Madison Taylor

When I read Alamance County Commissioners comments from a Monday meeting I couldn’t help but begin to muse over the bedrock conservative getting in touch with his inner child of the ’60s.

—-

In the Moment of Irony Department we have this one from a meeting this week of the Alamance County Board of Commissioners: Bill Lashley, promoter of peace and harmony.

How very … 1960s, even age of Aquarius.

Indeed, it was Lashley, one of the most prolific public political pugilists currently working the local arena, who made the most remarkable statement Monday morning during a continuing debate over whether to appoint Scott Zienty to the county’s Human Relations Council. After describing Zienty as a “radical leftist” Lashley continued: “We don’t need people like that stirring the pot. We need people who get along in this country.”

Ahem.

Excuse us, but over the past several years it has been Lashley himself who has often proven difficult to get along with, frequently shifting into strident and sometimes vicious debate when confronted by those who oppose him. He’s particularly hostile when it comes to the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education or others representing education interests. And in a notable exchange a few years back, he got into a near-altercation with a member of the Hispanic rights group, Fairness Alamance, immediately after a meeting of the commissioners.

So it seems the commissioner can only get along with those who agree with him. Everyone else is some kind of agitator stirring the pot.

While we could give two shucks about who is appointed to the Human Relations Council — or for that matter any other advisory board — outside of whether it’s done fairly or by established rules, we are intrigued by Lashley’s rather surprising peacenik call for harmonious debate.

Perhaps Lashley and others of contrary dispositions in politics can shift the moon into the seventh house and find that oh-so-elusive time when Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Then, of course, peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars.

That’s how the song goes, anyway.

A look at last month’s good, bad and ugly in the ol’ emailbag. As usual, our readers let us know when something is a tad askew — or hits the target.

As usual, both are appreciated.

The first item comes from David Scott of Mebane and was actually about something published in our weekly Ups and Downs editorial on Dec. 1.

Here goes.

 As usual I read with passing interest today’s Ups & Downs; I appreciate your mentioning again Eddie Harris’ passing. Eddie was certainly a positive force to be reckoned with in all areas of High School bands. But there is one small mistake in your mention of Eddie; he did not start the band program in the Western school zone. Admittedly, he took a struggling program and made it great, but we did have a band before Eddie’s arrival. The band began the first year the schools were consolidated, 1962-63. We actually marched in the both the Graham and Burlington Christmas parades in December of 1963; I have video footage of the Graham parade. My dad took the old 8mm movies because I was the drum major. My main competition for the job was a trumpet player; I overheard the director saying that they needed the trumpet in the band much worse than they did my poor clarinet, so, by default, I was the first drum major. This became a bragging point when Eddie made Western one of the best bands in the state. Now-we don’t need any correction: for all intents and purposes Eddie really did start the band program for real in the Western zone. I just wanted you to know that a long time reader was still reading the Times News.

Keep up the good work.

 MY TAKE: It’s nice to get such a positive note that points out an inaccuracy. I will mention this in the next edition of Ups and Downs on Dec. 8, even though Mr. Scott didn’t ask for a correction. We should clear the record whenever possible. And thanks to Mr. Scott for his kind words.

 Going to school on athletics

 And I got a nice note the following day from Jim Jensen who lives at Twin Lakes and is a member of our Reader Advisory Board. He had this to say about my Dec. 2 column, “Let us count the symptoms” about the problems within college athletics these days.

I always enjoy your Sunday columns, which are well-written and carefully crafted to steer a non-partisan middle course.  … But I particularly liked your December 2 piece, which took a strong position on a subject of consternation to both of us. I, too, am nonplussed by what’s happening to college sports. It’s been a sad situation for a very long time, but the pace of courting money seems to have picked up. How can anyone maintain loyalty to a conference and traditional rivalries when so many schools switch allegiances so quickly? Who can keep track of where each school belongs, and perhaps who cares? How can Boise State be considered an eastern school? When Iwent to the University of Illinois, we were still pretty close to the days of sports being extra-curricular activities, as you note. When a high school star was lauded in the press, folks sort of hoped he’d come to Illinois. Perhaps there was a bit of coach recruiting; I’m not sure. But it was certainly different.

Thanks for a fine analysis and a welcome column.

MY TAKE: I had great feedback about this particular column, in which I listed all of the more questionable current events in college athletics today. And I never even got around to basketball and the sorry state of non-stop “one-and-done” non-student athletes on campuses such as the University of Kentucky.

It truly makes my heart ache.

Out of our error, something good sprouts

Our editor emeritus Don Bolden gave me some information after reading my column of Nov. 25, ‘Sometimes we still make a difference.”

 Hi Madison

Good column Sunday. A footnote I heard yesterday if you will. Remember that the paper reported initially that First Baptist would serve Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday? Then the correction? Well, an anonymous member of the church feared some would show up anyway, so for all those who did — and several did come — they were given a coupon that allowed them to go to K&W for a free turkey dinner.

 MY TAKE: I wish I had known about this when writing the column on the day after Thanksgiving. But I was very gratified that someone had made a positive out of our mistake — which was made because we checked a web site and not an actual person when supplying information in print. Our wrong made a tremendous right. Glad to have great citizens in our community.

 Election continues to rankle

 A letter we published about the election outcome truly made reader John Kemp unhappy.

 Madison,

The Times News published a letter from Judy Gunderson in yesterday’s edition. This letter is about as mean spirited as I can imagine! And that your paper published it is highly outrageous! The office of the president of the U.S. intrinsically demands the respect of its citizens. This letter offered zero respect for the office. Beyond that, it greatly denigrated the office. There is no excuse for that.

I must say that I suffered greatly at the election and re-election of Bush II, but in neither unfortunate case did I remotely consider such a despicable attack as this!

Truly repugnantly disgusting, and the Times-News ought to be quite ashamed.

I am truly outraged!

 MY TAKE:The tone of letter writing in this presidential campaign was truly awful. I tend to err on the side of keeping the doors open to both side on the political aisle. I may not do so going forward.

 Nifty 90s is, well, nifty

And one writer paused to thank Charity Apple in our lifestyles department for her feature “Nifty 90s”, in which we offer a happy birthday to those over the age of 90 in our community. We’ve done it for a few years now, and it’s a feature readers seem to like.

 … Thanks for placing Harold’s name in the paper. He is excited not only of celebrating another birthday but the honor of seeing his name in the paper. This is a very special service you provide for these senior adults. It doesn’t take much to make them happy, particularly at Harold’s age!

Hope you and your loved ones have a Merry Christmas!

 MY TAKE: This was an idea of Charity’s and a good one. We will continue to do it.

 The last word

 Got a note from our former publisher Steve Buckley after my column about our frustration with wire coverage on the Benghazi incident. The column was headlined, “Bewilderment and Benghazi.”

Madison:

Your column hits at some serious issues that threaten mainstream media. The bias has become apparent to people who have access to the Internet. When people can access facts (such as the excellent WaPo column about Benghazi) and either don’t see them or see them glossed over in he MSM, the question the credibility of the media.

I still haven’t seen much coverage of why Obama lied to the UN and Susan Rice lied to all the networks about the attack. The only thing I have seen or read with any regularity is that Obama is offended that someone would question him about it.

The AP not only doesn’t have the staff it used to enjoy but also it doesn’t have the objectivity it used to treasure. For an example, read the questions they asked in their “survey” about racism.

I have gotten to the point that I watch CNN and Fox News. I have given up on network news. I also rely more on web sites that I ever imagined I would.

The media that survive the web and cable onslaught long term will be those that regain their balance and objectivity.

 MY TAKE: A month or so ago we were getting a lot of telephone calls from readers angry because of an overall lack of coverage of the killings in Libya, an incident that left a trail of troubling questions about the CIA and the Obama administration. Fox News was pounding a mighty drum about it — and still is.

And it’s still not being covered properly by the major wire services.

A year ago at this time our building on South Main Street was the site for a corporate seminar about social media that included all of the newspapers Freedom Communications, Inc. owned in North Carolina. Experts in using Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, etc. landed in Burlington from the company’s larger newspapers in Orange, County, Calif. and Colorado Springs, Colo.

Their message: Get on board or get run over. Social media is where reporting news will go over the next months and years.

A lot has changed over the past 12 months.

First and foremost, we’re no longer owned by Freedom Communications, Inc. The North Carolina and Florida Freedom sites were bought by Halifax Media Group in July. What used to be Freedom Communications really is no more.

Since then, social media has shifted to the back seat when it comes to our growth goals. We’re still doing social media — and are encouraged in that direction, but it’s not a mandate at the moment. Right now getting problems with our website, www.thetimesnews.com sorted out is priority one. As part of our corporate changeover, we had to remove ourselves from Freedom’s servers. That meant setting up a new website from scratch.

And most of our customers know that’s come with some birthing pains. Several website features are still not available. Our mobile availability, for example, is hit or miss. Our archives are simply not there yet. Some things customers want to use aren’t activated.  And the feeds to Twitter simply aren’t working. Perhaps most frustrating for smart phone users, links to Twitter and Facebook often come up as nonexistent.

Our tech troubleshooters keep assuring us that these problems are being addressed. But I also know that customers are frustrated. Many have been very patient to date, but I can tell the patience is wearing thin.

Mine, too.

Believe me when I say that we hope to have our website issues resolved ASAP. Then we’ll start turning our attention to social media again. I’ve continued to post on Twitter and Facebook, but not with the frequency I would like. The same is true of our reporters and photographers. We also have a few new staffers still to be introduced to Twitter.

But we’ll get there. The one thing that hasn’t changed over the past year is the belief that many are getting news via social media. We need to be there.

 Reading truly is fundamental

 Speaking of social media I was reminded of the dangers involved just this week. This time, though, it’s not about sloppy writing, but sloppy reading.

In this case, my own sloppy reading — and perhaps a few others.

A longtime friend of mine’s father posted the following status on Facebook this week:

 I have a confession to make. For more than 40 years I have been engaged in a marital affair. Some of my closest friends have been aware of this, but for some reason today I feel compelled to come clean and let everyone know. My paramour and I have traveled together, generally staying at out-of-the-way places where we were not known to locals. Occasionally she has accompanied me to tennis tournaments, and I am grateful to my fellow officials for keeping the matter quiet. My sons are already aware of this situation. That’s really all I have to say about this. I am asking that you respect our privacy as we work though this.

 I read this once, then I read it again.. Then I read it a third time.

Had to be a joke, right?

A read it a fourth time, but failed to see the punch line.

So I thought it could be for real, which I believed marked another weird line of confession for social media. But I wasn’t sure. The author in this case is someone I know to be very precise with words.

Quickly the post disappeared and was replaced by this:

 I have been asked by my first wife to remove the previous post.

 And that was it.

Instead of contacting my friend to offer support, I took the message to someone else for a second opinion. Surely I was missing something.

And I was. It was pointed out that the author clearly wrote “marital” affair, not extramarital. It looked to be an apparent joke aimed at the ongoing debacle involving former CIA director David Patraeus as well as an Army general.

And I read right through it five times at least.

The second post didn’t help much either. I initially made the faulty assumption that the facts of the first post led to dissolution of the first and only marriage. That is not the case at all. He wrote “first wife” I saw ex wife.

Sigh. I can read better than this.

It reminded me, though, of how often I speak to people who misread things that seem abundantly clear. And in a world where there seems to be an increasing need to mislead or obfuscate for reasons of humor, sales, politics or whatever, understanding every word has never been more important.

Lesson, hopefully, learned.

There used to be a great alternative band in the 1980s called The Replacements. Most of thet time, they were kick ass — pardon the expression. But every so often, they would take the stage and proceed to stink on ice. The band members on those nights were so wasted they often couldn’t finish songs. An audience truly never knew what it might get at a Replacements show.

But most of the time, they were unbelievable.

The replacement referees now creating consternation for fans of the NFL — and indigestion for owners — have one thing in common with The Replacements: Those watching — and participating — in games never know what might occur when those guys are on the field. That makes watching the games sort of dramatic and sometimes hilarious – but never, ever outstanding.

The nadir, of course, was this past weekend when a series of horrid calls perhaps influenced the outcomes of a few games. On Monday night it crashed into the season’s lowest point when the final play of the game involving Green Bay and Seattle determined the outcome, and the call was not just blown, but in miserable and landmark fashion ensuring ESPN hand-wringing for at least a month. And no one really wants that, do they?

Anyway, the players, fans and media began screaming for the professional referees and the league to reach a settlement in a labor dispute that has kept the real refs off the field all season — something the two sides apparently accomplished late Wednesday night.

Needless to say,editorial cartoonists have had a field day. Here are some of the better ones.

 
From Cam Cardow of the Ottawa Citizen. See, it’s even big news in Canada.
 

John Cole of the Scranton, Pa. Times Tribune.

Rick McKee from the Augusta Chronicle.

Nate Beeler with the Columbus Dispatch offering a dig at the media, presidential candidates and the NFL replacement refs.

Jeff Parker of Florida Today.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll leave the replacement ref situation with this old song by the Replacements. One lyric sums it up well. “One foot in the door, the other in the gutter.”

Sounds about right.

In the business we call them promos, reefers (I know) or teasers. On the front page a promo constitutes a visual statement meant to lure readers to other sections of the newspaper. They should be interesting, appealing or dramatic. Cool works too.

Today The Record in Stockton, Calif. went the extra mile when it came to promoting sports. It put together a promo package at the top of the newspaper with photos of all teams still in the NCAA Tournament — the Sweet 16. Very nice — and an example of what can be done with three more hours than east coast newspapers have. Saw this on the Newseum site and had to share it.

Of local interest, note C.J. Leslie of N.C. State and John Henson of UNC.

Our Thanksgiving Day inserts photographed on Tuesday morning. One final package still needs to be added.

State of Journalism, Case Study 1-DCF-7889-X: Today we spent 10 minutes at our weekly department head meeting discussing … a disco ball.

Yes, and it not only wasn’t a waste of time, it was appropriate.

As it turns out, our circulation manager — in some circles today that’s called “audience development director” — is bringing a new sales strategy to the Times-News specifically for our Thanksgiving Day newspaper. We’re not only placing our street hawkers around town to sell our most popular paper of the year the way we do on Sundays, we also plan to sell the Times-News hot off the press on Wednesday night. Cost for all single copies is $1.25.

That’s right, hot off the press people can come by our office on South Main Street in beautifully decorated downtown Burlington and purchase a newspaper from 10 p.m. to midnight Wednesday outside one of our doors. It will be a whopper of a newspaper with 40 news pages and a record 42 advertising circulars for people interested in Black Friday shopping. I’m not kidding myself about that day’s paper. Folks love the ads stuffed inside, which from my perspective is great. Getting people to see  the paper is the first step toward getting them to perhaps subscribe to it. This can’t hurt.

And there are a bunch of ads for those who do their Black Friday plotting in advance. For the sake of comparison, we had a pretty good year with advertising inserts a year ago and had 31. As an added (no pun intended) feature we will also have an advertising post-it note on the front page.

 Todd Benz is the person responsible for the idea of selling our papers right off the press. Todd is calling it a “Moonlight Madness” sale and said it was a major winner for his former newspaper in Anderson, S.C. Todd is hoping to set up a tent at one of our doors (either the front or one on the side in our parking lot. It will be decorated with Christmas lights — and the disco ball, of course.

 Look for it and stop by.

And dancing is not required.