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JULY 15-21, 2020 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 29
10 5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor KATIE MURAWSKI katie@yesweekly.com Contributors IAN MCDOWELL DAVINA VAN BUREN JOHN ADAMIAN MARK BURGER TERRY RADER JIM LONGWORTH MELANIE LEONARD
PROTESTERS PRACTICE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE “I can’t breathe” were some of the last words uttered by JOHN ELLIOT NEVILLE, 56, while he lay hogtied and face-down as Forsyth County detention officers struggled to unsuccessfully remove his handcuffs. Neville was an African-American inmate who died at the hospital after being under the supervision of five detention officers and one nurse on Dec. 4, 2019. If it wasn’t for the public’s outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died under the knee of former-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May, Neville might have just been another grim statistic in Forsyth County.
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Over the past two weeks in neighboring Alamance County, the City of Graham has received backlash over its controversial CONFEDERATE STATUE located in front of the county’s Courthouse and its handling of protesters. 5 Recently I received the sad news that my friend, film historian and filmmaker TED NEWSOM, passed away in California at the age of 67. His credits included the affectionate 1994 Edward D. Wood Jr. documentary Look Back in Angora (a film admired by editor Katie Murawski, no less!), co-writer (with John Brancato) of an early script for Spider-Man when it was the property of the infamous Cannon Films in the 1980s, and maker of Flesh & Blood (1994), the quintessential documentary about Britain’s Hammer Films. 6 This week, we’re focusing on baked goods and SWEETS. I have recommended both these places in previous columns, but not in this level of detail. These are sophisticated, European-style specialty vendors. You might get items this good in major U.S. cities, if you knew where to look. Otherwise, you would need to jet
across the pond to find anything that compares favorably. So, stay in Greensboro, save money, and stay safe, where in these cases, the food items are just as good! 7 While serving as Chairman of the Southern GOVERNORS Association, Virginia Governor Doug Wilder asked me to produce a documentary about how he and his nineteen colleagues worked together to deal with matters of regional concern... 13 “It’s 10-TO-ONE out here today” said Greensboro’s Reverend Greg Drumwright to the marchers triumphantly following him and the activist known as AJ into Alamance County courthouse square on Saturday. 14 The long-gone daddies in DAMN FRANK have unearthed ARD BET (The Lost & Last EP, Daddy) out now on bandcamp, with all album sales going directly to the Community Justice Exchange National Bail Fund Network. Damn Frank was a trio featuring Philly-natives Wyatt Farnkopf, Mike Nardone, and Matt Goshow, who’ve always kept one foot in Greensboro, the other in Philadelphia.
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Alamance County resident criticizes commissioner for ‘unprofessional, presumptive, offensive’ response
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n neighboring Alamance County, the City of Graham recently received backlash over its controversial handling of protesters and the Confederate statue Katie Murawski located in front of the county’s courthouse. Last week, Editor The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and other entities filed a lawsuit challenging the City of Graham’s ordinance that required protesters to seek a permit 24 hours before a demonstration from the police chief, claiming that it infringed upon protesters’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. On July 6, a Federal judge blocked the ordinance and placed a temporary restraining order against officials from the City of Graham and Alamance County. On July 11, protected by that order, hundreds showed up for the ‘March For Justice’ in favor of removing the controversial statue from the public square. One Alamance County resident has been pushing for the removal of the statue since the end of June, but she claims her experience with local government officials has been one with “little to no response or action.” “They give off the distinct impression that everything is fine the way it is,” wrote Meg Williams, a Greensboro native who has lived in Alamance County since 2013, in an email. “However disappointing it is to feel like an individual not being listened to, though, has been nothing compared to right now.” Williams alleged that on June 20, there was “an unpermitted protest by neo-Confederates in the town square of Graham to maintain the Confederate monument located in front of the historic courthouse.” “Many members of this protest were openly armed, many were wearing shirts representing ACTBAC, a previously labeled hate group, and many hurled insults and hate speech at local business owners to the point they felt unsafe,” Williams wrote. “At least three were YES! WEEKLY
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filmed committing assault, and two were arrested. My husband and I were present to stand with our neighbors from about 6:15-7:30 p.m.” ACTBAC or Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County was listed as a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016 and 2017. According to the Times-News, ACTBAC was recently taken off the SPLC’s Hate Map last year for not making statements ”denigrating others based on immutable characteristics.” As a result of the alleged unpermitted protest, Williams said, Graham’s city manager issued a recommendation to county commissioners for the monument’s immediate removal, citing it as a matter of public safety. “Our commissioners blatantly dismissed his warning without addressing the concern, and continued to give inappropriate responses to constituents,” Willams wrote. “They ignore our calls, hang up on us, and when we do get them to answer, they send emails like the ones in the attached screenshots.” Williams wrote that she had been emailing the commissioners daily with the question: What are you going to do about the monument? “The first of the two emails Commissioner [William “Bill”] Lashley chose to respond to was a simple introduction voicing my support for a recent open letter written to the state government by a group of N.C. legal minds arguing that there is an obligation to our state and federal constitutions that overrides our monument protection law, and therefore, the law should be repealed and all Confederate monuments should be taken down, followed by the text of that open letter.” When she finally got a response, she said she was shocked at what her elected official sent to her. Williams shared screenshots of her email correspondence with Alamance County Commissioner Lashley with YES! Weekly. His response to her first email was: If you and your friend did not hate America so much you would realize America May not be purific [sic] but it’s a good country. Williams wrote to YES! Weekly that she didn’t personally know any of the authors of the open letter, so she was
confused by Lashley’s response. After replying to Lashley with: I’m sorry, is that your actual answer to these legally-based points as an elected official? Williams said she received the following response from the commissioner: Can you not read,Or you trying to overthrow America “The second was an email regarding the County Manager’s recommendation to the commissioners to remove the monument due to the public safety hazard it poses,” Williams wrote. “Members of the previously labeled hate group ACTBAC have publicly stated their willingness to go to war to defend the statue from even legal removal and have threatened and assaulted peaceful protestors, including referring to us a ‘target practice’ and using racial slurs against Black business owners and residents in the square. It’s an obviously tense and unsafe situation, but their continued stance is that it’s ‘fine where it is.’” Lashley responded to Willams’s email by writing: You must be a Democrat, they seem to hate every thing, especially America. “For context, I have been unaffiliated since I first registered to vote at 18,” she noted. “My concerns are that they are blatantly ignoring us, hanging up on us when we call—like Bill Lashley did to me and Amy Galey did to a friend of mine for starters. And then I get these email responses from Commissioner Lashley displaying an utter lack of professionalism and fitness to serve.” Williams wrote that she was “shocked and appalled” by Commissioner Lashley’s “unprofessional, presumptive, offensive” responses. Williams wrote that she feels “disrespected and dismissed” as a taxpayer in Alamance County. “To make things worse, I forwarded the responses to Chairwoman Amy Scott Galey, asking her to publicly condemn such behavior and demand better from her fellow commissioners, and once again, received radio silence.” YES! Weekly emailed Commissioners Lashley and Galey on July 6 asking: Is this how Alamance County Commissioners respond to taxpayer’s questions/ concerns? The same day, Galey emailed the following response: “As is often the case, I do not agree
with Mr. Lashley’s thoughts or his manner of expressing them.” Lashley, however, did not respond as of July 14. Williams wrote that she believes her county commissioners have shown that they are not prepared to address racism in their community. Judging from her email correspondence with Commissioner Lashley, she doesn’t believe the commissioners serve all the people of Alamance County. “In short, I expect them to step up and do better in the face of the overwhelming amount of residents telling them it’s time,” Williams wrote when asked what she expects from her elected officials. “In general, I expect to have representatives who can speak and write intelligently, for one. I expect my representatives to acknowledge contact from their constituents, and to conduct themselves professionally and respectfully. I expect this set of commissioners, in particular, to publicly denounce these responses from Bill Lashley, and honestly, after his comment last month about how they used to ‘beat them to death’ when he was a cop, call for his resignation—immediately. He’s clearly not fit to serve.” Williams said she is also concerned over the amount of taxpayer money that is being spent to keep law enforcement “from the Sheriff ’s department, Graham, Elon University, and others surrounding this monument for protection.” Williams wrote that she hopes to see the commissioners act by opening up a dialogue with the community. According to Times-News, 50 of “Alamance County’s local government, business, education and healthcare leaders” called for the statue’s removal on June 29. In response, Galey claimed that the commissioners could not legally remove the statue. Since then, the commissioners have not made any public statements (that this author can find) on the matter. As of July 14, Williams said she still has not received a response. She has plans to attend the commissioners meeting next Monday. ! KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor-in-chief of YES! Weekly. Her alter egos include The Grimberlyn Reaper, skater/public relations board chair for Greensboro Roller Derby, and Roy Fahrenheit, drag entertainer and selfproclaimed King of Glamp.
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Racing legend joins UNCSA Board of Trustees Many people know Kyle Petty as a talented veteran of the NASCAR circuit and a member of one of the sport’s pioneering families, being the grandson of Lee Petty and the son of Richard Petty. He’s also Mark Burger a singer/songwriter, occasional actor, noted philanthropist, Contributor and popular sports commentator. Now, Kyle Petty has a new title: A member of the Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. “We are very happy to welcome Kyle Petty to our board,” said Ralph Womble, the Board of Trustees chairperson. “We know he will bring the same passion and perseverance that had marked his racing career, as well as an understanding of what it means to follow a creative calling given his success as a singer and songwriter. We very much look forward to his contributions to UNCSA as a member of the board.” Petty’s appointment fills the vacancy left by Peter Brunstetter, who stepped down in February 2019 to become the interim CEO of the University of North Carolina System. Petty’s appointment by the North Carolina Senate will expire on June 30, 2021. Given his lineage, it’s hardly surprising that Petty literally grew up at the racetrack, or that he would follow the family’s footsteps and become a professional racer himself. But his love of performing also flourished during his childhood when a traveling preacher gifted him with his first guitar at age 12.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: Flesh & Blood ...
Petty began writing his own music while in high school, inspired by the likes of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Carole King, James Taylor, Harry Chapin, and Jim Croce. He signed with RCA Records in the 1980s and was the opening act for Randy Travis, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Hank Williams Jr. Petty is currently represented by Ramseur Records and has performed his original music across North Carolina and surrounding states. Due to the cancellation of live performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s been performing virtual concerts by offering “quarantunes” via social media. As a sports commentator, Petty can be seen on NBCSN’s NASCAR America, as well as NASCAR Cup and Xfinity coverage on NBC and NBCSN. He is also the co-host of the Performance Racing Network’s weekly talk show Fast Talk. Petty’s philanthropic endeavors are also noteworthy, having presented the annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America for over a quarter-century. This event has raised nearly $20 million for various children’s hospitals and for Victory Junction, the camp created by the Petty family in honor of Kyle’s late son Adam, who was tragically killed in a crash during a practice run in 2000. Over the last 16 years, Victory Junction has provided more than 60,000 life-changing experiences for seriously ill children. “Kyle Petty models our values of hard work, dedication to craft, and innovation,” praised Brian Cole, UNCSA chancellor. “Artists need these qualities now more than ever. He brings to our governing board a unique perspective that will enrich our community and enhance our ability to serve our talented students.” The official UNCSA website is www. uncsa.edu. !
Recently, I received the sad news that my friend, film historian and filmmaker Ted Newsom, passed away in California at the age of 67. His credits included the affectionate 1994 Edward D. Wood Jr. documentary Look Back in Angora (a film admired by editor Katie Murawski, no less!), co-writer (with John Brancato) of an early script for Spider-Man when it was the property of the infamous Cannon Films in the 1980s, and maker of Flesh & Blood (1994), the quintessential documentary about Britain’s Hammer Films. When that film played at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival in the mid-’90s, I did a phone interview with him, and by the time I hung up, we were pals. Years later, when the RiverRun International Film Festival was in its infancy, Ted brought his delirious ‘50s-era sci-fi spoof The Naked Monster, where it played to a sold-out crowd at The Garage. In his introduction, he immediately won over the audience when he asked, “What are you people doing here? Isn’t there a good movie at the festival you’d rather see?” The film went over like gangbusters, and Ted was genuinely touched that some people had come all the way from Raleigh to see the film. A caustic sense of humor. A die-hard
Ted Newsom Hammer Films devotee (even if he preferred The Satanic Rites of Dracula to Dracula A.D. 1972). Fiercely loyal and opinionated. Maddeningly obstinate at times. I can’t imagine why we were friends. Knowing Ted, if he were to read this, part of him would be pleased, and another part would ask, “Why are you wasting the space?” Because it’s my space to waste, Ted. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
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Chow down on sweet treats with John Batchelor
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his week, we’re focusing on baked goods and sweets. I have recommended both these places in previous columns, but not in this level of detail. These are sophisticated, European-style specialty vendors. You might get items this good in major U.S. cities, if you knew where to look. Otherwise, you would need to jet across the pond to find anything that compares favorably. So, stay in Greensboro, save money, and stay safe, where in these cases, the food items are just as good! I have been buying from Augustino Bakery (2508 New Garden Rd. E., 336740-7005, facebook.com/augustinogustoeuropeanbakery) at the Greensboro Farmers Market for years. This spring, a retail shop was added. Facebook shows hours as Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. and Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Pick up in the store or specify curbside delivery. Quiches are available whole or by the slice, in various configurations, such as spinach, basil mozzarella, zucchini, goat cheese, mushroom and spinach, and tomato. For other light meals, consider hand pies: Artichoke-pesto, Jalapeño, Spinachfeta, Blue Cheese Galette, Prosciutto/ pesto fold, Wimpy (hot dog & kraut), or Sauerkraut roll, for the adventurous. Bread varieties include Sourdough, Sandwich Loaf, Croissants (plain or with various sweet fillings), and French baguette, among others. Cheesecakes are provided by the slice or whole. Flavors include strawberry, raspberry, lemon, and dulce de leche. Other variations may appear on other days. Venturing into the sweets, I am especially drawn to Panna Cotta, Dark Chocolate Pie, Toffee Pie, Tiramisu, Chocolate Mascarpone Cake, Cannolis (vanilla or chocolate), Pecan Buns, Cinnamon Buns, Salted Caramel Bun, Lemon Bun, and Blueberry-Lemon Turnovers. Dolce & Amaro (1310 Westover Terr., Suite 110, 336-763-4349, dolceamaroartisanbakery.com) was the subject of a full article very early in the year, before The Virus. Hours are 8 a.m.-9 p.m. SundayThursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday & Saturday. This is an artisanal Italian shop. Espresso, cappuccino, and other coffees as well as cold beverages that pair well with sweets are served in-house, with café style seating inside. Sidewalk accommodations are especially inviting. This is the YES! WEEKLY
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perfect place for night time sweets as well as daytime or after-meal treats. Cannolis are filled at order- pistachio or chocolate chips, for example, blended into sweetened ricotta cheese. Chocolate Éclair is filled with Chantilly cream. Millefoglie folds thin sheets of pastry spread with chantilly cream, chocolate and hazelnut mousse, plus whipped cream, sprinkled with powdered sugar—decadent. Zeppola San Guiseppe is a pastry shell filled with chantilly mascarpone cream, a glazed strawberry and blueberry on top. Lobster Tail takes its name from appearance- pastry filled with Chantilly cream, the exterior laced with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar, a glazed strawberry on top. Tarts enclose various fillings. The jammy Apricot interior is enclosed in laced crust. Fruit Tart arrays glazed fresh fruits over pastry cream. Coconut Tart is lush, a function of coconut pastry cream with whipped cream topping. Nuts Pastry Cream Tart scatters almonds, pecans, pistachios, and golden raisins over a base of pastry cream. Raspberry Tarte is an open shell filled with milk chocolate mousse; shaved chocolate perches in a whipped cream center, surrounded by glazed raspberries. Custardy things produce another avenue of taste adventure. Tiramisu starts with a base of sponge cake, then layers a custard of eggs and sugar and mascarpone cheese flavored with espresso, the top dusted with powdered chocolate. Triple Chocolate Mousse—dark, white, and milk chocolate—rests in an almond sponge cake base. You can’t explore Italian sweets without cheesecake. These renditions are rich and creamy. Whole cakes occupy their own display case. Customization is extensive in sizes of 6, 8, 10, or 12 inches. Go with the unique creations offered or consult about your own ideas. Go off your restricted diet this week at one of these places. The experience is worth the calories! ! JOHN BATCHELOR has been writing about eating and drinking since 1981. Over a thousand of his articles have been published. He is also author of two travel/cookbooks: Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants and Recipes from the North Carolina Coast, and Chefs of the Mountains: Restaurants and Recipes from Western North Carolina. Contact him at john.e.batchelor@gmail.com or see his blog, johnbatchelordiningandtravel.blogspot.com.
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Are governors abusing their powers?
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hile serving as Chairman of the Southern Governors Association, Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder asked me to produce a documentary about how he and his Jim Longworth nineteen colleagues worked together to deal with matters Longworth of regional concern, at Large ranging from increasing trade with Central America to decreasing the infant mortality rate. The SGA also focused on emergency preparedness initiatives, including how to respond and help each other when confronted with a natural disaster. I was struck by how transparent and cooperative these governors were, especially given that the Association’s membership represented Chief Executives, who hailed from both political parties. Yes, they were strong-willed, principled leaders who knew how to bend the rules, but they also realized the importance of working across the aisles, including within their own states. It’s how Wilder was able to pass the nation’s first handgun legislation, and operate with an annual surplus while increasing funding for social services. If only we had the likes of Wilder and Ann Richards to help us through the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we have governors who continue to act unilaterally at a time when they should be seeking a consensus. In April, The National Review’s David Harsanyi highlighted examples of government overreach in eight different states. Those included: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmire unilaterally banning garden stores from selling fruit or vegetable plants; the Governors of Vermont and Indiana dictating that Walmart, Costco, and Target stop selling “nonessential” items such as clothing; The governor of Vermont banning people from purchasing seeds for their gardens; Philadelphia police dragging a passenger off of a bus because the governor mandated the wearing of face masks; Police in Brighton, Colorado, arresting and handcuffing a father for playing T-ball with his daughter in an empty park because the governor ordered parks off-limits; Massachusetts police arresting three men for crossing the state line to play golf; Kentucky Gov. Greg Fischer tried banning drive-in church services just before Easter; and, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers invoking his emergency powers, giving him the right to do just about anything he wants during the panWWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
demic, including seizing private property. Unfortunately, our own Gov. Roy Cooper is guilty of similar abuses and inconsistencies. Cooper was supposed to have sought concurrence from our duly elected Council of State officers before proceeding with any Executive orders or closures during the pandemic. But according to Speaker of the House Tim Moore, Cooper abandoned that legal precedent, “when some members of the Council of State objected to his plan.” Last week, after Cooper vetoed several bills that would have reaffirmed the role of the Council, and brought relief to shuttered businesses. Speaker Moore said, “Families and individuals are desperate for a balanced approach to recovery that protects the public’s health without permanently devastating small businesses across our state…it is clear that Gov. Cooper is unwilling to prioritize struggling North Carolinians over his own power.” Meanwhile, Cooper’s opponent in November, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, is preparing to sue the Governor for doing an endrun around our Council of State and ordering the closure of some businesses while extending restrictions on others. “The governor has repeatedly ignored the law, enacting mandates that selectively target the businesses and citizens of North Carolina without concurrence from a majority of the Council of State,” said Forest in a press release late last month. Of course, the deck is stacked against Cooper in that regard because the 10 member Council of State is comprised of four Democrats and six Republicans. As Speaker Moore alluded to, Cooper knew that the Council’s Republican majority would never go along with his various Executive Orders and phase-in plans, but instead of compromising, he went full bore ahead without any checks and balances in place to stop him. But Cooper’s abuses of power aren’t just of concern to political opponents. Groups representing churches and bowling alleys have successfully challenged the governor in Court. And, according to WBT in Charlotte, more than two dozen media outlets around the state have filed suit against Cooper because he refuses to release COVID-19 related records, including a database that details the actual number of cases, and communication between various state officials and local health departments. In March, Miriam Seifter, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, addressed the issue of Gubernatorial abuses in an article for the Harvard Law Review. Dr. Seifter noted that
framers of, “Early state Constitutions… were concerned… because they believed colonial governors abused their power. Today a vigilant public is an important check against just making sure that these powers, which are extremely important in controlling epidemics, are exercised in a responsible and non-discriminatory way.” No doubt, some of Gov. Cooper’s orders initially helped to stem the tide of COVID-19 cases and prevented our hospitals
from becoming overwhelmed. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon the governor going forward, to be more forthcoming, transparent, and cooperative in developing his ongoing strategies to battle COVID-19. ! JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).
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leisure [NEWS OF THE WEIRD] THE CONTINUING CRISIS
The Cheyenne (Nebraska) County Commissioners vented their frustration on July 6 over an alarming threat posed by a native species in the Chuck Shepherd state’s panhandle. The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported that commissioner Philip Sanders told the gathering that prairie dogs had caused almost $3 million in damage to 2,600 acres in the county, and pleaded with representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: “We have a group here from Lodgepole. Their whole town is being surrounded by prairie dogs, and we heed your help.” The county has contracted with the USDA to handle its animal control problems, but Sanders said the lone wildlife specialist charged with the task has been overwhelmed. “I feel like we’ve let Lodgepole down,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to eradicate (prairie dogs). ... I get it, but they’re out of control.”
SIGN OF THE TIMES
A statue of Christopher Columbus stands in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood, but if signers of a petition get their way, it will soon be replaced by a statue of Chef Boyardee. The petition, signed by hundreds, suggests Ettore (Hector) Boiardi, known for his “food and iconic mustache,” would be a much better recipient of Cleveland’s love, Cleveland.com reported. “Boiardi and his brothers built a canned food empire from the ground up,” the petition argues, and “during World War II, this company produced canned food for American soldiers 24/7,” earning Chef Boyardee a Gold Star in 1946.
SURPRISE!
Wynn Hall of Exeter, Nebraska, might have expected to find a few beer cans or old tires at the bottom of his farm pond when he drained it for maintenance on July 3, but he discovered something entirely different: an empty, broken ATM. “I thought, who would throw a refrigerator or a stove and put it in the pond?” Hall told KOLN. “I took a picture and zoomed in on it and thought, that looks like an ATM.” When authorities arrived, they had a good idea of the source of the machine, since one had been stolen recently, but the numbers didn’t match up. Hall said he didn’t drain the pond last year, but didn’t think the ATM had
been there too long. “This is by far the strangest and I was really shocked to see it,” Hall said.
LUCKY
Nathalia Bruno, 24, of Newark, New Jersey, survived a harrowing mile-long ride through the storm sewer system under Passaic on July 6 after she drove into high water during a flash flood, NorthJersey.com reported. Bruno, a driver for DoorDash, escaped her car as it filled with water, but the current pulled both her and her car into the waterway that runs under the city, Passaic Fire Chief Patrick Trentacost said. Bruno rode the wave until it reached its outlet above the Passaic River, where she was “shot out” and swam to a backyard on the other side. A homeowner called 911, and Bruno was taken to a hospital where she appeared not to be seriously injured. Her Toyota Prius was later found under a street the next day.
NEED FOR SPEED
Kevin Nicks, 55, of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, was up to the challenge when he was invited to a racing event for unconventional vehicles at Elvington Airfield in North Yorks on July 4. Using parts lying around his house, Nicks mounted a Honda moped engine to the back of a wheelbarrow that recorded top speeds of 36 mph. “No wheelbarrow has flown down at the speeds I was going,” Nicks boasted to the Daily Star. “It’s thrilling and absolutely bonkers to drive it.” This isn’t the first time Nicks has motorized gardening equipment. He’s also the owner of the world’s fastest shed, which can reach speeds of 100 mph. “I like being creative and thinking out of the box,” he said.
THE PASSING PARADE
Pennsylvania State Police received multiple calls on June 21 about a Mercedes-Benz driving in reverse on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during rush hour. Troopers arriving on the scene said they found Symara Cole, 27, of Silver Spring, Maryland, passed out in the car with all the doors locked, WTAJ reported. A semi driver had stopped his rig behind her to prevent others from being harmed. First responders found that Cole was under the influence of drugs; pending charges include DUI and drug possession. !
© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate. Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
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Protesters practice civil disobedience in pursuit of ‘Justice for John Neville’
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I can’t breathe” were some of the last words uttered by John Elliot Neville, 56, while he lay hogtied and facedown as Forsyth County detention Katie Murawski officers struggled to unsuccessfully remove his handEditor cuffs. Neville was an African-American inmate who died at the hospital after being under the supervision of five detention officers and one nurse on Dec. 4, 2019. If it wasn’t for the public’s outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died under the knee of former-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May, Neville might have just been another grim statistic in Forsyth County. On July 8, District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced the details of Neville’s death at a press conference, which garnered national attention from the New York Times as well as local attention from Winston-Salem activists calling for justice. “At approximately 3:24 a.m., John Neville suffered an unknown medical condition as he slept, which caused him to fall from the top bunk of his cell and onto the concrete floor,” O’Neill said at the press conference. “Jail detention officers, as well as the on-call nurse, were dispatched to Neville’s cell. Upon arrival, detention officers, as well as the on-call nurse found a disoriented and confused John Neville.” Neville was then moved to an observation cell to determine the cause of his distress, the D.A. said. Approximately 45 minutes later, Neville sustained injuries that eventually caused his death. Dr. Patrick Lance of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center found that Neville died of “complications of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, due to cardiopulmonary arrest, due to positional and compressional asphyxia, during prone restraint.” Other conditions found by Lance included “acute, altered mental status and asthma.” O’Neill told Neville’s children that their father’s unfortunate death was avoidable, and announced that the five former detention officers and one nurse on-duty that morning were charged with YES! WEEKLY
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Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem protesters outside the Forsyth Detention Center before marching inside the building on July 13 six counts of involuntary manslaughter. “A request was made on Dec. 5, 2019, by Sheriff Kimbrough and the Forsyth County Sheriff ’s Office, to have the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation called in to investigate the circumstances of Mr. Neville’s death,” O’Neill said during the press conference. “Special Agent in Charge, Scott Williams was assigned the case and conducted the investigation. Agent Williams, upon completion of the matter and his investigation, turned over his findings to the Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office in April of this year.” On July 8 around 6 p.m., organizers of Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem held an “emergency rally” in front of the Forsyth County Detention Center, located at 201 N. Church St. in Winston-Salem, that ended with five arrests on charges of “impeding traffic.” (YES! Weekly was onscene livestreaming the rally and arrests via Facebook. ) The outrage from protesters was not only due to the nature of Neville’s death but that it took almost seven months for the Forsyth County Sheriff ’s Office to go public with this news. After about an hour of speakers, organizer/leader of BLMWS, Tony Ndege, announced that the group of about 40 would march around the Forsyth County jail and up to the Sheriff ’s Office. However, four Winston-Salem police officers on a utility golf cart equipt with a large white speaker, (that protesters alleged to be a Long Range Amplification Device or “LRAD,” which as previously reported by Ian McDowell, can be used as a sonic weapon) met protesters on North Chestnut Street. Many from the group had veered off the sidewalk and into the street, when the officer announced that they had three minutes to vacate the road or they would be in violation of North Carolina General Statute § 20-174.1. After many had crossed the street and moved to the sidewalk, the arrests start tak-
Tony Ndege (center), Kim Porter (left) and Richard Crawford-Rowell (far left) marching on downtown sidewalks July 13 after being arrested on July 8 ing place. In the video at 1:11:11, Brittany Battle, Ph.D., is first arrested on charges of “impeding traffic” and the other three were arrested over the course of 10 minutes in front of the Forsyth County Public Safety Center. Around 9:30 p.m., with Ndege being the last one, all who were arrested were released on a written promise to appear in court. Ndege said the arrest of five people at this rally was not planned, and he feels it is directly related to the new details released from John Neville’s death and the veto of North Carolina Senate Bill 168. S.B. 168 was introduced as an expansion of CBD for medical use but morphed into a bill that could limit transparency for the public in death investigations. Gov. Cooper vetoed the bill on July 6, after mounting pressure from protesters. “I definitely think a lot of this is retaliation for not only having the event but the fact that we called very early for the veto of Senate Bill 168,” Ndege said of the arrests. “A day after we got all the information, we were starting to put two and two together like there might be a connection between S.B. 168 and John Neville. I can’t think of any other way to say it, it seems like it is a cover-up.” Ndege, Battle and BLMWS co-organizer Kim Porter alleged that the FCSO and DA
tried to cover-up the details of Neville’s death, and that the WSPD targeted organizers with the arrests in an attempt to intimidate protesters. Porter is a co-organizer for Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem and July 8 was her seventh protest that she helped organize. “The whole point that we were out there demonstrating because John Neville was murdered and if he hadn’t been at the Forsyth County jail, then he wouldn’t have died,” Porter said. “It took them almost seven months to bring this to the public, and the only reason why we feel like the Sheriff ’s department made it public was because of the pressure they were getting from the press, and because they weren’t protected by the Senate Bill 168.” Battle is an assistant professor in the sociology department at Wake Forest University teaching courses such as the Principles of Sociology, Criminology, Social Justice, as well as, Courts and Criminal Procedure. Battle said she had to go to the emergency room and follow-up with an orthopedic doctor after being arrested because her wrist was injured. “It couldn’t be any more clear that the reason they are now turning toward carceral punishment for protesters is because we are directly protesting
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PHOTO BY TOMMY PRIEST
Protesters practicing civil disobedience in front of the Forsyth County Public Safety Center by getting arrested for “impeding traffic” on the night of July 9 something that happened in this city that has now been picked up by national news media and they are afraid of having light shown in their own house,” Battle said. “They were fine when they could point the finger at Louisville and Minneapolis, and Atlanta—that was OK, but now when we are shining a light in their own house, they don’t like that.” Battle also criticized WSPD Chief Catrina Thompson for “going back on her public, on-camera promises” to protect peaceful protesters. “Our chief of police likes to say, our city police are good people who love the protesters out there and these incidences are just a matter of a few bad apples,” Battle said. “If that was the case, we would not have seen a conspired cover-up that brought in multiple people and no one speaking on it—including the DA, including the Sheriff ’s Office— for nearly seven months. We would not have seen that if it was just a matter of a few bad apples.” Battle said her arrest would not stop her from continuing to protest and demanding justice. “Everything about the protest was peaceful including the chant that we were shouting the moment they started arresting us,” Battle said, noting the “this is a peaceful protest” chant yelled by protesters that day. “It is clear to me that they do not want us drawing attention to the murder, cover-up and systematic attempt to get the story of John Neville to never come to light. Whether it was through S.B. 168, whether it was through the D.A. and Sheriff ’s actions of not being honest about what happened to him, even though they were called on to have transparency in his case for months. Now, all of those things are coming to light, and now, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County does not want their house to be questioned.” YES! Weekly sent a list of questions regarding the arrests on July 8, including a question about the WSPD chief’s alleged hypocrisy toward peaceful protests and the WSPD’s alleged possession of an LRAD. Captain J.E. Gomez of the WSPD responded via email that the WSPD would WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
only release information that is considered “public information on the incidents and arrests.” “We are not able to respond to your other questions regarding these matters as they relate to pending court cases.” According to the police summary of the July 8 arrests, “After several speeches the protesters stated they were going to march. Officers with the police department spoke to personnel walking in front of the group, reminding them of the need to stay on the sidewalk and out of the street. This courtesy was given in support of the press release distributed on 07-01-20, informing citizens of the need to observe the laws while protesting. As the group of protesters turned onto northbound Chestnut Street from Second Street, a large group started walking in the middle of the street, in violation of the law. Officers gave the protesters an initial warning to clear the street or they would be arrested and charged. Officers also provided the protesters three minutes to comply with the request. During the three minutes the protesters continued to walk in the street and officers gave two more additional warnings to the protesters. The protesters turned west on Third Street and then north onto Church Street. The group stopped in front of 301 N. Church St., The Forsyth County Public Safety Center. Most of the protesters were still in the street refusing to comply with the requests of the officers. The three minutes elapsed and officers moved toward the crowd instructing them to move onto the sidewalk. The protesters moved onto the sidewalk, then several individuals decided to walk back into the street at which time officers began making custodial arrests. After the four individuals listed were arrested, the remaining protesters remained on the sidewalk. Officers continued to monitor the group, which remained at that location for several minutes then returned to their starting point at the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center. The group utilized the sidewalks on their return. There were no other violations of the law observed after the arrests were made. There were no injuries to the protesters or officers on the scene.”
Battle said she believes that her arrest was triggered by a question she asked one of the officers. “It was clear that they were upset that I was recording the officer that had no mask on,” Battle said. “That is what I said on my Facebook live, and immediately when I said that, he started coming toward me.” YES! Weekly sent a follow-up question to Gomez about Gov. Cooper’s mask mandate. Gomez wrote that, “there appears to be a good bit of public misunderstanding over what the governor’s order on masks actually requires.” Gomez wrote that masks are required for customers, patrons, or guests of retail businesses, restaurants, salons and tattoo parlors, child care facilities, long-term care and nursing home facilities, state government buildings, meat and poultry processing plants, on public transportation and in private transportation regulated by the government, and in areas where workers cannot socially distance while working. “There are many exceptions to workers/customers/patrons having to wear a mask even in the situations listed above, including because of a health condition, due to age (children under 11 are generally exempted), while eating and drinking, where the wearing of a mask would interfere with a person’s ability to drive a motor vehicle or operate equipment, while working from home, while operating a private vehicle, etc. Any worker/customer/ patron who declines to wear a mask under any of these listed exceptions cannot be required to produce documentation or any other proof that the exception applies. There is not a general requirement for people to wear a mask while out of doors and more than 6 feet from others. In recognition of the public health benefits of wearing masks, officers will be required to wear masks where doing so does not interfere with the officer’s ability to safely and effectively perform their duties.” According to a press release on Gov. Cooper’s official website published on June 24, growing evidence shows that consistently wearing a cloth face mask can decrease the spread of COVID-19,
especially for those who aren’t showing symptoms. “Under today’s executive order, people must wear face coverings when in public places where physical distancing is not possible. In addition, certain businesses must have employees and customers wear face coverings, including retail businesses, restaurants, personal care and grooming; employees of child care centers and camps; state government agencies under the Governor’s Cabinet; workers and riders of transportation; and workers in construction/trades, manufacturing, agriculture, meat processing and healthcare and longterm care settings.” Richard Crawford-Rowell was the fifth person arrested that evening. According to the police summary, “As officers approached him, he fled the scene and did not return. Officers were able to identify him and obtain a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested without incident later that same night.” Crawford-Rowell said he fled the protest once he saw the police block North Church Street. About 30 minutes to an hour later, he said the police were at his front door. “She put me in handcuffs and put me in the back of her car,” he alleged. “This lady went flying...and I am in handcuffs and I didn’t have a seatbelt in the back of the car...she slung around while I had no seatbelt on, and when she slammed on the brakes, I went forward with my hands behind my back in the police car.” “This isn’t going to stop me from protesting in the streets,” Crawford-Rowell added. Battle and Porter believe the charge of “impeding traffic” is not substantial because they said police had already blocked off the street. “None of us—even if we were in the street—were impeding traffic,” Battle said. “I stepped off into a [parallel] parking spot, and was immediately back on the curb.” Angaza Laughinghouse, field manager of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, wrote in an email that the First Amendment is the source of protester protections because “it establishes the right people have to express themselves JULY 15-21, 2020
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without the government silencing them.” When asked if there were any protections for protesters regarding traffic laws, he wrote, “If protesters are looking for protection regarding traffic laws, the best thing they can do is to get a permit before protesting.” When asked if standing on a sidewalk or parking space constitutes impeding traffic, Laughinghouse wrote: “If the person is merely standing on a sidewalk or in a parking space, they should not be arrested for impeding traffic because they are not willfully impeding traffic.” When asked if protesters adhere to a warning could they still be arrested, Laughinghouse replied: “No. If people complied with the dispersal order, they should not be arrested.” When asked if there are police cars blocking the road, could protesters be arrested for impeding traffic, he responded by writing that, “In this scenario, it sounds like they have no choice but to walk in the road. As such, they should not be arrested since they are not willfully impeding traffic.” Porter said her arrest has made her more committed to justice and “more determined and more resolved to help lift voices and justice for black and brown people in our community and elsewhere. It’s not going to hold any of us back.” Porter recalled protesting for Deshawn Lamont Coley, who died at the Forsyth County Detention Center in 2017. “It is a repeat of what we have seen all over again, and it is not appropriate,” Porter said. “I think that it is very significant that on the only day of protest that Winston-Salem has had recently for Black Lives Matter, they decided to arrest people that coincided with being the day the news was released that five police officers and a nurse employed by the county were responsible for the death of John Neville—I don’t think that was an accident—it feels like it is intimidation. I feel like it is a way to quiet our demands of justice for John Neville, and quite frankly, our demands for transparency and what happened to him, and our demand that it won’t happen again to anyone else.” On July 9 around 8:30 p.m., The Unity Coalition and Triad Abolition Project organized a demonstration at the same spot where the arrests the previous day happened, at 301 N. Church St. After about two hours of speakers, leaders from the two organizations began to orchestrate what they called “a planned act of civil disobedience.” Two by two (and some in threes) protesters peacefully walked out into the middle of the street in front of the Forsyth County Public Safety Center with their hands in the air or already behind their backs. YES! WEEKLY
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Protesters from Black Lives Matters Winston-Salem on July 13 marching on downtown sidewalks demanding justice for John Neville Around 18 police officers (12 without masks) arrested 15 people for impeding traffic at approximately 11-11:30 p.m. According to the police summary, “There was a courtesy press release distributed on 07-01-20, informing citizens of the need to observe the laws while protesting. Before the protest started at 2100 hours, Lieutenant Hart had a conversation with the protestors reminding them to stay on the sidewalk and not to block the streets. Between speeches the protestors marched around the Sheriff’s Department on different occasions while staying on the sidewalk with no issues. Around 2300 hours, the protestors lined up along the sidewalk. The protestors started walking in small groups and then standing in the middle of the roadway. It was dark and this roadway was open to vehicular traffic, posing a safety concern. Each group of protestors standing in the middle of the roadway were notified that they were violating the law by impending traffic and to go back on to the sidewalk. Several protestors refused to comply. Officers began making custodial arrests. After making the above listed arrests, the remaining protestors left the area while walking on the sidewalk. There were no other violations of law observed after the arrests were made. There were no injuries to the protesters or officers on the scene. Everyone that was placed under arrest was given a written promise and a court date.” The rest of the group, led by activist
Sara Hines, marched back to the Magistrate’s office to wait for others’ release. At approximately 1:30 a.m., the last person released was Calvin Peña, a lead organizer with The Unity Coalition. In an official statement, the Triad Abolition Project and The Unity Coalition called the July 9 arrests “an act of civil disobedience, an act of nonviolent direct action, because our brothers, sisters, and siblings are being murdered, mistreated, abused, and neglected in the county jail here in Winston-Salem and in many places across the country.” “This action was intentional, organized, and widely supported by members of the Winston Salem and Forsyth County community as a method of social justice protest with a long history in the U.S. and around the world,” the official release stated. “We call for the dismissal of all charges against peaceful demonstrators in Winston-Salem. We call for an end to the criminalization of peaceful protests in the future. We demand that WSPD no longer use intimidation tactics and tools of violence, such as the LRAD, against citizens exercising our Constitutional democratic rights. We will not be threatened into silence. We will not grow weary in this unprecedented movement for Black lives. We will continue to boldly demand justice.” Two of the protesters arrested noted after their release “how dirty the ceiling tiles and walls” were, and that several officers were working closely together
without wearing masks inside the Detention Center. Jack Kerley, 28, was the last person arrested and the first one released. He said he witnessed the arrests on July 8, which had him “fired up.” “It was a chance to use my privilege and make a statement,” Kerley said of his arrest. “I don’t have a job that I have to worry about right now, and I have enough money in my bank account in case I had to bail myself out if I needed to. I wasn’t scared of it and I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” Levi Holbein was another protester that was arrested. “I just didn’t want them to be able to bully us and tell us we can’t exercise our rights when just last week, two weeks ago, we were walking down the street and it wasn’t a problem,” Holbein said of his arrest. “They didn’t have any problems until this week, so I didn’t want them to be able to do that without us standing up against it. We are protesting, if we don’t send a message back, they will just keep thinking they can keep doing more.” Tina Trutanich is a member of BLMWS, Prison Outreach Initiative and the group Hate Out of Winston, and she was also one of 15 arrested on charges of “impeding traffic” that night. “We need to abolish the police, that is all I have to say,” she said. “There was a person in there who needed to get to work at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, and she was pleading with officers. I just think we need to abolish the police—we need to implement the ‘8 to abolish’ strategy and we need to get rid of mass incarceration. That is all I can think of that is clear to me right now.” Every evening since July 9, protesters have gathered outside the Public Safety Center to facilitate educational sessions and discussions around topics such as abolition and voter suppression. On Wednesday, July 15 there will be an “Occupy The Block” from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. (location is to be announced) that according to the flyer, would include guest speakers, networking, education and “peaceful demands regarding racial injustice and foul play in the jail.” Attendees are encouraged to wear masks, practice social distancing and bring an umbrella for shade. Water, snacks and food will be provided, and the flyer states that attendees are free to come and go as they please. ! KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor-in-chief of YES! Weekly. Her alter egos include The Grimberlyn Reaper, skater/public relations board chair for Greensboro Roller Derby, and Roy Fahrenheit, drag entertainer and selfproclaimed King of Glamp.
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Greensboro, Burlington marchers overwhelm Graham neo-Confederates “It’s 10-to-one out here today,” said Greensboro’s Reverend Greg Drumwright to the marchers triumphantly following him and the activist known as AJ into Alamance County courthouse square Ian McDowell on Saturday. He was referring to the disparity Contributor between the more than 700 Black Lives Matter demonstrators, who had marched the 1.7 miles from Burlington to downtown Graham in nearly 90-degree heat; and the less than 70 neo-Confederate counter-protesters who greeted them with jeers, rebel yells, slurs and extended middle fingers. The BLM marchers assembled around a small dais 20 yards from the Confederate monument they’d come to denounce (but not destroy). About 50 feet away, the neo-Confederates had been allowed to gather around the pyramidal framework containing the original courthouse bell. Later, law enforcement also allegedly allowed them to ring that bell in an attempt to drown out speeches from the dais, even though the speeches were part of a permitted march. When a Black demonstrator attempted to ring it, he was personally arrested by Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, who in 2014 was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of racial profiling, and whom the counterprotesters clearly considered their friend. The official reason given for the arrest was “vulgar language.” Groups demonstrating under the banners of the Burlington-Alamance March for Justice & Community and Black Lives Matter included Greensboro Rising (whom Drumwright thanked for providing medics), Alamance Racial Equity Alliance, and Alamance Whites Against White Supremacy. Among those waving Gadsden and Confederate flags around the courthouse bell were Jessica Reavis, an officer of The League of the South and co-founder of United Confederates of the Carolinas and Virginia, who in 2019 was convicted of carrying a .40 caliber handgun at a neoConfederate demonstration in Pittsboro. Counter-demonstrators also included Bradley Thomas Dixon, founder of ReWWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
Open NC: Alamance County. While most of the Black Lives Matter demonstrators and many of the police wore masks, all of the counter-demonstrators and most of the deputies did not. Ninety minutes earlier, while Lt. Chris Smith of the Burlington police was telling the marchers “drink a lot of water, because you’ve got a long ways to go and it’s hot out there,” neo-Confederate supporter Steve Marley posted the following “A Call to Arms” to the ReOpen NC Facebook group. “The time has come and I’m asking YOU what you do, Stand or Run? We did not to where are today by running scared. Our forefathers made an important stand against tyranny and I hope each and every one of you do. Graham needs you., and I hope to see hundreds of Patriots tomorrow making that stand.” The dozens of “Patriots” who actually showed up included Gary Williamson, founder of Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County (ACTBAC), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a hate group. As I reported in late 2016, Williamson’s small but vocal organization, which once unsuccessfully attempted to line I-40 with Confederate flags, is ironically named. During the Civil War, Alamance County was actually a hotbed of Union support and the birthplace of the Red Strings, also known as the Heroes of America, the guerilla organization that freed slaves and Northern POWs and destroyed Confederate infrastructure throughout the South, but which is honored by no memorials in the county where it began. When I asked Williamson about that in 2016, he said, “you have what you think your history books say, but I have the heritage in my heart.” On Saturday, Rev. Drumwright had the county’s history on his mind, albeit a part of it that ACTBAC does not seem eager to acknowledge. Twenty minutes before he and AJ led
the march into Court Square, Drumwright, who was born in Burlington and is Adjunct Professor of Communications at High Point University and Senior Minister at The Citadel Church & Campus Ministries in Greensboro, paused to give the following speech. “Let me tell you something while we march up this hill. Let me get everybody’s attention. In a few minutes, you’re going to see at the top of this hill. We’re going to make our final turn. We’re going to turn onto North Main Street. This route is historic. They marched Wyatt Outlaw’s body down North Mains Street to bring him to his lynching. When we turn this corner on North Main Street, we are going to dignify the legacy of Wyatt Outlaw, who was killed by the Confederate regime in 1870 because he was the first known elected official in Alamance County that was a Black man. When we turn this corner, Wyatt Outlaw and his spirit are going to be marching in our spirit. I need you to understand, brothers and sisters of Alamance, why we out here today. From 1870 until now, it has taken this long to send a message to Alamance County that Black Lives Matter.” The Confederate memorial the marchers want removed was erected in 1914 on the spot where Outlaw was lynched 44 years earlier. While those marchers carried Black Lives Matter signs, the counter-protesters held ones declaring WE LOVE TERRY JOHNSON in honor of the sheriff who personally guarded their beloved statue for weeks. More abusive and less grammatical ones included NO FREE COLORED TV’S TODAY and YALL AINT GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO. ALL MY FRIENDS ARE AT WORK. The blonde woman with that sign in her left hand and a Confederate flag in her right danced back to back with a stout man in a camo cap, their posteriors repeatedly bumping together, suggesting she had at least one friend who was not at work.
“Lift your voice and turn your back,” said Rev. Drumwright as he instructed demonstrators not to engage with the counter-protesters. “Send this message to Graham North Carolina. You tried to scare us, you tried to shut us down, you tried to say that we had guns, you tried to call us a hate organization. We come in love, we come in peace, but one thing we didn’t come in is silence, because silence is violence. Open your mouth today that Black Lives Matter!” Counter-protesters’ attempts at drowning out the sound of Black Lives Matter speeches were ultimately unsuccessful, due to crowd size, acoustics and amplification. The rally ended shortly after 2 p.m., although not before Sheriff Johnson put his arm around ACTBAC founder Gary Williamson in an apparent gesture of friendship and solidarity. Until recently, Johnson could have kept the Black Lives Matter march from happening. On July 2, the ACLU filed a lawsuit and temporary restraining order against the city of Graham and Alamance County officials, including Sheriff Johnson, Mayor Jerry Peterman and Chief of Police Jeffrey Prichard. Plaintiffs included Rev. Drumwright and the Alamance County branch of the NAACP. On July 6, a federal judge entered a temporary restraining order with the consent of the mayor, city council and police department, which suspended enforcement of the city’s restrictive protest ordinance. After the march, AJ, the activist who previously led protests on I-40, Wendover, and Battleground and at Friendly Center, texted me that he was honored to have walked arm-in-arm with Rev. Drumwright, and gave the following statement. “Reshaping history is like watching a newborn take its first steps. There are moments of joy and fear because the baby could fall, but also the optimism of watching those first steps succeed! In Alamance County on June 11, 2020, we took our first steps towards a brighter future even amongst controversy! If we continue at this rate, we can see America take its first steps to being reborn!” ! IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.
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Damn Frank’s ‘ARD BET’ uncovered
he longgone daddies in Damn Frank have unearthed ARD BET (The Lost & Last EP, Daddy) out now on bandcamp, with all album sales going diKatei Cranford rectly to the Community Justice Exchange National Bail Fund Contributor Network. Damn Frank was a trio featuring Philly-natives Wyatt Farnkopf, Mike Nardone, and Matt Goshow, who’ve always kept one foot in Greensboro, the other in Philadelphia. They fall in the mid-2010s of Greensboro music chronology, (around the time Nardone joined Dumpster, Goshow formed Dildo of God, and Farnkopf cooked-up ideas for the Red Hand). Their disbandment came when Nardone moved back to Philadelphia (though he again resides in Greensboro). Farnkopf now lives up north. Meanwhile, Goshow has stayed the Greensborian course. The sound splashes new wave with a smidge of garage along solid rocknroll lines--for fans of Oingo Boingo and the Clash. Sonically, Nardone puts ARD BET somewhere between “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic and Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing.” Meanwhile Goshow said his influence came from Sonic the Hedgehog videogame soundtracks. They might be joking, but it still fits. Jokes aside, they’ve reformed, once, for a fundraiser for victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016--reinforcing that while Damn Frank songs aren’t overly political, and despite their antics, the boys in the band very much are. They’re goofballs who give a hoot. “If you have a voice, then use it. If you have privilege, then use it,” Goshow said. “There are too many artists out there turning a blind eye to injustice. And there are a lot of people out there being unjustly incarcerated in our disgusting prison system who don’t have the means to get released, the least we could do is use our art for some good.” Farnkopf agreed. “This world’s a sham, and it’s predatory as hell,” he noted. “The fundraiser was Mike’s idea, and I was instantly on board. We share a similar worldview, so it seemed natural to donate to the national bail fund.” YES! WEEKLY
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PHOTO BY RICHARD FARNKOPF
That idea became the release of ARD BET (The Lost & Last EP, Daddy). And though the tracks were lost, they weren’t forgotten. “I remember it being done. We just sat on it,” Nardone said. “One of the main reasons for releasing it now was so we can donate money, because our world doesn’t need more music made by three shitty white boys right now. It needs money.” Goshow echoed the sentiment. “We realized we had these songs that people might care about, so we decided to release them
and put the money towards a good cause that people should care about,” he said. That cause is the Community Justice Exchange. “It’s a national bail fund that focuses on ending excessive and predatory jailing, and immigration detention centers while also dismantling surveillance and nasty shit like that,” Nardone explained. “Prisons are modern day slavery. They should be abolished and burned to the ground.” Dystopian landscapes remain a theme throughout Damn Frank’s discography. Re-
corded in 2016, ARD BET weaves through topics ranging from evolution, leaving home, wrestling, and even the tv-show To Catch a Predator. “Basically it’s trying to have a general positive outlook on life amidst all the hate in the world,” Goshow noted. The followup to Damn Frank’s 2015 release, JAWN HOT (recorded by Jerrod Smith in a house no longer standing on Cedar Street), ARD BET was recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely by Goshow during his time as an engineer at On Pop of the World. As a band of friends, the boys look back on the process fondly. “It was a long shared friendship both in music and our dark sense of humor,” Farnkopf noted. Their relationship of “17-years and countin!,” was captured on record, and radiated into fun, energetic live experiences. Nardone moved the day after their last show, which despite the release, will stay their last show. “All three of us are already in other bands that represent what we want out of music now,” Nardone said. “We already broke up and did reunion shows. We aren’t KISS.” As the coronavirus continues to erode hopes of shows regardless, the boys are keeping busy in their own quarantine. Farnkopf is sequestered at his parent’s home in Philadelphia. “Projects are all I have right now, so I have a bunch going at once,” he said, referencing his work on sculpture and mask creations; and releasing a goth song with his dad, artist Richard Farnkopf. Nardone’s Philadelphian punk group, Little War, has a record due in August. In Greensboro, Goshow’s metal band, Paezor, recently released their first full length album. And Evil Beatles, his psychedelic outfit, has a debut record in the mixing stage. Damn Frank exists now in recordings and memories. “We have no plans on reforming,” Nardone echoed. “These songs are it. $5 for four tracks, and all of that money will be going to a good cause.” ! KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report, a radio show on hiatus due to COVID-19.
WANNA
go?
ARD BET (The Lost & Last EP, Daddy) is out now on Bandcamp, with funds going toward the Community Justice Exchange National Bail Fund Network. www.damnfrank.bandcamp.com/
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last call
[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions
DOOM RAIDER
I think the guy I recently started dating might run in the same circles as my ex. (He’s said a few things that led me to think that.) This terrifies me because I really do Amy Alkon not like my ex and don’t want there to Advice be any overlap in our Goddess lives. I keep having nightmare scenarios play out in my head where I show up to the bar after my new guy’s poker game and my ex is there. What can I do if this happens? —Distressed It helps to suddenly become British when you run into someone you dread seeing, because a posh British accent is ideal for conveying a polite greeting like: “What a surprise. I was sure someone would’ve poisoned you by now, or at least electrocuted you in the bathtub.” What doesn’t help is ruminating on how you’ll feel if you do see your ex. Unfortunately, our mind is not our BFF, and it has a habit of sending us off in directions that cause us needless suffering. For example, we are our own worst emotional fortunetellers, or in psychologists’ terms, we are crap at “affective forecasting.” (“Affect” is a fancy-schmancy researcher word for moods and emotions we experience.) Social psychologists Sarit Golub and Daniel Gilbert find that we tend to overestimate how bad some future event will make us feel. This overblown prediction of how
miserable we’ll be in the future serves to bum us out in the present. Accordingly, the researchers observe that “it may be” as the Stoic philosopher Seneca noted nearly 2 million years ago, “He who suffers before it is necessary suffers more than is necessary.” When the ex pops up in your head, instead of rerunning your usual social horror movies, recognize that you have what it takes to deal with whatever comes your way. After all, what’s the worst thing that’s likely to happen, an uncomfortable silence preceding an uncomfortable moment greeting each other? (This is rarely fatal.) Keep reminding yourself of this whenever dread arises, and though you might never become a pillar of chill, you should find your overall level of hysteria dialed down considerably. Eventually, if your paths do cross, you should be able to stand there like it’s no big deal, which suggests you are barely cognizant of his continued existence...in a way running outside and hiding between parked cars like it’s a hostage crisis just can’t.
UNDERCOVER SMOTHER
I’m a 33-year-old bisexual female manager, and a co-worker seems to have an intense crush on me. She invites me out for drinks and buys me little gifts (a teddy bear, chocolates, flowers, a heart-shaped necklace). I make excuses to get out of drinks and show no enthusiasm for the gifts, but the more I don’t show interest, the more obsessed she seems. How do I get her to stop without making it awkward? —Disturbed
answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9
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It’s really uncomfortable when any conversation she has with you includes the breathy subtext: “I like your outfit. I’d like it even more if it were in a pile on the conference room floor.” It’s possible she’s experiencing limerence, a constant, obsessive romantic longing for another person that leads to often-smothering acts intended to get that person to reciprocate. Though limerence can seem like a form of love, love involves concern for the other’s feelings and well-being. In limerence, the limerent person’s target is a love object they’re pursuing: the romantic obsession version of a dirty tennis ball a dog’s chasing that never rolls to a stop. However, there is a way out. Psychologists Albert Wakin and Duyen Vo explain that “limerence is sustained and fueled by uncertainty,” which heightens the limerent person’s hope as well as their cravings for emotional reciprocation from the object of their obsessive desire. They add that “the limerence reactions tend to dissipate in conditions where there is complete certainty,” whether it’s “absolute reciprocation or the other extreme of absolute rejection.”
The kindest thing you can do (for yourself and for her) is help her give up hope — immediately, lest Tacky Gift Mountain start growing a twin peak. Take her aside and say: “I just want to clear up any possible misunderstanding. I’m not interested in ANY relationship beyond being co-workers.” If she tries again or the gift barrage continues, tell her again in unambiguous language (providing the necessary “absolute rejection”). Don’t explain why. You are not interested in her. Period. Revealing this to her will surely be awkward, but it gives her the “complete certainty” she needs to escape the claws of limerence and, best of all, before you run out of excuses to escape her regular “Wanna go for drinks after work?” You: “I have to feed my cat.” Her: “I thought your cat died last year.” You: “I have to feed its ghost.” ! GOT A problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com) © 2020 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.
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