Category Archives: Forsyth County

Much More Important Than Some Silly Election

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While everyone else is distracted with the not-really-that-important presidential election of 2012, here at the JonLowder.com media center we're concentrating on far more consequential news — the return of 7-Eleven to Forsyth County, and Lewisville in particular. From a somewhat reliable source (the Winston-Salem Journal):

7-Eleven Inc. has returned to Forsyth County and surrounding areas, bringing its Slurpee drinks and Big Bite hot dogs.

The re-entry into the local market after more than 20 years is part of the convenience-store chain’s recent purchase of 13 stores previously operated by Fast Track. Terms of the deal were not disclosed…

Locations of local stores switching to 7-Elevens include 2375 Lewisville Clemmons Road in Clemmons, 1005 S. Main St. in Kernersville, 5076 Styers Ferry Road in Lewisville and 5916 University Parkway in Winston-Salem.

Rebranding of the stores will occur from December through early February.

People, this is far more exciting than the opening of Trader Joe's at Thruway. After all, does TJ have Slurpees? Case closed.

Here's the Lewisville location – I'm sure I'll meet you in line at the grand opening.

 

LiFless

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After an extended period of periodic posting Esbee is pulling the plug on Life in Forsyth. (That's an intentionally terrible sentence written specifically in honor of Esbee's impatience with sub-par writing).  I for one am grateful for the free entertainment and information she provided through the years and I'm also thankful she let us go gently over the last year or two.

She's moving on to far more important things and she's going to be fabulous at them all.

Hurricane Lucy

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If you know Lucy "Esbee" Cash, she of Life in Forsyth fame, you will not be surprised to learn that she's been named Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools' 2012 Judy Mountjoy Volunteer of the Year:

Between Paisley, where her son Leon is a seventh-grader, and Whitaker Elementary School, where her younger son, George, is in the third grade, Cash spends about 20 hours a week as a volunteer. 

All the work that Cash does – and all the care she shows for students and teachers along the way – prompted the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Council of PTAs to give Cash its 2012 Judy Mountjoy Volunteer of the Year Award last night. Established in 2000, the award is named for a former teacher and guidance counselor who has devoted countless hours as a volunteer.

It feels odd to be honored for doing something that’s so satisfying, Cash said. “I genuinely enjoy it.” 

If you've ever met Lucy you'll also not be surprised by these quotes from other volunteers:

“She has a lot of energy, and she is here all the time, no matter what,” said fellow volunteer Brierley Ash.

“If the teacher needs something, she’s going to figure out a way to get it done,” said Deena Dreyfuss, a Paisley volunteer who nominated Cash for the award. “She is here so much, she gets to know the kids. So many kids come up to her. She says, ‘How did you do on that math test?’”

Those of you who may have been wondering why her blogging at Life in Forsyth has been less prolific of late I think you have your answer as to why.

Well deserved Lucy. Congratulations!

Having Their Cake and Eating It Too

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According to an article in today's Winston-Salem Journal the Triad affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is experiencing a deep decline in its fundraising after the Planned Parenthood controversy the national organization created last year. That's not terribly surprising, but a quote from the president of the Triad affiliate is a bit befuddling:

Natasha Gore, president of the Triad affiliate, acknowledged the challenges that the local group faces, stressing that most of the money raised here stays in the region. She also expressed frustration that some would-be donors do not differentiate between the local affiliate and the national organization.

"A lot of the time, people think we are one and the same," Gore said. "If they're boycotting us because of something happening with the national organization, it does not really fit with what's going on."

The quote is befuddling because it's amazingly naive, if not downright disingenuous. Of course people are going to confuse the organizations because in the grand scheme of things they are the same organization. Sure the local affiliate has it's own board, staff, volunteers, grants, etc. but it has affiliated itself with the national organization, which means it benefits or suffers from the national organization's activities. The Triad affiliate certainly benefited from the national organization's advertising and branding activities and I don't recall hearing any concerns about brand confusion from the local affiliate before the controversy.

So the donors aren't confused, rather they're saying loudly and clearly that they've lost faith in the organization and it is up to organization on both the national and local level to win back that faith. If the local affiliate thinks the brand is too damaged to repair then they might want to consider:

  • Disassociation from the national organization
  • A name change (would likely be required by the national group anyway)
  • A clear articulation of the local group's principles/standards and how they're different from the national group's
  • An ad/branding campaign to introduce the "new" organization to the Triad, and to highlight all of the organizations that benefit from its grants

In the end an affiliation is like a marriage: you're stuck with it in good times and bad, and if the bad gets horrific then your only choice might be a divorce.

Next Year’s Property Revaluation in Forsyth is Going to Be a Doozy

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From Yes!Weekly's blog post on the proposed bond referendum that would pay for streetcars in Winston-Salem among other things:

Budget challenges faced by the city include an anticipated 11-percent decrease to the property tax base with revaluation next year, the loss of federal stimulus dollars for police salaries, increased fuel costs, and plans for the city to kick in more for employee salaries and healthcare benefits.

For all of these reasons, City Manager Lee Garrity told the city council’s finance committee this evening that he is recommending that there be no bond referendum this year.

“The latest numbers for the first quarter of this calendar year are very concerning,” he said. “Sales of houses are up, as you may have read, but the price versus assessed value is down. A house in Forsyth County right now on average is selling for 11 percent below tax value. What that means for us going into the year after next with the budget is pretty significant.” (Emphasis mine).

The last time we went through a revaluation in Forsyth we were in the midst of the financial meltdown and at the time I though revaluations would not accurately reflect the true value of a property because there hadn't been time for the sales comps to have an impact on the system. Literally nothing was selling at the time so the comps were all pre-meltdown, and thus I felt they were artificially inflated. Those comps are now in the system and as the city manager pointed out this revaluation is going to show a significant drop in values, which means that tax rates will be raised significantly.

Here's the funny thing – the size of the check each property owner will be sending is likely to be close to the same amount they sent this year. That's because from the city/county's perspective they need a certain amount of revenue to make their budget (note I'm not saying whether or not the budget itself is a good thing), so when property values go up the city council or county commission will leave the rate flat or even reduce it so they can say they reduced taxes. Obviously they didn't really reduce the dollars, just the tax rate. Nice, huh? When property values go down they have to raise the tax rate, but in reality the actual tax dollars isn't much at all compared to the previous budget year. That's when you'll hear the council members and commissioners talking about how they were able to minimize the tax dollars each property owner had to send them, not the increase in the tax rate. Actually, if you read the Yes! Weekly post you'll see that they're already doing this and who can blame them?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think the best way to do this is having an annual revaluation. It's the fairest system because it more accurately reflects property values at any given time, prevents property owners from seeing 10-20% changes in their property values all at once, and makes budgeting for the city and county a little steadier. 

Your Friendly Neighborhood White Nationalists

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You ever wish you hadn't learned something because you were way more comfortable with your ignorance?  That happened to me this week when I learned that Clemmons is the HQ for the North Carolina chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens which is considered a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Thanks Fec). With one quick Google search I learned that Clemmons had hosted the Council of Conservative Citizens' national conference last June.

I couldn't believe that I'd missed media coverage of the event – after all the media would love nothing more than a story about a controversial organization hosting its national conference in the area – so I went to the Winston-Salem Journal website to search for a story about it.  I came up empty but did find an article from February, 2011 about the slight decline in North Carolina hate groups, and that article featured an interview with the CCC's North Carolina executive director, a Mr. A.J. Barker of Clemmons.  Here's what Mr. Barker had to say:

A.J. Barker of Clemmons, the organization's executive director in North Carolina, said calling the council a hate group is unfair.

"That's totally ridiculous," Barker said.

He said there are good and bad people among both races, and he doesn't consider blacks worse than whites.

Barker said the council has been criticized by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the council's stand on such issues as affirmative action and illegal immigration.

"When you take a stand like that, you're automatically stigmatized by groups like that," he said.

Okay, let's see what representatives from the Eastern Pennsylvania/New Jersey chapter of CCC had to say about the conference held in Clemmons in June, 2011:

Following up Mr. Taylor on the topic of being ‘victims of our virtues’ Louis March, a former aide to Senator Jesse Helms, gave a passionate speech and echoed the call for all White men and women to do whatever they can to save Western Civilization from impending destruction.  He emphasized that we need work together for our group interests and not fall victim to what he referred to as “suicidal altruism”, which is essentially a term for how we as a race do every imaginable to lend aid and assistance to every other race at our own expense, even if it means heading down the path of our own extinction.

Mr. March went on to say that even though we must always seek to educate our people with regards to our histories and cultures, it is not enough.  He stated that we need to do more than offer up intellectual arguments for people to ponder.  We must inspire our people to be noble and charitable with regards to our own.  We must inspire people to be heroes and take a stand as our ancestors in Europe did in repelling the invading colored hordes from Africa and Asia…

Sam Dickson, also a CofCC Director, began his presentation with the statement that he quite pessimistic and no linger hopefully in a political or “democratic” solution to our dilemma since we are no longer in control of our society in any area whether it be the government, educational institutions, or the media.  He quoted George Orwell, “Who controls the past, controls the future.   Who controls the present, controls the past”…

Mr. Dickson then went on to say that our only viable option, due to our socio-political dilemma and the demographic disaster we face due the sheer volume of nonwhite immigrants in the country, is to separate from this society and form a White entho-state where we can look out for our own self-interests without interference from others.  He pointed that the success of such a drastic move is achievable by putting forth Israel as an example.

Yeah, I really don't know how someone could mistake them for a hate group.  I mean their roots certainly wouldn't lead you to that conclusion would they?

Founded in 1985 by Gordon Baum, a worker's compensation attorney and longtime racist activist, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) rose from the ashes of the Citizens Councils of America (CCA), commonly called "White Citizens Councils," a coalition of white-supremacist groups and individuals formed throughout the South to defend school segregation after the Supreme Court outlawed the policy in 1954 in Brown vs. Board of Education. 

Unlike the KKK, the CCA groups had a veneer of civic respectability, inspiring future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to refer to it as the "uptown Klan." While there were plenty of bare-knuckle racists attracted to the councils' anti-integration slogan, "Never!," the members also included bankers, merchants, judges, newspaper editors and politicians — folks given more to wearing suits and ties than hoods and robes. During the White Citizens Councils' heyday, the groups claimed more than 1 million members. Although they weren't immune to violence — Byron De La Beckwith, who murdered civil-rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963, was a member — the councils generally used their political and financial pull to offset the effects of "forced integration." 

Once the segregation battle was lost, the air went out of the White Citizens Councils. The councils steadily lost members throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Sensing the need for a new direction, Baum, formerly the CCA's Midwest field director, called together a group of 30 white men, including former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox and future Louisiana Congressman John Rarick, for a meeting in Atlanta in 1985. Together, they cooked up a successor organization: the Council of Conservative Citizens. 

Oy. Like I said, my ignorance of this was certainly bliss. I truly am astonished that this event was staged within a 45 minute drive of the Civil Rights Museum and no one seemed to have picked it up.  In this day and age if four guys in hoods and sheets decide to have a "protest" at least 20 cameras will be there to cover it, yet a known white nationalist group holds its national conference here and no one even blinks?  That's just amazing to me. (BTW, if it was covered and I just can't find it please feel free to let me know.) I don't know what's more sad – that the media are stretched thin enough that they didn't pick up on this, or that we've become so inured to this kind of bile that we just don't pay attention any more.

I guess the one bright spot is they didn't get any attention outside of their own small circle of twisted minds. 

Christmas and Flying Spaghetti Monsters

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Remember our little local dust-up about flying the Christian flag at the veteran's memorial in King?  Imagine how nutty folks around here would get if, like Leesburg, VA, we had the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster vying for space with the traditional manger scene.

For the better part of 50 years, a creche and a Christmas tree were the only holiday displays on theLoudoun County Courthouse grounds.

Then came the atheists. And the Jedis. And the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster – each with its own decorations. A skeleton Santa Claus was mounted on a cross, intended by its creator to portray society's obsession with consumerism. Nearby, a pine tree stood adorned with atheist testimonials.

Flying Spaghetti Monster devotees are scheduled to put up their contribution this weekend. It's a banner portraying a Nativity-style scene, but Jesus is nowhere to be found. Instead, the Virgin Mary cradles a stalk-eyed noodle-and-meatball creature, its manger surrounded by an army of pirates, a solemn gnome and barnyard animals. The message proclaims: "Touched by an Angelhair."

Given our recent debates about the Christian flag and the controversy over the right (or not) to carry concealed weapons in local parks, there's a little part of my brain that would love to see what would happen around here if we had a similar setup to Leesburg's.  In that juvenile little part of my head I picture this scene:

Bible-quoting sharpshooters taking aim at spaghetti-eating atheists and agnostics who dive for cover, sending sauce and meatballs skyward during their panic, asking Mama Celeste for help since God's out of the picture until their own contingent of pistol packers can get their firearms unholstered and de-trigger locked to return fire.  Thankfully no one's hurt since none of the participants ever served in the military and thus never received truly effective arms training, although two bullets do somehow hit something – one Christian is saved by the lucky (divine?) presence of a condensed pocket-sized King James and one innocent bystander who picked a wildly inopportune time to squat for a meditation is spared when his tattered copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance takes a direct hit. Eventually cooler heads prevail when the Occupy Wall Streeters, who were minding their own business in their designated protest box, step across their chalk line to broker a truce in which the atheists and agnostics provide a spaghetti supper for everyone at the park free of charge, the Christians put on their Christmas production, collection plates are passed and everyone splits the proceeds.

I'd pay to see it.

Talking Trash

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Last night I attended the Lewisville Town Council meeting to see the swearing in of several new Council members, and that was fun, but what was most interesting was what I learned during a presentation by a representative of Waste Management to the new Council.  It seems that Waste Management is going to open a new single stream recycling operation in Forsyth County some time between May and July of 2012. What that means is that Waste Management's customers will be getting a new container that is the same size as their regular trash containter, but will be intended for recyclables.  In that container they'll be able to put all recycling materials (paper, plastic, metal, etc.) without sorting them and putting them in smaller containers as they do now.  It also means that recycling pickups will only happen every other week.

I didn't take good notes during the meeting, but if I remember correctly the Waste Management representative said that in other parts of the country where the single stream recycling has been introduced they've seen a significant increase in recycling and a significant reduction in solid waste going to the landfill.  All of that's good news as far as I'm concerned.

The Waste Management rep also showed a six minute video of one of their single stream recycling operations in Florida.  I couldn't find that one online, but I did find another of their videos about the process:

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this facility has in Forsyth County. At a minimum I hope it lengthens the life span of our landfill, and really I hope it's the first step in getting us to the point where technology eliminates the need for a landfill altogether, or the need to truck our garbage somewhere else when our landfill is at capacity (Yeah, I'm a big dreamer).

Smitty Gets Well Deserved Award

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I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to rub elbows with Jeff "Smitty" Smith, he of Smitty's Notes fame, on several occasions and I can tell you that he's one of the nicest, most generous people you'll ever meet.  Yesterday he received the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award at the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting, and I can't think of anyone more deserving. 

Congrats to Smitty and if you aren't already I highly recommend you become one of his regular readers. 

Dull is Totally Underrated

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One thing about having three teenagers is that life never seems to be dull.  Yesterday's a perfect example.  Our daughter turns 18 today (Oct 23) so we had a birthday dinner for her last night.  Unfortunately our youngest, a sophomore at West Forsyth HS, couldn't participate because he's in the Marching Band and they had a competition at North Forsyth HS.  The party went as well as you'd expect a party with a gaggle of 18 year old girls to go, and after dinner my lovely wife, Celeste, and I settled down to relax a little.  We called a friend who was at the band competition to see how it was going (West performed well) and she offered to bring our son home when the buses dropped the kids off at West.

That's when the "life is never dull" really kicked in.  About an hour after the first call our friend called back to ask if we'd heard from our son, and to tell us that there'd been an accident involving one of the buses carrying the band (it ended up there were two buses involved).  Her son was on the bus, but she wasn't sure if ours was.  Celeste called our son's cell and he answered and said that he was on a different bus and that they were pulled over at the scene of the accident.  Celeste then traded calls with our friend and found out that her son was banged up, but was being released to them by the EMTs.  Unfortunately six students and the bus driver had to be sent to the hospital.

We've heard varying reports from our son and other folks about the accident (fuel was leaking from the bus, one of the sax players had his mouth piece driven into his arm, one girl couldn't remember where she was, etc.), and there was a brief story on WXII's website, but the best info I've seen came in emails from the band's director Mr. Kirkpatrick and West Forsyth's principal Mr. Telford.

Before I share them I want to tell you that our son's experience in Marching Band has been a revelation.  As someone who's spent many of his years on a variety of courts and fields playing and coaching different sports I thought I understood teamwork.  Honestly I think marching band is exponentially harder in many ways.  It's hard enough getting 11 kids moving in tandem on a soccer field, but the marching band pulls it off with 100 kids and to do it they spend innumerable hours rehearsing, often in stifling heat or brittle cold, and by engaging student leaders and dozens of parent volunteers. I'm also blown away by the camaraderie that the kids show – I've seen tight teams before but I've never seen a group of kids like this.  Like I said it's been a revelation, and it explains why I'm not surprised that things unfolded the way Mr. Telford and Mr. Kirkpatrick describe:

From Mr. Telford:

Good morning. It is Sunday morning and I want to take the opportunity to touch base with you. Last  night I was at the scene of the bus accident shortly after Mr Kirkpatrick called me. Six West students and a bus driver were transported to the hospital for treatment. They are all OK. This does not dismiss the emotional duress that your student may have experienced.

I am extremely proud of the students, parent volunteers and staff members. The students were cooperative and did all that was asked of them. The parent volunteers were level headed making sure all students were accounted for. Mr Kirkpatrick and Mr Spencer took charge making sure that appropriate steps were taken.

Work closely with Mr Kirkpatrick and Mr Spencer obtaining personal items that may have been left on the bus.  I am sure that all students are tired due to the late evening.

Have a restful Sunday.
Kurt Telford

From Mr. Kirkpatrick:

Parents and Students,

I want you to know how proud I am of each of you in how you handled last night's accident.  As you can imagine, this was a Band Director's worst nightmare.  Fortunately, injuries were minor and everyone is
going to be OK.  I am grateful to have an amazing group of parent chaperones who kept a level head and remained very supportive of the students throughout the ordeal.  Thanks also to Mr. Spencer for being equally helpful in assisting students.  Much appreciation also goes to Mr. and Mrs. Telford and Mr. and Mrs. Powell for coming to the scene immediately to assist.  Belongings can be picked up in the upstairs band room in the morning.

Students, you were amazing on the field and, in this case, especially amazing off the field in a situation that wasn't rehearsed. This was an amazing feat in teamwork from all people involved.

Get some rest, see you Monday.

Speaking as a parent I'd like to thank Mr. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Telford, all of the parent volunteers, the bus drivers and other school staff who did such a great job keeping a bad situation from getting worse.  I'd also like to thank Mr. Kirkpatrick for helping make Marching Band such a great experience for our son.