Our coverage of the ongoing debate over comments made on talk radio in May by Alamance County Commissioner Tim Sutton continues to draw comments both via email, by telephone or just when I bump into readers while out in the community. And a column I wrote about the most recent incident earlier this week has drawn more comment from readers than anything issue-oriented I’ve written in my four years back in this area.
I was surprised to find that most of the response I’ve received about the column has been positive. The ones critical of the column itself say that it doesn’t give Sutton’s antagonist Michael Graves enough credit for his role in making this situation a bad one for our community. A previous column I wrote on this matter did so. The point I was trying to make in Wednesday’s column was that the parking lot imbrogilio after Monday’s county commissioners meeting didn’t have to happen. Graves was trying to leave the building without comment and Sutton pursued him and baited him into the eventual confrontation. Graves took the bait and shouldn’t have.
This truly didn’t have to happen and it’s a shame when elected leaders act this way.
Here are some of responses from folks in the community.
Dear Sir
I am disappointed that this paper continues to cover the issues of Mr Sutton’s comment .This paper and you sir are guilty of allowing this to escalate into a distraction from all other issues . I suspect all parties were guilty of trying to incite or inflame this and by blow by blow coverage I think the paper just holds the matches.
I wrote back to this reader and explained that inflaming such a touchy matter was not our intent and that the story is largely of interest because it involves an elected local government leader. That by itself makes it news we have to cover or be open to criticism of hiding such actions. Our role in covering the county is to tell people what’s going on and let them make their own judgments. Frankly, we wish this story didn’t even exist and that there would be widespread harmony in our county. I also asked the reader if he wanted to publish his comments in the Open Forum.
He wrote back and said he was reassured by my comments. He also felt the community should devote energies to more pertinent problems.
While I agree that economic and other problems are critical, race relations is a significant social issue that has to be addressed. Michael Graves isn’t the only voice speaking about this issue. People can’t let that individual political issue between Sutton and Graves overshadow what seems to be a major concern among many Alamance County residents.
Here’s another criticism from a Graham reader.
Stir gently to keep pot simmering!
You could have added the word “sneers” to Michael Graves also. This word does seem to stand out more so than “rallies for black causes”. Everyone knows there is no love lost between these two and as for Eddie Shoe he’s against anyone that works for, or is in an elected official in Alamance County. I’ll agree with the fact that Tim Sutton should never have gotten on the elevator with these two people already on it. Both of them are always just looking for trouble especially with Tim Sutton. Eddie Shoe would argue with a stick. I am sorry all of this is being kept in the news as none of it is newsworthy.
But the vast majority were like this.
From a Burlington reader …
“Good column this morning. I think you hit it on the head. He wanted a confrontation. I watched High Point TV news and they played that tape over and over last night …. caught (Sutton) at his very “best”
From an Elon reader …
“Great column today about Tim Sutton and company.”
From an Eli Whitney reader …
“I thought your column today was on the mark. Our public officials need to act better than that.”
And this reader added,
“If you put Tim Sutton and Michael Graves in a room they would annhiliate each other. If we would stop giving them air time they would go away.”
From a Burlington reader …
“Your column today was on point.”
From a Burlington reader.
“I liked your column today but I hate this for our community. Imagine someone reading about this from outside our area. What must they think?”
MY TAKE: That final comment raises a point that concerns many in the area. A community with leaders who conduct themselves in such a way doesn’t look like one ready to be an economic player when compared with others on the interstate corridor. We have to find a way to honestly and professionally talk about issues in our area.
That would always be my goal.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I would only argue with a stick after considering the intent of who was holding it. (If it were being held)
If LEO , an enemy,or a mugger were holding it, for example,, I would call the stick by all the good manes I could think of.
I say a stick, on it’s on is fair game!
what did eddie do but get on a elevator and take out his camera when he saw somethign interesting or newsworthy like millions of other people do and have done, so why attack him?
what did i do but after several attempts to walk away decide that his ole blue eyed threat was to much and responded back.
what would you do after being yelled at, poked, bumped, spit on and pointed at like a child by an adult with his face contorted by hate that revealed who he truly is?
why has nobody confronted him from doing this before, AS HE HAS BEFORE and not with me!.
why do you think it is acceptable for a elected offical to act like this, AS HE HAS BEFORE and not with me!
what would have been the headlines if i acted like tim sutton and what would be your opinion of me?
to answer those questions requires a mirror and if you dont like what you see then you should ask yourself some more pertinent questions.
it has been in history that those who stand up for themselves or go against what or who is popular is called a trouble maker or agitator. why is it because somebody that has the courage to say enough, you have a problem with them. maybe the problem is with yourself, maybe the problem is with the status quo but the problem is not with eddie or myself.
i have had several calls of support and more and more people are calling to sign the petitions but it matters not to me if nobody supported me or if no calls came to me in a positive way because by some readers defintion i am a agitator and a troublemaker, but you know what in this county, that is not a bad thing.
You never know when a stick might be a snake. My spouse saw a copperhead in Joe Davidson Park last week. Always pays to tread carefully no matter what forum you may be attending.
Just found this eye witness account…………..
http://www.marcusorr.com/commissioners-meeting-confrontation
stick may be a snake…lol…..good one
ok…mr. orr says i have been going to our local county republican meetings….okkkkkkk…i have worked on some campaighns, i assume republicans….okkkkkk….i know that i have been topic for discussion, because of my outspokeness, by many republicans attending the meetings, and not favorably i might add.
now mr. orr was he on the elevator from beginning to end…ahhh no..only eddie was outside of tim and i. so he wants the county to beleive i just started to yell idiot for no reason at all. ok…well at least you know he did threaten me mr. orr or are you going to explain that away as a reference to frankie s.
mrs. joyce we get it you dont like me and oh well thats ok thats between you and Jesus…but you are trying to hard to discredit me…i knew this was going to happen this is how it works discredit the person when your have no defense of the actions or subject matter. please it was to predictable that is pre civil rights 101…mrs. joyce try something else, new and inventive…
madison i must sign off on this blog for now, just this blog and just for now folks because i am not going anywhere me physically or my opinions. why i am signing off because i have said enough on this new one and again nothing i can say or eddie can say or anybody, fair, balance, reasonable, and factual can say to assuage my most ardent distractors.
however i would never want to put myself in the shoes of an abused woman because my situation is no where as serious as that, no not 1/1000…but now i know how the attacked being attacked again feels.
“Just found this eye witness account…………..
http://www.marcusorr.com/commissioners-meeting-confrontation”
Shouldn’t that be,”Eyewitness account of what happened outside”?
sorry madison last post…i just got off the phone and somebody told me who joyce is, they were reading these post and called me…now i can understand her zest and zell to get this situation turned around to make me look bad…
i guess somebody who post things that are so incorrect about our president just because it is obvious she has a problem with him, because nobody would post unfounding bias rhetoric about a person purley because they do not like him and wants to discredit him…or would they.
joyce, i now feel honored that along with the president of the united staes of america, a ivy league educated man,(oh yeah why do peopel hate when you say that you are educated, i noticed that wa sin mark piece and it comes up often, so why is it a problem when certian people say they are educated if it is true whats the problem), president of the harvard law review. accomplished author, self made multi millionaire, constitutional lawyer, great farther to his children(can you beleive that) and a little position that he now holds, leader of the free world.
if you can post the stuff you have posted in the past about him to discredit him i feel o so honored that you now have your scope set on me…but then again you have for such a long time on another blog.
but as i pointed out over there that your information had not been vetted and when i gave you sources to disapprove you and your fox news(entertianment) like attacks you got mad and start attackign me. as did your husband when he made attacks against our president, but he did make admens on wbag when i called him out.
yes i attacked back with as much zell if not more so then you but i did it backed up with facts which are not important to you…and now because of that, for a situation you did not witness and have no first hand account except of eddie shoe who you discount because its not the facts that coincide with your opinion of either parties(timmy,positive and me, negative), you attack again.
again what is going on now in alamance county has not happened before but should have taken place a long time ago.
there is discussion however hateful it may be, which is making some people realize that what they thought was dead and buried lives inside many citizens of alamance county, including those sworn to represent all.
I want this to cool down from here. This is not a chat room or wide-open forum. Keep debate on topic. Personal items or personalities need to check it at the entrance. I appreciate cooperation on this. I like for people to talk about issues or points in posts. But I will delete comments that veer afield.
Again, I appreciate all the people who are reading and commenting. Thanks again.
Madison, I had to leave Harry’s forum because of repeated personal attacks against me by Graves. I think it is time I do the same here also. No problem.
I am hoping that won’t be the case here. People should be able to disagree but stay away from personalities or anything else off the subject. I admit, I stay out of commenting forums for the most part in all my online cruising. I’ll do my best to monitor things — but I’m not awake 24 hours a day — pretty close, but not quite 24 hours.