Category Archives: North Carolina

Helping The Children’s Home

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This actually has to do with my day job.  The Triad Apartment Association (TAA) is gearing up for it's annual Labor of Love and this year we'll be working with The Children's Home to fix up a building that's been vacant for over 25 years so that it can be used as transitional housing for kids who turn 18. 

As things currently stand when a child turns 18 they are pretty much on their own.  I don't know about you, but if I'd been left to my own devices at 18 I would have been in a world of hurt.  The Children's Home envisions taking this refurbished building and using it as a place to temporarily house the 18 year-olds while they learn how to make their way in the world.

The TAA is going to take several teams of volunteers to clean up, paint, fix the landscaping and make repairs to the building over two weekends in February.  We're in the process of organizing our teams and gathering supplies for the project.  To give you an idea of the scope of this project we anticipate using a minimum of 200 gallons of paint and having dozens of volunteers on site at any given time. 

One of the most exciting aspects of this project is that we keep getting donations and volunteers by word of mouth even though we haven't really been pushing it to this point.  I can't tell you how many calls we've gotten from "friends of friends" who want to know how they can get involved.  What I've been telling them is that we will happily take donations of supplies, or money (financial donations go directly to The Children's Home for the project), to help with the project.  If we get a duplication of donations, say for kitchen appliances, then we've been assured that The Children's Home can find a use for them.  If you have any interest in helping out please feel free to contact our office at (336) 294-4428 or visit our web page about the project here. 

I wasn't yet at TAA when we did the 2009 Labor of Love so I'm REALLY stoked about this year's project.

 

When Democracy is Painful

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Because we live in America I guess we have to give just about every natural born numbskull who isn't a convicted felon his or her chance at attaining elected office.  Sometimes that's a painful proposition and I give you Exhibit A: George Hutchins, who claims that he's the Republican answer for North Carolina's 4th District. 

I guess it could be worse, but I'm not sure how.

h/t to Ed Cone for the link.

Lewisville Native at Center of Washington Controversy

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53 Republican members of the US House of Representatives are calling for President Obama to remove Kevin Jennings from the position of 'safe schools czar'.  From an article in The Hill:

The lawmakers accused Jennings of "pushing a pro-homosexual agenda" and said that Jennings's past writings exhibit a record that makes him unfit for the position.

"We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your Administration," the Republicans wrote. "It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity."

Apparently Mr. Jennings is a native of Lewisville.  I'm not really up on this issue, but it sounds like they're trying to get rid of him based on problems they have with his background, not anything he's actually done in his position.  We'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Below's the full text of the letter that the 53 House Republicans sent to the President.  I'll let you draw your own conclusions about their logic:

October 15, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your Administration. It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity.

As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools—an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children. As evidence of this, Mr. Jennings wrote the foreword for a book titled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling. Throughout his career, Mr. Jennings has made it his mission to establish special protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students to the exclusion of all other students. The totality of Mr. Jennings’ career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.

Equally troubling is Mr. Jennings’ self-described history of ignoring the sexual abuse of a child. In his book, One Teacher in Ten, Mr. Jennings recounts a 15-year old student confiding in him that he had a sexual relationship with a much older man. Mr. Jennings’ only response was to ask if the underage boy used a condom. As a mandatory reporter, Mr. Jennings was required by law to report child abuse, including sex crimes. Mr. Jennings cannot serve as the “safe schools” czar when his record demonstrates a willingness to overlook the sexual abuse of a child.

As the “safe schools” czar, Mr. Jennings is also charged with ensuring our schools and students are drug free. It is clear that Mr. Jennings is unfit to serve in this capacity, as well. His own history of unrepentant drug and alcohol abuse indicates that he is of the opinion that getting drunk and high as a young person is acceptable. In his memoir, Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son, Mr. Jennings describes his use of illegal drugs, without expressing regret or acknowledging the devastating effects illegal drug use can have on a person’s life.

Everyone that deals with the education of the most vulnerable must be a positive role model.  Our children are not blessed with the wisdom to discern and reject. Children presume the adults who educate them are approved by the larger society and their parents.  Kevin Jennings cannot gain the approval of parents who want their children safe and their schools drug free. You should replace him with someone who has a record of educating children in a safe and moral environment.

Given these very serious issues with Mr. Jennings’ record, we urge you to remove him immediately.

Sincerely,

KING
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DIY Gone Wrong

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One of the more disturbing news stories you'll see:

A man with two wives who has fathered 14 children is on trial in Caldwell County on charges he circumcised his two sons with a utility knife…
According to the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, Marlowe doesn't like hospitals and denied the women prenatal care in both cases, then circumcised the boys when they were 8 days old.

Coldwell Banker Triad Launches Mobile Site

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Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors has launched a mobile version of their listings so that house hunters can use their Blackberries, iPhones, etc. to look up listings.  Not sure how many local realtors have done this, but I think if they haven't then they'll need to get on the stick pretty quickly.  I think the days of carrying around listing printouts are numbered.

Anyone know if ListingBook has a mobile version?

A Little Good News for Forsyth County

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According to this report Forsyth County saw the largest increase (5.9%) in visitor spending in 2008 of the large tourist destinations in North Carolina. And here are some interesting stats:

Visitor expenditures directly generated 190,500 jobs and nearly $4.2 billion in payroll income within North Carolina in 2008. Payroll increased 3.9 percent from 2007. Visitor spending in the state also directly generated close to $2.7 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments in 2008, up 3.6 percent from 2007…

Mecklenburg County received more than $3.6 billion in domestic travelers' expenditures to lead all 100 of North Carolina's counties. Wake County ranked second with more than $1.5 billion, followed by Guilford County with close to $1.1 billion.

Logical Vacuum

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North Carolina's "Tax Holiday" is this weekend and you can rest assured that lots of stores will be busy with back-to-school shoppers.  That's all fine and good, but when you juxtapose this event with the other tax news coming out of Raleigh as the legislature tries to balance the state's budget, you begin to wonder what kind of weird logic is being used over there.  To wit, here's the first paragraph from a story at WXII about the weekend:

State leaders said this weekend's sales tax holiday is a needed boost to help North Carolina families shop for back to school during a difficult economic time.

Now here's a paragraph from a Winston-Salem Journal article about the 2009-2010 NC budget that the legislature sent to the governor for approval:

By far the largest part of the tax package is a one-penny increase on the sales tax, bringing the sales tax rate in most counties to 7.75 percent from the current rate of 6.75 percent. That represents a 15 percent jump in what consumers will pay in sales tax.

I'm not going to go on a tax rant here, but I would like to know how giving me a two day holiday on a limited number of items and then raising my year-round tax rate by 15% is helping me?  Believe me, I'd gladly give up my holiday in exchange for a 5% increase or no increase at all.  Sheesh.

Another Reason to Boo the Heels and the Pack

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In this article in the Raleigh News & Observer (h/t to Ed Cone for the link) it's revealed that even in this dire economy, one in which the state budget is being slashed virtually across the board, the state universities' athletic booster clubs are continuing to be subsidized by we taxpayers.  It's all due to a four year old law that allows schools to pay in-state tuition rates for out-of-state scholarship athletes.  From the article:

The difference is substantial, according to the legislative fiscal staff.

UNC-Chapel Hill tuition for the coming academic year is expected to be $3,865 for in-state students and $21,753 for out-of-state students. That means a savings of $17,888 for each of the 139 out-of-state athletes at Chapel Hill, or $2.5 million in total.

As a Wake fan I'll be honest and tell you I don't need any more reason to boo the Heels or the Pack, but the fact that as a taxpayer I'm subsidizing the ringers they bring in from hither and yon is giving me ample cause to really boo them. 

Yesterday Was a Fun Work Day

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I have to say that yesterday was one of the best work days I've ever had.  Why?  Well, because Dale Holder, the chair of TAA's food drive, and I got to drop off about $14,100 dollars at Second Harvest and then we got a tour of their operation (The money that we raised through the food drive was helped greatly by an anonymous $10,000 donation). And here's the reason I was so excited to drop off the donation: given Second Harvest's buying power every $1 donated equals about 12 cans of food, so the money we dropped off will buy about 170,000 cans of food. If you include the food and financial donations that were sent directly to Second Harvest before our grand finale on Tuesday then we were able to get them about 207,000 cans of food.   

SecondHarvestEmptyRoomOur tour was given courtesy of Marcia Cole, Second Harvest's Director of Development and Community Relations, and it drove home the fact that Second Harvest is still in serious need of assistance.  Take a look at the picture I took with my phone and you'll see a rather large room that is still way too empty.

The problem for Second Harvest is that even though donations are up this year, the need for help is up even more.  Add to that the fact that North Carolina's budget problems have delayed the normal state contributions and you have what Clyde Fitzgerald, Second Harvest's Executive Director, calls "a perfect storm."  Want to help?  Here's a couple of ways: