The Monday e-mailbag: Forum leftovers and remembering a pioneer
May 5th, 2008, 3:33 pm · Post a Comment · posted by madisontaylor
A couple of readers popped in with comments over the weekend. Now I’ll spread some of the credit where it’s due.
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And at the end I’ll tack on a letter to the editor with a timely message for drivers. I couldn’t post it as a letter because the reader didn’t want a name used. It’s a shame because there’s nothing in this letter that’s in the least bit embarrassing.
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On with the show …
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Got this message Sunday night from Jeff Tudor of Graham who wanted to talk about the candidates forum we co-hosted with WPCM radio last week. He was also commenting on about it published in the print edition Sunday.
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I had been meaning to contact the Times-News to congratulate and thank you for the commissioner candidates forum this past Tuesday night. Your column in Sunday’s paper gave me a contact person.
My wife and I are lifelong residents of North Carolina, but have lived in Alamance County only about four years and knew little about the commissioner candidates. The weekend before, we had been discussing taking advantage of early voting and I had expressed my concern about voting with any confidence for any commissioner candidate. Then, I saw an article in the Times-News about the forum and we knew we had to go.
This forum was a terrific public service. I expected more people to be there Tuesday night, but the radio broadcast surely reached many more. I agree with you that the evening would have been better without those few candidates for other offices making speeches instead asking questions, but I was still very pleas ed to have had this opportunity to listen and learn.
I voted on Thursday and my wife on Friday. That’s two fewer people for the poll workers to deal with on May 6.
One other thing - I’m glad to see that you have kept the mutual fund quotes in the paper, but I have questions about the first column heading for the quotes. Every day it reads “3 year return” even though the key to the table says Tuesday is 4 wks, Wednesday is 12 months, etc.
Looking forward to the “tweaked” forum for the general election. Thanks again.
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This is the kind of response we were hoping to see from the forum, which included candidates for the Alamance County Board of Commissioners and those for and against liquor by the drink in Graham. I want to thank the Tudors for taking advantage as others did last Tuesday.
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The credit for putting on the show goes to several people. Bill Whitley, John Brockwell and Byron Tucker of WPCM played huge roles as did Times-News city editor Brent Lancaster. While the newspaper had hosted similar forums before, we hadn’t done so with the radio station. We enjoyed the partnership and hope they did too. Brent’s experience with forums was a key to our success and I thank him.
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The idea for a mixed media forum actually originated with John who contacted me last fall about doing a forum during the elections for city council and mayor. By the time John and I hooked up it was too late for the city races but I promised we’d work together in 2008. I called John in April and we began to set things up.
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I, too, look forward to the fall.
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The next message had nothing to do with elections but about remembering a respected leader in the community who passed away. In this case, Anita Bryant.
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Thank you Madison for the beautiful article on Mrs. Bryant, it was not hard to do because she was such a kind and beautiful lady, thank you so much.
Delacie Jacobs
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I sent thanks back to Ms. Jacobs, of Burlington, on this one. When we found out that Mrs. Bryant, the matriarch of Hargett and Bryant Funeral Home, had passed way we wanted to do a story about it. Mrs. Bryant was a pioneer in Alamance County and among the first black women in business. In life, however, Mrs. Bryant was modest and never wanted a story done about herself — even though we tried. When she died, we had very little information in our archives about her and no obituary was immediately available from the funeral home.
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Ms. Jacobs contacted us asking why there was no story right away. I explained our situation and she agreed to take be interviewed. When the family supplied more information we were able to put together remembrance of this important woman</a> in our area. Ms. Jacobs in no small way helped make it happen. Our reporter Isaac Groves wrote a great story. Sadly, we’re losing Isaac this month as he leaves for greener pastures.
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Readers like Ms. Jacobs are critical to the work we do every day. We hope our readers will contact us and participate in the stories we do.
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Thanks again.
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And here’s the letter to the editor as promised. The reader is from Southern Alamance County.
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Here it goes …
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Like many of you, within the last week I have been through a random license check and have passed a parked patrolman checking speeds via RADAR. As you know, such practices are not uncommon. The local police department, the sheriff’s office, and the Highway Patrol all conduct these types of checks. My concern is with the average citizen. I’m not sure how the tradition of blinking your headlights at oncoming traffic to warn of a speed trap ahead began, but it is something that we all need to think about.
Years ago it was done out of common courtesy for your fellow motorists, and for the most part this is still true today. However, times have changed. Years ago we didn’t have terrorism or gang activity to worry us to the degree it does today. Crime is rampant. Reports of robbery, drunken driving, illegal drug trafficking, assault, murder and illegal immigration flood our televisions and newspapers. When we send out a warning signal by blinking our headlights, we could unwittingly be aiding and abetting a criminal in his or her escape by giving them time to turn around and avoid capture.
All that I am asking is that we, the proud citizens of this great and blessed country, give this practice careful consideration and allow our fine men and women in uniform the opportunity to do their jobs in trying to keep us safe. So the next time you go through a license check or a speed trap, please “Think Before You Blink.” It could make a difference in getting a dangerous person off the streets … and after all, if I am speeding, I probably deserve a ticket anyway.
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I hope this reader reconsiders supplying a name for publication. I love letters to the editor and personally think we can’t print enough of them.
