Black eye for Wayne County

A few years ago, I was driving the family and was exceeding the speed limit. I looked over to the side of the road, and there was an officer with a radar unit.
My natural instinct would have been to hit the brakes and slow down, but for some reason I said to myself, “He’s got me, no use slowing down; if he wants to ticket me, come on.”
The officer turned on his blue lights, pulled me over, and asked me why I didn’t slow down when I saw him. He didn’t ticket me, and he clearly could have, but he embarrassed me.
As I told my daughters afterwards, most police officers want respect. I disrespected the officer by not slowing down when I saw him, and he stopped me as a result. While I could have rationalized I didn’t get ticketed, I could have avoided the whole incident had I just slowed down when I saw him.
Similarly, Wayne County Schools officials disrespected Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. last week. They were singled out and embarrassed the county.
Goldsboro High School is one of the low performing schools across the state that could be closed, or the entire administration of the school changed by the judge. In a hearing last week, the judge heard from state and local school administrations about what was being done to improve education at these schools.
Six months ago Wayne County Commissioners were questioning school officials over what they were doing to change things at Goldsboro High School. Wayne Schools officials responded that they were not worried, that despite the threats, the judge was not going to close Goldsboro High School. It was all talk, and commissioners had nothing to worry about. The judge was not going to issue “a speeding ticket.”
There was no shame in making the list. Similar socio-economic communities across the state have similar problems with low achieving students. Wayne Schools officials are quick to point that out. They are not to blame for the problem.
Wayne was singled out, however, for not having a plan in place to improve schools. While other counties responded to “the threat,” Wayne did not.
As he should have, Judge Manning said another year to find a way to improve the school was too long to wait.
As they taught me in college a long time ago, management is a problem-solving process. If there is no problem, there is no real need for management. This is a management issue, and one where Wayne Schools didn’t make the grade.
There is a welcomed change in education philosophy. Schools no longer say we are going to present the material, do our best, and if the students don’t get it, that’s their fault. They are accepting the challenge to try to reach every student and help them be successful. They are coming up with individual strategies to embrace the “no child left behind” commitment.
Exasperated teachers may complain, with justification, that the idea is not practical, but I salute their work to achieve the goal, and I know fewer students are left behind today.
To be sure, bringing test scores up at Goldsboro High School is not going to be easy, and I am convinced that those in the administration at the school are trying their best. It is going to take some extra-ordinary efforts to turn things around.
I am very interested, and I think Wayne Schools officials ought to be very interested, in what Durham Hillside is doing, a plan which was praised, as I understand. They should be interested in what others are doing to improve their low-performing schools, and I would be copying others’ ideas.
As we have complained before, the leadership of Wayne County Schools have never won accolades for their innovative approaches to improving education in Wayne County. At times, it seems that they are more concerned about defending what they are doing rather than looking around at other successful school systems and emulating them.
It’s rather like a student who is struggling in a class, and rather than ask the teacher for some extra help, he’s too proud.
Wayne Schools officials can say they were right, that the judge didn’t close down the school, but in my grading book, they got a failing grade. They should do better.

Speaking of grades, I don’t know that we can give State Senator John Kerr an “A”, since he is not officially our representative, but maybe we can give him a “Gold Star.” (You’re old enough to remember when they gave those out in school, aren’t you, John?)
My friend, Sen. Kerr, called last week to announce that Eureka was getting nearly a million dollars to help with their sewer problems. John has lots of friends today in Eureka. Too bad they can’t vote for him.
John got some help to Eureka from the state. Eureka can’t solve its problems on its own, and as John was quick to point out last week, this doesn’t solve their problems, but they are a million dollars closer to a solution.
Maybe ten years ago I was talking about a particular state legislator with a town official in another area. “Most any legislator will listen to you when you call them asking for help. (That legislator) will call you back a week later to tell you what he has done to try to address your problems.”
Senator Kerr has consistently impressed this newspaper with his getting things done for people who need help, particularly helping towns with infrastructure issues. Even if they are people outside his senatorial district.
I have to question why the people elected to represent us are not effective in getting us help?

Cheap shot at Princeton

My friend, Scott Bolejac with The Herald, took what I believe to be a Cheap Shot at Princeton in his Friday editorial.
He is taking the politically popular route, not what is best for the county.
Princeton has built and maintained a water system that has served people outside the town for twenty years. They tied on and paid the bills because they wanted water, not because they had to. They have benefitted from having water available, and others will continue to benefit. It benefits the county for towns to extend water and sewer beyond their corporate limits to serve people they can, not just town taxpayers.
Princeton has discontinued wells, as it was not cost efficient with the high mineral content, and is now buying their water from the county. They are charging, as most towns do, the cost for delivering the water through their system. When they have to finance improvements, they often do with developer money paying the bills. When faced with big bills for maintenance or improvement, they seek grants, and what they can't finance with grants, they often finance with bond issues. The bond people often tell the towns how much they will have to charge each customer on their system to pay off the bond. The fewer number of customers, the more each customer has to pay. Princeton taxpayers, I assure you, Scott, are not being subsidized from water rates as you suggest. Pick up the phone and call Keith Peedin. Many auditors chastise town boards for not charging enough for water and sewer, and passing some of their water costs on to taxpayers. I've never heard them chastised by auditors for charging too much for water. By taxpayers and rate payers, always, but by people in charge of town's making responsible financial decisions, never.
One has to question why a county commissioner, when he built a subdivision along the Princeton water line, suddenly got county blessings for the people in his development to get lower water rates than their neighbors. Was it Princeton's water line, or was it the county taking it back to the benefit of a county commissioner? When the county commissioners' neighbors started complaining, suddenly it wasn't Princeton's line after all. Wasn't it the Princeton-Pine Level Development Corporation that built the line? To serve the interests of the two towns? Or was it for the benefit of the re-election of a county commissioner?

Cincinnati confessions

Twenty-four years ago, Marilyn and I moved to eastern North Carolina from Cincinnati with a nine month-old baby. After heading back for one last load of furniture, we had not been back in all those years.
Last week, we took off for four days, with that baby who has grown up, and her sister. Marilyn and I went back to what had been home for these newlyweds for five years.
One reason we had not been back was we didn’t really have close friends in Cincy. One couple we really liked, our next-door neighbors, went through a divorce, and we stayed in contact with the wife, but over the years, we lost contact with her.
That last load of furniture was another reason. It was a long road, by myself, with my wife and daughter back home. I drove there, stayed the night with the neighbor, got up the next day, probably packed until noon, and headed out. I think it was a 12-hour trip, and being tired from packing didn’t help, so by the time I made it to the new home around midnight, I was frazzled. Memories of the trip lingered.
Last summer I went with a couple of other guys to Purdue University, just north of Indianapolis. We made the trip in a day, and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we made it to Cincinnati. The roads are greatly improved.
Wednesday morning we set out about 7:30 a.m., and we had no problems at all on the way. Mapquest sent us down some roads off the interstates in Ohio, but as I trust Mapquest, I stayed on their plotted route. Marilyn gave me a break in the middle from driving, and we had no real traffic congestion the whole way. There was about a twenty mile stretch of two lane road, but few cars along the way.
We arrived not too tired around 6 p.m., and missing the rush hour traffic of the city. We checked into our Holiday Inn, and went for one of the important parts of our trip, maybe a quarter mile down the road. We had five ways and a cheese coneys at Skyline Chili. Cincinnati chili is unique, unduplicated as I understand. The five way (Marilyn help me) is spaghetti, chili, red kidney beans, onions, and cheese with a side of oyster crackers. The actual chili is closest to what we call hot dog chili, a ground beef with a gravy or sauce, with a touch of sweetness. Cheese coneys are hot dogs, with Cincinnati chili and a mountain of grated cheese.
This was a newer section of Cincinnati that we were unfamiliar with, but regional shopping centers have sprung up all over the city, with Skyline and other chain stores. If you go to Cincy, you won’t have any trouble finding a Skyline or Gold Star Chili, their competitor.
(Marilyn and I relished the taste of our past, but our girls were scratching their heads about what we thought was so special.)
I had gone online before we left and bought Cincinnati Reds tickets, for an afternoon game Thursday, against the St. Louis Cardinals. As the series was for the lead in the National League Central Division, it was very significant, and we saw several fans at the hotel and on the street decked out in their St. Louis garb.
After dinner Wednesday, I went downstairs to the van to listen to the radio broadcast, as I had listened to so many when we lived there. Marty Brennamen is still the main broadcaster. In a very exciting game, the Reds got a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win, and I got to hear Marty’s famous “And this one belongs to the Reds.” That helped make the visit special to me. (The Reds were probably a lot of what this trip was about for me, and the girls all seemed to enjoy it, but not as much as me.)
Thursday we left around 9 a.m. for downtown, to do some shopping and get a bite of breakfast. There are a series of downtown stores connected by skywalks, and indoor malls.
We went to the “I Love Cincinnati” store, with loads of souvenirs, photos, etc. There are a number of parking garages downtown, but many had filled with the afternoon game, even though we were getting there what we thought was early. We parked two blocks from the shopping, and the ballpark is just five more blocks away. (It looks like they are putting in parking at the ballpark.)
We picked up Reds T-shirts at stores at the local mall the night before, and got hats from a street vendor outside the ballpark. If you are tight with a buck, I recommend that.
It was $1 hot dog day at the ballpark, so we got a couple of dogs apiece. And they were great hot dogs, not dried up or shriveled, but healthy sized, hot and just right. We topped it off with an ice cream cone about the sixth inning. Drinks and other food was not a bargain, but what do you expect. It was a perfect day to watch a game, too.
I wish I could say it was a great game, and if the Reds had won it would have been, but it was competitive, though Cincy’s offense was off that day. The new Great American Ballpark is beautiful with lots of style, and it offers that close to the field feeling.
That night we tried to take the girls to a nice restaurant we had gone to when we lived there, but it had changed hands for the third time in two years, and we didn’t have the guts to give the new owners a shot. There was another restaurant, a very nice restaurant, just across the street from the aformentioned Rookwood Pottery, The Celestial. It’s on Mt. Adams, very near downtown and the Ohio River. We got there about 7, actually a little early to enjoy the very impressive view of the lights of the city, but the food was outstanding. (The girls were impressed by the prices and said they said it was probably their best dinner ever. There was a $64 entree on the menu, which Kelly joked about. I told her that was for four.) It may have been my most expensive meal, too.
Friday we visited places where we had lived and worked. Marilyn worked for most of the time we were there in the Crosley Building, where Crosley refrigerators had been built many years before. The newspaper company she knew had moved out not too many years after we left, and today the ten story building stands vacant, with broken windows. It was a sad sight. The big GE plant is still going strong, apparently.
We went north to Fairfield, where we had lived for a couple of years and I had worked for a weekly newspaper, to Hamilton where I worked for the daily newspaper, and to West Chester, where we built a house. There were a few familiar landmarks, an old high school that is now a middle school and the GM Fisher Body plant now closed and partially reopened to a renter or two. Where some familiar stores were, other stores have gone in, and some have closed. There was a lot of new construction in areas I’m sure were undeveloped. Some of the older row houses had Mexican stores near. Not unlike when we were there, there were apparently still many German, Italian, Irish and Polish families in the area.
As you probably understand, food is important to us, and we stopped at another important landmark food place, Chester’s Pizza in Hamilton. They had four locations at one time, but now just the one survives, as good as ever. It is take out only, so we ate in the van, but it was evident, with so many other businesses coming and going, why they had lasted over fifty years.
The new development where we had built our home has matured. I suspect the average age of the homeowners may be 20 years higher, though there was a basketball goal outside our home. I told Marilyn, and I believe it, that we would not recognize the inside of our home. Though the house number directed us, the outside was hard to recognize.
Someone said you can never go home again. This didn’t look or feel like home, it was in so many ways unfamiliar.
We found the hospital where Ashley was born, went in Union Terminal, home to the city’s museum district, and tried to go by, as we were driving near, the world famous zoo, signs misdirected and we could not find it.
Saturday we visited the Serpent Mound, a famous archeology site, about a thousand years old, chronicling native Americans from that time. Kelly is an archeology student, so it was important to her, and if you like this sort of thing, it’s probably worth a side trip. Then we headed home to help get out this paper.
Cincinnati has great restaurants, and many attractions including Kings Island amusement park and something called the Purple People Mover Bridge Climb we talked about, and the now very hot Cincinnati Bengals NFL team, as well as the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and much more.
If you have roots there, and I think we could claim some, it is a meaningful place. Even if you don’t, Cincinnati has a rich history, great diversity of cultures, wonderful entertainment opportunities, and did I mention great food!

Miami Vice

Not to particularly disagree with our reviewer, but....
Miami Vice was not a movie that you can spend a lot of time analyzing, but if you just let it flow over you....
One of the best parts of the original series was the cool cars, and the movie opens with a fabulous Ferrari. The action is plenty exciting, and Li Gong as Isabella is hot. It's a fun two hours.
What did you think?

Asleep on the watch

As most any day on US 70 will attest, most of us are tempted to exceed the speed limit if we believe we won’t get caught. Not only will most of us speed, some will take it to truly dangerous levels. Even after law officers step up enforcement for a week or two, it doesn’t take long for the feet to get leaden again.
Similarly our legislators seemed righteous in trying to slow down their bent for accepting gifts and favors from lobbyists after a public outcry. After things quieted down, they slipped out of Raleigh last week after passing what former Superior Court Judge and chairman of the NC Board of Ethics Robert Farmer described as “pretend ethics.”
I accept, along with my colleagues in the media, the responsibility for not making sure that the legislature felt the pressure to pass meaningful legislation. I pledge, and call on my colleagues to pledge, to let legislators know that what they have done is unacceptable.
The NC Press Association is particularly incensed by the arrogance of the legislature in saying that any ethics violation under investigation won’t be publicly discussed. You don’t have a right to know about any ethics complaint until and unless their fellow legislators who sit on the legislature’s ethics committee impose sanctions. The NCPA Legal Counsel credits the Democratic Party leadership with crafting this protection for the legislators.
Particularly galling to me is the way in which the legislation came to the floor. Instead of legislation which is debated in committee and comes to the floor with arguments for and against, the Democratic Party leadership meets behind closed doors and puts together something and then schedules it for an immediate vote, all as legislators are weary and ready for adjournment on the last days of the session. That has been the way the legislature has done business with controversial measures for too many years.
Perhaps most egregious is their unwillingness to have a truly independent voice looking over their shoulder. They want their friends looking out for them, as if that has worked in the past.
They aren’t acting like a legislature who the press and public have put on notice. It sounds more like business as usual; the legislature continuing to do what they darn well please.
House Speaker Jim Black, a Democrat, has been at the center of much of the ethics controversy. His unpaid political director wined and dined lawmakers while collecting monies from her real (and publicly undisclosed) boss, a major lottery vendor. The passage of the lottery, while key objectors were away and who didn’t bother to log in to oppose, smacks of another deal worked out behind closed doors, and suggests lottery money greased some consciences.
Contributions solicited by Black were directed to others, with names written in on the checks by him. A Republican, Michael Decker, switched parties to support Black and keep him as speaker. Black is said to have funneled campaign funds to Decker, who later used campaign money to go to Florida to pick up a car, also bought with campaign money.
Trips, liquor, ACC basketball tickets, golf outings and more are on the gift lists that lobbyists provide our legislators, not to mention the money that flows to our politicians. While there is recognition that the temptations are too great to resist, the legislation which lawmakers enacted had too many loopholes. There are already suggestions that lawmakers aren’t disclosing what they are getting from lobbyists.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, in a letter in May, said in the past five years prosecutors and SBI agents had investigated 350 public corruption cases. He complained that a lack of teeth in enabling legislation hinders further prosecutions and helps hide wrongdoing. He calls for change to give prosecutors the right to call for grand juries, penalties for lying to SBI agents, and greater financial disclosure requirements for those in government.
He goes on to say in advocating for ethics reform, “corruption can happen when powerful public officials have complete control without having to answer tough questions.”
It’s a long time before the legislature goes back into session, but we need to start calling our legislators to account for their actions now. They are going to be asking for our votes; we have a right to ask for their answers to our tough questions.
Let’s be clear: while the Democratic Party leadership may have to claim authorship for what did or didn’t pass in the legislature, the final legislation passed 111-2. The steps outside the legislature weren’t filled with Republican voices protesting what passed. They have to accept the record of what they voted for.
If we let them know that what passed doesn’t pass for ethics legislation, maybe we can help government clean up, letting them know we really are watching what they do and will vote accordingly. And we’re not asleep on the watch.