A smart lawyer with whom I worked on a difficult project would listen sympathetically to people going on behind the scenes about the deal and the politics of the deal and then say, "Nevertheless, we are where we are." That...

High Point University’s John Brown has been named Big South Freshman of the Week for the second time in a row and third time this season, the conference announced on Monday. He notched his first collegiate double-double (27 points, 10 rebounds) against Wake Forest last Wednesday. Brown scored his 27 points on 12-for-22 shooting from ...Read the Rest...

Neither Mann nor Ornstein have been guests on any of the main Sunday public affairs shows since their book came out. Nor has anyone else on those shows talked about the concerns they raised. Liberal media, still not liberal.

Metro 4-A Football Honors…… Offensive Player of the Year:Richard Hayes(Dudley) Defensive Player of the Year:Carter Stanley(Page) Kicker/Punter of the Year:Harrison Kiser(Page) Coach of the Year:Kevin Gillespie(Page) *****Page Pirates with football banquet on Sunday afternoon at Mac Morris Gymnasium and they were able to recognize the Pirates on their above honors and they also recognized 2012 ...Read the Rest...

Piedmont Triad 4A 2012 Football All-Conference Team All-Conference Team- Defense School 1 Savon Richardson East Forsyth 2 Jarariel Simmons HP Central 3 Winston Craig Ragsdale 4 Brian Nwokolo Ragsdale 5 Yiannis Bowden Glenn 6 Deshaywn Middleton Parkland 7 Evan Albertson NW Guilford 8 Rayshawn Williams SW Guilford 9 Jalen Forrest East Forsyth 10 Cole Pickard ...Read the Rest...

* 12/10/12 Monday Swimming V Boys/Girls A 6:00PM Quad meet vs. Rockingham, Morehead, McMichael * 12/12/12 Wednesday Wrestling V Boys A 7:00PM Morehead High School * 12/14/12 Friday Basketball JV Girls H 5:00PM Mc Michael High School EGHS Gymnasium * 12/14/12 Friday Basketball V Girls A 6:00PM Mc Michael High School * 12/14/12 Friday Swimming ...Read the Rest...

Monday, December 10 5:00PM Boys Junior Varsity Wrestling Parkland HS Quad Away Tuesday, December 11 4:30PM Boys Freshman Basketball Dudley Senior High School Home 5:00PM Rising Star Basketball Camp Night (School) 5:00PM Girls Junior Varsity Basketball Glenn High School Away 6:00PM Girls Varsity Basketball Glenn High School Home 6:30PM Boys Junior Varsity Basketball Glenn High ...Read the Rest...

It doesn't take the world's smallest crystal ball to see this one coming. GPACers are promoting a haphazard downtown parking scheme for the proposed Greensboro Performing Arts Center that is torturous at best and absolute gridlock at worst. Dim witted GPACers are proposing GPAC parking all over downtown in the exact same parking lots and spaces used by every other downtown shop and business while continuing to try and compare themselves with the Durham Performing Arts Center which advertises 3000 inexpensive parking spaces in nearby parking garages.

Of course, what will happen is, visitors to GPAC, especially out of town visitors which the GPACers are promising to attract in droves, will not know their way around downtown Greensboro and become confused as they drive around searching for the scattered parking spaces and making the 1000 cars added to downtown appear to be 10,000 cars.

Then there's that increase in the cost of downtown parking fees. That cannot be good for downtown restaurants and shops that already claim to be struggling to compete with shopping centers, malls and big box retailers who all offer free parking. The result will be the closing of downtown shops, restaurants and businesses. I'm predicting the first business to close will be the Flatiron, which is especially sad for me because while I'm not much on going to bars, the Flatiron's owners, staff and many of their patrons are all people I care about, some I have known personally for a very long time. Guys, I hope to finally make it back up to the mountain this year as I've been away too long. I wonder if that's what that key on my keychain goes to that I haven't used in years...

Where will people going to Nico's and other downtown restaurants for dinner park? At Eric Robert's old mill perhaps? Knowing Eric and knowing what a great guy he is, I'm sure he'd be happy to help out and the exercise would do us all good but let's face it, most folks aren't walking 3/4 of a mile to get to a restaurant. I mean, it's only a mile from Downtown Greensboro to the nearest grocery store and already downtown residents are bitching that's too far.

And then we come to the real writing on the wall: In response to the then failing downtown business environment developers will again begin another push for the City of Greensboro to fund more downtown parking garages at taxpayers' expense. And so begins the 4th round of taxpayer funded downtown Greensboro rejuvenation in my lifetime and nothing has changed.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not the crazy one.

The case against economic development incentives. I'm not convinced that all incentives are useless, although I have no doubt that incentives frequently are misused and poorly directed. But hasn't Texas, the surprisingly prolific econo-ho, added a lot of jobs? Not...

"[T]he absence of conventional cliffhangers doesn't mean an absence of unconventional cliffhangers." I think I've mentioned here before my plan to re-read the Foundation trilogy, which engrossed me some 30 barbarous millennia ago, but now I'm wondering if I must...

Wil Myers, from High Point, N.C. and former Wesleyan Academy Trojan, has been traded from the Kansas City Royals to the Tampa Bay Rays…Once saw Wil hit three home runs in one game, on a Monday afternoon over at Grimsley High School and as soon as he hit that third homer, the pro scouts were ...Read the Rest...

American Hebrew Academy at Kerr Vance Academy Thomasville at Smith…Thomasville used to have some real good girls teams and not sure about their boys in recent years…Smith boys off to a good start, with just one loss….Thomasville boys(1-2) and the Smith boys (3-1)….Smith girls(1-5) and Thomasville(1-2)….

GOLDSBORO– The baseball clinic run by North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Famer George Whitfield is set for its 41st annual renewal. The clinic is scheduled for Goldsboro High School on Saturday, January 12, 2013 and features another tremendous lineup. Registration is scheduled from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m, and then the clinic will ...Read the Rest...

A fix for apt-get update issues in Ubuntu, Dr. Bill’s ‘Perfect Linux Mint build!’ Google stops offering Google Apps for free, bummer! Ekiga 4.0 offers a fresh, Open Source Skype alternative, and GSotW: Evince: a cool Open Source document viewer! Links that pertain to this Netcast: TechPodcasts Network Blubrry Network Evince – Simply a Document [...]

A fix for apt-get update issues in Ubuntu, Dr. Bill’s ‘Perfect Linux Mint build!’ Google stops offering Google Apps for free, bummer! Ekiga 4.0 offers a fresh, Open Source Skype alternative, and GSotW: Evince: a cool Open Source document viewer! Links that pertain to this Netcast: TechPodcasts Network Blubrry Network Evince – Simply a Document [...]

Yesterday was a busy day of Chanukah festivities in downtown Greensboro. Above, a children's group from B'nai Shalom Day School was singing Chanukah songs at Center City Park. Chanukah began Saturday evening and will end the evening of Sunday, December 16th. Between now and then, families will be busy lighting another branch of the Menorah each night and remembering their religious history with a mixture of communal and family-based activities. Fried foods are eaten to show the importance of oil. Some people play dreidel games and exchange small gifts; however, Chanukah is not a "Sabbath-like" holiday and most people continue...

All Aboard! Let’s kick off a great week and a great Monday!  KICK IT Have you ever stared mesmerized into a candle flame?  There is something captivating and powerful about the flickering glow of a candle. I surmised that my life is like a candle.  Read on and let me know if…Your life is like a candle. [...]

Today the conversation in Pilates was about “laminating.” WAIT! WHAT?   Yeah, you heard me.  Here’s how it came about.   I went to my normal class on Friday at 9:30.  I got there and [...]

"Sam, some of us remember a time, not so long ago, when GSO was the second-largest city in NC and a leader in arts, industry, and quality of life, and we see no reason to adopt a declinist attitude and embrace of mediocrity."

So to do this, Mr Cone endorses an at best, mediocre, and most likely improbable attempt at economic development when even one of GPAC's biggest supporters and Mr Cone's close friend, Professor Andrew Brod has publicly admitted that a Greensboro aquarium would have a far greater positive economic impact on the City of Greensboro and the State of North Carolina as a whole.

"An economic impact study conducted by Dr. Andrew Brod of the UNCG Center for Business Research and Development concluded that the NSC project will create $20 million dollars of positive economic impact annually and support 253 jobs." --Gary Brown

"An economic impact study indicates that the new facility could bring in $15 to 25 million per year through tourism and staffing." Construction Equipment Guide

"The Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative is partnering with Commerce to expand on the museums' estimated $100 million combined economic impact." --CDN.NCscience.org

"If there are 33 venues covered that the Collaborative says creates $100 million impact, including Greensboro's natural Science Center, the new Aquarium has been reported to have 20% of the economic impact over and above the economic impact already generated of all 33 of the other venues listed.

WOW.

In fact, according to AMS's $7 million economic impact estimate, the GPAC will have $13 million less economic impact than the new Aquarium even though they plan to have 300,000 paying patrons through the doors each year spending at least $100 for every two patrons." -George Hartzman

And remember folks, the numbers being quoted above are for the tiny Natural Science Center aquarium. Imagine if we got together and pitched a real economic development project like a world class Downtown Greensboro Aquarium?

Now why do you reckon people like Ed Cone are against a downtown Greensboro Aquarium that compliments instead of competes with the Natural Science Center Aquarium? Could it be because no one cut them in on the deal?

And Sam, Ed forgot to mention the fact that Raleigh edged out Greensboro for the #2 spot with the support gobs and gobs of tax dollars from the entire state of North Carolina. Ed forgets lots of important details like that when he's trying to get his way.

This is a very cool Open Source document viewer! There is a Windows version and a Linux version. It is very handy, and super-functional… you need this handy utility! Check it out! Evince – Simply a Document Viewer Evince is a document viewer for multiple document formats. The goal of evince is to replace the [...]

(GREENSBORO, N.C.) — The Pride men’s basketball team rallied from a 36-31 halftime deficit and held off Huntingdon down the stretch for a 75-71. After going ahead in the second frame, Greensboro built up a 68-59 lead with 5:18 to play. The Hawks chipped away at the margin and pulled to within 72-71 with 51 ...Read the Rest...

Stokes County, this afternoon. I'm in no hurry for winter to arrive, and apparently neither is winter.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team cut a 22-point deficit to eight in the first half after a 30-16 run but was not able to defeat NC State after falling, 88-73, today, Dec. 9, in Reynolds Coliseum. Ali Ford led all players with a new season high of 26 points, marking her sixth ...Read the Rest...

We, or should I say, I have been looking for those All-Conference Football teams and just checked the High Point paper on-line today and have been watching the News and Record too, but so far NO All-Confernece high school football teams, that I have heard about or been able to find…. We need to be ...Read the Rest...

It is pretty big when your school wins one high school wrestling match in a day, but when you win ‘Four’, that’s really ‘Extra Large’….. Eastern Guilford was four-for-four on Saturday, with wins over Northeast Guilford, Smith, Ragsdale and Raleigh Athens Drive…. The scores were: Eastern Guilford 78 Smith 6 Eastern Guilford 46 Ragsdale 32 ...Read the Rest...

Here is what we have been able to find so far on games coming in from Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening… Boys: Smith 55 Kernersville Glenn 40 Greensboro Day School 59 North Raleigh Christian 39 GDS(7-0) Northwood Academy 59 New Garden Friends 55 Girls: Greensboro Day School 56 North Raleigh Christian 38 GDS(7-1) Kernersville Glenn ...Read the Rest...

FAMILY BUS TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS FOR THE RL CARRIERS BOWL GAME December 22, 2012 Leaving Thursday, Dec 20 – Returning Dec 22 after the game ATTENTION ALL PIRATES FANS We are looking for riders on the family bus. The bus will leave Greenville on Thursday morning and stopping in Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte to ...Read the Rest...

ACC Women’s Hoops Today from www.theacc.com: Arizona State @ Boston College Chestnut Hill, Mass. 1:00 PM Duke vs. St. John’s New York, N.Y. (Maggie Dixon Classic) 1:30 PM South Carolina State @ Clemson Clemson, S.C. 2:00 PM TV: TigerCast Elon @ NC State Raleigh, N.C. 2:00 PM (Sam Coffer[Northern Guilford] and her Elon Phoenix at ...Read the Rest...

The Communist Party USA has a fascinating article on its website dated November 21, 2012 written by Sam Webb, the party chairperson.  Mr. Webb’s topic is the outcome of the 2012 elections. Mr. Webb exults regarding the election results.  In fact, his article extols the liberal Democratic Party line, and the way this particular platform [...]

–Originally published in the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record of Sunday, December 18, 2011      The final few weeks of the year, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, offer multiple opportunities to observe and participate in long-established traditions. Most families undertake their own particular rituals or customs—whether it’s opening one gift on Christmas Eve, baking [...]

Susan Schwartz of the Cemala Foundation writes:

"Some say the choice of constructing a performing arts center must go to the voters. I say, why? Voters had the opportunity in two bond referendums to renovate War Memorial Auditorium. They chose not to and it is crumbling away."

Dear Ms Scwhwartz,
While I hate the thought of loosing a memorial to the brave men who fought and died for us, perhaps this should serve as a lesson to you and your kind. War Memorial Auditorium, like the rest of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex has been mismanaged since its opening in 1958 long before you set foot in Greensboro. The working class have had enough of throwing money in holes and you now have the audacity to suggest that we haven't the right to speak our minds and vote on the issue. Your solution to the problem of War Memorial Stadium is to build a downtown performing arts center to be managed in the exact same way and by the exact same staff as the auditorium you now blame the taxpayers for its demise? How dare you point fingers?

Coliseums, auditoriums and performing arts centers around the world can and do operate at a profit but as long as you, Mayor Perkins, Walker Sanders and the rest of the GPAC supporters continue to support a failed business model that has operated in the red every year for the last 54 years you cannot expect support from the community. The citizens of Greensboro, left, right and center, have had enough of your Fascist attempts to control our city.

You see, Ms Schwartz, while I realize it's completely over your self-absorbed head, our neighborhoods and our ability to eak out an honest living are far more important to the vast majority of Greensboro's working class that your monuments to your own kind will ever be. And if you continue to wage this class warfare on us we will raise the bar beyond the level you and your kind are willing to go. Remember: you drew first blood.

From the BBC:



Words, the weapon of modern Tyrannicide.

Nine days till I'm just a ghost here in Brussels, and back to the Boro. But, SFI, recently posted his account of his local Ghost Tour. Look's cool, however the lack of real ghosts makes me wonder if we've scared of the dead. Parfois?

GREENSBORO, NC -- The City of Greensboro announced in a Friday afternoon press release that city inspectors and police officers will be conducting a mass "room-by-room" search of all 177 units of Heritage House apartment complex beginning on Monday, tomorrow.

Constitutional Prohibitions
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as city ordinance require that tenants — not their landlords, but the occupying tenants — give their explicit permission before government officials and police can enter their homes for these kinds of searches (even if they are called inspections) or that the inspectors have a warrant. The City said in its press release that this action is in response to a petition by the building's residents, but they did not provide the wording of the petition or the names or number of the residents who signed it. A petition from your neighbors does not give the government permission to enter your home — not without your permission or a warrant.

I have asked the City for copies of records of each tenant's authorization and for any warrants issued authorizing these inspections as well as for a copy of the petition. Absent explicit permission from the tenants of any given home or a warrant, it would be illegal for the City to enter, no matter how many neighbors requested it, as it should be in a country where citizens are safeguarded by the Fourth Amendment.

Media Blackout
While the City has sent out a press release inviting media to cover the raid and announcing that city officials will be available for interviews, they also have announced that the media will be confined to a staging area and no media will be allowed inside the complex where the searches will be occurring, assuring that the actions of inspectors and police will remain hidden from public scrutiny. What will the response of the inspectors and police be if they encounter a locked door, a hesitant tenant or a tenant ignorant of her rights? Due to the media blackout, we will not know. What will the response of the police be if they discover other illegal activity unrelated to building codes?

The City said the media blackout is necessary "for safety reasons" and, ironically, "to protect the privacy of the residents." At the very least, a pool reporter and camera person, chosen by the reporters present, should be allowed inside the complex to monitor this unprecedented undertaking. (Pool reporters then share their notes and recordings with the other reporters by mutual agreement.) Alternately, since this raid is scheduled over three days, reporters could rotate in and out.

Elected Officials' Responsibilities
Two more people inside the building at any given time should not cause a safety concern and reporters can stay in the hallways while residents decide for themselves whether they mind reporters accompanying the government officials entering their homes. Failure to allow even this minimal degree of oversight would be an alarming warning to our elected officials that something is wrong and that their intervention is required.

Actually, our city council has two responsibilities here. One is to intervene if media will not be permitted to cover the actual undertakings of the inspectors and police inside the building, but first and foremost is to assure that these inspections are being conducted legally and with respect for the rights of our city's citizens in the first place.

The Advent season is upon us. Neighborhoods are aglow with Christmas lights, inflatables, music, and garland. Traffic in Greensboro was bumper to bumper on Ridgeway and Madison Avenues in Sunset Hills last night as people drove around looking at the chicken wire light balls hanging from the trees. The fundraising run through Sunset Hills next Sunday is sold out with about 1,500 runners. People are busy. Busy. Busy. 'Tis the season. Battleground and Wendover Avenues are choked with traffic. Greensboro has entered the period of manic holiday shopping. Wagoner's Christmas tree lots seem to be selling North Carolina Christmas trees...

RALEIGH— Apex Middle Creek captured the Carolina Cup in the 10th annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association state invitational cheerleading championships at the Raleigh Convention Center on Saturday. Cheer Ltd., Inc., the NCHSAA’s corporate partner that assists with the invitational championship, has established the Carolina Cup to recognize annually the top high school varsity ...Read the Rest...

A few of those ‘end of season’ streks from Deana King and NCPreps.com…. Most Games without a loss:Northern Guilford(29)….After 2012 season Games not allowing 20 points or more:High Point Central(7) Games in Double Figures:Northern Guilford(57) Games without being Shutout:Northeast Guilford(110)…Page(86)….High Point Central(84)… Check out all of the End of Season Streaks and see how our ...Read the Rest...

Very good video from Brian Formica and WFMY NEWS 2 Sports/DigTriad.com coming in from last night’s NWG-Northern Guilford boys basketball game at Northwest and you can’t help but see the GreensboroSports.com banner showing up in the background, looking good and the action on the court and in the crowd was looking good too…. CLICK HERE ...Read the Rest...

The Winston-Salem State University Rams defeated the West Texas A&M University Buffaloes football team tonight 41 – 18 at a game played at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. The win sends the RAMS to the 2012 NCAA DII Football Championship game in Florence, Ala., where they will face Valdosta State (Georgia). “The WSSU Rams become ...Read the Rest...

NORFOLK, Va. – Tre’ Ford scored a game-high 18 points in top-ranked Virginia Wesleyan College’s 63-49 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) men’s basketball victory over visiting Guilford College Saturday. The Marlins (7-0, 3-0 ODAC), ranked first in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, drained six of their nine three-pointers in the decisive second half. Cameron ...Read the Rest...

I used to watch this kid playing right field for Coach Gary Angel and the his Ferndale Middle School baseball team and Coach Angel has given a lot of kids a chance over the years over at Ferndale, but sometimes things change when the kids get to high school and they feel they need to ...Read the Rest...

UPDATE: (7:27 P.M.) In a fine example of a prompt and direct response, WGHP has replied that the assertion had not been substantiated beyond the police press release and they have update their story to reflect that.

GREENSBORO, NC -- After a alleged struggle with Greensboro police that sent a man to the hospital, the police department issued a press release that attribute to unnamed "medical officials" a determination that the man had a preexisting condition that contributed to his need for hospitalization. This is how they put it:

Zenon San Martn Ramirez, 52, is in Moses Cone Hospital following surgery after EMS personnel determined he had dangerously low blood pressure when treating him for an abrasion to the face he received while resisting arrest. Upon arrival at the hospital, medical officials discovered Ramirez was suffering from a pre-existing [sic] medical condition that may have been aggravated by the encounter.  [Emphasis added.]

WGHP then regurgitated the assertion of a preexisting condition word-for-word:

Ramirez was taken to Moses Cone Hospital and medical officials said he was suffering from a pre-existing [sic] medical condition that may have been aggravated by the struggle. [Emphasis added.]

Did "medical officials" say this to WGHP? Or did a Greensboro Police Department employee write in a press release that medical officials said that and did WGHP just copy and paste third-hand unattributed information into their story without actually substantiating it? I've asked WGHP to comment and will update this post when I hear from them.

 

Jorge Cornell and two other defendants in the North Carolina Latin Kings racketeering trial have filed a motion for a new trial.


Cornell, Russell Kilfoil and Ernesto were each convicted of racketeering by a federal jury in Winston-Salem last month. Cornell was convicted of two additional counts for a violent crime in aid of racketeering and carrying or using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence — both related to a shooting at Ashley Creek Apartment Homes in Greensboro in 2008.

The motion for a new trial, which was filed on Dec. 5, contends that the jury was confused or misunderstood the court's instructions for dealing with predicate acts. The motion notes that the jurors asked for clarification, but the judge simply referred them back to his earlier instructions.

The jury found that Cornell, Kilfoil and Wilson were each responsible for the same set of violations: conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, robbery, interference with commerce by threats of violence and bank fraud.

"In light of the evidence presented at the trial of the case, it is clear that the only way that the jury could have found identical predicate acts for each of the convicted defendants would be for the jury to ignore the instructions to consider the defendants individually and to base its verdict on the notion that each member of the conspiracy was responsible for all predicate acts that the jury concluded involved the enterprise," Michael Patrick, Cornell's court-appointed lawyer, wrote in the motion.

Additional excerpts from the motion after the jump:

... The clearest example of this is demonstrated by the evidence with regard to Ernesto Wilson. The government's evidence taken in the light most favorable to the government was that Mr. Wilson participated in a series of store robberies in April 2007. No evidence indicated that Mr. Wilson remained in North Carolina after May of 2007 or that he had any further contact with the other persons that the government alleged were members of the conspiracy in this case. Nevertheless, Mr. Wilson was found responsible for conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, interference with commerce by threats or violence and multiple acts of bank fraud. The government's evidence established that none of these acts occurred before the spring of 2008 and in the case of the Smith Homes shooting — which may have been found to be the attempted murder predicate act — occurred as late as August 2011, more than four years after Mr. Wilson left North Carolina. As a consequence, the jury must have completed the predicate act portion of the verdict sheet by holding Mr. Wilson responsible for any act they attributed to the enterprise. This enterprise approach to completing the verdict sheet is the very area about which the jury presented a question to the court several hours before they returned its verdict.

The same problems exist with respect to defendants Cornell and Kilfoil. With the jury completing the predicate act portion of the verdict sheet by assessing those acts engaged in by the enterprise rather than the individual, it cannot be determined that the jury found that Mr. Cornell's or Mr. Kilfoil's participation in the conspiracy embraced the particular predicate acts found by the jury.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Gabby Oglesby (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) and Morgan King (Teachey, N.C./New Hanover) enjoyed their second double-doubles of the season in Guilford’s 54-50 road win over Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)-foe Virginia Wesleyan College Saturday. The game was tied at 50 when the Marlins’ Sarah Seipp made a clutch three-pointer with 47 seconds on ...Read the Rest...

We now have elected the commander-in-chief who has nothing to lose, so as a result of his arrogance President Obama now has assumed “king like” powers.  He is now choosing gridlock, exacerbated by his penchant for flying around the county in full campaign mode to sell his case to the unions, or play golf with [...]

According to a recent news story reported by the Dallas-Fort Worth local CBS news station, plastic surgery is becoming the latest mother-daughter pastime. Entitled “Mothers & Daughters Bonding Over Beauty,” and filed under the “Health” section, the article highlights a not-so-pretty reality about the growing popularity of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is a fairly controversial [...]