To my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters

To my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, do not despair. Our hearts may be heavy this morning, burdened with the possibility that our neighbors may carve into stone prejudices against you and there may be the temptation to throw up our hands, helpless that we were born a decade or two too early, but let us not give up until we have given it our all.

There are people among us who are simply not bothered by their bigotry and never will be. They will not give any thought to the reasonableness of their desires to codify into law the permanent consignment of gay people to second class status—it is in their gut and that is enough. They are not the key to our success.

Between now and the vote in May, let us thoughtfully and respectfully make a heartfelt appeal to our friends and family who we know to be goodhearted but who may not yet appreciate the importance of their vote on this matter.

To them, let us make an appeal of fairness and remind them that this amendment doesn't just define marriage as the domain of straight people, it says that straight marriage will always and forever be the only kind of domestic union in North Carolina, for gay or straight people. No civil unions, no domestic partnerships. It locks down the status quo leaving no room for anything new.

So kindly turn to that aunt who loves you but thinks marriage is between a man and a woman. Make sure she understands this amendment goes far beyond protecting her beliefs and into the realm of denying you equal participation in society. You have to do this. You cannot just read and nod in agreement. Sometime between now and the vote, you have to actually have these conversations. They may be unlike any conversations you've ever had before, they may be uncomfortable at first, but you, we, have to do this.

Don't stop with your aunt. Have the same conversation with that conservative golf buddy who has a libertarian streak, the Palin-loving coworker who laughs at your jokes, the neighbor who voted for McCain and admires your garden. Anywhere you have a good connection with people who might be inclined to support this amendment simply through inertia, bring this to a personal level for them. Make sure they know exactly what the amendment would do—no civil unions, no domestic partnerships, ever. Ask them to consider if this is fair for you, if they want to assist in cutting you off from the same rights and obligations available to straight people. Then ask them to please vote.

So do this. I will too. It won't be easy, but do it until you have exhausted all of the open-minded friends and family you can think of and we might just have a chance.

And one other thing, like any human, there are limits to my empathy and comprehension of what it is like to be gay today, and I'm not scolding, not telling you what to do, I may not understand, but if you are a gay or lesbian elected official who remains in the closet while your constituency works to subjugate people like you: Why? 

Wait, what?

In their lawsuit on behalf of Gate City Waste Services seeking to enjoin Nancy Vaughan from voting on the waste disposal contract, attorneys from Kirkpatrick, Townsend & Stockton spend fifteen pages trying to make the case for why Vaughan has a financial interest in the outcome of Council's decision.

Then they ask the court not to require the plantiff's to put up security monies because, well, Vaughan has no financial interest.

Plaintiff requests that the Court dispense with any security requirement because the restraint requested herein by Plaintiff will cause Defendant Vaughan no material damage.

"This is not a debate over the vendor"—more Gate City contradictions

More contradictions from that full page ad by Gate City Waste Services offering us "The Truth About the White Street Landfill." Previously...

• Gate City said they were the lowest bidder? Not so truthful.
• Gate City said the process was legal and responsible. They've changed their mind...

...and now this from Gate City's lawsuit today:

[The] Council is holding a public hearing on September 20, 2011, on the very question of whether to make an award to Gate City. Members of the public are free to urge the council at that hearing to make the award to Waste Industries instead of Gate City, and the Council may still elect to do so.

Hold the phone. That is the exact opposite of what Gate City told the public in "The Truth About the White Street Landfill" ad:

The final step in the due process will be a public hearing on September 20. THIS IS NOT A DEBATE OVER THE VENDOR. [Emphasis and capitalization in the original.]

I don't understand. The ad promised us what Gate City was saying was the truth. It was a full page and everything...

More trash company propaganda contradictions

GREENSBORO, NC -- Yesterday, I wrote about a conflict with the facts in the full-page "Truth about the White Street Landfill" ad by would-be municipal trash contractor Gate City Waste Services. They claimed they were the lowest bidder. They weren't in any meaningful sense.

Another "truth" from the ad now comes into question. This by Gate City's own self-contradictions. From the ad: 

The process has been legal, responsible and extremely thorough.

Today, Gate City apparently has changed their minds and filed suit against the city over the legality of the process.

UPDATE: Here is a copy of the lawsuit.

Councilman Thompson defends trash company ad

GREENSBORO, NC -- Greensboro city council representative at-large Danny Thompson called to talk about yesterday's post "Would-be trash contractor misleads public with propaganda." He wanted to explain the justification for Gate City Waste Service making the claim in their full-page Rhinoceros Times ad that they were the lowest bidder for Greensboro's trash contract—a claim I found contradictory to the record.

As this blogger wrote, the Rhino Times and the independent engineering consultant hired by the City to evaluate the bidders' proposals both said Gate City Waste Service's bid was not the lowest bid, contrary to what Gate City said in their ad:

The Gate City response IS THE LOWEST bid received by the City for their waste. [Emphasis in original.]

Every bid included price components for various amounts and types of trash, allowing each bid to be evaluated under different scenarios. Thompson told me that we need to look at the line item in Gate City's bid that represents the cost for, what he called, "city-owned" waste. Although the term is not found in the independent engineering firm's evaluation of the bids or the City's request for proposal, Thompson defined "city-owned" waste as the minimum trash Greensboro is obligated to collect—the green residential cans, he said. No apartment dumpsters, no businesses. This amount of trash is, according to Thompson, 6,000 tons per month and Gate City's rate for the disposal of municipal solid waste in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 tons per month was the lowest.

 

So what Thompson is saying is that if you look at one of the pricing components of the Gate City bid, it is the lowest among all bidders for that component. But this line item is a single cost component of the entire bid and, when looking at the entire costs, Gate City is not the lowest.

The independent engineer evaluated the proposals by two cost scenarios, the first for disposing of all municipal solid waste (and all construction and demolition debris); the second for just city-collected municipal solid waste (and all construction and demolition debris). Under both of these scenarios, Advanced Disposal had the lowest cost, not Gate City and it was by this evaluation that City Council chose Gate City—although, one may legitimately wonder why the lowest qualified bidder wasn't chosen.

Would-be trash contractor misleads public with propaganda

GREENSBORO, NC --- Gate City Waste Service, LLC really wants to secure a contact to dispose of Greensboro's garbage in a reopened White Street Landfill. When the contract seemed in jeopardy because councilperson Nancy Vaughan's previously recused vote was put back into play by a decision from the city attorney, Gate City took steps to manipulate the process by adding items to their proposal that would likely, once again, prohibit Vaughan from voting, probably ensuring a city council 4-to-3-with-2-abstaining majority in favor of Gate City (barring lawsuits).

But Gate City wants us to know it has all been on the up and up and just to make sure we, the sheep, know it, Gate City took out a full page ad in the Rhino Times offering "THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WHITE STREET LANDFILL."

One of the "truths" offered in the ad is this:

The Gate City response IS THE LOWEST bid received by the City for their waste. [Emphasis in original.]

According the the Rhinoceros Times and the independent firm hired to evaluate all proposals, that is not true. Another bidder offered the lowest net cost.

From the independent evaluation of all proposals:

BREAKING: UNIDENTIFIED DOG BEATER RUNNING FOR MAYOR

BREAKING :-) BREAKING :-) BREAKING :-)

GREENSBORO, NC -- Local blogger Joe Guarino, Greensboro's Matt Drudge, has revealed that a candidate for mayor, whom Guarino did not identify, was seen beating his dog in public. This has been confirmed by this blogger.

The candidate in question was walking his dog at Country Park, when Moocher slipped her collar and took off after a goose. The candidate, despondent from unspecified immoral acts, was slow to react and Moocher had the goose by her neck in no time flat. The candidate roused himself from memories of raindrops and kittens and sprang into action, calling to the dog. Nearby picnickers thought he was yelling at them.

The candidate ran towards Moocher and in the general direction of the picnic shelter, waving the leash overhead like a lasso and yelling "Moocher! Moocher! Let go of the bird, girl."

Mistaking him for a rabid Michal Savage fan (weeknights locally 101.1 FM) and thinking the candidate was yelling at his wife, one of the picnickers met the running candidate with a stand-up block right under his, I'm told, manly chin.

The candidate went flying, landing on the geese poop—greased grass, sliding towards the water's edge and the dogged goose. The picnicker was in pursuit. The goose was on its last breath. Time was of the essence.

In an act of pure communicative efficiency of the kind justified by centuries of tradition and sanctified by God himself, man took dominion over beast and a swift lash was delivered across Moocher's flank. This elicited an immediate howl which precipitated the goose who plopped to the ground motionless.

The picnicker was closing in. Thirty yards. Twenty. Thighs rippling, chest heaving.

With the precision and accuracy of a Kung Foo master, the candidate karate chopped the collar onto Moocher, grabbed the goose and ran towards the Natural Science Center, Moocher happily leading the way. The picnicker pulled up short, reluctant to keep his melting Gnam Gnam waiting.

At the Science Center, curators and junior curators attempted to revive the goose. Valiant efforts were made, the pictures of which will surely soon surface as some freakout over girl-on-goose in taxpayer supported facilities.

That is all this blogger can confirm at this time. I'm trying to track down the goose. I heard it ended up as a most delicious special at Nico's, but that is unconfirmed.

Comparison of suspensions by race in Guilford County Schools

GREENSBORO, NC -- This is one of the most valuable things a reporter can do, in my humble opinion: find out what empirical data can tell us about a matter of public interest.

The News & Record's Morgan Josey Glover digs through suspension data to make an "apples to apples comparison" of suspension rates by race in Guilford County Schools.

City: "Lack of integrity shown by WFMY reporters"

GREENSBORO, NC -- Greensboro city officials met recently with the general manager and news staff of WFMY over WFMY's reporting practices, expressing the City's displeasure with "storylines designed to portray the City in a negative manner" and "the lack of integrity shown by WFMY reporters in their news gathering tactics." [Hyperlink added]

Apparently, the meeting went well enough to allow the City to restore WFMY's access to city employees. Here is an email from the assistant city manager to City department heads.

WFMY photo fun

From reader Hugh:

Ever notice how WFMY's site hypes stories with sensational photos?  Today's [9/5/11] example, Front page headline:

"Hatteras Island Residents Given OK To Return Home" is illustrated with a photo of Hatteras Lighthouse with the the surf menacingly close.  I guess it's irrelevant to their readers that the lighthouse was moved 1/2 mile inland 12 years ago.

He's right:

Makes my head hurt

This News & Record article by Donald Patterson is describing some kind of job changes at Timco, the airplane maintenance company at the airport. Patterson describes positions coming and going and moving around, some now, some later. I think the bottom line is that 50 jobs are leaving the Greensboro location, but it's not really clear.

David Crawford adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

David Crawford, candidate for Greensboro city council district 5, has added his profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.

Better late than never, praise of GPD

My regular reader will recall that I had a lawnmower stolen last year. I did not go into much detail because I did not want to jeopardize any police work or subsequent prosecution. I'm no longer waiting.

The Greensboro police did an outstanding job. One might expect that a stolen lawnmower would not get serious attention—bigger fish and all that. That was not the case in my situation. Here's what went down.

I caught the thieves in the act, as they were loading my lawnmower into their car at the street. They ignored my shouts to stop, but I got a vehicle description, license plate number and a general description of the offenders, all of that relayed to the dispatcher at 911. Within a short while, Police Officer Donaldson came to my home to take a report. He was professional and thorough. A sheriff's deputy was dispatched to the residence of the person to whom the car was registered. A mother. Son not home. I thought that might be the end of it.

But my skepticism was unwarranted. My case was assigned to Detective Sears who took the initiative to check items sold to local pawn shops. She found a lawnmower pawned the day of the theft of the brand and size stolen from me.. I described to her its appearance as best I could recall, reminded—because it always hurt my hand when I had to adjust it—that the rubber pad of one of the wheel height adjusters was missing. Detective Sears went to the pawn shop, took a picture of my lawnmower and emailed it to me for confirmation. I circled the missing part and emailed it back to her.

 

I eventually heard from the D.A., a grand jury had indicted the guy—larceny, possession of stolen property and, because he sold it, obtaining property by false pretense. It must have helped that the thief provided his actual drivers license as I.D. when selling my mower. I also heard again from the G.P.D.—I could pick up my retrieved lawnmower.

The last I heard from the D.A. was to complete a victim impact statement. I don't know the final disposition of the matter, but I do know that the employees of the Greensboro Police Department who handled this, mostly Detective Sears, did a great job. They tracked down my property, retrieved it, identified the suspect and got an indictment—a job well done and the community well served. Kudos and thanks.

Nancy Vaughan adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

Nancy Vaughan, candidate for Greensboro city council at-large, has added her profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.

Proof positive Rush Radio 94.5's new morning team thinks you are goobers

Hey shmucks, there's a new morning radio show for you. It's KC and Carmen on Rush Radio 94.5. On their blog they posted a photo with the title "Hurricane Irene: ‘Photo’ Of Shark Swimming In Street...." 

What did the ellipses replace?

"Is fake."

But you are a gullible idiot who will fall for anything.

Screenshot of the K.C. and Carmen page 8/29/11

T. Dianne Bellamy-Small adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, candidate for Greensboro city council district 1, has added her profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.

Rush Radio 94.5 achieves the impossible

Greensboro, NC -- "We'd have to kill off fifty percent of the population," shrieked the voice over the car radio as she prattled on about her prescription for a self-sufficient United States—her screeching, nasal whine more familiar as a burger joint drive-through worker than a professional radio talker. Intelligence to match.

It seemed impossible that Rush Radio 94.5 could get any worse in the morning than the departed Bill and Pam, but they did it with replacement "Dimitri." Boringly one-dimensional in his devotion to affected outrage, surely he had to be the bottom of the barrel. Not so. As it turns out there is a depth of radio show insipidity heretofore unimaginable even to this cynic, and Rush Radio 94.5 has managed to bring it to our market in the form of K.C. and Carmen.

Mining the same barren ditch that has failed them since their entry into this market, Rush Radio management is obviously of the opinion that the problem with the previous two-in-a-year morning shows was that they just did not detach completely from reality, did not concoct enough bombastic controversy; did not insult listeners' intelligence with enough insolence. We are morons in the Triad, we just don't know how dim we are, yet, but K.C. and Carmen have arrived to drag us to the nadir of base ignorance—or so they think. Another six months and they'll be gone too, replaced by some other version of ignorance celebrated—if the bamboozled advertisers haven't wised up.

Jean Brown adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

Jean Brown, candidate for Greensboro city council at-large, has added her profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.

Danny Thompson adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

Danny Thompson, candidate for Greensboro city council at-large, has added his profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.

Sal Leone adds profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com

Sal Leone, candidate for Greensboro city council at-large, has added his profile to GreensboroCouncilCandidates.com.