Reclaiming Futures in Forsyth County (and Elsewhere)

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Reclaiming Futures is a project that tries to help young people in trouble with drugs, alcohol and crime.  They have a blog called Reclaiming Futures Every Day and it's there that I found a post about the site visit that Renate Reichs, the Network Coordinator for Cook County, Illinois made as part of her coaching of the Forsyth County and Crossroads (a collaboration of Iredell, Surry and Yadkin counties) networks.  From the post:

The strengths of both sites were readily apparent. Although
Forsyth County is more urban (think Winston-Salem), and Yadkin, Surry,
and Iredell (“R-dale”–?) are more rural (think Mr. Airy and Andy
Griffith), both sites have committed, experienced, and professional
fellows well versed in cooperative planning and collaboration. There is
also a zeal for the tasks involved in Reclaiming Futures that's very
energizing.
 
This is especially noticeable at the Crossroads site, as there are
three counties working together, meeting on a regular basis, and
assembling and smoothing disparate pieces to fit the Reclaiming Futures Model. Specifically, they have regularly-involved people who are not “Fellows”
to bring a wider pool of experience, commitment, and knowledge to the
table. For its part, Forsyth County has chosen to expand Reclaiming
Futures from its established drug treatment court, championed by its
Judicial and Justice Fellows, thus starting on a firm foundation.
 
All of that is good news. However, one of the challenges that both
sites face — and it is huge — is a lack of treatment resources.
There's great enthusiasm for implementing better screening and
assessment tools (everybody was off and running with their rapid cycle test for screening), but the “Then what?” question looms large:
  • What if the kids funneled through screening and assessment completely overwhelm treatment capacity?
  • How do we grow treatment—good treatment, administered by professionals?
  • Where do the dollars come from?
  • Is Reclaiming Futures capable of pushing treatment expansion, and exactly how does that happen? 

We'd love to hear from sites that have successfully answered these
questions or are grappling with the same problems. Forsyth, Crossroads
(is that “Ire-dale”?), and I await your wisdom.

This sounds like a worthy program and for the sake of our local at-risk youth I hope they are able to solve their treatment conundrum.

Winston-Salem Journal Full of Itself, or Something

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I was out of town over the weekend so I just had a chance to read the Sunday edition of the Winston-Salem Journal.  In their Opinion section the executive editor Carl Crothers announced some changes to their Opinion section, including changing their "Letters to the Editor" to "The readers' forum" and they carry a column written by their letters editor, Mick Scott, explaining how you can get your letter published by the paper. Let's just say I have a small problem with their attitude.

Really the heart of my problem I have with their approach can be summed up by the following paragraph in Mr. Scott's column:

We are selective, but our selectivity isn't to deny participation; it's
to keep the quality high. Our letter writers expend a little more
effort, a little more thought than you'll find on most bulletin boards
or blogs and we want it to be that way.

Surely he's kidding.  I'll grant that a great amount of total crap appears on blogs and bulletin boards, but let's be honest and say that some of the worst stuff that appears locally is in the comments on Journal stories.  If you want to see exactly how infantile and almost illiterate many of your fellow denizens are then make your way to the JournalNow site and read some comments; just be prepared for indecipherable spelling and lots of really unimaginative spewing.

Still, the comments aren't the vaunted "letters" page that Mr. Scott is referring to, that outlet that is necessarily more selective due to limited space.  Let's see some examples of the greater thoughtfulness and effort that they've carried on the "letters" page of the Journal in just the last couple of weeks:

December 4, 2008: Was Doonesbury any good last Sunday? The print was too small for me to read it. – JEFF SPARKS, Clemmons
December 9, 2008: Thank God and Greyhound that Forsyth County Commissioner Dave Plyler
has taken the chair from Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt. It's time for
a change. -JIM HATCHER, Winston-Salem
December 10, 2008: While I read the article "DNA Secrets" (Dec. 4) with interest, was
it really key to the story to include a photo of decades-old feces? I
would submit that sometimes an accurately written description is worth
a thousand photos. – PAIGE DEAL, Winston-Salem
December 15, 2008: Congratulations to all who participated in the Dec. 7 performance of Handel's Messiah
, by the Mozart Club. To the local church choir singers who were not on stage — you missed a thrilling experience. Do join next year's performance. I hope that the same conductor, Peter Perret, and the same soloists will be there, too. – ANN W. CHARLES, Winston-Salem

Riveting stuff, eh? I have nothing against the letter writers, but if the space is so limited and special don't you think the paper could have found something more interesting or compelling to print?  Honestly I think my kids put more thought into their Facebook status line than those authors put into their letters.

On another note, something that kind of nagged at me when I read Crothers' column was the question of  why "Editor" is capitalized in "Letters to the Editor", yet "readers'" isn't in "The readers' forum."  To me it reads that the paper feels that editors are somehow special, while readers are the great unwashed masses.  It seems pompous.

Don't get me wrong. I like that the paper is trying to engage the readers, but I think they're hamstrung by their institutional tradition of pontificating rather than conversing.  For their sakes I hope their efforts help save the franchise, but it's not happening until they start to think of their readers with a capital "r".

Graphic Example of Twitter’s Utility

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I've been a fairly casual user of Twitter for a while now and it has been interesting to watch how it has become more commonly used.  I signed up to use it fairly quickly after it's launch, but since no one else I knew was using it I figured it was a kind of geek-fad thing and forgot about it.  Then I noticed more and more of my colleagues using it so I started paying attention to it again, and it's become a pretty easy way for me to track what some of the smartest people I know are doing. 

For the most part, though, most people I know have not a clue what Twitter is or what it does.  The news gods have provided a really memorable example of what it is with this story about a passenger on the plane that slid off the runway in Denver and broke into flames over this past weekend. The article claimed that the passenger, a guy named Mike Wilson, literally got off a Tweet (a message sent via Twitter) before he got out to safety but when I checked his Twitter profile I read a Tweet he'd sent saying that he didn't send the first message until after he was safely off the plane.  He then kept people posted on the post-crash happenings by sending Tweets about how the passengers were being handled.  Note that he was not pleased that the airline wasn't providing them with drinks.

So here's how the passenger did it:

  • At some point he joined Twitter (it's free).
  • He started sending text messages to his Twitter account and the messages are displayed in his Twitter profile.
  • Other people elected to follow him, so whenever he sends a text message they see it in their profile.  To make it easy think of the profile as the equivalent of an email inbox.
  • When the plane crashed and he sent out that text message to his Twitter account all the people who followed him saw the note.  Then of course they could forward it, email about it, tell friends, etc.

Mr. Wilson has received lots of attention for his "tweeting" but when you think about it if he'd simply sent a text to his wife or kids the whole thing would have gone unnoticed.  By sending the text to his Twitter profile where the dozens or hundreds of his followers could read it he did something new and novel and so he ended up being interviewed by the media.  But beyond the novelty there also lies the network effect: by sending the message to a profile that is essentially a mini-blog or mini-webpage he allowed literally anyone to see what was happening, so those people that did follow him could send a link to his profile to whomever they wanted, and those people could forward it, and so on. Next thing you know there are literally thousands of people reading his text dispatches; if he'd sent that same 10-word text to his wife maybe ten people would have seen it. There, in a nutshell, is the powerful effect of Twitter.  (BTW, he has 1,762 followers at 5:22 Eastern on December 22, 2008. I wonder how many he had before the crash.)

So if you have people that are interested in keeping up with you during the day, are regular users of text messaging, and are not averse to mutilations of the English language then you may have the makings for an active Twitter existence.

FYI, if you'd like to follow me on Twitter my profile is jlowder.

Lest You Think all Sheriffs are Old, Fat or Both

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Sheriff will flynt Who's that strapping young fellow pictured to the left?  Why that's Forsyth County's first duly elected sheriff, one Will Flynt who served as sheriff from 1850-1854.  Is it just me or does he look like he's 12 in that picture?  More photos like that can be found at Digital Forsyth. (Picture courtesy of the Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection)

Digital Forsyth Group on Flickr

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A little over a year ago I read about the Digital Forsyth group in the paper and was pleased to find some really interesting information on the site.  Today I discovered a Flickr group that Digital Forsyth has started that I hope will expand their portfolio of interesting Winston-Salem and Forsyth County images as local Flickr members contribute their own pics to the project.

Executive Compensation in Winston-Salem: Reynolds American

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Today's episode of "Executive Compensation in Winston-Salem" focuses on the company that at one time employed both my parents when they were students at Wake Forest.  It's the company that pops to mind when people think of business in Winston-Salem.  Why yes, it's Reynolds American Inc., and I have to tell you that what the execs at Reynolds are paid makes the folks I've already profiled at WFUBMC and Novant look like they're in the minor leagues.

My source for this information is the most recent proxy statement posted on Reynolds' website.  If you've never looked at one of these you should check it out: they spend page after page explaining their rationale for executive compensation.  It's really kind of overwhelming.  The numbers listed for each executive are for 2007.

Susan Ivey, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of Reynolds American Inc..  She was paid a salary of $1,190,350, granted stock awards of $3,114,421, received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $4,243,000, pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings of $688,848 and all other compensation of $231,241.  Total: $9,467,860

Dianne Neal, Executive VP and CFO of Reynolds American Inc.  She was
paid a salary of $553,250, granted stock awards of $926,711,
received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1,340,325, pension
value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings of $120,231 and
all other compensation of $341,593.  Total: $3,282,110

Daniel Delen, President and CEO of RJR Tobacco.  He was
paid a salary of $760,000 and a bonus of  $125,000, granted stock awards of $1,743,949,
received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $658,000 and
all other compensation of $212,532.  Total: $3,499,481

Jeffrey Eckmann, RAI Group President.  He was
paid a salary of $629,250, granted stock awards of $985,602,
received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1,401,325, pension
value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings of $887,663 and
all other compensation of $269,821.  Total: $4,173,661

Tommy Payne, Executive VP – Public Affairs of Reynolds American Inc.  He was
paid a salary of $383,725, granted stock awards of $493,984,
received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $730,064, pension
value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings of $43,139 and
all other compensation of $227,425.  Total: $1,878,337

Executive Compensation in Winston-Salem: WFUBMC

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For today's episode of "Executive Compensation in Winston-Salem" I'm looking at the folks at that megalopolis otherwise know as Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

My source for the these numbers was Guidestar
and the numbers listed come from the most recent 990listed
for each organization on the site.  So if the most recent 990 is 2006
then I've listed the 2005 pay. Here we go:

For WFUBMC I looked at many of the executives team listed on their website's leadership page.
FYI, one of the challenges with looking at WFUBMC's information is that they've recently restructured, some execs have retired and others have been promoted.  Since the numbers are from 990s filed in 2006 (so they reflect 2005 compensation) I'm going to insert some of the retired executives' data for a frame of reference.  For the others I'm using their current titles but the pay reflects their pay in 2005 in what might have been different positions.

Donny Lambeth, Listed on website as President (Interim) and COO of North Carolina Baptist Hospital –
In 2005 he was paid $388,150 and had $45,625 in benefits and deferred
compensation. Total: $433,775.

Gina Ramsey, Listed on website as VP of Financial Services and CFO of North Carolina Baptist Hospital –
In 2005 she was paid $311,303 and had $38,970 in benefits and deferred
compensation. Total: $350,273.

Len Preslar, No longer with Baptist but in 2005 he was the CEO.  He was paid $609,240, had $59,668 in benefits and deferred compensation and he had $8,823 in expenses.  Total: $677,731.

Douglas Edgeton, Listed on the website as the Executive VP and COO of WFU Health Sciences and the President of Piedmont Triad Research Park.  In 2005 he
was paid $414,087, had $52,103 in benefits and deferred compensation
and he had $9,532 in expenses.  Total: $475,722.

Richard Dean, No longer with WFU Health Sciences but in 2005 he was the President and CEO. 
He was paid $854,153, had $179,625 in benefits and deferred compensation
and he had $7,282 in expenses.  Total: $1,041,060.

It’s All Relative: Why Our 6.3-ish Percent Unemployment Rate Doesn’t Look Too Bad

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Economic times are tough everywhere, and here in Winston-Salem it's no different.  But as bad as it all seems as we hear about one layoff announcement after another, we've gotten off easy compared to Wilmington, Ohio:

As hard times go, this is about as hard as it
gets. The single-biggest employer in these parts is laying off about
7,500 men and women.

In a town of fewer than 13,000 people. In the midst of the worst financial crisis in generations.

"It's going to test us," says Mayor David Raizk. "The numbers are frightening."

Those numbers came in a Nov. 10 announcement by
Deutsche Post World Net, the German owner of package-delivery company
DHL. After investing five years and nearly $9 billion, DHL is
abandoning its ill-starred effort to compete in the United States with
FedEx and UPS. Winding down its U.S. business will eliminate 9,500 DHL
positions around the country plus thousands more here at the company's
local partner, ABX Air.

Ouch.

Job: Intern for the Winston-Salem Dash

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Want a career in sports?  Want to make next to nothing but get class credit while working with Winston-Salem's Carolina League team recently renamed the Dash?  Available as of January 19, 2009?  Then I have the job listing for you.  Here's what you'll have to do:

• Contact participating schools to schedule assemblies. Coordinate
dates based off availability of the team mascot, Director of Media
Relations and Director of Entertainment. Handle all preparation for
assemblies and attend all assemblies. When the team mascot is not
available, candidate must be willing to perform mascot duties.
• Assist sponsor services team with any obligations to sponsors and coordination of MVP Program Day at the Park.
• Email a weekly recap to executive staff outlining the number of
schools participating in the program, number of assemblies booked,
number of tickets sold and a narrative detailing that week’s events and
events scheduled for the upcoming week.
• Handle all preparation for school outing game dates including organization of pre-game activities.
• Handle 100% Access Tours on school outing game dates.
• Assist ticket department with 100% Access Tours on some non-school game dates.
• Assist sponsor services team with organization of the ballpark for the day.
• Assist sponsor services team with the necessary proof of performance materials for sponsors.
• Full written recap of the program upon completion. Outline positives,
area for improvement and overall sales numbers. Provide feedback from
participating schools and group leaders.

More on Triad Appliance Center

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Thanks to the Winston-Salem Journal's coverage of the court hearing about Triad Appliance Center we now know that the store is owned by The Langley Group Inc.  If you remember my earlier post, the one piece of information I couldn't gather by doing online searches about the business was the business name for the owner. I'd read that Thi Alderman, the ex-wife of Brad Ellison who was mentioned prominently in the articles about the customers' problems with the store, was the owner but I couldn't find her name anywhere in the state corporation filings.

Searching for The Langley Group Inc. on the North Carolina database of corporations I immediately found an active listing for The Langley Group Inc. that showed the business was formed in October of 2003, that John L. Barber is the listing agent, that the registered mailing address of 155 Sunnyknoll Court, Suite 200, Winston-Salem NC 27106, and that the principal business address that is the same as the store.  As an attorney for Wells Jenkins Mr. Barber is also the registered agent for 64 other companies so there's nothing odd about that at all.

The annual report filed with the state in 2004 shows Thi Ellison as the President and Treasurer and a Brian Ray as the Secretary.  The 2007 annual report shows Thi Alderman as the President and Treasurer and again shows Brian Ray as the Secretary.

A quick search on Google for "Brian Ray Winston-Salem" turned up an article at the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem website about a 2006 fundraiser that was co-sponsored by Triad Appliance Center.  There's not a whole lot to be made of that other than the notion that until the store closed last week most of the information available about the store seemed to indicate it was a successful local company.  As recently as November of this year Thi Alderman was interviewed about the sales tax holiday and she had this to say:

Thi Alderman didn't know what to expect when the state switched on its first sales-tax holiday for energy-efficient appliances.

But after three days of "being overrun with customers" at Triad
Appliance Center in Winston-Salem, Alderman said yesterday that she
would be glad for the holiday to arrive more than once a year.

"I'd say we had four times our normal traffic during the tax-holiday
period" of Friday through Sunday, said Alderman, the owner of the
appliance store.

"People were buying front-load washers like crazy, including some of the $2,000 models.

"My wish for the next tax-holiday period is that with appliances
being such big-ticket items, many consumers need more than just three
days to shop," Alderman said.

So we're left to wonder what happened.  What role did Thi Alderman's ex-husband Brad Ellison play in all this?  As I outlined in the earlier post you have to wonder how he can claim ignorance when he owns the land and building that houses Triad Appliance Center and he acted as the sales person for at least some of the customers who filed complaints against the business.