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NOVEMBER 11-17, 2020 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 46
14 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 KATEI CRANFORD MARK BURGER JIM LONGWORTH
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Shortly after noon on Oct. 27, four workers from the Nursing and Instructional Building construction site at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro crossed Tate Street, entered a restaurant and ordered food WITHOUT WEARING MASKS. Over the next 40 minutes, five more workers from the site did the same. 5 Soon after the polls closed, I emailed YES! Weekly publisher Charles Womack and editor Katie Murawski to let them know I would not be turning in a column for this week’s paper. For one thing, I wanted to write about how our State performed on ELECTION DAY, but since military and overseas ballots won’t even be processed until after Nov. 12, such a column would be premature. 6 The School of Drama and the School of Design & Production at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) will present an audio production of William Shakespeare’s IMMORTAL DRAMA Henry V, which will premiere Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and run on-demand thereafter.
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Grand Guignol meets hi-tech horror in filmmaker Jason Marc Pierce’s award-winning horror comedy HELLPHONE, which marked his debut feature and celebrated its 10th birthday this year. 10 ”Then we’ve flat-out been LIED TO AGAIN,” said Greensboro City Council Representative At-Large Michelle Kennedy at the council’s Nov. 2 meeting. Kennedy was referring to the question of whether the Greensboro Police Department has actually banned the use of hogtying or maximum restraint. 12 A THIRD OFFICER named in the Federal Civil Right lawsuit over Marcus Deon Smith is no longer employed by the Greensboro Police Department. A 16-year veran Corporal Douglas A. Strader, 45, was discharged on Sept. 22. Unlike former Officers Lee Andrews and Michael Montalvo, Strader did not retire or resign. (Andrews resigned on Dec. 19 and Montalvo retired on May 1. The GPD has not released a reason for Strader’s termination.)
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UNCG faculty, students complain about unmasked workers from site of June COVID outbreak
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hortly after noon on Oct. 27, four workers from the Nursing and Instructional Building construction site at the University of North Carolina at GreensIan McDowell boro crossed Tate Street, entered a restaurant and orContributor dered food without wearing masks. Over the next 40 minutes, five more workers from the site did the same. During the next two days, this writer observed 14 more unmasked workers from Rodgers Construction and DPR Construction enter and order from three different Tate Street restaurants specializing in subs, pizza and chicken wings. Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday on the university strip, the vast majority of people not wearing masks on Tate Street are construction subcontractors. Multiple students and faculty members with classes or offices near the construction site have told YES! Weekly that, in the words of one student, “every single unmasked person I see on campus is from that site, and I don’t mean just when they’re working, but when they’re walking around other university buildings and on sidewalks close to students.” A tenured faculty member who asked to remain anonymous gave YES! Weekly the following statement: “Throughout the summer and fall, I have observed construction site workers walking unmasked outside of the work zones and on the surrounding streets. It is difficult to stay socially distanced in this area of campus, so the lack of face coverings has made me especially reluctant to frequent the businesses on Tate Street or to spend any time near that section (the nursing building) of campus.” As previously reported, in June, a UNCG employee told YES! Weekly that there were allegedly 36 positive cases of COVID-19, which had doubled in less than a week after the Greensboro News & Record reported a COVID-19 outbreak on May 29. During the June outbreak in the nursing building site, DPR Construction YES! WEEKLY
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Ian McDowell observed that three of the men in this photo entered and ordered food unmasked spokesperson Ro Norman did not answer YES! Weekly’s questions about how many were infected and whether the company required workers to wear masks on Tate Street and in the campus areas surrounding the job site. Instead, Norman provided the following statement: Cloth face coverings are required on our job site and all DPR Construction job sites. Additionally, we were notified of COVID-19 positive cases. We continue to follow CDC guidelines as we gather additional information. On Oct. 30, YES! Weekly sent UNCG’s Eden Bloss, senior director of University Communications, the statement from the faculty member, as well as this writer’s observations over the previous to two days. Bloss responded with the following email, on which she carbon copied Norman. Thank you for reaching out. Safety protocols are paramount to keep our campus safe, and we fully expect our subcontractors to follow the parameters UNC Greensboro has outlined for face
coverings, social distancing and hand washing. I understand they have implemented proactive health monitoring on site. I’m bringing in the communication lead for Rodgers|DPR so she is aware and can assist us. Norman did not respond to YES! Weekly, but on Nov. 3, Bloss sent the following email, on which Norman had also been carbon copied on. Thank you again for sharing this with us. All of us enjoy supporting the local businesses on Tate Street, and we want the community to support them as well, and feel safe. And yes, masks are required on the UNCG campus, and we continue to reinforce the importance of the 3Ws — Wear, Wash, Wait — on a daily basis. We are being very clear with our faculty, staff, and students about the importance of mask-wearing on our campus and in our community, and we expect our partners to take this equally seriously. This includes contractors and subcontractors. Safety is a team effort. Our Facilities and Construction leaders addressed the
matter directly early this week with the job site construction managers, individuals and the companies they work for. They have doubled down on their efforts and communication around the importance of wearing face coverings at and around the work site, extending to the businesses along Tate Street. Ro Norman is with the construction company, and is copied on this message. We also discussed the delivery of meals to the site to support safety practices. On Nov. 5, between 11:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., this writer counted 23 construction workers walking across Tate Street to have lunch. Everyone wore a mask, although none donned their face coverings before they were either in the middle of Tate Street or, in nine cases, just outside the doors of East Coast Wings, Jimmy John’s and Sam’s Grill. ! 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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No one stole the election
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oon after the polls closed, I emailed YES! Weekly publisher Charles Womack and editor Katie Murawski to let them know I would not be turning in a column for this Jim Longworth week’s paper. For one thing, I wanted to write about how Longworth our state performed at Large on Election Day, but since military and overseas ballots won’t even be processed until after Nov. 12, such a column would be premature. Second, I was burned out from a year of writing about politics. Then, as I settled in to watch what turned out to be five days of election coverage on CNN and FOX, I became increasingly incensed by claims from Donald Trump that “they are trying to steal the election.” I wasn’t just angry because Trump lied, because he’s been lying about everything for four years. I was angry because he insulted the memory of my late mother, and no matter how burned out I was, I couldn’t let that insult pass. My parents were dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, and not just as voters, but as volunteers. From the 1950s through the 1970s, mom served in a number of capacities, including as an election “judge.” Along with her Democrat counterpart, mom made sure folks were voting in the correct precinct, observed proceedings throughout the day, and then helped tabulate votes by hand when the polls closed. She would leave the house before 6 a.m. and return home way after dark, exhausted from a long day of service. Last week, cable news outlets frequently showed live video of poll workers, tabulators, and observers from around the country toiling tirelessly, just as my mom had done six decades before. I could see the fatigue in their faces, but I could also see the resolve. And for volunteers in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, that fatigue and resolve didn’t let up for five straight days. In most states, volunteers first counted ballots from people who voted in person on Tuesday. Next, they processed ballots from people who voted early in person. Finally, they counted votes from ballots that were mailed-in. It was no secret that more Republicans WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
voted on Election Day, and more Democrats voted by mail; thus, Trump looked strong in the early returns, then faded as the days wore on. In fact, he wanted it that way. He told his supporters to show up and vote in person, and when they followed his orders, he thought he was being cheated. The question is, cheated by whom? Over and over again, Trump said and tweeted, They are trying to steal the election Of course, he had no proof, but liars never do. He said that Republicans were not allowed inside while votes were being counted, and that was another lie. In every processing center throughout the country, Republicans worked side-by-side with Democrats to count, supervise, and observe. At one point, FOX host Dana Perino commented that Republicans were not being allowed inside the Philadelphia tabulation center, only to be rebuffed by her own correspondent, Eric Shawn, who said: “That’s not true. It’s just not true. Republicans have been in this room exactly where they’re supposed to be, alongside Democrats. The claims from the president and the Trump campaign are not true. It is false.” Nevertheless, the Trump narrative was repeated on social media, along with other baseless conspiracy theories. My favorite one was when Trump appeared at a White House press briefing and said: “In one city, a water pipe broke, and all vote counting stopped for four hours, and bad things happened.” Unfortunately, words matter and Trump’s lying words ignited protests immediately following the announcement that Joe Biden had been elected. The Associated Press reported that in Tallahassee, Bismarck, Boise, and Phoenix, angry crowds chanted: “This isn’t over!” “Fake news!” “Stop the steal!” Newsflash Donald, the volunteers who counted votes didn’t cheat, they didn’t destroy ballots, and they didn’t steal anything from you. Like my mom, all they did was make sacrifices to ensure that democracy works. I don’t know about any water pipe breaking, but I do know that bad things have been happening, and I know who’s responsible. That’s why I’m looking forward to Jan. 20, 2021. ! 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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he School of Drama and the School of Design & Production at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) will present an audio production Mark Burger of William Shakespeare’s immortal Contributor drama Henry V, which will premiere Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and run ondemand thereafter. Although the original play was set in 1415, this is a modern-day interpretation, running approximately two-and-a-half hours, in two acts. School of Drama faculty member Sara Becker will direct the production, which will be performed by third- and fourth-year acting students, while graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Design & Production’s sound design program will produce the play’s original soundtrack under the leadership of faculty members Jason Romney and Lindsay Jones. Fourth-year drama student Jason Gill assumes the title role, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Ralph Richardson, Richard Burton, Timothy Dalton, Jude Law, and Ian Holm – all of whom performed the role on stage. Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh played Henry both on stage and on film, with Olivier nominated for the Academy Award as Best Actor in the 1944 version and Branagh nominated for Best Actor and Best Director in the 1989 version. Having previously been the voice and text coach for earlier productions with the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie Theater/The Acting Company, and Classical Theater Company of Houston, this marks Becker’s debut directing the timeless tale. “Every time I come back to this play, it hits me in a new way,” she said. “That’s the thing about classics – they can be a real mirror for what is happening now. We watch Henry grow up and become an inclusive leader for all of England. He is able to unite the country to say ‘We are England.’ It’s a really powerful message right now.” The cast includes fourth-year students Zion Jang, Jane Cooper, and Lawrence Davis, as well as third-year students Andrew Hovey, Darby McDonough, Matias De La Flor, Isabelle Bushue, Jacob Moskovitz, and Briana Middleton – many playing multiple roles. “With such a boldly theatrical story such as Henry V, our students continue an amazing tradition of actually creating theater for an audience,” said Jones, a 2020 Tony-nominated composer and sound designer. “I love podcasts as much as the next person, but sometimes they seem to come from an objective and distanced perspective that allows a listener to choose how much they become absorbed by the experience. With an established and dramatic play like Henry V, our students must not only embrace the fact that they are creating a theatrical environment, but they must continue the tradition of immersing an audience so completely into the story that they suspend their disbelief and sit on the edge of their seats in the listening experience.” For information and access to the program, visit www.uncsa.edu/henryv. !
Hellphone rings up 10th anniversary with virtual screening Robo-calls may be annoying, but hell hath no fury like a cellphone gone wrong – especially when possessed by the malevolent spirit of a serial killer. Grand Guignol meets hi-tech horror in filmmaker Jason Marc Pierce’s awardwinning horror-comedy Hellphone, which marked his debut feature and celebrated its 10th birthday this year. Everybody’s invited to the party, a virtual screening Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m., which includes not only the feature
film but the reunion of cast and crew to discuss their memories of making an instant cult classic. Tickets are $5, which includes a $5 discount off the collector’s edition DVD (otherwise $10) and the new special-edition Blu-ray (otherwise $15). Filmed entirely on location in North Carolina, the film stars April Billingsley as Alex, the resident heroine but not necessarily the requisite “scream queen.” She’s a tough, tenacious cop determined to get to the bottom of a series of
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(literally) shocking murders rocking her community. “The shoot was a great experience,” Pierce recalled, “and I am still amazed at all the people who helped out and made it work. We planned for months to be able to pull off the shoot in 13 days but still had a lot of good fortune break our way to be successful. The people of Mayodan and Madison were a huge asset to the production, and we were lucky to be able to shoot there.” Unlike George Lucas, who revamped the original Star Wars trilogy for a theatrical re-release in the 1990s, or Francis Ford Coppola, who recently revamped The Godfather Part III (1990) for its 30th anniversary, Pierce isn’t necessarily one to revise, or even revisit, his earlier work. “I am still very happy with Hellphone,” Pierce said. “I see every flaw in everything I do, but once I’ve released something, I try to let it just exist in that state. I have gone back to some of my short films to try and ‘fix’ them, but usually give up and leave them be. I can be happy with how something turned out without thinking it is perfect.” There is one aspect of Hellphone that he is pleased to announce has been rectified. “I wish the distribution aspect had worked better,” he admitted, “but it was when streaming was really becoming a force, and we hadn’t counted on that when we made the movie. But now, with Saturnscape Pictures, there’s new life being breathed into this old movie.” Saturnscape Pictures is the new production and distribution entity founded by Greensboro-based filmmaker Stephen van Vuuren, the producer and cinematographer of Hellphone. (https://www. saturnscape.com/.) Pierce is forging ahead with future projects. “I finished the first draft of a feature screenplay about a drug heist gone wrong in rural North Carolina, made a few short films, am finishing up my first novel – about a teenage Celtic warrior maiden – and have an ongoing YouTube series about a cook so bad he summoned a demon that periodically possesses him.” The YouTube series is called Cooking With Patrick and can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/cookpatrick. Pierce’s official website is filmwhisperer.com. More details about the virtual screening can be found at https://www.facebook. com/events/1227862654263572/, and you can pre-order the screening here: https:// watch.eventive.org/hellphone10. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
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NCDOT PROJECT UPDATE REGARDING PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO N.C. 68 FROM HICKSWOOD ROAD TO GALLIMORE DAIRY ROAD IN GUILFORD COUNTY
STIP Project No. U-5974 High Point - The public is invited to view pre-recorded videos from the N.C. Department of Transportation this month regarding the proposal to improve N.C. 68 (Eastchester Drive) from Hickswood Road to Gallimore Dairy Road in Guilford County. This project proposes to improve safety and mobility.
Due to COVID-19, NCDOT will not host an in-person public meeting for the N.C. 68 upgrades. The department has developed a series of videos to provide you with the following: • An overview of the project; • Project alternative descriptions • A visualization about the project area; and • Project maps, which can be found on the NCDOT public input webpage https://publicinput.com/NC68-HighPoint. The public can view the project materials and leave comments by accessing the public input webpage shown above. There will not be a formal presentation. People may also submit comments by phone (855-925-2801 enter project code 4871), email (NC68-HighPoint@PublicInput.com), or mail to the project manager by November, 23, 2020. NCDOT Division Highway 7 Project Engineer Brian Ketner
1584 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro, NC 27405, 336- 487-0165
Contact NCDOT as soon as possible if you require any accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Anyone requiring special services should contact Tony Gallagher, Environmental Analysis Unit, at 1598 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 276991598, 919-707-6069 or magallagher@ncdot.gov as early as possible so arrangements can be made. Those who do not speak English, or have a limited
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Firefighters with Essex County (England) Fire and Rescue Service were called to a derelict laundromat in Epping on Oct. 30, where three young men had become Chuck Shepherd trapped inside an industrial-sized tumble dryer. Two of them had climbed all the way into the dryer, while the third had managed to get his ankles trapped in the door. Firefighters were joined by Essex Police, a medical helicopter and the ambulance service as they employed “a lot of heavy equipment” to free the men, watch manager Glenn Jackson told Sky News. No word on what they were looking for in there.
RISE OF THE MACHINES
— A thief in Lippstadt, Germany, was foiled by his own booty on Oct. 27 as he tried to make off with a robotic lawnmower. The Associated Press reported that the robot sent a message to the owner’s smartphone, alerting the man that it had been flipped upside down. When the owner went to investigate, he saw the thief with the robot under his arm. Police said the thief then dropped the lawnmower and fled. — Craig Hershoff of Miami has invented a robot to help people like himself who may have difficulty using the special contact lenses they wear for vision problems that can’t be helped with regular contacts. The Cliara Lens Robot can insert and remove the lenses by voice activation. “It really helps with dexterity,” Hershoff told WPLG, especially for elderly or disabled people. The robot is being tested in a clinical trial in Boston, and he hopes to have FDA clearance on it early next year. — Fans of the Caledonian Thistle soccer team in Inverness, Scotland, were frustrated as they watched a broadcast of the club’s Oct. 24 game against rival Ayr United when the new robotic cameras programmed to follow the ball around the pitch focused instead on the bald head of one of the game’s linesmen. The team had proudly announced a week earlier that it would be replacing human camera operators with a new system “with in-built, AI, ball-tracking technology” to stream live HD footage of home games to season ticket holders and fans who purchased the service. IFLScience reported that while many fans complained, others “saw this as a bonus, given the usual quality of performance.”
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BRIGHT IDEAS
— Two passengers traveling together on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Miami on Oct. 30 were removed before taking off after one of the women attempted to sneak from coach into first class and hide in the footwell of her friend’s seat, Fox News reported. The flight had already been delayed because of a catering issue, according to a witness, who said, “Apparently the plan was for this woman’s friend to remain there the entire flight ... (as a stunt to) drive viewers to their YouTube channel.” Flight attendants discovered the plot when they noticed an empty seat in coach, and the plane returned to the gate so the friends could be removed. The witness reported an unrelated passenger was also removed after he “cussed out” a flight attendant over the delay. — An unnamed man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty in a Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, court on Sept. 10 to citations including walking in restricted thermal areas of Yellowstone National Park after park rangers found him with a cooking pot and a burlap sack containing two whole chickens near a hot spring. Witnesses tipped off rangers on Aug. 7 that a group of 10 people, including a child, were seen hiking toward Shoshone Geyser Basin carrying cooking pots, EastIdahoNews.com reported. The man was ordered to pay fines and has been banned from Yellowstone for two years.
GOVERNMENT IN ACTION
The San Diego City Council blocked funding last summer for its controversial smart streetlights program, which features not only streetlights but also a video surveillance system that has been used by the San Diego Police Department, and on Sept. 9, Mayor Kevin Faulconer ordered the cameras turned off. But Voice of San Diego reported the cameras and streetlights are connected to the same power supply, so turning them off would have left the city in the dark. Florida-based Ubicquia owns the underlying technology, but the company has been reluctant to work with the city because of unpaid bills amounting to $771,000. Meanwhile, the cameras are still recording and storing footage for five days. !
© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate. Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
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Talk big Generally speaking Lhasa — (little dogs) Ed of “Gus” Small drying item on a bathroom bar Obama’s successor Start of a riddle Have a blast “Yummy!” “Exodus” actor Mineo Lyric forgetter’s syllables “Yippee!” “Forbidden” perfume Common pet lizard Warlike deity Riddle, part 2 India’s place Brand of contact lens cleaner Place to exit Riddle, part 3 Unfurled, e.g. Former Disney head Michael Uncle, in Spain Depict by drawing Met maven No, in Essen — bow (upper lip shape) A-list person Riddle, part 4 “Neon” fish in a tank Naturally illuminated at dusk Duel weapon Baldwin of “Andron” Morse E’s Jet grounded in ‘03
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“— Fideles” West Texas city Riddle, part 5 Munchkin Farm baby Crimson and carmine End of the riddle Actress Tara Write the score to Polo of “The Fosters” Time of note Official seal — Na Na Lopsided Lopsided Riddle’s answer Plow maker Consensus Acting teacher Stella “90210” actor Rob Quality of sharp pain Ex-NFLer Grier
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Humorously indecent Milo of film Study of data patterns Alien seekers’ program, for short Sad, in Nice Many a time Casual turndown Top fighter pilots Inferior — cava And others, in Latin — -com (film category) Feeling of amazement Prefix with magnetic Munchkin Gillette shaver brand
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Major for a future D.A. Actress Mena Eggy dish Belly flop result Fake display “The Far Side” cartoonist Gary Hamilton dueler Aaron Web surfer, say Great joy Brand of fleecy boots — Lingus Vegas-to-Helena dir. Violin virtuoso Hilary Having a shot to win Shaped like a die Purported psychic gift Suffix for an enzyme Fashion’s Anna — Skin dye State north of Calif. Like a boor Blissful site Aswan’s river Woman in 53-Down Little bit Actress Tyler or Ullmann Concept, in Calais New car sticker fig. Words in an analogy Food box datum: Abbr. Miniature couch for a pooch Female college students, outdatedly One foot forward Two-tone whale Part of HRH 52-week unit — Bo (fitness option)
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Certain pipe fitting Neglects to “How Great — Art” To be, in Le Havre Vile villainesses Danson of “Mad Money” Gp. activated by a 911 call Snoop (on) Whence one wicked witch Whence one wicked witch Sheltered from the wind Immodesty Saturated Abbr. at LAX Pinball parlor Hires out Wire arch on a croquet course Hold fast Tabloid monster moniker In — (stagnant) Karaoke problem Fleming of opera Spitting nails Lambs’ mothers Many a carol See 122-Down Within: Prefix In the role of (Lat.) Dad’s bro — de cologne House pest With 114-Down, “Not true!” Part of CBS: Abbr.
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Is hogtying banned in Greensboro? Council members press GPD on restraint that killed Marcus Smith
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Then we’ve flatout been lied to again,” said Greensboro City Council Representative AtLarge Michelle Kennedy at the council’s Nov. 2 meeting. Ian McDowell Kennedy was referring to the question of whether the Contributor Greensboro Police Department had actually banned the use of hogtying or maximum restraint, which was the technique fatally used on Marcus Deon Smith by the eight GPD officers who Smith asked to take him to the hospital while suffering a mental health crisis during the first night of the 2108 North Carolina Folk Festival. In July, the City of Winston-Salem banned this restraint technique, stating, in Winston-Salem Police Department General Orders 7/24/2020: Maximum Restraint Position: Placing a subject with their hands secured behind their back, legs secured together, and their legs and hands connected together behind the subject’s back with the subject’s legs flexed at the knees. The subject is lying on their side or face-down. **THIS POSITION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. ** At the Nov. 2 Greensboro City Council meeting, Kennedy, District 1 Representative Sharon Hightower, and Mayor Pro-Tem Yvonne Johnson all stated that they had been led to believe by former Chief Wayne Scott that Greensboro had formally banned this technique over a year before Winston-Salem did. After a sustained grilling by the three council members, Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Trey Davis acknowledged that this was not the case. He and City Manager David Parrish told the council that language would be added to the GPD Directives manual explicitly prohibiting the technique. (The at-times heated discussion, with council members talking over each other on Zoom and City Attorney Chuck Watts looking uncomfortable, begins at 39:00 of the City video.) The subject first came up in the public comments section of the meeting, which began with speaker Catherine Holcombe asking, “has hogtying been deleted from YES! WEEKLY
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the police training manual?” The next speaker was retired Civil Rights attorney Lewis Pitts. In June, City Attorney Watts condemned Pitts as the person “behind” the protests over Smith’s death, misidentified Pitts as part of the legal team suing the City over that death, and angrily stated that Greensboro’s Black ministers were “being pimped” by Pitts (who is white). Pitts began his remarks by stating that Holcombe had already cited that the City has spent over $414,000 on “lawyers asking to have [the Marcus Smith] lawsuit thrown out,” and predicting that the cost would soon climb to over $1 million. Pitts also referenced the recent breakdown in mediation between the Smith family’s attorneys and the City, which a court filing acquired by YES! Weekly described as “at an impasse.” “I would like some feedback from all of you,” Pitts said. “Did you make an offer and a proposal to the family in that lawsuit to settle that? Did they make an offer to you for some resolution of that lawsuit? And finally, what exactly is your position on what happened that night?” Pitts also referred to Hester Petty, who was scheduled to speak after him. “I think Ms. Petty’s going to bring up the fact that there’s been no banning of hogtying by you.”
Pitts then asked if this meant that the council believed “there was no wrongdoing, no reason to apologize, and no reason to seek redress with the family?” “I’m told we had an order against hogtying,” Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson said. “I don’t want to address it in the context of the terminology of hogtying,” interjected Assistant City Manager Davis. “I think the question is mainly surrounding if we maximally restrain, which was the practice when the RIPP Hobble was used. The previous administration removed the RIPP Hobble from the equipment the officers use.” In its place, Davis said, the GPD now uses “a device that is two Velcro straps, one that goes around the ankles, and the other that goes around the area just above the knees. With those devices, officers are not able to bind a person’s hands to their feet.” Johnson told Pitts that his other question concerned a matter “in closed session,” and that “I’m not allowed to speak about, but our attorney might want to say something about it.” To which Watts replied, “I don’t have anything to say about it.” Pitts then asked if it was the City’s position “in this litigation, or in that incident, that there was zero wrongdoing by the officers?” He then referred to the device used on
Smith, which Assistant City Manager Davis had referred to as a RIPP Hobble, despite the GPD’s refusal to comply with YES! Weekly’s public information request for the manufacturer of the specific restraint used on Smith. “At the time that hogtying homicide occurred, RIPP-Hobbling in a prone position was banned. The package in which the RIPP-Hobble device came said do not use it in that way because if you pull those legs up past 90 degrees and towards the back, it’s highly likely to cause asphyxiation. What’s your position on that matter?” “I would say that there is a process for discussions of this matter, and for resolution of it,” Watts responded. “Mr. Pitts is well aware of it and aware of the filing in the court, and you all are also well aware that the litigation process is moving forward, and we have not been able to reach an agreement with the other side about the settling. That’s as much as we can say.” Petty then began her remarks by stating. “Let me just say that, with flexi-cuffs and the limb restraint, you certainly can still hogtie somebody.” Although several council members, particularly District 2 Representative Goldie Wells, expressed apparent confusion on this point, Petty’s statement is correct, as Mayor Nancy Vaughan later acknowledged. The 2018 edition of the GPD Direc-
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tives Manual also appears to acknowledge that flexi-cuffs can be used in such a matter, with the following statement: If further immobility is needed, the secured wrists and ankles of the arrestee may be linked together using flexi-cuffs or the hobble device. Linking a person’s wrists and ankles behind their back in the position that killed Smith is the essential definition of “hogtying” as it pertains to human beings— when pigs and other livestock are restrained in this manner prior to slaughter, their four feet are not tied behind them. “There has been an outcry over the death of George Floyd,” Petty said. “Brian James, Greensboro’s police chief, has condemned the officers involved in George Floyd’s death in custody. But you don’t have to go 1,100 miles away to Minneapolis to find a Black man killed in police custody, when we have our own tragedy right here in Greensboro, with the homicide of Marcus Smith by Greensboro police officers.” After stating that “the newly released GPD Directives do not contain a prohibition of this deadly and unnecessary restraint technique,” Petty reminded the council that Winston-Salem had banned it, quoting the statement that “officers will not utilize the maximum restraint position.” “Why is this simple statement absent from the new GPD Directives?” Petty asked. “There is absolutely no reason that can’t be in the Directives, and I haven’t yet seen it in the training manual. When a police department refuses to take measures to protect citizens from the use of deadly force in situations where it’s unwarranted, as was the case with Marcus Smith, it becomes your duty to protect the public from police abuse.” Unlike their response to Pitts, the council did not sit in silence. “Have we done it or not?” asked Yvonne Johnson of Trey Davis. “Because the last chief told us that it was going to be banned!” WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
Michelle Kennedy agreed, stating that former GPD Chief Wayne Scott had told her the same thing. “I’ve been telling people it was banned,” Hightower said, “and that’s because we were told that. We do need to get it right.” Kennedy asked Davis to answer Hightower and Johnson’s question. “Again, the police department’s direction was to change their practice for the restraints,” said Davis, apparently using “restraint” to mean a device and not a position. “And the restraints they currently have don’t allow officers to perform the actual function.” “Can I just ask a really direct question?” Kennedy said with a hint of irritation. “Are we or are we not, just yes or no, are we still hogtying people?” “Let me answer Councilwoman Kennedy,” Davis said. “The practice is relevant to binding hands to feet. GPD’s current practice is not to either instruct or have officers bind people’s hands to their feet that are in custody, as well as a further step of ensuring that, if they do have a person in a prone position to restrain them temporarily, then they are to immediately assess the condition of that person and place them in a position that is much more safe, or safe for that person.” “I understand that’s what you practice,” Kennedy said, “but what I’m asking is, what is the written policy regarding this?” “We did not explicitly state that police may hogtie,” City Manager David Parrish said, “because that language is not in the Directive and never was. We also don’t explicitly state that you can bind hands to feet. We are looking at language to be a little more clear. Because it doesn’t state that you can do it, but to Hester’s point, it doesn’t state that you can’t.” That’s when Kennedy stated with exasperation, “then we’ve flat out been lied to again.” In a text message on Monday, Kennedy explained to YES! Weekly that by “again,”
she was referencing the various misstatements made by former Chief Wayne Scott about the death of Marcus Smith, including claims that he was “combative” and that he “collapsed.” (As previously reported, Smith was actually dogpiled and taken to the pavement by the officers who hogtied him.) Council then argued over terminology for several minutes, with Davis, At-Large Representative Marikay Abuzuaiter and Wells insisting that the language was a moot point, as restraining a person in such matter was “impossible” with the new flexi-cuffs, in spite of the old Directives manual’s reference to them being used in precisely that manner. For once, the GPD’s staunchest defender was not Abuzuaiter, but Wells, who stated, “If you can’t put the hands and the feet together, then you can’t hogtie, whether you say it or not, in terms of the new device, you can’t use it to do that. You can’t do the hogtying with the new devices that they use.” Wells also expressed dismay that Chief Brian James “isn’t here to defend himself.” “We could ban hogtying all day long, but there is no tool that an officer has that would allow hogtying at all,” Abuzuaiter said. Hightower referred to Petty’s statement that this wasn’t true and then said that, without a ban in writing, “a whole ‘nother administration could come in and bring back the RIPP-Hobble.” Both Abuzuaiter and Wells protested the statements by Kennedy, Hightower, and Johnson that the previous GPD administration had “lied” (a word only used by Kennedy), but the trio remained firm in their recollection of being told that the procedure had been explicitly banned. “We will get it changed,” Parrish said. “It’s not a stretch to make that simple statement that hands and feet will—” “And that executive memo was not put into the Directives,” interjected the mayor,
referring to an alleged executive memo that, unlike the Directives manual, has not been made public. “The executive memo is separate from the Directives. People can’t find that in the Directives.” “We will make the change,” Parrish said. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Davis sent an email to the mayor and city council. It contained the following paragraph: To provide further clarification surrounding the ‘Handling Persons in Custody, Restraint, and Transport of Individuals’ policy, Chief James and his staff have implemented a policy change to this Directive, and have begun the process of implementing that policy change. While the restraint device currently issued to officers (the ‘limb restraint’ device) does not allow officers to bind an individual’s hands to their feet, GPD staff has instituted language in the policy that will provide further guidance to officers. Effective immediately, all Greensboro Police Officers are strictly prohibited from connecting a detainee’s hands to their feet, regardless of the restraint device used. Section 11.1.4, page 263 of the revised Directives manual now includes the following sentence: Connecting a detainee’s hands to their feet, regardless of the restraint device used, is strictly prohibited. However, for Kennedy, that’s not good enough. “While GPD asserts that limb restraints cannot be used to bind hands to feet, the fact that further guidance was necessary to indicate the prohibition against hog tying is troubling to me,” Kennedy told YES! Weekly on Monday. “The fact that the prohibition was issued on Nov. 3 and not per council’s initial Directives is unacceptable.” ! 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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Third officer named in Marcus Smith lawsuit quietly terminated from GPD A third officer named in the Federal Civil Right lawsuit over the fatal hogtying of Marcus Deon Smith is no longer employed by the Greensboro Police Department. As a 16-year veteran of the force Corporal Douglas A. Strader, 45, was discharged on Sept. 22. Unlike former Officers Lee Andrews and Michael Montalvo, Ian McDowell Strader did not retire or resign. (Andrews resigned on Dec. 19 and Montalvo retired on May 1.) Contributor The GPD has not released a reason for Strader’s termination. In response to a public information request about the circumstances of Strader’s discharge, the GPD sent YES! Weekly a Personnel Action History Report listing Strader’s age, hire date, promotions and salaries. The final entry is labeled SEPARATION, with the only information the REASON CODE, which is “SIB DISCH.” YES! Weekly asked Public Information Officer Ron Glenn for further details but has received no response. As previously reported, on the early morning of Sept. 8, 2018, following the first night of that year’s North Carolina Folk Festival, a 38-year-old African-American man named Marcus Deon Smith was reported as acting disoriented and wandering in traffic on North Church Street in Greensboro. When GPD officers responded, Smith, who was suffering a mental health crisis but was not aggressive, asked the officers to take him to the hospital. Former GPD Chief Wayne Scott later stated that Smith was “combative” and “collapsed.” As the body camera videos show, Smith complied with the officers, was not combative, and only “collapsed” because the officers threw him to the street and piled on top of him. Officers Strader, Montalvo, and Andrews— along with Officers Jordan Bailey, Christopher Bradshaw, Robert Duncan, Alfred Lewis, and Justin Payne— ap-
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PHOTO BY CIARA KELLEY
Mary Smith with photo of son Marcus at memorial vigil plied a RIPP-Hobble hogtie restraint device to Smith after forcing him face-down onto the pavement. Smith became unresponsive and was taken to Cone Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The state medical examiner ruled that death a homicide. Shortly before leaving office, former Guilford County District Attorney Douglas Henderson ruled that the officers were not criminally negligent in Smith’s death. Officers Bailey, Bradshaw, Duncan, Lewis, and Payne still remain on the force. The Complaint (the opening document from Plaintiff attorneys in a lawsuit), filed on April 10, 2019, by Greensboro attorney Graham Holt and attorneys Flint Taylor, Ben Elson, and Christian Snow of the People’s Law Office of Chicago, described Andrews and Montalvo as the officers who, along with Payne, used the RIPP Hobble to attach Smith’s wrists to his ankles. Of Strader, then a Sergeant, it states, “Defendant Douglas Strader was at all times relevant to this action employed as a police sergeant in the Greensboro Police Department.” It also states that “Defendants Lewis, Bradshaw,
Strader and Bailey were either holding Marcus down or standing right next to him during the prone restraint and hogtying. They each had the opportunity, duty and ability to intervene on behalf of Marcus, but failed to do so.” At the time of Smith’s death, Strader was earning $58,348 a year. On Dec. 1, 2018, it was raised to $59,736. On Dec. 1, 2019, it was raised to $61,126. As reported on pages 10-11 of this issue, although former Chief Wayne Scott told the press and the Greensboro City Council that hogtying detainees were prohibited following Smith’s death, there was no actual regulation doing so until after last week’s meeting of the Greensboro City Council, at which Greensboro City Council At-Large Representative Michelle Kennedy accused the GPD of “lying” to the council about whether the procedure had been banned. ! 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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November 11-17, 2020
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HEAR IT!
Matt Walsh is on a roll with the release of ‘Burnt Out Soul’
H
otamighty! Matt Walsh is in the groove with a variety show of crazy characters, werewolf roadies and music videos for his latest album, Burnt Out Soul—a solid release Katei Cranford recorded at the legendary Columbia Studio A in Nashville, Contributor Tennessee. Clocking around 1,000 viewers each week, Walsh’s variety showcase, The Friday Nite Gamble plays more like an R-rated Hee Haw than The Lawrence Welk Show— if Hee Haw was filmed in an attic in High Point. Centered around musical guests, The Gamble splashes comedy skits with album spotlights, stories from the road, and a chug-along or two. Episodes are filmed live over Facebook, starting at 7 p.m., and rebroadcasted on Walsh’s YouTube channel. “I thought my identity was being a musi-
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cian doing concerts,” Walsh explained of the show’s origins as a response to COVID19’s impact on live music. “The shutdown had me worried,” he added, “but then someone told me, ‘when it comes down to it, you’re an entertainer.’ That helped by leaps and bounds.” As a host, Walsh pulls vibes of Johnny Carson, with nods to The George Jones Show blended with his own twang of absurdity and an eye for production, cultivated from long walking the line between serious musicianship and ridiculous personas. “They’re two different things in my mind,” he explained of the duality. “I can turn one off and the other on, but enjoy the freedom of blending them sometimes in music videos.” And all the time on The Gamble. Along for the onscreen ride is the co-host (and drummer) Raymond “Hitman” Brooks. Characters in the “Gamble Universe” include Walsh in a manner of roles, Pete Skjaerris (Walsh’s actual cousin) as “Crazy Cuzin Pete,” and Michael Simmons as a slew of personalities including “Rickie Dickerman.” The production team is rounded by Kelly Newman and “Gamble MC” Tony Prestwood. Jesse Ryan Eversole is scheduled as the featured guest for the Nov. 13 episode. Beyond that, the show remains unscripted. “It makes it exciting,” Walsh noted. “If I plan on something wild, I don’t share it, not even with the rest of the crew; I just surprise them. Everything is unfiltered.” Unfiltered and spirited, thanks to sponsorship from Clubtails — a cocktail in a can— and the show’s official team drink. Walsh is also the current champion of the “Johnny Bootlegger Challenge,” a segment that involves chugging 12 ounces of the Dayglo malt-beverage semi-affectionately known as “bum wine.” Hard-drinking comes easy to Gamble regulars like Buddy Hardwood, reported former sheriff, and current executive at Full
PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT WALSH
Bloom Records, the label behind Walsh’s releases. Hardwood’s also the feature of the short film Werewolf King, which follows a similar arc to the Joe Exotic saga— but with a North Carolina touch and, as the title implies: werewolves. In Walsh’s world, werewolves are real. Though, as highlighted in his film, Werewolf Roadies, they make a terrible crew. “They hate work,” Walsh said about lycanthrope laziness, “so the shutdown has been great for them.” Werewolves may hate work, but Walsh doesn’t— with the shutdown being pretty good for him, too. Admitting a disdain for the road, Walsh likened his preference of studio work to the Beatles. “I’m honestly happier creating music in the studio and making films,” he noted. The success of those films, paired with The Gamble, helped hedge bets toward releasing Burnt Out Soul without tour support. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever recorded, yet somehow it retains a culmination of the best parts of everything I’ve done musically,” Walsh continued with The Beatles references, “if I had a Sergeant Pepper’s, this would be it.” Recorded at Columbia Studio A in Nashville— the same used by Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Ray Price, Johnny and June Carter Cash, and Patsy Cline— Burnt Out Soul features eight tracks of timely topics, befitting the artists who’ve graced the gear before. “The early ‘70s API console we used was stationed in Studio A after recording The Band’s ‘Last Waltz,’ and Peter Frampton’s ‘Frampton Comes Alive,’” Walsh said,
reveling in technical awe of vintage equipment in the legendary space, “to know I made my album using that same console blew my mind.” The session itself was a tight two days that came on the wind of just two week’s notice, resulting in a record both diverse and focused. For the trip, Walsh tapped venerable Greensboro drummer Chuck Cotton. For material, he pulled from experiences reflecting life choices, the hereafter, the madness of hate, and pushing limits. “I have a bad habit of not going to bed when I should, and fall asleep sitting up a lot,” Walsh explained of “Don’t Shut My Party Down,” an upbeat number inspired by his girlfriend’s joke, “she told me I wasn’t going to let anything shut my party down.” Filming for the accompanying music video is underway. “It’s over the top,” Walsh explained of the concept, “but I hope it’ll make people think about how we’re often programmed to treat each other badly.” Continuing to roll, Walsh intends to make a music video for each song on the album, with three songs left to go. He’s also begun developing a Buddy Hardwood biopic and will head back to Nashville in December to record new material. But first, he’ll wrangle a new episode of the Friday Nite Gamble, featuring Jesse Ryan Eversole, live over Facebook on Nov. 13. ! KATEI CRANFORD Is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report, a radio show that runs like a mixtape of bands touring N.C. the following week, 5:30-7 p.m. on WUAG 103.1 FM.
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last call
[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions
AT DEBT’S DOOR
Quarantine’s been weighing on me, and I’ve been making a lot of unnecessary purchases. I know I need to stop wasting money, but I just keep ordering thing after thing. How can I get that satisfaction from buying something without actually buying it? —Going Broke
Amy Alkon
Advice Goddess
We humans are ever-failing self-disciplinarians, two-legged weasels talking ourselves into things we know we shouldn’t do. For example, there’s that saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” No, the fact that those $800 shoes are now $465 does not count as a reason. Unfortunately, the more you behave badly, the more disposed you are to keep behaving badly — that is, to develop a habit of behaving badly. Habits are born on a microscopic level, through what might be called a conspiracy of brain cells. Typically, any action you take requires the triggering of thousands of these tiny cells, called neurons. They fire off electric signals to other neurons, ultimately messaging your body to get it to act. Because even lifting your finger to pick your nose requires a massive army of neurons, the brain is an energy hog, guzzling more energy than any other organ. Evolution, on the other hand, is big on thrift, so it’s implemented energy efficiency measures that sometimes lead you to behave
in counterproductive ways. Whenever you repeat a behavior, retriggering the same army of brain cells, chemical changes occur that effectively wire these cellular troops together into a sort of collective action pack. This puts you on automatic, so, for example, on day two in the Airbnb, you don’t have to search for the light switch or figure out how the dimmer works; you just unthinkingly hit the switch and crank the dimmer. The more you repeat a behavior, the more automatic it becomes. You basically go into robozombie habit mode — mental autopilot — with nary a consult with your Department of Reasoning, which, in fact, gets shut out entirely from the process. Obviously, there are good autobehaviors and bad autobehaviors, but behavior you robotically repeat despite adverse consequences (such as becoming a tent-dweller with fabulous shoes) is “compulsive.” Neuropsychiatry researcher Judy Luigjes and her colleagues define compulsivity as repeatedly feeling compelled to perform an act (and being unable to stop oneself) while at the same time “being aware” that the act conflicts with one’s “overall goals.” Compulsive shopping is often motivated by a longing to escape uncomfortable emotions, for example, anxiety or stress. It has similarities with addiction disorders, observes behavioral economist Shahram Heshmat, such as a “buyer’s high,” a rush of excitement when purchasing an item. However, the relief from emotional discomfort is quickly replaced by guilt and remorse for the irresponsible spending, which can fuel a “vicious cycle”: the need for “another ‘fix,’ purchasing something else.”
To break the cycle, you need to “protect long-term goals from short-term consumption decisions,” Heshmat explains. This starts with recognizing your triggers: uncomfortable “negative” emotions like feeling hungry, angry, lonely, or anxious, which make you more likely to fling the future out the window to get that quickfix buyer’s high. Remind yourself regularly that uncomfortable feelings will not kill you. They’re also temporary. Make a pact with yourself that when you feel the urge to shop, you’ll instead acknowledge the underlying feelings you’re escaping, tell yourself you can handle a bit of feel-bad, and then do what you can to feel better, like calling up a friend. In case you get their voicemail, come up with other healthy diversions like taking a walk or streaming a trashy action flick. Of course, what you can’t see or click on, you can’t buy. Stay off shopping websites, and wipe them from your computer by clearing your cache, cookies, and history. You might also prepare to padlock your phone in a box and set a timer for a day, or at least several hours. To arm yourself with positive motiva-
tions to counter negative feelings, prepare to reset your emotional clock from the uncomfortable “now” to the exciting possible future. Stock up mental pictures of the benefits of behaving in financially responsible ways, like a snapshot of you and your friends enjoying drinks at a beautiful condo you buy with your savings. In time, as you stop responding to bad feelings by click-shopping your way to bankruptcy, the neural tentacles of your habit will weaken, as will the clutches of your compulsion. You might also work up a little compassion for yourself for having it in the first place. Technology has made our lives vastly easier, but it’s also given us countless new ways to mess them up. Back in 1347, people were freaked about the bubonic plague, just like we are at the ‘rona, but they simply didn’t have the option of getting drunk at 2 a.m. and sending off a carrier pigeon with an ill-advised order for obscenely pricey shoes. ! 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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