Category Archives: Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Journal Staff Feeling the Pain

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Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor of the Winston-Salem Journal, writes today about the staff cuts the paper made last Friday.  They cut their film reviewer, NFL beat reporter, outdoors columnist and two scanning technicians (people who prepared photos for publication).  He does a good job of explaining why the cuts were made and I think the tone of his post reflects the atmosphere that people in the newspaper business are working in these days.

Yesterday I heard from someone who was upset with the cuts, thought they were "gutless" and wondered why Ken hadn’t written about them.  I don’t know Ken personally, although we’ve exchanged email and I’ve read his blog from the beginning, but I can tell you that I don’t think he made the decision lightly.  I’ve yet to meet the person who liked laying off their employees and I’m willing to bet he lost a lot of sleep over it.

Unfortunately I think the Journal’s story is representative of many more stories we’ll be hearing soon from newspapers across the country.  The bloodletting in this industry is just beginning for managers in newsrooms of papers large and small, and I just hope they figure out how to "re-purpose" their people into new media where all the ad revenue is going before they have to "un-purpose" them completely.

I’ve only had to let someone go twice in my life; once because the business was tanking and once for cause.  The first instance still haunts me to this day because it truly was my responsibility, it was my company after all, and he had done nothing wrong.  I still feel guilty about it seven years later although I feel marginally better knowing that his next job landed him a minority stake in a business that has been very successful.  The second instance left my memory as soon as it happened (the guy was an amoral schmuck), although I wondered about my hiring abilities for a while. So if Ken is anything like most managers I’ve known he probably considers Friday one of his worst days in the business.  Hopefully he won’t have too many more like it.

Teapots, Earmarks and Foxx

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ABC’s Nightline did a piece on anonymous Congressional spending earmarks and about halfway through the piece they have an interview with our recently re-elected Congresswoman Virginia Foxx about an earmark she had inserted in a bill for a Teapot Museum in Sparta, NC.  Here’s some highlights from her comments:

  • She says that people are only making fun of the project because it’s called the "Teapot Museum" and really it’s an art museum.  (Ed. Note: Teapots are art?)
  • She also says that since this is the way the game is played (anonymous earmarks inserted in spending bills) that’s how she’s going to play it.
  • She says that she’s not embarassed about asking for the funding and if the rules were different she would gladly ask for the money in a more transparent manner.

Uh huh.  Here’s my reaction to that:

  • You didn’t have to insert it as an earmark. You could have publicly inserted the request for funding in the bill, but you chose not to.
  • Two (or more) wrongs don’t make a right.
  • Nice principles.  "I’m going to play fast and loose with taxpayer dollars because everyone else is."
  • Didn’t notice you standing on the House floor screaming for reform, but maybe I missed it.

Finally, it looks like the ABC interview was conducted at the recording studio of Triad Today either before or after her debate with Roger Sharpe.  Isn’t that the same debate from which she asked the Winston-Salem Journal to be banned?  Just asking.

Winston-Salem Forsyth County School Bond Proposal

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Tomorrow we citizens of Forsyth County will have the opportunity to vote for a $250 million school bond.  Of the $250 million about $125 million will be used to build seven new schools, $90 million will be used to renovate 14 schools and $4 million will be used for wireless internet connections in all 74 schools.  The school system is growing and there’s a rampant fear that our students will be increasingly educated in trailers.

The NAACP is against the proposal because they see it furthering the supposed segregation that the school system has developed since neighborhood schools were introduced back in the mid-90s. Their argument is that schools with a high percentage of minority, low income students are underperforming and that it is an inequitable situation. They feel that we need to return to forced integration of the schools so that there is an equal demographic balance in the schools.

Here’s my take on the situation:

First, I absolutely agree that school buildings need to be safe, clean and sanitary so any necessary renovations to old buildings should be made.  On the other hand there are many worse environments in which you can learn than an air-conditioned trailer, and I’ll bet that if you asked a student if he’d prefer a clean, warm (or cool), dry trailer or a leaky, drafty, dirty bricks and mortar building he’d take the trailer any day.  And you have to ask yourself is a state of the art, brick and mortar building the most critical component of providing a good education?

Second, most of the schools are segregated by demographics because the parents, rich and poor, minority and white, choose it to be that way.  Are you really going to tell them they’re wrong?  If they don’t want their child bused halfway across town in order to meet the system’s ideal demographic breakdown then you have to respect their position.  You also have to ask what you’re truly trying to accomplish by integrating the schools.  Is it to bring up the poorer students’ academic achievement by associating them with richer, better students?  If that’s the case aren’t you just as likely to bring down the richer, better students’ academic achievements?  Instead of looking at forced busing don’t you think you should address the core issue, which is sub-standard academic performance by the students?

To me, the solution to my first question, "Is a state of the art, bricks and mortar building the most critical component of providing a good education" and my last question, "Instead of looking at forced busing don’t you think you should address
the core issue, which is sub-standard academic performance by the
students" is more teachers.  We should spend every dime we can on recruiting and retaining more teachers and keeping the student-teacher ratio as low as possible.  I’d rather build a trailer village of education with a 10-1 student-teacher ratio than a castle of learning with a 30-1 student-teacher ratio.

The Journal had a feature story about the school bond that addressed the segregation issue and in it they mention that the new high school, Carver, in the poor part of town was set up as a magnet school with all the latest, greatest equipment but no parents from outside the district want to send their kids there.  My argument would be that instead of worrying about getting other kids there you worry about educating the kids that are already there.  You don’t throw money at the hardware, you throw money at the talent.  In other words, forget the fancy equipment and double your teaching force.  Make sure each kid gets tremendous individual attention and do it in the schools that need the help most.  Before long you’ll have kids achieving beyond imagination and you’ll probably have to set up a lottery system to deal with the parents clamoring to get their kids in the new school.  That’s when you start doing the same for all the schools.

Unfortunately this school bond is continuing the trend of spending money in the wrong place.  I’d like to see more money spent on talent and less on hardware.  Spend the $90 million on renovations, but take that $125 million and expand the existing schools and vastly expand the teaching ranks.  Also look at more creative thinking.  For instance:

  • Why not use some of the empty commercial space out there for classes?
  • Why not get more active with online learning initiatives?

You’d think that with three kids in the school system that I’d be a rubber stamp for the bond initiative.  I would be if I thought they were spending on the right things, but they’re not so I won’t vote for it.

 

BB&T to Offer HSAs

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BB&T, a rather large bank based here in Winston-Salem, announced
today that they will begin offering Healthcare Savings Accounts to
commercial clients through their employee benefit subsidiary.  From the
article:

BB&T Corp.
will begin offering health savings accounts, or HSAs, to qualified
clients interested in an alternative to traditional insurance plans,
the company has announced.

HSAs allow account holders to make tax-deductible contributions
that can be withdrawn tax-free when used for qualified medical
expenses. Unlike flexible spending accounts, money left unspent at the
end of a year remains in the account.  

Winston-Salem-based BB&T (NYSE: BBT) will offer HSAs to
institutional and commercial clients through its employee benefit
subsidiary Stanley, Hunt, Dupree & Rhine. The company will also offer the accounts to retail clients who are covered by high-deductible health plans.

Having been self-employed or owner of a small business for much of
the past 10 years I’ve been keeping an eye on these things.  The
biggest thing they have to overcome is the fear factor for people used
to traditional health plans and HMOs and the sticker shock many will
experience when they look at the out-of-pocket expenses before they
reach their deductible limit.  They’re also often confused with "use it
or lose it" plans so people are worried they won’t get to keep the
money they don’t spend.

Some view the HSAs as just another way for businesses to shift the
financial burden of healthcare to their employees, but especially in
the case of very small companies HSAs may offer the only way to provide
any health benefits.  And for the self-employed it’s definitely
something they consider.  Here’s some back of the envelope calculating:

Say you have a family of five, you’re with a traditional health
insurance company like BSBCNC and you pay $700 in premiums per month
which gets you 80/20 coverage for all medical procedures (you have to
cover 20%) and a deductible of $2,500 per year.  On top of that you pay
$30 per office visit and $15 per prescription.  Let’s assume that each
person in the family goes to the doctor once a year (very optimistic)
and gets one prescription per year and no one needs a medical
procedure.  That means your total expenditure for the year is $8,625
and if anyone in the family has to have an operation or stay in the
hospital you’re talking $10,000+ per year.

With an HSA, which is tied to a high-deductible health insurance
plan, you’re probably looking at premiums in the range of $300 per
month and a deductible of $5,000 per year minimum.  Assuming that
co-pays and drug benefits are about the same your looking at saving
$400 month in premiums or $4,800 year.  If you contribute the same
amount per month to your HSA account that you were paying in premiums
you’ll end up spending the same amount of money IF someone in your
family is sick and you exhaust your entire deductible. But if no one
gets sick you get to keep the money you don’t spend in the HSA account
and roll it into the next year, kind of like an IRA.  After a couple of
years you can actually reduce the amount you contribute each month
because you will have built up a cushion that more than covers your
deductible and incidental medical expenses.  With a traditional
healthcare plan your premiums are gone whether or not you’ve been
sick.  In other words the insurance company is keeping your money even
if you and your family have been as healthy as a horse.  The icing on
the cake is that your contributions to the HSA are tax deductible and
my understanding is that you can pay for things like over-the-counter
meds with the account as well.

One problem that HSAs have had in the past is that they’re typically
offered by
companies that no one has heard of so it makes people nervous turning
over such an important safety net to an unknown entity.  With name
brand companies like BB&T getting involved I think you’ll see these
things take off, so if you’re self employed or are a small business
owner you might want to check them out.

Also posted at Lowder Enterprises blog and Winston Salem Business.

Greensboro Has Wireless Envy

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Over in Greensboro Ed Cone posted an item about Winston-Salem/Forsyth County getting ready to offer municipal wi-fi and lamenting the lack of such an effort in Greensboro.  Much discussion ensued and it’s one of the few times I can remember reading anyone write something re. technology that states Winston-Salem is ahead of Greensboro.

Ed also says that Greensboro’s downtown wireless corridor isn’t the same thing as municipal wi-fi (too limited) and I’d agree; we also have a free wi-fi corridor on Fourth Street in W-S but what they’re talking about doing is a much bigger deal.  Hopefully it works.

WinstonNet is the group behind the wi-fi effort.

**Update: Check out DarkMoon’s analysis of the deal here.

Is Foxx Obtuse, a Partisan Lap Dog, or Both?

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I’ve spent a little time lately looking at our Congressional leaders and the amount of money they spend doing their jobs, but I haven’t felt any burning desire to dive into the political maelstroms that are kicking up since there’s so much of that going on everywhere else.  But after reading Lex Alexander’s post in which he shares comments made by Virginia Foxx to him re. the Foley Scandal I just have to say my piece about my own US Representative.

It’s really quite simple.  I don’t know Rep. Foxx personally but based on her comments on this and at least one other issue I have to ask whether she’s a Republican lap dog or just plain dense.  And it’s not just that I disagree with her take on things it’s that I think what she’s doing is stupid from a pragmatic, political angle.  Let’s start with the Foley issue.  Here’s an excerpt from Lex’s blog:

During my telephone conversation with him Thursday, Rep. Howard
Coble, the 6th District Republican, called on the National Republican
Congressional Committee to return $100,000 it received earlier this
summer from former Rep. Foley’s political-action committee. The NRCC
works to elect Republican candidates to the U.S. House of
Representatives. Because Republican control of the House is in jeopardy
for the first time since that party took control of the chamber after
the 1994 elections, the NRCC understandably wants to raise as much
money as possible to help Republican candidates in close races. Foley,
prior to news of his scandalous Internet communications, was considered
a safe bet for re-election and still has roughly $2.8 million in his
PAC.

The NRCC’s problem, however, is that news reports indicate that the
NRCC’s chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, had been told months
ago about Foley’s potentially problematic behavior. He accepted the
money anyway — and also is reported to have been instrumental in
talking Foley, who had been thinking about retiring, into running for
re-election this year.

No quid pro quo has been proved, Coble said, but "appearance-wise, it does not look good."

Rep. Virginia Foxx, the area’s other Republican House member, has no
problem with Reynolds’ behavior. And she thinks that if at least two
newspapers — the Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times — were
onto the story but had chosen not to publish anything at the time the
NRCC got Foley’s money, she doesn’t see why Reynolds should have done
anything differently: "There were at least two newspaper outlets and
they didn’t think it was worth reporting. Then why fault Reynolds for
doing what he did? If the news media had thought at the time that it
was so inappropriate that something should have been done, then maybe
they should have done something."

Can she possibly be serious?  Why fault Rep. Reynolds if we don’t fault the papers?  Well let’s start with the fact that he’s a member of Congress and it’s his job to do something about it, as it would have been hers if she were privy to what was going on.  Is she saying that she’s not obligated to report misgivings about a fellow Representative unless the Winston-Salem Journal also reports on the situation?  Furthermore, here’s what the St. Petersburg Times’ editor said about deciding not to run the story:

I led deliberations with our top editors, and we concluded that we did
not have enough substantiated information to reach beyond innuendo.

We were unsuccessful in getting members of Congress who were
involved in the matter or those who administer the House page corps to
acknowledge any problem with Foley’s ambiguous e-mail or to suggest
that they thought it was worth pursuing.

And we couldn’t come up with a strong enough case to explain to a
teenager’s parents why, over their vehement pleas to drop the matter,
we needed to make their son the subject of a story – and the incredible
scrutiny that would surely follow.

It added up to this conclusion: To print what we had seemed to be a
shortcut to taint a member of Congress without actually having the
goods.

I guarantee you that if they’d run the story as it was Rep. Foxx would have jumped all over them for reporting rumors and trying to sabotage a sitting member of Congress.  Also, she should take note that had Rep. Reynolds and the other party leaders who’d been warned about Foley done their jobs the story would have run with corroboration.

As I said I’m not just stunned because I disagree with her stand on this issue, I’m equally or more stunned at her political ineptitude here.  Instead of just saying "I think we should investigate this matter and take whatever actions are appropriate" she tries to shift the blame and in the process looks less adept at that than my 5th grade son.

The Foley incident where Rep. Foxx has looked like she’s living in a different, partisan universe.  Earlier this summer she went to Baghdad and here’s some excerpts from a Winston-Salem Journal article about her trip:

The war in Iraq is
going well, Iraqi government officials are determined to have a united
government, and American soldiers are satisfied with their equipment
and their mission, said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, who visited Iraq
yesterday and Sunday…

Foxx and other members
of the congressional delegation stayed with troops overnight in a
military compound in Baghdad that is one of Saddam Hussein’s former
palaces and had lunch together yesterday. (Ed. Comment: Sure she got a real good idea of what the situation on the ground looked like from there)…

Yesterday, after
Foxx’s visit, there were several kidnappings in Baghdad, the latest in
a string of sectarian violence that has escalated in recent months.

Foxx said she did
not see any evidence of this (Ed. See comment above). but said that the government officials,
particularly al-Bolani, are committed to making sure "the terrorists
don’t create a civil war."…

Ideally, she said,
military leaders and government officials told her they hope to have
Baghdad "secure" and a "place where people can feel safe" by the end of
the year. (Ed. She really bought this?)

There have been
reports that American military personnel do not have adequate supplies
or that their morale is low. Foxx said that her meetings with soldiers
did not support this. She said that at one point she asked the
soldiers, while their supervising officers were not within earshot, in
hopes to get the most honest answer, and they told her they were fine.

"There was no sense of any problems," she said, "There was no indication of unhappiness." (Ed. Oh come on, in the private sector that would be like a VP going around her CEO to bitch to the Board of Directors.  It ain’t gonna happen).

So again I ask, is she really this obtuse or is she a party hack?  Personally I think she’s a party hack and my evidence to support this is her early and consistent push for immigration reform.  That’s a hot-button issue in this neck of the woods (see this W-S Journal article) and I will definitely give her props for being a consistent advocate for immigration reform, even if I don’t agree with some of the solutions she proposes.

Still her recent comments and stances on issues like the war and the Foley matter really have me thinking she’s more commited to her party than the good of her constituents.  I’m sure she’s worried about her party losing the majority in November, but her comments and behavior, and that of her party’s leadership are only serving to highlight why it’s time they get a little butt spanking.  Maybe it will help them remember where they’re from and what they’re supposed to be about. Sadly the Democrats aren’t any better, but I guess it’s their turn to figure out how to further screw this country up.

A Square Attempting to Square the Square

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Esbee posits that if I link to her and Joe Jon to me and she to Ken then we’ll have a perfect blogsquare.  As a lifelong square I find this a comfortable proposition. She also links to an interesting post by Ken Otterbourg, managing editor at the Journal, that discusses the evolving role of "citizen journalism" here in Camel City. Ken was prompted to write the post after Joe Jon turned the tables on one of Ken’s reporters during an interview.

Winston-Salem Journal Losing Some Talent

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Joe Murphy is leaving the Winston-Salem Journal for a new job at the Denver Post.  From what I could tell Joe, along with former Journal staffer Adam Howell,  spearheaded the Journal’s (and Media General’s) foray into blogging and other online initiatives.  This is a definite loss for the Journal and the Winston-Salem online community, as small as it is.  I’ve heard that the Denver Post is a leader in the newspaper industry in terms of their online initiatives and I’m sure this is a great career move for Joe.  Here’s to wishing him the best of luck and let’s hope he doesn’t forget us little people!

Vernon, Vernon, Vernon

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Vernon Robinson is at it again.  His latest ad for his campaign against Brad Miller for the House seat in North Carolina’s 13th District is just flat out over the top. It’s an attack ad…kind of.  He doesn’t call Miller names, but he does say that Miller voted against a bill that would have paid for more body armor for the troops in Iraq and then lists a litany of sex-related bills that Miller voted for.  Actually he cherry picks line items out of larger spending bills, but you can’t miss the point.  Watch the video below and make sure you watch it all the way through;  I swear you will actually hear the words "probes attached to their genitalia".

You may recall that Vernon was the only Winston-Salem leader to take me up on my offer to host their blogs for free (he was a member of the City Council at the time), but the blog never really took off.  If he’d brought even 1/100th of the, uh, creativity of his ads to the blog it would be in the top 10 on Technorati.

I’ve Gotta Disagree with Ken, or, Where’s the Whitey Dance Club?

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Last week the Winston-Salem Journal ran a piece about travel clubs for black people and when I saw it the first thing that popped into my head was, "I wonder what would happen if they did an article about a white people travel club?"  Well, I’m not the only person who thought this.  The managing editor at the paper has a blog and on it he shared an email he received from a reader and his reply email.  Here’s what they wrote:

Please, Please help me understand the reasoning of the recent article (9-15-06) on vacation camaraderie. How outraged would the public,specifically the afro-american community be if your paper advertised and promoted a travel club or ski club or WET(White Entertainment Television) ,etc. designed only for white folks! It is so discouraging to read articles about the afro-americans complaining about racism in the workplace and communities and amazingly there are very proud to organize these clubs and organizations designed strictly for their own ethnic group. If we are ever to move past this sensitive subject of racism let’s drop the promotions of these afore mentioned clubs and organizations!
Thanks for listening,

Dear XXX: Your email was forwarded to me. Thanks for writing. I’ve discussed your comments with several editors here, both black and white. These travel clubs that we wrote about exist for several reasons, even when it comes to vacations. Sometimes, black people feel more comfortable doing things—particularly things that white people don’t often identify with black people, such as skiing—in groups. And clubs etc. that we as the majority may feel are open to everybody don’t feel the same way to minorities. 

You’re right that there is no WET, but the reason BET exists is that network TV did a poor job of producing shows that catered to the tastes of black Americans. Minority groups in America—whether racial, ethnic or religious—have always found strength in their own. That’s something that is sometimes hard for people in the majority to understand, particularly in how it relates to the larger goal of building a society where people are judged by what’s inside rather than outside.

Again, thanks for writing and for reading the Journal.
Best,
Ken Otterbourg
Managing Editor

Well, I can only say that if the justification for people creating and joining a club based on race is "Sometimes, black people feel more comfortable doing things—particularly things that white people don’t often identify with black people, such as skiing—in groups. And clubs etc. that we as the majority may feel are open to everybody don’t feel the same way to minorities" then why can’t a white person just as easily say "I’m not comfortable being around any non-whites so let’s create our own Whitey Ski Club so we all feel secure?" After all, those clubs that are open to all and aren’t often identified with white people could very well make a white person uncomfortable.  "Whitey Dance Club" anyone? 

Honestly I don’t have an issue with any group of people deciding to create their own exclusive club, but I do have a problem with one group being able to do it without catching heat and the other group getting absolutely raked over the coals for doing the same thing. The issue is not that people would decide to create a group based on race, but rather that there is a double standard in our society that says it is okay for one race to do it but not another.  So what if white’s are a majority?  Does it mean that they have fewer rights to consort with whomever they want just because there’s more of them?  That idea is actually contradictory to the concept of equal rights and I just don’t agree with Ken’s, or by extension, the paper’s reasoning.

To me the issue truly is that there’s a double standard in terms of race in this country and that we actually hurt the cause of racial equality by allowing the double standard to continue.  I personally don’t want to belong to a "white" club of any kind, or a "black" club, or a "tall people only club", because by default I think those clubs are less interesting.  I’m attracted to groups that engage me in different conversations on a regular basis so I’m drawn to groups, as Ken says, "where people are judged by what’s inside rather than outside." 

That said, if our society and our media can accept and extol the virtues of a black or other minority travel club then it should be able to do the same for whites, and if they can’t accept the same for whites then they should accept it for none.  I refuse to believe that it is an enlightened society (or publication) that allows for such double standards to exist and I’m saddened that in the forty years (two generations!) since the civil rights movement we still have to have these discussions.

So Ken, and the folks at the Winston-Salem Journal, I have to say that your article did not forward  "the larger goal of building a society where people are judged by what’s inside rather than outside" rather it added one more detour on the road towards attaining that goal.  It’s just a damn shame.