Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com July 22 – 28, 2015
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Making paper
What our city employees are paid PAGE 15
Now in the AAN! See page 6
Feeding High Point PAGE 12
Hell-bent for leather PAGE 24
A Globetrotter returns PAGE 28
July 22 — 28, 2015
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Good food and good music ...a match made in heaven!
Join Mary Haglund and Sam Hicks for a conversation about food, music, cooking, eating, singing and enjoying everything good in life on a new show called “Cookin’ “ Sunday mornings at 11 a.m., following Gospel Expressions with Darlene Vinson on WSNC 90.5 FM.
Sunday, April 5 @11 a.m.
Sunday, April 19 @ 11 a.m.
New Orleans Cuisine with guest Jim Mendoza a native of NOLA
All about Barbecue with pitmaster Mark Little, Bib’s Downtown
Sunday, April 12 @ 11 a.m.
Sunday, April 26 @ 11 a.m.
Breakfast, of course!
Pie! Pie! Pie!
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Frank Slate Brooks Broker/Realtor®
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July 22 — 28, 2015
1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320
CONTENTS
Publisher Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com
Editorial
Art
Art Director Jorge Maturino jorge@triad-city-beat.com
Sales
Director of Advertising and Sales Dick Gray dick@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Alex Klein alex@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Lamar Gibson lamar@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com
Contributors Carolyn de Berry Nicole Crews Anthony Harrison Matt Jones
28 UP FRONT
ART
4 Editor’s Notebook 5 City Life 6 Commentariat 6 The List 6 Barometer 7 Unsolicited Endorsement 7 Triad power Ranking 8 Heard
24 Leather, work
NEWS
GAMES
9 Voters go to court 10 Driving while black 12 HPJ: Feeding the food desert
29 Jonesin’ Crossword
OPINION
30 West Lee Street, Greensboro
13 13 14 14
Editorial: Capture the flag Citizen Green: Corruption is real It Just Might Work: Service works Fresh Eyes: Why she’s here
COVER 15 Making paper
FOOD 20 Pintxos with Pablo 21 Barstool: Beer with fruit
Cover illustration by Jorge Maturino
MUSIC 22 High lonesome rap
TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com 4
Greatness in Salt Lake
by Brian Clarey
Business
Editor in Chief Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com Senior Editor Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com Associate Editor Eric Ginsburg eric@triad-city-beat.com Editorial Interns Chris Nafekh Daniel Wirtheim intern@triad-city-beat.com Investigative Reporting Intern Nicole Zelniker Photography Interns Amanda Salter Caleb Smallwood
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2015 Beat Media Inc.
STAGE & SCREEN 26 Murder movie
GOOD SPORT 28 Globetrotting in Greensboro
SHOT IN THE TRIAD ALL HE WROTE 31 Trying to make it in a ‘dying’ industry
I brushed up on my white-people jokes before getting to Salt Lake City, figuring that they’d kill in this Mormon enclave. And it’s true that while most Mormons are white — blacks weren’t allowed in the church until 1978. But Salt Lake City is as multicultural, perhaps even more so, than others of its size in the region, though people of color surely stand out amongst the tribe of preternaturally attractive blond families scurrying around town. A pedicab guy told me it was because of the missionaries, who go off to other lands and bring people back to this American version of Mecca. We saw four bridal parties woo-ing it up as he pedaled us around downtown just last night. Mormons like to get married, he said. To a Mormon, it’s like getting a promotion, guaranteeing a bigger kingdom in the afterlife. The religion forbids the use of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and other things that the altweekly folks here at the annual Association of Alternative Newsmedia convention hold so dear. But I’m down with their favorite vice: candy. The state consumes more sweets than any other in the United States, and you can buy it anywhere — even the Indian restaurant where Triad City Beat Publisher Allen Broach and I ate curry fried chicken had a formidable candy rack by the register. I stocked up in the gift shop of the Little American Hotel on Thursday night and kicked off a modest candy binge with a Big Hunk taffy bar, polishing it off with an Abba-Zaba nougat stick and a Big Cherry. Because there’s no way I’m going to fall off the wagon in Utah, where they still serve near-beer, the liquor laws prohibit doubles — even a martini is a single shot — and the bars close at 1 a.m. Still, celebration came easy. After the seven-member admission committee unanimously recommended this paper for admission into their potent network of alternative weekly papers, we were voted in as full members on Saturday afternoon. Broach and I threw in with altweekly luminaries like Baynard Woods, who covered the Baltimore protests for the City Paper; Mary Duan, who just gave six months’ notice at the Monterey County Weekly because she won a couple million in the California lottery; Jimmy Boegle, whose friendship and experiences at his Coachella Valley Independent are part of the DNA of TCB. On Friday night at the Natural History Museum of Utah I stood on a mountain terrace overlooking the valley, like Las Vegas with trees, the peaks of the Wasatch Front surrounding it like protective shoulders that seemed to grow stronger with the setting sun. It was a harbinger, I think, of the next day, which would be my first as the majority owner of an AAN newspaper, and symbolic of an entire weekend that felt like a hug.
WEDNESDAY Organ recital @ Reynolda House (W-S) The historic Tannenberg organ gets a workout from Murray Forbes Somerville, organist emeritus at Harvard University, for free at noon. See reynoldahouse.org for more.
July 22 – 28 FRIDAY
triad-city-beat.com
CITY LIFE
Center City Cinema @ Center City Park (GSO) A free screening of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson begins at dusk. Claire Holley @ Mack and Mack (GSO) Former Chapel Hill resident Claire Holley left Chapel Hill for LA right at the turn of the century. She returns for this Triad Acoustic Stage presentation at the downtown dress shop, which begins at 8 p.m., with songs from her new album, Time in the Middle. Find tickets at triadacousticstage.com. Cookout @ Reanimator (W-S) The Reanimator cookout is back, with hot dogs, beer and a little bit of an edge. Action begins at 6 p.m.
EMF Classical Guitar Summit @ Temple Emanuel (GSO) The Eastern Music Festival adds a dash of classical guitar at 8 p.m. No charge on this one, either. See more at easternmusicfestival.org.
THURSDAY
Open House @ Stratford Village (W-S) Stratford Village opens its gates to all comers all day on Thursday, with a DJ starting at 1 p.m. and live music form Leather & Lace at 6. Kids activities, food trucks and more. See stratfordvillageonline for more. WFDD Rock Radio Camp @ the Garage (W-S) Aquatic Ceremony will be on hand for this crash course in rock journalism for WFDD’s rock radio class of high schoolers. The public is invited to watch at 12:15 p.m., and word on the street is that the Taqueria Luciano food truck will be circling.
SATURDAY
Field Days @ Elsewhere (GSO) The last Saturday Field Day starts at 10 a.m. — bring sneakers and water — and culminated with a picnic with Church World Services at 1 p.m. See goelsewhere.org for more. Early American games @ High Point Museum (HP) The Third City has the classics — stilts, hoop-rolling, graces and more — on the museum lawn at 10 a.m. See highpointmuseum.org for more. Christmas in July @ Bailey Park (W-S) Twin City Santa entices adults to eat, drink and dance in the name of Christmas — and to provide school supplies for kids who need them. Live music from Fat Cheek Kat, Souljam, Caution the Gray and Justin Morris begins at 5 p.m.
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July 22 — 28, 2015
Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art
Barbecue is a controversial subject I’m sorry but if you think that Mr. Barbecue is the best barbecue is Winston-Salem, then your credibility as a judge of barbecue goes right out the window, in my opinion. [“Barbecue is a noun: The Triad’s most authentic barbecue”; by Eric Ginsburg; July 15, 2015] Lindsay Jones, via triad-city-beat.com Liquor house blues If you constantly destroy the housing projects where normally a lot of this goes on, you force the lower-income citizens to move into these areas and to continue their lifestyle. [“Liquor house parties flaunt residents’ complaints”; by Jordan Green; July 15, 2015] I’m from New Jersey; there are murders every night. Here in High Point the law enforcement is focused on a bunch of young adults enjoying the summer throwing cookouts at night. If the people who complained would personally speak to or have a positive relationship and influence with the younger generation there would be no issues. Nor a need to involve law enforcement. Think about it: Is this really buzzworthy news? Is our police chief going to waste budget and manpower to only set up useless checks in impoverished neighborhoods? If he does, then he’ll need backup, maybe backup from adjoining cities as well. This leaves the candy jar open for real crime to occur, yet deputies will only be too busy or too late to respond because they’re sitting waiting for young, black 22-yearolds to leave a cookout. Or either the helping officers don’t know the terrain as well to police the good ol’ city of High Point. A lot of people live in these areas off Commerce and Leonard, yet 98 percent of them have not complained, not once. Dwayne Ilderton, via triad-city-beat.com
All She Wrote
Shot in the Triad
Games
Good Sport
Stage & Screen
Four reasons we’re excited to join the AAN
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by Eric Ginsburg 1. Stamp of approval Ever since we launched Triad City Beat, we’ve wanted to join the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. But it isn’t as simple as asking — the membership body needs to vote you in, and papers as fresh as this are usually considered too young to join the fold. But with a 7-0 endorsement from the membership committee, an incredibly rare unanimous show of support, the AAN offered Triad City Beat a spot on the team at its annual convention. Editor-in-Chief Brian Clarey and Publisher Allen Broach flew out to Salt Lake City to represent us, but I’ll be damned if I’m left manning the ship next year.
2. The criticism, and praise We take the feedback — positive and negative — from the membership committee seriously. These are people who know exactly what we’re going through, and trying to become, much better than the average reader. So when they tell us that our design is “bi-polar” and that the photography needs real photographers instead of journalists taking the shots, we take it to heart. Our news writing, they said, needs more imagination and spark, and the hard stuff is often too long and too dull. But their praise also made us melt with joy: “Even committee members who don’t know North Carolina picked up a sense of the dynamics of life in the Triad’s three cities,” they wrote. And they called us “edgy, outsider-ish” and said we have a
“critical capacity in arts coverage” as well as being “thoroughly local.” We’re feeling like rapper Maino wrote his song “Million Bucks” about us right now. 3. The people The AAN is the organization for edgy alts like ours — it includes publications like the Pulitzer-winning Willamette Week [Right????***] and other heavyweights including the Miami New Times, Long Island Press, Austin Chronicle and the pioneers at the Village Voice. But also, these are our friends — our editors all used to be part of another AAN newspaper, and it feels like home to be back with the people we know at Isthmus in Madison, Wisc., Memphis Flyer, Charleston City Paper, Gambit in New Orleans and Coachella Valley Independent, among others. You get the idea. These people are the type to fall over in their chair laughing, the badass journalists that we dream about being when we grow up. 4. The resources The AAN offers so much to its members, including resources, connections and ideas. You don’t really care about the mechanics of sales ideas or the editorial concepts brought back from the conference, but we’re lit up with excitement about our increased capacity. Look for some bangin’ new components of TCB in the coming months, many of them stemming from the AAN’s annual conference and year-round support.
The Week in Review Edition 3. Greensboro Using the very unscientific method of comparing news stories in this week’s issue of Triad City Beat the Gate City pulls last place. The mixed signals from city leadership in the police and legal departments on troubling statistics produced by a UNC-Chapel Hill researcher about racial disparities in law enforcement, frankly, puts Greensboro in an unflattering light. The overall downer of this story warrants Greensboro’s thirdplace ranking.
2. High Point The Third City comes up in our radar this week thanks to a grassroots effort to provide fresh produce to people in food deserts with limited access to transportation and healthy options in neighborhood corner stores. Actually, actually a farmer named Lee Gann has been operating his farm stand at public housing communities for a couple years now. What’s new is that a local philanthropist, Patrick Harman, is footing the bill for marketing campaign to get the word out, and a growing network of food-justice activists are collaborating to push similarly practical initiatives towards actuality. However humble these citizen efforts to address food insecurity might be, they’re a step in the right direction, and help earn High Point a solid silver.
1. Winston-Salem The national press corps has largely abandoned the story to local reporters, but it’s still awesome to have a federal trial with potentially national consequences going on in Winston-Salem. And while it might be a cheat to mention this considering it went down last week, the thousands of civil-rights activists who converged on the city for marches, church services and teach-ins with the participation of most of Winston-Salem City Council left a residual glow on the city. Even local corporate lawyer Paul Foley’s sudden resignation from the state Board of Elections amid revelations of meddling in a campaign finance investigation couldn’t know the luster off the city. For these reasons, Winston-Salem takes first place.
triad-city-beat.com
Bloom County, in digital form
Leatherhead
by Brian Clarey
News Opinion Cover Story Food
William Cheek arranges his leathwork at Hudson’s Hill in downtown Greensboro. See page 24 for more info.
ERIC GINSBURG
Art
A fine and fair law
Racially discriminatory
Bare-knuckled partisan politics at its worst, but constitutional
16%
11%
All She Wrote
74%
Shot in the Triad
New question: Do you trust the Greensboro Police Department to conduct an internal study of an alleged racial disparity between traffic searches of black and white motorists? See page 10 for details, and vote at triad-city-beat.com.
Games
Jordan Green: This week it’s my turn to invoke recusal from voting considering my conflict of interest as a reporter writing about this subject this week. See “Testimony about law’s impact on young and black voters heard in federal court” on page 9.
Readers: Y’all said “racially discriminatory,” or at least 74 percent of you thought so. “Bare-knuckled partisan politics at its worst, but constitutional” ranked second with 16 percent of the vote, while “a fine and fair law” came in third with the remaining 11 percent. Nobody chose “unsure/no opinion” or left a comment explaining the reasons behind their decision.
Good Sport
Brian Clarey: Oh it’s racially discriminatory, alright. It seems designed to keep black folks from voting. But it also discriminates on age by cutting voting on college campuses, and income by placing restrictions on where and when people can vote. The only people this is good for are entrenched Republican candidates and old, wealthy white people who adhere to the tenets of the party. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Eric Ginsburg: It’s hard to ignore the compelling arguments and examples set out by the NAACP and other groups challenging the law. I’m curious what defense the state will offer when it’s North Carolina’s turn to make arguments, but I highly doubt there will be anything that sways me given the state’s statements thus far. This law is racially discriminatory, likely in intent but almost certainly in practice.
Stage & Screen
Is NC’s new election law… With North Carolina’s new election law currently being litigated in federal court in Winston-Salem, we want to know if our readers believe the law is racially discriminatory, bare-knuckled partisan politics at its worst but constitutional, or a fine and fair law. Here’s what you said, and what our editors think, too.
Music
couple of spin-off strips for a few years afterward — ended in 1989, when he drew Donald Trump into the script. The Donald eventually “bought out” the strip and fired everybody years before “The Apprentice” and that stupid catchphrase. Breathed has intimated that Trump’s run for president may have been the impetus for the comic’s return. And that is great news. There is no more potent form of rebuttal than outright mockery. In that, Bloom County has always excelled. The strip will run only on Facebook, its creator says. No newspapers. No website. Even berkeleybreathed.com lists only links to his Facebook posts rather than have a landing page for the strip itself. Breathed’s site only contains his bio and a dense list of Bloom County merchandise — keychains, T-shirts, postcards and the like — giving us another clue as to why, after all these years, the strip has been brought back to life. Fine by me. We need Bloom County more than ever. And I should have Ginsburg on board by the end of the week.
Up Front
How could Eric Ginsburg know how awesome Berkeley Breathed’s comic strip Bloom County was? He wasn’t even born when the revolutionary strip debuted in 1980 — I was 10, for the record — and he was just two when Breathed killed the strip in 1989. He has no idea who Opus, Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas, Lola Granola and Portnoy were… but he soon will. Breathed brought Bloom County back to life just last week, only in a somewhat different form. Back in the day, one could only read the strip in daily newspapers or collected anthologies. Now Breathed is giving his comics away for free on Facebook, eschewing the newsprint that brought him to prominence. “Deadlines and dead-tree media took the fun out of a daily craft that was only meant to be fun,” he told the New York Times after the debut on July 13. The situation for daily newspapers has only gotten worse since he’s been gone, though the political climate is ripe for his style of lampooning. Bloom County proper — he ran a
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July 22 — 28, 2015
Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art
HEARD “People forget that we’re rugged animals.” — Leather artist William Cheek, on why he can’t work a conventional job, page 24
Hoffmann, the oldest and shortest member of the Greensboro City Council, had already finished her Pigmosa beer less than an hour after local brewery Pig Pounder began pouring last Friday, July 17. The Russian-style Kvass beer, a 4.1 percent ABV brew pre-mixed with fresh-squeezed orange juice, reminded Hoffmann of beers she’s had in Europe, she said. And that’s a good thing. — Eric Ginsburg, in Barstool, page 21
“This is not a generation that relies on mail. We’re the Snapchat generation.” — Campbell University student Louis Duke, testifying in the federal voting rights case, page 9
In my home state, former University of Kentucky star basketball player Ritchie Farmer used his position as agriculture commissioner (clever, right?) to create high-paying jobs for friends, whose duties primarily consisted of performing personal tasks for their boss; using state funds to buy rifles, knives and cigars; and shaking down an auto dealership for all-terrain vehicles in exchange for a state grant to stage an ATV course. — Jordan Green, in Citizen Green, page 13
I could never imagine myself working as hard as I am now to make someone else rich, for someone else to be the one profiting off of my labor. Instead we’re broke together, but this is ours. — Eric Ginsburg, on the rigors of putting out a scrappy alt-weekly, page 31
On Friday night at the Natural History Museum of Utah I stood on a mountain terrace overlooking the valley, like Las Vegas with trees, the peaks of the Wasatch Front surrounding it like protective shoulders that seemed to grow stronger with the setting sun.
Stage & Screen
— Brian Clarey, in Editor’s Notebook, page 4
“You gotta dribble when you run!”
Good Sport
— A coach at basketball camp in Greensboro, Good Sport, page 28
“I’ve gone flow-for-flow with hundreds of dudes/ knowing all the while I got nothing to lose/ and there ain’t no stopping/ I guess that I’m destined/ to keep rambling on like Led Zeppelin.”
All She Wrote
Shot in the Triad
Games
— R-SON, in Music, page 22
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“Since we started going into the housing authority communities, we’re able to bring in fresh produce. They don’t have to drive 20 minutes to get to a store. A lot of them don’t have transportation. I’m trying to make a living, but I also try to offer a service.” — Lee Gann, in High Point Journal, page 12
Whether it’s been over dinner or decades, I’ve learned to recognize and appreciate when people see me beyond the label du jour. Yes, I’m black. Yes, I’m a woman. Yes, I’m an immigrant. And I am more. Just last week, I got to enjoy a vegan lunch on Tate Street with a white guy who offered up a Jewish blessing over brown rice and broccoli. And it was dope. — Zithobile Nxumalo, in Fresh Eyes, page 14
Testimony about law’s impact on young and black voters heard by Jordan Green
News Opinion
Civil rights activists rallied in Winston-Salem last week.
Music Art Stage & Screen Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
since the Republicans took control of the legislature cuts against participation by those segments of the electorate. The plaintiffs’ expert witnesses have supported their contention that the legislative intent of the new election was racially motivated. On Monday, Steven S. Lawson, professor emeritus of history at Rutgers University, cited a June 17, 2013 email from state Sen. Thom Goolsby. The state Senate would “take a fresh look” at the then-pending election bill after the US Supreme Court rendered its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, Goolsby said in the email, which was written 10 days before the ruling. The Supreme Court decision ultimately lifted federal pre-clearance requirements on several states, including North Carolina, that had to that point been covered by the Voting Rights Act. “Clearly the outcome of Shelby is on the mind,” Lawson testified, adding that if the case resolved favorably, lawmakers “were prepared to go full speed ahead” with the full slate of restrictive provisions that were ultimately added. Lawyers for the state have argued in the defense’s trial brief that nothing in the new law “erects an actual barrier to voting.” Challenged provisions such as the elimination of same-day registration and out-of-precinct provisional voting and shortening early voting days simply repeal or scale back “conveniences,” the defense argues.
Food
have the same opportunity to vote as everyone else. Testimony by expert witnesses called by the plaintiffs has complemented the firsthand accounts of barriers at polling places given by ordinary voters. Peter Levine, a professor at Tufts University, testified that North Carolina’s national ranking in turnout by voters ages 18 to 24 rose from 43rd in 2000 to eighth in 2012. But recently, youth voting strength has begun to wane, he said. “The state in a sense is becoming slightly younger,” Levine testified, “and yet youth have become a smaller share of the voters.” The elimination of same-day registration and the curtailment of early-voting days both work against turnout by young voters, Levine said. Youth turnout between the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014 remained essentially unchanged after the new election law went into effect, but given the “blockbuster” status of the 2014 election with unprecedented campaign spending and control of the US Senate hanging in the balance, he testified that he would have expected a significant increase. Experts called by the plaintiffs have also testified that voting strength among blacks and Latinos increased over the course of the last decade as the General Assembly enacted reforms to expand access to the ballot box, while every single provision of the new election law passed
JORDAN GREEN
Cover Story
obtain a legal order requiring the state to get federal preclearance for election changes through a little-used tool under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. From go-getting young people to working-class African Americans, many of the witnesses who have taken the stand to testify for the plaintiffs share two salient characteristics: They’re part of voting blocs that have historically proven to be unfriendly to Republican candidates, and their residential instability and transience makes them easy marks for new provisions that increase restrictions on voting. The court also heard testimony from Michael Owens, a 51-year-old Robeson County native who lost his job when the House of Raeford poultry plant closed in 2013. After exhausting his unemployment benefits, he found a new job as a detailer at K&K Auto Sales in Lumberton in February 2014, but his vehicle was later repossessed as a result of his financial difficulties. Although he lived in the town of Shannon, Owens stayed with his sister in Lumberton during the week so he could walk to work. When the general election of 2014 came around, Owens received permission from his boss to borrow a truck and drive to a polling place in Lumberton on his hour-long lunch break. His boss refused to allow him to drive the truck to Shannon, where he was registered to vote, Owens testified, and in any case he wouldn’t have been able to make it back in an hour. He was unaware that the law had changed and out-of-precinct voting was no longer allowed. “You understand that if you’re going to vote in the 2016 election, you’ll need to vote in your assigned precinct in Shannon?” Michael McKnight, a lawyer for the state of North Carolina, asked Owens in cross-examination. The defense’s cross-examination of witnesses who encountered problems with voting in 2014 has consistently hit on some variation of that theme over the first six days of the trial: You know the rules of the road now. There’s nothing preventing you from voting in your assigned precinct. Essentially: You
Up Front
Voters testify about difficulties casting ballots in recent elections while expert witnesses testify about the disparate impact of North Carolina’s restrictive new election law on African Americans and college students as a federal voting rights trial enters its second week. When college student Louis Duke returned from break in late summer of 2012, he updated his voter registration from his parents’ address in Rockingham County to his residence at Campbell University. As president of the campus College Democrats, he plunged into an intense voter-registration drive as the presidential election approached. As a matter of voter integrity, it would be hard to fault Duke’s diligence: He went better than writing the university’s address on his Harnett County voter registration form, instead providing his on-campus apartment. But when he attempted to cast a ballot during early voting, a volunteer poll worker told him he was not registered. The problem soon came to light: Across the state, local election boards use a mailing system to confirm that the new registrant is an actual voter. Duke hadn’t signed up for a campus PO box, describing it as an “unnecessary luxury.” “This is not a generation that relies on mail,” he said. “We’re the Snapchat generation.” Duke eventually managed to straighten out his registration, and went back to the polling place and cast his ballot on the last day of early voting. If the bureaucratic snarl had taken place two years later, after most of the provisions of North Carolina’s new restrictive election law went into effect, Duke’s vote would not have been counted: The new law eliminated sameday registration, pushing the registration deadline back before the new, shortened 10-day early-voting period. Duke was one of four lay witnesses who took the stand in court in Winston-Salem as a federal voting rights trial continued into its second week. Plaintiffs, including the North Carolina NAACP, the League of Women Voters and the US Justice Department, are seeking to invalidate several restrictive provisions of the election law and
triad-city-beat.com
NEWS
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July 22 — 28, 2015 Up Front
News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art Stage & Screen Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
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Racial disparity in traffic searches prompts investigation by Eric Ginsburg
In the wake of a UNC-Chapel Hill study that alleges a high rate of racial disparity between who Greensboro police officers search in traffic stops, the city has assigned crime analysts to prepare a report of its own. The number is staggering: Black motorists in Greensboro are more than twice as likely to be searched by the police as white drivers. That’s according to a study of traffic stops and searches across the state, conducted by several researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, which was released this spring. It’s based on more than a decade of recent, detailed data and shows that black males in particular are more likely to be searched in a traffic stop than any other demographic. While the Greensboro Police Department doesn’t accept the findings as accurate, it does raise red flags for Chief Wayne Scott. And now two crime analysts in the department are assigned to look into it part-time, tasked with generating their own report. Scott, who was recently promoted to the position after serving as a deputy chief, said he wants to break down the numbers and incorporate more data to determine if something needs changing. “I quite honestly believe there are some holes in [the study] and that drives us to want to take a deeper look at it,” he said last week. “Until we know what the numbers really mean, we can’t fix it…. In fairness, if there’s a problem, we want to fix it.” Lee Hunt, a PhD and manager of information services, oversees the crime analysis unit that is conducting the department’s internal research. Scott said it is the only thing Hunt is working on, but Hunt contradicted him in a separate interview the next day. Hunt said it’s something “we’ve been working on intermittently for the last two years” since an initial version of the study was released. “I have not myself seen the most recent report — the crime analysts have,” he said, adding that there are two people “dedicating a good bit of time” to the research, though that time amounts to less than one day weekly. The latest traffic stop and search study is a continuation of research
Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott
released two years ago, Hunt said, with the latest version now providing information about specific police departments. The department began looking at the original information under former chief Ken Miller, Hunt said. “We were trying to do it internally and we were doing it at a time when we were short staffed,” he said. “It’s a lengthy project. Hunt said his staff have been focused on a beat and zone realignment for the last 12 to 18 months, which was recently completed but took priority. Chief Scott recently rebooted the traffic stop and search research effort, he said. “It was restarted when that report came out a few months ago,” Hunt said. “We started putting more time into it. We have lots of research projects on our plate, pretty much at the same time.” The UNC report includes the listed reasons for stops and searches, breaking the data into categories such as driving impaired, speed limit and stop light/sign for stops and consent, search
ERIC GINSBURG
warrant and protective frisk, among others. White and black motorists were searched in equal number based on a search warrant, consent, probable cause and protective frisk searches had a more than double percentage rate of search. “Incident to arrest” search ratios were almost double for black motorists as well. Chief Scott said the numbers are “somewhat skewed” because the overwhelming number are listed as consent searches. Of the data from 2002 to 2013, 13,808 or the 24,011 total searches are listed as consent, trailed by “incident to arrest” searches with 5,746. Just because an officer obtained consent from the motorist doesn’t mean that the officer didn’t also have probable cause, Scott said, adding that it is best practice to ask for consent even when an officer has a legal right to search the vehicle. “The best I can tell from the study is it doesn’t tell us what got us to the search,” he said. “The decision to search a motorist is a totality of the
circumstances an officer encounters.” Scott said there are “literally a million” factors that play into any given search, some of which could account for the alleged racial disparity. It could be due to a “disproportionate amount of contact” based on calls for service in a given area, and he pointed out that the study doesn’t factor whether the search happened in a high crime area or a bevy of other important issues to consider. The study shows that of the overall number of traffic stops, 40.07 percent of motorists were white and 49.78 percent were black. That’s about the inverse of the local population based on recent Census data — 40.6 percent of the city’s residents are listed as “black or African American alone” while 48.4 percent are listed as “white alone” — though motorists stopped in Greensboro do not necessarily live in the city. Black motorists in Greensboro were stopped at a higher rate than white motorists in all of the nine categories, with the exception of “driving im-
“At this point they have imported the data provided to us and have started to analyze the data using the same descriptions and methodology that was described [in the study],” he said. “What we want to be able to do is provide the larger context.” Police Attorney Jim Clark said the study also demonstrates that motorists, even those who are stopped by police, are very rarely searched, a statistic that should ease concerns. The data collected from 2002 through 2013 covers 488,754 stops. Of those, only 24,011 — just below 5 percent — resulted in a search. But the disparity alleged in the study is enough to merit concern, Clark said, which is why the department is looking into it. “Does the number disturb us like it disturbs everybody else? Yeah,” he said. But it isn’t clear whether the department is responsible for the traffic-search ratio or whether it is a symptom of a deeper cause, he said. “We do know we don’t want to be the cause.”
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paired.” Seat-belt stops were the most disproportionate, with a ratio of 3.25 to 1. Black motorists accounted for a higher percentage of searches in all five of the study’ listed categories except for a tie for search warrants, by far the least common reason for a search. The study also broke out some of the data by officer, showing that only one officer searched white motorists at more than twice the rate of black motorists. Meanwhile, 59 officers searched black motorists at more than twice the rate of white ones. The police department contacted the State Bureau of Investigation and requested the same set of raw information provided to the Chapel Hill researchers, Hunt said. After double-checking the results of the study, Greensboro crime analysts will use additional information including geography, crime rates and crime hotspots, calls for service and whether specific officers are making disproportionate or unreasonable stops or searches, he said. The two analysts have already begun working, and Hunt hopes to have a finished report by the end of 2015.
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July 22 — 28, 2015 Up Front
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HIGH POINT JOURNAL
Campaign seeks to connect customers to small produce markets by Jordan Green
An effort to market miniature ‘farm stands’ around High Point is but one example in an array of grassroots efforts to address hunger. Every Thursday, Lee Gann and Bobby Alcon set out their produce on tables flanking the entrance of the Fitness Center at High Point Regional Hospital. Their customers — nurses, hospital volunteers, patients and visitors on their way in to get their workouts —trickle past, peeling off dollar bills for peaches and tomatoes, baby potatoes and zucchini until the farmers pack away their produce and fold up their tables at 3 p.m. Alcon, who is 82, farms what he calls “a large garden” in Wallburg, in Davidson County. He’s been selling his produce at the hospital every Thursday and in the parking lot in front of High Point Public Library every Saturday for seven or eight years, he said. “It’s more or less a hobby and something to do,” Alcon said. “It’s profitable. It pays for itself and a little left over.” Lately, Dustin Alcon, Bobby’s 16-year-old grandson, has been coming along and helping out. “There’s a hot spot on that one,” Bobby told Dustin, handing the blemished fruit to his grandson so he could take it off the table. Lee Gann, who also farms in Wallburg and on a piece of land owned by his uncle in Colfax, hasn’t been working the markets as long as Bobby Alcon, but has taken on a more extensive itinerary. Gann started selling produce at the hospital and library four years ago. Working with philanthropist Patrick Harman, he launched an occasional market at Washington Street Park three years ago. And two years ago, again working with Harman, Gann added five public-housing communities in High Point to his circuit. Altogether, business has been “pretty decent,” Gann said, although resurfacing and utility work this summer has kept people away from the market at Washington Street Park. “Since we started going into the housing authority communities, we’re able to bring in fresh produce,” he said. “They
don’t have to drive 20 minutes to get to a store. A lot of them don’t have transportation. I’m trying to make a living, but I also try to offer a service.” Between the public-housing communities and the hospital, along with the library, customers’ income covers a broad spectrum. Regardless, Gann said he tries to make his produce affordable to everyone. He’s able to accept EBT and SNAP benefits through a cell phone with an electronic swipe strip — an arrangement he worked out with technical assistance from the Guilford County Health and Human Services Department. While efforts to address hunger have been ongoing in the city, which is currently ranked No. 1 for food hardship as part of the Greensboro-High Point metro area, the drive has picked up new momentum with the coalescence of the Greater High Point Food Alliance last October. “One of the things we’re working on is getting the word out,” Executive Director Carl Vierling said. “People just don’t know where the resources are.” Vierling said the idea of printing glossy cards publicizing nine different small-scale “farm stands” at different locations around the city at various times of the week came from an unidentified patron of the city’s HiTran bus system. A $900 grant from the Hayden-Harman Foundation covered the cost of designing and printing 5,000 cards, which are being distributed on the buses. The cards were only printed in late June, so Vierling said it’s too early to gauge how effective the marketing has been to connect people who lack food access with fresh produce. Complementing the collaborative effort to provide fresh produce through farm stands, Vierling said the Mobile Oasis Farmers Market, a project of the Guilford County Health and Human Services Department, will operate a market at the county DSS office in High Point, located on Centennial Street, on July 27. Vierling noted the link between public transportation and food insecurity. “We found when we were doing
surveys of our food partners — and this is definitely unscientific — 46 percent of people surveyed did not have their own transportation,” he said. “They were relying on others for transportation, walking or riding a bike.” The farm stand at Washington Street Park is part JORDAN GREEN of a larger health Bobby Alcon makes change for Doug Payne and wellness initia- outside High Point Regional Hospital. tive funded by the “We’ve got some early wins,” HarHayden-Harman Foundation, whose man said. “The farm stands fit right executive director is Patrick Harman. in. There are so many strands. It all fits Harman and Jakki Corvin, who together, so it’s really cool. There are runs a nonprofit called D-Up, started some pre-existing relationships, and new organizing a monthly summer prorelationships that are being built.” gram for neighborhood children three years ago. Through funding from the Hayden-Harman Foundation, the children receive $2 each Mobile farm stands operate at the followto spend on produce from Lee ing locations and times through Sept. 26: Gann’s farm stand — an exercise that teaches them about • Astor Dowdy Towers, 701 E. Green St. — Evfood choices and handling ery other Monday, 4 to 6 p.m., Aug. 3, 17 and money. About 30 children 31; Sept. 14 and 28 are enrolled in the summer • Juanita Hills, 2701 Annmoore Circle — Every program, Harman said. other Tuesday, 4 to 6 p.m., Aug. 4 and 18; Sept. Harman pointed out that 1, 15 and 29 the marketing campaign for • Daniel Brooks Homes, Henley Street and the city’s farm stands is only Edmondson Place — Every other Friday, 4 to 6 one of many initiatives develp.m., July 24; Aug. 7 and 21; Sept. 4 and 18 oping in High Point to attack • Elm Towers, 701 S. Elm St. — Every other food hardship. As an example, Monday, 4 to 6 p.m., July 27; Aug. 10 and 24; West End Ministries is workSept. 7 and 21 ing out a lease agreement with • Washington Street Park, 738 Washington St. — the city to start a community Every other Tuesday, 4 to 6 p.m., July 28; Aug. garden on a vacant lot. 11 and 25; Sept. 8 and 22 The Greater High Point • Carson Stout Homes, 1900 Fern Ave. — Every Food Alliance is holding a other Friday, 4 to 6 p.m., July 31; Aug. 14 and press conference on Wednes28; Sept. 11 and 25 day (July 22) at United Way of • High Point Public Library (Uptowne Market), Greater High Point, to high901 N. Main St. — Every Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to light 90-day goals that have 1 p.m. through Sept. 26 either been accomplished or • High Point Regional Hospital, 601 N. Elm St. significantly addressed, while — Every Thursday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. making plans for its next • The Providence Place, 701 Westchester Drive phase. — Every Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
EDITORIAL
The confederates
Our little dalliance with corruption
Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art Stage & Screen Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
politics. North Carolina politicians excel at hardball power politics and are usually willing to stoop to the use of race as a lever of advantage, as the continuing federal voting-rights trial in Winston-Salem has revealed. Typically our state’s brand of corruption is about acquiring and maintaining power in service of a sincere and passionately held political conviction, as opposed to the kind of corruption geared towards accumulating material spoils. Thankfully, examples of the latter appear to be isolated rather than pervasive. Or at least, I would like to think so. Patrick Cannon, who is serving a 44-month federal prison sentence for accepting bribes as mayor of Charlotte comes to mind. Or Yadkin County Sheriff Mike Cain, who diverted county funds into a secret fund to pay for Harley-Davidson motorcycles for himself and two deputies. I’d like to think that the ethical standard of North Carolina politics is at least a notch or two above the slimy bowels of Louisiana, New Mexico and Kentucky. In my home state, former University of Kentucky star basketball player Ritchie Farmer used his position as agriculture commissioner (clever, right?) to create high-paying jobs for friends, whose duties primarily consisted of performing personal tasks for their boss; using state funds to buy rifles, knives and cigars; and shaking down an auto dealership for all-terrain vehicles in exchange for a state grant to stage an ATV course. Amazingly, following his guilty plea in late 2013, Farmer received a sentence of only 27 months in a minimum-security prison near his home in southeastern Kentucky. Oh right, there’s also the matter of North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, who served three years in federal prison for charges related to various corruptions, including steering a contract to a carnival operator after receiving an envelope stuffed full of cash. We saw a glimpse of the self-seeking, arrogant will for power and unscrupulous maneuvering that seems endemic in the intersection between human nature and political power in the saga of Paul Foley saga, who resigned from the state Board of Elections last week. The 37-year-old Foley, who seems to have been a young man in a hurry, landed a job at Kilpatrick Stockton in Winston-Salem in 2011 and then quickly insinuated himself into Republican politics as the party continued its ascendance through the 2012 election. Foley’s efforts on behalf of the
party were soon rewarded when Robin Hayes, then the chairman of the state Republican Party, supplied Foley’s name to newly elected Gov. Pat McCrory for consideration as an appointee to the state Board of Elections, according to a report in this Sunday’s issue of the News & Observer. At the time of Foley’s appointment to the state Board of Elections, Kilpatrick Stockton had been hired by Oklahoma video sweepstakes executive Chase Burns to help challenge the statewide ban on the games. Fortuitously perhaps, the state Board of Elections was gearing up an investigation into Burns’ campaign contributions to McCrory and other candidates just as Foley was coming on. In September 2014, according to the News & Observer, elections investigators discovered that Burns and his company had paid Kilpatrick Stockton $1.3 million in legal fees. The report goes on to say that Foley officially recused himself from the sweepstakes investigation. Yet he continued to badger elections staff for information. As the News & Observer story details, “[Foley] immediately pressed Elections Director Kim Strach for details of where the matter stood, although Strach repeatedly told him she couldn’t discuss it with him, according to documents from the internal probe. He wanted to know what information about his law firm would be in the report of the sweepstakes investigation report. He said he needed to see the sweepstakes investigation report so he could help Kilpatrick Stockton prepare a response.” Meanwhile, emails obtained by the Associated Press reveal that Foley also worked behind the scenes with Republican officials in Watauga County on a controversial scheme to remove an early voting site at Appalachian State University that was popular with Democratic voters. Although it’s plainly a conflict of interest for a member of the state Board of Elections, which resolves disputes arising from county election boards, it’s sadly consistent with North Carolina’s political culture for Foley to jump in the fray. When Foley resigned from the board under pressure from Gov. McCrory last week, he didn’t say whether it was because he had tried to corrupt the process for the benefit of his employer or if it was because he had tried to corrupt the process for the benefit of his party. Prior to his resignation, Foley had said that he did nothing wrong, and told a Winston-Salem Journal reporter that the only thing that had changed was that an “AP reporter called a close family member of mine about me while her father was on [his] deathbed.” Just like the guys who took free motorcycles and ATVs, there’s an almost childlike innocence about a man who blithely carries on as if it’s the most natural thing in the world to leverage a public appointment to secure private and partisan advantage.
News
by Jordan Green
The rapid rise and recent calamitous fall of Paul Foley, a Republican lawyer who landed a seat on the state Board of Elections while making partner at the Winston-Salem office of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, illustrates the slippery slope of corruption in state
Up Front
The Confederate flag came down from the South Carolina statehouse quickly after a crazed gunman used his interpretation of its message to justify a shooting spree into a black church in Charleston, killing nine. But in North Carolina, we’re digging in. State lawmakers rushed a bill through the House to make it more difficult for cities and counties to remove the stain of the Confederacy from their jurisdictions. The law bans state agencies and local entities from removing monuments and markers commemorating “an event, a person, or military service” relevant to our history. But they’re not talking about World War I here — though the law could affect War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro. It’s all about the Confederacy. Throughout the South in the wake of the Charleston massacre, states are taking long, hard looks at the lionization of the Confederacy, its “heroes” and iconography. Charleston pulled the flag from government buildings. New Orleans is reconsidering the iconic Lee Circle, where a statue of the losing general still faces north atop a lofty pillar. Throughout the South, outraged citizens are taking matters into their own hands by vandalizing monuments and markers that attempt to paint the Civil War as anything but a desperate attempt to maintain the slavery franchise that helped build so much wealth for the region. In our state, Confederate monuments have been targeted in Raleigh and Charlotte. Denton, Texas and Oklahoma City have seen similar actions. The perpetrators have been described by media as “vandals,” when in reality they are activists looking to de-romanticize one of the darkest chapters in our country’s timeline. There is nothing noble about bearing arms against your fellow countrymen in order to keep holding human beings as property. There is nothing righteous about this failed attempt to create a new nation based on fear, ignorance and greed. There is nothing glorious about a heritage that determined a human’s value based on the color of her skin. It is despicable to attempt to save the relics of a hateful legacy when our state has a jobs crisis it should be tending to, a political party run amok and some of the worst school systems in the country, all of which have an inordinate affect on the ancestors of slaves. Ironically, defenders of the Confederacy say that states’ rights was the issue of the war, that the federal government had no jurisdiction to dictate the ways of our principalities. And yet this law removes authority from cities and towns to determine their own take on the Confederacy. Where is General Sherman when we need him?
CITIZEN GREEN
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OPINION
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July 22 — 28, 2015 Up Front News
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14
IT JUST MIGHT WORK
Two years of service Here’s the problem with this country: Nobody cares. Sure, I care. You care. Maybe some of your friends do, too. But when by Brian Clarey it comes to the bedrock principles of this nation — democracy, voting, speaking truth to power — well… I sometimes get the feeling that everybody has too much TV to watch. We talk about the Greatest Generation a lot these days, those gallant men and women who brought down the evil in Europe by doing anything and everything they could, and it seems like we just don’t make Americans like that anymore. But we could. Remember, the Selective Service — aka the “draft” — didn’t start until 1940, right before we went over there to kick Hitler’s ass. It ushered in a generation of service to the country until President Richard Nixon ended it in 1973. President Jimmy Carter reinstated the Selective Service in 1980, but like the man himself, it was not intended to have any effect, just a precautionary measure in case everything went to hell again. And I think we should reconsider the draft. I’m not saying that we need to put everyone in the Army. A two-year conscription for all able-bodied Americans wouldn’t necessarily mean military action, though some might choose to give their service in that way. Others could teach kids in poor neighborhoods to read, create community gardens in food deserts, repair roads and bridges and other key pieces of our crumbling infrastructure. The list of needs in the United States is a lengthy one. And there aren’t a lot of jobs out there for young people just starting out. Why not harness all that energy and talent to fix the place up a little? The bonus would be that young people — disengaged, disenfranchised, disinterested in the American experiment — would have some skin in the game. They’d be actively helping to build this nation. Which should give them more interest in the workings of it. Maybe some of them would even vote regularly after putting in a little sweat equity. Maybe the Greatest Generation hasn’t even made itself known yet.
FRESH EYES
Finding the beat — a Swazi girl’s GSO adventures I was born in Swaziland, southern Africa. The fact that I grew up in Greensboro is entirely my mother’s fault, as she’s never been one to shy away from a legit relocation. Mommy (my siblings and I collectively decided never to by Zithobile “Zitty” graduate to the whole “Mom” Nxumalo thing) was born and raised in South Africa, and became an X-ray technician in a South African hospital during the violently racist apartheid years. One day, she overheard a white Afrikaner nurse say about an injured black child, “Just let him die.” Although my mother had witnessed and experienced countless examples of the inhumane treatment of blacks in South Africa, this particular encounter was the catalyst that led her to move to the neighboring Swaziland. She began working in a Swazi hospital, where she met my father. Of course, there’s quite a lot that happened between their meeting and our move across the Atlantic, but I’ll have to save that for another day. For now, just know that with three daughters and a son on the way, my family emigrated from Swaziland to Greensboro. As you may surmise, the move was Mommy’s idea. It was 1985 and I was 4 years old. The question I’ve received more than any other is, “Why Greensboro?” Few have heard of Swaziland, and even fewer have heard of what I would describe as a motley crew of Swazi-turned-Carolinians. Yeah… that’s definitely us. I suppose I can understand the curiosity surrounding such a random change in locale, so the question has never exactly bothered me. I’ve just grown keenly aware that it will likely be looming around the mid-point of most conversations. They tend to go something like this: Person: Zitty… that’s an interesting name. Me: Yeah, it’s short for… (yada, yada). Person: Does it mean something? Me: It does… (details, details). Person: Oh, wow. So, where are you from? Me: Swaziland. My family moved… (blah, blah, blah). Person: Really? Hmmm (insert contemplative pause). So, why Greensboro? And there it is. Since I was never given a detailed response to the question beyond my parents both receiving student visas to attend Greensboro College, I’ve spent my life looking for the answer. Why am I in Greensboro?! I’ve been searching for the people and places, moments and experiences that could somehow help to make my life and location feel right. It’s been tricky; but as of late, I’ve been paying attention to life in a bit of a different way. It’s been kind of like letting go of the rigid eight-count in music, closing my eyes and letting myself — instead — feel the beat. I think that the problem may have been that I’ve spent
years relying on labels to make sense of things, and none of the labels (mine or other people’s) have ever quite held all parts of my identity… or theirs for that matter. Maybe experiences are better than labels anyway. Why Greensboro? Well, because as it turns out, we’re meant for each other. In Greensboro, I‘ve encountered people who’ll admit that my name strikes them as gobbledygook — and that they totally love it. In Greensboro, I’ve experienced melting into the most satisfying savasana with a cool lavender- and eucalyptus-infused washcloth draped across my face after an hour of hot yoga. In Greensboro, I’ve gotten to be a Quaker, Spartan, Belle, Titan and Aggie. In fact, when I finally obtained my US citizenship in 2009 after not having returned to Africa in 24 years, it was a university dance company based in, you guessed it, Greensboro that gave me an opportunity to travel to South Africa through an international dance program. Greensboro friends gave me the experience of walking the same streets my mother traveled when she was a young woman. Awesome people and breathtaking experiences have a rhythm, and they can be found just about anywhere. They span all kinds of demographics — race, gender, faith traditions, height, hair and cash money. Like members of some random, eclectic jazz band, the people with whom I’ve related most have been those unconfined by labels. They’ve allowed us to be different… and harmonious. Whether it’s been over dinner or decades, I’ve learned to recognize and appreciate when people see me beyond the label du jour. Yes, I’m black. Yes, I’m a woman. Yes, I’m an immigrant. And I am more. Just last week, I got to enjoy a vegan lunch on Tate Street with a white guy who offered up a Jewish blessing over brown rice and broccoli. And it was dope. There’s a rhythm to the recognition of another’s humanity, and it feels amazing to find the beat. Swaziland to Greensboro makes perfect sense to me. Zithobile “Zitty” Nxumalo is a doctoral student at NC A&T University.
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Making paper What our city employees get paid by Jordan Green
What cities pay their top employees says a lot about what’s important to their leadership. For example, the city of Greensboro pays its coliseum director almost 50 percent more than its chief executive. The Greensboro Coliseum is a major economic driver that generates hotel and restaurant receipts, while drawing basketball fans from across the East Coast, concertgoers from around the region, along with swimmers and figure skaters, their families and entourages. That the director of the High Point Theatre earns roughly a third of the director of the Greensboro Coliseum provides a good gauge of the relative importance of entertainment and events to the two cities’ respective economies. Of course, that doesn’t count the biannual furniture market in High Point — the largest event in the state — which is managed by a nonprofit that receives financial support from the city. Winston-Salem has a coliseum, too, but as a measure of its relative importance consider that the city sold it to Wake Forest University in 2013. One Winston-Salem council member went so far as to say that the coliseum was “functionally
obsolete.” Bookings for the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem are now handled by — wait for it — the Greensboro Coliseum. It comes as no surprise that once you exclude the behemoth Greensboro Coliseum, salaries for city manager and assistant city managers top the list. With the exception of the city attorney, the city manager is the only employee hired and fired by city council. The city manager, who answers to nine bosses — the mayor and members of city council — is the one ultimately responsible for the administration, including putting together annual budgets and ensuring the smooth operation of city services. Assistant city managers typically supervise department heads, including police, fire, sanitation, planning, and parks and recreation, while answering to the city manager. Considering their level of responsibility — and the heat they’re going to experience if things go wrong — it makes sense that they would pull down salaries in the six figures. Police and fire chiefs are also typically among a city’s highest-paid employees, reflecting both the value citizens place on public safety and the fact that they are responsible for departments with relatively
high numbers of employees and large budgets. But this year, the highest-paid city attorney earns more than the highest-paid police chief. Angela Carmon, Winston-Salem’s city attorney, is the highest compensated public legal employee in the Triad. Her $159,454 salary reflects the steady pay raises accumulated by a veteran whose legal acumen and work ethic has earned the respect of her city council. As one of two employees hired directly by the mayor and city council, the city attorney holds ultimate responsibility for protecting the city against legal exposure. The salaries earned by city attorneys and assistant city attorneys reflect the fiduciary importance of their work — advising elected officials and city administration on matters of the law, negotiating property transfers and defending the city against lawsuits. The pecking order of pay between police and legal has been reversed since last year, with the departure of Greensboro police Chief Ken Miller, who earned $179,820 at the time of his retirement. Miller had received a hefty — and controversial — pay raise and then left to take the job of police chief of Greenville, SC. In comparison to Miller’s relative
star status, the current police chiefs in Greensboro and Winston-Salem are more modestly compensated civil servants who were drawn from the ranks of their respective departments. Outside of the executive and legal ranks, three city of Winston-Salem employees earn more than the police chiefs in any of the three cities: Community & Business Development Director Ritchie Brooks ($159,066), Planning & Development Services Director Paul Norby ($152,699) and Chief Information Officer Dennis Newman ($152,307). For what it’s worth, Newman heads the city’s IT department; the pay in public affairs isn’t quite so generous. Pay for senior administration in finance, public works, human resources, parks and recreation, engineering and transportation tends to fall somewhere below police and fire — the two heavyweight public safety departments. Clustering at the bottom of the spectrum are the “soft” functions: human relations, public affairs, legislative administration, libraries and museums. Maybe the old aphorism applies: You get what you pay for.
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July 22 — 28, 2015
{Top city salaries}
Brooks, Winston-Salem — $159,066 2. Neighborhood Development Director Barbara W. Harris, Greensboro — $110,972 3. Community Development Director Michael E. McNair, High Point — $109,570 4. Senior Project Supervisor Mellin L. Parker, Winston-Salem — $102,122 5. Economic Development & Business Support Manager Kathi K. Dubel, Greensboro — $93,113
Planning
Cover Story
Entertainment facilities
1. Coliseum Director Matt Brown, Greensboro — $269,575 2. Deputy Coliseum Director Scott Johnson, Greensboro — $126,197 3. High Point Theatre Director David Briggs — $93,872 4. Fair Director David L. Sparks, Winston-Salem — $91,066 5. Coliseum Maintenance Supervisor Michael R. Perdue, Greensboro — $86,375 6. Coliseum Business Office Manager Colleen S. Vann, Greensboro — $80,132
Executive
1. City Manager Jim Westmoreland, Greensboro — $183,475 2. City Manager Lee Garrity, Winston-Salem — $179,739 3. Assistant City Manager Greg Turner, Winston-Salem — $176,130 4. Assistant City Manager Derwick Paige, Winston-Salem — $174,986 5. City Manager Greg Demko, High Point — $171,700 6. Assistant City Manager Randy McCaslin, High Point — $162,662 7. Assistant City Manager Wesley E. Reid, Greensboro — $142,769 8. Assistant City Manager David Parrish, Greensboro — $138,764 9. Assistant City Manager Christian Wilson, Greensboro — $132,775 10. Assistant City Manager Andy Scott, Greensboro — $130,063 11. Assistant City Manager Mary Vigue, Greensboro — $125,637 12. Assistant City Manager Ben Rowe, Winston-Salem — $124,789 13. Assistant to the City Manager Courtney L. Driver, Winston-Salem — $91,725
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Moving in: • Greg Demko was hired as the city manager of High Point at a salary of $171,700, replacing Strib Boynton who earned $168,168 in the role. Randy McCaslin returned to his position as assistant city manager after serving as inter-
im city manager prior to Demko’s appointment. Moving up: • Christian Wilson received a promotion from parks & recreation director to assistant city manager in Greensboro, earning a 4 percent raise from $128,155 to $132,775.
Legal
1. City Attorney Angela Carmon, Winston-Salem — $159,454 2. City Attorney Tom Carruthers, Greensboro — $152,000 3. City Attorney JoAnne Carlyle, High Point — $151,501 4. Chief Deputy City Attorney Becky J. Peterson-Buie, Greensboro — $143,393 5. Deputy City Attorney Al Andrews, Winston-Salem — $115,100 6. Public Safety Attorney Lori P. Sykes, Winston-Salem — $97,443 7. Police Attorney Brian T. Beasley, High Point — $92,818 8. Assistant City Attorney Jerry Kontos, Winston-Salem — $90,817 9. Assistant City Attorney James A. Dickens Jr., Greensboro — $89,287 10. Assistant City Attorney James A. Clark, Greensboro — $89,040 11. Assistant City Attorney John P. Roseboro, Greensboro — $87,324 12. Assistant City Attorney Maria E. Guthold, Winston-Salem — $81,136 13. Assistant City Attorney Brent L. Cole, High Point — $79,533 14. Assistant City Attorney Deron K. Henry, Winston-Salem — $69,730 Moving up: • Tom Carruthers was promoted from interim city attorney to city attorney in Greensboro, with a salary increase from $139,800 to $152,000. He replaced Mujeeb Shah-Khan, who continued to receive a salary of $166,860 in July 2014 following his termination.
Community, housing & business development
1. Community & Business Development Director Ritchie
1. Planning & Development Services Director Paul Norby, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County — $152,699 2. Planning & Development Director Lee Burnette, High Point — $133,736 3. Planning Director Suzanna S. Smotherman, Greensboro — $113,881 4. Core City Administrator Wendy Fuscoe, High Point — $104,397 5. Deputy Planning & Development Services Director Chris Murphy, Winston-Salem — $84,050 6. Planning Administrator Heidi Galanti, High Point — $83,778 7. Community Planning Manager Johanna I. Cockburn, Greensboro — $81,877 8. Development Administrator Robert L. Robbins Jr., High Point — $81,628 9. Community Planning Manager Cynthia L. Blue, Greensboro — $81,439 10. Principal Planner Cheryl L. Ruscher, Winston-Salem — $81,095
Information technology
1. Chief Information Officer Dennis Newman, Winston-Salem — $152,307 2. Communications & Information Services Director Steven R. Lingerfelt, High Point — $128,145 3. Deputy Director Thomas L. Kureczka, Winston-Salem — $126,910 4. Systems Project Administrator Thomas E. Spencer, High Point — $120,151 5. Senior Systems Analyst James R. Gheen, High Point — $117,778 6. Chief Information Officer Jane R. Nickles, Greensboro — $117,766 7. Senior Information Technology Manager Christine A. Hofer, Greensboro — $113,963 8. Project Coordinator Terry L. Nichols Jr., Winston-Salem — $104,147 9. Systems Analyst David L. Britton, High Point — $101,754 10. Network Manager Ivan L. Spencer, High Point — $95,982 11. Public Safety Manager Julia B. Conley, Winston-Salem — $94,475 12. Project Coordinator Randy W. Pressley, Winston-Salem — $94,375 13. Systems Analyst Glenn J. Hasteadt, High Point —
Police
1. Chief Barry Rountree, Winston-Salem — $148,966 2. Chief Wayne Scott, Greensboro — $145,000 3. Chief Marty Sumner, High Point — $137,295 4. Assistant Chief Kenneth J. Shultz, High Point — $105,641 5. Deputy Chief Anita Holder, Greensboro — $102,060 6. Assistant Chief Wilson Weaver, Winston-Salem — $101,915 7. Assistant Chief Lawrence L. Casterline Jr., High Point — $100,510 8. Deputy Chief James E. Hinson, Greensboro — $99,593 9. Deputy Chief Brian A. Cheek, Greensboro — $98,431 10. Assistant Chief Kenneth M. Steele, High Point — $97,190 11. Deputy Chief Brian L. James, Greensboro — $96,120 12. Deputy Chief Richard B. Whisenant, Greensboro — $96,120 13. Assistant Chief Scott G. Bricker, Winston-Salem — $95,398 14. Assistant Chief Connie F. Southern, Winston-Salem — $94,407 15. Commander Cherie N. Maness, High Point — $91,641
16. Commander Thomas H. Hanson, High Point — $90,095 17. Capt. Patricia J. Murray, Winston-Salem — $89,835 18. Capt. David J. Perry, Winston-Salem — $88,669 19. Capt. Jeffery T. Watson, Winston-Salem — $88,340 20. Commander Michael D. Kirk, High Point — $87,585 21. Capt. John E. Wolfe Jr., Greensboro — $86,601 22. Lt. Thomas E. Craven, Winston-Salem — $85,869 23. Lt. Tyrone L. Phelps, Winston-Salem — $85,292 24. Capt. Catrina A. Thompson, Winston-Salem — $84,941 25. Capt. Renae Sigmon, Greensboro — $84,541 26. Capt. Shon F. Barnes, Greensboro — $83,952 27. Capt. Joel T. Cranford Jr., Greensboro — $83,952 28. Capt. Richard B. Culler, Greensboro — $83,952 29. Capt. Hope Newkirk, Greensboro — $83,952 30. Commander James G. Stallings III, High Point — $83,416 31. Capt. Chris Lowder, Winston-Salem — $83,303 32. Capt. Natoshia V. James, Winston-Salem — $83,217 33. Sgt. Terry W. Fulk, Winston-Salem — $83,033 34. Lt. Danny R. Watts, Winston-Salem — $83,033 35. Commander Timothy C. Ellenberger, High Point — $82,944 36. Capt. Douglas L. Nance, Winston-Salem — $81,801 37. Capt. Nathaniel Davis III, Greensboro — $80,100 38. Capt. Pam McAdoo-Rogers, Greensboro — $80,100
16. Fire Marshal Grover K. Pettigrew, Greensboro — $85,410 17. Battalion Chief Sandy L. Shepherd, Winston-Salem — $84,460 18. Battalion Chief Christopher W. Langham, Winston-Salem — $84,286 19. Battalion Chief Frederick D. Gethers, Winston-Salem — $84,126 20. Division Chief Graham J. Robinson III, Greensboro — $83,304 21. Battalion Chief Monte C. Williams, Winston-Salem — $83,254 22. Commander Rick W. George, High Point — $83,244 23. Battalion Chief Damon P. Tobin, High Point — $83,113 24. Battalion Chief William R. Doane, High Point — $82,372 25. Assistant Chief Franklin L. Stowe, Winston-Salem — $80,466 26. Fire Marshal Christopher E. Weir, High Point — $80,285
Moving up: • Wayne Scott was promoted from deputy police chief to chief in Greensboro, with a salary increase from $98,820 to $145,000 over the past 12 months. He replaced Ken Miller, who earned a salary of $179,820 when he left the job. Anita Holder returned to her job as deputy chief after serving as interim chief prior to Scott’s appointment.
1. President Loren Hill, High Point Economic Development Corp. — $142,185 2. Senior Vice President Sandra V. Dunbeck, High Point Economic Development Corp. — $93,937
Fire
1. Chief Greg Grayson, Greensboro — $143,544 2. Chief Marion T. Reid, High Point — $135,267 3. Chief Trey Mayo, Winston-Salem — $128,005 4. Deputy Chief Clarence M. Hunter, Greensboro — $105,618 5. Deputy Chief Bobby W. Nugent, Greensboro — $105,618 6. Deputy Chief Richard T. Wright, High Point — $105,296 7. Assistant Chief Michael Levins, High Point — $98,964 8. Training Supervisor Alan Nix, Greensboro — $95,508 9. Assistant Chief Robert S. Owens, Winston-Salem — $92,210 10. Assistant Chief Harry J. Brown Jr., Winston-Salem — $91,592 11. Assistant Chief Brian A. Evans, High Point — $91,514 12. Battalion Chief Kenneth L. Knight, High Point — $88,446 13. Division Chief Michael L. Rogers, Greensboro — $87,142 14. Battalion Chief Jeffrey S. Henley, Winston-Salem — $86,925 15. Battalion Chief Charles E. Bottoms, Winston-Salem — $86,607
triad-city-beat.com
$93,427 14. Supervisor Todd A. Porter, Winston-Salem — $93,397 15. Server Manager Frederick B. Reynolds, High Point — $93,238 16. Supervisor Thomas R. Serrin, Winston-Salem — $92,737 17. System Security Engineer Kenneth S. White, High Point — $90,665 18. Systems Analyst Frank L. Jacques Jr., High Point — $89,217 19. Systems Analyst Kyle R. Stone, High Point — $89,217 20. Systems Analyst Barbara D. Yount, High Point — $89,217 21. Senior Analyst Gary S. Koontz, Winston-Salem — $87,849 22. Supervisor Nancy L. Brown, Winston-Salem — $87,646 23. Network Services Manager Anita V. McCoy, Greensboro — $87,330 24. Supervisor Tracy H. Black, Winston-Salem — $86,176 25. Senior Network System Engineer Jonathan A. Davis, Greensboro — $85,000 26. GIS Manager Steven B. Averett, Greensboro — $84,649 27. Project Coordinator Zille Hasnain, Winston-Salem — $84,415 28. Supervisor Patrick J. Frantz, Winston-Salem — $82,224 29. Systems & Applications Development Manager Aimee G. Walker, Greensboro — $81,859 30. Senior Administrator Daniel L. Moore III, Winston-Salem — $80,604 31. Database Administrator Sagar Iddyadinesh, Greensboro — $80,574 32. ERP Administrator Vanessa J. Strachan, Greensboro — $80,445 33. Senior Analyst James S. Johnson, Winston-Salem — $80,217
Moving in: • Trey Mayo was hired as fire chief for the city of Winston-Salem at a salary of $125,000, with a recent raise bringing his current salary to $128,005. He replaced Antony R. Farmer, who retired with a salary of $117,364.
Economic development (High Point)
Finance
1. Finance Director Rick Lusk, Greensboro — $135,492 2. Chief Financial Officer Lisa M. Saunders, Winston-Salem — $134,628 3. Financial Services Director Jeffrey A. Moore, High Point — $128,987 4. Senior Financial Services Manager Marlene F. Druga, Greensboro — $117,048 5. Senior Administrative Services Manager Christopher S. Payne, Greensboro — $104,348 6. Assistant Financial Officer Angie S. Fisher, Winston-Salem — $89,175 7. Treasury Services Manager Jackie Astrop, High Point — $85,902 8. Assistant Financial Officer Donna C. Hull, Winston-Salem — $81,297
Public works
1. Field Operations Director Dale Wyrick, Greensboro — $134,117 2. Water Resources Director Steven D. Drew, Greensboro — $133,963 3. Public Services Director Terry L. Houk, High Point — $132,904 4. Utilities Director Ronald L. Hargrove Jr., Winston-Salem/Forsyth County — $131,517 5. Public Services Assistant Director Martha C. McDowell,
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July 22 — 28, 2015
Cover Story
High Point — $108,214 6. Public Services Assistant Director Robby D. Stone, High Point — $106,138 7. Sanitation Director Johnnie F. Taylor, Winston-Salem — $105,512 8. Senior Water Resources Manager Michael M. Borchers, Greensboro — $105,000 9. Solid Waste Administrator Janis McHargue, Winston-Salem — $101,563 10. Senior Solid Waste Manager Christopher R. Marriott, Greensboro — $100,961 11. Stormwater Director Keith D. Huff, Winston-Salem — $95,813 12. Solid Waste Collections Manager Sheldon D. Smith, Greensboro — $94,735 13. Wastewater Superintendent James F. Crump, Winston-Salem — $94,616 14. Water Resources Operations & Administration Manager Adam L. Conn, Greensboro — $92,533 15. Solid Waste Engineering Supervisor Edward L. Gibson, Winston-Salem — $92,177 16. Water Treatment Plant Supervisor William C. Brewer, Winston-Salem — $91,533 17. Water/Sewers Mains Superintendent Greg D. Hall, High Point — $90,861 18. Solid Waste Collection Superintendent Sammy Vanderzee II — $90,104 19. Wastewater Plants Manager Johnny L. Hodges, High Point — $89,207 20. Public Services Manager Derrick Q. Boone, High Point — $88,602 21. Laboratory Manager William D. Frazier, High Point — $82,668 22. Wastewater Plant Superintendent Timothy H. Fitzgerald, High Point — $82,312 23. Stormwater Manager David J. Phlegar, Greensboro — $81,869 24. Industrial Waste Services Supervisor Martha E. Groome, Greensboro — $81,036 25. Water Plant Superintendent Robert W. Pickett, High Point — $80,388
Electric utilities (High Point)
1. Director Garey Edwards — $130,331 2. Operations Engineer Marty G. Hinson — $107,740 3. Engineering Manager DA Averill — $96,240
Human resources
18
1. Director Connie D. Hammond, Greensboro — $129,521 2. Director Angela F. Kirkwood, High Point — $126,187 3. Senior Human Resources Manager Joseph M. Marro, Greensboro — $114,509 4. Director Carmen Caruth, Winston-Salem — $112,086 5. Senior Human Resources Manager Jamiah K. Waterman, Greensboro — $111,969 6. Officer Amy S. Jarvis, High Point — $101,970
7. Total Compensation Manager Ida J. Blackburn, Greensboro — $99,877 8. Safety & Health Manager Matthew W. Schweitzer, Greensboro — $85,292 9. Senior Analyst Sherri M. Gaither, Winston-Salem — $85,024 10. Safety & Health Manager Debra S. Meurs, High Point — $84,910 11. Organization, Development & Training Manager Tiffany N. Brown, Greensboro — $81,559 12. Supervisor Kevin M. Adcock, Greensboro — $80,657
$74,385 9. Transit Maintenance Supervisor Timothy F. Arnold, High Point — $57,229 10. Transit Manager Matthew D. Cox, High Point — $56,814
Moving up: • Jamiah Waterman’s position was reclassified from assistant city manager to senior human resources manager. Similar to his previous position, he still handles equal employment opportunity, Fair Labor Standards Act, employment relations and leadership development matters. And his pay has risen from $95,954 to $111,969 over the past 12 months.
1. Director Timothy A. Grant, Winston-Salem — $118,360 2. Director Wade Walcutt, Greensboro — $110,322 3. Director Lee Tillery, High Point — $108,143 4. Recreation Manager William E. Covington, High Point — $86,963 5. City Arts Superintendent Mary A. Kurr-Murphy, Greensboro — $68,045
Engineering
1. Engineering & Inspections Director Herman K. McDowell III, Greensboro — $128,492 2. Engineering Services Director Brian K. Pugh, High Point — $121,224 3. City Engineer Robert J. Prestwood, Winston-Salem — $109,871 4. Civil Engineering Design Manager Andrea L. Keyser, Winston-Salem — $83,415 5. Civil Engineer Terry A. Kuneff, High Point — $83,204 6. City Engineering Financial Manager Kevin S. Lyons, Winston-Salem — $82,432 7. Business Center Manager Ute C. Munro, Greensboro — $82,111 8. Civil Engineering Field Manager David S. Doss, Winston-Salem — $80,485 Moving up: • Herman K. McDowell III was promoted to engineering & inspections director in Greensboro last October, replacing Butch Simmons, who earned $122,425 at the time of his retirement.
Transportation
1. Director Mark V. McDonald, High Point — $125,488 2. Director Adam W. Fischer, Greensboro — $115,608 3. Director Toneq’ McCullough, Winston-Salem — $107,228 4. Public Transit Manager Libby James, Greensboro — $95,226 5. Deputy Director Connie K. James, Winston-Salem — $98,119 6. Planning Development Coordinator Greg Errett, Winston-Salem $87,442 7. Engineering Supervisor Joseph F. Mullinax III, Greensboro — $80,450 8. Transit Manager Angela W. Wynes, High Point —
Workforce development
1. Workforce Development Director Lillian G. Plummer, Greensboro — $120,380
Parks & recreation
Moving up: • Wade Walcutt was promoted to parks & recreation director for the city of Greensboro in May after serving in that capacity on an interim basis since December 2013. His June 1 promotion came with a $24,944 pay increase.
Budget
1. Budget & Evaluation Director Larry M. Davis, Greensboro — $115,266 2. Budget & Performance Manager Eric Olmedo, High Point — $100,038 3. Budget-Evaluation Director Trevor M. Minor, Winston-Salem — $89,846
Property and facilities management
1. Property & Facilities Management Director James T. Mitchell, Winston-Salem — $114,264 2. Facilities Services Director Timothy M. McKinney, High Point — $111,717 3. Real Estate Supervisor Kirk Bjorling, Winston-Salem — $87,597
Libraries
1. Director Brigitte Blanton, Greensboro — $113,113 2. Director Mary M. Sizemore, High Point — $106,620
Risk management (Winston-Salem)
1. Risk Administrator Anthony J. Baker, Winston-Salem — $110,778
Human relations
1. Director Wanda Allen-Abraha, Winston-Salem — $107,331 2. Director Love Crossling, Greensboro — $99,810 3. Director Al Heggins, High Point — $97,400
Fleet services (High Point)
1. Director Gary L. Smith — $104,911
Marketing/public affairs
1. Communications & Marketing Director Donnie Turlington, Greensboro — $101,500 2. Marketing & Communications Director Ed McNeal, Winston-Salem — $93,508 3. Communications Officer Jeron Hollis, High Point — $84,342
Custodian
1. Winston-Salem — $21,323 2. Greensboro — $20,817 3. High Point — $20,372
Laborer
1. High Point — $22,460 2. Winston-Salem — $21,323
Moving up: • Starting salaries for crime scene technicians have increased in all three cities.
Firefighter
1. Greensboro — $33,483 2. High Point — $33,184 3. Winston-Salem — $31,345
• Donnie Turlington was promoted to the position of communications and marking director in June, after previously serving as communications division manager. The promotion came with a $24,007 pay raise.
1. Winston-Salem — $25,393 2. Greensboro — $24,871 3. High Point — $23,583
Moving up: • Starting salaries for firefighters in all three cities have increased since last year, with Greensboro supplanting High Point as the city with the highest starting pay, although only by a smidge.
Customer service
Recreation activity leader 1. High Point — $23,583 2. Winston-Salem — $21,603
Police officer
Moving up:
1. Director Troy R. Martin Jr., High Point — $106,621 2. Contact Center Manager Mary E. Jutte, Greensboro — $83,830 3. Call Center Director Shantell N. Davis, Winston-Salem — $80,843
Purchasing
1. Purchase Director Jerry J. Bates, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County — $83,834
Meter reader
Sanitation laborer
1. High Point — $24,762 2. Winston-Salem — $21,323
Parking enforcement
1. Greensboro (specialist) — $24,871 2. Winston-Salem (officer) — $21,323 Fun fact: Curbside parking in downtown High Point is free.
Revenue
1. City Revenue Collector Craig D. Sheppard, Winston-Salem — $83,414
Regulatory
Lead grillroom attendant 1. High Point — $20,372
Landfill
1. Construction Inspection Superintendent Alvin D. Clark, Greensboro — $82,479 2. Inspections Administrator Edwin J. Brown Jr., High Point — $80,464
1. High Point (landfill mechanic) — $30,100 2. Winston-Salem (landfill mechanic) — $28,530 3. Greensboro (landfill tech) — $26,612
City clerk/city secretary
1. Greensboro (solid waste operator) — $26,612 2. High Point (sanitation special route operator) — $26,003 3. Winston-Salem (sanitation equipment operator) — $25,393
1. City Clerk Betsy Richardson, Greensboro — $81,736 2. City Secretary Renee L. Phillips, Winston-Salem — $81,543 3. City Clerk Lisa B. Vierling, High Point — $74,264
Museums
1. Greensboro Historical Museum Director Carol G. Hart — $70,250 2. High Point Museum Director Edith Brady — $52,953
Miscellaneous
triad-city-beat.com
{Starting salaries}
1. Greensboro — $35,556 2. High Point — $34,844 3. Winston-Salem — $34,722 Moving up: • While Winston-Salem still ranks last among the Triad’s three cities for starting pay for police officers, the Twin City has partially closed the gap by bringing the salary up from $32,580.
Rec center director/supervisor 1. Winston-Salem — $35,429 2. Greensboro — $34,883 3. High Point — $34,844
Code enforcement officer 1. High Point — $36,585 2. Greensboro — $34,883
Sanitation/solid waste
Moving up: • Winston-Salem still ranks last among the three cities of the Triad for starting pay among sanitation equipment operators — the folks who drive garbage trucks. But the Twin City has closed the gap, bringing salaries up from $22,563 last year.
1. Senior Project Analyst Claire C. Robinson, High Point — $89,217
Bus driver
Notes on methodology: This ranking includes all city employees who receive salaries of $80,000 or more. An exception is made for employees who hold significant positions such as museum director or arts superintendent.
Crime scene
1. High Point — $28,664 1. High Point (crime scene technician) — $33,184 2. Winston-Salem (crime scene technician) — $33,039 3. Greensboro (crime scene investigator) — $32,601
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July 22 — 28, 2015 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story
FOOD
by Chris Nafekh
Blintz-krieg bop Strudel, Saltimbocca and Blintz Dinner Party @ Stocked Pot & Co. (W-S), Wednesday German appetizer, Italian entrée and German desert. As unappetizing as asparagus strudel may sound, it can’t be too bad when cooked by professional chefs. As always, desert is the best part — cheese blintz and cherry sauce. For more information, visit thestockedpot.com Five years young Westerwood Tavern’s 5th Anniversary Party @ Westerwood Tavern (GSO), Friday The Tavern is celebrating five years of tipsy-good times, and you’re invited. In a town like Greensboro, where bars thrive and breweries think twice, five years is an earnest accomplishment. For more information, visit Westerwood Tavern on Facebook. Woof means ‘I love you’ Pints and Patties for Paws @ the Bunker at Natty Green’s Brewing Co. (GSO), Saturday The Humane Society of the Piedmont is sponsoring this opportunity to eat, drink and play with puppies all afternoon. Beers and puppies complement each other like coffee and smokes. Just wait till you’re hammered; that’s the best way to play fetch. For more information, visit nattygreenes.com.
Music
Food
Banquet
All She Wrote
Shot in the Triad
Games
Good Sport
Stage & Screen
Art
It’s kind of unbelievable how many different lives Pablo del Valle, 38, has lived. He’s the kind of person you want to come to your dinner party, unless you’re anxious about your cooking abilities.
20
ERIC GINSBURG
Pizza and potential at Pintxos Pour House by Eric Ginsburg
architect. Club owner. Glassblower. Le CorLandscape don Bleu graduate. At 38, Pablo del Valle’s resume could already fill a biopic miniseries. As he recounted a cross-country road trip hitting 48 states, described living in a cramped Parisian apartment or explained how he and his wife moved back to Winston-Salem, it sounded more like the plot for a fantasy film about the nine lives of a blue-collar cat. But on a recent early evening, before the dinner rush arrived, del Valle offered another comparison while considering what to order at Pintxos Pour House. “My life is kinda like this menu,” my friend said during our first time at the restaurant, as he read over options ranging from Jamaican jerk chicken to bacon-wrapped scallops in bourbon sauce with pineapple on a skewer.
even a shortlist of beer cocktails. No kidding. But the thing is, with the house-made Pintxos are small, Spanish plates hummus, Bullfighter pizza (hey look, — think tapas, but generally stabbed Spain!) and the scallop skewers in front with a toothpick or skewer. But the Pintxos Pour House, which is on the of us, del Valle and I are impressed. Del Valle, the creative force behind western fringe of Winston-Salem, strays Atelier on Trade, is the kind of person significantly from its namesake. There’s who listens earnestly, shares engrossing a whole section of the menu dedicated stories modestly and is quick to laugh. to pizza, and many of the items aren’t far off standard He’s the one you want to show up Southern fare. Visit Pintxos Pour House at It’s not truly to your dinner 5312 Robinhood Village Drive party. That is international as (W-S) or at pintxospourhouse. unless you’re nermuch as there are pinches from com. The online menu is not up vous about your cooking, because various counto date. he is a first-rate tries like South chef, and won’t Korea, alongside a small chicken and waffles portioned hesitate to tell you that something sucks. to share or hamburgers and salads. And That’s exactly what he did when our like Pablo, the drink menu is all over the server — who seemed a little over-eaplace too, with cocktails like the Scatter ger and shook my hand when I walked Brained featuring four kinds of rum and
shopping center thinking about how I am still searching for a tapas/pintxos restaurant that will more closely adhere to Spanish traditions and cuisine and for more venues to adopt an affordable, small-plates approach. Pintxos Pour House could be that place, given the quality of the food, or it could more fully embrace an international scope. The commercial area around it is on the rebound, and Pintxos has the seed for greatness. The potential exists. But the question is whether it, and more importantly the clientele, share that vision.
Opinion
Food Music Art
ERIC GINSBURG
The Pigmosa at Pig Pounder
ERIC GINSBURG
Good Sport
The Jackfruit Sour from Natty Greene’s
Stage & Screen Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
Super G Mart in Greensboro, and it’s even what Juicyfruit gum draws its flavor from, Natty’s owner Kayne Fisher said. Fisher’s team brought six sour beers, including the Jackfruit Sour, to Wicked Weed’s Funk Asheville event over the weekend, a chance to show off some of its lesser-known brews. But even at the Bunker, several other uncommon beers were hooked up to the taps. Take, for example, the Cerveza del Sur, which uses Natty Greene’s wellknown Southern Pale as a base but adds cilantro, lime, jalapeño and taco seasoning. They also ran the Azacca IPA through a Randall — a piece of equipment that lets someone infuse flavors after a beer is brewed — adding orange peel, coconut, ginger and mango flavors. The combination is unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. If anything the Jackfruit Sour tasted almost like a shandy with a bite to it, but that description doesn’t do it justice. The Pigmosa is a quality stand-in for a mimosa, while the Jackfruit accomplishes something else entirely. And extra points go to Natty Greene’s for incorporating a fruit that is obscure around here. Fisher said that the Natty’s folks just want to have some fun in addition to focusing on the core brand. And the three experimental beers also contradict the mistaken impression some locals have that Greensboro’s oldest brewery isn’t inventive. Despite both initially being called mimosa beers and a matching birth date, the two orange-colored beverages from Pig Pounder and Natty Greene’s hold little in common, save for the welcomed creativity each exhibits.
Cover Story
Two beer mimosas, in a way
The Pulled Piggy food truck hadn’t swung open its window by the time Nancy Hoffmann stood at the corner of the bar inside, waiting to pay. Hoffmann, the oldest and shortest member of the Greensboro City Council, had already finished her Pigmosa beer less than an hour after local brewery Pig Pounder began pouring last Friday, July 17. The Russian-style Kvass beer, a 4.1 percent ABV brew pre-mixed with fresh-squeezed orange juice, reminded Hoffmann of beers she’s had in Europe, she said. And that’s a good thing. But more than anything the newest release from the Greensboro brewery was designed to taste like a mimosa, a mark it easily hit. The beer might’ve tasted a little more interesting if it included the addition of some gentle hops, but to do so would be to deviate from the classic champagne cocktail. A moment after Hoffmann walked out the front door of the brewery’s taproom around 5 p.m., owner and developer Marty Kotis walked in. Back came Hoffmann, having seen him enter, and the two walked back towards the production room chatting. At almost the exact same time, Natty Greene’s Brewing unveiled its own mimosa-style beer at the Bunker, its taproom across from the Greensboro Coliseum. But before the Friday event was fully underway, the Natty’s team had already renamed its latest sour beer, and rightfully so. The Jackfruit Sour didn’t exactly taste like a mimosa — it just looked like one. That’s how the bright, tart beer was christened, and also quickly altered. Jackfruit, a bumpy-looking melon sort of thing that’s orange on the inside, can be found at
News
as a life well lived, complete with details about living in San Diego or his 5-year-old asking for Air Jordans, Pintxos Pour House appears to be trying to be something to everyone and losing something in the process. Maybe it’s that del Valle’s story has been an evolution rather than nine lives lived simultaneously, but it comes across as more coherent. It’s very possible that Pintxos’ location demands that the restaurant be a study in versatility; our server, who was actually very helpful and attentive, did have to explain to a gray-haired couple near us what tapas are. After a couple hours of fellowship and heavy snacking, I left the overbuilt
Up Front
by Eric Ginsburg
Serrano ham and sounded like a nod to the nation where pintxos originated. But the green olives paired so well with the meats, pepper and cheeses that it left me reconsidering my vow against it. With fresh, house-made dough and American portions of the toppings, I found it hard not to love this pie. And the hummus plate — with dollops of classic, pesto and Sriracha hummus and soft triangles of pita — as well as the bacon-wrapped scallops were also satisfying. Pablo noted that the hummus and pita were subtly seasoned, a nice addition to the snack. In other words, I enjoyed everything we ate. While del Valle’s stories come across
triad-city-beat.com
in the door despite never having met — read out one of the daily martini specials, which sounded far too syrupy and heavy on the liqueur side. I believe the word del Valle used was “awful.” But he thought highly of the bacon-wrapped scallops, though he didn’t think the pineapple added anything and noted that my skewer came with a little too generous a portion of bourbon sauce. We both expected a more heavy-handed dining experience as we perused the menu, but were pleasantly surprised by our small plates and pizza. I hate olives. They’re one of the only foods I avoid, but when Pablo ordered the Bullfighter pizza, I only noted that it came with two meats including
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July 22 — 28, 2015 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Food
Music Art Stage & Screen Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
22
Setlist
MUSIC
by Jordan Green
Wolves at his door BJ Barham @ the Garage (W-S), Thursday American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham takes an excursion on the solo side, most likely armed only with an acoustic guitar. Word is that the hard-bitten country folk troubadour has embraced sobriety and adult responsibility, which can account for a whole new kind of weird and naked experience. Go there with him when he takes the stage at 9 p.m. Coming and going Claire Holley @ Mack and Mack (GSO), Friday Claire Holley possesses the kind of folkpop warble that suggests Rickie Lee Jones, and while “the dutchess of coolsville” has departed Los Angeles for New Orleans, the Mississippi-born Holley now makes her home in LA. Holley developed her art in North Carolina in the mid-1990s. She performs songs from her new album Time in the Middle, which also brings to mind Lucinda Williams’ Essence, at Mack and Mack. Hosted by Triad Acoustic Stage, the show starts at 8 p.m. Live out loud Out Loud Summer Fest @ New York Pizza (GSO), Friday and Saturday Some names, like Matty Sheets, will be familiar at this two-night festival while others derive from a more obscure provenance. Whether freak folk, hip hop or noisy experimentalism, suffice it to say it’s all fun, bubbling up from the Greensboro underground. The sets run from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. both nights. Off the chainz 2 Chainz @ Ziggy’s (W-S), Friday Go to 2 Chainz’s website and you’ll find the rapper reveling in materialism in the “GQ’s Most Expensive S***” video series. Is it the height of vapid celebrity self-absorption and mammon or an elaborate put-on? Who knows? But 2 Chainz’s declaration, “I ain’t be feeling like doing s*** but countin’ paper lately, all my b****es be wanting to have threesomes lately,” 2 Chainz had 691 likes and 35 shares. So there’s that. Travis Porter, Bankroll Fresh, Styles&Complete, DJ Dirty Skooly Cap1, DJ Hek Yeh and Short Dawg guest. Box office opens at 2 p.m.
Dolio the Sleuth mixes his rhymes seamlessly with bluegrass music.
DANIEL WIRTHEIM
Gangstagrass comes to Ziggy’s by Daniel Wirtheim
puffs from his e-cigarette, the gray-haired Between man wearing a Furthur shirt was egging on his friend, a dancing man decked out in tie-dye who staggered precariously close to the stage. Someone shouted, “Git-er-done.” It was a Friday night, Gangstagrass was playing at Ziggy’s and Texas boots and baseball hats were the height of fashion. In some ways, it’s what you’d expect from a bluegrass/hip-hop show, but in another, unexpected way, Gangstagrass’ performance showed that mixing two radically different genres can sometimes be more than novelty. Gangstagrass opened with “I’m Gonna Put You Down,” borrowing a chorus from the bluegrass standard “Dig a
Hole in the Meadow.” The song, which was originally recorded with TONEZ, was almost better with Dolio the Sleuth and R-SON the Voice of Reason on vocals. The pair can rap at nearly any speed, sometimes just progressing into gibberish. R-SON is calculated and precise with his delivery, while Dolio is restrained by the slow, folksy rhythms. Instead of falling into what could have been the ultimate stoner genre, Gangstagrass builds from the essence of lonely gunslingers, creating portraits of the romantic West. Gangstagrass started in 2006 as a mash-up of hip-hop emcees and classic bluegrass records by Rench, a Brooklyn based hip-hop and country producer. The records garnered enough success to reach the ears of the FX Network, which commissioned Rench to write a theme
song for its crime-drama “Justified.” The subsequent song, “Long Hard Times to Come,” was nominated for an Emmy and incited Rench to produce more albums as Gangstagrass. The line-up changes with each album, but Rench’s insistence that there is a market for hip-hop bluegrass remains. “I’ve gone flow-for-flow with hundreds of dudes/ knowing all the while I got nothing to lose/ and there ain’t no stopping/ I guess that I’m destined/ to keep rambling on like Led Zeppelin,” sings R-SON on “Gun Slinging Rambler,” underscoring the similarities between the Wild West and the streets where hip hop was born. Rench often takes on the chorus, his voice lacking the conviction of great bluegrass singers. He sings about being a real cowboy but comes off as a coun-
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classic for barroom revelry. Gangstagrass gets their charm from insisting that what they do will work, and in some ways it does. For a band that could easily be stuck playing the soundtrack to smoke shops across the nation, there’s enough self-awareness to just how ridiculous bluegrass and hip-hop fusion is that only a purist of either genre would have nothing good to say.
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one long, swelling dobro solo — the most impressive part of the set —were often interrupted by R-SON’s hype. He would chime in with, “Cakalaka, where you at?” or, “Gangstagrass, let’s do this thing.” It was jarring and disruptive to any synergy that was happening, only for the purpose of reminding everyone that, yes, it is very cool to play bluegrass and hip hop all at once. Despite some of the shortcomings, Gangstagrass has charisma. “Man of Constant Sorrow,” a song originally written for sad and lonely folk singers, expertly arranged the Stanley Brothers
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try boy who prefers Mountain Dew to moonshine. They have all the makings of the standard bluegrass band; a fiddle, an acoustic guitar, a dobro and banjo. The hip-hop element comes in as a thick backbeat, bright and uncomplicated. It’s lame by most hip-hop standards but well suited for the high-tones of the fiddle. There’s a comical aspect to their movements. Dolio stands near the back, nodding his head during most of the set, but when the song presents itself, he suddenly transforms. He dashes across the floor, making dramatic sweeping movements as he raps. R-SON takes on a master-of-ceremonies persona, introducing band members and hyping up the crowd in-between songs. There are at least 40 people in attendance, almost all white. The crowd has already been drinking for an hour by the time Gangstagrass began. A flabby man with a shirt that reads, “Beer; because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad” makes an aggressive push to the bar. Near the front of the stage, the tie-dyed shirt is swaying back and forth, noticeable inebriated. The few instrumental breaks, like the
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In my day, we didn’t have ‘recessions…’ ‘Immigration’ Salon Series @ Reynolda Manor Branch Library (W-S), Wednesday Guest speakers Leonard Clein and Athena Gallins retell their history as Greek and Jewish immigrants who traveled to Winston-Salem in the early 1900s. Their experiences, contextualized around the two World Wars and the Great Depression, might reveal a foul or friendly side of Winston’s past. For more information, visit newwinston.org. Do you know who you are? Me neither Issues of Identity @ Sawtooth School for Visual Arts (W-S), Friday Using contemporary society for context, six artists address the age-old quandary of self-identity. A medley of philosophical, social and moral issues, this exhibition opens on Friday and follows with an artist meet-and-greet later in August. For more information, visit sawtooth. org. Art with a twist Spoonmosa Sunday @ Weatherspoon Art Museum (GSO), July 26 What’s classier than champagne? Champagne and fine art. Tour the Weatherspoon with museum professionals, drinking and making tipsy artistic interpretations. Fine art’s fantastic with a drink in your hand.
“People forget that we’re rugged animals,” William Cheek, the man behind Fourth Winter Mfg. Co. in Greensboro, said.
ERIC GINSBURG
Juggling three jobs and a leatherwork hustle by Eric Ginsburg
William Cheek tips his tattoo artist in handSometimes, made leatherwork. He’d probably pay for a whole piece that way if he could. Cheek, a heavily tattooed Greensboro native with the letters S-I-N-K and S-WI-M written on his knuckles, has always been alternative, he said. He was picked on in school and dropped out his junior year, later finishing at home and spending several semesters at GTCC studying physical therapy. He doesn’t care about the priorities most of our society clings to, he says, and part of the reason that two nautical themed tattoos cover the backs of his hands is to intentionally prevent him from working the kind of desk job that would judge him by his looks. “People forget that we’re rugged
containers he makes from scrap materianimals,” he said, adding that working al for less than he could probably fetch, with his hands and alongside people he but then charging more would defeat trusts has been rewarding for him. the purpose. And he frequents the busiHe managed to find several jobs in nesses of other tattooed entrepreneurs the city that has grown to feel like who support him, like Nick Benshoff of his own, including a shoe-repair gig, Bandito Burrito an occasional food truck and beer merchanPullout Find Fourth Winter Mfg. Co. Crafted owner dising job and Kristina Fuller, in a he works a on Instagram or at Hudson’s whose hands he few shifts at Hill in downtown Greensboro. placed a wallet Hudson’s Hill one day. clothing store Cheek recently downtown. gave someone one of his creations after It makes sense that someone who bethey talked to him about it long enough gan leatherworking because he couldn’t and seemed genuinely interested in his afford the products he wanted would process. That’s what matters most, he believe in keeping his handiwork acadds: honest communication and intercessible. Since taking up the trade two personal relationships. years ago, right before his 25th birthday, His approach hasn’t led to any sort of Cheek has tried to embody that ethos. meteoric rise or widespread buzz for his He sells the wallets, sheaths and other
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about his leatherwork. After making wholesale billfolds for the South Elm Street store, Cheek began consigning his craftsmanship there in January. Working with Hudson’s Hill gave him access to more space and tools, but Cheek is just as inclined to talk about the friends he’s made at the store, describing excursions together after a long day on the job. The leatherwork is still a side gig, an enjoyable hustle on top of his three jobs. He’s busiest as the winter holidays approach, cranking out custom orders. Before then Cheek plans to draw up some standard designs — right now each one is different, and the process takes longer, he said. Even while he finds small ways to streamline his labor, he still cuts and punches the leather by hand, without the aid of machines, though he generally doesn’t hand-stain anymore. But no matter what, his leatherwork will maintain a handmade look and Cheek’s almost non-commercial approach. That’s just who he is.
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Fourth Winter Mfg. Co. — those aren’t his goals, and he seemed somewhat surprised that anyone would want to read about him in a newspaper. But other people have shared Cheek’s attitude, and it propels him forward. A friend who makes knives crafted one for him to cut leather with. And after Hudson’s Hill began carrying Cheek’s work, one of the store’s proprietors set him up with a custom order for glasses cases for the View. During a recent shift at the hip downtown clothing store, dressed in ripped black jeans with a Nausea band patch near his left knee and a T-shirt repping a friend’s skateboarding documentary project, he spread a few of his pieces out on a coffee table that is covered in old denim. There were valet trays made from several kinds of leather, wallets of various kinds of stitching and small, triangular pouches that could hold coins or guitar picks inside a pocket. In the back of the shop, somebody was hammering loudly and working on a pair of jeans. Cheek first came into Hudson’s Hill looking for moustache wax, and proprietor Evan Morrison stopped him to talk
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Retirement, my dear Watson Mr. Holmes @ A/pertur Cinema (W-S), Friday A new twist on Sir Arthur Doyle’s mysteries, Mr. Holmes stars Ian McKellen as an aged and somewhat senile Sherlock. As he struggles with weakening intellect, Holmes takes on a young apprentice. This is not “Sherlock,” and McKellan is not Robert Downey Jr, but with an award-winning cast and crew, this film looks promising. For more information, visit aperturecinema. com. Hope in unlikely places Old South Documentary @ The corner of East Bragg and Arlington streets (GSO), Saturday This film documents a traditionally black neighborhood in Athens, Ga., as an elite, predominantly white fraternity relocates into the area. When property interests and cultural values clash, tensions rise. The documentary narrates an underlying theme of race relations within American communities. The showing, sponsored by Elsewhere, will be followed by a Q&A with director Danielle Beverly. For more information, visit goelsewhere.org. Human see, human do Planet of the Apes @ Carolina Theater (GSO), July 28 The sci-fi classic, featuring everyone’s favorite damn dirty apes, is back on the big-screen for one night only. When George Taylor crash-lands on a foreign planet, he’s astonished to find Earth, years into the future, is a madhouse inhabited by intelligent, talking apes. For more information, visit carolinatheatre.com.
Alstory Simon was released from prison last October.
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journalism students at When Northwestern University got Anthony Porter exonerated for the murder of two teenagers only two days before his execution was to be carried out, they were hailed as heroes. Alstory Simon, the true murderer was placed behind bars. The story led to public outcry against the execution process, and only months later then-governor George Ryan suspended the death penalty in the state of Illinois. That was in 1999. The 2015 documentary film playing at Red Cinemas, A Murder in the Park, follows the investigation all the way to
a series of interviews, archival clips, Simon’s release last October. Andrew Hale, the film’s executive charts, timelines and dramatic recreations, A Murder in the Park argues that producer, is one of Simon’s current the 1982 murder of two teenagers in lawyers in a $40 million lawsuit against Northwestern, his earlier defense Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood was indeed attorney, a private investigator and the work of Porter, and that Simon is David Protess, Currently playing at Red simply a scapegoat the professor of Cinemas. Visit redcinemas. in a much larger Northwestern who com for showtimes. scandal. It has the led the journalism team that accused quick-paced moveSimon. ments of a crime The film, directed by Shawn Rech documentary with all the real-time investigative appeal of Sarah Koenig’s and Brandon Kimber, tells a story of hit “Serial” podcast. deception and manipulation. Through
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Holy off-Broadway, Batman! Bat Boy: The Musical @ Carolina Theatre (GSO), Wednesday Edgar is no superhero; his pale face and pointed ears might cause even cause a fright. But this lonely boy is just searching for his place in smalltown America. Based on a 1992 article from faux newspaper the Weekly World News, Bat Boy is a dark comedy that premiered in 1997 in Tim Robbin’s Actor’s Gang Theatre in California. For more information, visit carolinatheatre.com.
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Munching mushrooms Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Jr. @ Twin City Stage (W-S), July 26 The Twin City’s tiniest actors are bringing this fabled fantasy to life. Alice, whose curiosity consumes her at every turn, tumbles down the rabbit hole for an adventurous escape. For more information, visit twincitystage. org.
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Who’s Michael Crawford? High School Musical Jr. @ Hanesbrands Theatre (GSO), Saturday Disney’s tackiest teen fad is back in the limelight as a theater production. A play for children by children, this show touches on bullying, peer pressure, perseverance and self-respect. For more information, visit ctgso.org
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Feeling pretty greasy West Side Story @ Stained Glass Playhouse (W-S), Friday This American Broadway classic, a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, reminds one that finger-snapping is an art, not a skill. Usually a grandiose performance and sophisticated soundtrack, the play is being shown on the small stage inside the playhouse by an equipped cast and capable crew. For more information, visit stainedglassplayhouse.org
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comes from its unfinished ending, with the potential for new witnesses to come forward and ongoing litigation battles between Simon, Northwestern and Protess. Protess is one of the most contentious figures throughout the film. It’s often suggested that the impetus for exonerating Porter was to write a book and make a movie of his own — which he did. The film alleges that Protess’ desire to prove that Porter is innocent led the inexperienced Northwestern students to overlook important facts and evidence. Protess has since left Northwestern University to assume the role of president of the Chicago Innocence Center, where he works to free wrongly convicted inmates. “Somehow Anthony Porter’s photo is on the front page rather than the mugs of Andrew Hale and his merry men,” wrote Protess, in a November 2013 article in the Huffington Post. “What’s wrong with this picture?”
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Then he said he saw Porter running by after the shooting. Then Taylor claimed to have seen Porter actually shooting the couple. When one of Protess’ students called Taylor, he declined to make a statement. But private investigator Paul J. Ciolino, who is consistently portrayed as a crook throughout the film, shows up at Taylor’s apartment and through a series of dubious efforts, gets the affidavit he wanted. In it, Taylor indicates that police had forced him into naming Porter the assailant. Years later, Taylor recanted this version, once again claiming that Porter was the killer. Ciolino later gets Simon’s confession by rushing into the house while Simon is high on crack-cocaine and showing him a clip of an actor claiming to be a witness who testifies that Simon is the killer. Another video shows his estranged ex-wife, Inez Jackson, claiming that Simon killed the couple. In a third clip, while under duress, Simon reads a script as he looks pathetically into the camera, claiming to have murdered the couple. At some points, A Murder in the Park plays like a legal brief, serving 20 years of information in 90 minutes. Like “Serial,” much of the allure to crime
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It begins late one night in 1982 as a bunch of teenagers are hanging out at a gated swimming pool in Washington Park. It’s not their pool; they’ve jumped the fence. Four boys are by the diving board, two are sitting and talking on some concrete steps and one is just drying off when two strangers enter the pool area. This is where the elements get hazy. The boy drying off, William Taylor, says that he was robbed at gunpoint for the two dollars in his pocket. He recognized the one face clearly; it was Porter. He watched Porter climb to the top of the stairs where the two teenagers, Marilyn Green and her fiancé Jerry Hillard, were talking. Porter and his accomplice allegedly sit next to the couple for a moment before opening fire on Green and Hillard. The boys by the diving board jump underwater for cover. That’s the story through Taylor’s testimony. He’s the most credible witness throughout A Murder in the Park — the only one who was able to actually see what went down on the steps. But that wasn’t always his story. Initially, Taylor didn’t see the murder.
Got a show coming up? Send your theater info to brian@triad-city-beat.com.
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Foos rush in 2015 World Cup Foosball Tournament @ Old Salem Visitor Center (W-S), Saturday It’s teams of two in this bracket-style showdown. The proceeds benefit Old Salem & Gardens, the foosball-less town that recreates life in the 18th Century. There will be no windmill-spins, but there will be craft-beer tasting by Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops, appetizers and an open bar. I pity the foos who miss this. Tournament starts at 7 p.m. Hoop days Let’s Play! @ High Point Museum (HP), Saturday It’s hard to imagine that before video games, rolling hoops with sticks was a stimulating experience. High Point Museum is celebrating the games of old with all the context of the colonial days. Costumed actors will demonstrate to families and children how to play with graces and stilts. What a great opportunity to get those thirty minutes of outdoor time. The games begin at 10 a.m. Expressive calisthenics Field day @ Elsewhere Art Museum (GSO), Saturday Tom Russoti is kind of a big deal. His work has been featured in the New York Times and other huge news outlets for creating the right mix between play and art. In a world where major sports sell multi-million dollar ads, Russoti is one guy doing his best to put the art back into physical sports. As a resident of Elsewhere, Russoti is hosting a series of “field days” to exhibit his unique brand of sport. The day begins at 10 a.m. Visit goelsewhere.org for more information.
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The kids sit criss-cross applesauce on the gleaming hardwood, squirming on their butts and craning their necks to
get a look. The littlest ones have maybe 6 years, with the big’uns topping out at 14. And while the head coach runs through the paces of orientation — gonna have a lot of fun, gonna learn a lot of things — none of these kids can take their eyes off the Globetrotters. There’s just two of them here at the Greensboro Sportsplex for basketball camp today: Anthony Blakes, who wears the jersey name Buckets, out of Phoenix, Ariz; and Eric Hall, a product of Greensboro who rode Smith High to Radford University, where he stacked up enough blocks and rebounds to make it to the fringes of the pro game and, as a Globetrotter, earn the nickname Hacksaw. And in their royal blue jerseys and candy-striped trunks, they are resplendent. These are not my Globetrotters — I came up with Geese Ausbie, who turned down an NBA contract to play with the team; the mellifluously named Meadowlark Lemon; Greensboro’s own ballhandler Curly Neal. These guys played a game of pure entertainment, incorporating wild plays, trick shots and buckets of water into the show. In this era, their eternal rivals the Washington Generals became the losingest team in professional sports, always glaringly white in their green uniforms decades before Larry Bird played for the Celtics. They traced their tenure with the team back to its founder Abe Saperstein, who didn’t exactly found it so much as appropriate it from its Chicago roots back in the 1920s and then bring the show on the road. The Globetrotters were never from Harlem; Saperstein chose the home turf to convey the racial makeup of the squad. And in those early days, they
never trotted the globe but barnRichmond, Va. stormed through the Midwest and, in Hall became a Globetrotter six years 1940, became champions of the world. ago, just after graduating Radford. That was the World Basketball ChamThe team he joined is a far cry from pionships, an invitational tourney put Saperstein’s barnstormers — who in on by a Chicago newspaper open to prothe beginning wanted to be acknowlfessional, amateur and barnstorming edged as a genuine team — and from teams. The ’Trotters beat the Chicago the antic-laden squads of Curly and Bruins 31-29, with an amazing 12 points Meadowlark. Today’s Globetrotters play from Sonny Boswell, who was named a faster brand of ball, with some more the MVP. street to their game than anything the Buckets, by contrast, averaged 13 NBA puts out. points a game his senior year at the And though Hall is still an unrestrictUniversity of Wyoming, enough to bring ed free agent in the league, he has no him to the Canadian and European problems with his career in the red, leagues, the US semipro circuit and, white and blue uni of the longest-runeventually, the Globetrotters. ning team in the money game. The team actually trots the globe There may not be a championship — a these days — Blakes says he’s on his real one, anyway — in his future with fourth passport. the squad, but there isn’t one in his “It’s by far the best life and basketball past, either. His team at Radford made experience,” he tells the kids. it to the NCAA tournament just once “Any of you kids got asthma or while he was there, in his senior year of anything like that?” the coach asks the 2009. They lost in the first round to the children on the floor. They squirm some UNC Tarheels. more, reluctant to convey weakness in Sometimes it’s better to be a Globefront of the ballers. After three counseltrotter. ors raise their own hands, several of the “We win a lot,” he says. kids join in. This day with the kids, on his home “Okay, we gonna stretch out a little turf, is a win of a different sort. bit,” coach says, “then we gonna roll for the next couple hours.” They fill up both nets at four courts at the sportsplex, working on the give-and-go, the behind-theback pass, defensive footwork, the coast-to-coast. The little ones working on the backdoor pass can’t seem to get the hang. “You gotta dribble when you run!” “Pass it first!” Part of the distraction are the Globetrotters themselves — the kids can’t stop looking at them, even when they’re supposed to be working the low post. Buckets can deal with it. He’s one of 10 children. “It’s important to me to be a good role model,” he told them earlier. Hall, who at 6-foot-8 looks like a windmill in a cornfield, has transcended his Greensboro roots. He’s BRIAN CLAREY “been around the world and back,” Globetrotter Anthony “Buckets” Blakes coaches a he says. Now he makes his home in youngster at the Sportsplex.
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1 Like some strict diets 2 Tree that yields gum arabic 3 Dana of “Desperate Housewives” 4 Fluish 5 ___-com 6 Court note-taker 7 Uninteresting 8 180-degree turn 9 Small amount 10 Civil War historian Foote 11 Leatherneck’s motto, briefly 12 One of five lakes 13 “That really stuck in my ___” 18 “Double Dare” host Summers 23 ___ on the Shelf (Christmas figure) 25 “The Girl From Ipanema” saxophonist 26 Open, in Cologne 27 Pitch-raising guitar device 28 College town northeast of Los Angeles 31 College student’s stereotypical meal 32 At lunch, perhaps 33 Day-___ paint 35 Feeling of apprehension 38 Florida footballer, for short 39 ___ Aduba (“OITNB” actress) 40 Victoria Falls forms part of its border 41 Fat, as in Fat Tuesday 42 Athlete’s leg muscle 43 Hybrid citrus from Jamaica 48 They eagerly await your return 49 Like songs that get stuck in your head 50 Blue stuff 52 Curtain-parting time 53 Airport serving Tokyo 54 Alpine race 57 Atrocities 58 Color of a corrida cape 59 Like folk traditions 60 Cash-free transaction 64 “Green Acres” theme song prop 65 Bent pipe shape 66 Human cannonball’s destination 67 So ___
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1 Low points 7 Close pals 11 “Just a ___!” 14 Animal spotted in zoos 15 Actress Remini 16 ___ on the side of caution 17 “I’ll play some background music. How about ‘___’, that #1 hit from 2012 ...” 19 First name in soccer 20 Obamacare acronym 21 “I doubt it” 22 Surname in cartoon scent trails 24 Summon, as a butler, “Downton Abbey”-style 27 Dish alternative 29 Vanessa of “Saturday Night Live” 30 “Better yet, let’s have that ___ ringtone character perform the theme song ...” 34 Black, white or (Earl) Grey, e.g. 36 He warned against the all-syrup Squishee 37 Ear or mouth ending 38 “While you’re solving, think of the soothing sounds of a ___ in your ear ...” 44 Israeli weapon 45 College sr.’s exam 46 Eighth mo. 47 “I’ll provide the clues in a visually pleasing ___ font ...” 51 Bates and Thicke, for two 55 German sausages, informally 56 Partner of dental and vision 58 What Frank mistook his intervention for in “It’s Always Sunny” 60 Cherokee or Tahoe, e.g. 61 “___-la-la!” (Captain Underpants call) 62 Poetic planet 63 “If these clues get you nowhere, you can ___ to stimulate the mind!” 68 Crocodile feature 69 “Hey, Jorge!” 70 Basic shelter 71 Approval from a futbol fan 72 Restaurant reviewer’s website 73 Water under the bridge, maybe
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thing that matters. Seeing someone reading this paper while waiting for a takeout order at Golden Wok in Greensboro, or having a city employee stop me to say how much he appreciates us is a reminder that this newspaper may still be barely a toddler, but we’re starting to walk. Our acceptance into the Association of Alternative Newsmedia this past weekend feels like finally catching our balance. In a few hours I’ll wake up and begin a round of editing before heading into our small office. Jorge, our art director who could be considered the vertebrae of this operation, will already be diligently working at his standing desk. And when I look at him, or you, or this paper, I have to believe the saying painted by the artists at Pixels & Wood in Winston-Salem onto one of their pieces: “Hustle and heart will set you apart.” There is no other option.
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emails that went unanswered and people whose contributions to keeping us alive didn’t receive the proper recognition. Small, easy things fall down the list of priorities and remain unfinished, and we aren’t where we want to be; when our latest interns finished up, we could only afford to buy them a round of drinks rather than a proper meal or a parting gift. I’ve always felt like the American Dream is a load of BS, realizing that opportunity has much more to do with class, race and who you know than how hard you work. In high school I argued at the dinner table with my dad, insisting that there was no way that he — as a hospital administrator — worked harder than the people who cleaned the building. I stand by that, but I also have to believe that we can carve out a place for the kind of relevant, local journalism and hard-hitting news that we aspire to produce here. Our cities must be a place where these things are valued, cherished even. Every time it’s hard to push forward, to keep throwing everything I can into this, I remind myself of the millions of Americans who don’t have the luxury of deciding to stick their necks out like we are. Some are people like Epstein and Calderon, the two friends I see while taking intermittent breaks to watch “How to Make It in America.” But most aren’t trying to make a dream real, they’re just trying to hustle to stay alive. I want to be worthy of this privileged opportunity, to create something that is deserving of you, dear reader. Some-
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Somehow we’re still here, almost a year later, particularly thanks to the thousands of dollars our supporters contributed via Kickstarter. I’ve watched Jordan tighten his proverbial belt, endlessly bringing in PB&J sandwiches to the office and picking up lawnmowing gigs to scrape together extra cash. Last week I had to spend two weekday mornings freelancing for scratch after spent the previous week housesitting. And thank god for Jill keeping Brian and their kids afloat. I never thought when I told Brian I’d join him in this venture that after more than a year I’d still be spending my entire Wednesday each week driving around to distribution stops in Winston-Salem. And it feels like there’s been a neverending stream of completely unexpected challenges, like the current temporary absence of both of our regular columnists the same week that an intern is on vacation and Brian and our publisher, Allen Broach, are in Utah. After picking up an additional article last Monday to help carry the weight, I found myself volunteering for yet another piece that Friday after Plan A and Plan B disintegrated. I’m not alone — as Brian says, “I will do whatever it takes to keep this thing going.” Jordan, too. Because as I explained to a daily newspaper editor who tried to recruit me after this publication started rocking the boat: “In many ways Triad City Beat is me, and I am it.” Our path is littered with mistakes, and we continue to come up short in various ways. There are still a couple of outstanding Kickstarter rewards, and many more leads we forgot about,
Up Front
When Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon’s startup fashion line sputters after a jolting start, the by Eric Ginsburg two friends begin searching for side hustles. With Calderon working off a debt to his uncle but looking to move into his own apartment, he begins using an energy-drink promo truck to ferry around his weed-dealing friend, and Epstein finds himself drawing a menu-board at a vegan doughnut joint. It’s all too easy to relate. Co-founding a business and trying to keep it alive is an exhilarating thing, but at times it feels like trying to breathe life back into a helium balloon that is slowly drifting towards the floor. Triad City Beat has existed formally, publicly, for a short enough amount of time that we could still track its lifespan like a toddler — in August, this newspaper will be 18 months old. We’re just now starting to walk, though we still fall hard sometimes, but we can’t let go of the belief that this is possible. There is no other option, we remind each other. And that’s because we’re already all in. There have been pay periods akin to waiting for the bus that never showed. It’s like being a valet again when everyone stiffed us on tips, only magnified. There’s been at least one desperate call to my parents, the “I tried to act like I could do this on my own but I just don’t think we’re going to make it,” conversation.
triad-city-beat.com
Trying to make it in a ‘dying’ industry
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triad-city-beat.com Illustration by Jorge Maturino