video captured on a cell phone by a civilian and Jones’ complaint to the police department.

In the message — which was released by the city and posted online through the city’s open data portal in keeping with its public records law — Holt states that he “drafted [the] letter alone and [is] not asking [city council and the mayor] to violate Judge Bray’s order nor [is he] in violation of the order by delivery of this letter.”

The gag order, issued in January 2018, states that “attorney Graham Holt and his client Zared Jones shall sign a pledge of confidentiality and are not to disclose or discuss the body-worn camera recordings except with each other or in association with any official hearing where they are present together with the Police Community Review Board.” Additional petitions were granted to members of city council, including the mayor, Clifton Donnell Ruffin — one of Jones’s friends who was also arrested that same night — the city manager, legal counsel, the police community review board and Greensboro police Chief Wayne Scott

to view the body-worn camera recordings amongst themselves as long as they didn’t discuss the footage with outside parties as stated in near identical gag orders.

As of Sept. 3, city council members said that they had not watched the recordings because of the gag order.

At-large city council member Michelle Kennedy has said in the past that she would like to watch the footage and be able to publicly discuss it.

The state Court of Appeals upheld Bray’s 2018 gag order earlier this summer, saying it did not “violate the city’s First Amendment rights.”

According to the gag order, anyone who violates the orders could be fined up to $500 and face imprisonment of up to 30 days. Lewis said during the press conference that in the worst-case scenario Holt could be disbarred.

Holt, who has taken on multiple cases in the city that involve incidents of alleged police brutality against black and brown citizens, including the ongoing 2018 Marcus Deon Smith case, responded to Triad City Beat via text message on Tuesday.

“It never crossed my mind that I might be in violation of the order for communicating with city council about the content of the videos since both me and the city council were authorized to watch the videos,” said Holt.

Pitts argued that the city likely knew that the email sent by Holt would be posted on the city’s public website but chose not to seal the documents as should have been done. Pitts accused the city of allowing the email to be posted, making it seem like Holt violated the gag order.

“They could have pulled it on their own,” Pitts said. “They do that all the time.”

Greensboro City Attorney Chuck Watts said that his office did initially pull the message out of the portal after it was flagged by the public information office.

“We do have a process of making sure that nothing goes out that’s not appropriate,” Watts said on Tuesday. “Everything that goes in there is gonna be public.

Stuff comes in throughout the week and every Friday or every other Friday, stuff is released.”

Watts said his office pulled the message because they were concerned that Judge Bray would view his office as participating with Holt in violating the order. His office then approached Bray

Graham Holt has taken on cases in the city that involve incidents of alleged police brutality including the Marcus Deon Smith case.

to ask whether or not she would withhold the message from being posted publicly.

“She said she didn’t have any authority over that,” Watts said. “She had power over the party, who was Graham, but she does not have that over the city.

It was out of [Holt’s] hands and the city has it and she can’t tell us what to do with it. We didn’t have any authority to withhold it either.”

In an email to Judge Bray from Holt dated Aug. 22, Holt argues that his sending the message through the public system wasn’t a violation of the order because the contents of the message were almost identical to a typed letter he sent to the same recipients almost one year ago.

“It has been over a year since I mailed the typed letter, and no one from the city has expressed any concern to me or, as far as I know, to the court,” Holt states in

COURTESY PHOTO

the email. “The letter was subject to the same public records law as the email. I assumed the city would make the same inferences I did, the same inferences I assumed they made about the letter I sent a year ago. And that inference is that the documents were covered by your orders and not releasable to the public.”

Brooks Fuller, director of the NC Open Government Coalition and an assistant journalism professor at Elon University, said in a phone interview that disbarment, while possible, takes a lot of procedural work before it can happen.

“The way that the process works, he would be taken to the state bar,” Fuller said. “There’s a lot of procedural work before [disbarment] can happen. [The bar] has to give the accused a chance to present evidence and call witnesses and to defend themselves.”

Whether or not Holt could be disbarred ultimately rests with the members

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interfere with that case, he wouldn’t be able to be involved anymore,” Pitts said on Thursday. The case, which was filed in April by the Smith family against the city of Greensboro and eight police officers and a paramedic and EMT who were present when Smith died, requires a lawyer licensed to practice in the state of North Carolina to handle the case.

“The Marcus Smith isn’t likely to be able to proceed,” Pitts said if Holt is disbarred. “I think we wouldn’t be likely to find anybody else.”

However, Pitts said Holt will be fighting the disciplinary proceeding soon.

“He has and will be having a lawyer, and he will fight vigorously,” Pitts said.

“He will be responding. He will contest highly.”

According to the initiation of disciplinary proceeding, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour has been commissioned to conduct the proceeding against Holt on Sept. 30 while attorney Walter Kirk Burton will act as the prosecutor. Three local attorneys — Kearns Davis, Don D. Carter and former Chief District Court Judge Wendy M. Enochs — will serve on a committee to review the case and make recommendations to Judge Baddour.

Up Front

the men had done anything but walk with misdemeanor second-degree tresthrough downtown,” Holt writes in his passing and misdemeanor intoxicated email. and disruptive. The Guilford County Holt’s characterization of the police District Attorney’s office dropped the body-camera video suggests that officers charges in May 2018. decided to arrest Ruffin without any inA November 2017 letter by Capt. dication that he had committed a crime.

Teresa Biffle, commander of the pro“He doesn’t even know,” says one of fessional standards division, said that the officers about Ruffin on the body the department’s internal investigacamera footage, according to Holt’s action cleared the five officers involved count. of wrongdoing, stating that they “did “We need to take care of him too,” not make a bias-based arrest, search, says another, according to or seizure during their Holt. encounter with Mr. Jones ‘It never Once Ruffin approached on Sept. 10, 2016.” The the Boiler Room, the bar letter went on to say that crossed my where his friends were ar“the applicable chain of mind that I rested, he was questioned by command determined the Officer Johnson and handevidence available to the might be in cuffed, Holt said. Then he officers at the time of Mr. violation of the was reportedly grabbed and Jones’ arrest established strangled by Officer Wright, probable cause for the arorder.’ who “wraps his arms around – Graham Holt rest, and Mr. Jones’ arrest [Ruffin’s] neck and strangles was therefore lawful.” him in a half-Nelson choke Ron Glenn, the police hold…[Ruffin’s] body is completely still department’s public information officer, while he is being choked and he clearly could not be reached for comment. cannot breathe. Despite [Ruffin’s] lack Activists are worried that Holt’s potenof movement or resistance, Officer Floyd tial disbarment could hamper litigation Wright continues to choke him as he rein the wrongful death suit filed by the peatedly tells [Ruffin’s] to stop resisting.” family of Marcus Smith.

Ruffin and Jones were both charged “If Graham is disbarred… that could

Sept. 12-18, 2019

of the disciplinary board, Fuller said.

“They’re gonna want to know as much as possible about the actions that the attorney took and whether they attempted to violate the order,” Fuller said. ***** The contents of the now public email also include a damning account of what Holt claims are “police abuse and constitutional violations” by police officers on the night of Sept. 10, 2016, when Zared Jones, Clifton Ruffin, Aaron Garrett and Alfonso Thomas were arrested in downtown Greensboro.

A video taken by a civilian on a cell phone was posted on Youtube a few days after the incident and shows instances of Officer Samuel A. Alvarez, Cpl. Korey R. Johnson, Sgt. Steven Kory Flowers and Officer Floyd Wright interacting with and arresting the four black men.

The YouTube footage shows Alvarez and one other officer grabbing Garrett and pulling him by his ankles, pulling his feet out from under him and then Tasing Garrett. The police body-camera footage, which is not public record according to state law, includes additional evidence of the officers “giving contradictory orders to all four men” and “[plotting] to arrest the young men long before

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Sept. 12-18, 2019

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The GOP’s 2020 election playbook: A ‘sanctuary cities’ scare

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Trump Nation is likely to take ate election in Tennessee. The Intercept recently reported away a lesson from Tuesday’s spethat a Koch brothers-backed company, i360, used a “vast cial election for the 9th Congresdatabase of voter profiles” to determine that immigration sional District seat: that demacould be used as a wedge issue to Republican advantage. goguery can deliver the marginal A testimonial on the company website said, “i360 further advantage needed to squeak to segmented the universe using the Sanctuary Cities model victory. which identified voters likely to oppose Sanctuary CitDan Bishop — a Trump loyalist ies policies like allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers’

by Jordan Green and the Republican state senator licenses — a policy Bredesen favored while governor.” (He responsible for HB 2 — and the president hammered out did not favor allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers’ an attack against Democrats on the immigration fearlicenses; Politifact found that in 2006 Bredesen ended the trafficking theme of “sanctuary cities,” helping Bishop eke program, which was created through a law signed by his out a 2-point win over Democrat Dan McCready. That’s a Republican predecessor, Don Lundquist.) marked improvement over Republican Mark Harris’ bare In North Carolina’s special election, Bishop ran an ad 0.32-point win over McCready in 2018, which was thrown attacking Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, a out because of Republican ballot fraud. black Democrat, for limiting cooperation with Immigration Bishop’s victory is widely seen as a bellwether for Trump’s Customs Enforcement. re-election bid next year and Republican efforts to retake And on Monday, Trump hammered the theme further the House and maintain control over the Senate, particuduring a campaign stop in Fayetteville. larly in the suburbs. Politico reported that House Minority “But one of the biggest issues of this election is, in fact, Leader Kevin McCarthy cited the North Carolina special sanctuary cities,” he said. “McCready supports sanctuary election as a concern in a meeting with GOP donors city policies that force prisons and jails to release criminal in Wyoming last week, and the outlet quoted Club for aliens directly into your neighborhoods. ‘Get out. Go Growth President David McIntosh as saying, ahead. Go into the neighborhood.’”

“It’s a test to the effectiveness of Republican to McCready’s position is unremarkable. In an Republican Dan win back districts with heavy suburban populaAug. 23 interview with WBT-FM the DemocratBishop beat tions.” ic candidate said he thought Gov. Roy Cooper’s Democrat Dan The southern tier of Mecklenburg County, veto of HB 370, which would have required McCready in the sheriff’s to hold inmates up to 48 hours without covering the Charlotte suburbs and supplying about a third of the votes in the 9th District, has 9th Congressioa warrant or court order so that ICE would have been steadily trending Democratic, with the time to pick them up, was “the right call.” In fact, Democratic nominee’s share of the vote leaping nal District on the policy embraced by Cooper and McCready from 41.9 percent to 53.9 percent between 2016 Tuesday. was pioneered by Republican sheriffs. and 2018. Although Union County — home Former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, a to the late segregationist Sen. Jesse Helms — remains a Republican who campaigned with Trump in 2016, impleRepublican stronghold, the Democratic share of the vote mented a policy in 2014 of not holding undocumented imincreased from 31.8 percent to 39.1 percent over the same migrants under ICE detainers without a valid criminal arrest period. This time around, McCready picked up a couple warrant or court order if their cases had been adjudicated. points in the Charlotte suburbs, and held steady in Union The Forsyth County jail, also under the leadership of a County. But he effectively lost the race at the eastern end Republican sheriff through 2018, followed the same policy. of the district in Robeson and Cumberland counties.

The federal courts have already sorted this one out: If Democratic support in Cumberland, which includes someone doesn’t have a pending criminal charge and hasn’t Fayetteville and a heavy military presence, dropped from been convicted of a crime, it violates the Fourth Amend51.4 percent to 49.6 percent from last November to Tuesment to deprive them of their liberty. day’s special election. Worse was the Democratic wipeout None of these facts are likely to reach Trump voters. So in Robeson, a racially polarized county with a population the game for Republican candidates in 2020 will be to see roughly evenly distributed among Lumbee Indian, black how many times they can say “sanctuary cities” at campaign and white residents. The Democratic vote share increased events, on television and in Facebook ads. from 52.1 percent to 56.4 percent between 2016 and 2018, On Monday, Trump singled out a member of the audibut plummeted to 50.3 percent on Tuesday. ence in Fayetteville.

The “sanctuary cities” theme embraced by Trump and “What’s your neighborhood?” he asked. “Where do you Bishop is a variation on the “migrant caravan” scare that live?”

Trump attempted, largely without success, to galvanize They lived in Rutherford County, way on the other side support for congressional candidates in the 2018 midterms. of Charlotte from the 9th District.

“How do you feel about having them release hardened “Sanctuary cities” might be more effective because it criminals into Rutherford County — I don’t think so,” Trump conjures a fear of ominous forces right at home instead of a said. “But your whole state, it’s — honestly, can I be honest? geographically distant threat.

It’s crazy what’s happening — this whole thing with sanctuThe template was set by Republican Marsha Blackburn’s ary cities.” victory over Democrat Phil Bredesen in last year’s US Sen-

EDITORIAL

by Clay Jones

Up Front News

claytoonz.com

Opinion Culture

A panel of state judges finally and inmeasure the human suffering unleashed controvertibly overturned North Carolina’s by inhumane laws affecting, among other illegal election districts on Sept. 3, after groups and issues, the LGBT community, the US Supreme Court punted on the immigrants, workers, the media, reproissue in June. ductive rights, our public schools and the And the Republican majority in the DMV? General Assembly finally folded their Remember, this legislature changed our cards, finally conceding that they impropstate constitution! Should we allow any erly used race and mathematics to subvert of these unpopular laws passed in the last our state government to their misbeeight years — the time that these illegitigotten ends, or, ar least, that they were mate districts have been in place — to through fighting in the courts. stand?

The Republicans are proposing to apAnd most importantly: How will we hold point Art Pope — who engithem accountable? neered the Republican ascent On that front, we could to power in 2010 — as the start by scrapping every piece How will we special master for redrawing of legislation passed by the the new maps, demonstrating body — or, at least, the hold them ac- unlawful that they have learned nothcontroversial ones that would ing from their malfeasance. not have passed without support countable?

So now we’re faced with from illegitimate members of some questions that Senthe House and Senate. ate President Pro Tem Phil We could claw back every Berger and his cronies would rather be left legislator’s salary from the last eight years, unasked. have them return their ill-gotten campaign First: How do we quantify the damage contributions, dissolve the fundraising apdone by the Republican majority of the paratuses and PACs that helped the NC General Assembly? How do we articuGOP break the law. late the things they have stolen from the We could insist that all reps in illegally people of the state? drawn districts give up their seats immeDo we add up the time wasted? The diately, and we could stipulate that any legal bills? The salaries paid to legislators legislator who played a role in this scheme who obtained their seats illegally? Can be prohibited from running for office in we calculate the revenue lost by canceled North Carolina ever again. sporting events, rerouted tourists, students In short, we should treat the perpetrawho chose not to apply to North Carotors of this plot like players in a conspiracy lina colleges, companies that declined to commit massive fraud, which is exactly to move here after our backwardness what it looks like from here. became national news? How do we

Claytoonz

Sept. 12-18, 2019

Theft in the legislature

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Sept. 12-18, 2019 Opinion

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Nik Snacks Triad vendors win big at specialty foods competition

Puzzles

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Culture

Winston Salem-based Red Clay Gourmet swept the Deli category with Classic Sharp and South Meets East Sriracha pimento cheeses.

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M

ore than 1,000 bites, sips, nibbles and swallows were consumed over the course of two days in late August during the judging of the annual North Carolina Specialty Foods Association Product Competiby Nikki Miller-Ka tion in Raleigh.

The NCSFA is an organization that helps its more than 100 specialty food producers, large and small, strengthen their brands. The association regularly hosts activities for its members, like this competition and pop-up artisan food fairs at state-owned farmer’s markets throughout the year.

“Many producers like the pop-ups better than grocery demos,” said Sherry Barefoot, the marketing specialist for NCDA&CS. Producers are able to sell directly to consumers, and consumers are able to ask questions and sample goods.

A diverse panel of expert judges deliberated on the variety of foods at the competition. In all, a dozen judges from across the state — including yours truly — such as chefs, culinary instructors, recipe developers, food journalists and specialty food buyers participated in a series of blind tastings to select winners in the Pantry, Baked Goods, Deli, Plant-Based Foods, Beverages, Condiments, Honey and Preserves, and Snacks catego-

COURTESY PHOTO

ries. Some entrants chose to insert instructions on how tang. Far East is described best as an orange-flavored, to enjoy each sample while others provided a broad peanut-based sauce, while It Takes Three is a blend of description of what judges would to taste. bleu cheese, ranch and thousand island dressings.

Winners were announced Sept. 6 at the annual Winston-Salem-based Red Clay Gourmet swept the NCSFA fall conference at WinMock in Advance with the Deli category with Classic Sharp and South Meets East Triad representing nearly a half-dozen winning products Sriracha pimento cheeses. Lance and Michele Sawyer, this year. former owners of First Street Draught House, sold Archdale-based Cherry pimiento cheese in 8-ounce Orchard Foods’ Bahama Mama tubs at the restaurant in the Slushy Mix came in Second Pre-Red Clay days. Each batch Place in the Beverage category, is still packed by hand and the To try many of the winners and which boasted products like offerings have expanded to other members of the association, kombucha, coffee and fruitinclude cracker snack packs, visit the Artisan Food Fair at the flavored offerings. available at area stores.

Robert G. Shaw Piedmont Farmers Judges sampled the dry mix Valley Brook Farms, from as well as a prepared slushy Greensboro, swept the Honey Market on Saturday. Admission sample. The mix is tangy, drawand Preserves category, beatand parking are free. ing from the addition of citric ing out nearly 90 other entries acid, and is vermillion-hued with their Flying Habanero from a natural beet powder. A Pepper Jelly and Strawberry soft green-tea powder added Habanero Pepper Jelly, which additional color and mellowed out the flavor. also took the Grand Champion prize.

The Second Place winner in the Condiments category The Strawberry-Habanero Pepper Jelly, made with went to Honey, It’s Dijon Dill from Little Black DressNC-based, pepper-infused vodka from Fair Game Bevering Co. in High Point. This champ had multiple entries age Company, is bright with fresh strawberry slices and including Far East Flair and It Takes Three to Tango. The a medium-hot burn from the finely chopped habanero Dijon Dill is a sweet, thick, honey-mustard based sauce peppers. Valley Brook Farms recently relocated their with dried dill, which provided the slightest hint of a operations from Greensboro to Durham.

Sept. 12-18, 2019

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CULTURE Jamming: GSO Roller Derby hosts a world of skaters

by Savi Ettinger

R

oller derby can change the world.

The message, spelled out in block letters, interrupts a blue and red background across wooden panels, in a mural sitting on the floor of the Annex at the WinstonSalem Fairgrounds As teams from around the globe face off in the 2019 International Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Playoffs, skaters and onlookers alike take a pause from the sport to sign their name, or write messages on the collaborative mural. The weekend-long tournament, hosted by the Greensboro Roller Derby, brings the top teams from around the world, including those from France, the UK and Germany, for a chance to move on to the International Championship in Montreal in November Though the Greensboro team did not compete, the hosts offered up a way to commemorate the playoffs permanently, through a design that many skaters felt embodied the sport. Nay Slayer, member of the Greensboro team, painted the mural of the WFTDA’s motto, and walks around the display, pointing out different signatures of some of her favorite players.

“We thought it would be cool to tie this whole world of roller derby together,” she says.

The Greensboro Roller Derby found the issue of acceptance coming up soon after the announcement of a North Carolina city as the home for the playoffs.

The initial concerns, stemming from worries over the lingering effects of antiLGBT legislation, particularly HB2, felt relevant to the host team. However, the Greensboro team gathered a hospitality packet for players full of LGBT-friendly spots in Winston-Salem and made the Annex even more inclusive with genderneutral signs taped over each of the bathroom doors. According to Grimberlyn Reaper, a skater and member of Greensboro Roller Derby’s marketing team, the strategies helped keep the area safe.

“There’s an amazing supportive queer comradery here,” she says. “We’re not going anywhere.”

The game for Third Place begins with a European rivalry, pitting the Paris Roller Girls against the Bear City Roller Derby from Berlin. Five skaters from each team race around the flat track, setting up defensive blocks and offensive assaults as the jammers try to lap the crowd and

Competitors skate past their opponents, weaving in and out of tight spaces to score points at the international competition held at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds last weekend.

score points. After the jammers get though their initial lap, for each opponent’s hip they pass, they score one point.

A German chant of “Los Geht’s” or “let’s go,” echoes from the stands as the star on the jammer’s helmet peeks out from within the clump of other skaters. She breaks out and whizzes around the curves to begin scoring, and the chanting loses all structure, the rhythm replaced by loud hollering and shouting.

Her black and gold uniform turns into a blur as she speeds by, her face intense, eyes dead set on the trio of opponents waiting to block her.

After their win, a merch table for the German team becomes a stop for players catching their breath. T-shirts and posters cover the table, with the team’s saying that reads, “Walls are just for roller derby.” For a player going by the name of Maya Mangleyou, the saying feels especially prevalent, and embodies the values of the sport.

“I don’t want walls in my roller derby community,” she says.

“As a jammer, I don’t even want walls in my derby.”

The final game unfolds setting up the Los Angeles Angel City Roller Derby against Austin’s Texas Roller Girls. The jammers struggle to pass the initial set-up from their opponents,

JERRY COOPER

leaning against them with full weight. The blare of the referee’s whistle cuts through the noise whenever a skate steps over the line, sending the player to the back of the formation.

Rachel Rotten uses the congestion to her advantage, whizzing though a thin opening on one end, the wheels of her skates scratching against the floor.

The official score of 73-120 gives the win to Angel City, and the Los Angeles team revel in their gold-medal win. With glitter makeup and sweat on her face, Rachel Rotten gives a tired but satisfied smile. For her, the saying painted on wood feels personal.

Even those out of the bracket show their support, as the Atlanta Roller Derby cheers each skater and volunteer by the back door of the Annex with applause and high fives. A skater named Queen Loseyateefa scrolls through her Spotify, queuing up the next song to help keep the party going. For her, the word “sisterhood” is not encompassing enough to even describe the sport.

“It’s more of a they-hood,” she says.

by Sayaka Matsuoka

N

Up Front News Opinion

More than 50 local artists, activists and politicians collaborated to create the album which will benefit United Way of Greater Greensboro. The album dropped on Sept. 6 online.

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Shot in the Triad Puzzles

organization. He hopes that if the album is successful, other records in the first week, then that can happen,” Heard says. artists will use the model to help their own cities to not only “That’s the dream. To bring the Grammy home to Greensboro. raise awareness about poverty but to eradicate it.

That’s the ultimate goal. That’s better that working with Mi“Everybody thinks poverty is just about homelessness,” chael Jackson, Beyoncé, all that.”

Heard says. “We’ve learned so much about different aspects In addition to the title song, the album boasts 47 other of poverty by doing this album. Anybody can fall victim to tracks, many of them recognizable singles and popular songs poverty at any moment. by local musicians. Halfway through the album, Debbie the “Hopefully we can do this on a global scale and we can Artist’s expressive “Soul Cry” leads into Josh King’s folksy, eliminate it,” he continues. “If you acoustic song, “Dreamer.” Intercan eliminate it, that’s something spersed between songs are interthat will outlive us.” ludes by local activists such as a The album is available to purchase In addition to raising money for Spanish poem by Joan Francisco United Way, Heard hopes to sell Valdés Santos or a monologue by Ed on iTunes and Amazon. Find out enough copies of the album in the Whitfield set to pan flute instrumore at unitedwaygso.org/album. first week to get on the Billboard mentals or a steady, produced beat. charts and eventually be nominated Heard says having a variety of artists for a Grammy Award. and activists on the album was cruHeard has worked in the music cial to spreading the message. industry for the last three decades, collaborating with heavy “We got politicians involved, community activists, spiritual hitters including Jackson himself, Beyoncé and Notorious BIG. leaders,” says Heard. “You have to have all those things to But he says coming back to his hometown to create a bentackle this thing. By the time we finished this, everyone in the efit album has been one of the most rewarding experience of city was involved with it. It’s everybody’s album, not just our his career. album.”

“I think if people get behind it, if we sell a certain number of

Culture

ineteen percent of Greensboro’s population — more than 57,000 citizens — live in poverty, according to the 2018 Census. A newly released album created by local artists seeks to change that.

“I’ve lived in New York and LA so I’ve seen poverty at a very mass level,” says Andreao “Fanatic” Heard, a Grammyaward winning producer of the album and a Greensboro native. “In LA, you see a lot of artists that move there to pursue their dreams and they end up on the streets. It’s so warm that they’re on your doorstep. Seeing it in those cities and seeing it here, it’s like this isn’t something that we can’t fix.”

The album, titled Artists United to End Poverty, dropped on iTunes and Amazon on Sept. 6 and features more than 50 local artists including singers Vanessa Ferguson from “The Voice”, Laurelyn Dossett, Josh King and Crystal Bright as well as poets and spiritual leaders like Josephus Thompson III and Bishop Bryan J. Pierce, Sr. of Mount Zion Baptist Church. Even Mayor Nancy Vaughan can be heard in the recordings.

The title track, “Die 4 Love,” features all of the artists on the album in a collaborative, four-and-a-half minute song not unlike the 1985 charity single, “We Are the World,” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie for the album of the same title.

Heard took that same idea and decided to apply it to his hometown.

“They used music to help them through turbulent times,” Heard says about the musicians who worked on the album. “It was such an iconic moment in history…You would think that as turbulent as the times are here now, people could use music to address these things.

You have to be very responsible when making music because it’s so powerful.

Music is something that we can definitely use to heal.”

Mayor Vaughan believes the diversity of artists shows just how much talent the city has to offer.

“We are fortunate to have such talented local artists,” Vaughan says. “I know that there is something for everybody on this album.”

The project has been in a year in the making, a collaboration with the United Way of Greater Greensboro, a local nonprofit that works to end poverty.

According to Heard, all of the proceeds from album sales will go directly to the

Sept. 12-18, 2019

CULTURE Local musicians and activists create album to end poverty

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Sept. 12-18, 2019

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The N.C. A&T Cold Steel Drumline kicks off the NC Folk Festival in downtown Greensboro.

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by Matt Jones

Open Mic

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Love & Valor

Wednesday Sept. 18th

Andrew Kasab 6pm Laura Jane Vincent 7pm Saturday Oct. 5th

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Alice Osborn & Tony Low Saturday Oct. 19th

Zach Winters with SYLVIE ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

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Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

1 Technique taught at the Groundlings and UCB 7 Here, in Paris 10 Like 7 or 13 13 Airport serving Tokyo 14 Magnetic metal 15 “La ___ en Rose” 16 ___ Berry Farm (California theme park) 17 1991 De Niro thriller, or what you shouldn’t have when answering the theme clues?

19 “Caribbean” plant more commonly called allspice 21 Holy Roman leader (abbr.)

22 Golf course supply 23 Piano exercises 26 “I’m off!”

28 Chiwetel Ejiofor, in 2019’s “The Lion King” ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 31 Donut maneuver 32 Start of many rap names 35 Cracker in sleeves 37 ___ Wonder (Robin’s nickname) 38 Puzzle activities where you want to leave?

41 Film street of nightmares 43 Turn from bad to mad, maybe?

44 Luau paste 45 Inventive Goldberg 47 “Eat It or ___ It” (Smosh Pit show on YouTube) Answers from last issue 49 “Diary of ___ Black Woman” (2005 film) 20 Freemium game breaks, often 53 Phobic 24 “Achtung Baby” co-producer Brian 55 Old saying 25 Tough section of a jigsaw puzzle, maybe 58 Drink that may be pale or Scotch 27 “Happy Days” hangout 59 Key ingredients in boba tea 29 Minotaur’s island 63 1990s web browser now owned by Verizon 30 Go on the radio 65 Silent film’s successor 33 Neat drink’s lack 66 Olive loved by Popeye 34 “The People’s Princess” 67 Scott Turow memoir about law school 36 Where zebras may be spotted 68 More malevolent 38 Fortify for fighting 69 Small, in Scotland 39 Pizzeria order 70 Former M&M hue 40 “Pulp Fiction” role 71 Can’t stand 41 “Nurse Jackie” settings Down 42 “Star Trek” captain Jean-___ Picard 1 Type of computer printer 46 Notable timespans 2 Bahrain’s capital (not to be confused with a 48 Org. with wands and X-ray machines Central American country) 50 The Duchess of Sussex’s original surname 3 On time 51 Partners 4 “One Day at a Time” star Moreno 52 Dry zone 5 Super Bowl XXV MVP Anderson 54 Center of Disney World 6 Explorer ___ da Gama 56 Director Michael of the “Up” series (now at 7 “Dies ___” (“Day of Wrath”) “63 Up” in 2019) 8 Duracell battery feature 57 Make on a loom 9 Unskillful 60 Amenable 10 Adds vocals to, maybe 61 Cartoon unit 11 ___ de los Muertos 62 Hit the ground 12 ___ Spiegel 63 Right this moment 14 Gathering of the Juggalos band, to fans 64 Knack for detail 18 Family conflict

EVENTS

Every Thursday

Sept. 12-18, 2019

CROSSWORD ‘Be a Superhero’—they all wear one. SUDOKU

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GRAND REOPENING Saturday, September 14th

Bob Fleming And The CIC record Release W/ Old Heavy Hands, Gar Clemens and Night Sweats Saturday, September 21st National recording artist Angie Aparo!! writer of the #1 smash hit “Cry” by faith hill.

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS Sunday, September 22nd Fiona Silver w/ J. Timber Friday, September 27th Totally Slow, No One Mind and Scrub Pine Saturday, September 28th Basement Life, Propersleep and Condado

Saturday, November 2nd The Devils Notebook, Zodiac Panthers and Night Terrors Saturday, November 9th Irata w/ Caustic Casanova Sunday, November 10th Cimorelli (early show)

WEEKLY EVENTS

Every Wednesday

Open Mic Hosted by DC Carter

Every Sunday Julian Sizemore series Julian brings out weekly guests

221 Summit Ave. Greensboro, NC

Across from The Greensboro historical museum