Vol. IV No. 19
Greensboro, North Carolina
www.rhinotimes.com
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Council Chaos Ends With BodyCam Video Release Scott D. Yost
Shops Not Shih Tzus For East Greensboro
plus Under The Hammer, Uncle Orson Reviews Everything AND MORE
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RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
THE WEEKLY Hammer
Video of Tragic Shooting Supports Police Account by John Hammer Editor I went to the press conference on Wednesday, May 22 at Greensboro police headquarters and watched the body-cam video taken by Greensboro Police Officer Tim Bloch of the shooting of Chieu
Di Thi Vo on March 25, 2014, both in real time and slow motion. I didn’t know what to expect, having heard a lot about the video, but having seen it I don’t see where Bloch had any other options,
considering the fact that it all took place in a matter of seconds. Police Chief Wayne Scott said they thought it was important to give some context to the video before releasing it. We heard the 911 call, the police radio communications and an explanation for why the body cam is at times pointed to the clouds. The camera was attached to Bloch’s glasses, and he pushed his glasses up when he arrived, but either they fell back down or he pushed them back down. Bloch, when speaking to the City Council on Monday, May 9, talked about his training and muscle memory, and when you see how fast everything happened, you can understand what he means. It’s hard to imagine being in Bloch’s shoes, coming around the corner of the building and having a woman coming at you with a big butcher knife. She was about 40 feet away when he started yelling at her to “Put it down,” and about 12 feet away when she was shot. Bloch by that time had retreated about 12 feet, but Ms. Vo kept coming at him and did not drop the knife.
Some people have said that Bloch was not in danger, but Vo was coming at him with the knife and she didn’t stop when he yelled at her to “Put it down.” And she didn’t stop when she had been shot four times. It wasn’t until the fifth shot that she stopped. To me that indicates that she was not going to stop on her own. Some people have said that Ms. Vo didn’t speak English and didn’t understand what Bloch was yelling. But when a uniformed police officer is pointing a gun directly at you and yelling, I don’t think you need to understand what he is saying to know that you should stop what your doing. I saw no indication that Ms. Vo slowed her approach at all when Bloch pointed his pistol at her. I don’t know what she saw, but from the video it appears she is looking right at him and she continues to come toward him at the same rate of speed. At the press conference, Scott was asked if they considered using a negotiator. Scott replied that he didn’t know how much negotiating could be done in six seconds, which is how (continued on page 6)
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HINOSHORTS
The Muse and I were a little nervous about going on a tour of the Southeastern Building last week. It was the World Headquarters of The Rhinoceros Times for almost 15 years, so if nothing else we have a lot of time invested in that building. I was afraid the renovation would have taken the heart out of the building, but instead I think they gave it bypass surgery. I was impressed with all the parts they were able to restore instead of replace. The terrazzo floors are incredible, as are the original doors to the apartments. And, of course, the huge vault in the basement. It’s not easy to bring a 1920s building into the 21st century, keeping the 1920s flavor while providing all the 2016 amenities, but Barry Siegal and Willard Tucker have managed to do it. And you have a chance to vote for the Southeastern Building for the American Planning Association North Carolina 2016 Great Places Award for Great Historic Rehabilitation. You can only vote through May 13, but you can vote once a day. So it’s possible to get in two votes before they close it out. The easiest way to vote is to go the city’s website at Greensboronc.gov and look for the photo of the Southeastern Building. I’m constantly amazed at the news coverage by the News & Record. Often, the city’s only daily doesn’t send anyone to Guilford County Board of Commissioners meetings or City Council committee meetings. But at the special City Council work session on the Chieu Di Thi Vo video, the poo-bahs at the News & Record sent not one, not two, but five people from the news staff. There were two
Photo by Sandy Groover Guilford Go Red For Women Educational Expo and Luncheon on Monday at the Koury Convention Center included speakers and health screenings designed to help women and families learn how to prevent and fight heart disease, the number one killer of women in the US. Participants included Hayleigh, Vanessa, Brittany and Madison Carroll (from left).
photographers, two reporters and Allen Johnson, the editorial page editor. This is a fun fact. Opponents of House Bill 2 have made an issue of the $42,000 cost for the special session to pass the bill. However, the cost for security and clean up after the protests against HB2 cost the state $62,400. They could have all sent emails for free. If Segways are so great, how come the only people I see using them work for the government?
The only Segways I ever see are being ridden on by city employees or security personnel who work for Guilford County. If Segways were really useful, and not an expensive toy, you’d see people from the big law firms riding them over to the courthouse. Lincoln Financial would have a fleet at their door for employees, as would the VF Corp. All of these folks could afford Segways, and if it turned out that Segways made their employees more efficient they would be using them, but they aren’t. I can hardly wait for the security guards to replace their Segways with hoverboards.
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
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RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
shooting (continued from page 2)
long the incident took. One thing you can’t see in the video is that the neighbor who called 911 to report that a woman was chasing people around with a “meat cleaver” was standing right behind Bloch. She told reporters that she thought Bloch saved her life. Ms. Vo’s mother reportedly told a police officer that Bloch saved her life as well. The woman who called 911said that Ms. Vo had done this before. When asked about that, Police Capt. Mike Richey said that in the past she had not had a knife so the neighbors were able to calm her down. The reason the police were called was that on March 25 she did have a knife and the woman who called was scared. The question is not whether or not Bloch could have done something else. Certainly he could have. He could have turned and run back to his car and locked the doors. He would have been safe but the neighbors would not. It’s not what police officers are trained to do. They are trained to protect people, and in this case it appears that is what Bloch did.
Maybe he could have used pepper spray, but considering the outcome, if being shot four times doesn’t stop a person, it doesn’t seem likely that something like pepper spray would either. The question that has to be answered is did Bloch have reason to fear imminent bodily harm to himself or others. With a woman coming straight at him who doesn’t hesitate when a gun is pointed at her by a police officer, it appears he had every reason to fear bodily harm both to himself, to the woman standing behind him and others in the area. It makes me wonder what people would say if Bloch had dodged out of the way and the woman behind him had been seriously injured by Ms. Vo. The Police Department would then be criticized for not protecting people. It’s a tragic situation. I’ve heard Bloch say that he wished it had never happened, but it did and I don’t see that in the time he had, and considering the situation, that Bloch had any other reasonable choice other than to do what he did.
table of
CONTENTS
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WEEKLY HAMMER
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COUNCIL CHAOS ENDS WITH BODYCAM VIDEO RELEASE
BY JOHN HAMMER
BY JOHN HAMMER
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BRANSON EXPLAINS WHY PARKS HEAD LEFT FOR SMALLER SALARY BY SCOTT YOST
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TRAPP, COLEMAN WANT SHOPS NOT SHIH TZUS FOR EAST GREENSBORO BY SCOTT D. YOST
11 PROPOSED ANIMAL SHELTER NEXT TO CONTAMINATED AG CENTER LAND BY SCOTT D. YOST
12 HAVING BITTEN THE CITY’S HAND, GSO ACTIVIST WANTS TO BE FED BY JOHN HAMMER
15 UNCLE ORSON
BY ORSON SCOTT CARD
23 YOST COLUMN BY SCOTT D. YOST
25 ASK CAROLYN ... BY CAROLYN WOODRUFF
35 UNDER THE HAMMER BY JOHN HAMMER
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RHINO SHORTS
10, 28 PUZZLE ANSWERS 17
REAL ESTATE
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CHILDREN’S SCHEDULE
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NYT CROSSWORD
21
THE SOUND OF THE BEEP
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SUDOKU
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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EDITORIAL CARTOON
30 Cover: Greensboro security guard Rebecca Newman asking Lewis Pitts to leave the Monday, May 9 City Council meeting at Mayor Nancy Vaughan’s direction. Pitts appealed, Vaughan changed her mind and Pitts stayed. Photo by John Hammer
PUBLISHER Roy Carroll EDITOR-IN-CHIEF GENERAL MANAGER John Hammer Joann Zollo managing editor ELAINE HAMMER
creative director ANTHONY COUNCIL
county editor SCOTT D. YOST
advertising consultants CHRISTINE CHAPMAN TYE SINGLETON
contributing editor ORSON SCOTT CARD
cartoonist GEOF BROOKS
216 West Market Street, Greensboro NC 27401 P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro NC 27429 | (336) 763-4170 (continued on page 11) (336) 763-2585 fax | sales@rhinotimes.com | www.rhinotimes.com
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
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Council Chaos Ends With FAMILY Body-Cam Video Release FUN DAY aaf tank museum
saturday, may 21
by John Hammer The meeting was long, loud and confusing, but in the end, Monday, May 9, the Greensboro City Council – at what was supposed to be a work session on the budget – passed a policy on police body-cam video release and voted to release the first body-cam video. The video released Wednesday, May 11, is one of former Greensboro Police Officer Tim Bloch shooting and killing Chieu Di Thi Vo on March 25, 2014. Vo was coming at Bloch with a butcher knife when she was shot. The shooting was investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Guilford County district attorney’s office and they found that Bloch acted in accordance with police policy and was in imminent danger of bodily harm when he fired his weapon. He was returned to active duty but later resigned. The City Council had announced that it was going to consider the release of the Vo video at the previously schedule work session, and at the beginning of the meeting announced that they would not be discussing the budget. The vote to release the video and pass a city policy on the release of body-worn-camera videos was 6 to 2, with Councilmembers Tony Wilkins and Marikay Abuzuaiter voting no. The vote, like the meeting, is somewhat confusing Abuzuaiter said she was in favor of releasing the video but not of the policy. Wilkins was the only councilmember against both the release of the video and the body-cam-video policy. Abuzuaiter and Councilmembers Yvonne Johnson and Sharon Hightower all asked for two votes – one on releasing the video and one on passing the policy. But Mayor Nancy Vaughan rolled it all into one vote, exactly how that was done was a matter of debate after the meeting. Vaughan and Councilmember Justin Outling had been trying to get the City Council to pass a policy on body-worn-camera videos since April 15. Abuzuaiter has been the most vocal opponent to passing a policy. Both Abuzuaiter and Wilkins said they should not be handed a policy and asked to vote on it five minutes later. But it is also true that the Police Department has had body-worn cameras for three years without a City
Council policy on releasing the videos. The city staff’s policy is that all videos are a part of the officer’s personnel record and cannot even be viewed by the City Council without permission from the officer involved, or unless the City Council determines that to “maintain public confidence” the video needs to be released. How the City Council could determine that a video needed to be released to maintain public confidence without viewing it is a question that will someday have to be decided. In this case, Bloch gave his permission for the City Council and the Vo family to view the video. It is true that the policy that passed was handed out at the meeting, but, as Outling pointed out several times, the policy was basically the same as the policy that was originally introduced on April 15. City Attorney Tom Carruthers said he had tweaked the proposed policy to bring it into compliance with the proposed state law that is currently being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly. The council didn’t need to pass a policy to release the video. It had the authority under state law if the city manager and the City Council deemed it was being released to maintain public confidence. On Tuesday, May 3, the City Council viewed the video in closed session and decided not to release it. The Vo family and their attorney were also allowed to view the video privately. At that meeting the attorney for the Vo family, Tim Nguyen, said that the video did not portray the incident as described by the police, that Bloch was not in danger of bodily harm and asked that the video be released to the public. At that meeting, Johnson made a motion to release the video but it died for lack of a second. Vaughan said that the statements of Nguyen changed the dynamic and caused the City Council to decide that, in order to maintain public confidence, the video should be released. City Manager Jim Westmoreland, who was not present at the meeting on Monday, concurred through a memo with the City Council’s decision. The action of the City Council started off straight forward and then devolved into confusion. The council began the meeting in closed session where they
viewed the video again. When they came back into open session, Johnson immediately made a motion to release the video to the public. Before she could speak, Outling tried to make a motion that the city pass a policy first, but Johnson was allowed by Vaughan to make her motion. Outling said that he thought the proper way to proceed was to pass a policy and then release the video pursuant to that policy. Several councilmembers were confused and Carruthers informed them that they had the authority under state law to release the video whether they passed a policy or not. Councilmember Jamal Fox made a motion that the council pass the policy on body-worn-camera videos and release the Vo video. It was never made clear whether this was an amendment to Johnson’s motion or a (continued on page 13)
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Branson Explains Why Parks Head Left For Smaller Salary by Scott D. Yost
The official story as to why former Guilford County Parks Division Director Thomas Marshburn bolted from Guilford County to take a job with Davidson County is that he got an offer that was too good to refuse. However, Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson said this week that nothing could be further from the truth. Branson said Marshburn left due to his discontent over a number of significant parks related issues that hurt the morale of parks staff. Branson said Marshburn couldn’t get the help he needed in the form of new positions, and Branson added that Guilford County should use Marshburn’s departure as a catalyst to change the way the county handles its parks services.
The commissioner said he wants to take Guilford County’s parks operations out from under the Facilities, Parks and Property Management Department and make it into a stand-alone Guilford County Parks and Recreation Department. According to Branson, parks staff are stretched thin – to the breaking point, in fact – due to excessive demands on their time for county services that are unrelated to parks. “That’s the gospel truth why he left,’ Branson said of Marshburn. “He would have loved to have stayed. He loved what he did and was good at it.” When Marshburn left Guilford County government in April, both he and Guilford County Facilities, Parks and Property Management Director Robert McNiece talked about what an unbelievable offer Marshburn
got from Davidson County, so it was somewhat eye-opening to learn later that Marshburn’s new salary is $68,800 – which is $6,200 a year less than he was making with Guilford County. Branson said that Marshburn was very frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t get any new workers for parks at a time when parks workers were being asked to take over other county services. For instance, Branson said, when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners closed the Guilford County Prison Farm in mid-2015, there was no one to take over the maintenance and upkeep of the 806 acres of land. That task, which had previously been handled by inmate labor, was just dumped on the Parks Division and no positions were added to handle the new duties, Branson said. At the county commissioners 2015 retreat, before the board voted to close down the Prison Farm, McNiece said that maintaining the land would be no problem and wouldn’t require any additional staff. Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said this week that parks crews had been given the task of taking over the maintenance on the land, and he added it’s a big job given that it’s over 800 acres. The sheriff said that shutting down the cattle business at the Prison Farm meant there was a lot more grass to mow on the site than there was before. “The cattle took care of some of it,” Barnes said. Barnes said that the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department still maintains the area around the shooting range that his department uses on the farm property, but the vast majority of maintenance was turned over to the Parks Division. Branson said that the county also recently began using parks staff to do work for the Guilford County Board of Elections Office. Parks workers are now used to transport elections machines to polling sites, help set up the machines and retrieve them after elections, as well as handle other elections department activities that require physical labor. Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said the parks workers started doing those jobs for the elections office in 2015. He said it was a good thing for his
department because parks workers were particularly helpful. “It’s a lot of hard work,” Collicutt said. “Those parks guys are great.” Collicutt said his department isn’t staffed to handle the loading and transporting of heavy voting machines and other equipment. He said his department had always relied on county facilities staff and, in fact, most counties do. He added he’s not sure why parks staff was used starting last year. According to Collicutt, it might be as simple as the fact that people who are very dedicated and competent always seem to get more work thrown their way. In addition, in the last year, the county’s Parks Division has opened up new preserves and trails and a pool at Hagan-Stone Park, and it has expanded activity offerings, which all take more manpower. Branson also said that constant public criticism over Rich Fork Preserve didn’t help matters. That’s an open space preserve in High Point that has been a focal point of recent contentious debate between those who want to use the area for mountain biking and those who say that sport is destructive to the environment. Branson said parks staff were trying to arrive at a reasonable compromise but that opponents to mountain biking were making the discussion very difficult. One of the leaders of that group that wants to see the land remain in its pristine condition is former Guilford County school board member and former County Commissioner Dot Kearns. “Dot Kearns and her group wouldn’t give an inch,” Branson said of the opposition to allowing mountain bike riding in the preserve. Branson also said that, in Greensboro, mountain bikers can often ride right next to reservoirs, but, when it comes to High Point, some residents are attempting to keep all open space area as sacred ground. Branson said the major tug of war over the preserve that’s still going strong finally got to Marshburn. “He was tired of fighting and fighting and fighting that battle,” Branson said. He also said that every time (continued on page 10)
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Trapp, Coleman Want Shops Not Shih Tzus For East Greensboro by Scott D. Yost For Guilford County government, the decision of where to put a new animal shelter is black and white. Specifically, at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners work session on Thursday, May 5, the board’s six white commissioners voted to request a special-use permit from the City of Greensboro to allow the county to build the shelter in east Greensboro on the 3300 block of Burlington Road near the Guilford County Agricultural Center, while the board’s three black commissioners all voted to nix the move. The proposed shelter site in east Greensboro is in an economically depressed area, and the commissioners who voted against putting the shelter on that spot of county-owned property said the area
needs businesses such as grocery stores, shops and entertainment venues – things that will likely increase property values, rather than decrease those values as they fear a new shelter would do. Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman, who, along with Commissioners Ray Trapp and Carlvena Foster, voted against requesting the special-use permit for the shelter, said this week that it isn’t fair to saddle the economically depressed area of east Greensboro with another undesirable enterprise. “You already have people saying, ‘We have the Salvation Army; we have the homeless shelter and we have all of the things that some people would look upon as devaluing their property,’” Coleman said. Likewise, Trapp said that the east
side of Greensboro already has a landfill and some other unsightly properties, as well as some types of businesses that people generally don’t want to live near. “Do we want to continue to add to those?” Trapp asked. He said that advocates for the area like himself were intent on making that area more attractive to residents, not less so. “We just want to change those things,” Trapp said. “It’s not eye-pleasing,” he said of an animal shelter. While many people love animals, a shelter can bring unpleasant odors and more traffic – especially since the Guilford County Animal Shelter and animal control operations are now all one unified Guilford County Animal Services Department that’s expected
to be run out of the new shelter location, wherever that ends up. According to Trapp, the ongoing effort to beautify east Greensboro would take a step backward if Guilford County puts the animal shelter there. Trapp said that, although other commissioners commented in the work session that they would like having the shelter in their districts, it’s easy to say that when a district already has a lot of grocery store options and a thriving retail presence. He said that, when it comes to east Greensboro and other economically depressed parts of Guilford County, the commissioners should focus on advancing those areas rather than adding to their woes. Trapp said he has nothing against animal shelters and that he currently owns a dog adopted from the county’s (continued on page 14)
10 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
parks
(continued from page 8)
you open a newspaper there were incessant articles critical of parks decisions, including many long critical articles by News & Record columnist Susan Ladd regarding Rich Fork. One county official said that one complaint Marshburn had is that the division’s workers “were never made whole” after they left jobs with local towns and cities to go on Guilford County’s payroll. The source said Marshburn was under the impression that certain promises were made to those workers but the county never lived up to those promises. Guilford County officially took over the parks on Jan. 1, 2013, but there was so little preparation before the move it took about half a year until the county got its feet on the ground with regard to parks operations. Before that major transition, the county contracted with Greensboro and other area municipalities to maintain and operate its parks. Some sources say many workers have been disenchanted ever since the county took over the operations of the parks three-and-a-half years ago.
Marshburn isn’t the only Guilford County parks worker who’s chosen to leave. According to Guilford County Human Resources Director John Dean, the Parks Division currently has 28 year-round employees who get county benefits and 24 of those positions are filled. In response to a question about departures from the Guilford County Parks Division since Jan. 1, 2014, Dean stated that eight parks employees have left since that time. According to Dean, there are also 94 temporary seasonal positions but the county doesn’t track turnover in those positions. Branson said that the county’s Parks Division had lost a good number of people so far, including Marshburn, and that there may be more departures on the way if things don’t improve. He said making the Parks Division independent of other county facilities operations would be the best step. Branson said he once brought up a need for more parks staff at a commissioners work session, and he said that Marshburn told him later that those comments gained the department more consideration than anything else that had happened. But it clearly wasn’t enough, Branson said, since Marshburn ultimately jumped ship to Davidson County. Branson said Marshburn asked for employees constantly and “got the cold shoulder.” There are a lot of county departments who have not gotten wanted new positions but Branson said Marshburn’s situation was particularly dire. Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing said it’s not uncommon for some departments to ask for more positions during the budget process each year, but he said that every department in Guilford County government is being asked to operate “lean,” and the Parks Division, he said, was no exception. Branson said he disagreed strongly with recent comments by Guilford County Commissioner Ray Trapp. Trapp stated that the county didn’t know how to run recreation programs. Branson said that the county’s Parks Division has a lot of dedicated, capable workers who are doing a good job, but he added that the current structure with the Parks Division under the facilities operations really hinders their ability to operate. “I guess, as a young department managed by facilities, I think it needs to be its own department,” Branson said. “I think parks and facilities are two departments. You have one
person and they are in engineering and another who is setting up playgrounds.” He added that sometimes a design or engineering principle cooked up at a high level in a nice office isn’t always applicable in a real-world situation. Branson also said that cutting county positions to the bone and then keeping those resources stretched too thin is simply not good business. “There was a lady staffer at Bur-Mil [Park] who booked special events,” Branson said. “She did a pretty decent job and we had $110,000 or $125,000 coming in for special events. She left and they didn’t replace her and now that number is $8,000 to $10,000. If you’ve got someone, for $25,000, bringing in over $100,000 and they retire, and you don’t replace them, are you gaining ground? I’m not a financial analyst, but I didn’t fall off the pickup truck and hit my head this morning.” Branson also said the county’s Parks Division has been making progress in providing services for physicallychallenged county residents. At the commissioners retreat in February this year, Branson expressed the importance of working to provide more access and more activities for physically and mentally challenged kids and adults. He said the new wheelchairaccessible pool at Hagan-Stone Park was a good step in that direction, and he added that that type of pool access was rarely seen in local pools. He also said that a planned Saturday, June 4, day of activities for those of all ages and “all abilities” was another indication Guilford County was moving in the right direction when it comes to parks. Branson said Guilford County was also hard at work planning other park events as well. It recently had a successful opening of Cascades Preserves on Friday, May 6, and, on Saturday, May 14, Hagan-Stone Park will be the scene of the “Pickin’ in the Park” Bluegrass Festival.
Crossword Solution L O C A T E H I R E
A V A T A R A C E D
C P I B A J O B A S E
U N I X
R E S O L E L E N G T H E N S S Y N C
D R U N K P E T T Y R O C K S T O K E
From last week’s issue A I L E R O A N R E A A L B A U W M E S S W D A Y F N E E R S S R A C E
O K P E T Y F S L S A E D S T Y H H A I D E S S A T T M A E I N P E R E A E I R B A R E S A T R U N
S M I D G E A N L L L O A Y M S E R A L T D O A R P F E A D D O A R I L
A S H I N O D A Y P A A N A M D L E S A D R I R C O B I T I A M P R O L Y N U T S C H I L E T Y C E R U
S O R T T H E O R R H S O O V L E O R S O M B A R R I G R A E D S E
P R A Y S
R A T E B A B E P U C E
L A N D
A L S O
S L O W
J E T T Y L I N E R
O P P O S I T E S
I N R O I N S Z E S T
A R T S
C I N E M A
A D O R E D
M E S S R S
T A K E R
H Y M N
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
Proposed Animal Shelter Site Next To Contaminated Land
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by Scott D. Yost
The site of the Guilford County Agricultural Center on the 3300 block of Burlington Road – which is on county-owned property in Greensboro being considered by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners for a proposed new animal shelter and by Greensboro Developer Marty Kotis for a retail development – was the scene of a 1992 heating oil tank leak. That leak contaminated the soil and groundwater, took 10 years to remediate before the state was satisfied no further cleanup was necessary and left the Agricultural Center land with perpetual deed restrictions. The cause of the leak was an 8,000-gallon heating oil tank next to the Agricultural Center, which sits on one section of 34 acres of county-
owned property. That land was the subject of the county commissioners Thursday, May 5 work session, where the board voted to request a specialuse permit from the City of Greensboro for land adjacent to the Agricultural Center to allow the county to build an animal shelter there. The leak on the property was cleaned up through earth removal and other methods, and was monitored with a series of monitoring wells. In 1996, a change in state law eased restrictions on petroleum cleanup, and, in 2002, the State of North Carolina decreed that no further action was necessary. The current county plans under discussion call for an animal shelter and a potential retail development on land next to, but not directly on, the site where the restrictions remain in effect. The deed restrictions apply
only to the land under the Agricultural Center building itself and land around that building. Neither the contamination nor the state’s notice of petroleum on the property has come up in county discussions of the property and its future use. County officials who were asked about the issue this week stated they were unaware of the spill, its cleanup or the remaining restrictions on the Agricultural Center land. However, they now appear to be looking into the situation in order to be certain it doesn’t have any bearing on the county’s current plans for the undeveloped land on the same countyowned tract where the Agricultural Center sits. The notice of residual petroleum for the site named “Guilford County Agricultural Center” states, “The
property that is the subject of this Notice (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Site’) contains petroleum and is an Underground Storage Tank incident under North Carolina’s Statutes and Regulations … This notice is part of a remedial action for the site …” “NOTICE. Petroleum product was released and/or discharged at this Site. Petroleum constituents remain on the site but are not a danger to public health and the environment provided that the restrictions described herein, and any other measures required by DENR, are strictly complied with.” “For protection of public health and the environment … all of the real property described above shall be held, sold and conveyed subject to the following land use restrictions, which shall run with the land, shall be (continued on page 34)
12 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
Having Bitten The City’s Hand, GSO Activist Wants To Be Fed by John Hammer For the first time, the city put the downtown Business Improvement District (BID) funds out for bid. Each property owner in the BID pays an additional 8 cents on the property tax rate, and most of that money has been allocated to Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) to promote business downtown. This year the city invited proposals on spending the BID revenue, and DGI and Qub Studios responded. DGI bid on the entire package and Qub Studios bid on two portions – marketing and communications and public space management The city staff recommended that the contract be awarded to DGI. Both DGI President Zack Matheny and Qub Studios President Eric Robert gave brief presentations to the
City Council’s General Government Committee on Monday, May 9. It is fascinating that Qub and Robert would put in a bid for a contract awarded by the city because last year Robert and Qub sued the city over redevelopment funding, with Robert contending that he didn’t receive any of the redevelopment funds for the South Elm Street redevelopment project. He in fact didn’t receive any funding but he also didn’t fill out the necessary paperwork and didn’t have the required environmental study done to have his property considered. The city also had an affidavit from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that said Robert’s property was not eligible for HUD redevelopment funds. Robert dropped the lawsuit in February 2016, after the city spent
over $100,000 on legal expenses. Depositions in the case had been taken, including one from Mayor Nancy Vaughan who was not mayor or on the City Council when the money was allocated. Robert has a year in which he can reinstate the lawsuit. At the Monday meeting, Robert showed a slick marketing video using images that were part of a dispute between Robert and DGI. In February 2015, Robert’s attorney, Scott Hale, sent DGI a letter stating that if DGI continued to use the images in the “Let’s Play” video, which Hale says Qub Studios owned and had only allowed DGI to use in print ads in certain publications in December 2014, he would be forced to file a lawsuit. Gary Brame, who was then chairman of the DGI board, replied in a letter
to Hale that DGI had been invoiced for the images by Ink Photography Productions and had paid the invoices in full, but that DGI would stop using the images. Brame also noted in his letter that Robert was asked to work on the video as “a volunteer member of DGI’s Board of Directors” and that “Mr. Robert willingly accepted this request as an unpaid volunteer.” Brame’s letter states that DGI “never contracted in writing or verbally, directly with Qub Studios regarding the images created for the ‘Let’s Play’ branding campaign.” It’s bizarre for Robert to use a images that he threatened to sue DGI over when competing with DGI for a city contract. The contract goes before the City Council in May.
Mommy Makeover and New Lunch and Learn Seminars by Virgil V. Willard II, MD
THE “MOMMY MAKEOVER” is a term that has been coined to describe the surgeries woman have requested after they have delivered the last baby. Our children, God help us we love them, but the changes pregnancy causes are not always kind. Let’s go over these procedures. FIRST THE BREASTS. Different moms have different changes. Usually, after the breast milk stops being produced, some of the firm breast tissue will wilt away. This leaves the breast smaller and now has some droop that was not there before. Sometimes the breast will stay larger than before the pregnancy. If stretch marks have come, I’m sorry to say we don’t have anything to reverse them. Some lasers can make them smaller if you treat them while they are red. Do not suntan them while they are red or they will stay dark instead of fading to white. If you have lost some volume, a breast augmentation will help restore that volume. If droopiness has become the problem, then a mastopexy (breast lift) is the right operation. I have been in practice for 25 years now, and of all the procedures we will talk about today, the number of mastopexies has increased the most! Like the rest of the procedures here, the final result makes for very happy patients. The last change is the breast may become and stay larger. The resultant neck, back, and shoulder pain, often makes breast reductions an insurance
reimbursable procedure when the others here are not. Breast reductions give you a lift too. This is another wonderful operation. SECONDLY, FAT POCKETS SEEM TO OCCUR AND STAY AFTER PREGNANCIES. These are typically amenable to liposuction. These areas can be under the chin, the arms, the abdomen, the hips, the thighs, and the knees. Liposuction is a great operation. As long as the skin has enough elasticity to contract and hold a smaller volume, it works great. THIRDLY, LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT ABDOMEN. If the skin and muscles have not stretched too far, then liposuction will be sufficient. If your muscles are stretched apart, and/or the skin is just too excessive, then an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) is what you need. This surgery pulls your muscles back together. It also removes lower abdominal skin and the fat beneath it. The incision winds up low in the bikini line. This is an awesome operation. It is also the biggest one we are talking about today. But, if you need it, you need it. If you try a shortcut like just doing liposuction when there is too much skin, you will wind up with ugly, wrinkly skin. Most patients are uncomfortable driving the first two weeks, and most patients return to computertype work in three weeks.
Some can sooner, some it takes longer. A lot of patients worry about the pain too. We use numbing medicine that lasts for three days! Incredible. The worst of the pain is over in several days, so this gets you past the worst of it. Do not let pain keep you from having this operation. We have it covered! LASTLY, LET’S TALK ABOUT THE FACE. I don’t know if it’s part of the ageing process, or maybe it’s those sleepless nights with a new baby, but changes in the face after a pregnancy are not uncommon at all. It’s unlikely this age group is going to need a face-lift, but the skin of the face can lose elasticity. To help with this, a skin tightening laser procedure like the YAG, or ultrasound treatments with Ultherapy®, create nice changes. The “mask of pregnancy,” the dark discoloration of the cheek,
happens sometimes. This will very successfully be treated with either a laser or one of the chemical peels. Once in a while, excess skin becomes a cosmetic problem of the upper or lower eyelids. For this, a blepharoplasty (eyelid lifts) is a wonderful operation to get rid of that skin. Most patients having a “mommy makeover” have more than one procedure. We very commonly do a breast and an abdominal procedure at the same time. It saves the patient money and requires just one recovery instead of two. We are skilled and trained to safely accomplish multiple procedures. And let’s face it, there may be young children at home. Let’s try and keep Mom “out of commission” as little as possible. Dads appreciate that. Call for a consult and we’ll see what procedures might correct what the Little Darlings did!
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body-cam (continued from page 7)
substitute motion. Carruthers said his understanding was that before the vote Johnson withdrew her motion, but it was not done formally. Vaughan said her understanding was that Johnson accepted the Fox amendment as a friendly amendment so it didn’t require a second vote. At one point Carruthers asked both Johnson and Fox to withdraw their motions so the council could start over, but Fox declined. After Fox made the motion, Carruthers had copies of the new policy distributed to the city councilmembers and the press. It was the first time the city councilmembers had seen this version of the policy as altered by Carruthers. Wilkins asked how Fox could make a motion to pass a policy that he had never seen. Later when Carruthers was asked to clarify exactly what was before the council, he said that the original policy as presented to the council on April 15 was being considered. Fox corrected Carruthers and said his motion was for the policy he had not seen when he made the motion. Fox was allowed to change his motion, but councilmembers were still confused about what they would be voting on and whether it would be one vote or two. At one point, Vaughan started to take a vote but Carruthers suggested that the resolution they were passing, which they had just received, be read into the record first and did so. Carruthers was asked about previous requests for the video and said that in the fall of 2014, Chris Brook of the American Civil Liberties Union had contacted the him on behalf of the Vo family, requesting that the family be allowed to see the video. He said the city was trying to work out a solution, but Jan. 16, 2015 was the last time they heard from Brook. Carruthers noted that it had come up again in the past couple of weeks, and, when the family asked to see the video, Bloch had agreed to allow the family and the City Council to see it. Since it is a part of Bloch’s personnel file, he had that authority and, according to Carruthers, within 48 hours of the request the family was allowed to view the video. Before the Council voted, Bloch asked if he could address the City Council since he was the officer involved in the shooting. Vaughan gave him three minutes. Bloch said, “Unfortunately, I’m one of the first officers in the state to wear a body-worn camera and be involved in a shooting.” He said that the problem with the
body-worn-camera video is that it doesn’t tell the whole story. He gave the example that there was a neighbor standing behind him but she doesn’t appear on the video. He said, “If I was able to speak about the details in the camera that would greatly help.” Bloch asked to be allowed to tell his side of the story before the video was released to the public, but the City Council didn’t give him the opportunity. Bloch was told he would be able to talk for 10 or 20 minutes, however long he needed, at the Public Safety Committee meeting later Monday afternoon. Wilkins made a point that Bloch would get as much time as he needed. Bloch said several times he only wanted his side of the story on record before the public saw the narrow view of the incident that the camera captured. However, Bloch, at the Public Safety Committee meeting, was only given three minutes by Committee Chairwoman Abuzuaiter, and Wilkins didn’t protest. The whole City Council meeting was made more confusing because retired attorney Lewis Pitts, who had his own body-worn-camera video policy that he had previously presented to the City Council, kept shouting out from the audience. At one point, Vaughan said that she would have Pitts removed from the Council Chambers if he didn’t sit down and be quiet. A security officer came over to Pitts, who was still standing, and told him he had to leave. Pitts sat down but refused to leave. In the past, at this point the person refusing to leave the Council Chambers has been arrested. But Pitts called out to Vaughan again and asked if he had to leave. Vaughan said no, he could stay if he would keep quiet. Pitts kept shouting at the City Council but didn’t do it standing up and wasn’t asked to leave. So people now know that it takes more than standing and shouting at the City Council to be escorted out of the room. Perhaps the new rule is that you have to throw rotten fruit at the City Council to be removed from the room. At each succeeding controversial meeting, the behavior of some members of the audience has been getting worse. Vaughan did threaten to clear the room when Pitts kept shouting at the City Council. Clearing the room when the same three or four people are causing the problems at every meeting would be punishing everyone, when the simple solution is to warn those who are responsible for the improper behavior that they will be removed after the first outburst, and then do it.
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
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14 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
shih tzus (continued from page 9)
shelter. He said it’s just not the right fit for this location at this time. “It’s not that there’s anything wrong with an animal shelter,” Trapp said. He added that, with the easy access to East Wendover Avenue and more future traffic generated in that area by the Greensboro Urban Loop, this block would likely see more positive development if the shelter isn’t put there. Greensboro Developer Marty Kotis has asked Guilford County to sell him rights to purchase some or all of the 34 county owned acres on the 3300 block of Burlington Road. With 5 or 6 acres needed for an animal shelter, and 8 to 10 acres for what Kotis wants to do, as well as an Agricultural Center already on the property – and not all of the land being suitable for development – things could get tight if everything under consideration is built on that land. At the May 5 work session, no one mentioned Kotis by name; instead, they referred to him as “the developer” or some variant of that. Guilford County Facilities, Parks and Property Management Director Robert McNiece said at the meeting that the
developer is looking to put a store on the property as well as some “out buildings,” and McNiece ran through some scenarios whereby it might be possible to build both the proposed animal shelter and new retail on the property. At the work session, Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing said staff had been tasked by the Board of Commissioners with asking two questions of the developer: Did the developer feel an animal shelter on adjoining land was compatible with his project and would there be enough space left for his proposed project? Lawing said the developer had no problem with his project being next to an animal shelter. He said the developer’s initial proposal called for use of 10.5 acres, but the developer could probably get by with 8.5 acres for what he had under consideration. McNiece said that the placement of more than one business on the land was important to the developer. “The grocery store is a loss leader and he makes his money on the outparcel,” McNiece said. That dynamic only adds to the
space Kotis needs. “I’m sure if he had a choice he’d take the whole thing,” McNiece said of the undeveloped county-owned property along Burlington Road. Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Jeff Phillips said that while county staff may have heard of a need for 8.5 acres or more from the developer, 6 or 7 acres would probably be adequate based on conversations he’d had. “While that may be the last thing you heard, that may not be the case,” Phillips said of the need for 8.5 or more acres. Phillips said that, if the county made sure there were 6 or so acres left on the site after a shelter is in place, it would minimize concerns about the shelter crowding out potential development on the block. Commissioner Justin Conrad said there is room for both projects if the county shows some creativity in its shelter design. “I’m interested in both,” Conrad said. McNiece said there are ways to decrease the needed space such as creating a shared parking lot or other strategies. McNiece also told commissioners that Guilford County would need a
special-use permit to put an animal shelter on the land. “The way this land is zoned is kind of interesting,” McNiece told the board. “It allows any kind of government building, but no animal shelter.” McNiece told the commissioners that the request would have to be approved by the City of Greensboro. He got some sharp questions when he remarked that “the city was amenable” to an animal shelter at the location. Coleman chimed in immediately. “Who was it with the city that was amenable?” Coleman asked, clearly questioning McNiece’s contention that the city had no problem with the county building an animal shelter there. “Our folks spoke with the staff,” McNiece replied. Coleman said, “I was trying to understand who was amenable – I knew the City Council wasn’t amenable.” Trapp also played the role of party crasher at the May 5 work session. “I know we talked to city planning staff but have we talked to any of the officials who represent the city?” Trapp asked. “I figured we hadn’t because I just checked.” Trapp said he had discussed the (continued on page 16)
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by Orson Scott Card Captain America: Civil War has just about the same premise as the sad little Batman v. Superman movie – one superhero disapproves of another superhero and they have titanic battles with all kinds of special effects until they kiss and make up, or agree to disagree – and by the way they’re both right and they’re in so much emotional turmoil it makes me want to cry. Or it would, if I actually cared. Here’s what screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely achieved: I actually did kind of care about the characters in Captain America: Civil War. Part of that rested on the fact that two out of the three Iron Man movies were good, and, you know, Robert Downey Jr. But mostly it’s the writing in this movie that makes this movie work. It’s true that putting Paul Rudd in any movie makes it better. That’s just a fact. But you have to give him something to do and say that allows him to create his little bright spots here and there. And these writers do that. Best of all, they absolutely knew how to reinvent a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man as a wonderfully exuberant and funny character instead of the brooding, sad guy that we’ve seen in the past two cycles of Spider-Man films. I can’t wait for the Tom Holland Spider-Man reboot, because he was one of the best things in Civil War. The dollops of character and clever dialogue worked to make this movie watchable. Otherwise, it’s just the same old fights and special effects. Captain America’s magic shield? Oh, puh-leeze. This was stupid in the comic books and it remains stupid now. But do it all fast enough and sure, yeah, we’ll buy it. We expect the special effects to be
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spot on in these comic-book movies, and we know we’re going to have to switch off large portions of our brains not to shake our heads and walk out of this pea-soup of nonsense. The good comic-book movies are the ones that manage to create human characters, and that don’t have Thor in them. These characters have to be played for real rather than for laughs and smirks – even when it’s a comedy. That is, in Deadpool, the title character was funny, because he was witty and a bit cynical – but he was played straight, as if he were a real person. Think back to the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Reeve was charming, but he – like all the other characters – played the part with a wink. I’m not really serious, the actors were all saying. Isn’t this fun? And that’s why these movies ran out of steam so soon ... and why they don’t hold up. Robert Downey Jr., as Iron Man in all these Marvel movies, shows his character, Tony Stark, going through life tongue-in-cheek – but it’s the character, not the actor, who is laughing at all the goingson, especially his own. The actor is making Tony Stark as real as possible. So the witty characters fit into the same movie as the painfully earnest Captain America because they’re all playing it real. And when they have a decent script to work with, they give us a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute romp. Great fun. Just keep it in perspective. The Disney live-action Jungle Book also taxes our credence in many ways, but it isn’t the same thing over and over the way these comic-book movies are. Civil War does try for substance. The argument over whether the Avengers should be subject to the oversight of the United Nations
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uncle orson (continued from page 15)
(oh, that’s a pack of clowns if there ever was one) in order to contain the collateral damage is one worth having. But here the writers didn’t dare to bring in the real arguments and evidence, either because there wasn’t time, or they knew the studio executives would never understand them, or they knew that the strongest arguments don’t lead to politically correct conclusions. For instance, nobody could say, “The United Nations is a collection of rabid anti-Americans who assemble only to condemn the West, the US, and, above all, Israel.” Instead, they actually talk about not relying on the Security Council – you know, the body where the US has a veto over taking any action. The General Assembly would end up authorizing only strikes against the US and Israel, and anybody who is aware of the politics of the UN knows that. So this script really does live in fantasy land. And where were the World War II arguments? Yes, in wartime a lot of innocent people get hurt. But the bad guys that the Avengers put down
were causing far more harm than the collateral damage. In combat, nobody is in control of all the consequences of their actions. And no sane, moral or just judge would have blamed the Avengers for any of the accidental bad stuff that happened in this movie or in the past. I remember that Man of Steel was criticized by many fans because Superman took actions that caused harm to innocent bystanders. I thought that it was exactly the right move, to get a realistic Superman out of the fantasy land where the only people who get hurt are the ones you mean to hurt, and Superman can prevail without ever killing anybody. Nuh-uh. World War II was a righteous war. Neither the Nazis nor the Japanese could be allowed to maintain their evil empires, and in the desperate struggle to stop them, a lot of civilians were killed. These were not war crimes. It was war. Good guys still try to behave decently in war, but let’s face it, war consists of inducing soldiers (usually males, since evolution favors this) to shrug off the limitations on their
violence and hurt the enemy as much as possible. That killing fury or bloodlust cannot always be switched on and off. Nor can imperfect humans reasonably foresee most of the consequences of violent action. The people who were enraged at the Avengers because of the people they accidentally hurt were understandable, but they were ludicrously wrong. They could not gain the perspective to see that even when the Avengers did things that inadvertently killed people, on the whole they saved far more people than they killed or injured. But the government leaders knew, or should have known, if they were even marginally competent. All I saw in Civil War was political grandstanding, with the Avengers getting criticized because they were not gods – exactly the way grandstanding third-world leaders criticize the US because, in our role as policeman to the world, we
sometimes hurt people we shouldn’t oughta have hurt. There are only two choices, when trying to fight evil and curtail its damage. Either you take action and sometimes hurt people who didn’t deserve it, even as you defeat evil; or you take no action, and then you are condemned for not saving the people you could have saved. Think of the nothing that we did in Rwanda, as Tutsi men, women and children were butchered by genocidal Hutus. A few overflights by American attack helicopters would almost certainly have saved many lives; but, cowed by bad results from our ill-conceived, undermanned efforts in Somalia, we did nothing. Either way, there’s blood on our hands. But which would have been better – to sit out World War II as long as possible, saving the lives we took in Dresden and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or jump in as we did,
(continued on page 22)
shih tzus (continued from page 14)
matter with the city councilmember who represents that area. “I spoke with him and he’s absolutely not in favor of this at all,” Trapp said. The land is in the City of Greensboro’s District 2, represented by City Councilmember Jamal Fox. Commissioner Alan Branson asked of Fox’s opposition: “What’s the reason behind it?” “He doesn’t want to see an animal shelter there,” Trapp said. “So have we talked to the city about land swaps with potential land the city might have in this same area, but not at this particular site?” McNiece said he and other county staff had discussed city-owned land the city might have for an animal shelter and said that city staff was researching those options. Coleman said that, at the last commissioners work session on the matter, she’d asked for a community meeting of residents who live near the proposed projects on Burlington Road. “I know some people don’t like community meetings,” Coleman said, taking a shot at some of the Republican commissioners who she criticizes often as unresponsive to citizens’ desires. Phillips said that a public hearing would be part of the process of filing for a special-use permit with the city. Coleman said that taking the matter to the City of Greensboro before listening to the citizens would get the commissioners into “a little more chaos
than we need to be in.” “You want to at least hear from those people,” she added. The board didn’t vote to hold a community meeting for input but a frustrated Coleman may very well call one on her own. Two big advantages for the county are that the county already owns the property and it is close to where the majority of Animal Services calls originate. It is a greater distance from High Point than the current shelter on West Westover Avenue, but High Point has its own animal control services that operate out of that city, and Guilford County officials are discussing having a small Animal Services “drop-off” point that is closer to High Point than the Agricultural Center site. At the meeting, Branson came under fire for one remark he made. “It doesn’t sound like it would be too simple if you’ve already got a city councilmember texting one of the commissioners, stirring the pot,” Branson said. Coleman clearly took offense at that. “Stirring the pot?” she asked sharply. Trapp had the same response: “Stirring the pot? He represents this area. If this were your district, you would be weighing in on it as well.” The county will now attempt to convince the City of Greensboro to approve the special-use permit so the county can move forward with its project.
RHINO
www.rhinotimes.com
May 12, 2016
REALESTATE Everything you need to find, finance and buy the house of your dreams
Protecting Your Home While On Vacation BY SANDY GROOVER
Planning a vacation can be fun and exciting. You probably take great care in deciding where to go and what to take with you. In the midst of all that planning, have you thought about how to keep your home safe
while you’re away? Here are some ideas that may be of help. To create the illusion that someone is at home, basic preventative measures include stopping your mail (continued on page 18)
LOCALREALTORDIRECTORY www.realestate.rhinotimes.com
Chidi Akwari 336.337.1927
Gil Vaughan 336.337.4780
Wayne Young 336.253.4472
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Betty Howard 336.337.7535
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18 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
vacation (continued from page 17)
AAF TANK MUSEUM 3401 US 29 • Danville
Family Fun Day
Saturday, May 21, the family is invited for a day of fun at the Tank Museum. There will be vehicle demos, a bounce house, “catch the cannon ball,” face painting and radio control tank battles. There will even be special appearances by Iron Man and Scooby-Doo from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is included in admission of $12 for adults and $10 for children under 12 and adults over 60. Children under 4 get in free. For more information, visit aaftankmuseum.com, facebook.com/AAFTankmuseum or call (434) 836-5323.
ARTQUEST AT GREENHILL 200 North Davie St.
Free Family Night
Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m., ArtQuest hosts a free Family Night. Create art, working with paint, clay or new and unexpected materials. For more information, call (336) 333-7460 or visit GreenhillNC.org.
INTERNATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS CENTER 134 S. Elm St.
Children’s Story Hour
Saturdays at 11 a.m., children 6 through 12 are invited to a story hour and then create an arts project. This event is free. For children ages 6 to 12 and their families. For information, call (336) 274-9199 or visit sitinmovement.org.
GREENSBORO CITY ARTS
Greensboro Cultural Center • 200 N. Davie St.
Summer Camps
Children can tap into their creativity at the City Arts’ summer camps. • The Drama Center offers weekly classes in June and July. • Guitar Camp is June 20 to June 24 for grades 6-12. • Children 12 months through 5 years and their parents can participate in Kindermusik Camps in May and July. • Dance Project holds weekly camps throughout the summer. Regular classes are also available. • Other artistic outlets include pottery, drawing and painting classes. Scholarships are available. For information, call (336) 373-2026.
GREENSBORO SCIENCE CENTER 4301 Lawndale Dr.
Penguin Encounters
At 3:15 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in May, get nose to beak with African penguins in this 45-minute program. Learn about the care of these animals and go behind the scenes for an up-close and personal experience in the encounter room. Talk with experts and take great pictures. Tickets are $45 each in addition to general admission. To learn more, visit www.greensboroscience.org or call (336) 288-3769.
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and newspaper delivery, or having a neighbor pick them up while you’re away. If you’ll be gone for over a week, consider hiring someone to mow the lawn and water the plants; you can also ask them to put out the trash when it’s time for garbage collection, and put the containers back at the end of day. The idea is to make it look like someone is as at home. To continue the illusion, having interior lights turn on and off with timers is a tried and true idea. Along these same lines, you can connect an old, analog TV or radio to a timer so it comes on at times you would normally tune in. (Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with today’s modern electronic TVs and radios, as they come on in standby mode.) Exterior low-voltage lighting around your home is a good idea. Motion sensing flood lights, especially in the backyard, may help deter would-be thieves. There are also burglar-deterrent sound effect CDs that you can get and set to play at random times. They sound like growling or barking dogs, and most criminals don’t want to take a chance on encountering a canine. Unplug the appliances that won’t be in use while you are away, with the exception of the timers, of course. We often remember to unplug large items like TVs and computers but don’t necessarily think about the toaster, coffee maker or microwave. You might as well unplug them to help protect your home from an electrical fire or power surge. And, be sure your smoke detectors are in working order. Unplug your garage door opener too. That way a thief can’t open the door with a universal remote. For garage doors that lift on tracks, you can put a C-clamp on the track next to the roller and tighten it. It will prevent the door from being opened. Be sure the side door to the garage is also locked. To keep thieves from seeing whether your car is in the garage, consider covering or frosting the garage windows. Another big item to adjust is your thermostat. If you’ll be away in the
REAL ESTATE
summer, you can turn it up, but it’s better to not go above 85 degrees in order to keep the heat and humidity in check in a sealed up house. You also wouldn’t want a silent compressor in hot weather to signal to thieves that you aren’t home. Along with making sure all the doors are locked before you leave, verify that the windows are locked or securely fastened. For sliding glass doors without built-in burglar bars, it’s worth placing a metal rod or piece of wood in the track to keep would-be intruders from forcing the door open. If your exterior doors have glass panels, it’s a good idea to install the type of deadbolt that can only be opened with a key on the inside. That way, a burglar can’t break the glass and turn the handle of the deadbolt. (Don’t forget to take the key out of the deadbolt while you’re gone). Often people hide spare keys outside. Unfortunately, burglars know all the typical places keys are hidden. Instead, why not leave a key with a trusted neighbor or friend. Leaving your contact information with a friend or neighbor is another good idea. Ask them if they wouldn’t mind checking your house while you’re away. Give them the names and numbers of those you would call in an emergency, as well as your electrician, plumber and lawn and pool services. You just never know when they might be needed. Leave your blinds and draperies open just as you usually do. You want your house to look as normal as possible. Go outside and look at your house from the street. If you can see things you value, so can a burglar. If you have a safety deposit box, you might want to put jewelry or other valuables in it. Don’t leave anything of value where it can be seen through the windows. Finally, be careful not to announce the fact that you are going on vacation on the social media sites you follow. You may think your settings are secure, but it’s difficult to tell for sure these days what is private and what is public. To be safe, why not wait until you return to show photos and talk about your fabulous vacation.
REAL ESTATE
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
The New York Times
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crossword puzzle No. 0501 STELLAR WORK
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BY JOEL FAGLIANO AND BYRON WALDEN / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ 19
20 Celtic who was the M.V.P. of the 2008 1 Grass and such N.B.A. Finals 7 Lifesavers, e.g. 23 Kaiser Permanente 11 Turns off offering 19 Source of good 27 Begat fortune 30 W, for one 20 Tried to open, as a pet door 31 March 14, to math lovers 21 Seaman’s aid 33 Fibonacci or Galileo 22 *Z, for one 35 Casino offering, 24 Behind derived from the 25 “O grave, where is 68 Reebok rival DOWN Latin for “five each” ____ victory?”: 69 Texas city in the 1 Almanac fodder 37 Revenue source for I Corinthians movie “Friday Fish and Wildlife 2 Home of the daily 26 Neither wizards nor Night Lights” departments World-Herald witches, in Harry 70 Bonn one Potter books 39 Jocular disclaimer 3 Clicker for Dorothy 28 Language descended 72 Pro-consumer 40 Spoonful, say 4 Tie word ideology from Old Norse 41 “Cómo ____ usted?” 5 “Well, fancy that!” 76 In back 29 Tiara 42 Sch. whose mascot is 6 Abbr. that can be accompaniment 77 Jet fuel, mainly Paydirt Pete written with an 31 Subject of the 1954 ampersand 82 Stave off 43 Coastal desert of Nobel Prize in 7 The casino in “Casino” southern Africa 83 Good friend, Medicine 8 Soccer goof 44 Fruity drink informally 32 Eagerly unwrap 45 Tops in handwriting, 85 Find some advantage 9 Kite adjunct 34 God whose name say 10 Goldbrick 86 Red giant in the sounds like a constellation Cetus 11 The Pentagon inits. 49 Small stream word meaning 12 Crystalline weather 50 Wheat ____ 87 *Crossed pair “understated” phenomenon 52 What sharpshooters 36 Take its toll? 89 *Search party take 13 “____ of Heaven! 38 *Board 93 Drainage pit too gentle to be 54 Prompt 42 *Alliance member 94 ____ example human” (line 57 Vow that’s mostly 46 They may result in 95 Owl’s prey from Shelley’s vowels title changes, for “Epipsychidion”) 97 Browns and Blues 58 When golden goals short 14 Unlofty loft 99 “House Hunters” happen in the N.H.L. 47 Dips made with 15 Labor pain network 61 Arts-page contributor olives, capers and 16 Pirate’s mate, in 102 Bromine and anchovies 62 Novelist Vonnegut literature and film fluorine compounds 48 Fragrant wood 63 Big Four record co. 17 Besmirches 105 Kind of band that broke up in 2012 Online subscriptions: 18 German vice admiral Today’s puzzle and more 107 Move it 64 Headlong or killed in W.W. than 4,000 past puzzles, 108 Boastful types headstrong I’s Battle of the nytimes.com/crosswords 110 *Let’s hope 65 Striven ($39.95 a year). Falklands ACROSS
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REAL ESTATE
20 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
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www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
The Sound of the
beep
What follows has been transcribed from the answering machine on our comment line. We edit out what is required by the laws of the state, of good taste and of good sense. The limit on phone calls is one minute and each caller may make up to two calls per week. If you have something to say, call our comment line at 763-0479 and start talking at The Sound of the Beep. House Speaker Paul Ryan has asked Donald Trump to come speak to the House of Representatives and explain his views on running the country. If I were Trump, this is what I would say: I have come before you, as a majority of your Republican constituents voted for me to take care of them as the presidential nominee. You have failed to represent them, and their views, and they demand a change. I stand before you not to be judged, but to tell you what the American people demand from you if you intend to stay in office.
%%% Hello. Glad to see the Carolina Journal back in the Rhino Times this week. Hopefully it will be in there for the remainder from month to month. I’m an avid reader, and the more the merrier. Thanks for putting it back in there. Also, nonracist, pro-progress, American nationalism baby.
%%% I’m calling about Lankford Protective Services. Can y’all do an update on what’s happened so far since he didn’t pay his taxes totaling $7.2 million and if he’s lost any business or business that’s going to be dropping his accounts? Because employees that work there, it’s not fair to them. They don’t tell them anything. Like I said, if you could dig up a little more on that. And if there’s any criminal processes pending against Mr. Lankford. Because taking the taxes from the people that is supposed to be paying it and not paying it should be some kind of crime. If not, how did he get around that? Be nice to see an article about that, because I was very interested. All right. Thank you.
%%% Editor’s Note: New contracts to provide security for the City of Greensboro are on the agenda for the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 17.
%%% I’m calling about the driving disclosure form that Guilford County employees had to sign. I am a Guilford County employee, and I don’t think it was fair to have to sign this form. I do not drive a county vehicle. I never have. I’ve been with the county a pretty long time. And I pay my taxes on my vehicle, my car payment, my insurance. Why did I have to sign a disclosure form when I have never driven a county vehicle? Ms. Skeens stated on here at some point that all county drivers drive from High Point to Greensboro for training purposes. We might do that once in a blue moon, but we drive our own cars. And there’s no reason for her to have wanted this disclosure form.
%%% John, I hope you publish my comment here in response to Scott Yost’s article about Harriet Tubman on April 28. But if you decide not to publish them, then make sure Steve gets a chance to hear this, OK? Scott, get a life. I can’t believe you said the stupid things about Harriet Tubman, especially the one about her not smiling. I’m sure that if you had come close to experiencing anything like her and what she went through during her lifetime you wouldn’t be smiling either. Since you have so much free time on your hands, take time to look at all of our currency, coins and bills, and let us know how many smiling faces you see.
%%% (continued on page 24)
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22 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
uncle orson (continued from page 16)
saving not just lives but also the freedom of millions and millions of people, even though we also killed a lot of folks along the way? The philosophical premise of the argument leading to the titular Civil War is therefore ignorant nonsense that reflects the stupidity of the “antiwar” Left in America today. ISIS and, before them, Saddam were the evil ones; our actions in stopping Saddam were completely justified with or without WMDs, and Obama’s action in withdrawing US troops, allowing ISIS to rise, has slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians and led to genocidal attacks on nonMuslims in ISIS-controlled lands. But it is precisely that knowledge that had to be kept out of the argument over what the Avengers should be allowed to do. Because you shouldn’t be confused about this: In the eyes of the Left, the Avengers absolutely stand for the US as the superpower that “needs to have UN oversight.” And Captain America absolutely stands for the United States’ real obligation to human civilization: We must depend on our own judgment, and not the consensus of politicians who hate us and want to make sure the
world’s policeman doesn’t police them. There is no way that contemporary politics did not influence the thinking of the filmmakers. What makes this movie tolerable is that, in the end, it is clear that waiting around for consensus and oversight makes it impossible to save those who most need saving.
.... So it’s almost certainly Trump vs. Hillary. Trump is a terrifyingly vain, stupid and pathological human being who has never governed anything, never negotiated with people who intend to break every promise they make, and never had to accept any serious limitations on his ego or his greed. He is the Republicans’ way of saying, “You gave us Obama, the worst, least qualified, least constitutional president in history. We can top that!” But at least Obama is a decent human being, a good father and husband, and sincere in his convictions. This time, the Democrats are saying, “We have found the most corrupt person available to be the First Woman president. We’re going to stick it to you by crushing
The New York Times
Hyper-Sudoku sudoku_527A Created by Peter Ritmeester/Presented by Will Shortz
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Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress with this talking moral compost heap.” For months now, all my friends and I have been saying, “What if it’s Trump against Hillary, what then?” No silliness about voting for nobody, or moving to Canada. Canada is even more stupidly Leftist than America, and if you think our Suffering Victims are annoying, wait till you have to listen to the Quebecois demand that there be French on all signs throughout Canada, while not allowing English on signs in Quebec. Canada is no refuge for people hoping for good sense in politics. My wife put it in clear perspective. “If Trump becomes president, the Supreme Court will be more likely to have some degree of respect for the written Constitution. If Trump becomes president, the US military will be funded and trained back to something like superpower status, after Obama disastrously took us back to pre-World-War-II levels of unreadiness.” And we know that Hillary, while finding ways to make herself even richer, will impoverish our military even more. We know she’ll abandon US soldiers while under fire, and provide them neither support nor rescue. We know her Supreme Court would be the end of constitutional government for at least a generation. Never mind the Drumpf-stuff that won’t happen, like the Wall and revocation of all our free-trade treaties. Never mind that looking at Trump on the news for the next four years is going to be even more sickening than the eight years of watching Slimy Bill lie his way through every news conference. If you’re thinking of voting for the Libertarian, first read some of their actual platform and you’ll realize that the Libertarians make the Democrats and the Republicans look sane. With the choice that the fanatical idiot wings of both parties are giving us, our best move, in my opinion, is to vote for the party that is most likely to preserve something like the American way of life and preserve America’s ability to defend our interests and the world order that has brought prosperity nearly everywhere. That means – and you have no idea how it pains me to say this, since I am most definitely not a Republican, especially not after Trump’s people take control of the party – that the only responsible course is to vote to retain Republican control of Congress, because only the Republican Party has proven that it has any inclination to stand in the way of the “progress” that will destroy us – whether it comes from the Left or the Right.
I do not agree with much of the Republican agenda, though it sometimes seems Paul Ryan is the Last Competent Congressman. But America is an exceptional nation, and it provides the backbone of the world order, and Ryan and his Republican allies seem determined to preserve that. Whatever idiotic mistakes they might make along the way, having four more years of a Republican Congress is just about the only chance we have to curb the excesses of either of the two insane candidates who seem primed to oppose each other in the fall.
.... I really wasn’t aware of Fitbit, though I knew there were wrist monitors that helped people track their exercise. My wife bought a Fitbit a few months ago, and quickly became so dependent on the information it provided that she bought me one, too. Fitbit is a tiny computer that slides into a rubbery wristband and keeps track of the number of steps you take, your hours of sleep, and ... well, not much else. Here’s the thing. When I was running, in my late 40s and early 50s, I used my bicycle odometer to plot out how many miles each of my common routes was, so I would know when I had run two or three miles, or some fraction thereof. Then I’d use a sport watch to track my time. I got so I was running three miles on steep hilly streets in less than nine minutes to a mile. At my age, that was terrific. Then I found out, when I started using the Map My Run and Map My Walk apps on my smartphone, that my bicycle odometer was off by enough that my one-mile course needed to be about one-twentieth of a mile longer to really be a mile. That was depressing. Now, though, with Fitbit, what gets counted is the number of steps. The software automatically assigns everyone a goal of 10,000 steps a day. My wife has achieved that a couple of times; I’ve made 5,000 steps a couple of times, but I’m in far worse shape and besides, my legs are longer so it takes me fewer steps to cover the same ground. (This is called “lying to myself.”) For me, with a profound sleep disorder for more than a year, the most salient feature of the Fitbit is its sleep-tracking. Instead of trying to estimate what time I went to sleep (always impossible) and how often I woke up, Fitbit tracks that for me. I may think I tossed and turned for
(continued on page 28)
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
23
YOST Column
Yost Column
Yost Interviews Disgruntled Circus Worker by Scott D. Yost (CNN) After years of giant tricks and synchronized dances, the elephants at Ringling Bros. performed their final act Sunday. The elephants’ last show was in Providence, RI, nearly two years before the pachyderms’ expected retirement. During Sunday’s show, the elephants paraded into the stage as they had for years, linked to each other trunk-to-tail. For the last show, the stars spun, frolicked, stood on their hind legs and posed in a headstand. At one point, they even faked a nap, only to rise when the audience yelled, “Wake up, elephants!” – CNN.com, May 2, 2016 Well, if you’re a fan of the circus – and who isn’t! – you are no doubt aware that Ringling Brothers has decided to put all of its elephants out to pasture after years and years of heartwarming performances to the delight and wonderment of kids of all ages.
On this historic occasion, I decided to sit down with one of the elephants, for an exit interview right after the group’s last show. I wanted to gather the thoughts of Bombay the Elephant, one of the most popular of the prancing pachyderms. The Ringling Brothers elephants have been a big draw for the big top ever since 1805, when Hachaliah Bailey purchased an elephant to plow his fields – but, the story goes, after he realized it was costing him more in elephant food than he was making using the colossus as a farm animal, Bailey decided instead to take the elephant on the road and charge people to see it. And the rest is history: Bailey’s first elephant, like those that came later, was a huge hit with spectators, and the circus with its signature massive mastodons was quickly off the launching pad and onto worldwide success. It wasn’t without its problems, however. In 1916, in Kingston, Tennessee, an elephant named Mary killed her handler, and the local authorities charged the beast
with first-degree murder. The following sounds like something I made up, but it is not. That elephant was hanged to death from a crane. However, in a twist that no one could have seen coming, the rope broke and the elephant came crashing down to the ground in front of all the spectators. That fall pretty much killed the elephant, but not completely. A second hanging attempt on the distressed animal was more successful in finishing the job. In addition to committing murder, some circus elephants took to drink and got in trouble that way as well. In his book Behemoth, Ronald B. Tobias wrote, “Alcohol was the vice of choice for elephants. They drank beer and wine but preferred bourbon and Tennessee whiskey when they could get it.” In Washington State in 1922, Tusko, a thirsty circus elephant, went on a rampage, pushed a small house off its foundation, crashed into a bar and licked up all the spilt liquor, went back out and crushed about 20 cars in its tipsy state. There were a few other notable incidents over the last two centuries for circus elephants, but in general the marauding menaces have been kept under control and have entertained more people than they have crushed and killed. It was a great run while it lasted but, alas, all things must come to an end –even things like elephants
in the circus. The retirement of the elephants gave me plenty of time for a sit down Q&A with Bombay on his thoughts on it all … Me: Now, first of all, right off the bat, tell me how you learned to speak. I think many people didn’t realize that circus elephants could talk. Bombay: Oh, well, you know, in the first place they selected the smartest elephants for the circus, and, being around humans all the time, well, we just kind of picked it up over the years. Speaking is actually pretty easy. Try rolling around in center ring on a four-foot barrel while twirling a hoop on your trunk and with a monkey riding on your back. To tell you the truth, after that, learning English is a breeze. You know that expression that you humans use, “a monkey on your back”? Well, I had to do my (continued on page 24)
24 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
yost
(continued from page 23)
whole act every day with an actual monkey on my back. Me: So tell me, what did it feel like when you did your very last show last Saturday night. Bombay: I can’t really remember. Me: OK, well, let’s start with this then: How long have you been performing in the circus? Bombay: Hmmm. I’m not really sure. To tell you the truth, I can’t recall. Me: But … I thought elephants had great memories. I thought they never forget anything? Bombay: (Laughs and waives his trunk around in amusement.) No, no, no – trust me, we are the worst! I have no idea how that rumor started. Somebody told me once where that started, but I can’t remember what he said. I know everyone always says we have great memories – but nothing could be further from the truth. To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning. Oh, wait, I remember –
it was peanuts. Me: What’s the worst part of your job? Being whipped by trainers? Or being paraded around in front of gawking crowds night after night? Or being forced to perform in unnatural ways in an environment far removed from your natural habitat? Bombay: Oh, no, no. It’s the clowns. Me: The clowns? Bombay: Oh absolutely. I mean, have you not noticed? They are terrifying. They are just sooooo creepy. You’ll be walking back to your cage after a show late one night and you’ll turn a corner and there is this clown standing there staring at you. Dead silent with that gaudy freakish makeup job and that eerie painted-on smile. To this day, it just amazes me that you humans even let your children anywhere near those spine-chilling sociopaths – much less invite them to your kid’s birthday party. You know, John Wayne Gacy was a children’s clown.
beep (continued from page 21) Well, I see where the Greensboro city officials are hard at work giving away other people’s money again. Case in point, $50,000 to the Scales brothers. And, oh, by the way, in the agreement the city admits to no fault. Are you kidding me? What a load of horse manure. They admit to no fault but they’re just going to write these a guy a check for 50 grand. Unbelievable. Got the stupidest city officials I think I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m ready to get out of Guilford County.
%%% Yeah, I just heard on the radio where North Carolina had remarkable tourism in 2015. I forget how many millions and millions of dollars they took in. Boy, I tell you that civil rights museum must have really helped out. I guess that really put Greensboro on the map. Good job. Good job, Skip.
%%% It’s May 3 and NBC News is attacking the raise of the flag on Iwo Jima. I say enough already. They need to leave that alone. The
people that raised it are dead as far as I know now. I know some of them are. That Ira Hayes was an Indian. He’s been dead for quite some time. They need to get off of it. They’ve been talking about John Wayne. The next thing that’s coming out is that George Washington was probably not even American. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they come up with something like that. They need to get off of the flag raising on Iwo Jima at this time, right now, and the rest of the Marines that read this need to call in.
%%% Yes, this is concerning the two Scales brothers that were arrested a year or so ago of walking in the street when – they were disrespectful toward the officer. Anyway, the city dropped all the charges, and now they gave them money. But you remember The Andy Griffith Show when old man Darling was filling up his old truck radiator from the horse trough and Andy mentioned it to him, and old man Darling said, “Well, there ain’t
(continued on page 26)
Look, I can tell you plenty of stories about the mysterious disappearance of kids just about every time our circus rolled through a town. Let’s just say I don’t ask a lot of questions. The less I know the better. Now, I will say that a clown has never killed any of the elephants in the show. There are a lot of downsides to being 12 feet tall and weighing 10,000 pounds, but one of the big benefits is that you’re lifeless remains don’t fit in the crawlspace of a clown’s house. Me: What bugs you the most about humans? Bombay: Well, for one thing, I could do without all the elephant jokes. What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence? Yes, it’s time to get a new fence. Ha, ha, very funny. I get it. Elephants are fat. Elephants are gargantuan blimps. You know, if we were humans, those would be cruel fat jokes pure and simple and the jokes would be considered highly politically incorrect. And, yes, I would probably crush a fence if I sat on it, but really, I’m not fat, just big-boned. And don’t get me started on things like “How do you make a dead elephant float? Take 10 dead elephants, 10 tons of chocolate ice cream, 5 tons of bananas …” Ha, ha, very funny. Yes, murdering and eating an elephant is very funny. Me: Some of the jokes aren’t so bad. There is like a whole series of elephant jokes that were the rage in the ’60s but that weren’t really cruel. Bombay: The ones that aren’t out and out cruel don’t make any sense. Like, what’s the difference between an elephant and a plum? And the answer is: An elephant is grey. See, that’s just ridiculous. It seems to me that, yes, there’s a slight difference in shading between an elephant and a plumb, but to me a better way to tell the difference is that plums are extremely tiny while elephants are enormous. Me: I can tell that those jokes are a sore spot with you. Bombay: To be honest, if it were just the jokes, it wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s everything else as well piled on. I mean where do you humans come up with these demeaning names for us – Dumbo, Jumbo, Snorky. Or take my name – Bombay. Bombay? I’m not from Bombay. I don’t know anyone from Bombay. I’ve never been to Bombay. I probably couldn’t point to it on a map – and not just because my two-foot-in-diameter circular feet aren’t conducive to precision pointing. Me: I don’t think it’s a bad name. To me, “Bombay” just sounds sort of
exotic. Bombay: No, be honest – it’s a stripper name. Me: Well, maybe a little stripperish … Ahem. Let’s move on. What’s the most annoying thing that’s happened to you in all your years of circus life? Bombay: You know normally, before or after a show, kids would come and rub my side, which I don’t mind so much, but, a very long time ago, there was this group of a half a dozen or so blind men from the Far East and they were all feeling me up like crazy. One of the guys kept feeling up my leg and another was feeling up my trunk and another my tail. Others were feeling other parts of my body and then they started arguing about what I looked like. It was crazy and I was like, guys, get your hands off me. I’m an elephant, not an exotic dancer at a bachelor party. Me: You don’t really sound to me like you will miss the life in the big top. Bombay: Well, you know, the circus is not exactly the highest rung of the show business ladder. Me: Come on, it’s “the Greatest Show on Earth.” Bombay: Ha. That’s one of the great shill jobs of all times. I mean, let’s face it, the circus is really lame. The only time people go is when they have a 3-year-old and someone gives them free tickets. These days the acrobats have nets so there’s not even the chance you’ll get to see one of them splatter. Me: Before we go, let me ask you. Did you know Tusko, who got drunk and trashed a bar – and in fact, trashed a whole town? Bombay: Yeah, I knew Tusko. He had a bad drinking problem. And, you know, when you’re an elephant and the urge hits us, it’s not like we can just walk into an ABC store and pick up a few bottles of Everclear. For one thing, elephants don’t have proper ID; for another, we won’t fit through the door. As for me, I like to drink every now and then to take the edge off after a show. I wouldn’t say I have a problem. You know, I might have a few dozen barrels of whiskey a night, but nothing to excess. Me: I see. So what do you have planned now? Bombay: Oh, kick back, relax, hopefully I’ll get to do some breeding. Maybe I’ll even get to see Bombay one of these days. I heard that, for now, they’re sending us to a nice preserve in Florida – the state I believe you humans refer to as “Heaven’s Waiting Room.”
ask
C
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
arolyn...
25
Straight Talk
from the Dancing Divorce Attorney
by Carolyn Woodruff
Ask Carolyn… Dear Carolyn, My two children have been in private school since kindergarten. They are thriving in the private school that they attend now and are in fourth and sixth grade. They have friends and appropriate extracurricular activities.
The school goes through high school and I would like to keep them in the private school. The children have no special needs and my very wealthy ex-husband, the children’s father, no longer wants to pay for private school. We have joint custody by agreement, but what about the private school tuition. I cannot afford it but it would be a shame if this man who makes $500,000 a year doesn’t have to pay to continue with the private school we selected together long before our separation. Can my ex get away without paying for the private school at our upcoming child support hearing?
He has a girlfriend he is supporting. How dare he put our little ones in this position? Carolyn Answers ... You have a very common problem, but the good news is that there is a recent Court of Appeals case you need to know about. I’ll first discuss some of the major points of consideration and then discuss the new case, Price v. Price out of Charlotte. First, you are in a high income situation, so the North Carolina child support guidelines do not apply because the father’s income exceeds
$300,000, which is the highest income addressed by the guidelines. Thus, the court will have to consider situations like yours on a case by case basis. The court will analyze three primary factors: (1) the needs of the children, so you should carefully present this evidence; (2) evidence of the relative ability of each parent to pay. Certainly, a father who makes $500,000 will likely be able to pay for two children in a private school in Guilford County. Even the most expensive schools are well within his budget. (3) the accustomed standard of living of your
(continued on page 27)
26 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
beep (continued from page 24) a horse in sight.” Said, “If one comes along, I’ll kindly step aside and let him have at it.” Well, these boys, obviously, they probably used abusive language and everything, and they were violating the law by walking in the middle of the street. And lack of respect here on that officer. But the city, they bowed down to them and whatnot. You know how Greensboro is.
%%% Why do we have a taxi director in this town? It is his job to make sure that the citizens who ride in these vehicles are covered by the proper insurance. So he makes sure that taxi drivers have commercial insurance on their vehicles so in the event of an accident the citizens of Greensboro who ride in the taxis are covered. So why doesn’t this taxi director enforce the same regulations on Uber? The regulations that Uber operate under are state regulations that were actually written by Uber and crammed down the throats of our legislatures, passed in a special session in Raleigh, which is actually virtually almost no regulations. So, Uber drivers all they have is personal car insurance …
talking about the transgender community. You’re probably talking about some people who don’t look to harm anyone. They just want to go to the bathroom. And you know the law doesn’t stop a man from walking into a women’s bathroom. That can be done by any man at any time. So, basically, all it is a discriminatory law against transgender people, which is wrong. It’s discrimination. It doesn’t matter how many there are or how few there are. Discrimination is discrimination.
%%% Editor’s Note: That is not what HB2 says at all. HB2 doesn’t mention transgender people.
%%% Ted Cruz said that America has always been at her best when she’s lying down flat on her back. I really don’t know what that means because I don’t ever really remember America being in a position of
lying down flat on her back. So, just goes to show how out of touch Ted Cruz is with things, and I am really glad he dropped out of the race. Not that I like Donald Trump, but Ted Cruz is an evil, wicked, manipulating person.
%%% Hey, what happened to those great little cartoons you used to have in your paper? I hadn’t seen them for quite a while. Thank you.
%%% Hello. I’m calling in regarding the HB2. I would like to say that the women are being discriminated against with these transgender people. We have been here longer than the transgender people have been here. And it’s not fair that the women are having to give up their rights for these transgender people. I think that it’s wrong that that NAACP Barber man, he gets up there and he runs his mouth saying that we’re discriminating against the transgender people. That’s not true. They’re discriminating against us because we
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%%% This is about the National Folk Festival in Greensboro. Taxpayers paid thousands of dollars to bring it here. The food vendors are not able to work at the festival. They’ll bring in vendors from other parts of the country. How does that help jobs in Greensboro? Thank you.
%%% The grand solution to HB2, the bathroom bill, that has the LGBT group all in a tizzy is very simple. Just put single hole port-a-lets in the vicinity of the men’s and ladies’ room in all public buildings and attach a sign to the door reading: For those who are gender confused.
%%% The HB2, which is supposed to be a bill about the LBGT community and their bathroom rights, I think somebody is a little mixed up. Because lesbians, I’m sure, do not go to men’s bathrooms just like gay men do not go into women’s bathrooms. So, basically, you’re
Photo by John Hammer May 2 was international journalists appreciation day at the Rhino Times, and to celebrate we invited five Ukrainian journalists to come visit. Actually, they were traveling around as part of the Open World Program, visiting various media outlets and politicians, learning about how journalism works in the US. We learned something about journalism in the Ukraine, and they may have learned something about a small free weekly in a medium-sized Southern city from us. There is no chance that I can match the names to the people, so I’m not going to try. The guy on the right is the translator.
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ask carolyn (continued from page 25) children, if the evidence is presented. This is the category that you need to “unload” with great evidence. Talk about how the decision was made to enroll the children in private school – obviously a joint decision. Has the father been signing the school’s applications for enrollment and reenrollement? If so, present those reenrollment applications. Have the report cards and show how well they have done each year. If this is highly contested, you might have a teacher explain personally how each child is thriving. You might have a coach or a music teacher come and explain advantages of the school to your children. The judge should consider reasonable needs of the children in the context of the children’s accustomed standard of living. You will have the new Price v. Price case, which helps you immensely. The Court of Appeals viewed Price as a “case of first impression”. While I could disagree with the “first impression” analysis, I will say that Price puts the issue of private schools
in a uniquely clear analysis. The Price court held that given the history of the children in private school, that private school was an accustomed standard of living of these particular children. The father tried to play the “I have joint custody card” and say I’m not agreeing to another year of private school. The Court of Appeals nipped this in the bud indicating that the court could simply break the deadlock and decide whether continuation in private school was in the best interests of the children. Given the history, the trial court had already found the children best interests were served by continuing in the same private school. The Court of Appeals affirmed that finding by the trial court. The kids “won,” as well they should have. Dear Carolyn, I am a father of two children. I am not married to the mother. Our children are 7 and 9 and attend a local public elementary school. We have alternate week custody. The mother is dating a
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
man from Wyoming who has a ranch. I am fearful she will marry him and want to move with our children. She doesn’t work much and I believe she sees this cowboy as a solution to her money issues. I just don’t want her to move with our children. Will she be able to move with them to Wyoming if she marries this dude? Carolyn Answers ... Whether the mother of your children can move with the children will be at the discretion of the court, but frankly, it is unlikely under the facts that you describe that she will be able to move. The fact that you have 50-50 custody is great and in your favor should the move issue arise. Make sure you are doing an excellent job. She can move if she wishes, so you need to be prepared to show the court that you can handle the children full time. Be prepared to show that her desire to move is for her selfish whim, and not for the best interests of the children. In Guilford County, I do not think most judges would let these children move given your custodial rights that you are exercising consistently.
If the mother elects to move and leave the children with you, then you will need a new visitation scheme. The most likely one for North Carolina/ Wyoming is a school year with you and the summer with mother. Holidays are going to be a problem given airline travel is the only practical travel and your children are still very young. I would need to know more about the extended family holiday customs to make suggestions on holiday schedules, so feel free to write again if you want more information. Send questions on family law and divorce to askcarolyn@rhinotimes. com, or P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro 27427 or at Ask Carolyn’s comment section at rhinotimes.com. Note that answers are intended to provide general legal information and are not specific legal advice for your situation. The column also uses hypothetical questions. A subtle fact in your unique case may determine the legal advice you need. Also, please note that you are not creating an attorney-client relationship with Carolyn J. Woodruff by writing or having your question answered by Ask Carolyn.
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27
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28 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
uncle orson (continued from page 22)
hours, but Fitbit tells me that I actually slept for most of those hours, with just a few incidents of restlessness and wakefulness. In fact, both my wife and I now talk as if Fitbit actually gave us whatever sleep we got each night. “Fitbit gave me only three-and-a-half hours of sleep,” I’ll say, “but that’s better than the zero hours I had the night before.” Fitbit is not perfect. For instance, it reported that I slept nearly two hours, from soon after 5 p.m. to nearly 7 p.m. last Saturday night. Alas, that was precisely the time that I was watching Captain America: Civil War. So apparently the unmoving pose I take while watching movies registered to Fitbit as sleep. I did not sleep at all during the movie. I just didn’t twitch, either. Meanwhile, when I’m watching TV at night, I often doze off, sometimes waking up a half hour into the show after the one I was watching. But Fitbit never counts my recliner naps at all. Still, I’m now getting far more accurate information about my real sleep habits than I ever had before. So my wife and I both depend on our Fitbits and have no intention of sudoku_526B ceasing their use. Created Peter Ritmeester/Presented by WillThe Shortz It’s by not always easy, though. little black Fitbit computer does not 7 1 2 just pop into the wristband. It takes a while to learn how to wiggle it into 5 place — and which way to turn it in 9 it properly 1seated. order 3 to get Also, it’s hard to guess how much 3 Being crucially battery you have left. interested in our 8 sleep patterns, we can’t very well put the Fitbit into the 2 the way we 8 do 4 with charger all night, our phones, tablets, and mp3 players. 7 though, 9 get used 3 4 you Eventually, to working with the Fitbit. Since you don’t want to wear it into the shower,
7
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Sudoku Solution
526B
Distributed by The New York Times syndicate
(c) PZZL.com
Solution sudoku_526B
8 1 7 4 2 3 6 9 5
From last week’s issue
5 6 3 1 7 9 8 4 2
4 2 9 8 6 5 7 1 3
9 4 5 7 8 2 3 6 1
6 8 2 3 9 1 4 5 7
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2 7 8 6 5 4 1 3 9
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526B
that’s the perfect time to charge it – especially if you take long showers. Also, charging it during a leisurely meal will certainly do the job. And the battery is good for a couple of days, at least, on a full charge. I don’t recommend Fitbit if you’re having trouble affording gas to get to work – it’s definitely a luxury item. But if you can afford the luxury, go to FitBit.com and look at the models they offer for sale. You’ll need to download the free app to your computer or smartphone, too, of course. They have several models. The more expensive ones are too wide for me, and they really serve as a watch replacement. I have much nicer watches so I opted, as did my wife, for one of the two narrow banded Fitbits. I have the one that provides almost no information on the Fitbit itself; my wife is transitioning to the one with a small display. But we’re both sticking with narrow. There’s only so much room on my wrist, and when I’m also wearing a nice Jord wooden watch, I want the Fitbit to be skinny enough to stay out of the way. The narrow ones are also way cheaper.
.... I’ve been carrying around a Dell laptop/tablet combination as my travel computer. It was crippled by two factors. 1. Its operating system was Windows 8, which is like buying a new car with square tires that required three squirrels to huff and puff to keep them inflated. 2. It had solid-state memory, which was terrific – incredibly fast boot times – but not enough of it, which meant I could barely fit any programs, let alone all my data, onto the computer. But I kludged my way through with it for a couple of years. Incredibly enough, we were able to install Windows 10 on it, which freed up a lot of disk space. But it was growing heavier and heavier (or I grew less and less physically fit), and there was this cool Microsoft product (which meant I hadn’t actually used it yet, so it still looked cool from the ads) called the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro is supposed to be a good enough computer to replace a desktop (it’s not, if you do any serious work on your current desktop computer). But it’s also a tablet, so you should be able to do tablety things with it. But the original Windows-based
tablets were still committed to Microsoft’s horrible Windows Phone interface, with “icons” that are big ugly blocks that completely cover your desktop art and can’t be changed. Because nobody bought the Windows Phone, there wasn’t a very big user base, so most developers decided not to create great programs for it. The result is that the Windows Phone interface is hated, and there isn’t anywhere near as many good apps for Windows tablet devices. Let’s be practical, though. I almost never used my Dell laptop/tablet as anything but a laptop, so why should I reject the Microsoft Surface Pro because it doesn’t do all the cool things my Android tablet and phone do? After all, if I want to play my Android games – and I do, constantly, when I’m traveling – then I can use my phone. I do want to use the Windows 10 tablet interface on the Surface Pro for drawing maps for my fiction, but I don’t yet know what the best software for that purpose might be. Suffice it to say that because the Surface Pro has a bluetooth pen, it will be real drawing rather than smearing things around with my finger or making a mess of everything with a mouse. Here’s what made the Surface Pro look like a good replacement for my Dell. It’s thinner. It’s lighter. The screen has a higher resolution. It has way more disk space. And it’s designed to be used with Windows 10 and run all the software I use. Plus, all the reviews were enthusiastic. Well, I bought it. But I also knew that changing computers was a pain. It took weeks to remember all the stuff I use and get it ported to my new computer. For months, I kept having to travel, and the last thing I needed was to show up in a hotel where I needed to get some serious work done, only to find that the new computer was not up to speed after all. So it took about a year before I actually started making the transition. A few weeks ago, I wrote this column in a hotel room, on my Dell. Today, I’m writing it on the Surface Pro. But ... it’s not perfect. All the reviews have said that the Surface Pro has a real keyboard built into the cover. You just flip it down and voila, the tablet becomes a laptop. I suppose if you’ve been thumbing in all the letters one by one on a touchscreen, the Surface Pro keyboard feels kind of real. But it’s not real. Real keyboards have keys with a slightly concave surface. This gives your fingers a subtly cupped surface so you can be sure you’re solidly on a key without
having to look at it. This is essential for people who actually learned how to touch-type – with or without Mavis Beacon’s help. I’m a touch-typist. I look at the screen while my fingers take care of themselves on the keys. But with the keyboard that comes with the Surface Pro, this is very hard to do, because there’s no tactile demarcation between keys. It feels like you’re suddenly typing on a lubricated surface, or on ice; you’re sliding everywhere. If I really concentrate on the typing, I can keep my fingers on the correct keys. But that’s the point. I shouldn’t have to concentrate on where my fingers are, any more than you want to have to think about pedaling when you’re riding a bike. So I went to Office Depot to buy a keyboard. A nice, simple wired keyboard that I could attach to the computer when I’m writing in a hotel room. I bought that wired keyboard. But I also bought two others, both from Logitech. They’re both wireless, but instead of linking to a dongle in a USB port, they link to the computer by bluetooth. That means there’s no little dongle to lose. Nothing extra sticking out of the machine. The first one was a Logitech K380 Multi-Device keyboard. It’s not as wide as the Surface Pro’s keyboard, but the little round keys have that subtle cupping so I can type smoothly, up to speed. The bluetooth connection happened very easily, once I found how to get Windows 10 to let me link to a new bluetooth device. You can connect it to as many as three devices, and switch between them. But I only need it to connect to my keyboard-crippled Surface Pro. It does the job very well. It isn’t perfect. First, it’s a hideous blue color that looks like it tried, and failed, to get into a Play-Doh set. Second, it’s powered by battery, and that means that someday it’s going to stop working all of a sudden and if I don’t happen to have a battery in my pocket, I’m stuck. Only I’m not stuck, because I have the Surface Pro slippy-slidey keyboard to use in a pinch. And who cares about the color, because I’m not an Apple customer, so I’m not impressed by style or ashamed by the lack of it. So here’s where I am right now. The Surface Pro is not going to replace my desktop because who wants to have to unpack the travel computer and set it up on the desk, connecting it to the full-size monitor
(continued on page 31)
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
Letters KEEP IT COVERED DEAR EDITOR,
In response to Chuck Mann’s letter to the editor, he must be very young. I’m 68 years old and I was raised in the day when we didn’t know where babies came from, they just showed up. And, yes, they did breast feed babies at home, but if anyone besides the family was present, they covered themselves and the baby with a diaper or went into another room. I think women now like to show their breasts. I don’t think it’s right to breast feed in public around children and people that don’t approve. As the judge said, get up and leave. This world is in a mess and every day new rules are made and old ones broken.
Joan Vickory
beep (continued from page 26) were here before they were here. They decided to change their sex. We’ve always had our sex.
%%% This call’s for Al Sharpton. So far remember you said that if Donald Trump got elected president you would pack your bags and leave country. Well, start packing because Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, and he’s going to beat the heck out of Hillary Clinton. So, if you need any help packing those bags, let us know.
%%% I realize that it is discrimination between the transgender people that come up with their own name that nobody on a birth certificate got transgender for sex. Looks like to me these die-hard Democrats, that their granddaddy and great-granddaddy were Democrats, look like they could see now that the Democrat Party has gone to pot. Barack Hussein Obama said let the men go in the women’s bathroom with the little 4-year-old girls. It will be OK. Everything’s fine. If you don’t let them go in, we’re going to cut (continued on page 32)
29
LETTERS To The Editor
TO THE EDITOR NOT THE SAME DEAR EDITOR,
There is a big difference in the immigrants of today versus Mr. Copeland’s Scottish forebears and their Russian and German neighbors. When they came, they wanted to assimilate into America. They didn’t insist on wearing their kilts, and they learned English, and they were not offended by our customs and traditions. Rather, they adopted them. They followed our laws, instead of trying to change ours to fit their interpretations. They came to America because they liked it, and the opportunities it afforded them, not so that they could change the US and force their religions, customs and laws on us. It is not the same at all.
Bill Steed
DIFFICULT DECISION? DEAR EDITOR,
This can’t be happening. It just can’t be. Folks can’t decide which bathroom to use? Come on, man. I’ve given it some thought and I’m pretty sure I don’t want my 9-yearold granddaughter using a woman’s restroom and some dude who can’t figure out who he is comes waltzing in to do whatever. Just seems like common sense to me. But then, as Will Rogers once said, “Common sense don’t seem to be too common”.
Bill Baird
RESULTS OF SPINELESSNESS DEAR EDITOR,
A few months back I submitted a letter talking about the sellout, I mean budget deal, the Republican “leadership” struck with dear leader. It effectively suspended the federal debt limit temporarily. Now we get this article from Terence P. Jeffery on the CNSNEWS. com website dated May 2, 2016: “In the six months that have passed since then-retiring House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cut a budget deal with President Barack Obama that suspended the legal limit on the federal debt until March 15, 2017, the federal debt has increased by more than $1 trillion.” Think about this, the Republican
leadership, even though they hold a majority in both houses of Congress and, by the Constitution, are given complete control of the purse strings, collectively bent over and gave dear leader everything he wanted and the American people the middle finger. All because they were afraid people wouldn’t like them anymore if they forced the government to shut down, which, by the way, would not have happened. Here’s another little financial nugget that is a result of this spineless bunch. “Obama budgets $17,613 for every new illegal minor, more than Social Security retirees get.” (Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner, May 2, 2016) And again, I want to remind you that it is you who are paying these bills, done so through outrageous taxation backed up by force of arms. Remember, as far as our lords and ladies are concerned, it’s their money, not ours. They know best how to spend
it and how best to run our lives. In their eyes we are the ignorant unwashed masses that need them. Are you mad yet? Think I’m insulting you? If you do then you are mad at the wrong person. I’m just pointing out the elephant (and donkey) in the room. Yes, it can be changed, but it takes commitment on your part. Look close at what’s going on. Look at the education system and how it’s trying to dumb down the children by pushing their version of how society should be instead of teaching the basics of the 3 Rs. Wake up, America. Show me in the Constitution where voting is not a right. It’s a responsibility, it’s a duty and it’s an obligation. And if you don’t use it you run a good chance of losing it. Go Galt and go vote
Alan Marshall
Send to letters@rhinotimes.com or P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro 27429
30 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
Triad Highland Games at Bryan Park
Photos by Sandy Groover
uncle orson (continued from page 28)
and all the devices and the local network, when I can simply connect a flashdrive to the desktop that’s already sitting there waiting for me and copy over all the work I did on the road? Now, a lot of people don’t have the luxury of owning a first-rate desktop computer and a lightweight, fully capable laptop/tablet like the Surface Pro, and that’s fine. It might well be that the Surface Pro will be enough for you – keyboard and all – and that’s great. But I make my living on the computer. And like a surgeon who prefers to work with sharp scalpels and first-rate nurses and interns and hospital equipment, it’s a serious career investment to remove every possible barrier from productivity, no matter where I am. Now, I can’t have a perfect working situation because my choices for computers range all the way from Windows, which stinks in general, to Apple, which sucks for a writer. Both Microsoft and Apple think they own my devices and do everything they can to make my work impossible –
because everything is set up for the convenience of the IT guy who has to troubleshoot all the computers in a big corporation. (And no, Linux is not a choice because it doesn’t run any of the software I need to use.) But Windows 10 seems to be stable enough, and human-friendly enough, for me to do my work and run my software. And now I have the smallest, lightest laptop I’ve ever owned, yet it’s a full-fledged computer. And on a plane, all the keyboards can go into hiding and it’s a tablet that I can use during takeoffs and landings. Use? For games, of course. That, too, is part of what my working computers need to do. In a few months I’ll know a lot more about how well the Surface Pro works for me. But for now, it functions well enough to be worth giving it a real test for months on end. If it all works out, I’ll be able to replace the big clunky five-year-old laptop that’s sitting on a second desk next to my desktop. I used to take that one on the road, but I was younger and in much better shape back then. Plus I couldn’t use it on the plane
www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | RHINO TIMES
because if the person in front of me leaned his seat back, it closed the lid. And the battery life was an hour and a half. That’s going to be the real test of the Surface Pro. Can I get from Atlanta to LA without recharging? But let’s get back to that Logitech K380 Multi-Device keyboard. Because I bought yet a third keyboard there at Office Depot: The Logitech K480 keyboard. The K480 is just like the K380 except that it’s about three inches deeper from front to back. Why? To make room for a wide yellow slot the whole width of the keyboard, which is designed to hold a mobile phone or a tablet upright. That’s right. You link up your smartphone via bluetooth, then slip it into the slot and it’s now a screen, with a real keyboard. If you normally use your tablet lying on your back in bed, or sitting in a car or a seat in a waiting room, you aren’t going to be toting the keyboard around with you. It’s as heavy as your tablet and probably bigger; it’s way bigger than your phone. But if you pop this keyboard in your luggage or your glove compartment, then in your hotel you can easily write
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long emails without having to pray that autocorrect interprets your thumbpresses correctly. Typing on those virtual keyboards is a pain. One letter at a time. But with the K480, you can type on a humansized keyboard and give your emails the length and clarity that your correspondent needs you to provide. This is what you do when you have to be away from the office, you don’t need a full computer, but you still have to be able to write lengthy emails. So you set up the K480 on the desk in the hotel room and, when you get back to the room, you slip your phone into the slot and begin to handle your emails in a humane way. What if you want to be able to link a tablet and two different smartphones – for instance, your spouse’s phone as well as your own? That’s simple. You can link three separate devices to the K480 and then turn a bright yellow dial to switch among them. Your tablet or smartphone won’t adapt completely to keyboard use. You still have to reach your finger up to press the touchscreen for many things. But not for typing in words and punctuation. The K480 makes it comfortable and easy. I think I’m going to love using it.
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Republican Party. Once they settle down and have a few days to think, the majority are going to realize that Trump represents more Republican voters than they do. His winning primary after primary should have been a wake-up call, but evidently they are slow learners. It is so fitting that Sen. Ted Cruz was proven to be exactly what Trump said he was all along, “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz had blamed his inability to beat Trump on the crowded field. If some of those other Republicans would get out of the way then Cruz, one on one, could beat Trump. It sounded good. Candidates spend a lot of the fortune they raise on polling data. The data that candidates have is generally much more detailed and accurate than anything that gets released to the public. Cruz knew that he wasn’t the second choice of those Republican voters going to the polls, but he still claimed that in a one-on-one battle he could beat Trump. What voters proved on April 26 is that in a three-way battle, Cruz couldn’t even beat the mean-spirited, more-than-a-little-whacky governor of Ohio, John Kasich. In four out of five races Cruz didn’t just lose to Trump, he lost to Kasich. Then, when Kasich pulled out of
Indiana, Trump won the one-on-one battle with Cruz with over 53 percent of the vote. Kasich did better in Indiana than he did in some states where he didn’t pull out, which indicates what a poor candidate he was. The news reports say that one reason Speaker Paul Ryan said he couldn’t support the presumptive Republican nominee is that Ryan thought there was going to be a contested convention and was surprised that Cruz suspended his campaign. Does Ryan live under a rock? Is it possible that Ryan doesn’t read newspapers, look at the internet or watch the television news? Did the man get all of his news from Democratic lobbyists, the Cruz campaign and Republican national headquarters? How could the speaker of the House be so out of touch with reality? The question was not whether Cruz would drop out but when he would drop out. Was Ryan unaware that on April 26, Cruz finished last behind both Trump and Kasich in four out of five states? Did he believe the rosy predictions of the Cruz campaign that despite the poll numbers Cruz was going to win Indiana? It makes me doubt the sanity of the speaker of the House,
beep (continued from page 29) off all your funding. Anybody that can go along with that, they need to build more buildings at Camp Butner. They don’t have near enough buildings to lock all these people up. They’re no help. They got people in Camp Butner that will never get out that’s got more sense to know that a grown man has got no business going in the bathroom with a little child.
%%% Speaker Ryan, you say now you’re not willing to support Trump. So, I guess that means you’re going to support Hillary Clinton who had our Navy Seals murdered. So, you’re just a scumbag just like Obama. I mean, all along you’ve been working with Obama.
%%% In regards to what it takes to get through the day, to quote the words of Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson said nothing’s easy. Southern Guilford County and Otis here saying, doing nothing is easy.
the man who is second in line to the presidency. If something happened to Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, would it be shocking to Ryan to find out that he was president? Would someone have to tell him that the US currently has troops fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria? The only reasonable explanation is that Ryan thought that claiming he was surprised would be a more palatable explanation than the truth that he dislikes Trump because Trump ran an entire winning campaign against the Republican establishment, and there is no one more establishment than Ryan. The idea that the Republican establishment is having a hard time getting behind Trump because he is not a “true conservative” is ridiculous. Look at the last batch of Republican presidential nominees; you have to go all the way back to Ronald Reagan to find a conservative. Neither Bush was a conservative; they were simply Republican politicians. Sen. John McCain wanted to choose Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate – the same man that Al Gore chose. Once McCain found out that he had inadvertently chosen a conservative, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, he and his campaign did everything in their power to undermine her. She was far more popular during the campaign than McCain, but he kept her out in the hinterlands. Mitt Romney was for Obamacare before Obama invented it, and brought the same system of government health insurance to Massachusetts. One of the most liberal states in the nation is not going to elect a conservative governor. Not only was he not a conservative, he was a terrible candidate who could never connect with the American people. Trump does connect with the American people. What the Republicans need to do at this point is learn from Trump about how to attract voters.
%%% I laughed when you wrote that people stand, underline stand, in line at broken parking machines.
%%% It looks like our state is going to hell after all. Department of Justice is definitely going to hell. Probably everybody is going to carry their handguns and knives and Tasers into the bathroom to protect their kids now. It’s a shame that the good
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The word among pundits who have been consistently wrong about Trump is that he can’t beat Hillary Clinton. They need to step back, take a deep breath and look at reality. If Sen. Bernie Sanders had gotten off to a good start, meaning if the media had paid him a little bit of attention early in the campaign season, he would be beating Hillary Clinton in the delegate count right now – the way he is beating her in primary after primary. Sanders got off to a slow start
because he didn’t have much money and nobody paid him much attention. He had to start winning to get the press he deserved. He is an old socialist who still refuses to attack his opponent where she is most vulnerable. But what makes him so different from Hillary Clinton is that you can tell that Sanders believes every word he says. Hillary Clinton says what her speechwriters write based on what tested well with the focus groups. She has no firm convictions other than she should be elected president. In that way she is just like her husband, former President Bill Clinton, the only elected president to be impeached by the House. Bill Clinton would say anything to any group if he thought it would win him votes. The huge difference between them is that Bill Clinton actually does care about people. He has a great deal of empathy. Hillary Clinton has none. She thinks she should be president because she is better than everybody else on the planet. Trump connects with people and Hillary Clinton repels people. If Sanders can almost beat Hillary Clinton, it doesn’t appear that Trump will have a huge problem beating her. The Clintons’ friends in the media are going to throw everything they can at Trump, but they’ve been doing that for a while and nothing sticks. They may eventually find something that sticks, but Trump has never claimed to be a perfect man. His life has been in public for the past 50 years. He loves cameras and publicity. No doubt he has a closet full of skeletons, but they probably aren’t any worse than the skeletons in his closet that is open to the public. And Hillary Clinton knows that when she starts pulling skeletons out of his closet, he’ll start pulling them out of hers. It’s going to be a nasty, brutal campaign. No doubt Hillary Clinton will be coughing more and will break into that bizarre laugh more often. She laughs like someone who took lessons in how people laugh. Trump laughs like a man who enjoys life. There’s a huge difference. Washington is in an uproar because of an article in The New York Times Magazine about Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes. It may not sound like an important title, but according to the article Rhodes is Obama’s number one foreign policy adviser.
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To have someone with no background in foreign policy (but with an MFA in creative writing) as your number one adviser might raise eyebrows in a different administration, but in the Obama White House it is par for the course. Obama’s number one top adviser, the person that he consults on everything, is Valerie Jarrett, who was involved in Chicago politics and real estate before playing a part in running the most powerful nation on earth. The interview quotes former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at being taken aback when he didn’t even get a chance to present his plans to the president because Rhodes told Panetta how things were going to be done. But what has the Washington press in an uproar is that Rhodes admitted the negotiations with Iran had started long before the change in government in 2013. The official line on that had been that after moderates took over the government the US began negotiating, but Rhodes said the negotiations began years earlier. The Washington press corps is
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aghast that the Obama administration would lie to them. And the really funny part is that the State Department edited the video of an old State Department briefing session where the spokesman said that negotiations started in 2013. They really are slow at the State Department. Someone needs to explain to them that once something is up on the internet it never goes away. When the State Department was caught trying to rewrite history, the spokeswoman said with a straight face that it was a glitch in the system. So the public is supposed to believe that due to a glitch in the system, the very video in the huge archive of videos had a problem and the problem by pure chance erased the portion of that video where the State Department was caught telling a bold-faced lie? If a Republican administration tried something like this it would be frontpage news in every newspaper. But it’s not supposed to be such a big deal. After all, the State Department said it would not be investigated, but looked into, and what more can you ask?
(continued from previous page) people have to worry about where their kids go to the bathroom now. Their governor is a wimp. I always knew that. He’s proved his colors. He’s a wimp. Keep your handguns closer, and children closer, because this whole world is going to hell in a hand basket.
%%% Trump’s mother was from Scotland, and two of his three wives have been from Eastern Europe. If he wants you to believe all immigrants are terrible, killers and rapists, invading America, he should build a wall around his pants.
%%% I see where king Obama has released some more federal prisoners from custody. A lot of them big-time drug dealers. I assume that he feels like these people were falsely imprisoned. What he should do, since he’s got all this confidence in these people,
is to put them to work around the White House. They can mow the lawn, trim the shrubbery, wash his cars, sweep the floors, mop them, wax them and other things. They could even prepare his meals. That would be a good way to bring them back into society. He’s not being fair to them just turning them loose on the street. He needs to keep them there in Washington, especially somewhere around the White House, in my opinion.
%%% I’m tired of the Republican officials whining like kindergartners about Donald Trump and his ideas for making America great again. Whatever happened to believers who supported their party and its candidates to further the betterment of the entire US, not a chosen few? Wake up, America, and get back to the basics before it’s too late for all of us. Thank you.
%%%
34 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com
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binding on all parties having any right, title or interest in the above described property or any part thereof.” The first regulation states, “Soil containing residual petroleum above applicable regulatory standard(s) remains on the site” and goes on to say that “No soil shall be excavated or disturbed within 3 feet of the area [shown in a diagram] … except to remediate the soil in accordance with all applicable state and federal statutes, regulations and guidelines.” The second perpetual restriction regards groundwater. It states, “No water supply wells used for drinking water may be constructed on the property.” The diagram for the restricted area covers land under and around the Agricultural Center building but does not overlap with land on the same tract that the county may use for the animal shelter or for the potential development, though the land under discussion for one or both of those projects is adjacent to the land where the contamination remains. Early on in the process, county commissioners did entertain some possibilities for development that may have meant using the land where the Agricultural Center now stands –
though those plans no longer appear to be under consideration. Guilford County hasn’t decided where to build its animal shelter, nor has Kotis made a decision on the property, but the county is requesting that the City of Greensboro grant a special-use permit for land next to the Agricultural Center land so a shelter can be built there. The restrictions that remain on the Ag Center site are the result of an inability to clean up the area to the state’s satisfaction after the leak. The heating oil tank was removed from the ground next to the Agricultural Center on Oct. 29, 1992, and was taken to a hazardous waste disposal site in Colfax. A Dec. 16, 1992 letter from Piedmont Environmental Services Inc. to Guilford County stated that the company “excavated and removed 273.61 tons of #2 heating oil contaminated soil from the above site.” It stated that the company was limited in its digging by the Ag Center building on the north, an electrical box to the west, a tree to the east and the curb and parking lot to the south. The letter states that Guilford County had requested the company offer further proposals “to determine the
extent of the remaining contamination and some ideas for additional remediation.” Another letter said that Guilford County was required to “undertake clean-up of contamination and restoration of the affected area.” On June 25, 1993, a letter from the NC Division of Environmental Management said that, on June 14, 1993, that office received confirmation of violations in groundwater samples from the property for concentrations of naphthalene, acenaphtalene, acenaphtene and flourene. It stated that a failure to respond within 15 days with a plan could result in a fine for the county of up to $10,000 a day and result in remediation of the land through a federally funded cleanup effort that would require Guilford County to reimburse all costs associated with the cleanup. In September 1993, Guilford County put out bids for environmental cleanup of the area in a move required by the state. Ground water monitoring wells were an obligatory part of that process. In July 1996, in the short session of the NC General Assembly, state legislators passed a law that ranked underground storage tank leaks from high priority – those that posed imminent danger – to lower priority cases, and the state eased cleanup restrictions for incident sites that were deemed to be lower
priorities. By 1996, the Agricultural Center fell into a lower priority and that eased some of the original clean-up requirements. In 2002, 10 years after the original contamination, the state ruled that no further action was necessary and attached to the deed the notice that soil under and around the Agricultural Center building was not disturbed (except for excavation and removal), and that no ground well be dug for drinking water. Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the state’s Division of Waste Management, said that the state signed off on a no further action needed order on July 30, 2002, though that does not dissolve any deed restrictions that remain for the property. He also said that natural biological processes breakdown petroleum residue and eventually return the land to an uncontaminated state. The county’s Agricultural Center isn’t the only county-owned building sitting on top of a petroleum leak that has led to contamination and deed restrictions. The county’s building at 325 E. Russell Ave. in High Point, which houses many county services including social services, sits on top of soil so contaminated that the deed does not allow the construction of a kindergarten or old folks home on the property.
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by John Hammer
The nattering nabobs of negativism are at it again. They say that there is no way the Republican Party is going to unite behind Donald Trump. Just last week, Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich had people out putting up signs, making telephone calls and doing whatever else they could to help their candidate win. In a long, hard-fought primary campaign there are always hard feelings when it is over. In some ways it’s more difficult to get get past than a general election because everybody is supposed to be on the same side. This has been a particularly brutal primary with name-calling and cheap shots from both sides. But when the dust has settled, in the end the GOP will join together behind the Republican nominee. Many will not think that Trump was the best choice of the 17 Republicans who started this race, but they will come to realize that although Hillary Clinton may not be able to do a great deal of damage to the country with her liberal policies, she will be able to permanently change the course of this country’s future with her Supreme Court appointments. It is likely that If Hillary Clinton wins she will only serve four years, but her Supreme Court appointees will serve for life. She will appoint justices who don’t believe in the Constitution as written, but believe that it is the job of the Supreme Court to rewrite the Constitution in accordance with their personal political beliefs. After that it won’t matter who is elected president, or who controls Congress, because the Supreme Court will be writing the laws of the land. The country will go from being a republic with an elected government to an oligarchy with five men and women appointed for life making the most important political decisions of the day. The government theoretically has a system of checks and balances to keep any branch from gaining too much power, but there is no check on the Supreme Court. Once the Supreme Court rules, that is the law of the land. The Supreme Court could
decide that the controlling phrase of the Second Amendment was “A well regulated Militia,” and that the Second Amendment didn’t give people the right to own firearms but was referring to state National Guard units. That legal argument has been made, and if the majority of the Supreme Court ruled that was how the Second Amendment should be interpreted, people would lose their right to own guns. What is an “unreasonable search”? The Supreme Court has already pushed this to allow anyone boarding an aircraft to be subject to an electronic strip search, or an actual strip search if someone with a high school education and a couple of weeks of training decides it’s necessary. If it is for the protection of the common good, why shouldn’t anyone walking on a public sidewalk be subject to search? If the government is not supposed to establish religion, should donations to religious institutions be tax deductible? The freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights are only guaranteed if the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution to preserve them. Trump doesn’t appear to take advice from anyone, but I have some for him anyway that could do a lot to help him win in November. Trump is infamous for saying whatever is on his mind at the moment. Few if any other politicians on the national scene do this. It’s one of the reasons his supporters love him. But Trump needs to hire the best speechwriters he can find. He thinks he doesn’t need them because he knows how to talk, but he does need people who make a living with words. A lot of the trouble he has gotten himself into is not because of what he has said, but the way he has said it. Trump is a developer who likes big gaudy buildings with his name in huge letters on the front. Trump didn’t design those buildings, he hired architects to do it. He may have given them rough drawings of what he wanted or sat down with them until they understood how he wanted the building to look when it was finished. The buildings have been his ideas, and bear his name, but architects and
engineers are the ones that turned his ideas into something that could be built. Trump should view his speeches the same way. He shouldn’t allow his speechwriters to tell him what to say, but instead to help him say what he wants to say better. He has spent his life developing real estate; there are a lot of us out here who have spent our lives building with words. Kennedy didn’t write, “Ask not what your country can do for you …” Reagan didn’t write, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” They said the words and the speeches are credited to them, but speechwriters wrote those words. Trump could and no doubt will continue to say whatever he wants, but a few speechwriters would help him stay out of trouble by making his meaning clear the first time he says it. What he doesn’t need is a bunch of folks telling him what to say. If he becomes just another candidate who is more concerned about being politically correct than making a statement, he loses what has made him so popular. It’s a fine line, but with a few good wordsmiths Trump would be more popular, not less. House Speaker Paul Ryan has been a huge disappointment to rank-and-file Republicans since he was elected speaker. As long as he was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, developing budgets that had as little chance of being passed as any of the resolutions to abolish Obamacare, Republicans were OK with him. But if you look at how Trump
won primary after primary, a huge number of votes for Trump were actually votes against Ryan and the House Republicans he leads, who do nothing but sit on the floor beside Obama’s table and beg for scraps. The House has been about as effective at stopping Obama’s policies as a fly is against a fly swatter. The final straw for many rankand-file Republicans, the kind who went to the polls and elected people like Ryan, was the budget deal Ryan made with Obama where the Republicans gave Obama everything he wanted, funded all of his programs and got nothing in return, except perhaps an off-the-record promise that Obama would be nicer to them. If Ryan had stood up to Obama, it would have taken the wind out of Trump’s sails because he ran against the Republican establishment. So it is no wonder that Ryan is hesitant to support Trump. Others may not have been listening to what Trump was saying, but he was winning because he wasn’t running against the other 17 Republicans on the ticket, he was running against the Republican establishment, which includes the Republicans running Congress, and in particular Ryan. Trump beat every candidate the Republican establishment (read Ryan) put up against him, so you would expect some hard feelings. Trump has been running all over the country running against Ryan and his buddies in the House leadership, the Senate leadership and the national
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36 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, May 12, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com