YES! Weekly - March 17, 2021

PASS OR FAIL

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MARCH 17-23, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 11

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WANDERING COPS

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Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III

According to a study published in the April 2020 edition of the Yale Law Journal, the “wandering officer” is a common occurrence in the law enforcement industry today. Defined as an officer who leaves or loses their position after being investigated for alleged malfeasance or liability and is then hired by another department, the “wandering officer” often picks up and starts over elsewhere. So does POLICE OFFICER ACCOUNTABILITY.

publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor CHANEL DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com YES! Writers IAN MCDOWELL MARK BURGER KATEI CRANFORD

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JIM LONGWORTH KATIE MURAWSKI PRODUCTION Graphic Designers ALEX FARMER designer@yesweekly.com AUSTIN KINDLEY artdirector@yesweekly.com

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THE SCHOOL OF FILMMAKING will showcase early work by notable alumni, including David Gordon Green, Jeff Nichols, Beth Petty and Zoë White, in the first online screening of selections from the student film archives. “Opening the Vault: Highlights from 24 Years of Student Films” will be available free on demand online Friday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21.

8 “PASS/FAIL” is nothing new. Yale, for example, has been using the system as far back as the early 1960s. But last April, Yale became the fourth Ivy League school to adopt a mandatory “Pass/Fail” grading system, following the likes of Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth. College students across the country complained that distance learning hurt their grade point average, some who told InsideHigherEd.com that “many of their classes do not properly translate to an online environment.”

9 Writer/producer Nicholas Jarecki made an impressive feature directorial debut with Arbitrage in 2012 but has taken almost a decade to make his

follow-up. Billed as being “inspired by true events,” CRISIS evokes Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) as it follows three parallel stories that sometimes, but not always, intersect. The narrative structure is similar, as is its dramatic intent. If Crisis doesn’t quite reach the heights of Traffic, it is nevertheless a worthy, well-acted, and all-too-topical film that provokes thought and discussion.

11 The arrivial of long-awaited reports begin pushing the Frederick Cox Jr. CASE towards some sort of closure.

12 The Greensboro Parks and Recreation hosted its annual CHALK WALK this past weekend at the Greensboro Arboretum, located at 401 Ashland Dr. Chalk Walk 2021 is a competition that celebrates chalk artistry from city residents.

14 Spring is in the air, and with new singles and new videos, Winston-Salem alternative R&B artist FLOWER IN BLOOM is coming up roses. “I’m super excited for spring,” said Joy “Flower In Bloom” McNeil, a queen bee figure and vocalist in the Steady Hyperactive multimedia collective.

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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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Free online screening showcases early work of noted alumni including Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green and Emmy winner Zoë White

WINSTON-SALEM – The School of Filmmaking will showcase early work by notable alumni, including David Gordon Green, Jeff Nichols, Beth Petty and Zoë White, in the first online screening of selections from the student film archives. “Opening the Vault: Highlights from 24 Years of Student Films” will be available free on demand online Friday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21.

“UNCSA’s highly ranked School of Filmmaking has produced a multitude of successful filmmakers,” said Interim Dean of Filmmaking Dale Pollock. “This special screening shows how many of our alumni jump-started their careers by making a distinctive short film while at the school. Plus, it’s very entertaining to see the student films evolve as filmmaking and popular taste change.”

Films to be screened include “Physical Pinball,” the 1998 fourth-year thesis film co-written and directed by awardwinning filmmaker David Gordon Green, whose subsequent credits include the films “Halloween” (2018) and “Joe” and the television series “The Righteous Gemstones,” “Vice Principals” and “Red Oaks.” The thesis film was included on the Criterion Collection DVD of Green’s critically acclaimed first feature film, “George Washington.”

This special screening shows how many of our alumni jump-started their careers by making a distinctive short film while at the school.

Also scheduled is “Noble Chrome Pirates,” the 2001 fourth-year thesis of Jeff Nichols, whose award-winning films include “Loving,” “Take Shelter,”and “Mud. “The Tragedy of Glady,” fourth-year film of Emmy-nominated cinematographer Zoë White (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) is also on the program. It was written and directed by Karrie Crouse (“Westworld,” “Com Truise: Propagation”). Crouse’s current project “Dust” is on the Black List, an annual catalog of popular unproduced films that has propelled hits including “The King’s Speech” and “Argo.”

The 1-hour-and-40-minute program will include: “Door to Door” The 1997 film was written and produced

by Beth Petty, director of the Charlotte (North Carolina) Regional Film Commission, who has been instrumental in bringing many projects to the state, including YES! WEEKLY

MARCH 17-23, 2021

“Leatherheads,” “Talladega Nights” and “Days of Thunder.” The film was produced by Marc Lehman; cinematography

by John Rotan (“American Chopper”); production design by Helen Williams Fooks, M.F.A. ’98, School of Design and Production (“Coming 2 America,” “Outer Banks,” “Harriet”); edited by Jane Rizzo (“Dickenson,” “Succession,” “Compliance”); with music by Christopher Smith.

“Noble Chrome Pirates” Jeff Nichols’ 2001 thesis film was produced by Darius Shamir (“Dickenson,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” “Pineapple Express”) and Matt Zyboyovski (“Shifting Gears,” “Elbow Grease,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”); cinematography by Jamie Hall (“Dancing with the Stars,” “Drunk History”); edited by Jesse Friedman; music

by Ben Nichols (“Life Itself,” “Loving”).

A car mechanic must choose between his dreams of drag racing success or love.

“The Tragedy of Glady” is included in “Opening the Vault: Highlighting 24 Years of Student Films.”

“The Tragedy of Glady” Zoë White and Carrie Krouse’s 2004 senior thesis film screened internationally at festivals including Munich International Festival of Film Schools,

where Crouse was nominated as most promising new director, and Festicine in Valladolid, Spain, where it won for best cinematography. In the U.S., it won best student film at the Asheville Film Festival, best amateur short at Real to Reel Festival, and audience choice award at Starz First Look Student Film Festival.

It also screened at the Next Reel Film Festival at New York University, and at RiverRun International Film Festival.

“The Tragedy of Glady” was produced

by Sarah Crawford; production design by Kristine Kennedy; edited by Toby Rogers (“Conquest”); and music by Adam Blais.

The cast includes School of Drama alumna Trieste Kelly Dunn (“Blind Spot,” “Banshee”) and Film alumnus Steven Gonzalez (see credits in “Physical Pinball” listing).

Like a morbid girl scout, Glady is always prepared - for the worst. Only her best friend, Claire, truly understands and supports her. When Claire begins to grow distant, Glady seeks out tragedy in a bid for sympathy. But the plan pushes Claire farther away, and just as Glady realizes she will have to change too for a chance at reconciliation, she faces a tragedy that is real.

“Physical Pinball” David Gordon Green wrote the 1998 film based on a story by Erin Aldridge Orr (“Pretty Little Liars,” “Grimm,” “Third Watch”). It was produced by Jane Rizzo (see credits in “Door to Door” listing); cinematography by George Smith; production design by Craig Zobel (winner of a Gotham Award as breakthrough director for “Great World of Sound” and nominated for Sundance Film Festival awards for “Compliance” and “Z for Zachariah”); edited by Steven Gonzales (“Take Shelter,” “Undertow”); with music by Kenya Tillery.

Film alumnus Paul Schneider (“Parks and Recreation,” “Goodbye to All That”) appears in the film. !

Ranked No. 10 in the nation by The Hollywood Reporter, the UNCSA School of Filmmaking has trained some of today’s most creative storytellers. The award-winning faculty have decades of real-world experience and a passion for mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in concentrations that include animation, cinematography, directing, film music composition, picture editing and sound design, producing, production design and visual effects, and screenwriting. The film school’s Media and Emerging Technology Lab (METL) is dedicated to the exploration and production of immersive storytelling content.

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Grand tales Hence Boundary “— Three Ships” — Park (Edison’s home) Took off Really big tree?

Fundamental tree?

Longs for Franz who composed “The Merry Widow” Early settler “Erin Burnett OutFront” channel Passes on, as a story French brandy Chinese ideology centered around a tree?

Actor Mahershala “The Orville” creator MacFarlane Soon Two of Henry VIII’s wives Coagulates “Gunga Din” studio Recorded digitally, in a way LAX datum Wharf locale Tree-dwelling hooded snake?

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Nancy of the House Like sown seeds “Ally McBeal” co-star Lucy In total — Gay (WWII B-29) Tea-scenting blossom Tree that makes people think like a French novelist?

Window sections through which trees are visible?

Richard of “Wicked Woman” “Fuer —” (piano piece) Romances Florida bird Mail in Steven of Aerosmith Fit of pique Plow inventor John

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leisure [NEWS OF THE WEIRD] NAMES IN THE NEWS

Shoe Zone, a footwear retailer with stores throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, announced March 8 that Terry Boot has been named its Chuck Shepherd next chief financial officer effective immediately, according to the Evening Standard. Mr. Boot takes over the role after the unexpected departure in February of Peter Foot, who had been with the company for seven months.

QUICK THINKING

An unnamed maskless woman waiting in line at a Pick ‘n’ Pay supermarket in South Africa was caught on cellphone video being confronted by a store guard who demanded she put on a mask or be thrown out of the store. On the video, she is next seen reaching up under her dress, pulling out her underwear — a black thong — and placing it on her face, the New York Post reported. Witnesses were mixed in their reaction.

OOPS!

Federal Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Feb. 16 that Citigroup could not expect to receive repayment of nearly $500 million of the $900 million it mistakenly wired to a group of lenders last year after a contractor checked the wrong box on a digital payment form. Intending to make only an interest payment to the lenders on behalf of its client Revlon, Citi instead wired payment in full for the entire loan, and after realizing its error, asked for the money back, but some of the lenders refused, according to The New York Times. Judge Furman found that the lenders were justified in assuming the payment had been intentional.

“To believe that Citibank, one of the most sophisticated financial institutions in the world, had made a mistake ... to the tune of nearly $1 billion, would have been borderline irrational,” he said in his ruling. Citi vowed to appeal.

CREEPY!

Samantha Hartsoe noticed a draft in her New York City apartment and traced it to the mirror in her bathroom, the New York Post reported on March 4. With the help of friends, Hartsoe removed the mirror and found a hole in the wall behind it leading to ... another apartment. As she documented her adventure

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on TikTok, Hartsoe climbed through the hole into a hallway leading to a room at the end and “a whole other apartment” with three bedrooms, a disconnected toilet, a staircase and an unlocked door (which she promptly locked). Hartsoe returned to her own apartment, showered and vowed her landlord would get an unusual call the next day.

CRIME REPORT

Detectives investigating recent thefts of catalytic converters from vehicles in Pasco, Washington, went to the mobile home of Dustin Allen Bushnell, 30, in nearby Burbank with a search warrant on Feb. 26, and not only found converters, but also discovered a 400-pound playground slide that had been removed from a city park in December, KEPR reported. The slide had been repainted and mounted to a bunk bed in the home.

Bushnell was arrested for possession of stolen property for the slide; no charges were filed for the converters.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Alexandr Kudlay, 33, and Viktoria Pustovitova, 28, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, are experimenting with a new way to preserve their on-and-off relationship: On Valentine’s Day, they handcuffed themselves together and have vowed to stay that way for three months. “We used to break up once or twice a week,” Kudlay told Reuters, but now when they disagree, “we simply stop talking instead of packing up our things and walking away.” They take turns taking showers and give each other privacy in the bathroom by standing outside with one hand inside.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

After many months of postponement, voting in the 74th Annual Tony Awards is underway, and the statues are scheduled to be presented with the reopening of Broadway this spring. In an unusual twist, reported The New York Times, actor Aaron Tveit, star of “Moulin Rouge!” is competing for recognition as leading actor in a musical against ... only himself. And even though there are no other nominees, Tveit could still wind up losing, as the rules require 60% of the vote to win. !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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Pass/Fail a product of the pandemic

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very family in America has been affected by COVID-19, some from loss of life, and others from loss of employment. But another casualty of Jim Longworth the Pandemic has been education.

There are approxiLongworth mately 74 million at Large children under age 18 living at home to put things in perspective, and another 20 million enrolled in college. That means over the past year, about 90 million young people and their parents had to deal with the stay-at-home-ordered distance learning. Many parents who were lucky enough to have a job still had to either resign or take extended leave in order to stay home and supervise their offspring.

Meanwhile, not every child could even receive online instruction. In Guilford

County alone, it is estimated that, in 2020, over 2,000 children had no access to high-speed internet service. Now, thanks to an increase in numbers of people having been vaccinated, local schools and colleges are starting to resume classroom instruction, but not without having already made some concessions to the Pandemic, including lowering or removing GPA requirements and instituting or extending the “Pass/ Fail” grading system.

“Pass/Fail” is nothing new. Yale, for example, has been using the system as far back as the early 1960s. But last April, Yale became the fourth Ivy League school to adopt a mandatory “Pass/Fail” grading system, following the likes of Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth, and all because of the Pandemic. College students across the country complained that distance learning hurt their grade point average, including kids at Penn, who told InsideHigherEd.com that “many of their classes do not properly translate to an online environment.”

Naturally, “Pass/Fail” is more popular with kids than is a quantifiable grade,

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and why not? As TFDSupplies.com reports, students are under less stress with “Pass/Fail.” However, “Pass/Fail” also has its drawbacks. According to a study

by ConnectUs.com, “Pass/Fail” promotes unhealthy learning habits. TFD adds that students are less competitive under “Pass/Fail” and that the system offers no incentives for doing better. Perhaps none of this should matter to most of us who could care less if Johnny simply passes English instead of getting an “A.” But what if Johnny held your life in his hands? Well, hold onto your internal organs because last month, the United States Medical Licensing Exam announced that their traditional method of grading was changing to “Pass/Fail.”

Yikes!

Thanks to COVID, an increasing number of high schools have also adopted a “Pass/Fail” system. Last year when Governor Cooper closed public schools, the State Board of Education authorized a “Pass/Fail” grading system for approximately 100,000 high school seniors. It seemed like the only fair thing to do. But was it in the best interest of the students? Earlier this year, the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools also floated the idea of lowering the GPA requirement for student-athletes so that those who didn’t do well with online learning could still participate in sports.

On a recent episode of my “Triad Today” television program, I asked the Roundtable panelists if making such concessions like “Pass/Fail”, and lowering GPA requirements would help or hurt students in the long run. Taylore Woods, CEO of Ashtae Products, said that it would not only hurt the students but the community as well. Keith Grandberry, former CEO of the Urban League and now Founder of Helping Hands Consul-

tants, said he was against lowering GPA requirements. They were not alone in their criticisms of Pandemic-era grading.

Mark Lee, director of the MBA programs at Trinity Western University, told StudyInternational.com that making such concessions as “Pass/Fail” is like, “…Handing out a participation ribbon at a sports tournament, where there are no winners or losers. You end up with a bunch of students with a ‘good enough’ mentality rather than striving towards excellence. Business doesn’t work that way.”

Neither should public schools and colleges, which are supposed to prepare students to think for themselves. We’ve seen what a lack of education and critical thinking has produced among violent right-wing conspiracy groups, and we certainly don’t need to add to their numbers by watering down the learning process for tomorrow’s adults.

The Pandemic has presented our young people with unprecedented challenges, including everything from limited access to the internet, to fighting off depression and suicidal thoughts due to isolation. But those disparities aside, there’s no excuse for most students not to apply themselves to the best of their ability, even if politicians and educators continue to lower the grading bar around them. “Pass/Fail” was never meant to be a mandatory grading system across the board, and I hope that once we get back to “normal”, it will be stored away with facemasks, hand sanitizers, and other reminders of 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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flicks

All-star Crisis scores with message and momentum

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riter/ producer Nicholas Jarecki made an impressive feature directorial debut with Arbitrage in 2012 but has taken almost Mark Burger a decade to make his follow-up. Billed Contributor as being “inspired by true events,” Crisis evokes Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) as it dramatizes the opioid epidemic in three parallel stories that sometimes, but not always, intersect.

The narrative structure is similar, as is its dramatic intent. If Crisis doesn’t quite reach the heights of Traffic, it is nevertheless a worthy, well-acted, and alltoo-topical film that provokes thought and discussion.

Gary Oldman (also an executive producer) puts his American accent to good use as Tyrone Brower, a college professor and pharmaceutical researcher engaged in testing Klaralon, a new painkiller supposedly less addictive than other such medications. With FDA approval looming and a hefty financial grant on the line, Brower discovers that Klaralon is possibly the single most addictive painkiller he’s ever encountered.

Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly), an architect and single mother recovering from her own opioid addiction, is thunderstruck when her son (newcomer Billy Bryk) dies of an overdose. Her unspeakable grief turns to relentless outrage when she discovers it may have been murder. That Claire would become a one-woman hit squad bent on revenge may be a little far-fetched, but there’s no denying the sheer force that Lilly brings to her role. It’s a standout turn.

Finally, Armie Hammer plays Jake Kelly, a hard-bitten DEA agent in the midst of busting a massive U.S./Canadian smuggling operation from within. His single-minded determination is further fueled by the fact that his younger sister (Lily-Rose Depp) is a heroin addict.

Crisis offers a three-tiered exploration of its topic instead of simple-minded WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

exploitation: Tyrone as the potential whistle-blower, wrestling with his conscience and facing potential peril to his career and reputation. Claire is, in a sense, the innocent victim, caught up in circumstances she could never have envisioned, and Jake is the one fighting on the front lines. Their common foe is the opioid crisis, which reaches far and wide, sweeping across any economic, social, or political boundary – leaving untold devastation in its wake. It’s a war on several fronts.

Like Arbitrage, Crisis is a morality play, but it never moralizes, and Jarecki juggles the storylines in a highly effective fashion. In an effort to tie its threads together, the film’s second half is a bit more conventional, but it’s built up such momentum, thanks in large part to its well-drawn characters, that one is swept along by its urgency.

In recent months, Hammer’s career has been rocked by allegations regarding his personal life. There’s an unmistakable twinge of irony that his onscreen sibling is the daughter of his Lone Ranger co-star Johnny Depp, himself no stranger to similar controversy. Still, Hammer’s performance is a strong one, and his scenes with Depp are raw and powerful.

Like Traffic, Crisis is technically accomplished, with crisp cinematography

by Nicolas Bolduc and an effective score

by Raphael Reed. It also boasts a fine ensemble cast that includes Michelle Rodriguez, Mia Kirshner, Luke Evans, Veronica Ferres, Indira Varma, Martin Donovan, and Jarecki himself.

Particularly good are Guy Nadon as a bearish Canadian drug kingpin known as “Mother,” and Greg Kinnear as the dean of the college where Tyrone teaches.

Again, Kinnear smoothly channels his innate likability into playing a character who isn’t necessarily likable. Yet, like so many of the characters in Crisis, he’s entirely credible.

- For a complete list of platforms that Crisis is available on, visit https:// www.quiverdistribution.com/crisis. !

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Wandering cops: Triad sees impact of police accountability trail, or lack of

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ccording to a study published in the April 2020 edition of the Yale Law Journal, the “wandering officer” is a common occurrence in the law enforcement industry Ian McDowell today.

Defined as an officer who leaves or losYES! Writer es their position after being investigated for alleged malfeasance or liability and is then hired by another department, the “wandering officer” often picks up and starts over elsewhere. So does police officer accountability.

The most infamous example of what has been called Wandering Officer Syndrome is that of Timothy Loehmann, the white Cleveland police officer who shot elevenyear-old Tamir Rice. Loehmann responded to a report that a “Black male” was “aiming a pistol” at people in a city park. A grand jury declined to indict Loehmann, primarily on the basis that Rice was carrying an airsoft replica without the orange tip that identified it as a toy. A lawsuit brought against the city of Cleveland by Rice’s family was subsequently settled for $6 million.

Prior to killing Rice, Loehmann had been allowed to resign from his previous employment by the Independence, Ohio police department after he suffered what an investigation called a “dangerous loss of composure” during firearms training. According to his supervisors in Independence, Loehmann “would not be able to substantially cope, or make good decisions” in stressful scenarios. Less than two years later, the Cleveland Police Department failed to review Loehmann’s personnel file before hiring him. Another Ohio department later hired Loehmann after he killed Rice and was fired by Cleveland.

Closer to home, Douglas A. Strader, a former corporal in the Greensboro Police Department, was hired by the City of Graham at the rank of Police Officer 1 on March 1. Strader was one of eight GPD officers involved in the 2018 hogtying incident that led to Smith’s death, previously reported on by YES! Weekly. Smith died after being restrained facedown on Church Street via a now-prohibited restraint device.

Strader and the other seven officers were not disciplined for Smith’s death but are currently defendants in a federal civil rights YES! WEEKLY

MARCH 17-23, 2021

lawsuit filed by his mother. Other defendants include the City of Greensboro and two Guilford County EMTs. The officers, EMTs, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, former GPD chief Wayne Scott, and current chief Brian James were deposed last week

by Plaintiff attorneys for a trial expected to begin this Fall.

Strader’s September 2020 termination was for an October 2019 incident in which the then corporal fired at a vehicle fleeing a crime scene in downtown Greensboro. The interval between incident and termination was due to the appeals process.

“A single mistake, error or lapse in judgment while using deadly force can have tragic and long-lasting consequences for our community,” wrote Greensboro City Manager David Parrish to Strader on Oct. 9 of last year. “For these reasons, I am upholding your dismissal from employment with the Greensboro Police Department.”

The incident report stated that Strader was one of four officers who fired at the fleeing vehicle. On Dec. 2, 2020, GPD denied YES! Weekly’s request for the names and current employment status of the other three officers. Strader’s salary was $58,348 in 2018. He later received two merit raises and was making $61,126 when fired. The City of Graham confirmed his hiring date and new rank. On Monday, YES! Weekly filed a public information request for his current salary but had not received a response by press time.

In May 2010, Sandra Almond was driving from a Sunday church service in High Point in her Honda Accord, with her 11-year-old grandson Elijah Allmond and his friends Steven and Taylor Strange were passengers. At the I-85/River Road intersection, her car was struck by a Charger driven by NC Highway Patrol Trooper J. D. Goodnight, who was in high-speed pursuit of a car he had said was going 25 miles over the speed limit.

Goodnight accelerated to 121 mph, and turned on his blue lights but not his siren.

Almond, 55, died at the scene of the collision. Her grandson Elijah suffered two brain hemorrhages. Nine-year-old Taylor Strange died at the hospital. Trooper Goodnight resigned from the Highway Patrol after the accident and was hired by the Guilford County Sherriff’s Office.

A civil suit, brought by Almond’s sons, went through a civil court proceeding and appeals court before Goodnight’s actions were brought before Robert Harris, deputy commissioner for the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Harris concluded that

Goodnight should have waited to cross the intersection before accelerating to catch up to the speeder and that Allmond’s family suffered a significant loss by her death.

He concluded that Allmond’s three sons should be compensated $1 million for the loss of her life and that Elijah, who has since graduated and turned 18, should be compensated $250,000 for his injuries and the horror he experienced in the wreck.

At the time of the 2018 decision, Goodnight was still employed by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office at the rank of Deputy Sheriff/Master Corporal and an annual salary of $55,435. Goodnight and his employers declined to comment on the outcome of the civil case.

Another example is Tom Coleman, a former undercover narcotics officer in Tulia, Texas. In a massive 1999 raid, the Tulia Police Department arrested 50 men, 40 of whom were Black (and represented a fifth of the tiny city’s Black adults), on Coleman’s testimony that he had purchased powder cocaine from them. Most were convicted, receiving from 20 to 361 years, and Coleman was awarded Texas Lawman of the Year.

After a media investigation and defendant litigation, the cases against the 50 men fell apart. Coleman never recorded his buys and misidentified suspects, and there were no witnesses and little corroboration of any sort. Coleman was indicted for perjury, and his convictions vacated.

Prior to Coleman’s false charges against the men, he had what the New York Times called “a wretched work history” and “was in constant danger of being fired.”

In Cochran County, Texas, he had left his job as a Sheriff’s Deputy after the county attorney witnessed him stealing gas from the county pumps. He skipped town-owing thousands of dollars to local businesses.

In an angry letter to the State of Texas, the Cochran County Sheriff stated, “Coleman should not be in law enforcement.”

Yet he managed to join the regional task force that sent him to Tulia, even after a background check revealed that he “was a discipline problem,” was “too gung-ho,” that he’d been accused of kidnapping his son in a custody dispute, and alleged that he had “possible mental problems.”

After leaving Tulia, Coleman had three law enforcement positions and was fired from the third for sleeping with a sex-worker who was an informant for his then-employer.

These details are from the Yale Law Journal study cited earlier, which called

Coleman and Loehmann archetypal wandering officers, meaning LEOs who are fired or who resign under threat of termination and later find work in law enforcement elsewhere.

In that article, authors Ben Grunwald and John Rappaport examined how such officers still manage to find work.

“For starters,” they wrote, “local agencies do not always conduct thorough background investigations before hiring.

Even when they do, past employers are not always forthcoming and sometimes conceal the real reasons for an officer’s separation. Anecdotal evidence suggests that officers who commit misconduct are often allowed to resign, with a guaranteed positive work reference, in exchange for forgoing legal action. Similarly, local agencies do not always notify their state POST [Police Officer Standards and Training] boards about officer misconduct. Even setting aside cases in which local agencies disregard mandatory disclosure obligations, reporting to POST is wholly voluntary in most states. Agencies are reportedly reluctant to disclose negative employment information—either to other local agencies or state POST boards—for fear of being sued for defamation.”

Sometimes a fired (or forced to resign) officer’s record does prevent him or her from being hired elsewhere. An example of this is the 2018 case of former Greensboro police officer Daniel James Boombungrung.

To be employed in North Carolina, an officer must be certified by the NC Department of Justice. Case # 18DOJ00497, which was heard on August 13, 2018, in the NC Office of Administrative Hearings, records that Boombungrung resigned from the GPD while under investigation for “willfully failing to discharge duties” and for “failing to maintain good moral character,” and that Boombungrung’s NC DOJ certification was suspended. The police department of Surf City, NC, on Topsail Island, then conditionally employed Officer Boombungrung. His application triggered a review of his Certification, its suspension was upheld, and his Surf City employment terminated.

When Officer Douglas Strader was fired from the Greensboro Police Department, was his NC DOJ certification suspended? YES! Weekly has asked this question of the Greensboro Police Department, Greensboro City Manager David Parrish, and the Graham Police Department. No answer has been received at press time, but the online edition will be updated when it is. !

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Officer-involved shooting ruled as a homicide, moves to DA Those looking for answers in the officer-involved shooting death of Frederick Cox, Jr. are one step closer to finding out what will happen to the person who killed him as the autopsy Chanel Davis and investigative reports have been Editor released in the last week. Now, they must wait on the District Attorney.

On Tuesday, March 9, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, housed in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, released the toxicology and long-awaited autopsy report for Cox. The report, signed by Dr. Nabila Haikal, classifies the manner of death as a homicide and lists the cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.

The autopsy exam, performed on Nov. 10, 2020, shows that Cox was shot four times: once in the right upper neck, once in the right shoulder, once in the left upper back, and once in the left thigh above the knee, accompanied with a diagram showing entrance and exit wounds.

The report goes on to say that those gunshot wounds “resulted in significant internal injuries including involvement of the left rib cage/lung as well as the upper cervical spine.”

Nationally recognized civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump, Allen Rogers, and Jason Keith are representing the family. At a press conference held on Monday, March 15, Crump said that it’s crucial that people “understand just how reckless this officer was shooting” on the afternoon of November 8.

“It seemed to me that he was shooting, and he didn’t care who he hit. As Ms. Vivian explained to us, even when Fred laid dying inside the church, he was still shooting bullets,” he said.

The report doesn’t list the caliber of any bullets recovered or indicate how far away the officer was when shooting at Cox. It does state that “fragments of deformed, jacketed projectile material are recovered” from the neck, shoulder, and thigh wound and that all of the wounds were without evidence of contact of close-range firearm discharge on the skin. It also states that there were two exit wounds and one partial exit of the four gunshots that fatally wounded the young man.

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The postmortem examination revealed no contributory natural disease or other non-firearm injury and showed no external evidence of medical intervention. The toxicological analysis report, dated Dec. 8, 2020, states that Cox’s blood showed no evidence of alcohol or drugs.

The investigative report was released by the Medical Examiner’s Officer on Monday afternoon and reads in its entirety: Eighteen-year-old male was reportedly at a funeral service when a drive by shooting started in front of the church.

The decedent was at the back of the church and reportedly brandished a firearm and was running into the back door of the church. The decedent was shot while attempting to enter the church. Details concerning the shooter and the actions that took place prior to the shooting will not be entered into this report. Please refer to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation for details. The decedent was found lying face down inside the doorway in the rear of the church. Paramedics responded and the decedent was pronounced dead at the scene. I responded to the scene and met with officers and agents. The decedent has what appears to be two gunshot wounds. There are several 9mm shell casings located near the entrance.

There is a large amount of blood located around the decedent. There is a large amount of cash lying to the left of the decedent. Same was collected as evidence by law enforcement. I contacted The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and was advised to send the decedent in for an autopsy. The decedent was identified by law enforcement at the scene.

The news release posted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation on Nov. 18, 2020, reads as follows: On November 8, 2020, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) was requested to assist the High Point Police Department with a shooting at Living Waters Baptist Church in High Point. Information at the time of the request was that unknown occupants from multiple vehicles fired on individuals as they were dispersing from the funeral of Jonas Thompson, who was murdered in Davidson County in late October of 2020.

A deputy from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office who was investigating Thompson’s murder, attended the funeral at the request of Thompson’s family, and was in the parking lot of the church when gunfire erupted. The deputy

discharged his weapon after coming into contact with Frederick Cox, Jr., who was also attending the funeral. The deputy reported he observed Cox with a handgun at the time he discharged his service weapon and other witnesses observed a handgun near Cox after he was shot.

This is an ongoing investigation. No other details are available at this time.

Crump stated Monday that “there was no gunshot residue found” on Cox’s hands by the medical examiner and the family says he was unarmed.

At previous press conferences and rallies, Cox’s family and lawyers have maintained that he was unarmed at the time of the shooting and in the process of saving funeral attendees, with one of those attendees going on record and saying that Cox “could not have had a gun if he held the door open for her and her son with one hand and ushered them in with another.”

The autopsy has stalled progress when it comes down to figuring out how to move forward with the officer who shot Cox. The family of Cox and its legal counsel would like to see the officer, whose name has not been officially released, fired from the DCSO, charged and arrested for killing Cox. “We were told after the last press conference that the reason SBI had not released their report is because we don’t have the autopsy. Well, they don’t have that excuse anymore,” Crump said.

T. Anthony Spearman, state president of the NAACP, said the community should all come together in an effort to seek justice for Fred Cox and his family.

“I’m here because injustice is here. And we will not sit down until justice prevails. I’m blessed to be here in support of this family and in support of Fred, who lost his life at the ripe young age of 18 years old,” Spearman said. “That is a sin before God and a sin before our community. We all need to come forward and do what we need to do on behalf of Fred.

May his memory be honored.”

When YES! Weekly spoke with Angie Grube, public information director with the state SBI, for its March 3 publication, the investigation was at a standstill due to the missing document.

“The investigation is close to complete. At this point, we are awaiting the autopsy report before we submit the case file to the DA,” she said.

When contacted on Friday about the investigation’s status due to the autopsy’s release, she said that the case file would go to the District Attorney for

review once complete.

“We won’t be releasing a report publicly. Everything will go to the DA,” she said.

Traditionally, SBI records (and the documents attached to them) are part of a criminal investigation record under N.C. General Statue 132-1.4; therefore, they wouldn’t be a matter of public record, except for a few instances and by court order.

On Monday, Grube told YES! Weekly there’s no definite time frame on the investigation wrap-up and pass over to the District Attorney’s office, but it will happen soon.

“That could possibly happen next week,” she said.

The district attorney would then determine if any charges would be filed and what those charges would be based on SBI’s findings, the investigative reports, and the autopsy.

To this, Crump said at Monday’s press conference: “Why not this week?”

Also previously reported, High Point Police Department hasn’t made any arrests nor have any leads on the vehicle occupants who fired on the funeral attendees dispersing from Thompson’s funeral.

Months later, Thompson’s death is still an open homicide investigation, YES! Weekly was told by phone Thursday by an unidentified officer in the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative division.

Thompson’s body was found in the Silver Valley community of Davidson County, near the intersection of S. Highway 109 and CID Road, on Oct. 25, 2020.

Officers with the DCSO responded to a call around 5 p.m. in reference to “a deceased subject being located” by people looking at land for sale. The 18-yearold’s body was located in a small field roughly 100 yards from the road. While the investigation hinted that it was Thompson, it wasn’t confirmed until the body was sent to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

YES! Weekly was initially told, “nothing is allowed to be given out” when asking for a press release or summary report of the case. However, YES! Weekly later obtained a copy thru other means with the above information in regards to the Thompson case. !

CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly and graduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked at daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region.

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Chalk Walk 2021 The Greensboro Parks and Recreation hosted its annual Chalk Walk this past weekend at the Greensboro Arboretum, located at 401 Ashland Dr. Chalk Walk 2021 is a competition that celebrates chalk artistry from city residents.

On Saturday, 33 participants, working as individuals and teams, created art to display for the public on Sunday, March 14.

Garden visitors viewed dozens of creative and unique chalk art pieces and cast their ballot for their favorite artwork.

Judges choose overall winners, and residents picked crowd favorites. There were

five judging categories: 12 and under, 12 and Over, Adult, Team, and Fan Favorite.

This year’s winners are Naomi Wommack, Tenley Douglass, Lauren Ward, Matthew Fisher, and Tenley Douglass.

Winners were announced on the City of Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation Facebook page.

For more information about the past event or future events with Parks and Recreation, contact Community Engagement Coordinator Jennifer Hance at Jennifer.hance@greensboro-nc.gov or 336-373-2964. !

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Flower In Bloom is coming up roses

pring is in the air, and with new singles, new videos, and her own seedling on the way, Winston-Salem alternative R&B artist Flower In Bloom is coming up roses.

Katei Cranford “I’m super excited for spring,” said Joy “Flower In Bloom” Contributor McNeil, a queen bee figure and vocalist in the Steady Hyperactive multimedia collective. “I love going outside and sitting with nature,” she added, noting she’s “definitely written a few songs in a tree or on the grass.”

McNeil’s natural connection goes beyond songwriting settings. She’s currently working in a friend’s family greenhouse, learning to garden in the soil while cultivating her catalog of releases in song, finding foundation in the flux of budding stems, and laying tracks.

“A flower has to be in a state of change to bloom,” she explained of her artistic connection to floral arrangements. “I make any kind of music I want, I work on myself every day, and I’m blessed with better and new opportunities as time goes on,” she continued, “so me, a Flower, am always in a constant state of change.”

On that note, McNeil’s favorite blooms come from daisies and hibiscus, while sunflowers hold a special place in her heart.

“My grandma, who was one of my favorite humans to ever exist, loved them,” she explained, recalling a childhood voice lesson “from a lady that played piano at my grandma’s church.”

From a shy kid in the church choir, McNeil blossomed into a vocalist, with a foundation rooted in her sense of authenticity and artistry. Dismissing artistic comparison, she lists a backbone of influences amongst artists like April, Ravyn Lanae, Frank Ocean, and Tyler, the Creator. “I love their sounds and the way they structure their songs and melodies,” she explained. “I challenge myself to ride that wave when I create my music.”

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Riding that wave, McNeil doesn’t limit herself to genre or thematic source; and derives material from life experiences put into balance. “Lately, I’ve noticed that I’ve been releasing in a pattern,” she explained. “I make something sad or more intricate, and then I’ll make something fun, something you can jam to.”

Choosing to sprinkle singles, like seeds, plotted over individual platforms, McNeil takes a don’t-look-back approach to the catalog she’s been growing since her 2019 debut EP, “Purple Sunflower,” and her more-preferred 2020 follow-up, “Floral Essence.”

“The more I grow as an artist, the cringier my old music becomes,” she noted. “I like my old songs, and I’m proud of them, but it’s weird hearing your progression— especially if your sound changes almost with every new release.”

With eyes ahead, “I really just write about whatever comes to mind,” she said, turning toward her latest streaming single, “just sayin sh!t;” and its predecessor, “sadboyyy,” (released solely as a video over her YouTube channel,) a song stemming from heartbreak.

“Art is free therapy, man,” she noted, exploring the creative pollinators formed by her “sadboyyy” experience.

“It’s really a saving grace.”

Both tracks were engineered by Volz, the genre-bending WinstonSalem artist, who McNeil considers an artistic mentor. “We both enjoy creating our own waves,” she explained of their frequent collaborative endeavors. “We’re truly just making music we like to make,” she continued, referencing “Look Boo, the Stars Are Out,” (the latest Volz album on which she appeared) as “fireee.”

With a growing roster, including works with Triad artists like Chezxo and Chasyn Sparx, McNeil’s vocal essence continues gracing hot tracks, like “Schnitzel” and “St. Nick” from OG Spliff, and more are on the way.

Though these days, at 10-weeks pregnant, her real-life collaboration with Samurai Yola is holding her full attention.

“It’s dope to be on a journey like this with your best friend,” she said, “and it’s funny because we talked about making a collabtape, but we’re getting a superstar-to-be instead.”

The pair is part of the Steady Hyperactive multimedia collective, which already boasted a family-like connection amongst its members. “They really pushed me to want to create my own music,” McNeil noted of the group.

“They’ve always been super supportive, even when I was just getting started.”

With her budding music career and impending motherhood, McNeil looks forward to finding her own path. “I really just like to go with the flow,” she said, “and I’m excited to see where the music takes me.”

As the flowers bloom with spring’s arrival, fans can be on the lookout for new singles from Flower In Bloom. Her latest tracks are available via streaming platforms and over her Youtube Channel. !

KATEI CRANFORD Is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report, a radio show that runs like a mixtape of bands touring NC the following week, 5:307pm on WUAG 103.1fm.

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last call

[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

MOROSECOLORED GLASSES

I’m a woman in my 20s. Some stuff in my life was going really wrong, and I got depressed. I didn’t tell people, but it had to be obvious.

Amy Alkon I distanced myself from my group of Advice girlfriends, meaning I Goddess missed birthday parties, didn’t respond to group texts, and was overall not a great friend. Still, I did what I could, like taking a friend for a spa day after missing her birthday the week before. Weeks later, I learned she was still harboring resentment that I had missed her birthday. Don’t I deserve a bit of a break? — Feeling Better Now On the day of your friend’s birthday, you felt like quite the party animal — if, by “party animal,” we mean “rat lying cold and dead in the corner of the cage.”

Depression gets a bad rap. It can be a terrible, dysfunctional thing when it’s caused by brain abnormalities or persists without end. However, psychiatrist Randolph Nesse explains that human emotions, including the feelbad ones, are psychological programs that evolved to solve recurring mating and survival issues. When you’re mired in frustrating, unrewarding endeavors, symptoms of depression like sadness, hopelessness, and fatigue appear to have a function. They slow you down, plant you on the couch, and force you to rethink and

change unworkable situations in your life: dump that jerk, stand up to your boss, fake your death and move to Croatia.

Sadness is also a strong social signal.

When we see someone’s sad, we’re motivated to comfort them (or at least cut them some slack). In an ancestral environment, countless centuries before apartments with locking doors, your friends would have noticed you were depressed. In a modern environment, suffering often remains hidden. In other words, it’s possible this woman and your other girlfriends assumed you were socially sloppy, inconsiderate, and a bad friend — instead of understanding that you were a friend in need.

Take stock of the girlfriends around you and figure out whom you can trust to be real friends to you: those you can show who you really are, including all the sobby parts. Friends like that will mop up for you socially (in tactful ways) at times when your answer to, “Hi, how are you?” is likely to be: “Actually, I’m going to die alone, and then nobody will discover the body until the UPS guy comes to the wrong house and nearly keels over from the smell.”

BAD HAREM DAY

As you see it, the free-range penis should be more like those factory-farmed chickens.

The “hate” you describe feeling at the idea of him having sex with other women is actually jealousy — specifically, “sexual jealousy”: a stew of dark emotions (including humiliation, rage, despondency, and grief) that gets activated by the perception that a romantic relationship is at risk.

Jealousy gets sneered at as some sort of pathetic emotional immaturity that’s to be avoided, a la “C’mon...be bigger than that.” That advice is like telling the police to ignore alarms going off in banks, which, sure, are sometimes false, but can be a sign there’s a cash transfer in progress — to the duffle bags of three gun-brandishing dudes in Richard Nixon masks.

Like bank alarms, sexual jealousy has a vital function. It triggers “mate-guarding” behavior: tactics to fend off threats “to a valued romantic relationship” that could lead to “infidelity or abandonment,” explains evolutionary psychologist David Buss. Mate-guarding tactics frequently used by women include “monopolization” (like bolting oneself to a partner at a party), “appearance enhancement” (hotting

up to outdo any lurking competition), and “sexual inducement” (performing “sexual favors” to keep a partner around).

In other words, the discomfort you feel is a call to action loaded into you by evolution. But evolved motivations aren’t behavioral mandates. Resolving to just suck up and ride out the discomfort seems the best way to avoid responding in ways potentially damaging to your long-term interests. Letting fear of loss drive you to have sex before you’re ready could tag you with an air of desperation and/or cause you to confuse lust with love. Being gnawed by curiosity about the competition sometimes spins even normally stable and levelheaded women into crazycakes stalkers. Tempting as it might be to know whom you’re up against, it’s best a new fir tree doesn’t suddenly appear outside the guy’s apartment wearing the same go-go boots you do. !

GOT A PROBLEM? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence. ©2021 Amy Alkon. Distributed by Creators.Com.

I’m a 31-year-old woman, and I recently started dating a guy about my age. We’ve gone on five dates, but we haven’t had sex, as I wanted to take things slowly. He’s been okay with that, but I’m quite certain he’s sleeping around elsewhere. I hate the idea of him having sex with other women. Still, we aren’t at the level of being committed, and I’m not comfortable having sex with him yet. What do you recommend I do? — Disturbed

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