TCB Aug. 13, 2020 — DeJoy Ride

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Aug. 13-19, 2020 triad-city-beat.com

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Teaching controversy PAGE 11

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DEJOY RIDE Is Greensboro’s Louis DeJoy sabotaging the US Postal Service?

PAGE 5

Aug. 13-19, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

My coronavirus plan: Don’t get coronavirus

The United States’ plan for the coronavirus is, apparently, not to have a plan: no national effort at curbing the virus, no coordinated

by Brian Clarey response system, no quantitative goals set, no mandates, no playbook, no plays, even, when it comes to the welfare of the American people.

Right now, our country is not asking what it can do for us. Rather, it wants to know what we can do for them, and on the shortlist is this: Fund their campaigns and get them re-elected.

In lieu of a national response then, we’re all forced to come up with our own strategies when it comes to going back to work, sending our kids to school, exposing ourselves to risk and even the weight we apportion to the global pandemic. I know people who are trying mightily to live as if there were no pandemic at all.

Not me, though.

My own personal coronavirus plan begins with a premise. I treat the coronavirus like the Wu-Tang Clan: Nothing to fuck with.

I wear the mask. I wash the hands. I social the distance. I haven’t shaken a hand in months, and when I order delivery, I have the driver leave it on the front porch.

No crowds, thank you very much, and I will respectfully decline a ride in your car, the use of your pen or a hit off your blunt.

And if you make a move to hug me, I’ll squirm away like you’re covered in vomit, which you might as well be.

I’ve been working from home, leaving only to buy cigarettes, gasoline and groceries, and to do newspaper production in a mostly empty office building one day a week, faces covered. I’ve got extra masks and hand-sanitizer in my car, along with a fresh glove in case I need to pump gas; I bring my own water.

I shaved off my facial hair. Five months ago. Like anybody noticed.

My coronavirus plan is about mitigation: keeping myself out of harm’s way as much as possible, decreasing my odds of contacting the virus when I must, allowing for those who may not take the threat as seriously as I, always thankful I have the privilege to keep my profile low.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

We often think about history as one thing: pilgrims and Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence.

But you’re missing things at the local level and you’re missing controversy.

—Allison Fredette pg. 11

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

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

EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com

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

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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 Cover image: Illustration by Rob SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka Paquette niksnacksblog@gmail.com EDITORIAL INTERN Michaela Ratliff ART ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette robert@triad-city-beat.com SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price gayla@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones

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

Aug. 13-19, 2020

CITY LIFE August 13-16

by Michaela Ratliff

Thursday Aug. 13

Carolina Carnival Treats @ Parkway Plaza Shopping Center (W-S) 3 p.m.

Friday Aug. 14

Adoption Event @ the Natural Dog (GSO) 11 a.m.

Ruff Love Rescue has some amazing, friendly dogs available for you to adopt.

Stop by the Natural Dog to meet your new best friend! Donations are gratefully accepted on Ruff Love Rescue’s website.

Porch Sessions @ the Historic Magnolia House (GSO) 5:30 p.m.

Porch Sessions is an evening of dine-in, drive-in and virtual music experiences to celebrate the Historic Magnolia House, a former motel and staple of Black history that once served as a resting stop for Black musicians including James Brown. Visit the event page to purchase tickets.

Food & Flow Yoga @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 11 a.m.

All are welcomed at this gentle and relaxing Sunday morning yoga session no matter the level of experience. A brunch menu will be provided for attendees to order from afterwards. Be sure to take your own mat, towels, and other supplies you will need.

Visit the event page to purchase tickets.

Ssummer ssale @ Ssalefish Comics (W-S) 11 a.m.

This weekend everything except brand new comics, supplies and Sideshow products will be buy two, get a third free! For every $100 spent, receive a free Baby Yoda while supplies last.

Puzzles

Molecular Series @ Revolution Mill Central Gallery (GSO) 9 a.m.

Stop by Revolution Mill and enjoy this mind and body inspired exhibition by artist Angie Barker. With this exhibition she intends to “create tangible representations of the living energy that makes me, me. Each work is a visual meditation of how my body functions and reacts.”

Saturday Aug. 15

Meditation & Getting to Happy in the Park @LeBauer Park (GSO) 9:30 a.m.

Master life coach Alejaibra Badu is hosting a morning of meditation, fitness and fun.

Water and healthy snacks will be provided but don’t forget to bring your own mat.

Register on the event page for a faster check-in.

Shot in the Triad

Golden Retriever Takeover @ Doggos Dog Park & Pub (GSO) 7 p.m.

Sorry poodles, this takeover’s for the golden retrievers. Enjoy a beverage while your golden has the time of his life! A portion of the night’s sales and half of all new membership sign-ups will directly benefit Triad Golden Retriever Rescue. Humans, be sure to check out the house rules before attending.

Community Theatre of Greensboro is hosting a paint and sip for ladies to enjoy a glass of wine while participating in fun artistic activities. Tickets include all artistic materials and a glass of wine and can be purchased on the event page.

Sunday Aug. 16

Culture

Always, Patsy Cline @ W-S Theatre Alliance (W-S) 8 p.m.

Always, Patsy Cline is a musical tribute based on the true story of the friendship between Cline and her fan Louise Seger.

Guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and possibly participate, this play is one you will truly enjoy. Visit the theater’s website to purchase tickets and to view future show dates.

Paint-N-Sip: Ladies Night @ Community Theatre of Greensboro (GSO) 7 p.m.

Opinion

Carnivals may be on hold for now but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the food.

Stop by the Parkway Plaza shopping center for your favorite fair foods including caramel apples, fried Oreos and funnel cakes.

Marketplace Cinemas will be showing Ghostbusters. This time the drive-in movie experience includes cast interviews and a first look at Ghostbusters: Afterlife! Tickets can be purchased on Marketplace Cinemas’ website.

News

Guns & Roses Tribute Experience @ the Blind Tiger (GSO) 7 p.m.

Welcome to the Jungle! Tribute band Nightrain will be at the Blind Tiger with a high-energy performance of Gun’s & Roses’ greatest hits including the entire Appetite for Destruction album. Tickets can be purchased on the event page.

Ghostbusters (1984) @ Marketplace Cinemas (W-S) 8:30 p.m.

Up Front

Mini Farmer’s Market @ Acadia Foods (W-S) 9 a.m.

Triad Buying Co-op in partnership with Bloom Collective NC’s opening market will feature freshly harvested produce grown on the Miracle Grounds Farm of Crossnore School & Children’s Home in downtown W-S. Handsewn face coverings and other crafted items will also be available for purchase.

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A Dine-in, Drive-in and Virtual Music Experience Social Distanced Fall Fundraiser

442 Gorrell St, Greensboro,NC

August 15, 2020 5:30 to 8:30 pm

News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad

Coronavirus in the Triad:

(as of Tues, August 11th, compared to last week)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses

Up Front

Aug. 13-19, 2020

Porch Sessions: The Historic Magnolia House

TICKETS **Order Online: eventbrite.com/e/115001059264 Livestream | $10/device Watch from home, we’ll send you the secret link in an email the day before.

Socially Distanced Lawn Seats | $15/person 25 seats available.First come, first served.

Drive-in | $30/vehicle 30 parking spaces available. First come, first served.

NC

137,895 (+8,607)

Forsyth

5,317 (+289)

Guilford County

5,693 (+366)

COVID-19 deaths

DONATIONS Can’t make the event? Want to support this historic Black owned business and Black artists? Make a donation online https://bit.ly/3fuX1v5

NC

2,239 (+163)

Endorsed by Greensboro’s own Rihannon Giddens

Forsyth

52 (+1)

Guilford

156 (+7)

Documented recoveries NC

116,969 (+11,876)

Forsyth

4,230 (+587)

Guilford

3,303 (+310)

Puzzles

Hospitalizations

4

NC

1,122 (-45)

Forsyth

19 (-3)

Guilford

533 (+25)

NEWS

News

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, of Greensboro, has been tinkering with the Post Office.

California Irvine, told the Associated Press that fraud is “extremely rare” in five states that already relied primarily on mail-in voting before the pandemic, including heavily Republican Utah.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Less than three weeks into DeJoy’s tenure, postal handlers and carriers began receiving orders to curtail costs, even if it meant sacrificing prompt delivery. An internal document originally published by the Washington Post entitled “Mandatory Stand-Up Talk: All Employees — Pivoting for Our Future” instructed employees that starting July 10, extra trips and late trips would no longer be authorized.

“One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that — temporarily — we may see mail left behind on the workroom floor or docks…,” the document says. “We will address root causes of these delays and adjust the very next day.”

Another memo first reported by the Post indicated that overtime would be prohibited.

The operational changes came at a time when the workforce at the Postal Service was buffeted by challenges from COVID-19. In a July 23 letter to his membership, National Postal Mail

Handlers Union President Paul Hogrogian said 3,267 postal workers had tested positive for COVID-19, more than double the number from a month earlier.

Out of 630,000 people employed by the Postal Service, 75 had perished from COVID. “While the numbers in the Northeast and East continue to improve, the numbers in other parts of the country, especially in those jurisdictions where face covering and other social distancing policies are not strictly enforced, are worsening at a disturbing rate,” Hogrogian wrote. “This means the crisis is far from over. The numbers are getting worse; they are not getting better. There is no real end in sight.”

Hogrogian bluntly appraised the consequences of the changes.

“Most processing plants are already extremely understaffed,” he wrote.

“Eliminating or even reducing overtime can only result in increased delays in the processing and delivery of mail and packages, including critical items such as prescriptions and election materials.”

The slowdown was already apparent in New Jersey by July 21, when Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat, wrote to DeJoy in a letter obtained by Triad City Beat: “Many of my constituents have rightly contacted my office to express frustra-

Culture

Strains on an already struggling system

FILE PHOTO

Opinion

changes at the agency that are resulting in clearly discernible slowdowns in service.

In a July 16 letter to DeJoy, five US senators, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, noted that mail-in ballots cast in the Pennsylvania primary — a critical swing state in the November election — leapt from 80,000 in 2018 to more than 500,000 in 2020.

“The success of mail voting is dependent [on] a number of federal, state and local entities working in coordination,” they wrote. “Election officials face the difficult challenge of planning the administration of this upcoming election — including arranging election mailings, sending ballots to voters on time, setting deadlines to mail back ballots, and coordinating with the Postal Service to meet its requirements — with increasingly strained budgets.

“If mail ballots arrive late and are uncounted, some voters may be disenfranchised,” they warned.

While DeJoy has been implementing operational changes at the Postal Service that Democratic lawmakers fear will compromise the integrity of the balloting, President Trump has been actively undermining public confidence in mailin balloting as a method of voting.

In late May, Trump falsely tweeted that California would send absentee ballots to “anyone in the state,” including “people that aren’t citizens.”

“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” he wrote.

“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.”

And in late July, the president escalated his false and alarmist rhetoric with a tweet predicting that “2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history” because of mail-in voting, while making the unprecedented suggestion that the election should be delayed.

Absentee-ballot fraud has marred some elections in the past, including the 2018 contest in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, in which the NC Board of Elections threw out the results after a political operative harvested fraudulent ballots to benefit the Republican candidate. But Richard L. Hasen, an elections expert at the University of

Up Front

The Wisconsin primary on April 7 was the first in the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation, leading to business and school shutdowns as people adjusted to limit in-person encounters to slow the spread of the virus.

Requests for absentee ballots, also known as mail-in ballots, shot up to 1.3 million, a 440 percent increase over the last presidential primary in April 2016, the Wisconsin Election Commission reported.

Inevitably, there were hiccups.

Three tubs of absentee ballots from 749 voters in Appleton and Oshkosh were found at the US Postal Service’s Milwaukee Processing & Distribution Center after the election.

Thousands of ballots requested two weeks before the election were never delivered to voters.

Almost 400 ballots mailed in by voters did not receive postmarks, forcing election officials to confer with the Postal Service to determine whether they should be counted.

The troubled Wisconsin primary prompted the Office of the Inspector General at the US Postal Service to issue a recommendation on June 7 that the agency “develop and implement an action plan with timelines to address the potential national issues (ballot deadlines, postmarks, tracking technology, political and election mail coordinator outreach) identified in this report.”

A week later, Louis DeJoy, a Greensboro businessman and political fundraiser who has reportedly contributed more than $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund, took the helm of the agency through appointment by its Board of Governors with a very different preoccupation.

Reflecting on his first eight weeks on the job during remarks to the US Postal Service Board of Governors on Aug. 7, DeJoy said the agency is in a “dire” financial position due in part to “a broken business model,” and vowed to rein in costs and bring efficiency to the organization.

Since mid-July, congressional Democrats have been raising concerns about the Postal Services’ commitment to returning mail-in ballots with mounting alarm, while observing operational

Aug. 13-19, 2020

Is Louis DeJoy, the new postmaster general, hitting the ‘self-destruct’ button on democracy?

by Jordan Green

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Aug. 13-19, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture

tion and concern about ongoing mail delivery delays, some of whom have not received their medications and first-class mail for more than three days.”

By early August, members of the Illinois delegation informed DeJoy that they had received reports “of individuals going up to two weeks without mail delivery in some Chicago neighborhoods,” and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that some residents in the region hadn’t received packages and letters in three weeks.

While the Postal Service’s financial challenges are widely acknowledged — the agency ran a loss of $9 billion in fiscal year 2019, according to DeJoy — many Democrats and progressives argue that its instability was structurally mandated when the Republican-controlled Congress passed a 2006 law requiring the service to pre-fund employees’ postretirement healthcare costs 75 years into the future. The timing of DeJoy’s arrival at the agency and his insistence on slashing costs to realign the organization just four months before the election hasn’t been lost on Democratic lawmakers.

“While these changes in a normal year would be drastic, in a presidential election year when many states are relying heavily on absentee mail-in ballots, increases in mail delivery timing would impair the ability of ballots to be received and counted in a timely manner — an unacceptable outcome in a free and fair election,” wrote Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, along with three other House Democrats.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

A Greensboro power couple

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Louis DeJoy and his wife, Dr. Aldona Wos, are longtime Republican Party patrons in North Carolina, with a history of largesse and a trail of politicians keen to receive their favor.

A native New Yorker, DeJoy moved his company New Breed Logistics to High Point in the 1990s, building it into an organization with 70 distribution centers and 7,000 employees before selling it to for $615 million to XPO Logistics in 2014. Befitting DeJoy’s status as a new commercial baron and the couple’s budding stature as political movers, they paid $5.9 million in 2005 for an Irving Park mansion originally built in 1934 for textile executive Herman Cone.

Wos was the first of the two to build a political reputation, landing a position as North Carolina finance co-chair for George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, propelling her into an ambassadorship to Estonia after he won.

The daughter of a father who served in the Polish Home Army during World War II and survived a German concentration camp, Wos maintains a strong interest in national security and serves as a trustee of the Washington-based Institute of World Politics, a graduate school for young people interested in national security and diplomacy. Her relationship with the institute provided her with the opportunity to arrange an appearance by founder John Lenczowski and former CIA Director James Woolsey at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro in 2016.

Throughout the past 15 years Wos and DeJoy have hosted one high-profile visitor after another: a mid-term election fundraiser featuring President Bush at their Irving Park home in 2006; an early campaign stop by then-presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani at NC A&T in 2007; a 2017 fundraiser at their home for President Trump. Following the same trajectory as she did in the Bush years, Wos went from a fundraiser to an appointment to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships in the Trump administration. In March, Trump appointed Wos ambassador to Canada, a post that is awaiting Senate confirmation.

In between Bush and Trump, Wos also got involved in North Carolina politics, co-chairing Republican Pat McCrory’s campaign for governor. In 2013, he tapped her to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Wos’ tenure at NC DHHS from 2013 through 2015 bears an uncanny resemblance to the emerging contours of DeJoy’s leadership at the US Postal Service. While DeJoy told the US Postal Service Board of Governors on Aug. 7 that the organization suffers from a “broken business model,” Wos inaugurated her tenure at DHHS in January 2013 by declaring that the state’s Medicaid program was “broken.” When she resigned from the post 32 months later, she took pride in noting that the Medicaid program was $130.7 million in the black.

Wos’ leadership at DHHS and her husband’s stewardship of the US Postal Service both emphasize fiscal solvency over service to the public. In Wos’ case, the collateral damage was substantial.

In her first year at the agency, thousands of food-assistance recipients were left waiting sometimes up to 30 days for benefits because of a glitch in the NC FAST system, prompting federal officials to threaten to withdraw funding. That same year, DHHS rolled out its new NCTracks Medicaid management and

billing system, and hundreds of healthcare providers found themselves unable to get paid for their services.

In her quest to reposition DHHS, Wos turned to the private sector, hiring Joe Hauck, the vice president for sales and marketing for New Breed Logistics — her husband’s company — as a consultant. The $310,000 contract for 11 months of work was one among a series of contracts that prompted a federal grand jury investigation. Wos defended her hire of Hauck in a memo to state lawmakers that credited him with a plan to realize savings in payments to nonprofits, expanding the Office of the Internal Audit, and created a plan to recruit and retain state-level employees at psychiatric hospitals to reduce the agency’s dependency on temporary workers.

When Wos resigned her post, far from being displeased, Gov. McCrory famously wept, and praised her by saying she “took all the hits, took all the bullets.”

‘Unconstitutional sabotage’

Louis DeJoy’s history of building a profitable transportation and logistics company and President Trump’s well documented disdain for the US Postal Service has led to speculation that DeJoy’s function as postmaster general is to privatize the organization. At least some of Trump’s derision for the US Postal Service appears to be a byproduct of his grudge against Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon. In May, Trump insisted that the Postal Service raise its charges for shipping four to five times the current rate in exchange for a $10 billion loan from the US government. Raising rates, critics of the administration point out, might have the opposite effect of punishing Amazon because it would make the Postal Service less competitive.

“The Postal Service is a joke because they’re handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies and every time they bring a package, they lose money on it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Wos and DeJoy’s holdings raise questions about whether the new postmaster general has a conflict of interest: Wos’ financial disclosure filings with the Office of Government Ethics as part of her nomination for the ambassadorship to Canada revealed that the couple holds between $30.1 million and $75.3 million in assets with Postal Service competitors or contractors, including XPO Logistics — the company that acquired New Breed — and trucking company JB Hunt, according to the

Washington Post.

On Aug. 7, the same day that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and eight other lawmakers asked the Postal Service Inspector General to open an investigation into DeJoy’s personal finances, the new postmaster general directly denied in remarks to his Board of Governors that he was either beholden to Trump or planning to privatize the organization.

“I was not appointed by the Governors to position the Postal Service to be privatized or to manage its decline,” DeJoy said in remarks published by the Postal Service. “To the contrary, I accepted the job of postmaster general fully committed to the role of the Postal Service as an integral part of the United States government, providing all Americans with universal and open access to our unrivaled processing and delivery network.”

As to Trump, DeJoy said, “While I certainly have a good relationship with the president of the United States, the notion that I would ever make decisions concerning the Postal Service at the direction of the president, or anyone else in the administration, is wholly off-base.

I serve at the pleasure of the governors of the Postal Service, a group that is bipartisan by statute and that will evaluate my performance in a nonpartisan fashion.”

DeJoy also denied that he was trying to sabotage the election by slowing down delivery of the mail.

“The Postal Service and I are fully committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process,” DeJoy told his board.

“If policymakers choose to utilize the mail as part of their election system, we will do everything we can to deliver election mail in a timely manner consistent with our operational standards.” He added that “despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail.”

DeJoy’s comments did little to assuage the concerns of Democratic lawmakers; if anything, his rollout of an organizational restructuring only antagonized him. As part of the restructuring, the Postal Service implemented an immediate management hiring freeze and voluntary early retirement, while consolidating management into three operating units: logistics and processing operations, retail and delivery operations, and commerce and business solutions.

Two days before the announced restructuring, DeJoy had met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Referencing the elimination of overtime

Aug. 13-19, 2020 Up Front

News

Opinion

Culture

Shot in the Triad

Puzzles

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Aug. 13-19, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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and restrictions on extra mail transportation trips, Schumer and Pelosi called on DeJoy to reverse the changes.

“We believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters — that is essential to millions of Americans,” they wrote.

Sen. Gary C. Peters of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced an investigation into Postal Service delays on Aug. 6.

Evidence was not hard to find: On the same day, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), informed Peters by letter: “Some postal employees in Maine express concern about USPS’s ability to handle the anticipated crush of mail we expect from the general election. They report that they feel personally responsible but institutionally unsupported for their role in the health of our democracy. (We can share more details confidentially with staff to protect the individuals who have come forward, or we can put investigators in direct contact with constituents.)”

On Aug. 8, the morning after the announced organizational restructuring at the Postal Service — characterized by some as a “Friday night massacre” — some Democratic lawmakers reacted with fury, calling for DeJoy’s resignation or removal.

“The United States Postal Service was established by our Constitution, and this year it will play an unprecedented role in guaranteeing our right to vote,” Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) said in a press release. “However, Postmaster DeJoy continues his unconstitutional sabotage of our Postal Service with complete disregard for the institution’s promise of ‘safe and speedy transit of the mail’ and ‘prompt delivery of its contents.’”

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) was even more eviscerating.

“DeJoy’s secret removal of the senior officials who run the day-to-day operations at USPS lays bare his mission to centralize power, dismantle the agency and degrade service in order to thwart vote-by-mail across the nation to aid Trump’s reelection efforts,” DeFazio said. “This November, an historic number of citizens will vote by mail in order to protect their health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. DeJoy’s nefarious collection efforts will suppress millions of mail-in ballots and threaten the voting rights of millions of Americans, setting the stage for a breach of

our Constitution.”

‘Vote by mail is tanked’

Like DeJoy, Mark Dimondstein comes from Greensboro, where he worked as a clerk prior to his 2013 election as president of the 200,000 member American Postal Workers Union. Dimondstein told Triad City Beat he’s not particularly concerned about the managerial reorganization at the top, and his preoccupations are elsewhere.

“What I’m focused on from last Friday is that neither the Postal Service Board of Governors nor the postmaster general advocated or asked that Congress provide the Post Office with appropriate COVID relief,” Dimondstein told TCB. He added that since the Postal Service is ordinarily funded through revenue generated from users, it would be appropriate for taxpayers to foot the bill for a one-time injection of COVID relief funding for the benefit of the American people.

The Democratic-controlled House approved $25 billion in funding for the Postal Service in June as part of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or Heroes Act, but the White House and the House Democrats were unable to come to an agreement on a second round of COVID relief spending. Instead, on Aug. 8, President Trump signed a series of executive orders to address the COVID crisis that did not include aid to the Postal Service.

While the integrity of the election is a particular concern for Democrats, lawmakers from both parties have raised alarm that slowing down the mail undermines constituents’ ability to obtain lifesaving medications during the pandemic.

In an Aug. 8 letter, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) urged DeJoy “to reverse recent policies impacting delivery times and to call your attention to concerns raised by my constituents.

“Montanans from across the state have contacted me to express their alarm by these orders, including your July 10, 2020 directive to hold late mail until the next day, and the resulting delays in mail delivery,” Daines wrote. “This action, if not rescinded, will negatively impact mail delivery for Montanans and unacceptably increase the risk of late prescriptions, commercial products, or bill delivery.”

Rural, sparsely populated states like Montana, which tend to elect Republican representatives, have a special stake in maintaining the Postal Service.

“For many,” Daines reflected, “the

unforgiving climate and terrain paired with the shortage of pharmacies [in Montana] makes the continuity of USPS an existential necessity.”

On July 29, DeJoy and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reached an agreement with DeJoy for the US government to extend $10 billion in credit to the Postal Service, allowing the organization to avoid running out of cash at the end of September and to continue operating through May 2021.

DeJoy could not be reached for this story, but Philip Bogenberger, a Postal Service spokesperson, said in an email to TCB on Monday that the organization’s “financial condition is not going to impact our ability to process and deliver election and political mail. The Postal Service has ample capacity to adjust our nationwide processing and delivery network to meet projected election and political mail volume, including an additional volume that may result as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Bogenberger’s assurance came with caveat. He said the Postal Service “strongly recommends that election officials advise voters to request absentee ballots as soon as possible, but no later than 15 days prior to the election date — or Oct. 19 — and to mail them in at least a week before the election — or Oct. 27. He said the Postal Service plans to send a letter to election officials “in states that have deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots that under our reading of their election laws appears to be incongruous with the Postal Service delivery standards.”

In a July 7 report on the misplaced ballots in the Wisconsin primary, the US Postal Service Office of the Inspector General warned: “States’ deadlines for voters to request absentee ballots are insufficient to ensure delivery before an election.” The report singled out 11 states with no deadline or deadlines within three days of the election, including Minnesota and Ohio — considered critical swing states — along with New Hampshire, North Dakota, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

Ten other states, including Michigan and Wisconsin — also swing states — along with Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Maine and Oregon have deadlines four to five days before the election.

(North Carolina requires that absentee ballots be received by the county board of elections seven days before the election, in keeping with the Postal Service’s stated delivery standards.)

In response to the lost absentee ballots that plagued the Wisconsin primary, the Inspector General determined that some of the problems were caused by actors outside of the Postal Service. The report found that the tubs of absentee ballots from Appleton and Oshkosh were late because a third-party mailer held on to them for one day and didn’t present them to the Postal Service until 6 p.m. on primary election day. And the Inspector General said the Milwaukee Election Office determined there was a computer glitch on March 22, resulting in almost 2,700 requested ballots that were never sent to voters. But the Inspector General report contains no explanation for why 390 completed ballots were returned without postmarks, except to note that the Postal Service worked with the election office and determined the validity of all but 40 of them. The report went on to say that the Postal Service’s official guidance states that all ballots should be postmarked by machine or hand, and the district manager for the Lakeland area plans to communicate with all employees to clarify their roles and responsibilities.

Whether errors are made by the Postal Service, election officials or third-party contractors, it’s not hard to imagine that delays could result in outright disenfranchisement — or fabricated claims

by Trump and his supporters that the election is being stolen as local election offices wait weeks to retrieve lost ballots.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise again, advocates for a full and fair vote might echo the Postal Service’s official recommendation: Put in your request for an absentee ballot and get it in the mail as early as possible. But the view from those working within the organization at the ground level is not so straightforward.

“This election is going to suck,” a personnel processing specialist at the Postal Service’s human resources center in Greensboro told TCB, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of losing their job. “Vote by mail is tanked…. [you should] vote in person.

If you are lucky to live in the city, it will be COVID-protocol controlled. Lines out the door if you can afford to take off work. I, along with many of my friends, are so worried. Ugh.”

Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

police go about stopping drivers, city council members also questioned how much an additional form might burden police officers’ workflow.

Chief Brian James said officers are already required to fill out a traffic-stop report and a case report if they conduct a consent search. A written consent form would be an additional piece of paper to keep track of if the policy were changed.

“It’s an extra layer to get a consent search,” he said. “There are already three different ways that consent search is documented.”

Councilman Justin Outling of District 3 pushed back repeatedly, asking for clarification of how exactly another form would burden officers.

“If I install a security alarm, it’s just an extra minute to dispatch it before I leave the house,” he says. “It’s extra work but at the end of the day, it doesn’t affect my workflow.”

Thurm agreed by saying that the current written consent form — which is only used if an officer’s body camera is not on — could be condensed and shortened to be easier to read and that multiple translations of the form could exist on the same piece of paper.

“I think the form should be in multiple languages,” she said. “To stop someone who is not a native speaker who is already scared; I think it’s important for me, just like Miranda rights, that people have rights and they need to know their rights. If we don’t standardize things it leaves room for critical errors.”

About an hour and a half into the meeting, Thurm suggested that the council vote to ask city staff to come up with a policy of written consent that the board can vote on in a future meeting.

City Manager David Parrish responded, after a majority of the council voted in favor of Thurm’s suggestion, saying that staff would bring back data and a written consent policy for the council to vote on sometime in September.

On the whole, Kennedy, Thurm and Nancy Hoffmann, along with Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson spoke in favor of a written consent form while Wells, Hightower and Marikay Abuzuaiter spoke against a written form for varying reasons. Outling and Vaughan expressed support of a more transparent and uniform consent search policy but did not say outright whether they were in support of the proposed written consent form.

Opinion

“No one is saying that this is going to solve everything,” Kennedy said. “This is just one piece of the puzzle, but this piece has to happen. It doesn’t take importance away from everything else.”

According to statewide traffic-stop data published by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice on the Open Data Policing website, Black individuals made up 82 percent of searches by GPD in 2019, compared to 13 percent for white and 3 percent for Latinx drivers. That amounts to a disproportionality rate of double for Black individuals in the city who make up 41 percent of the city’s total population. And while the total number of departmental search counts has been trending downwards for all racial groups since 2017, Thomas said the frequency with which certain racial groups are stopped is still disproportionate to the population, and that a written consent form would help combat that.

In nearby Durham, Thomas points out that after a written consent policy was implemented in October 2014, there was a sharp decline in consent searches.

Data from Open Data Policing reflects Thomas’ claim. In 2013, Durham police conducted 1,039 consent searches, but by 2019, the number had decreased to 112 — an 89 percent decrease. However, the number of probable cause searches — which do not require consent — spiked in 2015 with numbers climbing from 934 in 2014 to 1,414 in 2015. Last year, there were 993 probable-cause searches in the Durham.

During the work session, Mayor Nancy Vaughan questioned whether the written consent policy could have caused the increase in probable causes in Durham.

“I do think it’s important to recognize that probable-cause searches have gone up significantly in Durham,” she said. “That can lead to more significant consequences.”

Thomas countered in an interview with TCB that if probable causes increase because of the written consent policy, then the city needs new leadership.

“The police chief brought up in an earlier work session that if police couldn’t get consent from people, forcause searches would just increase,” Thomas said. “Does that mean the police chief would just allow police to fabricate to get what they want?”

In addition to concerns about how the written consent policy might impact how

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ment of Justice, that’s been circulating through city council meetings, activist rallies and media since the discussion around written consent started in the city about a year ago.

“We looked and there were some disparities in how many stops were being conducted with Black folks compared to white folks,” said Brown, a member of the Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission. “This is an opportunity for people’s rights to be acknowledged and for people to know what they are before they consent to anything.”

Councilwoman Tammi Thurm, who represents District 5, said in an email that she supports “a written consent policy that ensures that our citizens know and understand their rights.” While Thurm did not articulate whether she supports GCJAC’s exact recommendations, she has been one of the most vocal supporters of a written consent-to-search form, along with at-large Councilwoman Michelle Kennedy.

Throughout Tuesday’s meeting both members described the addition of a written consent form as “the right thing to do” and argued that it increases transparency for individuals during interactions with police.

While the council has been discussing this potential change for months, the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May and the national uprisings that followed brought the issue back to the forefront. Many of those in favor of the written consent policy point to the racial disparities in who gets stopped by Greensboro police and how the form could act as an added layer of police accountability.

However, councilmembers Sharon Hightower of District 1 and Goldie Wells of District 2 opposed the policy, arguing that a piece of paper won’t lead to any broader, systemic changes.

“I don’t think the consent form is going to stop anything,” Wells said. “I think everyone should know their rights, but having them sign a paper is not going to stop [police] from stopping Black folks.

It sounds like we almost have a better policy than most places. I don’t see why we need to make that drastic change….

We need to have police that have a change in heart.”

Councilmembers Kennedy and Thurm pushed back on Wells’ sentiments, saying they believe any small changes that could potentially help citizens should be considered.

Up Front

Greensboro city council sent city staff back to the drawing board on Tuesday afternoon after staff gutted a recommendation from a citizen committee to implement written consent for police searches.

On Tuesday afternoon, city council met for a work session to discuss a written consent policy for searches by police.

During the meeting, Assistant City Manager Trey Davis — a former Greensboro police department captain — presented city staff’s recommendations to the council, which deviated from the Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission’s February recommendation to implement a written consent form for all police consent searches. The city’s recommendations included updating the verbal language that police officers use during consent searches to make sure individuals understand that a search is voluntary.

They also recommended conducting a citywide “Know Your Right” campaign.

A written consent form was not a part of the city’s recommendation.

According to current Greensboro Police Department policy, officers are required to verbally ask individuals whether or not they can search them or their property. That consent to search must be documented either by a bodyworn camera or through a consentto-search form if the body camera is not on. Officers must then complete an incident report any time consent to search is requested, whether it is granted or denied by the individual.

However, Casey Thomas with Greensboro Rising, says verbal consent isn’t enough, and that an explicit, written consent form should be given to all individuals every time consent to search is requested. Thomas and Kay Brown, a commissioner of GCJAC, say written consent is necessary because although body-worn camera footage may capture verbal consent, the footage is not easily accessible.

“Written consent means that even though we can’t see any video without a court order, it means that we can have proof of whether or not cops are getting affirmative consent to search them,” Thomas said. “Or whether they’re rushing past them and relying on most people not knowing or not asserting their rights during these searches.”

Four out of every five drivers stopped and searched by Greensboro police officers are Black. That’s the statistic, according to data from the NC Depart-

Aug. 13-19, 2020

City council debates written-consent to search policy for GPD

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EDITORIAL

College football and the pandemic

One by one, big-time college footit’s a terrible time for the arenas that ball programs and entire conferences host them, as it is for movie theaters, called it quits on the 2020 season this restaurants, airlines, cruise ships and just week. A significant handful of premier about every other business except for players also told their schools they grocery stores, real estate and homewould not be playing the game this improvement. year: The Big Ten and the PAC 12 have Major League Baseball has been already pulled out. postponing games all season long beThe news is still happening even now; cause of outbreaks among the players. as Opening Day draws closer, many Many college football programs have teams remain undecided as to how, and already reported players infected with if, they will proceed. the coronavirus during summer camps.

For now — for now — the ACC still A couple dozen NBA players have plans to have a football tested positive, and 43 season, which means players in the NHL. It is our only local team of not going well.

As Opening Day note, the Wake Forest And in the case of draws near, many Demon Deacons, have college athletes, their a schedule. But all of respective schools must teams remain these independent plays consider the safety of undecided as to have a destructive effect their students, even on the college football if the students themhow, and if, they system it took decades selves do not — thouwill proceed. to build. sands of players and How will it affect the parents are petitioning championship? to “let them play.”

How will it affect revenue sharing?

We should not, no matter the conHow will it affect the NFL draft? sequences, because to do otherwise And, perhaps, the most important puts college students in harm’s way, question: Does any of this really matfor money and entertainment. In those ter? stark terms, it doesn’t seem worth it.

Of course it does: millions of people It’s terrible for the fans, too — espehave devoted their lives to competicially if this trend in college football tive sport and its attendant businesses. bleeds over into the NFL, which would To a one, these college athletes have mean the first American autumn withdevoted most of their lives thus far to out football in more than a century. their sports; some have their futures But we will survive to see other seapegged to it. sons. And it’s only fair to hope that our It’s a terrible time for sport, just as favorite athletes and teams do, too.

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Florida.

“I wanted to integrate local history into what I was teaching, and it led me to some moments of students being like, ‘I never learned any of this,’” she said during an interview. “We often think about history as one thing: pilgrims and Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. But you’re missing things at the local level and you’re missing controversy.”

As part of the Tuesday’s event, educators and organizers with the Greensboro Teaching Alliance talked about the city’s own controversial history — the 1979 Greensboro Massacre — and the need to teach the event in PUBLIC DOMAIN Protesters demand action after the Greensboro Massacre. schools across the city.

“When a student learns the truth, that automatiRodney Dawson, the curator of education at the Greensboro cally leads them on a path to freedom,” says Erica Wrencher, History Museum, agreed. a former Guilford County Schools teacher and a member of “In the classroom these are our future leaders,” he said in an the Greensboro Teaching Alliance. Wrencher taught a lesson interview. “Why not try to get those minds to be more objecplan around the Greensboro Massacre to high school seniors tive and more tolerant?” in 2019 and found that none of them had ever heard about the Dawson also noted how teaching controversial history not event, in which five antiracist activists were killed by members only broadens students’ worldviews but helps the teachers of the KKK and American Nazi Party. grow as well.

“The emotion that I got from a lot of them was anger and “Eighty to eighty-five percent of educators across the confusion like, Why have I never heard about this and I’m a country are young, white women,” said Dawson. “So, when senior about to graduate high school?” Wrencher said. “This is you’re teaching controversial subjects, especially when it deals important for students to learn.” with race, they don’t want to approach the subject because During the webinar, Fredette gave educators multiple types it’s so sensitive or they think, I’m not the person to do this, but of techniques to teach controthe protests have brought this versial topics such as having to the forefront. Now, they’re students argue from multiple like, I can’t avoid this. I have to perspectives, writing down Watch the full webinar on Greensboro handle this subject in some way thoughts rather than blurtbecause this is what they’re seeHistory Museum’s YouTube channel. The ing them out loud and using ing and hearing when they get Greensboro Teaching Alliance’s curriculum primary documents to form arhome, but how do I do this and for teaching the Greensboro Massacre in guments. The purpose, Fredette remain objective and not put my says, isn’t necessarily for stuown lens on this?” schools can be found on their website at dents to attack each other but The ultimate goal, according greensborohta.org/the-curriculum. to learn how to engage in civil to Fredette, is for everyone to discourse. have a fuller version of history, “They should be based on even if it’s difficult at times. facts,” she says. “Not attacking people but attacking argu“My job is to teach all of history, it doesn’t mean that everyments.” thing I teach you will agree with or you will necessarily supAnd she said these techniques can go beyond the classroom port,” she said during the webinar. “But I am trying to teach and help everyday people have tough conversations with oththe most complete history that I can. So, you’re going to learn ers. about people that you like, you’re going to learn about people “I think it’s really useful for us to sit and talk and learn that you don’t like, but it’s important that we understand the about each other’s perspectives,” she said. “It’s about learning fullness of history.” how to communicate with people who disagree with you.”

Up Front

oe v. Wade, Confederate monuments, immigration.

All are controversial topics — ones that Allison Fredette, an assistant professor of history at Appalachian State University, says people are told not to talk about, especially at Thanksgiving dinner. But Fredette makes the case that not only should controversial history be discussed widely, it should be taught in schools.

“I think it’s more important than ever,” Fredette said in a phone interview.

“I think that teachers, just like sports teams needed to rethink mascots and the use of the Confederate flag…. This is a moment that teachers can think about whose names are in our textbooks, whose names are we covering…. It’s a good idea for teachers to rethink what they’ve learned.”

On Tuesday, Fredette participated in a webinar hosted by the Greensboro History Museum about teaching controversial history. More than 200 participants had signed up for the free virtual event, many of them tuning in from out of state like the Clarksville Montgomery County school system, or the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center in New York.

“Histories are written by people with biases,” Fredette said during the webinar. “History is multiple narratives. We should teach [students] that fluidity and that complication.”

As examples, Fredette brings up how leaving out Japanese internment during World War II or omitting the lesser known Lavender Scare, in which gay men and women were demonized as national security risks in the same time period as the Red Scare in the mid-20th Century, doesn’t give students a complete picture of the time period.

“It includes more people in the story,” Fredette argued during the webinar.

Fredette said that how and why subjects are considered controversial can also be subjective.

“I wish that we lived in a world in which not all of these things were controversial, but for now it’s an imperfect way to signal to ourselves and other educators,” she said. “We can know to be prepared for a particular response from our students and the community.”

Fredette said she initially began thinking about how to teach and talk about controversial history while she was in graduate school at the University of

Aug. 13-19, 2020

CULTURE Educator argues for teaching controversial topics in schools

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Nik Snacks Al fresco dining brings back a bit of normalcy for Triad foodies

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Winston-Salem’s Streatery opened earlier this month.

J

ust like thousands of hospitality workers and employees of local companies, my job and life as a culinary professional is under attack. The shutdown has affected me in more ways than one. Even though restaurants

by Nikki Miller-Ka are open at 50 percent capacity, I’m just not ready. Nowadays I’d have to dress in a suit of armor under the guise of PPE, Google search each restaurant, take note of the new hours, document the new and truncated menus and hope for the best.

Customer service as we know it is gone. There are no more lengthy, casual conversations; it’s hard to convey empathy and joy from behind a mask. Asking servers and other restaurant workers for an additional ramekin of ranch or more napkins all seem excessive when lives and incomes are on the line.

I want to. I want go out to eat and enjoy myself.

In pre-pandemic times, I’d text my friends right back, “See you in 20!,” swoop some lipstick across my

NIKKI MILLER-KA

face and sprint out the door. My favorite bartender The last time I took up residence at any bar was on would see me walk in, and while she’d go through the March 14, which I remember quite vividly because I led pretense of asking, we’d both know it’s an IPA and she’d a food tour in downtown Greensboro. I had to smile have already started pouring it in a mug. Hugs and and hold back tears because as we left each stop, the handshakes from friends, restaurants all but locked banter with the veteran their doors behind us. I did Participating W-S restaurants include: servers and various manthe only thing I could: finagers, a burger (cooked ish quickly, pray my guests Young Cardinal, Camino Bakery, Mystic med rare with melted tipped heavily and say a Ginger, King’s Crab Shack, Jeffrey Adams pepper-jack and a slick of heartfelt thank you to the on Fourth, Mellow Mushroom, Charm hot sauce, black-bean corn them.

Thai, Downtown Thai & Pho, and Maybersalad instead of fries — or “I hope we’ll be back maybe not), and deep, soon!” ry Ice Cream Restaurant, Village Juice and guttural laughter from the Now the restaurants are Sir Winston. Learn more at downtownws. back — some of them — depths of our souls fill the com/the-streatery air while we cap it all off with a thousand precauwith a little too much Firetions and protocols and ball because hey why not, outdoor-only seating, limand I glide home in an Uber with my heart and belly full. ited delivery options and no to-go cocktails but cocktail It’s a celebration. It’s just so normal. mixers, beer and wine sales seem to be booming. I just All of that feels like a different life. And I don’t think can’t make myself sit down at a table to join everybody we’ll ever get it back. else. I’m too afraid.

Aug. 13-19, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture

Nikki first dined outdoors at Mozelle’s about a month ago.

It is not a good time.

I’m feeling so sickened and scared; I fear that the future of the hospitality industry is doomed. I’ve lost my appetite, but I still have hope. I have hope that the restau-

rant community will trim bottom lines and collectively make sure no one fails. I have hope that a new norm of restaurant dining will blossom and flourish. I have hope that the industry will once again welcome its hungry masses with open arms and open tabs.

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Participating GSO restaurants include: 1618 Downtown, Baked Downtown, Blue Denim, Cheesecakes

by Alex, Crafted, Green Bean, Grey’s Tavern, Lao, Little Brother Brewing, Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. and White and Wood. Learn more at downtowngreensboro.org/events/openstreets

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Not of them but for them.

People who work in hospitality are my personal heroes and my friends. They keep my belly full, feed me with gossip, fuel my employment and they’re all among the most vulnerable people in the workforce.

Many haven’t gotten any sort of government-based unemployment assistance because of documentation status or because of overwhelmed and antiquated systems.

Many restaurant workers don’t have an option to not return to work, because they’re the least able to weather the loss of a paycheck. But they’re also at tremendous risk from exposure to diners who open their mouths to order, eat while some scream about the indignity of being asked to wear masks to protect their fellow humans.

Outdoor dining has resumed with fervor and I hate it. I find myself crossing the street to avoid the sight and sounds of unmasked diners, even as I envy them.

I, too, would like a break from the increasingly crushing monotony of my own home kitchen, and delivery from local spots I’d like to stay in business forever. I’d like not to flinch when characters on TV shake hands or dance with abandon at crowded nightclubs and bars.

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Lliam Robinson, George Schweninger and Helen Schweninger cool off at the Community Hose Down at the Lenoard Recreation Center. Greensboro Parks and Recreation and the City of Greensboro Fire Department have put on the free pop up sprayground at recreation centers around the city.

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Band that’s the theme of this puzzle “Heroz4hire” rapper ___ the Damaja Slasher flick props “... quack quack there, ___ quack ...”

Actor Arkin “99 Luftballons” singer Impulsive, courageous person, so they say Hollywood cross street He was a real Dick on “NewsRadio” 1-Across guitarist and vocalist Summer month, for short Speaks like a heavy smoker Shop class tool Cry convulsively ©2001 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) Letters on a Cardinals hat “Bali ___” (“South Pacific” song) 1-Across and The Dude of Life album released in 1994 “Hell’s Half ___” (1954 movie) Velvet Underground vocalist Reed Singers lower than soprani 1-Across predecessors and mentors Jazz band’s song list They taketh away on Apr. 15 Answers from last issue ___ Fighters (Dave Grohl band) Org. that gives out 9-digit IDs 13 “___ Anything” (John Cusack movie) Sends to hell 21 Gps. like CARE and Amnesty International Sound from a lamb 22 Word after bake or garage 1-Across keyboardist who started as a fan 25 Ubiquitous December mall guys Cheat, in a way 26 Sings like Kurt Elling Cleopatra’s river 27 Like an angry cat’s back “Jeremy” singer Vedder 28 Spied via the telephone Subject of “Weird” Al Yankovic’s “The 30 Neckwear for Frankenstein’s monster?

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33 “___ bad, bad thing” “___ White Swan” (T. Rex song) 35 1000 K They’re separated on some old sitcoms 36 Friend’s opposite Elevator, to Elvis Costello 37 “Spy vs. Spy” magazine European compilation album for 1-Across 42 Decoder’s wear?

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3 Powerful and pleasing, to a Rasta 51 Sandwich spreads 4 “Later” 53 “We love to fly ___ shows” (Delta slogan) 5 Is of practical value 55 “Rent” character 6 Coffeehouse quaff 56 F or G, on sheet music 7 Yale students, familiarly 57 It’s worth next to nothing 8 Blow a gasket 58 Old Icelandic saga 9 Dig up 59 “What ___ Beneath” 10 “Henry and June” diarist Nin 60 Remini of “The King of Queens” 11 They adore strange things 61 Corn remnants 12 Jim Morrison song, with “The” 62 Raw metal source

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