Heroes And Villans | Madison Taylor

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Culture of violence: We’re all part of the equation

December 18th, 2012, 8:59 am by madisontaylor

Over the weekend the internet and cable TV roiled like a flooded river as the events of Newtown, Conn., truly began to sink in across the nation. It was an awful two days of high emotion, sorrow, misinformation, anger and anguish.

First, the purely political began the job of assigning immediate blame. That’s what the purely political do. Then once blame is fairly or unfairly assigned, those on the opposing side immediately launch the inevitable counterpoint.

That part is all too predictable but easily avoidable to those who truly wish to do so.

Most hunkered down, hugged their kids, talked to friends and neighbors or ultimately reflected in prayer or some other form of comforting meditation. People searched for what little they could do to provide comfort for our brethren in the community of Newtown. The vast majority, though, simply felt helpless and damned mad about it.

This idea of societal blame for the actions of a mentally disturbed 20-year-old who took a load of weapons into an elementary school and murdered 26 people, 20 of them 6 and 7 year old children, is one that continues to yank at the collective mind of the nation. We have far too many of these random massacres. The names of the sites are even better known than the shooters: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Aurora, Milwaukee . . .

The shout for stricter gun control follows every single one, particularly those where assault weapons are used. The pro-gun groups predictably and rightly point out that the actions of maniacs could be carried out by dozens of other means. Tim McVeigh is their poster boy. He developed a bomb by using common fertilizer. It was a well-planned act of political terrorism.

What the pro-gun groups swallow whole and bury deep, is the fact that assault weapons provide a quick and efficient way for those of limited capabilities to do the most damage. Few deranged people can build a bomb, but nearly all can pull the trigger of an automatic weapon and commit unspeakable harm.

So yeah, we need to make those things harder to get.

But it’s far more complicated than that.

Gun-control legislation won’t make such incidents go away. What it would do is make carrying out these acts more difficult. But end public massacres? Not a chance.

The violence in our culture is a complicated equation made up of several things neither the government nor the public want to address. The sad truth is, the violence in our culture is directly linked to failures by our most powerful institutions.

Guns are a part of that equation and a big part. But so is pervasive mental illness. Political leaders have made a hobby of cutting services in that area. The mentally disturbed and their family members aren’t a very powerful lobby. They don’t make huge campaign contributions. As a result, politicians make a habit of ignoring mental health in hopes the people impacted will all go away.

Our society pays a price for it again and again.

Easily accessible guns combined with the mentally disturbed already form a deadly sum. Toss in a culture of violence percolated through saturation coverage by media of all description — print included — and the mathematical breaking point seems obvious.

I thought a lot this weekend about media coverage of the school massacre in Connecticut. I watched on Friday as incorrect information was cavalierly distributed each minute by largely cable TV news, which was then magnified online and through social media. There is no filter anymore. Cable news simply spits things out with very little thought about what’s accurate, fair or ethical. Was it really necessary to interview children on the day of the shootings?

Really?

Was it?

With endless hours of programming to fill, cable news decisions are based on quantity, not quality. Anyone who watched Nancy Grace can attest to it. Hour after hour the reporting continued, even when there was no news to report. All of this, of course, was backed by almost ceaselessly and often ignorant commentary based on the incorrect information being supplied by reporters in the field.

By concentrating on extreme acts of violence to the exclusion of all else, it does become glorified in the mind of someone with a potential to act in order to meet a deranged goal.

While I take some solace in the fact that print media conducts itself better, we’re still not without responsibility for lowering our nation’s culture to a near gutter level.

The news media’s job is to report about major incidents and to do so fairly and factually. But there is a greater responsibility not to sensationalize events or create more harm for those directly involved in such tragedies. And we certainly shouldn’t turn the killers themselves into celebrities.

And all of us in the public, well, at some point we have a responsibility to turn off the TV when the coverage becomes too much. After all, if people aren’t watching, then TV news would change the programming.

It’s how the business works.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Strange but true journalism stories • Why we do things | Post a Comment »

The world is ending … film at 11

July 17th, 2011, 3:05 pm by madisontaylor

Now here’s a reasonable and balanced headline concerning the release from prison of Casey Anthony early, early this morning. For those who have been on vacation for the past couple of years or who have otherwise had normal productive lives, she was once accused of killing her daughter Caylee but was acquitted earlier this month by a jury in Orlando, Fla. Apparently the anger of the public with the jury’s decision will force Casey Anthony to hide from public view for awhile for her own safety.

This is the world we live in. And, of course, the U.S. Murdoch-owned tab meets the lowest possible standard in its Sunday edition.

Thanks Rupert, wherever it is your rock is perched these days. Please feel free to slither out and take responsbility for the phone hacking scandal your former publication created in London.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Strange but true journalism stories • Uncategorized | Post a Comment »

Dealing with history, until it hurts

March 26th, 2011, 8:02 pm by madisontaylor

My print column this week is about the spitstorm kicked up by the proposal to pardon a Reconstruction-era North Carolina governor who was impeached after some actions that involved events in Alamance and Caswell counties in 1870. I’m not sure I’ve done a very good job of expressing myself in this one. 800 or so words weren’t enough — but it’s also likely that 10,000 wouldn’t do the job either. To be clear, anyone who beat back the Klan is hero in my book — but the other political stuff is murky to say the least. And I dread the Civil War issue whenever it comes up — which will be a lot over the next four years. Here goes.

————————–

Managing editor Jay Ashley predicted this would stir up a nest of hornets. And truthfully, I knew it even before he said it.

Unfortunately that doesn’t make me feel any better.

What I’m talking about, of course, is what’s unfolded since a group of state lawmakers decided it would be a good idea to pardon a North Carolina governor impeached during Reconstruction largely for events allegedly involving the Ku Klux Klan that unfolded here in Alamance County and in nearby Caswell County. The lawmakers thought the move would right a horrid political and social wrong. I can’t blame them for thinking so. I would, too.

After all, Gov. William Holden in 1870 sent forces here to quell problems apparently started by the nefarious Klan, if historical accounts can be believed. In retrospect, and taking into account that organization’s well-reported and sourced reign of terror and hatred, Holden’s actions would be considered heroic. That he was removed from office as a result seems like a tone-deaf historical note still vibrating in some land that time forgot.

A pardon, then, seems like a no-brainer.

Today, though, the proposal is in legislative dry dock and may be there for awhile. It was delayed, in part, by what appears to be a high school student at Bartlett Yancey who got the attention of state Sen. Rick Gunn, a Burlington Republican who represents both counties, according to WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

I say in part because what ultimately stalled this measure is not only some differing interpretations of a historic event or even if Holden was affiliated with another group of questionable import known as The Union League. No, it’s about something a whole lot larger. It’s about an inability to deal with our own sad and sometimes shameful history and move on.

BEFORE GOING any further and in the interest of full disclosure let me reveal right here that my great-great grandfather served with the Confederacy in the Civil War. He was a captain who came home to Stokes County after the bloodshed ended and tended to his land and other businesses. He got on with his life. A family member has his sword hanging on a wall in her home. There is a portrait of him in the gray uniform at my mom’s house.

And that’s about all I know. His role in the war is — and never was — a topic of conversation in my lifetime. Largely that’s because it has nothing to do with what’s going on here and now. I never think of the subject, except in times such as this one.

I realize others don’t feel the same way. I can’t say I understand it. I simply know the opposite opinion exists. The war, and particularly the aftermath known as Reconstruction, still drives strong, bitter debate — and emotions.

Gunn heard from a few of them. The Times-News did, too. We published a letter about this subject by Jason Crawford of Elon. I made the decision to print the letter because to simply ignore it would be wrong. It’s an issue in the public domain using documents that cite the view of historians — credible or not — housed at the University of North Carolina. Anyone could look it up.

Sterling Carter, a 17-year-old senior at Bartlett Yancey, sent Gunn an email outlining the Caswell Historical Association’s problems with the bill. The group maintains that Holden exceeded his authority, suspended the rights of citizens and used hired militia from another state to enforce his will. From my perspective, it’s sad that any governor would take such action. It’s sadder still that because of violent events by citizens a governor felt the need to.

Caswell County Historical Association President Karen Oestreicher told WRAL she doesn’t believe the impeachment was racially or politically motivated via pressure from the Klan but punishment for a wrong-headed and dangerous action.

Many state historians disagree.

Gunn thinks the Senate needs to sort out the facts before proceeding further.

Easier said than done. Threading the needle of history means not only finding indisputable facts, but living with them afterward.

AS THE SOUTH plunges into what will be a prolonged 150th anniversary examination of the most tragic segment in the course of American history, it will be helpful to remember that very few unbiased third-party accounts from that time exist. Newspapers throughout the nation had differing opinions about the things that occurred — and some were wildly divergent. The events leading up to the Civil War, actions during and the atrocities that came after are all sorted through a cloudy and highly subjective prism.

No real surprise. Nearly everything in history is open to interpretation anyway — that’s especially so when every man, woman and child in the nation had a stake in the outcome.

Look at it this way: Someone a hundred years or so from now will study what we call current events. They’ll sort through newspaper accounts, Internet screeds, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN archives. What kind of conclusions will be reached?

Five or six different ones would be my guess. How will future generations know which one to choose?

They won’t.

Posted in: Column collection • Heroes and Villans • Politics too complicated for politicians | Post a Comment »

How to lose votes and alienate people

October 11th, 2010, 10:59 am by madisontaylor

Early voting starts on Thursday and for those as sick of politics as I am, it couldn’t come quickly enough. As an aid to voters, I’ve come up with my personal list of how candidates can win — and mostly lose — my vote. Note: Rules are subject to change depending upon circumstances, weather and what program is being pre-empted on TV by candidate infomercials.

Here we go.

1. Under no circumstances should candidates from any party send campaign mailers to my house. The candidate who sends campaign mailers to my home will automatically lose my vote. I do not appreciate having trash arrive via U.S. Mail. If you have campaign mailers to send and simply can’t stop yourself, truck them to a recycling facility.

2. If two candidates in a particular race send campaign mailers to my house, my vote will go to the one who sends the fewest. Right now in the state Senate race between incumbent Democrat Tony Foriest and GOP challenger Rick Gunn both are relentlessly dumping their trash into my mailbox. This one will be a tossup to the end. In case of a tie, I will vote for neither. If the onslaught doesn’t stop, Alamance County will need to build a new landfill sooner than expected. Bill the state Democratic and Republican parties.

3. Do not put a campaign sign in my yard. If I ask for one, fine. But trust me, I ain’t asking for one.

4. Do put campaign signs in the yards of those who actually ask to have them. These signs are totems, in a way, that tell passersby something about the residents. They add a little color as summer green turns to winter brown. and up to Election Day these signs are useful when it comes to giving candidates name recognition or some signal that they actually care about the office they’re seeking. I like candidates who actually care about the office they’re seeking.

5. Do not let those signs stay up more than a week beyond Election Day. Those who do so lose my vote forever. After Election Day these signs are eyesores and public nuisances — not matter how attractive a candidate seems to think they are.

6. Do not tear down a sign from your opponent’s campaign for any reason or authorize your supporters to do so. Supporters who do so on their own should be barred from a candidate’s campaign forever. In the real world this is known as vandalism.

7. Absolutely refrain from going into someone’s yard to tear down the sign of a candidate you do not support. This is considered trespassing — and vandalism. If you then leave behind a sign of a candidate you support, this is considered littering. It’s also in bad taste. My friend Jim Wicker said someone took a sign from his yard and replaced it with a sign backing the other candidate. This is really inexcusable. Grow up people — if indeed that is what you are.

8. Do not call me on the telephone to conduct a poll or seek my vote. Candidates who leave recorded messages that start thusly: “Hi, I’m (insert name of candidate here) and I’d like to …” At this point I always hang up. And the offending candidate loses my vote. A candidate who actually calls might hear a whole lot more.

9. If I have to rise from my recliner during the Wake football game to answer such calls I will not only refrain from voting for that candidate but I won’t shake his or her hand the next time I see them at some unspecified festival, rodeo, car show, bake sale or rattlesnake roundup.

10. Do not knock on my door to pass out campaign information. You are an uninvited guest. Actually, unless you know me, don’t knock on my door at all. Persons who make me get up from my recliner to answer the door causing me to miss any part of a “Seinfeld” rerun or an infomercial about better ways to flatten my stomach automatically lose my vote. This goes double for people seeking to prune my trees, clean my gutters or ask me to attend church services.

11. Do ask for my vote if you see me out in public. This is proper. Candidates who do so should be prepared to answer the question: Why should I?

12. Do participate in public forums and debates. People should see the people they’re voting for in action and under pressure. It often reveals a lot.

13. Do spread your message through TV, newspapers and other media — outlets where people can actually choose to watch, listen or read — or choose not to. Voters who choose to ignore it have every right to do so. That, too, is the American Way.

14. Do get on the ballot. There are multiple chances to do so but it takes some planning and work — two essential components of a successful government official. Politicians who aren’t on the ballot will be forgotten by me on Election Day.

15. Do encourage people to vote, even if they don’t plan on voting for you. It’s the American Way.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Just thinking out loud • Politics too complicated for politicians • Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The descent of a man

June 30th, 2010, 7:22 pm by madisontaylor

I wasn’t in the office more than three minutes Wednesday before someone handed me a note with a anonymous tip.

“Cary Allred was arrested for DWI,” the note, written in red ink, said.

I heaved a sigh and and shook my head. We get tips like that about Allred pretty regularly — which should tell anyone who’s paying attention all they need to know about his reputation these days. The former member of the state House and Senate and one-time county commissioner has plumeted from a person of public power and authority to one of public scorn and ridicule. Some of it happened over the course of the past year. But in truth, it’s been building for much, much longer.

I found out pretty quickly on Wednesday morning that this time — for the first time — the rumor was true. I wasn’t really surprised. Allred was indeed taken into custody on Church Street after 10 p.m. He was hauled downtown, booked and mugged — I had no idea they did the latter for such cases. In the jail photo he wasn’t wearing his ever-present cowboy hat — the one from his most recent campaign ads. He didn’t look like the Cary Allred who used to cut off those who questioned his actions by saying “Do you know who I am?”

My first thought after finding out that he had, indeed been charged with an alcohol-related offense was this: “Can’t the man just stay home?”

A half-dozen other thoughts came to me after that. The overall feeling, though, was one of sadness. Allred himself wouldn’t want to hear it and many might not believe it, but I feel bad for this man who can’t seem to escape himself or learn some basic lessons that any teenager might’ve by now. In many ways his arrest on Tuesday night after visits to the La Fiesta and Ruby Tuesday — both restaurants with bars — was a completely predictable event, even including his response that he had but one beer. An internet wag sent me this message upon reading that line: “Here’s a ‘We Checked it Out’ for the Times-News. How many times has Cary Allred claimed he only had one beer?”

The short answer to that is this: A bunch. No real research required.

Allred also, as usual, claimed to be the victim of harassment by police. This is a recurring pattern. Rather than accept responsbility, Allred usually blames law enforcement, his political adversaries or the media. In fact he told our reporter today that the newspaper uses the actions by police to purposely erode his political support — as if he’s not doing a bang-up job of that on his own.

For Allred things began to fall apart in late May of 2009 when he was forced to resign his House seat after a weird night in the General Assembly in which many of his fellow Republicans said Allred had alcohol on his breath, got into a verbose discussion with House Speaker Joe Hackney, inappropriately kissed a page who was a family friend and boasted that he had beaten a speeding rap after driving more than 100 mph on I-40 (he was later charged). After an investigation by the House Sergeant at Arms, Allred, shunned by House Republicans, resigned on June 1 rather than let the full text of the investigation be made public.

So who knows what’s in that document. It’s not a public record and Allred’s never answered questions about it.

In the years leading up to May, Allred, always a colorful politician who was unafraid to speak his mind, became more bombastic and argumentative. When he called our office discussions began and sometimes still begin with yelling and obscenities before he takes a more professional tone. I just yell right back. On two occasions prior to his re-election in 2008 I saw him in public and thought he might have alcohol on his breath — one was at a forum for candidates in which he parked his car catty-corner to the curb. Witnesses to a confrontation he had with a teacher at Southern Alamance High School that same year said Allred had alcohol on his breath. And on Election Night Allred called his defeated opponent Henry Vines who recorded the conversation. In slurred words Allred berated Vines for running at all.

The past few months couldn’t have been easy for Allred, who had a lot of ego tied up in serving in the legislature, being the most elected Republican in county history, winning elections and, yes, serving his voters. He absolutely craves the spotlight, wants to be seen as important and enjoys throwing that weight around. I’m sure he quietly seethed when people noted the accomplishments of the late “B” Holt last week when his old political colleague and adversary passed away.

Whether Allred was actually driving while impaired or not on Tuesday night will be up to the legal system. I have no idea. I only know the police officer thought there was enough probable cause.

What I do know is that trouble seems to consistently shadow Allred these days and every incident gets a little worse. Speeding, reckless driving and now a DWI. I worry what might be next.

When Allred resigned from the House he noted that he had been working for others for so long that perhaps the time had come to fix some of his own problems. He didn’t elaborate on what those might be — only that some things needed to be addressed.

Apparently they still do.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Politics too complicated for politicians • Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Just answer the questions coach and thanks

April 4th, 2010, 10:08 pm by madisontaylor

This is a story about something that happened a pretty long time ago. It involved a sports writer at the Times-News and a college football coach. The writer in question was the nicest and least-threatening reporter I’ve ever known. Good guy.

Most here in Alamance County today probably wouldn’t remember him because reporters at the local newspaper come and go like downtown restaurants. I can tell you he worked here when I did in the 1980s then moved into the field of public relations. It’s a fine line of work for a nice guy.

Al Groh, far right, with Danny Ford and Bobby Ross in a photo taken during his time as a coach at Wake Forest. Ford was at Clemson during that time and Ross at Maryland.

The football coach in question was Al Groh. He ran things at Wake Forest back then — rather poorly as it turns out when his performance is measured against the man there now, the magical and incomparable Jim Grobe. And Groh had the misfortune of following John Mackovic, who took the Deacons to a bowl game in 1979, the first for the team since 1948.

As it turned out, Al Groh was one of a slew of Wake Forest coaches for whom futility became a steady if unwelcome friend. He authored a run of forgettable seasons from 1981 through 1986. He later wound up running the Virginia football program aground until he was forced where most high-level coaches wind up — the unemployment line.

So it came to pass that on one 1985 or ’86 Saturday afternoon in what used to be known as Groves Stadium, the Deacons trailed by two with time running out. They were driving, though, for what looked to be a potential victory. For Wake Forest, that’s something too rare to be squandered. Everybody in the house knew it. The sports writers were keenly aware of how precious a victory would be. They always are. Sports writers are in the business of keeping score and then explaining it all to folks who couldn’t actually see the game.

With the clock ticking to zeros and the ball resting inside the 20, Wake rushed the field goal unit on the field. They raced to their positions, got the kicking tee in place, the kicker hurriedly took three steps back and two to the side and the center rushed to make the snap to the holder, who had barely taken his position when the ball arrived. As the final whistle sounded, the kicker struck the ball — and, well, shanked it, for lack of a better term.

Tough luck, pure and simple. Except, you see, it wasn’t. One question swirled inside the press box like a persistent housefly. Wake Forest had a timeout, why didn’t they use it to safely set up the potential game-winning kick?

At the postgame press conference not a single writer wanted to be the first to speak. It was a tense time for Groh. His job was already teetering on a cranky precipice. This wasn’t going to help.

After a pause pregnant enough to demand a verbal c-section, our guy in a hesitant tone meekly said, “Sooo, coach, why the quickie field goal?”

Mike Krzyzewski usually makes his points on the court, not with the media, but had a small 'meltdown' a couple of weeks ago.

What happened next, of course, was the obligatory and bellicose public dressing down of a reporter often seen and heard in the world of collegiate athletics. The most recent examples are University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer’s verbal assault on an Orlando Sentinel reporter only guilty of quoting Meyer’s player accurately and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s odd meltdown over the use of the word “meltdown” in a question last week by a reporter to one of his players.

Both of those recent examples were public, recorded for posterity and pugnacious. For Meyer, who may need to rethink coming back from stress-related problems because he obviously still has them, the tirade was a pretty typical bullying tactic used to deal with reporters who have done nothing wrong by a coach who still feels the need to assert his misguided authority. Krzyzewski’s outburst was atypical. Usually, he’s generous with the media. But this time he simply didn’t like the way a question was posed and disingenuously asked the cowed reporter, “What do you mean by meltdown?” Come on, coach, you’re a smart guy, just answer the question. It’s pretty simple really.

Anyway, Groh’s browbeating of our writer was cookie-cutter stuff. It ate about five minutes of time, was laced with expletives, included a line about writers not knowing one thing about coaching football and was an embarrassment for all concerned. Our guy did not nothing wrong. Reporters are obligated to conduct themselves professionally, be courteous and accurate — he hit the trifecta. Coaches should be held to the same standard.

After he finished, Groh surveyed the room and asked if there were anymore questions. A reporter with a much larger paper raised his hand, stood and said, “Coach, we want you to answer his question.”

Like I said, it’s pretty simple really.

Posted in: Column collection • Heroes and Villans • Inside the Times-News • Let's talk sports • Past imperfect • Strange but true journalism stories | Post a Comment »

‘It was over before it started …’

March 4th, 2010, 4:47 pm by madisontaylor

Not long after I moved to Eastern North Carolina in 1992 I was instructed in the correct way to pronounce Duplin County.

My first inclination was all wrong. I tried Dup-lin, emphasizing the duh sound. My new coworkers quickly instructed me differently.

“It’s doo-plin,” they said.

Other than that, though, I didn’t know much about the farming county that borders Onslow County. I learned that Duplin County has a lot of historic sites, is home to legendary historic state leaders, tops the nation in the production of hogs and sweet potatoes, has a pretty fine winery in Rose Hill and is now famous for being the county that ran Willie Nelson out of town.

True story. There’s even a song about it.

Now this last piece of noteworthy Duplin news came in January when country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson — for reasons I’m not too clear on — was booked to play the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville.

Only he never did.

Usually you think of celebrities performing in large venues like the Greensboro Coliseum. Nelson himself has sung in lots of large places during his long and illustrious career. But he’s played plenty of small places, too. When you’re considered an “outlaw,” well, anything goes.

But on Jan. 28, Nelson abruptly cancelled his Kenansville show citing a wrist injury. He did so right there in the parking lot with lots of people arriving to see the band.

Few in Duplin County are buying that story. What most there believe is that Willie took his band and went home after six members of his group were cited on marijuana and possession of non-tax-paid alcohol charges by the state Alcohol Law Enforcement. The ALE boys, were there to help the understaffed Kenansville police. They even had a name for their work that night, “Operation on the Road Again.”

What a lot of Duplin County people think is that the state trapped Nelson and his band because – let’s face it – Willie’s been known to tip back a drink here and there and inhale the weed a time or two.

The case even raised the hackles of state Sen. Charlie Albertson, a Democrat from Beulaville who’s a singer and songwriter in his own right. He’s the front man for the Charlie Albertson Band and his latest recording is called, “Leave the Man Alone.” Albertson, who isn’t not seeking re-election, calls out the ALE and said so as well in a story by our Raleigh reporter Barry Smith. We have audio of Albertson singing the song posted with the story.

The ALE says its agents were just doing their jobs.

But 70-year-old Sylvia Hawes of Rose Hill looks at the matter differently. Hawes told our reporter that no one blames Nelson for pulling out of the concert. “They blame the law enforcement for coming in and trying to play cowboy,” Hawes said.

One of the lines in the song pretty much sums it up, “It was over before it started, the law busted Willie’s band.”

Posted in: Admissions by the author • Heroes and Villans • Past imperfect • Uncategorized | Post a Comment »

Editorial comment

October 2nd, 2009, 6:33 am by madisontaylor

A lot of times when former state lawmaker Cary Allred does or says things I just shake my head, enjoy the moment and move on. Cary himself once asked if I thought him to be “crazy.” No, I told him, merely eccentric.

That said, however, it seemed offensive the other day when Allred compared his driving in a hurry to the legislative building in Raleigh to an emergency responder rushing to an accident scene, place of crime or fire. In fact, it’s not the same thing at all. A state lawmaker has one vote among many — which is true of most in political life. Being 30 minutes late for a session that probably won’t start exactly on time anyway is in no way similar to the work of heroic firefighters, police and paramedics.

It ain’t close.

And besides, when Allred was first cited for driving 102 mph on I-40 he didn’t tell me he was in a rush to vote. Not at all. What he said to me is that he had to gun it because he was in the wrong lane where I-85 and I-40 split.

Anyway, here’s our editorial about Allred’s comment.

————————————————————–

Cary Allred finally went too far.

Well, to be honest, finally is perhaps an exaggeration. After all Allred, a career businessman and politician, has spent most of elected life bouncing back and forth over the line between bullying and determination or common sense and bombast. In that respect he’s the piping plover of politics. Those are the little birds folks see at the beach — the ones that dart with reckless abandon toward the ocean, but when the first wave begins to touch their feet, they race with equal alarm back to higher ground.

Still we had to scratch our heads in amazement this week when Allred — Alamance County’s representative in the state House for nearly two decades before he resigned his seat under duress earlier this year — asked to weigh in once more on what we’ll admit is one of the most tiresome subjects to come down the pike over the last decade. In an attempt to clear up what Allred feels is a misconception, he compared himself to an emergency responder and cited it as a reason for driving 102 mph in a 65 mph zone on I-40/85 while en route to a nighttime session of the General Assembly in April.

Huh?

Yes, Allred told the Times-News that police, firefighters and paramedics “break the speed limit for the public good. What I was trying to do was for the public good.”

Forget that even emergency responders seldom travel at such a high rate of speed. For Allred to compare the work of any single political figure who has one vote among many to the incredible deeds performed daily by heroes who track down criminals, respond to horrific accidents, care for the injured or save our homes from fire is not only a ludicrous statement that indicates a lack of connection to reality but is an insult to those who put their lives on the line to protect and serve ours.

He truly should be ashamed.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Why we do things | Post a Comment »

Cannonsgate, a lovely neighborhood for a former guvnah

September 14th, 2009, 8:14 am by madisontaylor

It’s hard to believe that only now, in 2009 and in the middle of several investigations of former governor Mike Easley and wife Mary, are people really taking a hard look at what has to be one of the most shaky land deals involving a politician in state history — well recent state history anyway.

I’m talking, of course, about Cannonsgate. Never heard of it? Well, it’s a gated waterfront and marina community still under development on the N.C. 24 corridor between Swansboro and Morehead CIty that few outside that particular area seem to know about or recall.

And it’s another sizeable chunk out of whatever now grotesque statue might have been errected in Raleigh to Easley for the pleasure of pigeons still to be born.

The News & Observer last week reported about several anomaies regarding the sale of property at Cannonsgate back in 2005.

At that time I was working at the Jacksonville Daily News but lived in the town of Cape Carteret, which is about three miles from the planned subdivision with lot prices ranging from about $350,000 to nearly $700,000. That’s a lot folks, no dwelling, no structure, no garden shed, no outhouse and I’m not even sure what the water and sewer situation might be down there. Septic systems on the coast are sketchy things, believe me. Still, the fabulous brick entrance went up before any home. Some lots have boat access, some have waterfront access and a few have both.

To the best of my recollection, Easley’s has both.

Everybody in Carteret County knew it was a weird deal but nobody would speak about it on the record — and many still won’t. But lots of people in my neighbrhood discussed the subdivision because it was another sign that property values in our general vicinity were moving into an area beyond way out of control and into simply the realm of shocking. Let’s just say that a many,many people who bought water and ocean front property for pretty cheap back in the 1980s made out like bandits when they unloaded land in Bogue, Pine Knoll Shores, Cape Carteret and Emerald Isle from 2004-2007 — before real estate everywhere went belly up. A guy sold Arrowhead Campground in Salter Path for a cool $10 million and retired to Emerald Isle because he could finally afford it.

But Cannonsgate was even bigger. It was a planned community with a gate house, clubhouse, marina and other amenities that most who owned land once used a trailer parks, did not. That wasn’t too unusual for Carteret County at this time. Lots of MacMansions went up in Harkers Island and other once tranquil locales where mainly local fishermen and farmers lived. It was a shame really. I recall a woman telling me that Carteret County used to be nice but it was turning into the home she ran away from — Long Island, N.Y.

Anyway, many nuts and bolts about the deal for Easley involved some state clearance of regulations for the marina. Then, as the stories go, Easley got a “sweetheart” deal. The Carolina Journal, a publication of the conservative John Locke Foundation, reported this in 2006 — but so did the Charlotte Observer, wihch took the matter much further.

While there was plenty of smoke, a denial by Easley, who was still laughably operating as governor at the time, put out any momentum a political fire might have achieved.

According to the N&O, in June 2005, the Easley administration granted a sewage-treatment permit for Cannonsgate.”Twelve days later, Easley wrote a $5,000 check as a deposit for a choice lot. Easley paid an additional $49,988 check for a down payment in August. In November, the Easleys signed a contract to pay $549,880 for the lot. Three weeks later, at closing, R.A. North gave the Easleys a 25 percent seller’s discount worth $137,470. With that discount, the Easleys paid $412,410 for the lot and walked away from the closing with $135,000 in cash. The deed on file in Carteret County reflected the original sales price of $549,880.”

Now, in 2006, when Carteret County released its new property revaluations, the estimate on Easley’s lot — and this is a plain ol’ lot mind you, not even a driveway could be found there — at just over $1.1 million. That, too, wasn’t unsual for coastal property back then. A similar reval on Topsail Island about that time saw home values go up as much as 800 percent.

So I got a reporter to Easley’s office to find out if he might appeal his tax bill just like anyone else. We got a generic comment and moved on.

While friends of Easley and others connected to the deal defend it as a pretty common real estate transaction, for regular folks that’s hardly the case. Too many people connected to Easley or who received favors from the former governor are involved.

And the N&O story also makes the point that the deal should have been reported by Easley right away. Easley’s an attorney. He knows better.

Would more transparency in government have lifted the veil on this situation? Hard to say. Easley would have to be honest about from the start. And as state and federal investigations unfold, that seems a murky proposition.

Posted in: Heroes and Villans • Just thinking out loud • Politics too complicated for politicians • Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Health care: Fact, fiction or just BS

August 12th, 2009, 1:43 pm by madisontaylor

If you’re like me, sifting through the health care reform garbage is like opening all the Hefty bags stored on top at the county landfill. Who knows what crap you’ll find next.

Everybody, it seems, has some version of the truth or some kind of spin on the proposals at hand. And some politicians or talking suits on TV are — hold on to your hats — just plain liars.

Say it ain’t so!

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida for its online edition came up with PolitiFact. It goes through some of the claims made by Democrats and Republicans concerning health care reform and supplies a true or false detector.