Best worst slogan ever

GREENSBORO, NC -- As seen on the side of a car for hire:

Unique Transportation

"Integrity is in the name."

At first I thought, that is the stupidest slogan ever, but then I realized, I'm remembering them.

"A day popular with the gay community."

GREENSBORO, NC -- From a News & Record story, via Dang:

"Another time, the response says, police intimidated patrons on a day popular with the gay community."

What day is that? Saturday? Groundhogs Day? Christmas?

I cannot bear to read the News & Record anymore because I find it frustrating to consistently come away from their stories with more questions than answers.

News & Record removes comment commenting on comments

GREENSBORO, NC -- From Liv, at Greensboring.com:

"This morning, I bit the bullet and logged into my Facebook EXCLUSIVELY to leave one comment, explaining that I won't comment on their site any more until they re-consider and provide a local login option. THAT comment has since been deleted.

"They will have to live without me for a very long time after that.

"Bastards."

A kernel of corn: WFMY does journalism

GREENSBORO, NC -- Kudos to Benjamin Brisco at WFMY. His investigation into the results of Guilford County Schools installing cameras on school buses is the kind of fact-based, serious and relevant reporting we could use more of from WFMY.

City of Greensboro hoodwinks WFMY: 451 - 4 = 459

GREENSBORO, NC -- Poor WFMY, will they ever learn? The job of journalists/former cheerleaders is not to simply regurgitate the pronouncements of authorities. Even if they don't get how detrimental that is to a democracy — to present self-interested unchecked assertions of the government as having the stamp of approval of the "journalist"— you'd think the embarrassment factor would be enough to compel them not to be tools.

Regarding the proposed City of Greensboro budget, WFMY's Carrie Hodgin reported this:

"City Manager, Denise Turner Routh [sic], presented her first [sic] budget to City Council members Tuesday night. The proposed budget is $459 million. It comes with $4.3 million in cuts across the board."

Actually, there are some cuts and some increases and the proposed budget is, in empirical documented reality, nearly $8 million MORE than last year.

City of Greensboro 2012-13 adopted budget

The proposed $459 million budget does not represent a cut of $4.3 million, it reflects an INCREASE of nearly $8 million

I don't know what reason the City of Greensboro would have for misrepresenting the facts to the people of Greensboro but just as curious is why WFMY didn't vet the information for themselves before reporting it as fact.

Give me a D!

Give me a U!

Give me a P!

Give me an E.!

Give me an S!

(Hat tip: George Hartzman)

Kill, kill, kill

GREENSBORO, NC -- The Greensboro City Council will vote on an item tomorrow night that will likely seem routine and receive no scrutiny. It is to authorize over $1,000,000.00 in expenditures to relocate water and sewer lines for the purpose of accomodating the extention of the "urban loop" from Bryan Boulevard to Lawndale Drive. This portion of the loop will bisect and destroy one of Greensboro's jewels, that being the area encompassing, Country Park, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and the adjacent network of trails and bikepaths that extend from there to the shores of Lake Brandt.

Currently, this area is able to maintain an environment that can accommodate peaceful and natural recreation and wildlife. It's unusual for a city our size to have natural areas like this unmolested enough to still support deer, fox, hawks and owls. But, in her race to the lowest common denominator, Greensboro has decided that if other cities have urban loops, we should have one too. To hell with what must be mowed, and plowed and destroyed to make way for it. Put a damn freeway through Greensboro's most special natural recreation area. That's the ticket!

A few years from now, when the area starts to look like just another Wendover Avenue, just another over-developed, mundane and aggravating endless strip of Anywhere, U.S.A, remember we had our chances along the way to say, "Wait a minute, do we really want to do this?"

And we said yes.

News & Record website comments limited to schmucks

GREENSBORO, NC -- The updated News & Record website (currently offline) requires users to be tracked by Facebook to write or view comments.

I won't get into an explanation of why you should care; either you are fine with third parties monitoring your internet activity or you object. Those of us who prefer not to have our clicks and views monitored, recorded and compiled; those of us who prefer not to have the information, news and entertainment we access assembled into a consumer dossier; those of us who prefer not to have our faces recognized and, without our knowledge or consent, linked to profiles of the most intimate details of our lives, well, such folks abound and we take some simple steps to diminish such tracking.

For many, securing some control over our information begins with simply setting our web browsers to block third party cookies. Some of us take even stronger measures, installing quick and easy add-ons to our web browsers that put further restrictions on tracking and monitoring technologies (Ghostery, Do Not Track Me).

As you might imagine, one of the most egregious and prolific collectors of personal data online is Facebook. (This Is How Facebook Is Tracking Your Internet Activity -- Business Insider)

With the recent update to the News & Record's website (down at the moment), people who have taken such privacy measures cannot comment on the News & Record's stories, blog posts or letters. Worse though, we cannot even view comments—not unless we allow the installation of Facebook's tracking mechanisms. One must allow tracking by Facebook not only to write comments but even just to read comments on the News & Record's website. Block Facebook's monitoring and comments are invisible.

I understand why the News & Record did this. In an environment where an organization has no imagination or ability for technology (they appear to have dismissed everybody with actual web tech skills), the N&R has consigned itself to being purely an end user of technology—they are not facilitators, innovators or inventors—and, as such, they are at the mercy of the requirements of whatever off-the-shelf solutions they deploy. In this case, their chosen solution limits the ability to write and view comments to schmucks.

All in a day's work

GREENSBORO, NC -- Let us take a tour of a single day's worth of stories on WFMY's website.

A headline from a WFMY story:

"How Many Veterans Have Companies Hired Since The President Start An Initiative"

From a WFMY story:

"I was a little apprehensive when i first heard because not it's typical to hear an adult student talk about internships," Joanne Allen said about her non-traditional internship.

From a WFMY story:

"'Sometimes they throw dodge balls at my head in gym and these two guys at school are terrible with autistic,' said Williams' son, Cameron."

A headline from a WFMY story:

"Man Sets Neighbor's House On Fire For Unkempt Lawn, Police Said"

From a WFMY story:

"May sound simple to say use another sink, but there's a trickle down contamination affect that comes into play."

From a WFMY story:

"But Corporate CEO & Authority on Success Dan Steenerson says the first rule is to never be fake."

From a WFMY story:

"Adding a job  may sound simple, butto these business owner a lot is involved-salary, health care, insurance. For Miss Jenny's Pickles it's especially involved because they only have 6 employees. We asked how they will you make it work?."

From a WFMY story:

"Investigators said Williams had a prior felony conviction for Possession With Intent To Sell and Deliver Cocaine in 2002."

Our shitty newspaper

GREENSBORO, NC -- I know it's not polite, but polite words don't suffice. Our local newspaper is crap. I mean a real steaming pile of shit with a few decent little nuggets of undigested corn here and there, but who wants to pick through the preponderant feces to find them? Sorry, but it's true.

For the second time in six months, and the third time in five years, the News & Record has made links to their archives—stories, blog posts, letters and comments—permanently inoperable and undiscoverable.

Links to News & Record stories from local blogs, search engines and Wikipedia are now all dead and offer only a "Page not found" error.

Articles linked to by the websites of downtown boosters, economic promoters, the City of Greensboro — all dead.

It makes us look bad — again — as if we are some backwater of ineptitude (We aren't, are we?) And that's without consideration of the News & Record's plethora of uncorrected errors, fabricated quotations, intentional misinformation and character assassination.

Another thing: I'm tired of people saying how much they "looooooove" Greensboro and how this is such a fabulous place while they have nothing to say about the decay of our institutions. If you really LOVE Greensboro, speak up. You don't coddle something you love while it chokes to death on its own vomit.

News & Record editor's deceit

GREENSBORO, NC -- I don't know what else to call it but dishonest. Downright deceitful, actually. After incorrectly writing that the Rockinghan County school board had voted to stop opening their meetings with a prayer and that error being noted on this blog, News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson quietly rewrites his post, with no acknowledgement of the original error, just a sneaky little change.

Originally:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

Today:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision not to open its meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

The school board did not bring an end to prayer at public meetings, as Johnson originally wrote, they voted not to start doing so. Johnson's revision brings his post in line with the facts, but why the secrecy? Don't the most basic standards of journalism dictate an acknowledgement of errors? (Well, we know that's not true at the News & Record, but still.)

Just days ago, Johnson was advising others that one must be "trusted and credible" to succeed. He seems unable to follow his own advice. 

Greensboro deserves better.

Concerned citizens meeting this evening

GREENSBORO, NC -- Just a reminder that the meeting at the mill is tonight at 5:30. It's an informal gathering open to the public to share ideas for improving the state of local government and civic affairs. Please join us.

When: 
Thursday. May 16, 2013; 5:30 P.M.

Where: 
The Mill (The old Daily Bread Flour Mill)
816 South Elm St.
Greensboro, NC

Plagiarism (again) at WFMY

GREENSBORO, NC -- What is it about WFMY that they just can't stop taking credit for other people's work? WXII doesn't seem to do it, WGHP seems perfectly capable of attributing sourced material to its original authors. WFMY, on the other hand, seems fine with stealing other people's work and passing it off as their own ( here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

Here is the latest, "Financial Advisor Steals Customer's (sic) Identities,"  a story identified as written by Cami Marshal of WFMY on May 14, 2013. Large portions of it are identical to passages from a story written by Chad Silber for 1011now.com on April 1, 2013 and another story by Jason Oliveira of KFSN-TV on April 2, 2013.

Here is WFMY's story, the highlighted portions are identical to the other earlier stories:
--------------------------------
Undated -- This is a story with a warning. You have to know who you give your personal information to. Thousands of people got duped by a financial advisor who abused his position.

Surveillance video caught Andrew Myers and his son shopping at a grocery store. That video helped postal inspectors link Myers to more than 57 cases of identity theft.

US Postal Inspector Douglas Biel said, "He stole clients information and identity profiles from both his customers and his fellow co-workers and then performed changes of addresses and opened various bank accounts in his name."

Myers worked for Northwestern Mutual, selling both investments and insurance, pocketing the money on the side. Biel said, "He was trying to live the high life. He was staying in very expensive hotels, he was flying call girls with him out to the Playboy mansion and feeding on other's people dime."

Judy Cohen said she didn't know Myers, but she was one of his victims. "You just can't believe a total stranger would target you and steal your identity."

Fortunately, Judy's bank promptly alerted her and her husband that someone was applying for charge cards in their names.
 
Cohen said, "They could have run up bills, we would have no clue that someone was out spending in our name. No one is safe. It could happen to me again. It could be happening right now."

Cohen said she and her husband now have credit monitoring services on all of their accounts and they check every bank statement carefully.

As for Andrew Myers, he is currently serving a two-year prison term and was ordered to pay back $35,000 in restitution.

Don't forget, we've made it easy for you to check your own credit report. Just head to the 2 Wants to Know section of digtriad.com. Fill out the spaces on the right hand side, click submit, and every four months we'll send you an email reminding you to check your credit report.

WFMY News 2/ Consumer Alerts 

Helloooooo, McFly

GREENSBORO, NC -- News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson writes:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

Bless his heart, I'm guessing Johnson is out of touch, even with the news reported in his own paper.

The Rockingham County school board did not decide to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer, they rejected a proposal to start doing so. From the N&R:

"The school board currently opens its meetings with a moment of silence. Board member Ron Price asked the board to consider adding prayers during the last meeting."

So, tell me again why this man who peddles misinformation and half truths and gets his facts wrong has any credibility? I mean, other than the fact that this is little old Greensboro and Johnson is a fixture among the entrenched and arthritic local power structure and it's just rude to challenge the status quo, other than that, is there any reason why Johnson's opinions carry any weight?

Newsish

GREENSBORO, NC -- You would think that if the chairman of the Piedmont Triad International (sic) Airport Authority provided legal representation for a developer who wants to build apartments in close proximity to the airport before the Greensboro zoning commission, that a reporter covering the story might mention that the attorney is not just an attorney, but also the airport authority chairman — because he will be in a position to influence future airport development and noise abatement in a way that could benefit his client. Some might view that as a conflict of interest or, at least, relevant.

So how does the N&R handle it? Ignore it. Just don't mention that the lawyer is also the chairman of the airport authority and maybe people won't notice because that's the purpose of a newspaper, right, to avoid controversy, not step on toes and to not ruffle any feathers? The less information the better, right?

Greensboro deserves better.

N&R editor blames others for his gullibility

GREENSBORO, NC -- The only thing that exceeds the terribleness of the News & Record is their lack of awareness of how completely their veneer of credibility has vanished.

As if he weren't part of the problem to begin with, News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson is wagging a finger at performing arts center boosters for not being honest about the amount of private donations they have raised.

He writes:

"And when the commitments of private donors are officially announced (and they need to be, sooner rather than later), the community ought to be able to take those assurances to the bank. This effort must be trusted and credible to succeed."

Okee dokie. Just one problem, for all his sincere concern about honesty and credibility, Johnson fails to acknowledge his contribution to the deceit. A N&R editorial from January did not equivocate:

"They have private pledges totaling $20 million."

This is what the N&R editorial told us. They didn't say maybe or might, they asserted that as clearly as anybody can assert a fact. It wasn't attributed to others, the N&R owned it; put their stamp of approval on it as a cold hard fact — and now Johnson is blaming others for the misrepresentation without one word about the N&R's own complicity and guilibility in the misinformation campaign.

Trusted and credible to succeed, indeed.

Mayor to start wearing flame retardant pants

GREENSBORO, NC -- Although it was captured on video, nobody seemed to notice that Mayor Robbie Perkins' pants were on fire when he told citizens of east Greensboro last October that $20 million in private contributions had been raised for a downtown performing arts center.

In the mayor's own words (24:43)

"We have a task force of 83 members of our community that have been working since February on that project and they successfully raised twenty million dollars in private sector community, uh, private sector dollars for a sixty million dollar project."

Not only were people who were paying attention aware then that the $20 million claim, although repeated by other community leaders, was incredulous, it has now been revealed that there were only $15 million dollars in "soft" pledges.

From Amanda Lehmert at the News & Record:

"Kathy Manning, who helped led [sic] the performing arts center task force fundraising effort, said earlier this week that she has been careful to call the commitments 'tentative' or 'soft.'"

The task force never had $20 million in private contributions or even $15 million in contributions. Contrary to the mayor's assertions, they had zero contributions. What they had was $15 million in soft prospects — possible contributions. That's it. The Mayor was wrong to tell the people of east Greensboro that $20 million dollars had been raised. That was not true and the mayor mislead his audience.

(Hat tip to Billy Jones who brought the mayor's statement to my attention.)

Welcome to Greensboro where you can pick up your guitar and jump through this hoop, then this hoop...

GREENSBORO, NC -- Greensboro City Council decides to worry about some really trivial stuff sometimes and overacts in a manner that serves to keep us tethered to mediocrity. Which would make Greensboro a more fun and interesting place? A $26 million sidewalk around downtown or a lively street scene powered for free by the creativity and spontaneity of local talent?

Yesterday, there was a proud announcement from the City that people wishing to play music in public spaces downtown may now apply for a license to do so online. One still has to go downtown to City Hall to complete the paperwork for a police background check however, so the time and effort the City spent putting half of the process online is, frankly, a rather boneheaded waste—but then, so are the onerous requirements to begin with, the blame for which falls squarely on the hand-wringing ninnies, I mean, elected representatives, who voted for this government overreach.

UPDATE: Per the comments, the ordinance requiring buskers to be licensed and get a background check was adopted by a vote of 8 to 1. The lone vote against was cast by councilman Tony Wilkins.

Pants on fire

GREENSBORO, NC -- From Amanda Lehmert at the News & Record:

"Kathy Manning, who helped led [sic] the performing arts center task force fundraising effort, said earlier this week that she has been careful to call the commitments 'tentative' or 'soft.'"

Yes, in her presentation before Greensboro City Council, Manning said (01:32:50) the task force had identified $15 million in "potential" donations. 

That is not what the GPAC website says, though:

It is not what the News & Record said in an unsigned editorial (i.e. Allen Johnson and Doug Clark):

"They have private pledges totaling $20 million."

It is not what task force director and Mayor Robbie Perkins' campaign manager Ross Harris said:

"Harris explained, so far, private donors have committed about $15 million to pay for the project."

It is not what task force member Louise Brady said before City Council (01:57:10):

"We are well along the way with fifteen and a quarter million dollars."

You still have to get out of your car...

GREENSBORO, NC -- I go to the movies to get sucked in and lost in the experience. The fewer distractions, the better. I go out to eat not just to consume food, but to enjoy the total experience, which includes conversation with my companion(s), the presentation and environs complementary to the meal.

I can think of no better way to ruin both than by combining the two. But Greensboro loves a gimmick, so it will probably do well for a year or two.

Update: Their menu says a 17.5% gratuity will be added to all "auditorium services." They have us pegged for bumpkins.

News & Record fabricates "dodging bullets" quotation

GREENSBORO, NC -- Without comment or acknowledgement, the News & Record has quietly rewritten a posted news story to remove a fabricated quotation.

In a story about possible police misconduct, reporter Joe Gamm originally reported a woman telling a 911 operator that she "must have dodged some bullets" from a police officer. That's not true—she didn't say that.

“A police officer just tried to kill me. I must have dodged some bullets,” she said. 

Although the N&R posted a recording of the 911 call with this story, it did not, in fact, have anybody saying: "I must have dodged some bullets." The fabrication has been removed without comment from the story with no explanation of why a made up quotation found its way into the story to begin with.