**Update: 1/3/08 – The Winston-Salem Journal is reporting that Blair Carr has been suspended pending termination due to the DWI investigation. They are also reporting that her blood alcohol level was .28 or more than three times the legal limit and she had an open container of alcohol in her car. She has five days to appeal before she’s terminated. I’m still not sure why the paper or WXII didn’t run with this story before the city’s announcement, especially after The Troublemaker broke it. Maybe they couldn’t get the confirmations they needed in order to run the details like the blood alcohol level, but since arrests are public record and her court date was even listed online I would imagine that they could have run a story about Mary Blair Carr being charged with DUI. Maybe my idea of a local story is skewed.**
According to Ben "The Troublemaker" Holder an assistant city attorney for Winston-Salem was arrested for DUI on Reynolda Road on December 22 21. Mary Blair Carr’s court date is set for January 22, 2008. According to Ben’s post she blew a .27 on the breathalyzer, which if true means she was virtually swimming home.
Ben has done a lot of work looking into the ongoing issues with the Greensboro Police Department (a story so complex I couldn’t begin to summarize it here) and before coming to Winston-Salem in March, 07 Ms. Carr was a city attorney in Greensboro who worked on that investigation. Apparently she worked directly with RMA Associates on its investigation of the Greensboro PD and it’s interesting that RMA was recently chosen by Winston-Salem for its investigation of its own police department’s criminal investigation unit.
According to the article announcing Ms. Carr’s move to Winston she was to work on issues related to storm water, solid waste and the coliseum which means that her job description wouldn’t cause one to think she’d be involved in Winston-Salem’s police investigation. Yet according to the article there are only three assistant attorney’s in the city attorney’s office so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a scenario where the attorneys collaborate each other, and it definitely wouldn’t be hard to imagine that she had a hand in the hiring of RMA.
Am I alluding to some sort of conspiracy? Nah. Ms. Carr’s connection to the Greensboro thing has the bloggers over that way who have been covering the story are wondering if she’s a drunk and if that impacted the Greensboro investigation. They also find it curious that the Greensboro News & Record hasn’t covered the story given her background. I find it equally interesting that it hasn’t been covered in the Winston-Salem Journal or on WXII. (If I missed it please let me know). This would seem to be a local interest story for them.
So no conspiracy theory here, but lots of interesting coincidences and a bit of wonder that this story hasn’t hit the local media.
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Befuddled 
Hi, Jon. Hope you’re doing well.
I continue to search for any connection from her arrest to her former job in Greensboro. It feels to me that it is like saying the best way to get from Winston to Greensboro is through Atlanta.
She hasn’t worked in Greensboro for months and when she did, she was hardly a public figure. What’s the news value?
Now, I would think that the Journal would be interested, given that she is employed there now.
Hi John,
Hope you’re well too. We’ve survived Christmas, now we just need to survive New Years and get these kids back in school:)
I think I understand the line of questioning that Guarino in particular is putting forward, which is 1) Does the woman have a drinking problem? and 2) Did it impact her involvement with the whole RMA/Wray thing? I don’t know if you guys ran the story at all, but I would think it would be worth a paragraph or two as simply a point of interest in the whole thing. Still, it’s a news judgment and I don’t think it’s earth shattering either way you go with it. Now if later evidence turns up that there was an ongoing abuse problem with a direct cause and effect clearly drawn with the RMA investigation then I’d say you have a strong connection there, but that hasn’t happened as far as I know.
I’m still not sure why the Journal didn’t run it. I’d think that an assistant city attorney getting pulled for DUI would be a story in any town for any paper or other news outlet.