TCB March 8, 2017 — Rental housing: Extraction or survival?

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point March 8 – 14, 2017 triad-city-beat.com

FREE

RENTAL HOUSING

EXTRACTION OR SURVIVAL? Hoop hopes PAGE 20 Veggie variety PAGE 16 Service stoppage PAGE 6

The uncertain economics of real estate investment through the Great Recession

PAGE 12

March 8 – 14, 2017

celebrating the luck of the irish With Piedmont firefighter’s PiPes and drums band a bar Where laW enforcement, firefighters, medical Personnel, military and their suPPorters can hang out. not your normal bar scene. it’s better!

2

kellydays.com 701 liberty st. Winston-salem

Clogging the system It began as a relatively simple home project: Clear the lint from the dryer so we can dry a load in fewer than three cycles. So I pulled

by Brian Clarey the sucker out, removed the front panel and cleared a fine sheet of lint about an inch deep from underneath the works.

But in moving things around I discovered a tragically clogged duct running to the outside vent, the true culprit of this throttling of our laundry cycle.

Unwilling to call in a professional, I made my first trip to the store and procured a kit designed for the very purpose of cleaning wet lint from clogged dryer ducts, and so I threaded this device through about 30 feet of duct line, chucked it to my drill and cleared out a monstrous wad of wet lint, pale blue and gray in the early afternoon light, with flecks of color and held together by thick tendrils of human hair. It was so wet and dense that if I gathered a chunk of it in my hand and threw it against the wall, it would have made a very satisfying thwack and stayed up there long after it hardened and dried.

I resisted that impulse, largely because

of the smell of the stuff, and instead dispersed it on my lawn with my feet, gagging the whole time. I cleared the rest with my leaf-blower, in all taking about a pillowcase full of the stuff out of my life.

Like most dryer lint, ours is comprised of tiny pieces of our clothes — which, every time they are dried, leave bit of themselves behind. But most of it, I think, is more elemental stuff: our hair, for sure, and coarse bits of fur from the cats, but also gross, gray bits of our dead skin, salt from our sweat absorbed by our clothes and then extracted by the heat.

Over the course of seven years, a human body will replace almost every single cell in its structure. Our bodies have ways of eliminating these dead cells — some of which, as it turns out, ends up in our dryer vents, which are not quite as self-regulating.

It had been too long, and these old pieces of ourselves were jamming up the works. Over years they had turned into a toxic sluice that served no purpose except to inconvenience me and my family and stink up our house.

It took longer than I thought — half a day, and two trips to the hardware store, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. And now the lines are clear.

Triad City Beat’s

triad-city-beat.com

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Anniversary Party Friday, March 24th @ 6pm

Kleur Shop 724 Trade St NW, Winston-Salem • 724-422-5553

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘You didn’t try to shoot Gerald Ford,’ I reassure myself, right before I freak out and ask, ‘But what have you done with your life?’

– Jelisa Castrodale in Triaditude Adjustment, page 23

triad-city-beat.com

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey

ART ART DIRECTOR Jorge Maturino

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Dick Gray

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

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

jorge@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

eric@triad-city-beat.com

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

EDITORIAL INTERN Joel Sronce intern@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Kat Bodrie Spencer KM Brown

Cover photography by Carolyn de Berry A phone book left on a front porch is a tell-tale sign of a longstanding vacancy.

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2017 Beat Media Inc.

Jelisa Castrodale Stallone Frazier Matt Jones

Eric, Brian and Jordan: the Three Amigos

3

March 8 – 14, 2017

CITY LIFE Mar. 8 – 14

by Joel Sronce

WEDNESDAY

Revolution: New Art for a New World @ Aperture Cinema (W-S), 8 p.m.

Join Aperture for a one-night special event presented with Art Nouveau Winston-Salem. The feature documentary Revolution: New Art for a New World tells the story of artists during the Russian Revolution who created and pushed the boundaries of the Russian avant-garde. More info at aperturecinema.com.

FRIDAY Abigail Dowd @ Tasting Room (GSO), 7 p.m.

Singer/songwriter and guitarist Abigail Dowd brings her bluesy, fingerpicking style to Greensboro. The show is one of several March tour dates in North Carolina and Virginia, promoting her debut album Don’t Wake Me, which was released in January 2017. More info at abigaildowd.com.

SATURDAY 2921-D Battleground Ave. • Greensboro

thehubltd.com • 336-545-6535

SPREADING JOY ONE PINT AT A TIME

Community food drive @ Church of God of West High Point The congregation, along with the national nonprofit Move For Hunger, asks Triad residents to donate nonperishable food items including peanut butter, tuna fish, pasta, cereal, rice, canned fruits and vegetables and more to help provide meals for the 97,000 people in Guilford County who face hunger every day.

More info at moveforhunger.org.

Pedagogy of Survival @ the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (GSO), 2 p.m.

Karen Meadows narrates the hardships and successes of desegregation pioneers, including Josephine Boyd Bradley, who integrated Greensboro’s Grimsley High School. The event is a part of the museum’s weekly Saturday Storytelling, which invites students and parents to hear community leaders and educators narrate stories and interact with participants. More info at sitinmovement.org.

SUNDAY Monday Geeks Who Drink Pub Quiz 7:30 Tuesday Live music with Piedmont Old Time Society Old Time music and Bluegrass 7:30 Wednesday Live music with J Timber and Joel Henry with special guests 7:30

Thursday Live music with Josh King, Mark Kano, and Jordan Powers with special guests 8:30 Friday, Saturday, Sunday BEER

4

joymongers.com | 336-763-5255 576 N. Eugene St. | Greensboro

Yappy Hour @ LeBauer Park (GSO), 3 p.m.

Bring your four-legged friends to the park this weekend to check out new toys, treats and activities. Dog and humans mix, mingle, meet old friends and make new ones. More info on the Facebook event page.

Swamp Sistas songwriters circle @ SECCA (W-S), 5 p.m.

Beth McKee — a Gulf Coast singer, songwriter and pianist — leads Greensboro’s Molly McGinn, New Orleans artist Lynn Drury and Momma Molasses of Carthage, NC, in a collaborative showcase of female entertainers of the South. An “art social” featuring Skunk Trunk, Winston-Salem native Madalyn Wofford’s mobile art gallery, kicks off the event. More info at secca.org.

triad-city-beat.com

Anthology of American Folk Music

Opinion Cover Story

They are more than cultural resources or quirky antiques. Each one is an unquiet tomb, begging to be explored.

With patience and esteem, the ghosts come alive.

Witness the life and death of John Henry in “Gonna Die with My Hammer in My Hand” by Williamson Brothers and Curry. Feel the lament in Jim Jackson’s “Old Dog Blue.” Explore North Carolina’s century-old musical traditions through Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, the Carolina Tar Heels, and more. Hear the incredible, vindictive end of “James Alley Blues” as Richard “Rabbit” Brown sings, “Sometimes I think that you too sweet to die/ And another time I think you oughta be buried alive.”

And yes, even investigate Parker’s mouse-frog nuptials.

News

for what’s known as the folk revival. More than any single cultural text, some say, it “invented the sixties.”

Inside the Anthology, some of Smith’s synopses are fascinating. If Chubby Parker’s “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” isn’t gripping enough as a title, Smith’s corresponding summary — “Zoologic Miscegeny Achieved in Mouse-Frog Nuptials, Relatives Approve” — seals the deal.

But many components behind Smith’s creation are controversial. Not only does the anthology qualify as an extensive bootleg — the complete licensing rights not attained until the 1997 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings CD-release — but even from a place of admiration, the for-profit appropriation of music demands serious ethical debate.

Whatever the case, this endorsement isn’t for him; it’s for the songs themselves.

Up Front

by Joel Sronce Throughout the 1940s, artist and record aficionado Harry Smith collected 78s, the brittle, shellac records made between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries that spin their songs at 78 revolutions per minute. Most were referred to as “hillbilly records” or “race records” by those whose cultural and economic backgrounds differed from the purveyors of those musical traditions. Most were recorded before the Great Depression.

By the time Smith attempted to sell his collection to Moses Asch, the founder of Folkways Records, it had grown to several thousands discs. But rather than purchase the collection, Asch suggested a folk anthology, which Smith then assembled, revised and intensively annotated.

In 1952, Folkways Records released Smith’s 84-song, six-album compilation. According to some historians, the Anthology became a musical constitution

6 ways TCB grew in its third year

5. The website A great paper needs a vibrant website. Ours, triad-city-beat. com, just posted a record month with almost 99,000 pageviews.

The surge came from two big stories we broke — threats against Muslims and a billboard on Business 40 that generated outrage and debate. As of this week, we are just a few months shy of cracking 2 million all-time pageviews.

Triaditude Adjustment

6. New products and services A mature altweekly looks like an advertising agency that puts out a website and weekly newspaper. So we’ve created a full-service marketing department that incorporates print, digital, content and social strategies with an eye towards helping small, local businesses. This is as much a part of Beat Media’s mission as the journalism.

Shot in the Triad

3. New writers There’s been a shuffle in our editorial department in our third year as Eric Ginsburg took on managing editor duties and eased off the cultural and news writing. We’ve moved Senior Editor Jordan Green off the music beat and onto the news desk full time, and picked up poet and novelist Spencer KM Brown in his place.

Spirited specialist Kat Bodrie took over the Barstool column.

And after Nicole Crews shuttered All She Wrote, we enlisted international freelance gadfly Jelisa Castrodale to create Triaditude Adjustment. We took on a new intern this year as well, Joel

4. Our first national award The Association of Alternative Newsmedia, which includes such luminaries in our industry as IndyWeek in the Triangle, the Village Voice from New York City and New Orleans’ FILE PHOTO Gambit, awarded Jordan Green Second Place in the Best Political Columns category for papers with a circulation below 45,000 — some of them about four times the size of ours.

Crossword

2. New boxes We put more than 40 new newspaper boxes on the street in the last 12 months, each one hand-painted by Art Director Jorge Maturino. We’ve got the classic white TCB box, a few that are black with white accents and a few chromed-out jobs that don’t do as well on the street as the others in terms of numbers, but look cool enough that I’m keeping them that way.

Sronce, who is now penning our sports column, Sportsball.

Sportsball

1. Growth That Triad City Beat has been alive and breathing for three years now surprises me as much as it does anybody else. But here we are. And we’re growing at a clip steep enough to satisfy my various business coaches.

I’m thankful to this amazing staff for staying on the grind long enough to Five months in, July 2014. We all look a lot older now. see some results.

Culture

by Brian Clarey

5

March 8 – 14, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

6

NEWS

Triad refugee agencies adjust to drastic reduction in new arrivals

by Jordan Green

Three local refugee-resettlement agencies are forced to downsize in response to an executive order by President Trump that cuts the number of refugees accepted by the United States from 110,000 to 50,000.

World Relief High Point/Winston-Salem has already laid off about 20 percent of its staff. North Carolina African Services Coalition expects to cut staff hours by 30 to 50 percent. And Church World Service Greensboro is looking to renegotiate its lease for less office space to reduce costs.

The three Triad refugee resettlement agencies have been forced to abruptly downsize as a result of a little discussed provision in President Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that reduces the number of refugees accepted in the United States from 110,000 to 50,000 per year.

The federal courts have placed a hold on major sections of the executive order, including a 120-day freeze on refugee admissions, indefinite suspension on admission of Syrian refugees, a 90-day ban on arrivals from seven Muslim-majority nations and priority for religious minorities. On Monday, the president issued a revised executive order reinstating the 120-day freeze on refugee admissions while reducing the number of countries subject to a 90-day suspension on arrivals by one (Iraq, the United States’ ally in the fight against Islam State, has been dropped from the list.

But for refugee resettlement agencies, the order to reduce the overall number of refugees from 110,000 to 50,000, which has gone unchallenged in the

courts, might be the most Germany received 441,900 asyimpactful. lum claims from people seeking “This is the part they the opportunity to resettle — couldn’t enjoin,” said Kaththe most of any country in the erine Reynolds, immigration world — in 2015, while the legal services program coordiUnited States resettled the most nator at Church World Service people, followed by Canada Greensboro. “It’s totally constiand Australia. tutional, but it’s inhumane.”

Syria, Afghanistan and The United States was on Somalia account for more than track to admit a record number half of the world’s refugees. of refugees this year, before Syrians and Congolese currentTrump’s election upended refuly represent the largest share of gee resettlement, along with so the refugee population resetmuch else in the international tled in Greensboro by Church and domestic order. Refugee World Service, Reynolds said.

JORDAN GREEN Katherine Reynolds of Church World admittance was previously Her agency also continues to Service Greensboro capped at 85,000, but Reynreceive refugees from Burma, olds said for several years the Eritrea and Iraq. bus, Ohio; and Anne Arundel County, actual number reached only 60,000 or “The number of refugees in the world Md., to adjust to the loss of revenue 65,000. The federal government had is huge — 16 million,” said Million from contracts with the State Departhired additional staff to vet refugees and Mekonnen, executive director of North ment and Department of Health and in the 2015 fiscal year, the United States Carolina African Services Coalition in Human Services for refugee resettlemet its target of 85,000 for the first Greensboro. “It is not only the United ment. All of the offices that were closed time, and President Obama increased States that is receiving a large number were in locations where there was anthe cap to 110,000. Resettlement agenof refugees. Refugees need protection. other refugee resettlement agency, said cies set their annual budgets based on It is a moral obligation for anyone that Jennifer Foy, executive director of World the 110,000 number for the new fiscal has the capacity to help. Every refugee Relief High Point/Winston-Salem. year, which began a month before the spends a significant amount of time in “The choice was, do we shrink and election. a camp. No one wants to be a refugee. kind of hobble every office or do we “All of the refugee resettlement agenI think this executive order came at the close a couple of offices and keep the cies’ budgets come from government wrong time. remaining offices stronger,” Foy said. contracts,” Reynolds said. “We’re all “The United States’ refugee resettle“We have pretty good leadership. I having to cut our budgets. If the nationment program is the most sophisticated trust them. I feel like at the time of wide budget is cut in half, that means all resettlement program in the world,” he the election we knew we were going to of our offices are getting fewer people added. “We can do a lot better than we take the hit; we just didn’t know what it and therefore fewer dollars.” are right now.” was going to look like. We had multiple World Relief ’s national leadership Both African Services Coalition and contingency plans.” elected to close five offices around the Church World Service are running Reynolds and other agency leaders country, including agencies in Miami; GoFundMe campaigns to raise money in the Triad note that Trump’s decision Nashville, Tenn.; Boise, Idaho; Columto pay for support services that would to close the door on refugees comes normally be funded through federal at a time of acute humanitarian crisis dollars attached to each new arrival. around the world. The UNHCR, the Jennifer Foy, the executive director of United Nations refugee agency, reports World Relief High Point/Winston-Sathat due to war and persecution the lem, said she doesn’t think it’s likely number of displaced persons hit an that Trump will reverse his decision to all-time high of 65.3 million in 2015. reduce the ceiling on refugee arrivals.

The UNHCR considers 16.1 million of During a June 2016 campaign stop them to be refugees, not counting 5.2 in Greensboro, Trump heaped scorn million Palestinians. on opponent Hillary Clinton’s plan to The war in Syria produced 4.9 milincrease the number of refugees from lion registered refugees in 2015. Turkey Syria, characterizing it as reckless and hosted 2.5 million people in refugee unsafe while drawing attention to the camps, with another 4.4 million residing Afghan-American perpetrator of the in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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

mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., who was born in the United States to immigrant parents.

The perpetrators of at least two recent attacks have been identified in media accounts as Somali refugees, including 18-year-old Abdul Razak Ali Artan, who rammed a crowd of people with a car and then stabbed them on the campus of Ohio State University in November, and 22-year-old Dahir Adan who attacked people with a knife in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minn. in September.

“My personal opinion is that I think we’re safer allowing refugees in,” Foy said. “If you look at a refugee camp and there’s a million people in the refugee camp and they see the United States saying, ‘We’re helping, we’re coming,’ that’s going to build goodwill. If they see us saying, ‘No, there might be a terrorist among you,’ that’s not going to build goodwill.”

While local agency leaders are under no illusion that Trump is open to lifting the ceiling, all three are loudly expressing their disagreement with the policy and urging supporters to contact members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

“The humanitarian crisis is the worst the world had seen,” Foy said. “It doesn’t seem right. The crisis is only getting worse, and the United States is stepping back and saying, ‘We’re going to do less.’ That’s not right. As one of the most powerful nations in the world, shouldn’t our humanitarian assistance increase as the need grows?”

Mekonnen added, “We are in a good position to resettle more than 50,000.

We have the proper structure. We have the moral responsibility to welcome more refugees. We need to remind our elected officials that this is a humanitarian issue. This number needs to increase.

We are encouraging community members to call senators and representatives to remind them that the United States has a tradition of welcoming people from around the world.”

Reynolds put it another way.

“At this point silence is complicity,” she said. “You can’t sit back and say, ‘I support refugees, but I’m not going to do anything.’ You need to let your elected officials know that you are in support of this.”

7

March 8 – 14, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball

by Jordan Green

With Rolling Hills under new ownership and a new management team in place, the 110unit apartment complex is undergoing a $4.3 million renovation. Ten rehabbed units, with new flooring, windows, doors, kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures were expected to come online on Tuesday.

When Steele Properties took possession of Rolling Hills Apartments in Winston-Salem last November, the company inherited a low-income housing community where residents harbored deep cynicism from repeated cycles of neglect.

The Colorado-based real estate investment company, which specializes in rehabilitation and construction of affordable multifamily housing, purchased the 110-unit apartment complex — which is subsidized through the federal Section 8 program — for $4.9 million from the Aspen Companies. The sale provided the Aspen Companies with a $1.8 million profit, compared to the $3.1 million spent to purchase the property February 2014.

As part of the financing package, which required the city to sign off on a revenue bond, Steele Properties agreed to invest $4.3 million — or $42,760 per unit — to bring the property up to code. City leaders, including Councilman Derwin Montgomery, had been dissatisfied with a previous proposal, which would have invested only $17,000 per unit.

“We’re increasing the value of the home,” said Mary Owens, the new community manager at Rolling Hills Apartments. “We’re increasing the value of the perception of the home by the

Triaditude Adjustment

8

A rehabilitated unit at Rolling Hills Apartments is almost ready to be rented out.

residents. Being multifamily here, it needs to provide a value for the tenants.”

The improvements outlined by Owens on Monday include equipping a community room at the leasing office with computers for residents to use, including children who need to do their homework, a new security gate at the entrance to the campus, and a new playground.

Owens said she was surprised to learn how many vacancies there were at Rolling Hills.

“Once the sale went through, we did a full walk-through,” she said. “We found that there were more vacancies

JORDAN GREEN

than we were told. We heard that the tenants just left.”

On top of multiple code violations under the previous ownership — the city levied more than 600 violations, affecting 96 out of 110 units — Aspen Companies was accused of fraudulently billing the US Department of Housing & Urban Development for vacant units.

The allegations were made by Jeremy Cox, a former property manager, along with Gene A. Smith, a former maintenance supervisor. The Aspen Companies has categorically denied the two employees’ claims.

Steele Properties started rehabbing the property in February, Owens said,

PIZZERIA

L’ITALIANO

Shot in the Triad

Crossword

New owner rehabilitates Rolling Hills’ image with investment

Large 1-topping pizza

11

$

99 Good through 3/14/17

Monday – Thursday

Order online at pizzerialitaliano.net

219 S Elm Street, Greensboro • 336

WE !

DELIVER 274 4810

(336) 723-7239

breakfastofcourse.com

beginning with the vacant units. She expected the first 10 to be ready to lease on Tuesday, with the entire project being complete in the latter part of 2017.

Steele Monroe Group, the company’s property management unit, is hoping to move tenants within the apartment complex as the renovations take place, but Owens said that due to the complicated logistics of the undertaking they may opt at some point to issue vouchers so that some tenants can temporarily stay offsite until repairs are complete.

“Some of them had conditions that were deferred maintenance,” Owens said of the units. “There were floors and ceilings that needed replacement.

We’re putting in central air and putting in energy-efficient windows.”

One of the units where workers from ZMG Construction were finishing up on Monday showcased matching, new black kitchen appliances, new PVC flooring with a fine grained pattern, and new windows and doors. Some but not all of the drywall had been replaced, and the entire apartment was painted.

The bathroom was equipped with a new tub, toilet, sink and shower rod.

Owens said the owners are eager to attract new tenants.

“We currently don’t have a waiting list,” she said. In a couple months, when more of the rehabbed units come online, she said she anticipates that the apartment complex will hold an open house.

“I would like to reintroduce Rolling Hills to the community,” Owens said.

A common refrain among low-income tenants and advocates is that owners often make the minimum required investment and then let the properties fall into disrepair again.

“I know that we have schedules in place to make sure that the asset is maintained,” Owens said. “We do have quarterly inspections. We have a quarterly housekeeping inspection.”

Owens said that as a part of Rolling Hills’ ownership turnover, she wants to be a welcoming presence to the residents.

“You won’t find me in the office too much,” she said. “I’m walking the grounds and interacting with the residents. It’s a really happening place.”

Mosquito Coast Times

AMBASSADOR EDITION Today, sunny, high 86. Tonight, clear, low 71. Tomorrow, early clouds, and sun later, high 88.

Details, FunDay Sunday, Page 1

triad-city-beat.com

Paid advertisement

Maya Mike, founder © 2017 Thoughtleader.com

WINSTON-SALEM, NC • MARCH 2017

$16 beyond Yucatan Peninsula

100/100 cents

in WINSTON-SALEM Establishes local trade office and delegation

BELIZE chooses

By Maya Mike

Mike@MayaMike.com

By Wilbur Scoville

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Maya Mike announces a kickstarter .com project to fund an amazing new sauce discovered on a culinary expedition to the foothills of the Maya Mountains in Belize, Central America. This incredible condiment possesses the perfect balance of heat and flavor.

Hand harvested WILD red habanero peppers indigenous to the Yucatan are naturally fruitwood-smoked and blended with ripe whole fruits and crushed native herbal seasonings and roots to make an authentic sauce with rich culinary depth.

DANGRIGA, BELIZE – Lying on the East coast of Central America, south of Mexico’s Yucatan and East of Guatemala, is English speaking Belize. Rich in history, the refuge of the sailing fleets, her harbor protected by reefs was once the home of pirates and loggers. Seldom visited except by wandering foreign craft, the former British Honduras was once one of the most inaccessible places in Central America.

Kickstarter events are occuring locally throughout the triad.

There are traditionally five known fundamental tastes in the human palate: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. Umami adds body, it is the proteiny, full-bodied taste of aged cheese, soy sauce, or cooked tomato. Capsaicin derived from capsicum can genuinely be considered the “sixth” taste. “Maya Mike’s new Belizean Barbacoa™ is a versatile condiment harmoniously balancing the six tastes, with rich depth and complex aromatics,” said Michael Touby, culinary explorer and capsicum lover.

Birding in BELIZE With more than 574 species of birds Belize has quickly become a favorite Caribbean / Central American birding spot among birders and nature lovers.

Fake news brought to you by: © 2017 ThoughtLeader.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

Triaditude Adjustment

The main task of consulates is to foster trade and maintain commercial links between two nations. It also facilitates export between the two countries.

By Edward McIlhenny

Shot in the Triad

Southwest Airlines announced non-stop service from Raleigh, North carolina to Belize City starting in June of 2016.

sauce discovered

Crossword

He said “Just last month we also eliminated visas for citizens of the USA to be able to move more swiftly from one country to the other.”

Expedition

Barbacoa™

Sportsball

Speaking to press at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Prime Minister expressed the importance of the move. The presence of a Consulate will facilitate bilateral cooperation on these issues.

Leads Culinary

Rare Belizean

Culture

BELMOPAN, BELIZE - Belize has announced the launch of a new Consulate office in Winston Salem, NC as the Caribbean/Central American nation moves to build stronger relations with the United States. A representative trade office will also be established to aid business between the two countries, and in February, the USA and Belize signed a protocol granting citizens mutual exemption from pre-entry visas. Talks are also ongoing over a double negative tax agreement.

Maya Mike

CULINARY

Cover Story

WINSTON-SALEM

MM JOURNAL

Opinion

LOCAL NEWS

News

BELIZE OPENS CONSULATE

Up Front

VOL. CLXII....No. 81,966

9

March 8 – 14, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

10

OPINION

EDITORIAL

Billboard or propaganda?

It was the billboard that launched 15,000 pageviews.

That’s how many looks our story about the patriarchal billboard on Business 40 received at triad-city-beat.com as of Monday evening, since intern Joel Sronce broke the story on Feb. 21. Pictures of the punctuation-challenged slogan — “Real men provide Real women appreciate it” — made it on the TV news as far away as Los Angeles and found outrage at the Huffington Post and several Reddit threads. A group in downtown Winston-Salem protested the billboards with a local campaign and fundraising effort for a billboard of their own.

And this weekend the offending piece of copy came down, to be replaced with a new one that bears a more snarky and verbose response: “Much Ado About Nothing A social experiment that brought forth those so immersed in their own insecurity that in the mirror they could only see an angry victim of their incorrect interpretation of a silly billboard — Bless their hearts” The person or group behind the billboard has chosen to remain in anonymity, but it’s safe to assume that none of them are English teachers.

And none of them, it seems, are students of history.

The notion itself is a gender-loaded value statement: The role of a man is to provide and the role of his woman is to simply sit back and appreciate it. It ignores the thousands of women who provide, the thousands of men who appreciate it, the single moms, the same-sex couples or any other paradigm that the America family takes on. It is exclusionary on its face.

In and of itself, most of us would be able to shrug off the sentiment like we would something uttered at a family gathering by an elderly relative who hasn’t left the house in two decades.

But up on a billboard on the most-traveled thoroughfare between our two largest cities, unattributed and unattributable to any source, these words rise to the level of propaganda, a false narrative designed to delegitimize any who don’t conform.

It’s offensive, even among people who don’t offend easily, a kind of air pollution.

We don’t deny the billboard’s originators the right to their free speech. Nor do we take issue with Whiteheart Outdoor Advertising, the billboard company owned by former Forsyth County Commissioner Bill Whiteheart, for taking their money.

But the consequences of free speech are in the hands of those who respond to the message, and the feedback loop cannot be denied. Nor can the cowardice of the billboard’s author(s), who hide(s) behind anonymity because they lack the courage to stand behind their words.

It doesn’t seem like something a real man or a real woman would do. But bless their hearts anyway.

CITIZEN GREEN

Terror and identity in the age of Trump

by Jordan Green

What concept of “heritage” might induce a convoy of people waving Confederate battle flags to drive up to a home where a group of people, mostly black, are celebrating a child’s birthday, and to point a shotgun at them while yelling racial slurs and making death

threats is unfathomable.

The fact that one of the persons terrorizing the birthday party while promoting “Confederate heritage” holds a Spanish surname is confusing, to put it mildly.

Last week, Jose I. Torres and Kayla Rae Norton, an unmarried couple who have three children together, were sentenced to 20 and 13 years respectively for their part in terrorizing the birthday party, which took place in a suburb west of Atlanta.

A judge found them guilty of not only making terrorist threats, but violating Georgia’s street-gang law. The New York Times characterizes the application of the street gang law as “an unusual legal maneuver,” while noting that “legal experts said they could not recall other instances in which a similar statute had been used to prosecute a Confederate heritage group in the Deep South.”

The public preoccupation with street gangs is heavily racialized, with attention focused on black and brown groups like the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings.

The notion of street gangs terrorizing American communities has become a trope of law enforcement and prosecution-speak. In this case, the activities of Torres and Norton, who were reportedly members of a group called Respect the Flag, actually seem to fit the charge.

Let’s just take a moment to recognize the Douglas County District Attorney’s office for equal application of the law and at least mitigating the suspicion that Georgia’s street-gang law is a tool of racial oppression.

Norton expressed remorse at the sentencing, reportedly telling some of the victims: “What happened to you is absolutely awful. From mother to mother, I cannot imagine having to explain what that word means.”

The story in the Sunday Times doesn’t reference the word in question, but presumably it begins with “N.” It’s also unclear whether Norton had difficulty imagining a black parent explaining to a child what it means to be black, or explaining how another human being could weaponize a word with hatred for purposes of intimidating and degrading a group of people based on race.

One of the ironies of the Torres-Norton saga is that the crime occurred in 2015 during the era of Barack Obama, a mixed-race president whose presidency seemed to induce acute racial anxiety among many white people. The judgment rendered against the

couple’s terrifying act came down at the beginning of the era of Donald Trump, who built his campaign around nostalgia for a more racially homogenous past and fears of outsiders, primarily Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

One of the huge questions now looming over this country in the wake of Trump’s election is whether the United States is moving towards a more tribal society.

It’s evident that white America — particularly those who are not part of academia, tech, cultural production, media and the liberal political establishment — is in open revolt against multiculturalism. But what about everyone else?

Will the pressures of Trump’s aggressive policies cause people feeling threatened to unite in common cause? Or will the former constituencies of the Obama mosaic retreat into their own corners? Will black people worried about the Justice Department giving carte blanche to racist policing conclude that intersectionality is an unaffordable luxury? Will American Muslims adopt a more insular outlook in response to slanders against their religion and threats of violence?

Will immigrant families overwhelmed by the prospect of families being broken apart move back into the shadows? Will LGBTQ people narrowly focus energy on preserving marriage equality? Will the women’s movement focus on preserving access to abortion, to the exclusion of all other issues?

There are some hopeful signs that under pressure, the bonds of mutuality defining the multicultural idea are holding up.

Immigrant protesters, many of them undocumented, chanted the slogan “Black lives matter” in front of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in downtown Greensboro on Feb. 16. They also modified a chant of, “Hey let’s be clear, immigrants welcome here,” with versions that substituted the words “refugees” and “Muslims” for “immigrants.”

Hamdy Radwan, the imam at Annoor Islamic Center in Clemmons, made a similar expression of solidarity during his Friday sermon on Feb. 24. Radwan’s message was directed at both his congregation and hundreds of people from the community who poured in to show support for Muslims in the face of Islamaphobic bigotry and threats. While pleading for interfaith understanding, Radwan expressed sadness about the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in the St. Louis suburbs.

“Anyone who attacks the sacredness of human life should be called a terrorist,” the imam said. “Everyone should stand against terrorism because that is not an Islamic behavior, not a Christian behavior, not a human behavior. We should not tolerate it. We should all of us be against it.”

Up Front News Opinion Cover Story

I am writing to you regarding the article about the needle-exchange program in Winston-Salem that appeared in the latest edition of Triad City Beat [“First do no harm”, by Jonathan Michels, March 1, 2017].

My name is Heiko Wiggers, and I am the husband of Kate McFarland, who was interviewed by Jonathan Michels for the article and who was quoted several times.

Let me say that I am one of the neighbors who still strongly opposes this program. When I read the article I got the feeling that our point of view could and should have been presented differently by Michels.

I do support needle-exchange programs, but a residential neighborhood is no place for such a program. As Michels mentioned in his article, we live right next to Green Street Church, where the program is taking place.

We have two 6-year-old children, and there are other kids

triad-city-beat.com

Needles in my backyard

in the neighborhood, not to mention a school bus stop exactly in front of the church. In addition, there is a playground in Granville Park, about 150 yards away from the church.

I find it odd that Michels fails to mention the very common-sense argument that a residential neighborhood is simply the wrong place for a needle-exchange program.

Also, Michels should have taken the trouble to investigate the current situation in Granville Park, which has seen a tremendous increase in illicit drug use in recent months.

Most of all, however, I object to Michels’ portrayal of those neighbors who oppose the program. The article gives the impression that we are ignorant and needed to be “educated” about the issue. I don’t need to be educated about this nor do I need to read the statistics that Michels quoted in his article. I simply don’t want to live next door to a needle-exchange program that was imposed on our neighborhood and to which I did not consent. Michels probably doesn’t live next door to it.

If he did then maybe he would feel “uneasy” too.

Thank you for your time.

Heiko Wiggers, Winston-Salem

Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

11

March 8 – 14, 2017

RENTAL HOUSING:

EXTRACTION OR SURVIVAL? The uncertain economics of real estate investment through the Great Recession

Cover Story

by Jordan Green

12

This is not a classic investigative story that’s set up like a prosecutorial brief, where the journalist sets out to make a case against a wrongdoer. It’s more of an exploration of a contentious topic in the vein of the popular podcast “Serial,” where the audience gets to follow along as a journalist pursues leads through a thicket of often contradictory pieces of evidence, including informational dead-ends and data points that raise more questions than they answer.

This particular story starts with a tantalizing premise about a particular real estate investment group extracting value from a large holding of low-income rental properties based on the assertions of a source with solid credentials. There are anecdotes based on interactions among a prospective buyer, tenants, tenant advocates and property managers that lend credence to the premise. Data from tax valuations also appears to support the premise.

But any reporter who has waded into a county tax revaluation can tell you that there’s a certain subjectivity to tax assessments that can make the data squishy. They’re subject to appeal, and property owners can and do argue with the numbers. Maybe sales data or private appraisals, which is respectively more scarce and not typically public, provide a clearer picture.

Triad City Beat’s commitment to reporting on housing is well established. We’ve reported on a municipal code enforcement process that was broken and resulted in thousands of dollars against landlords being waived, about a real estate company that was accused by former employees of committing fraud by invoicing the federal government for Section 8 reimbursements of vacant low-income housing units,

and historical patterns of discrimination that trap primarily African-American residents in poverty. We’ve written about gentrification and the increasing scarcity of affordable housing. Our commitment to incisive reporting on housing makes us interested in the track record of property owners who invest in housing as an income-generating business.

The motive of profit is intrinsic to any ownership group that invests millions of dollars in real estate. Yet the vast majority of investors who earn revenue from rental housing are committed to providing safe and affordable housing; most of them want to do the right thing. The track record of particular investors is often subject to a bewildering array of opinions and anecdotes by tenants, tenant advocates, property managers and the owners themselves.

Beyond meeting minimum housing standards set by the city, whether a particular owner has the ability to invest more into their properties depends on whether they have a profitable business or personal resources available to commit to the enterprise. The profitability of a privately-held business is difficult to determine from the outside, and dependent on a complex array of factors, including mortgage borrowing rates, market conditions, property management and maintenance costs.

The truth is often murky, and particularly so in matters of housing and real estate. Unlike “Serial,” where journalist Sara Koenig ultimately concludes that she wouldn’t have voted to convict Adnan Syed, this story finishes with no such judgment. Is Blade Properties III LLC a bad actor or a good steward? It would be gutsy to signal our view. Yet honesty is the paramount value of journalism, even over courage, and in

this case, with the various countervailing signals, it’s best to lay out all the evidence and let readers decide for themselves.

The five houses on the 1800 block of J Avenue in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood of Greensboro — utilitarian frame structures built in the early 1950s — looked like a good investment prospect to Stephen Sills. Tucked behind a shopping center anchored by a Food Lion grocery and situated within walking distance to Glenwood Recreation Center and Peck Elementary, they had location going for them, and they fell in Sills’ price range.

A sociologist by training, Sills leads the UNCG Center for Housing & Community Studies, which provides technical assistance to governments and nonprofits through research into fair housing, market trends, poverty and community health, among other topics. He’s also a real estate investor, with one property in Glenwood.

In the summer of 2016, Sills arranged through a broker to look at three of the properties up for sale on J Avenue.

“I went and looked at them and decided they needed far more work than I had capital for,” Sills recalled. “Hearing from the tenants, I understood there were a lot of problems: backing-up sewers and water in two of the houses, leaks in the plumbing in one of the houses. They had problems like holes in the foundation, leaks in the roofs and heating systems malfunctioning. They had been through numerous property managers. The tenants said they were always complaining to the property manager, and having little to nothing done.”

The J Avenue houses were part of a portfolio of 29

Blade Properties III owns houses across Greensboro, including the Piedmont Heights neighborhood, an area near NC A&T University and an area around Textile Drive in the northeast quad

drant of the city.

triad-city-beat.com

properties acquired for $1.3 million by five local investors in July 2005.

The seller was a company set up by the Weaver Group, one of the city’s storied real estate firms that emerged during Greensboro’s postwar housing boom. The portfolio of 29 properties also included 24 properties in an area carved out of NC A&T University’s northwest corner that is slated for demolition to accommodate the university’s planned expansion. The neighborhood is located across Lindsay Street from the old War Memorial Stadium and catty-corner to the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market.

The five investors — neighbors in Greensboro’s exclusive Irving Park neighborhood — were and are local corporate power players. J. Nathan Duggins III, who organized the investment group, is a managing partner of the Tuggle Duggins law firm. Gray McCaskill was CEO of Senn Dunn Insurance before the company was bought out by Marsh & McLennan Agency in 2014; he served on the board of directors for Carolina Bank up until 2009. Jay Robinson would become president and chief financial officer of Burkely Communities — an apartment operator — through a merger, and now serves as vice president of the board of directors for the Piedmont Triad Apartment Association. Duggins organized the investment group under the name Blade Properties III LLC, which also initially included property manager Bobby Akin, who separated from the company sometime around 2010, according to filings with the NC Secretary of State. Dean Norman was also an initial member and remains part of the investment group.

The investment group went on a buying spree from 2005 to 2007, including an additional portfolio of 15 single-family residences for $500,000, while snapping up loose properties in A&T’s expansion zone, along with apartment complexes in Greensboro and High Point. In all, the investment group acquired 89 properties, with most of its purchases tapering off before the housing crisis hit in 2008 and propelled the country into recession.

Beginning in 2009, the investment group managed to sell off 18 of its properties. A review of 14 of those properties with complete sale and tax appraisal information by Triad City Beat found that the investment produced a modest 2.8 percent profit while depreciating in value by 11.3 percent between the 2004 and 2017 Guilford County tax revaluations.

The county tax assessors recently notified property owners of the new values, which are still subject to appeal. It’s not surprising perhaps that a sell-off in the wake of the housing crisis yielded underwhelming results, and the numbers support a contention made by many business owners: that profitability is far from certain and often marginal.

The tax values of the remaining 61 single-family homes in Blade III’s portfolio have declined by 23.4 percent, in contrast to a sample of properties randomly selected in a one-to-one comparison on the same blocks, which only dropped by 14.4 percent.

Sills said the investments by Blade III are “a perfect example” of what

A map in NC A&T University’s master plan shows a neighborhood (center, right in the dotted outline) where Blade III owns 26 properties that the university plans to acquire.

COURTESY NC A&T UNIVERSITY

A&T’s expansion plan includes a multi-use retail and residential complex, a performing arts center, nursing school, intramural fields and parking deck.

COURTESY NC A&T UNIVERSITY

PHOTOS BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

13

March 8 – 14, 2017 Cover Story

14

J Avenue said the property management company isn’t typically responsive to requests for repairs and that she doesn’t bother to contact them anymore.

She said she paid out of pocket for a new screen door, for pavers to make a pathway from her driveway to the front door, and to put in new grass in her front yard.

In contrast, another tenant who has rented a house in the Textile Drive area in northeast Greensboro for the past two years said he CAROLYN DE One of Blade III’s houses near A&T is boarded up and adjacent to a BERRY property that sold to the state of North Carolina last year. has nothing but good things to say about his he calls an “extractive” business model. In a previous interexperience with the property management company. On view with Triad City Beat for a different story, Sills likened two different occasions when he called in a maintenance rental housing to an extractive resource industry compararequest — for a leaking roof and a clogged drain — the ble to the mountaintop-removal method of coal mining. repairs were made within 48 hours, he said.

“I know from those tenants [on J Avenue] that little to The tenant on J Avenue told TCB that in the six years no investment other than the purchase of that home had she’s rented her house, five different property managers happened, and that the ownership was resistant to repairhave handled maintenance. Rent-A-Home of the Triad ing and keeping up the properties, much less investing in took over management of the properties in December improvements to the property,” he said.

2015, according to Kerri Person, the company’s president Nathan Duggins III declined on behalf of the investors and CEO. She said her company prioritizes repairs based to comment for this story. on urgency.

Some might question the reliability of the tax valuations “I would say that we are very responsive to tenants’ as a proxy for actual value. A private appraisal, which reasonable requests,” Person said. “If they don’t have heat includes a visual inspection of the interior and exterior of we will react very quickly. We will the property, is generally considreact quickly to a plumbing leak ered the most accurate indicator ‘Not that the houses look great, or sewer blockage. If a house of value short of an actual sale. needs a new HVAC system or a Private property appraisals but they’re not the worst ones new roof, that’s more subjective. for the five J Avenue properties in the neighborhood.

They Trash in front of a house — we’re completed in 2013, which were may actually be the good guys not going to drop everything and obtained by TCB, do indicate rush over there.” that the properties are worth here.’

The J Avenue tenant said she more than the most proximate — Brett Byerly, Greensboro Housing Coalition recently complained to Rent-Atax revaluation, which took place Home about a pile of trash in the in 2012. Compared to the 2012 front yard of one of the other properties, located at 1806 tax valuation of $227,300, the five properties were privateJ Avenue.

The trash has been there since before Christly appraised at $268,000. But comparing the 2013 private mas, she said, adding that a new family moved in with the appraisal with the 2005 purchase price of the five propermess still in the yard, and then abruptly moved out after ties — an estimate based on their share of the $1.3 million only two weeks, but the trash has remained.

Weaver Group portfolio — the properties depreciated by Person said she doesn’t recall receiving a complaint on 16 percent. During roughly the same time period — from the property, and in any case she said the house at 1806 J the 2004 to 2012 tax revals — the tax valuation of Blade Avenue is actually occupied by a tenant. She added that III’s five J Avenue properties dropped by 21.2 percent, while her company might look into the matter, it would be compared to an 8.2 percent decrease in a comparative the responsibility of the occupant of the house to clean up neighborhood sample. the mess.

Tenants who spoke to TCB on condition of anonymity The high turnover in property managers is more likely a gave mixed reviews of the responsiveness of the propreflection on the owners than the professionals that hanerty managers contracted by Blade III. One tenant on

dle day-to-day maintenance, said Brett Byerly, executive director of the Greensboro Housing Coalition.

“Just about every major property-management company in Greensboro that I know of has held this portfolio,” he said. “I believe the property managers get fed up with the owners because they’re not willing to make the investment to keep the properties properly maintained.

“I know a lot of property managers who don’t want to represent substandard properties,” Byerly added. “It hurts their name.”

Byerly said he first encountered Blade III’s properties in 2010 when Greensboro received more than $1.5 million as part of the federal stimulus program to subsidize housing for people who had recently become homeless or who were at risk of becoming homeless. A company called Emerson was handling property management at the time.

“My job was being the housing locator for the program,” Byerly recalled. “I had to go find landlords who were willing to take a chance on people with criminal-record barriers and credit barriers. It was difficult. We had to do an inspection. Because we weren’t using federal recovery dollars to move people into substandard housing, I would make Emerson fix it up before we moved anyone in. With the Blade properties, Emerson said, ‘The owner doesn’t want to invest any more money.’ I said, ‘Well, then we can’t rent it from you.’”

Later, in 2014, when the housing coalition assisted tenants who were displaced from Heritage House with finding new housing, Byerly said he encountered a similar resistance to his insistence that Blade III make the necessary investment to bring the properties up to snuff before he referred new tenants to them.

Since Rent-A-Home took over the contract for property management in December 2015, Kerri Person said the company has sent out notices to tenants asking them to list needed repairs, and the property management company has identified Blade III properties with vacancies so they can fix them up and put them back on the market.

“We’ve done very good with that,” she said. “Blade has been good to work with. It doesn’t do them any good to have a house in poor condition. For any investor, it doesn’t make sense for a house to be in poor shape.

“Many people think landlords are really wealthy and can afford to make significant investments,” Person added.

“That’s not always the case.”

Without the ability to review monthly rental revenues and outlays for repairs and maintenance, it’s unclear whether the Blade III investors have made a profit from their real estate investments, but there’s little doubt that the members would be considered wealthy by most definitions. Beyond the salaries that typically go with executive positions in prominent law, insurance and real-estate firms, the Irving Park homes of Nathan Duggins III and Jay Robinson are respectively valued at $696,300 and $543,200 on the Guilford County tax rolls.

“People have to find a balance where they’re doing the most they can do, but they’re spending money wisely,” Person said. She said Blade III “absolutely” has demonstrated a willingness to make necessary repairs.

“We wouldn’t have taken on the properties if they

Here is where a firsthand observation corroborated by a source countervails and even calls into question the central premise of the story. This kind of flag should at least cause a sense of unease for any good reporter. The imperative is to do additional reporting, including interviewing more sources and running more data analysis. Just as important for a good-faith investigation is seeking out information that would tend to disprove the hypothesis. Sometimes the persons who are the focus of the story can provide information that casts their activities in a better light. In the absence of comment from the persons at the focus of the story, reporters often use back-channel sources of information to unearth information to balance their reporting. The accumulation of additional reporting sometimes shows the initial premise of the story to be misguided or lacking in credibility. Or additional reporting might tend to stack up in support the initial premise, with new information discounting or overriding the outliers of doubt. The evidence rarely falls 100 percent in either column, and sometimes the available evidence provides a murky picture.

Notwithstanding the relatively stable appearance of the houses, the 26 properties owned by Blade III in the A&T area have depreciated more severely than a comparative sample owned by other landlords in the neighborhood, with the tax valuation of Blade III’s holdings dropping by 25.9 percent from 2004 to 2017, compared to a drop of 16.4 percent by comparable properties.

But the houses on the frontlines of A&T’s expansion that Blade III has sold to the state tell a different story, and the data bears out that they have retained their values favorably compared to their neighbors. The Blade III properties dropped in tax value by 13.9 percent, compared to a drop of 22.1 percent by the neighboring properties.

While both sets of properties sold on average for about $45,000, the Blade III properties sold for 50.4 percent above tax value, while the other properties only sold for

triad-city-beat.com

didn’t,” she said.

Blade III has invested upwards of $200,000 to remove lead from its rental properties, including two of the houses on J Avenue, through a federal grant in which the city of Greensboro provided matching funds, the city confirmed on Tuesday.

By outward appearances at least, the properties owned

by Blade III in the A&T area — mostly a tidy collection of one-story structures with minimal landscaping — are far from the most challenged in the neighborhood. The vast majority of the housing stock in the neighborhood has flipped from owner-occupied to rental, and there’s little incentive for owners to make significant investments.

During a recent visit to the neighborhood, the most conspicuous deficiencies in houses owned by Blade III were missing fascia board, roofing shingles and siding.

“I haven’t seen a house in this neighborhood that doesn’t have five exterior violations,” Byerly said.

Commenting on Blade III’s holdings, he added, “Not that the houses look great, but they’re not the worst ones in the neighborhood. They may actually be the good guys here.”

A block between the neighborhood and the campus of A&T University has become a kind of no man’s land as a result of the university’s expansion.

18.9 percent above tax value. The discrepancy suggests that the Blade III properties were more significantly under-valued in the county tax valuation than those of their neighbors. Taken together this would suggest that Blade III has being a good steward of its properties and not dragging down values in the neighborhood.

The six properties sold to the state by Blade III netted the investors $40,339 on an initial investment of $235,661.

A 17 percent return is not exactly a killing, and in the absence of hard numbers about how much the owners spent on repairs and routine maintenance over the life of their investment it’s difficult to know how much of the profit was canceled out.

“To extract a fairly high amount of cash out of your properties, the trick is to continue to extract as much rent as possible without making much investment,” Sills said.

“There’s a tax depreciation that some owners can get. I don’t know if Blade has it. You depreciate a property over a course of several years. It’s treating a property as a tool, as an instrument or a piece of equipment that gets worn out over time by renting it out. At the end of a depreciation cycle, property owners might choose to re-invest — to take out a new loan and fix the properties up. Or they might choose to divest themselves for as much as they can get. In good market prices, you’re going to get more out of it than you put into it.”

While declining to share specific rents for the Blade III properties, Kerri Person, with Rent-A-Home, characterized them as at market rate or below.

“The rental amounts on a lot of their properties are very reasonable,” she said. “You can’t afford to make a lot of changes. We’ve done a lot to do what’s necessary to keep them in good repair.”

A&T’s intentions for the area are no secret: The university’s master plan, entitled “A&T Preeminence 2020,” includes a scale map depicting the area where Blade III’s

CAROLYN DE BERRY

properties are located — roughly bounded by Lindsay, Dudley, Salem and Laurel streets — as an “acquisition site.” The university proposes to replace the neighborhood with a “Global Village” that includes mixed-use retail and housing, a performing arts center, a school of nursing and life science, intramural fields and a parking deck.

With the state of North Carolina already holding a band of property a block to the north of Bluford Street and a block to the west of Laurel Street for A&T’s expansion, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the neighborhood goes on the market. Based on its 17.1-percent return on investment for six properties in the neighborhood that sold to the state in 2014 and 2015, Blade III could potentially earn a net profit of $177,922 from an initial investment of $1 million on the sale of its remaining 26 properties in the neighborhood.

Sills pointed out that the cost of rehabbing a house might run into the tens of thousands of dollars, with a new roof costing anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 and a new heating system costing around $3,000. It can be hard to justify the additional investment on a house that’s only worth $30,000. In contrast, paying an annual tax bill of $450 is relatively painless, he said.

When the housing is likely going to be torn down in the next 10 years it’s even harder to justify significant investment. The value of the property hinges more on the potential for reuse than the quality of the asset.

It sounds corny, but a mystical appreciation of the truth is a requirement for anyone who wants to practice journalism.

There’s an inherent tension between the requirement of a story to arrive at a conclusion with a definitive set of facts and the eternal quest for truth and willingness to evaluate new facts. Sometimes the questing journey must take precedence over the arrival.

15

March 8 – 14, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

16

CULTURE Vegetarian restaurant hides inside Indian grocery

by Eric Ginsburg

A

lmost none of you have ever eaten at Indu Convenient Store. And even after reading this, most of you still never will.

That’s because even among the foodie crowd, there’s still a strong reluctance to stray too far from the mainstream. As I sat with friends at a small table at the vegetarian restaurant hidden inside of this south Asian grocery, I realized that so few of the people I told about the delicious Punjabi thali sampler platter would ever come and try it.

But if you’re one of the few who genuinely likes to try new things — even when those new things aren’t handed to you out of the window of a food truck by a white hipster — follow me to Indu.

Chances are good you’ve been to Super G, the king of all international grocery stores in Greensboro. Maybe you’ve explored the broader FantaCity shopping center, home to several Asian restaurants, small immigrant-owned shops and a Korean karaoke joint. But I’m guessing that unless you boast some south Asian heritage, you’ve overlooked Indu.

Though the business faces West Market Street, the sign gives no hint of the restaurant within. Around the larger letters that read “Indu Convenient Store,” smaller text merely says, “spices, naan, Indian grocery and vegetables.” If you stand directly in front of the store, you can see in through a window that there’s a counter inside

Pick of the Week The Biscuit Breakfast Bar @ the Greensboro Farmers Market, Saturday, 8 a.m.

Chef Jay Pierce from the Traveled Farmer serves fresh, made-fromscratch biscuits with locally grown and milled Lindley Mills flour. Sweet and savory toppings include Neese’s County Sausage products, Sweet Morning Farms jellies and jams, Quaker Acre Apiary honey, Goat Lady Dairy goat cheese and Real Catering pimento cheese. The market’s Harvest Café hosts the event, proceeds from which benefit the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market.

More info at gsofarmersmarket.org.

with a menu above it. But the lit-up sign outside reads in all caps, “Singh CPA PLLC: Accounting & Tax Services.”

I showed up on a tip, the same way most disconnected, food-loving white people probably end up at a place like this. My friend Sam heard about it from his friend, who also advised trying the Punjabi thali. Naturally I went to check it out with Sam and his wife Katie as soon as possible.

When you walk into Indu Convenient Store — which has been providing south Asian groceries, religious items, cosmetic products and more since 2006, according to its website — the first things you see are rows of products.

There are dozens of ERIC GINSBURG large Punjabi thali, a platter featuring various flavors, is a delicious place to such businesses through- The start at Indu Convenient Store. out the Triad, including other Indian-centric with lentils and ghee), rice and gulab jamun for dessert. You grocery stores in Greensboro. What makes Indu unique is the don’t need to know what any of those items are to enjoy the vegetarian restaurant just to your left and Bismillah Halal mélange of flavors and spices the thali — or platter — proMeats, a contained counter at the back of the shop selling vides. The paneer (a cheese cube dish with sauce) and rajma in goat, lamb, beef and chicken. particular left great impressions.

Most Indians identify as Hindu — about 80 percent accordThere are plenty of other options on the menu, of course. ing to the nation’s 2011 Census — and many of them (though You could try the Desi burger, whose name refers to people of course not all) are vegetarian. Muslims are the next largest and products from the Indian subcontinent and surrounding religious group in India, and though far fewer in number, they region as well as their diaspora. From the menu picture, it make up more than 96 percent of the population in neighborlooks pretty straightforward. So do the various vegetarian pizing Pakistan, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. za choices, save for the toofani paneer, which I have yet to try.

In a city like Greensboro, it makes sense There’s roti as well as various samofor a niche grocery like Indu to cater to sas, paneers and chaats. Sam, Katie and both vegetarian Hindus and Muslims who Visit Indu Convenient Store I were already stuffed, though my eyes follow halal (not dissimilar to kosher, in wanted me to sample even more off the at FantaCity International some respects), hence both distinct yet affordable menu. But I compromised, Shopping Center, 4925 W. separate food-service options. buying myself a few frozen foods to But if you’re dining in — which I highly Market St. #1104 (GSO) or take home and make another day. I had recommend you do — the vegetarian mixed results, with none coming close at indugrocery.com. fare is where you’re headed. If you want to the satisfying delight of the delicious a light snack, order the chana chaat. high-quality food served quickly at Indu.

This chickpea-based dish with cilantro, The dining area is nothing glamorous lime, tomato, onion and more is incredibly bright, providing a or bougie, closer to the taqueria in the back of Compare Foods refreshing burst of flavor that would also make for an approthan the beloved Teeter Thai, two worthwhile grocery store priate appetizer. options in Winston-Salem. I didn’t come for glitz, soft lighting, Feeling hungry? Order the large Punjabi thali platter. It comfortable booths, quiet background music, or a familiar comes with — among other things — rajma (a kidney beanand plain atmosphere. I came for some damn good food, and based dish with thick gravy), a scoop of somewhat similar and left Indu thrilled. creamy dal makhani, saag, dal tadka (a side generally made If that’s all you need, you’re going to love it here.

triad-city-beat.com

T

Broad Branch Distillery progresses to ‘big boy pants’

News Opinion Cover Story

Wooden barrels in the distillery are filled with spirits like apple brandy and bourbon. Broad Branch plans to release rum, rye whiskey and an aged version of Nightlab 1.0 this summer.

KAT BODRIE

Don Jenkins, one of Broad Branch’s distillers, shows tour participants the water heater, part of the equipment used in the distilling process.

KAT BODRIE

Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

Kat loves red wine, Milan Kundera, and the Shins. She wears scarves at katbodrie.com.

Up Front

wo-year olds are often rambunctious, not easily tamed. This one is smooth and kinda dirty, with a kick at the end.

Typical.

At the end of Friday night tours of Broad Branch Distillery in downtown Winston-Salem, participants get to sample the original Nightlab 1.0, which hit ABC stores in August 2015. It was the first batch of white whiskey

by Kat Bodrie the distillery concocted, coming in at a modest 91 proof.

Made from white corn, rye, barley, Louisiana cane sugar and hops — the predominant ingredient in IPAs — it’s a different experience from the subsequent batch of Nightlab (technically batch No. 6), which is 95 proof and produces a cleaner flavor akin to vodka.

Manager John Fragakis explains the change came with the purchase of a roller mill, giving the distillery the opportunity to grind its own grains instead of purchasing high-quality, pre-ground ones used in the first version of Nightlab.

“Our freshly milled grains yielded our whiskey’s grain-forward flavors and the heft to produce our whiskeys at higher alcohol levels,” Fragakis said.

The recipe is actually much older than 2, going back three generations and nearly 150 years into Patrick County, Va. northeast of Mt. Airy and John Preston Williams. Williams taught his grandson, Frank, to use his first still.

“Frank purchased his first car at age 13,” Fragakis said. “According to his cousin, Frank wisely hid his car from his father so he would not know how much money Frank was making from the operation.”

A born entrepreneur and outlaw, Frank Williams went to jail a couple times for his illegal pastime, dreaming up new recipes while behind bars. He tried to get a distilling permit in the mid-1960s, “at a time when municipalities had no clue how to process such a request,” Fragakis said.

Williams, now nearly 80, is “renowned in the NC foothills area,” but his health largely prevents him from continuing to distill. He met Fragakis and Joe Tappe, the husband of Fragakis’s goddaughter, who agreed to carry on the tradition in their own family. Fragakis’s niece, head of creative design at a large Charlotte ad agency, created the cool, geometric logo with the not-immediately-apparent “BB” in the center.

Since opening, Broad Branch has been building its reputation. Nightlab 1.0 earned a bronze medal from the American Craft Spirits Association in 2016.

But Fragakis isn’t satisfied.

“Even though some of our visitors prefer the award-winning version which we still have on sale, frankly, it’s not nearly as good as our current Nightlab 1.0, batch 7, which is by far our best and the one we wished were able to send,” he said.

Smashing Violet, the blueberry-soaked version of Nightlab, wasn’t ready in time for this year’s competition.

Still, it’s delicious with a squirt of simple syrup and lemon juice.

Broad Branch Distillery hold Broad Branch plans to release $5 tours at 756 N. Trade St. rum, rye whiskey and an aged (W-S) on the first and third version of Nightlab mid-year.

Fridays of the month and inThere are some experiments in the works, too, including apple brandy clude a tasting. Read more at as well as a bourbon that will be broadbranchdistillery.com. ready in four years.

With much still to come, Winston-Salem’s second distillery is starting to hit its stride.

“We are starting to wear our big boy pants to the distillery,” Fragakis boasted. And rightfully so.

17

March 8 – 14, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture

CULTURE All Them Witches cast stoner-rock spell on local fans

by Spencer KM Brown

A

ll Them Witches frontman Charles Michael Parks Jr. belted out the lines: “Cut me up primitive, I’ll die like a slave/ Ridin’ on the wings of that Jesus snake,” and the room erupted. Pale white lights shone up from pedalboards on the stage floor, illuminating the guitars and casting their silhouettes on the colors and collages covering the walls of the Garage.

The crowd pushed forward against the rails at the front of the stage, all hands raised in dark praise. Heads moved and hips swayed like waves, a holy ritual that revived their souls and let something wild go free among the audience. All attention was held on the four musicians on stage, and while they danced and jumped around in a captivating performance, All Them Witches proved their status as high priests of heavy stoner rock, and remained one of the most talented and musically tight bands touring today.

A large tapestry draped on the wall behind drummer Rob Staebler held the band’s artwork from their latest

LOCAL BANDS!

Want your album reviewed?

Crossword

Sportsball

Send a copy to:

Spencer KM Brown c/o Triad City Beat 1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24 Greensboro NC 27406 or email links to spencer@triad-city-beat.com

Triaditude Adjustment

Shot in the Triad

Pick of the Week

18

The Greensboro Concert Band @ Guilford College (GSO), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Under the direction of Evan Feldman, the Greensboro Concert Band performs its annual Winter OPUS concert in the Dana Auditorium. The program includes pieces by Franz von Suppe, Brian Sadler and Benoit Chantry. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. More info at city-arts.org.

album Sleeping Through the War, which they are currently touring to promote. Having built a fan base in the Triad for the past five years since their debut show at the Garage in 2012, the band played a mix of both old tunes long beloved by the devoted coven of fans and new songs from the album.

Garage owner Tucker Tharpe remains an ardent advocate for the quartet and is partly responsible for bringing them to the local stage for the first time in 2012. All Them Witches sells out every time they come through North Carolina, allowing Tharpe to book them for two consecutive shows on this current tour through the Triad; both of which sold out before the doors opened.

The show on March 3 King Buffalo awes fans with a thunderous blend of stoner-rock at the Garage. SPENCER KM BROWN opened with Rochester, NY trio King Buffalo, a tight-knit, thunderous power of musical The crowd sang along with Parks’ talent. While blending their influenchollow, crooning voice while Tucker es of Zeppelin, the Doors and classic Tharpe climbed up his famous ladder stoner rock, King Buffalo’s sound is held beside the stage, capturing photos of tight by the steady work of bass player the show. Containing a mix of GodDan Reynolds and frontman Sean speed You Black Emperor, Nirvana and McVay, brought into full bloom with a the Doors, the Witches’ latest album thunder of drums by the heavy-hitting holds true to the sound they’ve built a Scott Donaldson. Since their concepfan base upon, yet has clearly expanded tion in 2013, the band has received and evolved in maturity with intricately raving critical reviews and a fanbase All Showtimes @ 9:00pm woven melodies and poetic lyrics, hamstretching across the United States and mered down by the steady pulse of Rob spilling into Europe, where they will be 3/9 Mega Colossus, Night Sweats, Staebler’s drumming. Every piece of the The Beggars, Basement Life touring later this year. band’s live performance — from lyrics Bolting down and expanding the flow 3/10 Grubby Little Hands, ft. Berdmajik to interim guitar tuning — contains of the night were Greensboro-based a strange air about it, one that those 3/11 Crow’s Nest Presents: heavy stoner-rock band Irata. The trio in attendance are somehow drawn Last Chance Charlie, Written in contains a precision and connection on to keep steady eyes on. The NashGray, The Norm, Sideline stage that echoes forth the intricate ville-based band is truly a talent that is sounds similar to Tool and Dream The3/12 TBA still climbing into their much-deserved atre, with badass guitarwork by Cheryl spotlight, and with a full seven months 3/13 Bad Year, Come Clean, Downhaul, Manner. The crowd stood awed and Chris Ellington left of touring for Sleeping Through the applauding for the length of the show; War, they’ll will be casting their spells 3/14 Karaoke with Michael Ray Hansen fans were almost forced to dance and on fans across the globe in coming move to the music. shows.

While all the bands on the bill aligned As Parks’ voice crooned the poetic 701 N Trade Street in perfect harmony and the crowd was lyrics of a new track “Alabaster,” the awed by the opening acts, there was Winston-Salem, NC 27101 drums pounded through the floor and still a void hanging in the air, a yearning the crowd raised their arms and sang for something more as fans awaited All along with the band, satisfied to be a Them Witches to begin the service. part of this darkly beautiful event.

(336)955-1888

O

triad-city-beat.com

CULTURE Poems come alive in statewide competition

Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

by Joel Sronce ut of 5,000 high school students across North Carolina, just 31 had earned the trip to Greensboro. At Triad Stage they were sorted by region — eastern, Piedmont, western — and into rooms where the next round of competition would begin.

Spring brings bounties of high school matchups and tournaments; very few are without a ball, a net or even a teammate.

Poetry Out Loud, a nationwide contest that enriches the connection between students and poetry, doesn’t involve composition. The program supports public speaking skills, self-confidence and literary heritage, all through the remembrance and delivery of influential poems selected by each student.

Before the participants, families and friends could gather in Greensboro on March 4, all students had to conquer their English or theater classrooms, then their whole high schools, even their county. Now they would face off for the state, the winner advancing to the national finals in Washington DC. Those representing the Piedmont region, which laid claim to all Triad participants, made their way to the Upstage Cabaret on the third floor. Inside, the competitors took seats on stools beside the stage, while all others found spots at dimly lit tables around the room.

Of the 11 Piedmont contestants, 10 were young women.

They were hip, dressed up in perfectly ripped jeans and lifted shoes, confident and brave, their hair and bracelets and dresses carefully composed.

But even with confidence, reciting poetry is challenging, especially when it’s not your own. You must count on your interpretation of it; you’re the steward of its beauty, inhabiting its words and emotion.

One by one at the mic, they whispered, cried, shrieked their poems into the complete silence of the cabaret. Their cadence rose and fell in volume, even in pitch — soprano to alto to a low tenor in the span of a sentence. They mined the poems’ contents, exposing the melodious gems in impressive phonetic display.

Each student recited one poem. Then, once everyone had performed, each took the stage again to recite a second. Judges sat at a long table facing the stage, assessing physical presence, articulation, appropriate dramatization and evidence of understanding.

When the semifinals finished, it would be still hours until the judges announced the three winners.

J. KNIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY Yorjannys Gomez, a senior at Penn-Griffin School for the Iman Dancy, the state winner of this year’s Poetry Out Loud competition, performs a poem in the final round.

Arts in High Point, spoke with her mentor and former teacher John York after the Pick of the Week the program and advance to the statewide competition. Two years ago, Gomez made semifinal competition. it past the regional round into the round of Iman Dancy represents Lucinda Devlin @ the Weather“They gain confidence, develop poise and nine, where her road ended. But it was never NC at the 2017 Nationspoon Art Museum (GSO), Thursattention to emotion,” he said. about winning. al Finals on April 25-26 day, 5:30 p.m.

For York, it seemed, there’s a curious, “At first, I didn’t like or understand poetAn internationally-recognized at George Washington supernatural two-way street. ry,” Gomez said. “But when you recite it, you photographer who now lives in “It helps [the students] live the life of the have to understand. It’s a story [the poets] University in DC. Greensboro, Lucinda Devlin discusspoem,” he said. “And it gives the poets voice are trying to tell.” es aspects of her creative process, again; there’s something mystical about it.”

Though the memorization and recitation including photographic methods, This year Gomez didn’t make it to the next round.

Khaiyah are mostly individual acts, the practice and the performing techniques and strategies. Her “K-Swizzle” Barber advanced, along with Iman Dancy and Dani itself has made Gomez more outgoing. photographs examine issues such as Coan.

“I’m more open as a person,” she elaborated. “I can commupersonal rights, the death penalAll three Piedmont finalists advanced again to a last round nicate and relate to people better as I encounter poems.” ty and agribusiness. More info at of five, and Dancy — a student from Raleigh’s Enloe High York, now retired from Penn-Griffin, shared Gomez’s percepweatherspoon.uncg.edu.

School — walked away victorious as the statewide winner. tion and appreciation. He has seen many students go through

19

The Triad college basketball tournament roundup

F

Up Front

March 8 – 14, 2017

SPORTSBALL

Triaditude Adjustment

Shot in the Triad

Crossword

Sportsball

Culture

Cover Story

Opinion

News

by Joel Sronce

20

or players and fans around the Triad, the pinnacle of the college basketball season has provided plenty of excitement. Here’s an update on the teams’ fortunes and fates, starting with those still in the fight.

Wake Forest men After a close loss to Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Deacs went on to finish the ACC regular season with three straight conference wins. On March 5, sophomore John Collins was named first-team AllACC. He was voted the league’s most improved player and was runner-up for the conference’s Player of the Year award.

If No. 10 seed Wake Forest defeats No. 15 seed Boston College after press time on Tuesday afternoon, they will take on Virginia Tech on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

In the last game of the regular season, the Deacs defeated Tech 89-84 on the road in Blacksburg, Va. With a 18-12 record, Wake Forest is a bubble team for this year’s NCAA Tournament. A couple ACC Tournament wins could book them a ticket to the Big Dance.

Regardless of their fate, things are looking up for coach Danny Manning. His team has produced its first winning season, coming off a 11-20 record last year.

High Point University women The women’s team steamrolled through the end of their season, winning their last four games and 10 out of their last 11. These victories have resulted in a No. 3 seed in the Big South Tournament, in which they take on No. 6 seed Presbyterian in Lynchburg Va. on Friday at 8 p.m. If you tune in to the game on Friday, pay attention to Emma Bockrath, who leads the Panthers in assists and rebounds. Behind Bockrath and leading-scorer Kaylah Keys, the Panthers fight through the Big South Tournament, the winner of which receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament later this month.

UNCG men The Spartans suffered a heartbreaking 79-74 loss to East Tennessee State in the Southern Conference Tournament Finals on Monday. But as the SoCon’s regular season champion, the team has earned an automatic bid to the Men’s National Invitation Tournament 32team field. The appearance is the Spartans’ first since 2002.

As UNCG battles through the NIT, watch for sophomore Francis Alonso, who doubles as the team captain of Spain’s U20 National Team. Alonso leads the Spartans in points with an impressive .470 3-point percentage on the year.

Wake Forest women The Wake Forest women took the road down to Conway, SC for the ACC tournament as the No. 9 seed in a 15-team ACC. The Deacs lost to No. 8 seed Virginia, 61-44, in their first game in the tournament. With a

15-15 record on the season, including 6-10 in the ACC, a spot in the NCAA Tournament is improbable.

Last year’s team advanced one round in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, ending the season with a 17-16 record. A similar season this year could likely find the Deacs back in the WNIT, which announces its 64-team field on March 13. The first round begins two days later.

NC A&T women The No. 7 seed Aggies face NC Central University in the MEAC tournament on Tuesday. If A&T advances, they play No. 2 seed Howard on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Through the Aggies’ tournament run, look out for Aliyah Kilpatrick, who leads the team in scoring.

Guilford College men In some of the Triad’s most exciting basketball news, the Guilford men and women both won the ODAC conference, the men for the first time since 2010. In the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Quakers defeated Thomas Moore, 74-54. But in the tournament’s second round, Guilford’s season came to a close with an 88-64 loss to Marietta.

Guilford College women Having won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, the Guilford women received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and hosted an opening round game for the first time since 2002. The Quakers lost to Marymount 74-70 despite a furious comeback, but Guilford ends its season with the second-highest win total in school history.

Greensboro College women After advancing one round in the USA South Conference Tournament, the Pride fell to Averett University, ending their season with a 16-11 record.

Greensboro College men The Pride lost to Methodist University in the first round of their conference tournament, but the team ended the season with a winning record at 14-11.

Conference Tournament. Their season ended with a 17-15 record.

Salem College women The Spirits ended their anemic season 7-18 with a loss in the first round of their conference tournament.

NC A&T men The NC A&T men lost to Maryland Eastern Shore 74-67 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament. The Aggies’ season ends with a depressing 3-29 record.

YOU NEED

US WE NEED

YOU

Support Free Press. Read us, follow us,advertise with us.

WSSU women Despite an impressive performance against Virginia Union (23-3) in the quarterfinal round of the CIAA tournament, the Winston-Salem State University Rams’ season ended with a split 14-14 record.

WSSU men The WSSU met a similar fate, losing to defending champion Virginia State in a quarterfinal game in the CIAA tournament on Feb. 23. The Rams ended the season just under .500 with a 13-14 record.

High Point men The High Point men’s season ended with a crushing 91-55 defeat at the hands of Gardner-Webb in the Big South Tournament. With the loss, the Panthers slipped under .500, ending their season with a 15-16 record.

UNCG women The women’s middle-of-the-road season came to an end on March 3 against Chattanooga in the Southern

Pick of the Week The Greensboro Swarm @ the Greensboro Coliseum, Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.

The Swarm, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets, hosts the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Friday and the Windy City Bulls on Saturday. Greensboro looks to climb back into contention in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division. For more info and ticket purchasing, visit greensborocoliseum.com.

triad-city-beat.com

CROSSWORD ‘Indiana Jones: A Day in the Life’ if anyone can get away with it....

by Matt Jones

52 53 54 56 59 62 66 68

Playing March 9 – 13 Friday Night Standup Presents

Ultimate Comics Challenge Finalist JD Etheridge 8:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.

Friday, March 10.

Tickets $10, $9 at the door

OTHER SHOWS Open Mic 8:30 p.m. Thurs., Mar. 9. $5 tickets.

Family Improv 4 p.m. Sat., Mar. 11. $6 tickets!

Saturday Night Improv 8:30 p.m. & 10 pm. Saturday, March 11. $10 tickets!

Monday Night Roast Battle FINALE! 8:30 p.m. Mon., Mar. 13. Tickets are $8 at the door and $5 online!

Cover Story

2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro idiotboxers.com • 336-274-2699

Culture

Pick up debris, perhaps “Julius Caesar” date Time to give up?

Peyton’s brother Finish line, metaphorically Unopened in the box Skywalker, e.g.

Shuts the sound off Give it ___ “Live at the Acropolis” keyboardist Fix a bad situation, superhero-style Lust after Superlatively minimal Advised strongly Oktoberfest quaffs Like Charlie Parker’s sax Necessity Sports channel owned by Disney Observatory’s focus Answered an invitation Suffix denoting extremeness “The Wrong ___” (James Corden BBC series) Barbara of “I Dream of Jeannie” Norah Jones’s father “Star Trek” crewman “The Lion King” villain Character retired by Sacha Baron Cohen Forfeited wheels “Hey, over here” “Boyz N the Hood” character Model airplane purchase

Opinion

Down 1 Hotel needs 2 In a big way 3 Take the bus 4 Girl Scout Cookie with peanut butter and chocolate 5 Rx order 6 Late “Hannity & Colmes” co-host Colmes 7 Nemo’s successor?

8 Respond in court 9 Part of D.A. 10 Drug in an Elizabeth Wurtzel title

11 12 13 18 22 25 27 28 29 30 32 33 34 35 36 41 44 47 48 51 55 56 57 58 60 61 63 64 65 67 69

News

70 71 72 73 74 75

THIS meat?)

Health clinic leaflet subjects, for short 10th grader, for short Up to this point “Jeopardy!” creator Griffin “The Untouchables” agent Eliot Like hairpin turns Adjust to fit Finally, Indy’s ready to come home, turn on some cartoons, and watch ___, only to avoid his neighbor who won’t stop with the stories ...

When hell freezes over Jai ___ (fast-paced game) They’re the top brass Derisive Dome-shaped tent Career honor not accomplished by Lin-Manuel Miranda at this year’s Oscars

Up Front

Across 1 His treehouse inspired the “Treehouse of Horror” 5 Manufactured 9 First full month of spring 14 “On the Waterfront” director Kazan 15 Musk of Tesla Motors 16 Livelihood 17 Indy gets in his ___ and drives, only to miss a stray blowgun missile ...

19 Arcade coin 20 Pilfer 21 Kremlin denial 23 “You’re not fully clean ...” soap 24 Maya of Vietnam Memorial fame 26 Hindu prince’s title 28 BLT spread 31 Indy turns on his car radio to hear “Wild Wild West” band ___, narrowly avoiding being bludgeoned by a nearby motorist ...

37 ___ Bator (Mongolia’s capital) 38 ___ Wall (“American Ninja Warrior” fixture) 39 Before, to Byron 40 Island nation southeast of Fiji 42 “The Doors” star Kilmer 43 Mirror reflection 45 A billion years 46 Jane who played Daphne on “Frasier” 49 Rehab candidate 50 Indy orders ___ at the restaurant, only to avoid servers flinging meat ... (and why’d it have to be

Playing March 10 – 15

Sportsball

TV Club Presents The Return of Samurai Jack 11:30 p.m. Saturday, March 11. FREE ADMISSION WITH DRINK PURCHASE!

Answers from previous publication.

Crossword

--OTHER EVENTS & SCREENINGS--

Board Game Night More than 100 Board and Card Saturday Morning Cartoons

Great Cartoons! Free Admission! 10 a.m. & 12 p.m. Saturday, March 11.

Geeksboro Anime Club Free Admission. 1 p.m. Saturday, March 11.

TV CLUB: The Walking Dead

Shot in the Triad

Games -- FREE TO PLAY! 7 p.m. Friday, March 10.

9 p.m. Sunday, February 12. Free Admission With Drink Purchase.

Drink N’ Draw 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 15 All Artists of All Ages & Skill Levels are Welcome!

©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee!

2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro geeksboro.com •

336-355-7180

Triaditude Adjustment

Totally Rad Trivia! 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14 $3 buy-in! Up to six player teams! Winner gets cash prize!

21

March 8 – 14, 2017

Winview Drive, Greensboro

Triaditude Adjustment

Shot in the Triad

Crossword

Sportsball

Culture

Cover Story

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

22

Books, books and more books at the 15th Annual Used Book Sale at Beth David Synagogue.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship... connect your business to success.

336-379-5001

www.nussbaumcfe.com

‘Mostly because her name was Squeaky’

At the Vineyard you can come as you are and be yourself.

News

Whatever your thoughts about church, whatever your beliefs about God … you are welcome here.

Up Front

I

Opinion

gatecityvineyard.com

336.323.1288

Cover Story

204 S. Westgate Dr., Greensboro

Culture

Take charge of your mind, body and spirit

Crossword

Test pH balance, allergies, hormones Balance diet, lifestyle and emotions Create a personalized health and nutrition plan

Sportsball Shot in the Triad

(336) 456-4743

3723 West Market Street, Unit–B, Greensboro, NC 27403 jillclarey3@gmail.com www.thenaturalpathwithjillclarey.com

Triaditude Adjustment

’ve been thinking a lot about the library.

Squeaky Fromme — the My best friend — who lived less than 15 feet away woman who attempted — was allowed to come over, presumably because to assassinate Gerald Ford — our mothers looked out their respective windows and lately. It started because of a didn’t see any suspicious looking shrubbery wearing made-up celebration of frozen a prison uniform. We were both fascinated by the food, but it’s gone beyond that, escape, mostly because her name was Squeaky. (We to the point that I’m scrutinizwere 8 years old.) We sat in front of the TV, eating the

by Jelisa Castrodale ing unflattering pictures of her edges of Jeno’s pizza rolls and jumping at every sound online — and they’re all unthat didn’t come from the speakers. We were totally flattering pictures — staring at the creases that form obsessed with her for two straight days, hiding from parentheses around her eyes and the lines that stretch each other, Squeaky-style, while being slightly terrified across her forehead. that she really was standing in the shadows outside.

This all started when the editor for one of my other We had no idea what she’d done or who she was, jobs sent an email reminding all of the writers on staff really, but she was the closest thing to a celebrity that that Monday was National Frozen Food Day, a threewe’d encountered in southern West Virginia, other decade-old holiday that is either the most or the least than Bob “Gilligan” Denver who owned a mini-golf embarrassing part of Ronald Reagan’s presidential legcourse, or the local guy who became a lesser astroacy. (He established National Frozen Food Day in 1984, naut. We also thought she was old. Like, ancient, asking that the American people “obhonorary pharaoh old. Our version of serve such a day with appropriate cereSqueaky spoke in a creaky voice, moved Monday was monies and activities,” like, I don’t know, slowly and leaned heavily on my mother’s having erotic but respectful fantasies decorative planter.

National Frozen about Clarence Birdseye). Anyway, my I had to double-check the dates for Food Day, either editor asked anyone who was interested this Frozen Food Day assignment and to write a short piece about their favorite the most or least discovered that, in actuality, she was 39 frozen foods. Since my blood type is basiyears old. Thirty-nine and, to us, she was embarrassing cally sodium benzoate, I said heck yes. a brittle bone with wispy bangs, a literal I wrote about Jeno’s Pizza Rolls, the part of Reagan’s dinosaur who could crumble to dust at yellow-boxed predecessor to Totino’s, any time. That’s troubling, because I’m legacy. and about how founder Jeno Paulucci’s not 39 yet, but I’m rubbing shoulders legacy is a combination of pizza-flavored with its neighbors. snacks and third-degree mouth burns. I remember the It makes me wonder how people see me and how rare occasions when Kid Me was allowed to microwave they evaluate (or estimate) my own age. I’ve been stara box of Jeno’s, while my mom reminded my sister and ing at Squeaky’s grainy booking photos and reassuring me not to stand in front of the microwave (because myself that I don’t look quite that worn. (“You didn’t in the 1980s, everyone’s parents were convinced that try to shoot Gerald Ford,” I reassure myself, right bethe microwave would cause our DNA to tangle around fore I freak out and ask, “But what have you done with itself like earbuds in a jacket pocket). your life?”)

In December 1987, Squeaky Fromme somehow I’m now convinced that everyone who is even 15 managed to escape from the women’s federal prison in minutes younger than I am now thinks that I’m a Alderson, W. Va., leaving her life sentence in a cinderthousand. I’m convinced that they can see through the block cell underneath a scratchy blanket and a metal under-eye cream, through the concealer and straight toilet. She’d been sentenced to life after she waved a to the folds on my forehead. I’m convinced that they loaded .45 at then-president Gerald Ford, an assassiexpect to hear an exhausted, reedy voice when I open nation attempt that was quickly diffused by a secret my mouth to ask the Publix cashier whether she’s ever service agent. The next week, she was on the cover of been attracted to Clarence Birdseye.

Newsweek, dressed like a deranged Elf on the Shelf and “Just this box of pizza rolls,” I’ll say instead. “That’s staring defiantly into the camera. it for tonight.”

We lived a solid 40 miles from the prison, but the neighborhood parents were all freaked out before the Jelisa Castrodale is a freelance writer who lives in evening news anchors adjusted their shoulder pads Winston-Salem. She enjoys pizza, obscure power-pop and finished reading the headlines. We weren’t alrecords and will probably die alone. Follow her on Twitter lowed to go outside the next day, just in case Fromme @gordonshumway. might’ve been casually leaning against the swingset, ready to lead us into lives of crime, of running from the cops and never returning those Nancy Drew books to

Gate City Vineyard is a modern, Christian church that exists to serve the community around us. Our desire is to help people of all ages and backgrounds grow in their understanding of God.

triad-city-beat.com

TRIADITUDE ADJUSTMENT

23