YES! Weekly - October 14, 2020

WREAK HAVOC HORROR

www.yesweekly.com

P. 6

FORSYTH DETENTION CENTER P. 10

DRIVE-IN CONCERTS

P. 14

October 14-20, 2020 YES! WEEKLY

1

2

OFTEN IMITATED NEVER DUPLICATED

YES!

SIMPLY BETTER

WEEKLY

YES! WEEKLY

OctOber 14-20, 2020

www.yesweekly.cOmw

GET

w w w.y e s w e e k l y. c o m

inside

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 42

16

PHOTO BY CARISSA DORSON

5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930

HOST WITH THE MOST

Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor KATIE MURAWSKI katie@yesweekly.com Contributors IAN MCDOWELL DAVINA VAN BUREN JOHN ADAMIAN

On Feb. 21, B.C. (before COVID-19), during my morning commute while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “Sloppy Seconds with Big Dipper and Meatball,” I was introduced to another podcaster that I would come to listen to religiously every Monday morning. To my surprise, the person being interviewed by Big Dipper and Meatball was a Greensboro native! “I was just a plain old Greensboro kid,” said comedian, actor, writer and podcaster MANO AGAPION.

MARK BURGER

6

TERRY RADER JIM LONGWORTH

10

14

MELANIE LEONARD

PRODUCTION Graphic Designers ALEX FARMER designer@yesweekly.com AUSTIN KINDLEY artdirector@yesweekly.com ADVERTISING Marketing TRAVIS WAGEMAN travis@yesweekly.com Promotion NATALIE GARCIA

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 2020 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

6

This year marks the sixth annual Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival (WHHFF), and following in the footsteps of the RiverRun International Film Festival’s “RiverRun at Marketplace” series and this month’s OUT at the Movies film festival, it will be held this year at the Marketplace Cinemas Drive-In facility, 2095 Peters Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem.The festival will take place Wednesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 22, beginning at 7 p.m. both evenings.

7 The CUNNINGHAM VS. TILLIS match-up has been highly anticipated because the eventual winner could affect the balance of power in Washington. Former State Senator Cal Cunningham has held a slight lead over incumbent Senator Thom Tillis throughout much of the campaign, but the outcome was anything but certain. Both men spent record amounts of money on T.V. ads...

7 In June, Connecticut State Police investigating a December armed robbery outside the Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant in Norwich arrived at the Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville to obtain a DNA SAMPLE from Gregory Blue, 38, who first accused police of planting his DNA at the

scene of the robbery before telling them “a phlebotomist who took his blood years ago dropped his DNA at the scene via airplane,” according to authorities.

10 Advocates from the Prisoner Outreach Initiative (POI) and Triad Abolition Project staged a protest march around the FORSYTH COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT DETENTION CENTER (FCLEDC) last Friday evening. Both organizations allege that the detention center and Wellpath, the county’s contracted forprofit health care provider to its incarcerated population, have mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and misrepresented the number of infected inmates.

14 The Marcus King Trio kicks off a new DRIVE-IN CONCERT SERIES at The Drive at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds on Oct. 23. The Drive, a pop-up drive-in initially planned for a summer-stint on the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds midway, will continue rolling through the fall, capping its movie season with horror flicks through Halloween, and hosting a concert series running weekends through November.

WE DELIVER, BUT WE NEED YOU! Like many businesses in the Triad, we have lost revenue.

Help keep our content free by

donating.

To help support us, visit www.yesweekly.com and click CONTRIBUTE in the top left corner!

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

3

visions

4

SEE IT!

Mano Agapion on the perks of being an outsider:

Comedian, actor and podcaster talks about growing up in Greensboro as a queer person of color

O

n Feb. 21, B.C. (before COVID-19), during my morning commute while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “Sloppy Seconds with Big Dipper and Meatball,” I was introduced to another podcaster that I would come to listen to religiously every Monday morning. To my surprise, the person being interviewed Katie Murawski

by Big Dipper and Meatball was a Greensboro native!

“I was just a plain old Greensboro Editor kid,” said comedian, actor, writer and podcaster Mano Agapion. “I went to public school there, and I feel like, at an early age, I learned how incredibly queer I was. Certainly, at the time, it was annoying cause I remember even in kindergarten we had gender-segregated recess, and I wanted to play with the girls!”

The girls, he said, were inside playing with a water table— like a sandbox but with water.

“It was cool, but it’s also like the origin of corona,” he said in a phone interview back on March 11, before North Carolina started taking COVID-19 seriously. “I remember I wanted to play with the girls inside, and I got in trouble because they were like ‘no, boys go outside to play.’”

But Agapion said he’s no stranger to being on the outside, as he grew up in a family of Greek/Middle Eastern immigrants living in North Carolina.

“My family is very foreign— they are classic Greek foreigners, and we were just outsiders the whole time,” he said. “In elementary school, people would ask, ‘Is your mom going to the PTA?’ And me being like, ‘no, she thinks they are a cult, so she will not be coming.’”

On top of that, being openly queer in North Carolina (before the controversial Bathroom Bill illuminated the bigotry within the state) was not easy.

“I definitely grew up being an outsider for like many, many, many years, and it was annoying for such a long time until it became the best thing that happened to me,” he said of finding his sexual identity. “I am so used to being on the outside. Being a queerdo, and being excited about how unique your voice is, I think, was like a big part of why, if anyone, people like me have an easy time connecting with other outsiders, which of course, goes hand in hand with drag, and horror freaks, etc.”

In 2018, the Human Rights Campaign named Greensboro “the most LGBTQ-inclusive city in North Carolina,” but when Agapion was growing up in the early 2000s, that is not how he would describe the Gate City.

“Greensboro, to me, wasn’t as scary as Alamance, but it’s very suburban, kind of like ‘let’s not talk about it too much.’ I definitely had my weirdos in high school where we were all closet cases at the same time, but obviously, we had each other’s backs because we were obsessed with Madonna’s ‘Confessions on the Dance Floor’ at the right time.” he said of his hometown. “I was figuring shit out, but I knew I couldn’t talk about it out loud. I knew I couldn’t be YES! WEEKLY

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

Left: Comedian Nicole Byer and Mano Agapion pose together after recording an episode of “Drag Her” Right: Comedian Betsy Sodaro and Mano Agapion defiantly queer— and even to this day, I have a boyfriend, and when he came to visit, I was like, ‘I don’t think we should hold hands in public in Greensboro. I don’t feel safe holding your hand in public.’”

Agapion said he was raised Greek Orthodox, which also posed challenges for him as a queer person.

“I definitely had to deprogram my brain like from years of Christian guilt and dealing with my queerness being a ‘sin,’” he said. “That has been a long road for me— I remember one year, I was at a Lenten retreat, which was this stupid thing where it’s Lent, so you and a bunch of young, Greek Orthodox kids talk about Jesus and not touching your body.

The theme of the weekend was, ‘Jesus will come like a thief in the night’ and I was like ‘what, why?’ I slept maybe half an hour over the course of two nights because all I could think about is Jesus coming in the middle of the night. So yeah, generally, I was terrified of Christianity, and I am no longer practicing at all because I feel like being queer and Christian is like being poor and Republican— it is insane.”

Even though he was raised in a religious household, one thing Agapion didn’t have to worry about was his family being unaccepting.

“My parents have been so fucking supportive,” Agapion said. “They are both great. My father is like a fucking survivor— he fought in WWII, he’s 94— my mom is just like a giant vessel of love and drama.”

When he came out, Agapion said, “they both were just

like, ‘hey there are way bigger problems in this world. We love you; it is not that serious.’ I got really lucky.”

“And my dad fought in WWII, so he knows what a real problem is,” Agapion added.

Agapion said he was bullied in every grade because it was “pretty socially acceptable to get bullied,” being a queer person of color in North Carolina.

“They would pick on my family being different, and I would say the queerness was on the top of the chart, though,” he said. “Now, I even look back, and I’m like, where were the teachers? Like, where were the adults?”

Agapion recalled an instance of being bullied while attending Page High School. He was wearing a hoodie and sitting at his desk, minding his business, when the kid behind him started filling his hoodie with trash.

“It was like a high school movie,” he said. “I, of course, put my hoodie on, and all of the trash that I didn’t know was there spilled all over me. The teacher didn’t do anything.”

But going through that built character, he said.

“Through all that bullshit and adversity, I definitely found the funniest people, and I definitely developed my sense of humor,” he said. “Those experiences teach you how to navigate situations, and I am thankful for them now because all of those experiences let me see that as the rules of life are so made up. What is straight or queer is so arbitrary, and drag is such a fun venue for that because it reinforces that we can make the rules of self-expression.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

So, of course, I gravitated toward that in the podcast, but I’ve gravitated toward that in my life and people who understand that it is all made up— we can make whatever choice we want to. You just have to be around other weirdos who are smart enough to get that, too.”

Agapion also attributes going to more liberal schools and finding his people in North Carolina’s “queer oasis” (as he described Chapel Hill in “Sloppy Seconds”).

“It is so gay and weird and lovely and friendly; I am sure it is even more so now,” he said. “That was a really positive experience because as you know, there is just such a beautiful liberal, weird bubble there— I was really able to come out of the closet and meet other queer people of color and just really figure out who I wanted to be with people who were on the same page as me.”

When asked how he worked around obstacles of being a queer person of color growing up in North Carolina, he said, connecting with people naturally brought him to where he is now.

“I have always connected with people just like me— on the outside,” he said.

“Anyone that has a charmed life, I am just so bored by.”

While going to school at UNC, Agapion said he found his passion for improv and sketch comedy.

“I performed a lot at the now-defunct Dirty South Comedy Theatre— that is where I got my start. I also performed with TIPS, the improv group at Chapel Hill,” he said. “I came out to L.A. just wanting to do everything comedy.”

Agapion said scoring an internship at TruTV is what officially brought him to the City of Angels, but that internship isn’t what kept him there.

“I knew the road would be long because I came out for an internship at TruTV, circa 2008, which was terrible,” he joked. “Part of my job was researching disaster footage— you know, because TruTV used to be like ‘World’s Craziest Car Crashes’ and crazy reality shit. I was there when they were still making shows about cop chases and natural disasters. Now, they are a pretty cool comedy space.”

After his internship, he started taking improv classes at the University of California at Berkley.

“I was like, I know I am going to find my people here cause I had already gotten so comfortable with a lot of the comedy weirdos in college,” he said of UCB. “That was it, this was my space, and I continued to find people there. I met Nicole Byer and Betsy Sodaro— everyone I met that is in comedy now was from UCB.” Byer is most known as the bubbly and hilarious host of the Netflix baking show, Nailed It, and Sodaro is also a hilarious WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

comedian and actor who is known for her distinct voice and role as Dabby on Netflix’s Disjointed.

Byer and Sodaro are also Agapion’s occasional guest hosts on the HeadGum podcast, “Drag Her,” which is the only RuPaul’s Drag Race recap podcast that exists.* *This is obviously not true (as there are literally thousands of RDR recap podcasts), but rather a long-running joke among Agapion, Byer and listeners of the pod.

Agapion is also a co-host with Sodaro on their Patreon podcast dedicated to all things trashy called, “We Love Trash,” a Too Hot To Handle recap podcast called, “Too Horny To Recap,” and a comedy/horror podcast called, “The Resurr-Erection.”

“It is fun, I really enjoy it,” he said of podcasting, “I have a blast with it. I didn’t know how easy it would be to connect with people in the world of podcasts; it’s been a really awesome experience for me.”

In addition to hosting a Drag Race recap podcast, Agapion also does drag and describes his drag persona, Basic Bitch, as a bearded/gender-fuck queen.

“I have some features that some might call more ‘masculine,’ so it is a far journey for me to get to a ‘feminine’ illusion,” he said, “which I am thankful that language like that is starting to fade away because we are not looking at it like that anymore.

I am gender expressive because it speaks to me, and also it speaks to how I present myself and what I like about drag. My drag character’s name is Basic Bitch, and I like to celebrate that anyone can do drag— even a basic bitch! You don’t have to do anything amazing. You don’t have to become fully transformed into another conception of gender to be doing drag. As RuPaul says, ‘there are 96 crayons here, let’s use them all.’”

Basic Bitch hosts a local drag competition called “UCB Drag Race,” which is open to all forms and iterations of drag.

“We have every kind of drag,” he said.

“We have drag kings, queens, hyperqueens, non-binary queens doing whatever the hell they want to do.”

When asked what he thought about the claim that Drag Race is not inclusive when it comes to casting trans women on the show, he said, “I think it is stupid as hell, and I think it really needs to change; there is no excuse anymore. We all know there are amazing drag queens that identify as trans, and they are not hard to find. I would really like to see that change in the show. I think that it way overdue.”

On the subject of Drag Race, Agapion said he was excited to see Heidi N Closet, a fellow Greensboro native, slay on the show.

“I am always going to root for queens of color because, as you know, they have to work thrice as hard to get the same fan

base, which is unfortunate,” Agapion said, noting the racist and problematic sect of the Drag Race fandom. “That is one of the things I loved about growing up in Greensboro. I went to schools that were incredibly diverse and inclusive. I feel like I benefited so much from being around people of color and learning stuff from each other’s cultures and communities.”

When Agapion is not hosting podcasts and when Basic Bitch isn’t hosting “UCB Drag Race,” you can catch him eating and talking about cereal Wednesday mornings on Instagram live, or on hit T.V. shows like My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

(Recently, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him drunkenly re-tell the story of the famous poodle, Masterpiece, on Season 6 Episode 11 of Drunk History.)

Agapion said he is staying busy, as he just filmed a pilot with Sodaro, called Mother Mary, which also stars My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s, Rachel Bloom.

“It is a really exciting pilot,” he said. “It is basically the story of someone who becomes immaculately pregnant, and they don’t know what the fuck happened to them. It is sort of them coming to terms

with the fact that, even though they are a human disaster, they are somehow pregnant with the second coming of Jesus.”

Agapion said the show is co-produced by Bloom, CBS, and Jax Media.

“I also got a writing job on the new reboot of Punky Brewster,” he said. “That will be on Peacock, [NBC’s] new streaming service.”

When asked what advice he has for other aspiring queer artists/comedians in Greensboro, Agapion said to “listen to your gut, be stubborn and be kind.”

“It’s so corny, but I would say, listen to your gut, because it is not wrong— it’s never been wrong,” he said. “Even when I was being bullied, there was something deep in my gut that was like but wait, ‘I’m a funny girl! I have a special vibration.’ It can get covered with bullshit, but like no matter what you offer, know that you are doing your best when you cultivate that thing that is naturally you. It is so corny, but it is so true.”

“Every success I’ve had has been out of me being me and has been out of being brave enough to share me on a bigger stage,” he continued. “Thankfully, now, the way digital and social media platforms allow you to connect with so many people, I would say, just start creating shit! Even if it is a podcast or a stupid Instagram channel where you eat cereal— just start doing shit. You will be able to connect with more people, and creating stuff will allow you to learn what kind of stuff you want to put out in the world. Get in touch with what makes you—you, and then become embolden by what you have to offer, and don’t be afraid to share it. Take classes, no matter what you want to do, take classes. That is where I met the people that I am working with— that is where I met the people that I am writing and acting and performing with. Find a community of weirdos doing the thing you like to do.” !

KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor-in-chief of YES! Weekly.

Her alter egos include The Grimberlyn Reaper, skater/public relations board chair for Greensboro Roller Derby, and Roy Fahrenheit, drag entertainer and self-proclaimed King of Glamp.

WANNA

see?

Follow Mano Agapion on social media (@ manoagapion), join him for a bowl of cereal on Instagram Live via @SpoonMeCereal, listen to “Drag Her” on the HeadGum Podcast Network, “Too Horny To Recap” and “The Resurr-erection” on Stitcher premium, and “We Love Trash” on Patreon. Also, check him out on T.V. in Mother Mary and as a writer on the new Punky Brewster reboot, premiere dates of which are still to be announced.

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

5

6

flicks

Wreak Havoc Horror Festival goes to the drive-in

T

his year marks the sixth annual Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival (WHHFF), and following in the footsteps of the RiverRun International Film Mark Burger Festival’s “RiverRun at Marketplace” series and this month’s Contributor OUT at the Movies film festival, it will be held this year at the Marketplace Cinemas Drive-In facility, 2095 Peters Creek Parkway, WinstonSalem.

The festival will take place Wednesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 22, beginning at 7 p.m. both evenings. Single-night tickets are $15, two-day festival tickets are $25, VIP reserve spots for both nights are $40, and advance tickets are available online.

Refreshments will be available for

purchase during the festival.

Since its inception, the WHHFF has showcased a vast array of horror, sciencefiction, and fantasy films (both shorts and features), celebrating the efforts of independent filmmakers and offering its audience scares, shivers, and laughs.

The formula hasn’t changed this year, although there’s the added ingredient of audience safety.

Wednesday’s line-up consists of the following short films: Chatterbox, Woodland Cemetery, The Babyistter, Black Mass, The House Guest, The Witches of Bushwick, In a Better Place, Bella and the Slasher, Ambrosia, Bumps in the Night, The Chrysalis, Monsterbook, Script, and Voices. The presentation culminates with the feature film Spiral Drive.

Thursday’s line-up includes the short films Chatterbox, Boris in the Forest, Birthday Bitch, Here There Be Tygers, Deathyard, Angela Isn’t Changed, Escape Trip, Shadow at the Door, Percipience, The Greatest Horror Film Ever Made, Feeders, Heartsick, Backward Creep, capped off by

Triad Coloring Book

25

$

ORDER TODAY! To support local participating artists and order your Triad Coloring Book, email publisher@yesweekly.com YES! WEEKLY

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

Jaysen Buterin’s award-winning feature Kill Giggles. The awards ceremony will follow that screening.

Although most of the films were produced in the United States (and several in North Carolina), the festival has also included films produced in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Italy.

“There was never a point at which I doubted whether we’d host this year’s festival,” said WHHFF director Dan Sellers. “So many festivals are transitioning to virtual events this year, which works well for them, but we’ve been committed to hosting a live event from the beginning of the pandemic. Becoming a drive-in festival allows us to bring our wonderful films to the big screen, while allowing our guests to enjoy the festival safely.”

Given the new screening format, this year’s festival had to be scaled back to some extent. “Because we’re transitioning to a drive-in film festival, we’re forced to reduce our screen time,” Sellers explained.

“So we’ll only be screening the films that are nominated for awards, instead of the complete ‘official selection.’ However, we plan to screen the official selection in its entirety after theaters reopen, likely in the spring.”

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic limited the number of submissions this year, in large part because filmmakers simply aren’t able to make or complete their films in the current environment. As a filmmaker himself, with credits including Hank vs. the Undead (2012), Countdown to Midnight (2019), and the Stephen King adaptation Uncle Otto’s Truck (also 2019), Sellers is well aware of the struggles facing independent filmmakers at this time.

“Fortunately, it didn’t prevent us from finding some amazing films,” Sellers said.

“I think folks were afraid they’re be taking a risk submitting their films, but earlier this year we offered filmmakers a hefty discount (on the submission fee) and assured everyone that, no matter what, we’d be up and running come autumn. I’m

very pleased with the quality and quantity of the films we received this year.”

Marketplace Cinemas has played host to Wreak Havoc screening events in the past, and the success of its drive-in screenings made presenting the festival in that format a natural. That it’s taking place at a drive-in is only appropriate, as horror and sci-fi films were common fodder since drivein theaters were first introduced.

“The Rocky Horror drive-in event was electrifying – definitely the best event and the highlight for our drive-in in its first year,” said Zack Fox, manager of Marketplace Cinemas. “The ‘OUT at the Movies’ drive-in opening night was splendid, with a great collection of short films and many of the filmmakers attended in person to introduce their films at our drive-in.”

In addition to making movies, Sellers and partner Sammie Cassell also host the Wreak Havoc Film Buffs Podcast, as well as producing the Carolina Haints Podcast, which explores myths and legends indigenous to the Tarheel State.

“The Carolina Haints Podcast is still rolling right on schedule as we recently premiered the fourth season,” said Sellers.

“However, the pandemic has made it more difficult for Sammie Cassell and I to get together, especially with guests, to record new episodes of the Wreak Havoc Film Buffs Podcast. We’re also very focused on filmmaking, so we’re dividing our time available for projects between producing new films, making podcasts, and running the festival. But having said that, we’ve got new Film Buff episodes coming this month, and plan to record more as soon as our busy schedules allow.”

The official Wreak Havoc Horror Film Fest website is http://www.wreakhavochorrorfilmfest.com/, and the official Facebook page is https://www.facebook. com/WreakHavocHorrorFilmFest/. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

voices

Cunningham, Tillis M.I.A.

“

tions sent Cal into hiding, and avoiding The best media appearances that he had promised laid plans to attend. More on that in a moment. of mice Ironically, the same day that the Naand men tionalFile story broke about Cunningham’s oft go astray,” so indiscretions, Tillis announced that he had wrote Robert Burns, tested positive for COVID-19, and, like his a Scottish poet who, opponent, he was going to have to disapin 1786 was imaginpear from the campaign trail for a while. ing North Carolina’s Politics aside, we all wish Thom a full and 2020 race for United Jim Longworth speedy recovery. However, the irony within States Senate. the irony is that Tillis was pushing for a The Cunningham hypocritically speedy confirmation of Presvs. Tillis match-up Longworth ident Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, has been highly at Large Amy Coney Barrett, and, to celebrate that anticipated because nomination, Thom and about a hundred the eventual winner of his cohorts attended a crammed-in could affect the celebration at the White House. That balance of power in Washington. Former party turned out to be a mask-less, super State Senator Cal Cunningham has held a spreader venue for COVID-19, with over slight lead over incumbent Senator Thom a dozen attendees contracting the virus Tillis throughout much of the campaign, within days of the event. Last week Tillis but the outcome was anything but certain. said he regretted not wearing a mask. You Both men spent record amounts of money think? on T.V. ads, and each one OK, so if Thom and his accused the other of all buddies had adhered sorts of things, from corto their own protocols ruption to being a memand held off on Barrett’s ber of the Communist nomination until after Party. And while a great the election, he would number of those ads be COVID-free. And if Cal have been negative, Cunhad adhered to his marningham has also spent riage vows, he would be a lot of money touting scandal free. “The best his sterling character, laid plans”, and all that. especially his status as I won’t pass judgment a Bronze-Star-winning on Cunningham and veteran and a devoted Cal Cunningham Tillis for the personal husband and father. The and political behaviors latest polls showed Cal’s that back-fired on them, but I will reserve good-guy image ads were working, as he the right to be pissed off that neither opened up a comfortable lead over Tillis. man showed up for my Triad Today Voter But a not-so-funny thing happened on the Education forum last week. way to October.

Thom initially said he couldn’t atNationalFile.com, a conservative tend the Triad Today taping because he website, broke the news that Cal had been would need to stay in D.C. and vote on sexting a PR consultant in California, and, the Judge Barrett confirmation. Then he later, the Associated Press reported that contracted COVID-19, and that kept him the couple even had an intimate encounaway from both the Senate and my TV ter here in the Old North State. Meanwhile show. Cunningham, meanwhile, had given a former campaign worker came forward me his word that he would show up for to say that Cal had been having an affair the Triad Today session, but on the eve of with her best friend since 2012, and that our taping, the scandal-ridden candidate her friend was now angry with Cal for went into hiding, and said he would not his other extra-marital activity. So much be participating. Bottom line? Thom was for the devoted husband routine. And M.I.A. from both his job and Triad Today last week, the military confirmed it was because he hung around with unmasked investigating Cunningham ( a Lt. Col. In Barrett supporters, and Cal was M.I.A. the Army Reserve) because adultery is a because he was afraid to show his face, violation of the Uniform Code of Military and reneged on a promise. Tillis showed a Justice. So much for the honorable soldier lack of judgment. Cunningham showed a routine. The combination of these revelaWWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

lack of character. Postscript, Triad Today went off without a hitch, sans Tillis and Cunningham, and featured conversations with Congressional and Gubernatorial candidates who all kept their word and showed up.

When the campaign for Senate began, Thom and Cal probably thought that the

month of October would springboard them into great heights, and voters in each party thought their guy would make them proud. Oh well, the best laid plans… !

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).

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

7

leisure

8

[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] COMPELLING EXPLANATIONS

In June, Connecticut State Police investigating a December armed robbery outside the Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant in Norwich arrived at the Chuck Shepherd Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville to obtain a DNA sample from Gregory Blue, 38, who first accused police of planting his DNA at the scene of the robbery before telling them “a phlebotomist who took his blood years ago dropped his DNA at the scene via airplane,” according to authorities. Investigators had found blood at the scene of the robbery and on hats the unidentified 45-year-old victim said had been left by the assailant. The Connecticut Post reported the DNA samples matched, according to the arrest warrant, and on Sept. 25, Blue was charged with first-degree robbery and second-degree assault.

Florida, and charged with strong-arm robbery after allegedly stealing a prosthetic leg, according to The Smoking Gun. Police say they were called by the victim after Stothers and Rappa confronted him over a stolen backpack, “and in the course of the fight, a prosthetic leg was taken from the victim.” Court records did not reveal the whereabouts of the leg.

— An aggressive Muscovy duck named Bob in Mansfield, England, has terrorized postman Steve Hinds to the point that Hinds has refused to deliver mail to the duck’s owners until they contain him, The Scottish Sun reported. Hinds told the Sun that on Oct. 3, “The duck started hissing at me and ... it ran me up the path snapping its beak.” The apologetic owners left a Crunchie candy bar as a peace offering for Hinds and a note reading, “He used to be lovely and cuddly. Now he is a vicious sex-maniac! We have fenced him in and hopefully he won’t escape.” But two days later, Bob escaped the fence and came after Hinds again. At press time, the standoff continues.

NEWS THAT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE

ANGER MANAGEMENT

— Larry Stothers, 41, and Jayson Rappa, 31, were arrested on Sept. 26 in Largo,

Justin Anthony Garcia, 30, of Lehigh Acres, Florida, landed in the Lee County

Jail on Sept. 27 on charges of aggravated battery following a heated argument over which is better: whole milk or almond milk, reported Fox 23 News. Deputies of the Lee County Sheriff ’s Office were called to the scene after the disagreement between two cousins escalated from verbal to physical, according to court documents, eventually ending with Garcia drawing a pocketknife and chasing his cousin through the front yard, cutting him on the torso. An uncle intervened and separated the two until deputies arrived, but the arrest complaint does not say which type of milk Garcia prefers.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS

— Three men are on the run in Philadelphia after a botched ATM burglary on Oct. 2, the Associated Press reported. The men entered a Chinese takeout restaurant and ordered food, then set off an explosive device while they waited that damaged an ATM, but they couldn’t remove the cash box inside the machine, police said.

They escaped empty-handed on foot and bicycle, and police are still searching for them.

— Alice Lavern Henry, 47, of Lake Wales, Florida, told a clerk at Griner’s Jewelry in Winter Haven that she had found the ring she brought in to sell while treasurehunting on a beach. The clerk became suspicious when she noticed the ring, valued at more than $1,000, had no damage, and investigators later determined it was part of a collection that had been stolen from the store in a July burglary, according to the Winter Haven Police Department. The Ledger reported that police also learned Henry had visited another jewelry store on several occasions in September, attempting to sell other rings from Griner’s collection. She was arrested Oct. 4 on charges of felony grand theft.

GREAT ART!

Passersby were in awe as 32 tons of raw carrots were dumped from a large truck onto a road running through the University of London campus on Sept. 30. The carrots were an art installation presented as part of the Goldsmiths art college Master of Fine Arts degree show by student Rafael Perez Evans, who titled his work “Grounding” and said it is designed to raise awareness about food waste, United Press International reported. The show ran from Oct. 2-6, and “Rafael has arranged for the carrots to be removed at the end of the exhibition and donated to animals,” a university spokesperson said.

RECENT ALARMING HEADLINES

driving past the closed Rustic Inn bar on the morning of Oct. 7 saw what they thought was a Halloween decoration in the parking lot, WJZ reported. After doubling back, the driver determined it was a dead body, and “the body has suffered some sort of trauma,” said Jennifer Peach of the Baltimore County Police Department. Peach went on to appeal for tips from the public: “We don’t have a lot of information at this point.”

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

— Two young men soliciting residents in Covina, California, for donations for the Covina High School football team ran into a problem when they appeared at the door of a resident who quickly questioned them: “It’s funny you bring that up, because I know for a fact that you guys don’t go to Covina because I teach there ... I’m a football coach.” When neither of the alleged scammers could name the head coach, they left, Fox11 reported on Oct. 7, and the football team tweeted confirmation that the two were not with the program.

— Hotels.com is offering one lucky customer the opportunity to “live under a rock” to escape “election stress disorder” during election week Nov. 2-7, United Press International reports. The accommodations in a manmade cave 50 feet below ground in New Mexico will cost just $5 per night. “Political fatigue is real, regardless of the year or election,” said Josh Belkin, vice president of Hotels.com.

“Who knows what else 2020 has in store for us.”

WAIT, WHAT?

A Japanese buyer with very precise requirements has paid a record $14,000 for a 22-pound traditional Iberian ham, Oddity Central reported. Julio Revilla, president of Sierra Mayor Jabugo, in Corteconcepcion, Spain, said the ham was produced according to the buyer’s strict instructions: It had to come from an Iberian pig at least 2 years old that had grazed on a diet of only acorns and herbs in the mountains of Sierra Mayor for at least 100 days. The pig was slaughtered in 2015 and the ham was then cured for five years — twice the amount of time for a typical premium ham. It was delivered to the buyer in September, who was also awarded with a Guinness World Record certificate. !

© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

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

In White Marsh, Maryland, a person

YES! WEEKLY

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

[KING Crossword]

[weeKly sudoKu]

REVOLUTIONS

ACROSS

1 4 11 16 19 20 21 22 23 26 27 28 29 30 32 36 38 39 41 42 50 54 55 56 57 59 60 62

65 67 68 69 70 72 75 77 78 80 81

Mad crowd Ritchie Valens hit of 1959 Artificial waterway Jacuzzi joint LAX screeners Mining stuff “Ad — per aspera” Formal duds for a dude Some Sufi ascetics Server’s goal Actress Garr Was ahead Julio’s gold “Much obliged” Air-cooling vanes Means of telling time — good clip Writer Capote, to pals Steed feed Firestone products Lots and lots Gotten up Technique: Abbr.

Feel ill Gloomy — mater Wolf down They succeeded audiotapes “Yipes!”

Big lug Ward (off) Alley hisser Ax-wielding lumberjack Dust devils’ cousins Old overlords Lupino of “Jennifer” “Arrow” network Quarterback Dawson Big printer brand

www.yesweekly.cOm

83 86 87 90 91

92 94 96 97 100 103 104 105 110

116 117 118 119 120

121

127 128 129

130 131 132 133 134

Carnival classics Coll. email ender Faint trace Tax “Kidnapped” author’s inits.

Choose Paradisiacal Talk back to Planets, e.g.

Fill-in worker Tyke Pampering, for short Record player parts Kids hold their horses on them Tile design German city It fills la Seine Et — (and others) “Devious Maids” actress Ortiz What 10 of this puzzle’s answers do Beer barrel See 116-Down What’s often decorated for Christmas “— your call” Sooner than, in odes One-of- — (unique) Bleepers of bad words Tofu source

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6

Letters of the weekday Actor Milo Scottish tyke Wee, like Abner Meyers of the screen — Jovi

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 24 25 31 33 34 35 36 37 40

42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 57 58 61 63 64

66 67

Point of view In a self-effacing way Engendered Ireland’s — Lingus Nile capital Professional org.

— degree Soul queen Franklin Beat against, as waves Get up NHL game souvenirs Lines of symmetry Celery piece Loudness knob abbr.

Actor Aziz — Like flimsy excuses Expiated Little dollop Shorten Wallops in the ring Create a new digital image of Small battery type E-address Sci-fi travel facilitators Inedible kind of orange Suffix with 116-Across Answer to “Are you?”

Teases mercilessly Give a thrill Conductor Arturo Film award Jays’ places “Girl Code” channel Dramatist Clifford In — (agitated) Bar none Examined before robbing “— a jealous mistress” “1984” novelist George

70 71 73 74 76 79 82 84 85 86 88 89 93

95

97 98 99 101 102 105 106 107 108 109 111 112 113

114 115 116

118 122 123 124 125 126

LP players of old Plant swelling Earthy hue, to Brits Explorer Hernando Seeded 1940s pres.

Hopi abode Speakers’ platforms Ending for Siam Zeta follower You, in German Many laptops British island in Polynesia Film providing a factual report, for short Tax-filing pro Rd. relatives Piece of mail: Abbr.

Riddle Highest peak in N.Z. Copier stuff Application Martin Van — Bridges of film Rhea relative Moms’ sisters, say Cyst, e.g.

— Island (old immigration point) Give a false story Spacek of “The River” With 128-Across, earn wages Falco of TV DiFranco of song The Rams’ gridiron gp.

— -Magnon Ending for cash Abode: Abbr.

the good guys

Playing the Greatest Music of All Time Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

stream us at wtob980.com

PROUD SPONSOR OF Your Local Music Checkup with Dr. Jon Epstein | Every Monday @ 7pm The Gray Room Session | Every Monday @ 8pm George Hamilton V Piedmont Opry Time | Monthly Show OctOber 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

9

feature

10

‘Inmate Lives Matter?’ Activists, inmates allege that Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center ‘can’t handle COVID’

Katie Murawski

Ian McDowell

Editor

Contributor

*Editor’s note: For fear of retribution, the inmates interviewed in this article have asked to remain anonymous

A

dvocates from the Prisoner Outreach Initiative (POI) and Triad Abolition Project staged a protest march around the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center (FCLEDC) last Friday evening.

Both organizations allege that the detention center and Wellpath, the county’s contracted for-profit health care provider to its incarcerated population, have mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and misrepresented the number of infected inmates.

Judy Lilley, Wellpath’s Vice President of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, responded to last Friday’s protest with the following statement to the Winston-Salem Journal: “Despite the inherent challenges with social distancing in jails, Forsyth County Jail has had zero positive COVID-19 cases reported in the general population and had only three COVID-19 positive cases of new arrestees brought into the jail from the community since this pandemic started. Following the CDC guidelines, all new inmates are quarantined for 14 days, but those who test positive following their day five COVID-19 test, remained in quarantine until they had two negative COVID tests before they were put into the general population.”

Lilley’s statement is disputed by multiple inmates and their advocates, who allege major discrepancies between what actually happens inside the FCLEDC and what is reported to the public. Spokespersons for the North Carolina-based prisoner-advocacy organization told YES! Weekly that, according to their incarcerYES! WEEKLY

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

ated sources, the difference between public statements and reality is particularly alarming when it comes to COVID-19 protocols.

POI was founded in 2018 amidst that year’s nationwide prison strikes, after one of its first contacts inside a Hyde County prison experienced retaliation for striking.

“They got put in the hole, and we really lost a lot of the power,” said POI co-founder Destiny, who asked that her surname not be published. “We realized that if you want to be able to organize, we have to be able to do so locally, and know what’s happened and to be able to have contacts with people inside.”

Co-founder Chris Lutz said another prisoner solidarity group in Durham helped start this organization’s letter-writing campaign, as POI was one of the few such organizations in North Carolina at the time. Lutz said that incarceration not only keeps prisoners confined but restricts their communication with the outside world.

“This makes it hard for us to know what’s going on, especially in jails. In prison, you’re there for a while, so it’s assumed that there’s going to be a lot more visitation, it’s going to be a bit more open.

But in jails, there’s not an assumption that you have to be there for very long, so they don’t give you as much access.”

POI discovered that the system makes correspondence difficult for inmates.

“The biggest barrier to people writing back to us is having money in their commissary to afford envelopes,” explained Lutz, who said that responses take about a week if the inmates reply immediately.

Lutz said that, when news spread that Forsyth County detention officers were testing positive for COVID-19, POI wrote 240 letters to the detention center’s inmates. The letters asked “residents,” as the Sheriff’s Office calls them, about conditions inside the jail and how the staff was responding to the pandemic. The responses they received paint a much less positive picture of those conditions than what is described by either the Sheriff’s Office that runs the detention center or the controversial multinational company that provides its health care.

POI’s allegations In an Aug. 10 email, Lutz wrote YES! Weekly that POI had received multiple reports of incarcerated people in the FCLEDC testing positive for COVID-19, even though none had been included on

the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ list of outbreaks in congregate living settings. Although guards testing positive were listed, Lutz claimed that no inmate cases were reported to the NCDHHS. Lutz also stated that POI received reports that attempts at contact tracing were unsuccessful due to the alleged non-compliance of corrections officers.

“Given the sheriff department’s willingness to cover-up an entire murder for months,” wrote Lutz, referring to the December 2019 death of John Neville, “it seems highly suspicious to us that they report no inmate COVID-19 cases, especially when we have heard evidence of several from people inside. This seems like something that absolutely needs to be reported on the outside to those who may have forgotten that the sheriff’s ‘two disposable masks every two weeks’ policy absolutely will not contain an outbreak in the jail.”

In a Zoom call on Aug. 13, the POI co-founders told YES! Weekly that they received at least 20 response letters, and have been able to talk to several more inmates by phone and text.

“I can definitely tell you,” Lutz said, “from what we’ve heard from people inside, the officers don’t seem to take COVID safety precautions seriously.”

This allegedly included not keeping new inmates properly quarantined.

“Guards would just forget who was in quarantine and let everyone out together.”

POI also allegedly received reports that guards don’t wear masks properly or don’t wear them at all. Lutz said “the best-case scenario” is that inmates receive two disposable masks every two weeks, but alleged a lack of communication between guards and inmates on how to properly use them.

“Some people wrote to us saying [the masks] were white on the outside and blue on the inside, and some wrote saying they were blue on the outside and white on the inside because no one told them this is the way you wear masks.”

Lutz also alleged that POI heard indirectly from the Sheriff’s Office that inmates who test positive for COVID-19 are not reported if they were infected prior to incarceration, rather than inside the jail.

He also alleged that a source told him that many deputies “were really uncooperative in trying to report who was testing positive” and that “it sounded like they were covering things up.”

(YES! Weekly vetted POI’s source and found them to be reliable.)

Lutz said that POI’s incarcerated contacts claimed there was one positive case in July, another in August, adding that “people only know about what’s in their cell block,” as there “are 10 floors and each floor is divided into two wings.”

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, at least two positive cases of COVID-19 must be reported in a congregate living setting before appearing on the department’s list of outbreaks and clusters. On Aug. 4, the FCLEDC was still listed on the COVID-19 Ongoing Outbreaks in Congregate Living Settings list, showing that the FCLEDC had 11 positive cases among staff and zero positive cases among residents. By Aug. 7, the FCLEDC appeared on the previous outbreaks list, where a footnote stated that those outbreaks were considered over. By Aug. 13, the FCLEDC was taken off the list completely.

Inmate testimonials Several inmate letters and grievances provided to YES! Weekly by POI allege that detention officers and medical staff do not take COVID-19 precautions in the FCLEDC seriously, have repeatedly denied inmates’ requests to get tested, and have ignored grievances and sick calls filed by inmates.

Ignored grievances are nothing new, said one inmate, who spoke on the phone to YES! Weekly on Aug. 28. The inmate claimed that, up until a mass testing event in June, they were denied a COVID-19 test and masks, despite having requested both since March. The inmate alleged that the detention center staff had denied their request and similar ones by three other inmates as “frivolous” and “an abuse of the grievance process.”

The inmate also stated that the detention staff confiscated a mask the inmate had made from a T-shirt.

“They took it from me because they said that it was the policy that we, as inmates, could not have masks. They threatened me with disciplinary actions even though I am a diabetic at-risk with underlying health conditions. They kept denying us masks and access to masks because they said the COVID was not in here, and that we were not in danger, and there was no need for a mask.”

As evidence of these claims, the inmate provided YES! Weekly with a statement,

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

A sign held by a protester at a march around the jail during Triad Abolition Project’s 49-day #OccupyWSNC movement signed by a detention officer, that the mask confiscated from the inmate would not be returned, as it was considered “contraband.” The inmate also requested a copy of any policy explaining why a diabetic inmate “who is at a greater risk to contract the coronavirus is not allowed a medical mask.”

The reply to that request, dated May 5, stated: LEDC policy is not for inmates to have. It is for the employees of the LEDEC to use and follow. Therefore, you are not able to receive a copy of the LEDC policy.

The inmate also presented YES! Weekly with what appeared to be multiple requests for a COVID-19 test and for an explanation of medical staff’s alleged refusal to provide them with a mask.

One reply, dated May 6, stated, “if you are having any symptoms of the coronavirus, put in a sick call so that it can be addressed. We have a process in place.

Otherwise, mask is not needed.”

The inmate said that, on June 24, a day before the FCLEDC held a mass-testing event, all “residents” were given two disposable surgical masks each, and that these had to last them for two weeks.

When asked what (if anything) had changed after the mass-testing event, the inmate said, “nothing!”

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

After news broke in June that there were five guards who tested positive, another inmate filed a grievance alleging that staff was lying to them and other inmates about COVID-19. In a typed response dated June 18, the sergeant assigned to the case wrote that, “the LEDC had adhered to all CDC regulations/requirements pertaining to COVID-19 and this facility.”

The sergeant continued by stating that the LEDC had been forthcoming with information regarding COVID-19’s effect on operations, safety, and security, and that “all necessary information for inmate population has been disseminated through the kiosk machine and posted memorandum.”

In a document labeled “Grievance #9,” an inmate stated that they and others inside the jail were receiving inadequate mental health services, inadequate medical services, and poor nutrition. This grievance was marked “rejected” by a detention officer, with the notation that the rejection was due to the inmate having “multiple issues, multiple grievances.”

The Sheriff’s Office has not responded to requests for clarification as to whether, as this inmate claimed, multiple grievances are automatically rejected.

The inmate also provided YES! Weekly

with a copy of a petition signed by 50 residents of the same dormitory within the FCLEDC. The petition is titled “INMATE LIVES MATTER” and was addressed to the Forsyth County Commissioners.

The petition alleged that Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. “failed to uphold his statement” that the FCLEDC has “remained committed to protecting the residents and team members,” and that detention staff are not following the directives outlined in the June 12 media release from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

It also alleged that detention staff was reluctant to wear face coverings and that the sheriff failed to enforce “any type of secure policy to ensure that FCLEDC staff properly wore (or wore at all) a face covering while in close contact with the inmate population.”

A much more recent message to YES! Weekly by an inmate, dated Oct. 3, stated that staff “haven’t given us no new mask in weeks” and “we never get hand sanitizer at all.”

That inmate noted that the last mask they received was over a month ago, although this time, it was made of fabric instead of being disposable. The inmate also said that medical staff were now wearing masks and gloves, but had only

started doing so more consistently only within the past month.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and COVID protocol/ procedures In an Aug. 24 email to YES! Weekly, Wellpath’s Judy Lilley wrote that her organization works to prevent and minimize the spread of COVID-19 and that “we follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and work very closely with local public health authorities.”

Lilley wrote that all staff and visitors have their temperature checked and screened for symptoms before they enter the FCLEDC and that Wellpath provides its staff with proper PPE, including surgical masks, gloves, eyewear, gowns, overalls, covers, N-95 masks, face shields, and headcovers.

“We are currently providing every new intake [with] two masks. The entire medical staff wears his or her mask daily— it’s required.”

When asked if the medical staff teaches inmates how to properly wear masks and educates them on other COVID precautionary/preventative measures, Lilley replied, “yes.”

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

11

12

Lilley’s statement about protocols was contradicted by the inmate interviewed on Aug. 28 by YES! Weekly, who claimed that the following two procedures described in a June 12 media release from the sheriff’s office are “blatantly ignored” by detention center staff: -Detention and contract staff are wearing surgical masks while interacting with the resident population in the Detention Center.

-Newly admitted residents are held in Intake housing for fourteen (14) days before being moved into General Population (as opposed to the normal 72-hour hold).

“From the very beginning, we were told it wasn’t in here, and there was no need to wear masks because the officers had masks,” the inmate said. “But the officers were not wearing masks in March, or April or May. That is how the five became infected, and eventually the 11.”

Through a public record request fulfilled on Sept. 17, YES! Weekly obtained an email sent on July 30 from Betishia McintyreWilliams, Wellpath’s Director of Nursing at the FCLEDC, to Captain Charlene Warren, the center’s Commander of Operational Services, and Wellpath’s Regional Vice President Bill Kissel.

In it, Mcintyre-Williams wrote: As of July 27th, Wellpath has no longer been issuing out masks to Residents in the entire jail. We can, however, issue out masks to our high-risk population. With this being said, is it possible for the Detention Center to provide the Residents with at least 1 mask as they enter Intake?

Warren then emailed Wellpath’s Health Services Administrator Pamela Cane; Health Services Manager Darrin Mitchell; the recently retired Detention Bureau Manager Major Robert Slater; and corrections officers Captain Debra Chenault; Sergeant Lori Wood; Captain Billy Warren; and Lt. Christopher T. Marshall.

In that email, Warren wrote: When Wellpath originally started asking about giving masks to the inmate/resident population the facility had a concern about doing this because we were concerned about how it was going to be sustained.

This was a concern because once you start something it is generally then an expectation to sustain it. We had another meeting on June 16th that included Bill Kissel and it was asked in the meeting if Wellpath could provide the masks to new intakes. Ms. Cane advised that Wellpath could for about 30 days and then Mr. Kissel said he could get more masks. We left that meeting with the understanding that as long as new intakes should be getting masks, that Wellpath could get the masks. Now Wellpath is asking the Detention Center to provide these masks.

Kissel replied on July 31 that Wellpath YES! WEEKLY

October 14-20, 2020

would be able to provide masks for the next three months. YES! Weekly emailed the Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 6, asking which party (after those three months were up on Oct. 31), would be responsible for providing masks.

Millner-Murphy responded the same day by writing, “each resident receives 2 mask, while one is in laundry they use the other...

1,200 more masks have been donated.”

However, she did not address the question of which party would be responsible for providing masks after October.

In a text message on Oct. 9, an inmate responded to this claim with “no, they never come around and ask us do we wanna rewash [the masks].” Another inmate said that they wash their masks by hand in their sink with soap and water themselves because they weren’t given specific instructions on what to do with them.

Testing YES! Weekly also obtained the Memorandum of Understanding for COVID-19 testing between the Forsyth County’s Department of Public Health (FCDPH) and Wellpath— which was signed on July 6 and made effective June 29 of this year through June 20, 2021— after the mass testing event at the jail was held.

According to the document, the agreement could be terminated by either party at any time, and the objective is listed as the detention center “wishes to have new inmate-patients tested for COVID-19 by approximately day 5 of arrival at the detention center.”

The MOU states that the county would be responsible for providing specimen collection devices (to the extent they are available), providing a template for all documents necessary to process tests, processing specimens utilizing the Hologic Panther (to the extent that equipment is properly functioning), notifying Wellpath of all daily results (to the extent that results are available) via fax, and notifying Wellpath if a specimen is determined invalid via a phone call to the Director of Nursing or Charge Nurse.

The MOU noted that Wellpath would not be responsible for the cost of provision of specimen collection devices and the cost of alternative testing resources.

It also states that Wellpath would be responsible for providing the FCDPH a copy of the signed standing medical order for COVID testing, following all manufacturer instructions for collecting and handling specimens, completing in their entirety all templates required by the FCDPH’s laboratory, maintaining all associated patients’ records, providing specimens to the FCDPH’s laboratory within three days, maintaining collection devices

and specimens at room temperature, notifying inmate-patients of test results (including the provision of instructions), notifying FCDPH’s Communicable Disease Section of all positive results, providing notice to FCDPH’s Communicable Disease Section of all positive inmate-patients discharged while infectious, and providing an accounting of any unused collection materials upon request (and if the MOU is terminated).

In an email, Lilley wrote that inmates had been tested at least once, and ones who tested positive “must quarantine for 14 days and have two negative tests to return back to work.” She also wrote that “contact tracing is done by informing our staff and partner that an employee tested positive, as well as signing the COVID notification correspondence.”

“There was a mass testing for the entire building June 25 and June 26,” Lilley continued. “All new intakes are tested on day five and quarantined for 14 days.

Employees are tested upon request unless they have been exposed to someone who is confirmed positive or have been around someone with symptoms.”

According to the June 12 media release, five detention officers tested positive, but there were “still zero (0) confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the residents of the FCLEDC. The results have been negative for every resident who has been tested.”

While the Sheriff’s Office stated that no “residents” tested positive, several inmates have alleged that no testing had been done prior to the mass testing event on June 25.

In an Oct. 6 email, FCSO’s Public Relations Manager LaShanda Millner-Murphy confirmed that inmates were first tested on June 25. However, contrary to the wording in the June 12 and June 24 media releases, Millner-Murphy wrote that no inmate had been tested prior to June 12, which appears to confirm what the inmate alleged above.

In an Aug. 14 email, Public Affairs Officer Christina Howell wrote that, after the mass-testing event occurred, “each newly admitted resident is tested on approximately day five (5) of confinement.

If a staff member exhibits symptoms or has a confirmed exposure, they are to be tested.”

If an inmate starts showing COVID-19 symptoms or is suspected of having it, Howell wrote, the resident is tested, and anyone “who tests positive is placed in quarantine within a predetermined location in the Detention Center under supervision of the contracted medical services provider. We follow the CDC guidelines, in collaboration and conversation with the Health Dept and the FCLEDC, for appropriate response to each individual case.”

Howell included a statement from Wake Forest Baptist’s expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Christopher Ohl, regarding the FCLEDC’s testing procedures.

“The Forsyth County Detention Center has a robust and well thought out testing and quarantine process for all incoming detainees. There will be COVID positive detainees brought into the Detention Center; these cases are identified and isolated appropriately. All new detainees are quarantined for fourteen (14) days as an additional precaution. The Forsyth County Detention Center is being regarded by the Department of Health and Human Services consultants as a model for how to prevent cases and integrate best practices during this pandemic.”

(After multiple attempts, Dr. Ohl could not be reached by YES! Weekly to confirm this or answer follow-up questions. ) Regarding protocols when an inmate tests positive, Lilley wrote: “The confirmed patient is placed in the negative pressure room located within the Special Care Unit. If the patient is asymptomatic, vitals are checked for 72 hours and during the entire stay in the Special Care Unit. The provider assesses the patient to determine if the patient should be released back into his or her room (cell). If it is a new intake, the patient will go back to the intake-housing unit and complete his or her 14 days of quarantine. If the patient has symptoms, vitals are checked every shift for a least 72 hours and/or duration of time in the negative pressure room. The patient is retested on day 7. If the test comes back negative, then the patient is retested two days later.

If the patient’s test comes back positive, the patient is retested five days later. In order to be released into GP, you have to have two negative tests. Contact tracing will be done.”

When asked what the protocol for a COVID-positive inmate’s roommate is, Lilley wrote, “The roommate is tested and quarantined for 14 days.” However, this protocol did not match up with the experience of one inmate interviewed by YES! Weekly.

In a phone call on Sept. 3, the inmate claimed to have been forced to share a cell with a newer inmate who had tested positive. The inmate said that, on Aug. 5, detention staff moved another person (who had just come out of intake) down to their cell. However, the next day, a detention center officer “came up here fully suited up and moved both of us— they moved [the new cellmate] to the Special Care Unit, but they moved me back to intake.”

“I asked them why I was being moved, and they said my roommate had tested positive for COVID-19,” the inmate said.

“I was trying to figure out why they had

www.yesweekly.comw

An inmate spells “THANK U” on the window of their cell to the protesters marching around the jail during #OccupyWSNC

moved [them] to the regular population, without doing the proper procedure— like making sure [they] were negative when they came up here.”

The inmate claimed that detention center staff put them in the same cell block that their COVID-positive cellmate came from in intake isolation for only eight days.

“Intake is a 15-day process, and they had moved [them] from there to the room with me. While I was at intake, there wasn’t a nurse or nobody that checked my symptoms or nothing— I had to put in a request form to get tested.”

The inmate alleged being isolated for eight days and tested on the seventh, with the results coming back negative.

“They moved me back to the general population— just did that one test,” they said. “I really had to file a grievance against the jail to get any kind of help— they aren’t going by any kind of protocol or procedures.”

In an Aug. 14 email, Howell stated that, per the health department, only one inmate had tested positive for COVID-19.

According to an email on Oct. 7, Assistant Public Health Director Tony Lo Giudice wrote that there were currently zero cases at the detention center.

Contact tracing In an email on Aug. 14, Howell wrote that Wellpath reports positive cases to the health department, who then “investigates and reports to the State.” She wrote that the health department is responsible for ensuring that proper reporting occurs and that the health department was in charge of the FCLEDC’s testing and reporting.

“We met with our contracted medical services provider and the Health Dept in March to create procedures for handling positive cases within the Detention Center; the plans have been adjusted WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

appropriately as the pandemic has progressed,” Howell wrote. “A resident who tests positive is placed in quarantine within a predetermined location in the Detention Center under supervision of the contracted medical services provider. We follow the CDC guidelines, in collaboration and conversation with the Health Dept and the contracted medical services provider, for appropriate response to each individual case.”

Lilley stated in the Aug. 24 email that Wellpath was responsible for reporting COVID cases to the health department, who then investigates and reports the cases to the NCDHHS. “The Health Dept is responsible for ensuring proper reporting occurs; the Health Dept is in charge of both testing and reporting.”

YES! Weekly asked both Howell and Lilley, “if a resident has COVID upon entering the detention center, are those cases reported to the NCDHHS, or are the only cases reported those already within the jail?”

However, Howell did not respond directly to the question, and Lilley’s response was not entirely clear: “Yes, they are reported to the Health Dept, who reports to the state appropriately.”

When asked for clarification on contact tracing in an Oct. 3 email, Lilley did not respond.

On Aug. 20, YES! Weekly called the FCDPH and asked the assistant public health director if contact investigators/ tracers had been able to conduct an investigation process with anyone who tested positive inside the FCLEDC. Lo Giudice replied, “I honestly don’t know, I do not have that information.”

Joshua Swift, executive director of the FCDPH, explained the contact tracing procedure in an email on Oct. 7. Swift wrote that the Sheriff’s Office collaborates with

the health department on contact tracing by “helping identify those in the holding area or other areas of the detention center where individuals may be deemed as close contacts of positive cases, so they can be quarantined properly at the facility.

“Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office notifies us whether close contacts or a person that tested positive are still present in the detention center or have been released, so the contact tracer knows whether to connect with the individual at the detention center or their phone/address on record.

Then the medical vendor at the detention center also assists with contact tracing by asking contact tracing screening questions to pass along to health departments if they are working with a positive case.”

However, the inmate who alleged their roommate had tested positive, told YES! Weekly that there was no form of contract tracing, and no social distancing in the jail.

“I was kind of worried because I am already suffering from a health issue,” the inmate said, referring to a brain injury they received from a gunshot wound. “It made me really nervous that I even had a roommate or really been around anybody.”

Another inmate said, when they were recently put in quarantine, about a week ago, contact tracers did not interview them either. The inmate also alleged on Oct. 9 that there were seven others in quarantine with them right now due to exposure at the Forsyth County Hall of Justice. On Oct. 7, Clerk of Superior Court Renita Thompkins Linville sent a media release out stating that five employees had recently tested positive for COVID-19 at the Hall of Justice.

There have been 14 deaths inside the FCLEDC in the last 10 years. Marsha McLeod’s Sept. 12, 2019, article in The Atlantic, “Private Equity’s Grip on Jail Health Care,” describes both the detention center and its health care provider’s controversial

history in thorough detail.In it, McLeod quoted Kimbrough, who had originally campaigned on ending the jail’s contract with Wellpath, as conceding that this was easier said than done.

“If you’re the only dance in town, you can pretty much call your own shots,” Kimbrough told McLeod, referring to Wellpath’s alleged near-monopoly on the area’s prison health care industry.

And that was before COVID-19.

Forsyth County’s $4,263,236 contract with Wellpath was renewed by the Board of County Commissioners on May 21 of this year, beginning on Sept. 1 and ending on Aug. 31, 2023. The renewed contract increased the cost of the previous one, which was approved in 2017 and expired on Aug. 31, by 3%. At last Friday’s march, POI issued the following demands for the incarcerated people within the FCLEDC: Seven masks for seven days, regular testing for all people in the jail, free phone calls and free postage, release of those atrisk and low-level offenders, and end the contract with Wellpath.

In a statement accompanying those demands, Lutz wrote that “Wellpath has shown consistent negligence in its treatment of people incarcerated in the jail, leading to several deaths, and must be replaced with a county or state-run service that can be held accountable to the people whose families are incarcerated here.” !

KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor-in-chief of YES! Weekly.

Her alter egos include The Grimberlyn Reaper, skater/ public relations board chair for Greensboro Roller Derby, and Roy Fahrenheit, drag entertainer and self-proclaimed King of Glamp.

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.

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

13

tunes

14

HEAR IT!

Get out, drive in: The Drive launches drive-in concert series

T

he Marcus King Trio kicks off a new drive-in concert series at The Drive at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds on Oct. 23.

The Drive, a pop-up drive-in Katei Cranford initially planned for a summer-stint on the Winston-Salem Contributor Fairgrounds midway, will continue rolling through the fall, capping its movie season with horror flicks through Halloween, and hosting a concert series running weekends through November.

“We hope to continue serving our community at The Drive,” said operator Chris King, head of Focus Event Group (a sister-company to event-planners at Focus Incentives), formed in May to focus on event-planning in pandemic conditions.

Health and safety remain top priorities as King moves from movies to concerts, staying active in industries currently flatlined by coronavirus.

The inaugural act is the Marcus King Trio, the latest incarnation of the Marcus King Band, centered around the 24-year old Americana guitar phenom from Greenville, South Carolina. “We’re not related,” King noted of their matching surnames, “but I’ve worked with Marcus through the Tedeschi Trucks Band extended family.

He’s a great up-and-coming artist.”

Though King’s pre-pandemic specialty revolved more around corporate events and travel accommodations, he spent nearly 10 years in the entertainment industry, tour-managing Derek Trucks and the Tedeschi Trucks band from 2008-2015. His experience in events and entertainment became the catalyst for The Drive itself, so it’s natural to find him back in the concert saddle.

And in that saddle, safe accommodations are key. Parking spots are spaced 6 to 8 feet apart. Concessions, including beer and wine, are ordered by mobileapp and delivered to vehicles, carhopstyle. Ticketing is digital and touch-free, with pricing set at four-tiers of general admission. For the Marcus King Trio, entry ranges from $100-$275 per vehicle, with a five-passenger maximum.

“It’d be hard to find a safer situation or location to enjoy live music,“ King noted.

“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need YES! WEEKLY

OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

a drive-in to deliver music,” he added of issues facing the live-event industry, which remains essentially frozen for the foreseeable future. Concerning his own timeline, King intends the Drive to run again in 2021, “but there’s no doubt that events like drive-in concerts will have an expiration date,” he insisted. “Drive-in concerts are a tiny bandage trying to cover a gaping wound in the live entertainment world.”

Acknowledging the temporary nature of what boils down to a band-aid cottage industry, King is happy to provide an outlet for live music— and get a few industry professionals back to work in the meantime.

“Many of these folks have seen extended unemployment in 2020, so they’re excited to return working safely,“ he said of local entertainment professionals hired to help manage the shows.

As for booking, King understands the drive-in environment doesn’t work across the board.

“I’d love to bring my friends in the Tedeschi Trucks Band to the Drive,” he said of ideal acts, “but I’m not sure that a drive-in is the right call for all artists right now.

Many of the bigger bands will wait until major venues open again, which, hopefully, we’ll start seeing by summer.”

The setting fosters an audience for national touring artists, a tier sandwiched between major arena-acts, like Garth Brooks or Metallica (who’ve embraced drive-ins through pay-per-view), and locals, for whom production costs are too steep to host.

While COVID-19 protocols keep the line-up tight with no live-openers or local spots, smaller groups aren’t entirely shutout, as the Drive intends to screen pre-shows featuring episodes of Special Event Services’ “Gray Room Sessions,” a web series of local artists filmed in Winston-Salem.

Local backing remains essential to King and his crew.

“Mayor Joines played an active role in

helping to bring these live events to the fairgrounds, and we greatly appreciate his support,” King said, acknowledging the support bestowed by Winstoners, “from top to bottom.”

And with that support, The Drive keeps rolling; its movie season will run Halloween horror features through October (with a special Hocus Pocus screening on Oct. 16 benefitting the American Cancer Society).

The concert series will continue with Big Something on Nov. 6, a St. Jude benefit show with Parmalee, presented by Q104.1 FM on Nov. 7; and Saint Paul and the Broken Bones on Nov. 21.

The Drive will close to the general public for winter following the concerts and plan to be back with flicks and tunes in 2021. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd and avowed drive-in mutant who hosts the Triad Report, a radio show dedicated to artists and events, Thurs. 5:30-7 on WUAG 103.1 FM.

WANNA

go?

But first, the Marcus King Trio graces the stage as the concert series kicks off, Oct. 23, at The Drive at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds. To get tickets, visit the website www.ticketmaster.com/marcus-kingtrio-winstonsalem-north-carolina-10-23-2020/ event/2D00593DC27E16EF

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

last call

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

GO WITH THE WHOA

Whenever I go out with someone I like at all, I fall for them right away. How can I stop from jumping headfirst into wanting to be with a guy just because we have a nice evening together? I know some witty banter doesn’t equal a soul mate, but good luck telling my heart. —Leap First

Amy Alkon

Advice Goddess

If your grandma was like mine, her advice was to find “the one” — as opposed to “the anyone.”

There’s a term for your “Speed Racer” approach to getting into relationships, and it’s “emophilia.” Emophilia is the “tendency to fall in love fast and often,” explains psychologist Daniel Nelson Jones, who coined the term (perhaps not noticing that “emophilia” sounds like the Cockney version of a blood-clotting disorder).

Emophiliacs aren’t the only ones who dive into “I’m in love.” People who are “anxiously attached” — those who lack emotional security in respect to their interpersonal relationships — are also leap first-ers. However, research by psychologist Jacqueline Lechuga and Jones finds that the motivation is different in anxious attachment versus emophilia: For the anxiously attached, it’s the avoidance of being alone as opposed to the excitement of being in love (in emophilia).

Emophiliacs aren’t without standards; for example: “A man needs a pulse. At least a weak one.” But Lechuga and Jones found that emophiliacs are often especially attracted to flashy, charismatic manipulators with the antisocial funpack of “Dark Triad” personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism.

Machiavellianism reflects callous selfinterest: deceiving and exploiting others for one’s own gain. Psychopathy involves impulsivity, selfishness, remorselessness, and a lack of empathy. And narcissism, of course, involves being egotistical, entitled, and lacking in empathy, with an inflated sense of one’s own greatness.

It’s hard even for people who aren’t emophiliacs to see the Dark Triad traits behind the charisma storm — well, at least until they notice their life savings have grown digital wings and flown off to the Grand Caymans. It’ll likely be impossible for you to spot a charismatic creep’s ethical shortcomings when your eyes are doing that flashing cartoon heart thing at 1,000 rpm. The same goes for relationship deal-breakers with less sociopathic suitors that you’re blinded to at first but that eventually reveal themselves — maybe after you’ve been “all in” for months or more.

You may have work to do in the self-acceptance department and related areas, but you don’t have to be all psychologically “fixed” to behave in healthy ways.

Just understand that your emotions will likely be your sabotage staff, not your support staff. That’s okay because, as I write in “Unf*ckology,” “Your feelings are not the boss of you.” Because you have a feeling, a longing to do something,

answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

[WEEKLY SUDOKU] sudoku on page 9

doesn’t mean you should let it drag you down Emo Lane.

What you can control are your actions, especially through “precommitment,” psychologists’ term for making advance preparation to limit your ability to duck your goal in the heat of the moment. To slow down and get to know a guy, change the length of your dates from marathon to mini: dates as hors d’oeuvres rather than three-day banquets. In this column, I often advise keeping first dates “cheap, short, and local.” This keeps them from leading to big outlays of cash, effort, or premature feelings of being perfect for each other.

The essential bit of that for you is “short.” Schedule dates for a limited time — an hour or hour-and-a-half at most — and have someplace to be afterward.

And, so you can’t throw that plan over in the moment, have a friend pick you up at your date to take you somewhere else.

By the way, this could very well be your couch, which you sit on with said friend, giving yourself props for changing your emo-maniac ways.

Your second date should be a week later (and so on), with minimal talk on

the phone or texting with the guy in between. For times when you do chat on the phone, again dip into the precommitment well by setting a silent timer (for, say, 20 minutes) and getting off when it hits zero. Ration the number of texts you can send per day and calls you can take per week, and have a friend monitor you on all of this to keep you from cheating.

Because habits are created on a neural level through repetition of behavior, in time, if you keep repeating your more measured dating MO, it should become your default behavior. As a bonus, the “slow-it-down” steps I’ve laid out will make you seem a little out of reach to a guy, amping up your desirability. Slowing it down is also better on a personal safety level than falling fast for your idea of a person, which is how a number of people have ended up not just going on dates but being dismembered and eaten on them. !

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.

Prepare for power outages with a Generac home standby generator SCHEDULE YOUR FREE IN-HOME ASSESSMENT TODAY!

336-900-2757

FREE

7-Year Extended Warranty* A $695 Value!

Offer valid August 24, 2020 - December 31, 2020

Special Financing Available Subject to Credit Approval

*Terms & Conditions Apply OCTOBER 14-20, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

15

Req's separate subscription/login for HBO Max,

SAY HELLO TO Watch your favorite entertainment in one place.

Plus,

included for a year.

CHOICE™ PACKAGE

64

$

99 MO.

For 12 mos. plus taxes & Regional Sports Fee.

• Stream on your phone, tablet and TV - anytime, anywhere.

Available only in the U.S. (excl. Puerto Rico & U.S.V.I.). Req’s compatible device & data connection. Limited to 3 concurrent streams.

• Access HBO Max, Netflix and more on Google Play.

Req's separate subscription/login for HBO Max, Netflix. Google login required. Google is a trademark of Google LLC.

HBO Max Offer: Access HBO Max only through HBO Max app or hbomax.com. HBO Max also includes HBO channels and HBO On Demand on AT&T TV. Data rates may apply for app download/usage.

AT&T TV: *$19.95 ACTIVATION, EARLY TERMINATION FEE ($15/MO.) FOR TV FOR EACH MONTH REMAINING ON AGMT., EQUIPMENT NON-RETURN & ADD’L FEES APPLY. Price incl. CHOICE AT&T TV Pkg. 1 AT&T TV device included for well-qualified customers; otherwise $120. New residential customers only, excluding DIRECTV and U-verse TV customers. Restr’s apply.

Get AT&T TV Today!

1-336-962-2615 AT&T TV: AT&T TV requires high speed internet. Recommend minimum 24 Mbps for optimal viewing (min 8 Mbps per stream). Limit 3 concurrent AT&T streams.

CHOICE: Ends 11/7/20. 1st & 2nd year Pricing: $64.99 for first 12 mos. only. After 12 mos. or loss of eligibility, then prevailing rate applies $110/mo. for CHOICE Pkg, unless cancelled or changed prior to end of the promo period. Includes: CHOICE Pkg. Req’s 1 AT&T TV device, included for well qualified customers; otherwise $120. Add’l devices avail for $120 each or on installment; non-qualified customers must purchase additional devices up front. Additional Fees & Taxes: Price excludes Regional Sports Fee of up to $8.49/mo. (which is extra & applies to CHOICE and higher Pkgs), and certain other add’l fees & charges. AT&T TV: Subject to AT&T TV terms and conditions. Avail. in the U.S. only (excludes Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). AT&T TV service will continue monthly at the prevailing rate charged to your payment method on file, unless you cancel, subject to any early termination fees. If you cancel in the first 14 days of order, you must return the included AT&T TV device within 14 days of order to avoid $120 non-return fee. Additional devices purchased on installment agreement subject to additional terms and conditions. See cancellation policy at att.com/help/cancellation-policy-att-tv.html for more details. Once you’ve canceled, you can access AT&T TV through the remaining monthly period. No refunds or credits for any partial-month periods or unwatched content. Compatible device req’d. Residential customers only. Pricing, channels, features, and terms subject to change & may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. Some offers may not be available through all channels and in select areas. Regional Sports & Local Channels: Not available in select areas. Channels vary by package & billing region. Device may need to be in billing region in order to view. GENERAL: Limit 3 concurrent streams per account. Programming subject to blackout restrictions. Taxes may apply. See your Order Confirmation email and att.com/legal/att-tv.html for more details. HBO Max: Access HBO Max through HBO Max app or hbomax.com with your AT&T log-in credentials. Compatible device or browser required. Use of HBO Max is subject to its own terms and conditions, see hbomax.com/terms-of-use for details. Programming and content subj. to change. Upon cancellation of your video service you may lose access to HBO Max. Limits: Access to one HBO Max account per AT&T account holder. May not be stackable w/other offers, credits or discounts. To learn more, visit att.com/hbomax. HBO Max is only accessible in the U.S. and certain U.S. territories where a high-speed broadband connection is available. Minimum 3G connection is requiredfor viewing on mobile devices. HBO Max is used under license. Offers may not be combined with other promotional offers on the same services and may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. Other conditions apply to all offers. ©2020 AT&T Intellectual Property. AT&T and the Globe logo are registered trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property. All other marksare the property of their respective owners.