June 23, 2016

Vol. IV No. 25

Greensboro, North Carolina

www.rhinotimes.com

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Scott D. Yost

Seven Plus Two Equals $600M

School Salaries plus Under The Hammer, Uncle Orson Reviews Everything AND MORE

CITY COUNCIL PICKS FIGHT WITH COUNTY

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RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

THE WEEKLY Hammer

The Weekly Hammer

Council Making City Homeless Capital

by John Hammer Editor The Greensboro City Council devoted an entire specially called work session to programs for the homeless on Tuesday, June 21.

A report on how programs for the homeless have changed from providing services to providing housing made a lot of sense.

Partners Ending Homelessness Executive Director Darryl Kosciak explained that his organization no longer tries to solve the problems of a homeless person that created the situation where they find themselves homeless, instead they concentrate their efforts on getting housing for the homeless, and then agencies can step in and deal with substance abuse, mental health or whatever the issues are that are causing people to be homeless.

It sounds like Partners Ending Homelessness is doing a good job of ending homelessness because, according to Kosciak, that is what they are concentrating on doing. He said they prioritize needs and deal with the most needy first, but the concentration is always on providing

homes, not on the underlying causes, which are more easily dealt with after people have a roof over their head.

But there was one comment, almost an aside, that Kosciak made that no one on the City Council seemed to notice, or at least no one commented on. He said that the programs in Greensboro were so good that people were coming from other places to take advantage of them.

This is potentially a huge problem.

The City Council seems incapable or uninterested in doing anything to attract new industry or jobs to the city, but it is extremely interested in having one of the best programs for providing homes for the homeless in the country.

Cities that concentrate on recruiting industry produce more jobs, grow and improve their local economies. New and expanding industries provide jobs that can raise people, including the homeless, out of poverty in a way that no government program can.

The policies of the current City Council are, according to their own reports, attracting homeless people from other towns and cities here to

take advantage of Greensboro’s great programs for the homeless. What benefit will the citizens of Greensboro derive from having homeless people move here to take advantage of our superior homeless services?

What does the increased homeless population bring to Greensboro? It isn’t jobs, and it isn’t an improved economy. Unfortunately, what an increasing number of homeless people bring to Greensboro is more expense. They put a burden on social services, public health, emergency rooms and on the homeless programs themselves, and all that puts more of a burden on the taxpayers.

Providing homes and services for the homeless isn’t free; the city is spending over $393,000 a year on the Partners Ending Homelessness and another $125,000 on the Interactive Resource Center, which provides daytime services for the homeless.

Partners Ending Homelessness also receives federal and private funding.

Kosciak told the City Council that they needed more housing for those that are currently homeless.

When placing a bond referendum on the ballot to provide $34 million for affordable housing was being discussed in May, City Councilmember Mike Barber said it sounded cruel but that it was the wrong path for the city to take because it would encourage people who need subsidized housing to move to Greensboro. He said that would simply put more of a burden on the city and the county to provide services to people who needed subsidized housing because people who needed government subsidized housing often required other government-provided services as well.

Barber suggested that the city would be much better off spending bond money on economic development to attract business and industry to Greensboro to provide jobs for those already here rather than encouraging those without jobs to come here for housing assistance.

Now, with the report on ending homelessness, there is evidence that providing better services does exactly what Barber said it would do.

A number of years ago, Washington, DC, initiated a program to provide a bed for every homeless person who requested one. They knew the approximate number of homeless people and it seemed like beds could be provided for all of them at a reasonable cost to the city. It might have worked except the word went out that if you could get to DC, you could roam the streets during the day and sleep in a bed at night if that is what you chose.

Homeless people came from all over the area. Reportedly on cold nights the police in northern Virginia would pick up homeless people and take them as far as a bridge over the Potomac with instructions to walk across the bridge and they would be given a warm, clean place to sleep for the night. Washington refurbished an old hotel at massive expense into a huge homeless shelter, but in the end even Washington, DC, which spends money like it is water, couldn’t sustain the program and had to discontinue it.

If Greensboro acquires the reputation as the place for homeless people to come to be housed, there is no way Greensboro will be able to sustain the expense.

It may sound heartless, but Greensboro doesn’t want and can’t afford to have the best homeless (continued on page 4)

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www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

table of

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CONTENTS

WEEKLY HAMMER

BY JOHN HAMMER

23 YOST COLUMN

COUNCIL RAISES WATER RATES, PICKS FIGHT WITH COUNTY

BY JOHN HAMMER

6

SEVEN YEAS PLUS TWO NAYS EQUALS $600 MILLION COUNTY BUDGET

BY SCOTT D. YOST

7

SCHOOL SALARIES FLAT AT THE TOP

BY JOHN HAMMER

8

17 REAL ESTATE

STOKESDALE LOSES DEPUTY, SAVES ONEFIFTH OF BUDGET

BY SCOTT D. YOST

BY SCOTT D. YOST

25 ASK CAROLYN ...

BY CAROLYN WOODRUFF

35 UNDER THE HAMMER

BY JOHN HAMMER

4

RHINO SHORTS

14

SUDOKU

18

NYT CROSSWORD

19

PUZZLE ANSWERS

19

CHILDREN’S SCHEDULE

21

THE SOUND OF THE BEEP

31

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

34

EDITORIAL CARTOON

10 COUNTY TAX

DEPARTMENT COLLECTING MONEY WITH GUSTO

BY SCOTT D. YOST

15 UNCLE ORSON

BY ORSON SCOTT CARD

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Cover: Thursday, June 16 at the Beach Music Blast at Commerce Place.

Two concerts remain. This week, Thursday, June 23 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. is Sleeping Booty, and the season ends on Thursday, June 30, with The Embers. Photo by Elaine Hammer.

More photos on page 28 and at rhinotimes.com

PUBLISHER Roy Carroll EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Hammer

GENERAL MANAGER Joann Zollo

managing editor ELAINE HAMMER

creative director ANTHONY COUNCIL

county editor SCOTT D. YOST

advertising consultants MICK HAYWOOD TYE SINGLETON

contributing editor ORSON SCOTT CARD

cartoonist GEOF BROOKS

216 West Market Street, Greensboro NC 27401 P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro NC 27429 | (336) 763-4170 (continued on page 11) (336) 763-2585 fax | sales@rhinotimes.com | www.rhinotimes.com

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HINOSHORTS

Tuesday the federal government finally got around to approving drones for commercial use. Wednesday I received my first email from a company offering me their drone photography services.

My only question is, what took them so long.

Here’s an interesting note: The Republicans in North Carolina have come under attack because they have refused to accept identification cards issued by nonprofit agencies as official identification for government purposes. Guess who else won’t accept any form of ID except one issued by a government agency – the Obama White House for a public tour.

The tours are free to the public but you can’t go on one unless you have a passport or government issued identification with correct information on it.

So President Barack Obama, for all of his love of illegal immigrants, doesn’t allow them to enter the White House unless they have a passport issued by their government with correct up-to-date information.

Isn’t it interesting that the Democrats howl about how unfair Republicans are, but when you get right down to Democratic policies versus Democratic rhetoric, the policies are often similar to the

Republican policies. The difference is the talk, not the action.

Why aren’t Democrats demanding that illegal immigrants be given the same right to visit the White House as American citizens? Why are they being locked out of the president’s house just because they are not in this country legally?

Greensboro has been a big promoter of providing illegal immigrants with official looking identification.

The State of North Carolina is opposed to these unofficial but official looking IDs. And the state may do something about it. A bill passed the state Senate Judiciary II Committee that would allow North Carolina to withhold state road funding from sanctuary cities and cities that accept the unofficial identification as official ID. If the bill passes the state House and Senate, Greensboro would either have to change it politicies or give up millions of dollars in state funding.

I find it amusing that the reporters for the News & Record would allow themselves to be penned up in the media area at the Donald Trump rally and then complain about it. National political campaigns are notoriously cruel to local media.

I attended the Trump rally and saw that they had the local print media at desks behind a platform with a wall of cameras on it, where the reporters couldn’t see the podium. The local reporters were evidently supposed to sit there and look at the backsides of the cameramen and women on the platform filming Trump.

So I bypassed the media area all together and went up and stood as close to the podium as I could get. I talked to several campaign workers and none of them ordered me to get back to the media corral, even when I flashed my media pass at them.

Being there in the crowd, I didn’t have to depend on what other people told me about those who attended the Trump rally because I interacted with a lot of them.

I found them to be regular folks who were polite, helpful and incredibly enthusiastic about Trump.

homeless (continued from page 2)

programs in the area, much less the nation. We need homeless programs that are adequate, but not so opulent that they attract homeless people from other cities.

If the Greensboro City Council continues down this path, Greensboro could become the homeless capital of the East Coast.

Greensboro already has the highest property tax rate in North Carolina, but property taxes will have to increase further to support all the homeless people attracted to Greensboro, which will further discourage new industries from coming here, and taxes will have to increase more. It is a deadly spiral for the City of Greensboro but only Barber, who was not at Tuesday’s work session, expressed any concern that this is a terrible road for the city to start down.

Barber is right; what the city needs to do to help those in need is to attract new industry to provide jobs for people, not find new ways to provide handouts to people.

Megan Cavanaugh (left) and Taylor Dove on the North Island of New Zealand at the Emerald and Blue Lakes. Send your Rhinos Around the World photos to letters@ rhinotimes.com or to PO Box 9023, Greensboro 27429.

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

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City Council Raises Water Rates, Picks Fight with County

by John Hammer The Greensboro City Council’s opposition to increasing water rates folded like a house of cards at the regular meeting on Tuesday, June 21 in the City Council Chambers at city hall.

The City Council also sent a strong message to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners that it was not happy with the way the commissioners are treating the city, by voting unanimously to terminate the contract with Guilford County for animal services on June 30, 2017.

The City Council wants to renegotiate the $581,000 contract with Guilford County to provide animal services, but the five year contract requires a 12 month notification by either party for termination. By voting to terminate the contract the city can bring the county

to the negotiating table if the county wants to continue to provide animal control services for Greensboro. The contract has nothing to do with the animal shelter, it is for animal control – what used to be called dogcatchers.

In unincorporated Guilford County, the county picks up stray animals at county expense, which means all the taxpayers of Guilford County foot the bill. But the City of Greensboro, which is a part of Guilford County, pays the county for that same service. The people in unincorporated Guilford County pay exactly the same county property tax rate as the people in Greensboro, but those in unincorporated Guilford County get the service for free while the people who live in Greensboro pay for the service twice – once in their county tax bill and

once in their city tax bill. The majority of the residents of Guilford County live in Greensboro, so in this case the majority is subsidizing a service for the minority of rural residents of the county.

However, if you think the vote had nothing to do with the animal shelter then you would be missing the boat.

The City Council was extremely perturbed when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, without consulting their council colleagues, announced the plan to move the animal shelter from its current location on West Wendover Avenue to Burlington Road in east Greensboro. Unfortunately for the commissioners, they found they would have to get a special-use permit from the City Council to put an animal shelter at the proposed location on the county-owned land next to the Guilford

County Agricultural Center.

The commissioners have apparently backed off from that plan, which was a smart move because even if they could have found a councilmember to make a motion for the special-use permit, it would have almost certainly failed by a unanimous vote.

In the course of the behind-thescenes maneuvering on all that, Greensboro discovered that it owns three-eighths of the current animal shelter.

The truth is that residents of Greensboro – who are all also residents of Guilford County – get a bad deal from Guilford County, and it appears the animal shelter issue has caused even the less aware members of the City Council to realize it. (continued on page 9)

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RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

Seven Yeas Plus Two Nays Equals $600M County Budget

by Scott D. Yost

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Jeff Phillips was a very, very tired man on Thursday, June 16.

He’d spent the last couple of weeks in intense budget talks with his fellow commissioners, and Phillips was the last county official to leave the Old Guilford County Court House after he’d managed to cobble together a $600 million county budget that passed on a bipartisan vote.

Guilford County’s new 2016-2017 fiscal budget, which goes into effect on July 1, passed on a 7-to-2 vote with the two no votes coming from Commissioners Ray Trapp and Carolyn Coleman. The other two Democrats on the Board of Commissioners, Carlvena Foster and Kay Cashion, voted with the board’s five Republicans to pass the new budget – though Foster’s comments at the meeting made it clear that she was going back and forth on her decision in the hours leading up to the vote.

Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing proposed a county budget in

Speed Bump

May that kept the tax rate at the same level as the 2015-2016 budget – 76 cents per $100 of assessed property values. The new rate in the final 20162017 budget is 75.5 cents. In order to provide a half-cent cut in the tax rate, the commissioners had to reduce the costs of Lawing’s budget by about $2.35 million, which they did by either nixing ideas all together or by putting them on hold until sometime past June 30, 2017.

One place the county found $30,000 in cuts was in a simple accounting error by county staff, which had mistakenly put a $30,000 bill for a needed new solid waste truck into both the fleet budget and the solid waste budget. Guilford County only needed one truck, not two, so cutting out that $30,000 was a breeze. Finding the other $2 million and change in cuts, however, wasn’t quite so easy.

In the budget adopted on June 16, the commissioners saved $198,000 by not funding seven Division of Social Services positions that Lawing had proposed in his recommended

by Dave Coverly

budget – the document that the Board of Commissioners always uses as a “rough draft” of the final county budget.

Those positions were in Lawing’s budget to help address the ever-rising demand for food stamps in Guilford County. However, the county commissioners had already approved some new positions for social services several months ago, and there was a feeling among the commissioners that the new workers that Lawing called for in his budget wouldn’t really provide that much relief to the department.

The state-provided software the department uses, NC Fast, is so bad that each additional worker can only process a handful of applications a day, and, in the end, the majority of commissioners didn’t feel it would be prudent to add more positions at a cost of $272,000 – even though the state and federal government would have kicked in $44,000 to help fund some of the positions.

The commissioners’ budget also removed $67,000 by eliminating a public information officer (PIO) position that Lawing has been requesting for years. The county manager points out that most local governments the size of Guilford County have someone dedicated to handling public records requests and working to shape that government’s public image. A PIO would help present a positive image of county government, which some say the county needs since so much of what ends up in the news currently is negative – simply based on the nature of news. For instance, in fiscal 20152016, the county news was dominated by a huge scandal at the animal shelter, while on many occasions the county was unable to get the word out about the positive initiatives it has in place.

While the 2016-2017 budget approved by commissioners includes some money for merit raises for county employees, it cuts back the amount Lawing proposed.

The manager’s budget had called for enough money for every county employee to get a 2.75 percent merit raise – though actual amounts for each employee would vary according to job performance – and the commissioners’ final 20162017 budget knocked that number

down to 2.25 percent. That move saved the county about $228,000.

The commissioners also saved over $341,000 – or at least put that expense off until a future year – by postponing some renovation and repair projects.

The budget adopted authorizes the county to raise $8 million needed to repair the Old Guilford County Court House, $8 million to build a new animal shelter and another $8 million to get started on an emergency services vehicle maintenance center that’s estimated to have a total project cost of $10.6 million. The budget also provides the authority to raise $3.6 million for parking deck repairs for the large deck next to the courthouse in High Point and the parking deck next to the Independence Center at 400 W. Market St. in downtown Greensboro.

Some other wants were pushed out to the next fiscal year or beyond.

For instance, a major move of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department’s administrative offices from the Otto Zenke building at 400 W. Washington St. into the old county jail on the same block won’t happen as soon as initially planned.

Since the first year of debt repayment on the total of all capital projects will be lower, the county will save the $341,000 on first-year debt repayment due to borrowing less money this coming fiscal year than planned.

One big block of savings was $1 million in additional money that the county will not be handing over to the schools for school maintenance and repair. Lawing’s budget proposed $7 million in additional funds for that purpose, but the final county budget approved by the commissioners on June 16 cut that amount to $6 million.

In the final days of negotiations on the budget, the commissioners went back and forth on whether to cut the $1 million from school capital funding – which goes toward building maintenance and repair – or from school operations, which pays for things like teacher salaries, books and electricity.

Either way, it was an additional million that the commissioners saved on the budget, but in the end most (continued on page 12)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

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School Salaries Flat at the Top

by John Hammer

The Guilford County Schools salary list is the opposite of the City of Greensboro salary list, in which the biggest raises were at the top. The schools, or perhaps the state, should be congratulated. Rather than give raises to the top paid school administrators, the state chose to give the biggest raises to new teachers.

The list is different from last year in that Superintendent Mo Green and his $250,000 a year salary are no longer at the top, but the next few lines are more or less unchanged, which is great. The additional money spent on education should be going in the classroom, not to the central office staff.

The salary list, once you get to school-based personnel, can be a little misleading because the school based personnel who appear to have made exactly the same salary as last year did receive a $1,000 bonus.

But it’s great that the Republicans who run state government realize that giving raises to already overpaid central office education paper pushers is not the solution to the education problems the state is facing.

Young, Terrence Carr, Nora Morrison, Shirley Hardy, Nakia Shaver, Randall Martin, Phyllis Sheehan, Anne Becoats, Jocelyn Watlington, Tony Henry, Angela Wilds, Rodney Faison, Patrice Culmer, Sandra Parker, George Blanchard, William Kitley, Ralph Hoskins, Donevin Greeson, Gerald Boschini, George Parker, Deborah

Chief Info Ofcr Chief Of Staff Chief HR Ofcr Chief Academic Ofcr Regional Supt Regional Supt Regional Supt Chief Curr & Instr Ofcr Regional Supt Chief Fin Ofc Principal Principal Exec Dir-Regional Principal Principal Principal Principal Dir-Maintenance Principal Principal

$154,368 $153,816 $151,292 $149,500 $148,540 $145,220 $143,540 $138,540 $138,540 $135,504 $121,000 $116,036 $115,287 $115,036 $115,000 $114,972 $114,000 $112,308 $111,796 $110,405

Green resigned in March to accept the job as president of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. So he went from begging for money to giving away money. The latter has to be a lot more fun.

Green to his credit took the job as superintendent in 2008 at a salary of $250,000 and never accepted a raise. When he accepted the job he was the highest paid city or county official in Greensboro, but since then Greensboro Coliseum Manager Matt Brown has left him far behind. Brown’s salary is now $288,000, far more than the salary for the man who was in charge of educating the children of Guilford County.

The school board is currently in the process of searching for a new superintendent, and while they are looking, Chief Information Officer Terrence Young and Chief of Staff Nora Carr are acting as cointerim superintendents. Before Green was hired, the schools also had co-interim superintendents, so the school board must have liked how that worked.

We also came across some anomalies in these salaries where it appeared school staff were being paid less than they were paid in 2015. According to the schools, the reductions in salary were caused by a change in position, not the reduction of salary for Gibson, James Kashubara, Pete Tate, Alicia Laine, William Holcombe, Amy Kemp, Darcy Penny, Judith Williams, Fabby Oakley, Whitney Coble, Esther Foster, Stephen Gorham, Shelia Coker, Alison Miller, David Sockwell, Lance Jones, Leigh Seagraves, James Akins, Valerie Banks, Charlos Monk, Julius

Principal Principal Exec Dir-Spec Ed Svc Principal Exec Dir-Talent Devel Exec Dir-Regional Exec Dir-Account & Res Principal Exec Dir-Pre-K-5 Curric Principal Exec Dir-Hr Operations Principal Exec Dir-Human Res Principal Principal Exec Dir-Secndry Curric Principal Exec Dir-Regional Exec Dir-Stdnt Svcs Exec Dir-Facilities

$110,380 $109,512 $109,504 $109,000 $108,114 $108,114 $108,000 $107,512 $106,874 $105,948 $105,943 $105,156 $105,078 $105,000 $105,000 $104,847 $104,036 $103,838 $103,838 $103,838

the same position.

Still, it appears that the school salary list represents an improvement in the education philosophy – with school-based personnel being paid more while central office administrators remain about the same as they have been.

It’s one of the problems with across-the-board raises, where everyone gets, for example, a 2 percent raise. That increases the gaps between those at the top and those at the bottom of the salary list because 2 percent of $150,000 is a lot more than 2 percent of $30,000. So judging from the list, the state is moving school salaries in the right direction.

They aren’t moving in the right direction fast enough for the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), but it appears that there isn’t enough money in the world to satisfy the NCAE. Below are the salaries for the 598 school employees who make $62,000 or more.

While we normally print salaries of public employees with salaries over $60,000, the schools have 923 employees that make over $60,000 and we don’t have the room. For the complete list of salaries for the 10,352 school employees, go to rhinotimes.com.

Tourret, Dibrelle Exec Dir-AL Brady, Anna Exec Dir-Regional Schwartz, Daphna Exec Dir-Fin Svcs Kraszeski, Debbra Principal Johnson, Bryan Principal Harper, Russell Principal Rowland-Kitley, Loretta Principal Stewart, Pamela Principal Hauser, Angella Principal Walker, Monica Diversity Officer Schroeder, Denise Principal Burress, Karen Principal Hamblin, Edgar Dir-Test Admin Gottshall, Joy Psych Kidd, Linda Principal Miller, Johncarlos Principal Kirkpatrick, Patricia Principal Wheat, Kevin Principal Leake, Kimberly Principal

(continued on page 11)

$103,838 $103,335 $103,335 $101,888 $100,000 $99,948 $99,008 $98,460 $94,224 $93,660 $93,492 $92,112 $91,548 $90,711 $90,600 $90,592 $90,456 $90,180 $89,392

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RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

Stokesdale Gives Up Deputy, Saves One-Fifth Of Budget

by Scott D. Yost

After nearly a quarter of a century, due to budgetary concerns, the town of Stokesdale is dropping its sole law enforcement officer dedicated to fighting crime there.

The move will save the town about $80,000 a year, but some citizens are upset that Stokesdale will no longer have its own law enforcement officer and will instead have to rely on the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department to come through and patrol.

Stokesdale Mayor Randy Braswell is quick to point out to any would-be thieves or ne’er-do-wells that the town will still be under the watchful eye of the Sheriff’s Department.

Guilford County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Scott Casey has served as Stokesdale’s full-time deputy for about five years, and he’s gotten to know the town and the residents. However, in the new 20162017 budget Stokesdale adopted last week, that service is now a thing of the past.

“The deputy came out during business hours and hung around like a town deputy,” Braswell said.

Braswell also said the town is still safe and secure even without the extra law enforcement. He said the recent opening of a new Sheriff’s Department district substation in

Summerfield means there are even more deputies coming through his town or operating nearby these days.

“This town is well protected by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department,” Braswell said, adding that the town was really paying before to have “double coverage.”

The officer, who was employed by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department with funds paid to the county by Stokesdale, would be in Stokesdale 40 hours a week – though his hours were changed up frequently depending on crime patterns, public events or other factors.

The mayor said that constantly shifting the officers’ hours kept the bad guys guessing.

“Nobody knew when he was there,” Braswell said.

Stokesdale has a tax rate of 0.00 and it’s the only town or city in Guilford County that levies no property taxes.

Given that, it’s limited in the services it can provide and the town is often forced to make some tough choices.

In fact, Stokesdale’s entire budget is less than $400,000 each year, so having the one deputy there was taking up about a fifth of the town’s entire budget.

Though Stokesdale doesn’t get any revenue from property taxes, it does have some revenue coming in from water fees, beer and wine taxes,

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cable franchise fees, rental fees for use of the town hall as well as a few other revenue streams.

Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said this week that, in a way, the town cutting its funding for the position is like having his own department lose a deputy position because now his forces in that part of the county will have to make up the difference.

Barnes said Jamestown is now the only town or city that contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for special law enforcement attention. Five sheriff’s officers cover four shifts, meaning that Jamestown has a dedicated officer in place 24/7.

Barnes said one reason Stokesdale dropped out of the agreement is that this year the officer was due for a new patrol car.

“I think this is the year to buy another car,” Barnes said. “So that’s another $30,000 or $35,000.”

The sheriff said his officers cover the northwestern zone of the county including Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and Summerfield with the use of roving patrol cars and nearby units that can be called in for help. He also said that Casey, the officer who’s been assigned to Stokesdale, will be reassigned. Barnes added that he was going to try and use Casey in that general area because of his familiarity with Stokesdale and the people there,

but he added that Casey may be used elsewhere.

Barnes also said one consequence of the move would be a reduction in response time. He said that, with an officer stationed in Stokesdale, response time should be about three minutes but, without an officer there, responses would likely take about 10 minutes.

“I don’t know if crime will go up or not,” Barnes said.

Sheriff’s Department Colonel Randy Powers said that just having the officer on display in Stokesdale helped increase security for the town.

“You’ll probably see a crime increase because the visibility of law enforcement generally keeps crime down,” Powers said.

Barnes said that, when he first started in law enforcement decades ago, the big issue for Stokesdale was speeding trucks coming through wide open on 68, tearing up the roads and wreaking havoc.

“There were a lot of accidents,” Barnes said.

Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson said that, even without the officer there, he’s not too worried about the residents being well protected.

“A lot of those boys around Belews Creek are packing some significant heat,” Branson said.

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city council (continued from page 5) Councilmember Jamal Fox noted that the Guilford County commissioners just appointed a new Animal Services Committee, but the city – who is their biggest donor and owns three-eighths of the animal shelter – wasn’t given a single appointment and wasn’t consulted.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan agreed that the city should be represented on any such board and said people in the city pay double for animal services. She said, “We pay double for this. We pay the country for it and then we pay for it again with our property taxes. I think we have a right to demand a certain level of services because we are the biggest donor and then we find out we own part of the animal shelter.”

As they say, the Guilford County commissioners opened a can of worms when they decided they could built a new animal shelter in east Greensboro without first consulting the City Council.

The City Council approved the contract for library services with the county, but told staff they wanted the contract renegotiated.

Fox said, “County residents are taking advantage of what our city residents are paying for.”

Technically the statement is not correct, because city residents are county residents, but the sentiment is clear. Residents of the smaller municipalities and unincorporated Guilford County are getting a low cost ride on the backs of Greensboro taxpayers for a number of services including the library.

In 99 of the state’s 100 counties, the county government is responsible for funding the library system, but not in Guilford County.

But look at some of the other services Guilford County provides for those in the smaller towns and unincorporated Guilford County. One is the Sheriff’s Department.

The residents of unincorporated Guilford County don’t pay anymore for the police protection provided by the Sheriff’s Department than the residents of Greensboro, who fund their own police department.

The Sheriff’s Department will assist the Greensboro police but aren’t the primary providers of police protection inside the city.

Perhaps one of the most egregious new services provided by the county is the parks and recreation division.

Guilford County is spending millions on parks in unincorporated Guilford County for those residents, but where are the Guilford County-funded parks in the middle of Greensboro. The people who live in Greensboro pay the same county property taxes as

the people in unincorporated Guilford County, yet the county is not building big expensive parks with swimming pools and other amenities in the middle of Greensboro for city residents.

Most of the people, i.e., taxpayers in Guilford County, live in Greensboro, but when it comes to providing services Guilford County often acts like Greensboro is not part of the county. If the county is going to provide parks and recreation facilities for the people in small towns and unincorporated Guilford County, the least it could do is make a large donation to the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department to benefit most of the people who live in Guilford County.

Of course, you can’t blame the commissioners entirely.

Last year the Greensboro City Council voted to spend $250,000 to fund a new county department, the Family Justice Center, which provides services for all the residents of Guilford County, but Greensboro was the only one of the 10 municipalities in the county that contributed to its creation.

Why did Greensboro voluntarily contribute to the creation of a new Guilford County department?

The citizens of Greensboro were already, through their county taxes, paying most of the cost of the new department.

The answer to that question is that the City of Greensboro is rolling in money and the city councilmembers like to spend it.

Vaughan made a motion that the city staff and members of the council get together with county staff and commissioners in a task force to discuss all city-county contracts. It was passed by consensus.

The City Council voted 7-to-1 to raise the water and sewer rates by 4.5 percent, just like City Manager Jim Westmoreland asked them to. This was the one portion of the budget that it appeared the City Council might actually have some input on.

But when faced with the city staff that wanted more money, the council caved. Councilmember Mike Barber is out of the country and didn’t attend the meeting in person or by phone.

When the water rate increase came up with the rest of the city budget at the June 7 meeting, all of the budget items were passing either 9 to 0 or 8 to 1, since Councilmember Tony Wilkins voted against the budget and some of the provisions. But when the water rate increase motion was voted on, a gasp went up from the audience and the council. There was no discussion, but the water rate increase only passed by (continued on page 26)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

9

10 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

County Tax Department Collecting Money With Gusto

by Scott D. Yost

They say “Nobody’s perfect,” but the Guilford County Tax Department, in at least one major category, is getting pretty darn close. The department has finally hit an elusive milestone it’s been chasing for years: This week the Tax Department hit a tax collection rate of 99 percent for the fiscal year.

That means that, during fiscal 2015-2016, the department collected 99 cents of every dollar owed on assessed property tax value. Since tax payments are still coming in and there’s a little time left before the end of the fiscal year, June 30, Guilford County will finish up even higher than that mark when the county closes out its books on this year. With about a week and a half left in the fiscal year, Guilford County is at 99.02 cents collected per dollar owed.

The last time the county hit that 99 percent mark for a fiscal year was 15 years ago, and county officials – who know a 100 percent collection rate is

Speed Bump

unobtainable – were very glad to see the county’s collection rate once again about as high as it can realistically be.

Guilford County Assistant Tax Director Greg French said a number of factors are contributing to the county’s high collection rate.

“It’s a combination of things,” French said. “First, you’ve got to give credit to all the property owners in the county – there are so many of them that we don’t have any problem with. It makes our job easier.”

French added that Guilford County has tried hard to contact, early in the process, those property owners who are having difficulty paying. He said county tax collectors try to work with them so that they pay by the end of the fiscal year.

“The sooner we identify them and set them up on payment plans, the better,” French said.

He also said that, in some cases, Guilford County must use the other tools at its disposal – such as wage garnishment and foreclosure

by Dave Coverly

proceedings – though those tactics usually come into play only after other, milder collection methods have been exhausted.

“There are folks in cases where it’s pretty severe and harsher measures are needed – such as a garnishment of a state income tax refund,” he said.

Guilford County has been foreclosing on a record number of homes in recent years and it has a new website that publicizes that effort, makes known which houses and buildings are being foreclosed on and displays exactly where all the properties are in the foreclosure pipeline at any given time. Last year, Guilford County added an in-house attorney position devoted to handling the giant number of foreclosures that the county now has on its hands. In those cases, the taxes generally haven’t been paid in years.

French said he doesn’t know if an increased awareness of foreclosure proceedings is one thing that’s motivating property owners to pay their taxes on time.

“I’m not sure,” he said when asked about whether the foreclosure effort is helping tax collections. “I hope it does send a message that the commissioners have charged us with collecting taxes using all the tools at our disposal.”

French also said current economic conditions may be playing a role.

“The economy is a little bit better,” he said.

According to French, another factor helping boost the rate is that motor vehicle collections are no longer factored in since the state now collects those. Houses and buildings can’t be moved out of the county or the state – not with ease, anyway – however, motor vehicles can. That makes it more difficult to collect taxes on vehicles.

Getting the tax bills out early in the year also helps, and Guilford County tax officials are almost obsessive in that regard. French said that he and other Tax Department workers have often watched the July 4 fireworks from the upper floor of the Independence Building, where the Tax Department is, as they work to make sure the bills are ready to be sent out on the first business day after July 4th each

year. French said some counties don’t send out tax bills until September, and he threw in a public reminder that, even if the county doesn’t send a property owner a bill, he or she is still responsible for paying the taxes owed.

The State of North Carolina tracks collection rates based on the last 10 year-period. After a tax bill becomes a decade or more past due, the county loses its legal right to garnish wages, foreclose on property or force taxpayers to pay back taxes using other methods at its disposal.

Even though Guilford County hasn’t hit 99 percent or above in the last 15 years, when it comes to collecting taxes by the end of the fiscal year, they do almost always end up getting that money eventually. For the period going back a decade, Guilford County has collected 99.56 of the money taxpayers owe it.

For purposes of comparison, for the past 10 years, Durham County is at 99.68; Mecklenburg County is it 99.52; Buncombe is at 99.2, and the medium collection rate in the state is 99.5 percent.

Wake County is at 99.82 for the past 10-year period. However, French said that number is so high that he has his doubts whether it’s accurate.

Guilford County Budget Director Mike Halford said that, while property values haven’t been rising very much in recent years, being able to collect a higher rate has led to revenue bumps despite property values remaining fairly stagnant.

According to Halford, one drawback of the current situation is that collection rates are now so high in Guilford County that officials can no longer count on extra revenue every year due to an increasing property tax collection rate. That’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem in a way.

“The county has been seeing the tax collection rate notch higher, but we’re pretty close to 100 percent,” Halford said.

Halford also said that, even with only 1 percent of the county’s tax payments outstanding, that amount still comes to over $3 million.

As of Friday, June 17, Guilford County had about $3.25 million in (continued on page 33)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

salaries

(continued from page 7)

Hayes, Mayra Dir I-ESOL Svcs Nixon-Green, Rochelle Principal Gantt, Robert Dir III-CTE/Tech Prep Garrow, John Dir-Accountability & Res Bell, Donna Dir-Facilities Planning Harris, Jeffrey Dir-Transportation Carr, Kevin Principal Williams, Quincy Principal Burgman, Anessa Principal Vernon, Trent Principal Reece, Jean Dir-Aft Sch Prg Masters, Samuel Dir-Construction Bergeron, Robin Dir I-Health Svcs Mott, Deborah Principal Goodman, Edward Dir III-Assessment Knisley, Sandra Dir-EC Nursing Svcs McHam, Theaster Principal McKee, Cynthia Principal Wright, Leigh Supv II-EC Slp Millen, Elizabeth Supv II-EC Compliance Douglas, Kerrie Principal Hebbard, Leigh Dir I-Ath/Act/Drv Educ Matson, William Principal Tolliver, Christopher Principal Brown, Patrice Principal Slocum, Susan Psych Williams, Karen Asst Principal Boone, Rodney Principal Reid, Donald Purch Officer Graves, Angela Principal

$89,124 $88,824 $88,764 $88,092 $86,514 $86,184 $86,052 $85,823 $85,572 $85,332 $85,128 $85,056 $84,792 $84,072 $84,060 $83,856 $83,808 $83,472 $82,908 $82,788 $82,296 $82,296 $82,296 $82,296 $82,044 $81,971 $81,876 $81,804 $81,444 $81,420

Curtis, Fonda Thomae, Richard Triplett, Ashley Keels, Cheri Faggione, James Hayes, Michelle Perrotta, Paul Johnson, Joseph Bailey, Kenneth Doud, Karen Mobley, Wanda Woody, Charles Shearin, Frank Stokes, Lance Jordan, Lisa Ray, Martha Kenan, Cynthia Brown, Cynthia Loschin, Penelope Moore, Pamela Spencer, Dawn Brown, Keisha Ellis, Karen Freeman, Calvin King, Jamie O’Donnell, Gerald McCormick, N. Polk-Jones, Angela Hines, Eric Simmons, Michele

Supv II-EC Regional Principal Principal Principal Dir-Sns Principal Dir IV-EC Asst Principal Programmer Analyst II Dir-Payroll Dir-Communications Dir-Dp Techno Tchr-JROTC/Navy Principal Principal Coord I-HS Math Psych Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Dir I-Equity & Inclusion Principal

$81,276 $81,216 $81,216 $81,168 $81,012 $80,732 $80,636 $80,616 $80,424 $80,304 $80,232 $80,112 $80,046 $80,000 $79,948 $79,884 $79,788 $79,728 $79,728 $79,728 $79,728 $79,704 $79,704 $79,704 $79,704 $79,704 $79,656 $79,656 $79,632 $79,524

Rogowski, Sherry Psych Martin, Donna Spec I-Mission Possible Creech, Patricia Spec I-Induction Coach Kennedy, Teresa Principal Bryant-Shanks, Cheryl Dir-Benefits Cox, Leigh Prg Spec III-Eval Sykes, Lucinda Prg Spec III-Testing Stipe-Zendle, Shirley Principal Webb, Hubert Asst Principal Trent, Quintin Dir-Security/School Safety Bowie, Katherine Spec I-Mission Possible Knight, Lealand Asst Principal Odom, George Asst Principal Peeples, Shannon Spec I-Mission Possible Savage, Shayla Principal Nixon, Melissa Dir I-Title I Mayo, Wayne Principal Gann, Andrew Principal Hepburn, Cheryl Coord I-Vocats Brown, Katrinka Principal Stewart, Anita Principal Bailey, Candice Principal Taylor, Tammy Spec I-Mission Possible Koonce, Amy Principal Luciano, William Principal Readus, Johnita Principal Gilbert, Carolyn Dir-Data & Eval Kim, James Hearing/Compliance Ofcr Hopkins, Natalie Spec I-Mission Possible Dooley, Barry Counselor Winslow, Scott Principal Eilers, Lisa Coord I-AG/AP/Act Jordanov, Liliana Coord I-K-12 Global Lang (continued on page 13)

11

$79,488 $79,480 $79,464 $79,416 $79,128 $79,128 $79,128 $79,020 $78,991 $78,936 $78,784 $78,661 $78,364 $78,364 $78,000 $77,904 $77,784 $77,412 $77,400 $77,292 $77,292 $77,244 $77,164 $76,884 $76,884 $76,884 $76,524 $76,404 $76,240 $76,041 $75,984 $75,876 $75,876

12 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

$600M

(continued from page 6)

commissioners thought it made more sense to take the $1 million out of capital funding because the schools don’t use all of their capital funds each year and because there’s still $130 million left for that purpose that the schools haven’t spent from a school bond referendum that county voters approved in May 2008.

It’s important to note that even with the $1 million reduction from the total given to the schools, the school system is still getting a lot more in fiscal 2016-2017 than it did in the 2015-2016 budget adopted last June.

Compared to Guilford County’s 20152016 budget now in effect, Lawing’s proposed budget added $7 million more for Guilford County Schools for a total of $188.4 million. That was $5 million in new money for operating expenses and $2 million more for capital needs. With $1 million shaved off the amount for school capital, and with the money for school operations remaining the same as Lawing’s budget called for, per-pupil county dollars spent on school students will increase from $2,373 per student to $2,419. That money is on top of

the funds that the state provides to Guilford County Schools: $4,739 per student in fiscal 2015-2016. The state hasn’t decided yet how much it will give Guilford County Schools for 20162017.

Guilford County Commissioner Hank Henning said this week that he gets frustrated at the fact that, whenever the commissioners trim an increase in money to the schools down to a smaller increase, critics say the board “cut” the money to the schools.

“It’s not ‘cuts’ when you are giving them more,” Henning said.

In addition to taking expenditures out of the budget recommended by the county manager, the commissioners made a couple of additions as well in the final budget that weren’t included in Lawing’s budget. For instance, they added $10,000 in increased county funding to the Tax Scribe service, which provides online services for taxpayers, and they added a new client services coordinator for the Guilford County Family Justice Center, which will cost about $53,000 a year. The county had held a big ceremony honoring the one-year anniversary of the Family

Justice Center the day before the commissioners adopted the budget, and they did so in the same room where the board approved the budget – the commissioners meeting room of the Old Guilford County Court House.

In the adopted budget, the commissioners also added three certified nursing assistants to work in the schools – while the board simultaneously cut a school nurse position from Lawing’s proposed budget. That switch added $25,000 to the budget, but several commissioners said it would be better in the end for children’s health care in schools if the county had those three nurse assistants instead of one nurse.

Some other changes in the new budget were essentially a wash, such as the county’s move of the Veterans Services department out of the BB&T building in downtown Greensboro into the large county building on Maple Street that houses much of the county’s Health and Human Services Department.

Compared to the 2015-2016 budget, the final 2016-2017 budget also offers about $3 million in new money for human services such as health and social services and $2.2 million more for public safety.

Guilford County Attorney Mark

Payne will get a new assistant attorney in the adopted budget. That position will allow his legal office to increase its work for social services as well as address other county concerns.

Lawing’s proposed budget had come in at about $603 million. The final county budget totals $600.6 million, an increase of about $14 million from the 2015-2016 budget adopted last June.

Henning said the Republican majority board is attempting each year to bring down taxes but is trying to do so in a way that doesn’t leave the county in a financial lurch down the road. This year and in the coming years, Guilford County will face spiking debt repayment costs for hundreds of millions of school, jail and other bonds passed in 2008.

Henning also said that many services are mandated by the state and even those that aren’t are often crucial to a well-functioning county.

“When I was chairman, I asked staff to put together an honest to goodness assessment of county functions,” he said, adding that all services were broken down into those that are mandated, non-mandated but had strings attached, and those that the county was not in any way required to offer.

(continued on page 14)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

salaries

Nachtrab, Sara Principal Taylor, Eric Principal Uhlenberg, Jeffrey Principal Person, Barbara Tchr-1 Gr Thomas, Senada Tchr-PE Hill, Nicole Principal Storey, Christopher Tchr-JROTC/Navy Cayton, Jason Coord I-K-5 Literacy Roland, Tonia Coord I-AG/AP/Act Terry-Armstrong, R. Ec Path-Sl Mills, Linda Dir IV-EC-Temp Hanson, Melanie Tchr-EC Adapted Curr Clark, Janice Asst Principal Andrews, Max Prg Adm III-Mobil/Sp Proj McKnight, Rebecca Supv I-Academic Gifted Timmons, Lise Supv I-Student Svcs Admin Slade, Ahmad Dir III-Instr Techno Jordan, Burnice Tchr-JROTC/Navy Yates, Alison Dir-Staff Opr Hair, Emma Tchr-EC Adapted Curr Evans, Leslie Supv I-EC Preschool Fuentes, Madeline Tchr-Fl Span Cox, Brenda Tchr-Eng Torres, Adolfo Tchr-JROTC/USMC Cawley, Benjamin Spec I-Mission Possible Chandler, Meredith Principal Davis, Kristy Principal Fields, Tavy Principal McCain, Brian Principal McMillian, Effie Supv I-Aam Early Literacy Sciandra, Christopher Supv I-Stdnt Svcs Admin Lowe, Debra Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Humble, Stephen Prg Adm III-Budget Mgr Jenkins, Bettye Comm Srvs/Alt Coord Reynolds, Larry Tchr-PE Hayes, Patricia Tchr-Al Stokes, Fredricca Dir I-Sch Supp & Df Schs Beck, Rhonda Coord II-EC Collab Coach Ramey, Debra Tchr-CTE Net Adm/Cp Fay, Teresa Asst Principal Martin, Barbara Social Wkr Tabori, Alexander Dir II-Psychological Svcs Odom, Valosha Coord II-EC Fairchild, Mary Spec-Media Karper, Sandra Tchr-2 Gr Kent, Robert Tchr-PE Long, Mildred Counselor Mays, Judy Tchr-CTE Exp Bus/Mkt Van Der Sommen, R. Nurse Williams, Georgia Counselor Rakes, Stephanie Supv I-Literacy Mohammadi, Abdol Tchr-CTE Net/Cet (continued on page 16)

(continued from page 11)

Davis, Richard Rosbor-Sanders, L. Simpson, Leonard Muller, Brian Williams, Jamisa Matthews, Donna Wheat, Kristina Alphin, Carla Stimpson, Howard Stone, Joseph Phillips, Susan Harrelson, Sarah Bare, Heather Fleming, Kimberly Roof, Tracy Wohlgemuth, Edward Ashby, Carole Ebbs, Denise Francisco, Denise Williams, Lisa Ford, Pamela Long, James Pendergrass, Amy Teasley, Paul Brown, Elizabeth Whitaker, Diane Gause, Marcus Harris, Stephanie Villarrubia, Susan Weikart, Christopher Maxwell, Thyais Graves, Mitzi Hines, Susan Ransom, Jean McCain, Johnette Garrett, Kevin Lowe, Cheryl Abourjilie, Karen Chappell, Elizabeth Collins, Terri Walsh, Jill Wolverton, Judith Craven, Doyle Washington, Lei Crawford, Jamal Jacobs, Sharon Akingbade, Margaret Ruffin, Stephanie Dennis, Leanne

Prog Analyst II-Student Info $75,864 Supv I-Student Svcs Admin $75,864 Prg Mgr-Video Prod $75,864 Principal $75,780 Principal $75,768 Spec I-Title I Focus/Priority $75,756 Principal $75,732 Dir-Employee Relations $75,720 Principal $75,696 Principal $75,696 Spec I-Induction Coach $75,672 Mgr-Recruitmnt/Staff-Temp $75,400 Principal $75,156 Principal $75,156 Principal $75,156 Principal $75,156 Principal $75,108 Principal $75,108 Principal $75,108 Principal $75,108 Principal $74,976 Programmer-Comm $74,868 Dir I-Pre-K $74,868 Project Mgr-Construction $74,772 Coord I-K-5 Literacy $74,664 Tchr-Sci PS $74,589 Principal $74,256 Principal $74,256 Principal $74,256 Principal $74,220 Principal $74,196 Counselor $74,148 Asst Principal $74,107 Asst Principal $73,898 Dir I-K-12 Sci/Early College $73,848 Tchr-JROTC/Army $73,668 Mgr-EC Staff/Contract Svcs $73,668 Supv I-EC Transition $73,656 Coord I-K-5 Science $73,572 Coord II-EC Collab Coach $73,572 Principal $73,524 Principal $73,524 Dir-St Assignment $73,512 Principal $73,500 Principal $73,476 Principal $73,452 Therapist-Phy $73,270 Supv II-EC Regional $73,236 Tchr-PE $73,189

Hennigan, Barbara Pareja, Roger York, John Nelson, Jan Adamson, Gwen Simmons, Victoria Gilyard, Kimberly Lewis, Rachel Clemmons, Ashton Dixon, Ronald Naglee, Erik Robertson, Kimberly Scott, Kimberly Thigpen, Michelle Vecchione, Kristen Walden, Weaver Britt, Charles Conaway, Merrie Taylor, Jonita Williams, John Jewell, Mark Meadows, Karen Lloyd, Casey Steele, Rachel Cockerham, Charles Jordan, Dawn Pearson, Bonnie Jordan, Diedria Swank, Barbara Roberts, Sophia Evans, Lynda Laney, Susan McCarthy, Melanie Pender-Jones, J. Stalnaker, Kim Sockwell, Shervawn Schram, Margaret Jones, Allison Stacey, Curtis Larocque, Teresa Mcnamara, Cathryn Palit, Anuradha Patterson, Mark Bohn, Jessica Dawson, Angela Harvey, Susan Jordan, Dwayne Lehman, Brian Lockhart, Gradesa

Tchr-3 Gr Tchr-Fl Span Tchr-Eng Spec I-Induction Coach Counselor Tchr-EC Adapted PE Asst Principal Asst Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Dir III-Instr Techno/Pace Principal Principal Coord II-EC Behavior Supp Tchr-NCAE VP Supv I-K-8 Counseling Spec I-Mission Possible NC Wise Analyst Asst Principal Supv-Systems Prog Tchr-CTE Exp Bus/Mkt Prg Spec III-Testing Tchr-EC General Curr Principal Therapist-OC Strategic Plan Coord-EC Supv I-Dop/Social Work Spec I-Media Tchr-JROTC/USMC Principal Tchr-4/5 Gr Lev III Supv I-Stdnt Svcs Admin Asst Dir-Trans Mnt/Rt Ops Tchr-Eng Tchr-CTE Facs Tchr-Sci Psych Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal Principal

$73,189 $73,189 $73,189 $73,020 $73,004 $73,004 $72,776 $72,776 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,744 $72,720 $72,696 $72,696 $72,696 $72,684 $72,672 $72,664 $72,600 $72,589 $72,540 $72,476 $72,420 $72,396 $72,288 $72,220 $72,217 $72,120 $72,000 $71,986 $71,940 $71,634 $71,592 $71,496 $71,313 $71,313 $71,313 $71,255 $71,184 $71,184 $71,184 $71,184 $71,184 $71,184

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$71,184 $71,184 $71,184 $71,151 $71,151 $71,148 $71,140 $70,980 $70,980 $70,890 $70,703 $70,680 $70,653 $70,632 $70,608 $70,608 $70,452 $70,372 $70,356 $70,325 $70,310 $70,122 $70,090 $69,916 $69,748 $69,708 $69,708 $69,708 $69,708 $69,636 $69,636 $69,604 $69,588 $69,384 $69,331 $69,218 $69,036 $69,024 $68,944 $68,904 $68,852 $68,808 $68,730 $68,706 $68,706 $68,706 $68,706 $68,706 $68,706 $68,706 $68,676 $68,614

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14 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

$600M

(continued from page 12)

He said the county wasn’t required to provide an animal shelter, for instance, but he added that a shelter was something the county needs even if it isn’t mandated.

On the Democratic side of the board, Trapp said he really did try to support the budget put forth this year by the Republican commissioners, but, in the end, he could not.

He said he did not particularly care for the way the budgets are put together under the Republican majority. He said that, to a large extent, the Republicans talk on the phone or in small meetings, work out a budget and then reveal it to the Democrats a day or two before the vote and try to get them to come on board.

“They have the votes to pass it, so they do what they want,” Trapp said.

He said he felt a little better about the process after talking with Democratic former Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, who told Trapp that, when the Democrats were in charge of the Board of Commissioners, they did the same thing to the Republicans at budget time.

Foster, another Democrat on the board, and a former Guilford County Board of Education member, said

that, when it came to the schools, the manager’s proposed budget wasn’t too far off from what school officials felt like they could live with.

“I’ve had conversations with school representatives who said that they would be happy if they got that amount,” Foster said.

She apparently was OK with the budget even with the $1 million reduction in school capital funds from the amount the manager proposed.

The school system seems to be satiated a little more easily these days than it was when former Superintendent of Guilford County Schools Mo Green was running the show. Green’s request for the schools last year, for instance, was so astronomical that some commissioners said they questioned why the commissioners should even meet with the schools to discuss the request.

Commissioner Justin Conrad said he wished the tax cut could have been bigger this year since the money belongs to the taxpayers in the first place, but he said a need for caution and some impending financial unknowns made it necessary to drop the tax rate slowly rather than suddenly.

“I’d love to bring a 3, 4, 5 cent tax cut,” Conrad said.

The New York Times

Hyper-Sudoku sudoku_533A Created by Peter Ritmeester/Presented by Will Shortz

9 1

2 7 3

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3 8 5 7 1 5 8 4 8 9 1 (c) PZZL.com

533A

Distributed by The New York Times syndicate

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He said that with the coming debt spikes and uncertainty with regard to the state’s budget, the commissioners felt a need to be prudent.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen with the state,” Conrad said.

Henning also said questions about state funding played into the cautious nature of the current tax cut.

Guilford County’s undesignated fund balance – essentially its savings account – in the new budget is over 13 percent of the budget, which is 5 percent higher than the 8 percent minimum recommended by the state and is a little lower than it was in Lawing’s proposed budget. However, Lawing said after the budget was passed that all of the changes are “manageable.”

Lawing said the most worrisome thing for him was the cut in the tax rate given the county’s pressing demands and concerns about expenses facing Guilford County in upcoming years.

At the June 16 meeting, Phillips pointed out that school funding had risen steadily since 2012, when the Republicans took control of the board.

He said he was proud of the boards contributions to county schools.

Phillips said that the operating expense portion of the county budget specific to Guilford County Schools was $175.6 million in 2012-2013 and that today, four budgets later, it’s $188.4 million.

“People may not be satisfied with that number but that’s an annual number. That’s not like a one-time development.

It’s a commitment – a consistent upward measure of commitment based on the resources that we have.”

Phillips also said that the $6 million the county is giving the schools for capital projects is to be spent addressing the repair needs that parents and school kids have been frequently pointing out to commissioners.

He also said that he felt like the Republican-led board of the last four years had been more open and transparent than the boards that came before.

With the half-cent tax cut,

commissioners have just brought down the county’s tax rate by 2.54 cents, with cuts in three of the last four years.

That’s in contrast to the Democratic boards that ruled the county in the 14 years before the Republicans took control in 2012.

In the 2001-2002 budget, the Democratic-majority board raised the county’s tax rate 3.7 cents. Two years later, after a year without an increase, in the 2003-2004 budget the board handed the county’s property owners an increase of 3.93 cents. In the 20042005 budget, after adjustments were made for the countywide revaluation of property that took place that year, the Democrats effectively raised taxes 1.5 cents.

In the 2005-2006 budget, the commissioners added a 2.44-cent increase and they followed that with another 1.87-cent tax increase in the 2006-2007 budget. The Democratic board then, in the following year, fiscal 2007-2008, approved another 2.99cent increase. In the 2008-2009 budget – adopted just months before the economic collapse – the Democraticrun board added 4.6 cents to the tax rate, and, in 2010-2011, there was no increase. In the 2011-2012 budget, they raised taxes 4.5 cents. In 20122013 county budget adopted under the Democrats, the Democrats finally, in a major election year, passed a cut – effectively a 1.35-cent reduction once the revaluation of all county property was factored in.

In this century alone, the Democratic Board’s of Commissioners effectively added 24.18 cents on the tax rate when their one decrease is factored in as well.

For the owner of a $200,000 house, all those increases added up to over $480 a year in extra property taxes.

The board got a Republican majority in December of 2012, and in the following 2013-2014 budget, there was a 1.04-cent tax cut. When the 2014-2015 budget was adopted, the county’s property tax rate was held steady, and, in the 2015-2016 budget, adopted last summer, the Republicans cut taxes by 1 cent.

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

15

UNCLE ORSON Reviews

Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

Central Intelligence, Pens, Belts

by Orson Scott Card Ordinarily, a spy-thrillercomedy with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart would be a movie I’d expect to watch when it reached HBO. But then I started seeing Dwayne Johnson doing promos on various talk shows. Ever since watching San Andreas, I’ve had a new respect for Dwayne Johnson as an actor rather than a mere action star (which, by the way, isn’t exactly easy, either).

Turns out he’s pretty good on talk shows, too. Personable, fairly relaxed. Way better than Stallone or Schwarzenegger at this stage of their careers.

The trailers and clips they showed were OK – nothing that hinted that Central Intelligence would be as good as, say, Trading Places or 48 Hours.

Or even as funny as the Melissa McCarthy comedy thriller Spy. So what was I hoping for when my wife and I paid more than 20 bucks for a couple of senior tickets at the Red Cinema last Saturday night?

I think that it was the movie’s advertising motto: “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson.” It was kind of clever.

Kind of funny. That’s all I was looking for: cleverish with a few laughs. And maybe, just maybe some of the genuine emotional content that has typified the most recent Dwayne Johnson movies that I’ve seen.

Though I should have kept in mind that Kevin Hart is the box office giant in this pairing. And I didn’t know enough about his movies to have any real expectations.

Here’s the first happy experience: The movie was in theater 8 at the Red Cinema, where they have “luxury seating,” which means chairs that recline. I mean, seriously, it’s better than first-class seats in the best airlines. It’s better than the very nice recliner I have at home. I wanted to

take it with me, or live there and have my meals brought in.

Even though our seats were fully laid back and the footrests were up, there was room for the kid on a popcorn run to get past us without wearing our footprints on his pants.

Lots of room.

No wonder the senior ticket prices were so high. Let me tell you, even at home you won’t be more comfortable watching a movie than in those chairs.

In practical terms, what this meant was that if the movie wasn’t entertaining, I would have paid 10 bucks for a nap. And it would have been worth it.

But the movie was entertaining, so I never dozed off. The spy-movie plot had the CIA treating Dwayne Johnson as a rogue agent; they accused him of murdering his partner and being the big guy in a drug plot. No one will be surprised when Dwayne Johnson turns out to be the good guy, though there are some entertaining twists and turns, and we suspect a lot of people along the way.

But that storyline is not what we care about. Instead, everything in the relationship between Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson depends on what happened in high school. Dwayne Johnson was a fat kid who gets dumped naked in the middle of a school assembly; it’s Kevin Hart who takes off his letterman jacket so he can cover up and make his escape.

So now, when Dwyane Johnson shows up again, he finds Kevin Hart – the kid most likely to succeed – as a forensic accountant who is bored and disappointed with his career. He did marry his high school sweetheart, but things aren’t going well. Depressed guys don’t make the best husbands. They’ve made an appointment with a marriage counselor.

But here’s Dwayne Johnson, and

he has become the kind of glamorous spy, big and muscled and confident, that Kevin Hart had kind of thought he’d become. Only Johnson’s on the run, and Kevin Hart has no idea whether he can trust this new version of this kid he barely knew in high school.

Dwyane Johnson’s character has treasured the memory of Kevin Hart’s kindness to him as a mark of lifelong friendship and admiration.

But Kevin Hart keeps going back and forth between helping Johnson and turning him in to the CIA brass who pretty much want him dead rather than alive.

So: Who’s the bad guy? Can Johnson be trusted? Can Kevin Hart figure out what’s worthwhile in his life?

Here’s the key scene in this storyline (and if you’re one of those big babies who gets mad when somebody talks about a movie and “gives away” something, then here’s your spoiler warning: Stop. Save yourself). Dwayne Johnson is piloting them in a small plane when it loses power and starts diving.

Now, this kind of plane can glide a long way and there’s no reason for it to crash, but Hart’s character doesn’t know that.

During the dive, when Hart is panicking, Johnson demands that Hart tell what he most regrets not having done with his life. What Hart comes up with is this: He wanted to be a dad. He wanted to have a baby with his beloved wife and be a great father to him.

In that moment, I decided I loved this movie, because that moment was exactly right. There’s nothing more important that you can do with your life. Period.

The movie made me laugh a lot, but it’s not a hilarious comedy. The action was well done and often quite resourceful, but it won’t leave any Fast & Furious movies in the dust. People are naked kind of a lot, but we don’t see anybody’s johnson, big or small.

What we get is: heart.

I cared about Kevin Hart’s character. While Johnson was funny and delightful, he was channeling (continued on page 16)

16 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

uncle orson (continued from page 15)

Tom Cruise in Knight and Day – energetic, incredibly competent, completely in charge – and in the long run, the movie belongs to Kevin Hart. Though at times he’s as overthe-top as Adam Sandler, Hart comes back to earth when it counts, and that’s why I really liked this movie.

Not every movie has to blow you away with the most amazing special effects ever, or the most hilarious (or offensively gross or filthy) jokes. It’s a good thing for a movie to be pretty darn good at everything, and have a script that can touch your heart, and actors that can deliver.

I’ve seen critics give Central Intelligence all kinds of grades, none bad, but no A’s, either. But I’m a college professor and I give real grades to real students, and here’s what I think: If a student does everything assigned, and brings it in with something extra and unexpected, then that’s an A. What are you saving your A’s for, other critics? Do you reserve

salaries

them for Oscar-worthy movies only?

That’s just silly. Half the Oscars go to pretentious drivel or formulaic think-pieces anyway – like that horrible Hilary Swank-Clint Eastwood assisted-suicide boxing movie.

I give my A grades to students, and to movies, that deliver more than required, who show that they care enough to put something important and personal and real into their work.

The Lobster was pretentious drivel, but I liked it. A good solid B. Central Intelligence hasn’t an ounce of pretension, but it delivers more than it has to, and it gets a solid A from me.

....

Once I found Uni-Ball micro point pens, I began to buy them by the dozens. I hated using any other kind or size of pen.

But the other day, on a trip to Office Depot, I stopped by the penand-pencil department to search for some new mechanical pencils and then got sidetracked by some

interesting new pens.

To start with, Uni-Ball now makes gold, silver and white pens that write on slick paper. These Gel Impact pens wouldn’t replace your normal writing instruments, but I sometimes have to sign autographs on comic books, with slick pages that don’t hold regular ink and art that has few spots where dark ink would even show up.

Sometimes you want to write something on the slick surface of a glossy photograph, or on a magazine page, and regular pens won’t do. The Uni-Ball Gel Impact white ink shows up amazingly well – way better than gold and silver. And the gold and silver pens show up better than any other metallic-color pens I’ve used before.

But this is not just a paean to Uni-Ball. I also picked up some TUL brand pens. I had never heard of TUL before, but having tried the blue and black ink pens, I must report that they write a smooth and steady line, and the pens have a comfortable heft. They don’t make my handwriting legible – come on, they’re making pens, not miracles – but they do give me a better chance of achieving legibility than most other pens.

(continued from page 13)

Waters, Cynthia Graves, Sherman Hiller, Tanya Norton, Tracey Wingate, Tanya Flores-Ballesteros, C. Singleton, Henrietta Arberg, Jennifer Johnston, Janet Parker, Thomas Weeks, Winifred Adams, Jo Lindstrom, Candace Ezell, Laura Gruer, Tammy Gaffney, Louise Chandler, Mary Robison, Kenneth Balboni, Patricia Muldoon-Pearce, E. Attayek, Evelyn Overbey, Mary Blackwell, Deborah Jobe, Carl Pfeiffer-Quaile, W. Boykin, Susan Flint, Ramona Silverman, Carol Wheat, Christopher Colson, Cassandra Walden, Tonisha Bolton, Bradley Sumner, Richard Sellars, Valerie Johnson, Sandra

Aviation Coordinator Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Coord I-Ms Math Tchr-PE Tchr-Math Tchr-Remediation Coord I-6-12 Math Supv II-EC Compliance Tchr-EC Behav Supp Itin Spec I-Media Tchr-Mus Tchr-EC Adapted Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC Vis Imp Ec Path-Sl Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Prg Adm II Asst Principal Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Counselor-Scale Trans Counselor Dir I-Prof Dev Supv-Techno Comm Coord-Info Technology Coord I-6-12 Science Counselor

$68,590 $68,541 $68,541 $68,541 $68,541 $68,530 $68,359 $68,352 $68,319 $68,319 $68,319 $68,268 $68,184 $68,140 $67,968 $67,960 $67,900 $67,900 $67,896 $67,880 $67,820 $67,820 $67,740 $67,716 $67,694 $67,670 $67,670 $67,670 $67,620 $67,598 $67,524 $67,428 $67,428 $67,404 $67,399

Justice, Paula Lucas, Beverly Weaver, Suzanne Cobb, Gloria Johnson, Gwendolyn Fleenor, Susan Wood, Roger Thompson, Chapel Bowser, Felicia Johnson, Laura King, Starr Robinson, Rebecca Collins, Charles Melvin, Rebecca Smith, Lorna Walker, Sandra Adams-Caskie, P. McHenry, Russell Reinbold, Jancie Rumley, Marsha Willoughby, David Hall, Jane Rives, Megan Dunbar, Elvertice Jarrett, William Little, Brenda Stilson, Martha Taylor, Keith Tharpe-Winchell, S. Carter, Diane Bober, Laurie Brantley, Donna Bennett, Anneli Eller, Temple George, Thresiamma

Tchr-EC Vis Imp Tchr-1 Gr Counselor Coord II-EC Facilitator-Learn & Earn Tchr-Eng Asst Principal Exec Asst To Supt Spec I-Mission Possible Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-CTE Cdc Asst Principal Tchr-CTE Sci Visual Tchr-CTE Med Car Tchr-Eng Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Spec-Media Tchr-PE Tchr-Chorus Tchr-2 Gr Tchr-Eng Psych Coord I-Assessment Tchr-K Tchr-ESOL Spec-Media Counselor Tchr-Drama Tchr-Sci Spec Tchr-Mus Psych Psych Tchr-PE Tchr-Fl Latin Tchr-ESOL

$67,399 $67,399 $67,399 $67,380 $67,380 $67,248 $67,089 $67,000 $66,964 $66,872 $66,800 $66,781 $66,762 $66,762 $66,762 $66,762 $66,720 $66,720 $66,720 $66,720 $66,720 $66,690 $66,672 $66,640 $66,640 $66,640 $66,640 $66,640 $66,640 $66,626 $66,580 $66,580 $66,570 $66,570 $66,570

Are they better than my standby Uni-Ball micro point Vision? No. For some purposes, they’re better; for others, not so much. They’re both worth having in your penholder or pocket.

Note that I never carry an expensive, valuable pen. That’s because I don’t ever want to carry a pen that I can’t afford to lose or give away.

TUL, by the way, seems to have started life as an OfficeMax store brand. Apparently when Office Depot acquired OfficeMax – or was it the other way around? – Office Depot inherited TUL pens. Worth a try, in my opinion.

The TUL pens come out of the box with a tiny transparent plastic cap over the nib of the pen. If you don’t notice that this is a removable condomlike obstruction, you will be quite frustrated trying to write or draw with the pen. You have to nip off the cap with your fingernails, rather like picking up a flea. If you’re aware of this, you won’t jump to the conclusion that TUL pens don’t work.

.... (continued on page 22)

Howard, Twala Tchr-4 Gr Ledbetter, Sally Tchr-6 Gr Math/SS Worthington, Mary Tchr-CTE Facs Eason, Maria Tchr-ESOL Medley, Kelly Spec-Media Rohan, Roberta Tchr-Math Scott, Carol Tchr-4 Gr Ward, Lisa Tchr-PE Wells, Janet Tchr-Sci Chem Austin, Angelique Coord I-AG/AP/Act Lingle, Jennifer Coord I-6-12 Math Morris, Amy Coord I-Personalized Lrng Slade, Crystal Coord I-Aces Program York, Jane Tchr-Orc Foutty, Roger Asst Principal Parrish, Christa Asst Principal Saunders, Audrea Asst Principal Shaw, Heather Asst Principal Allen, Kathleen Tchr-4 Gr Berg, Kimberly Tchr-PE Decker, Patricia Tchr-K/1 Gr Lusk, Frances Tchr-7 Gr Sci Penry, Lori Tchr-1 Gr Rezin, James Tchr-SS Sherrill, Elizabeth Tchr-Reading Yount, Amy Tchr-ESOL Hill, Heather Asst Principal Cooper, Katheryn Tchr-Sci Egerton, Lynn Tchr-Mus Esquivel, Vanessa Tchr-ESOL Hudgens, Janet Counselor Lawson, Sherry Tchr-Chorus Long, Susan Tchr-Lower Elem McDonald, Mary Tchr-5 Gr Munroe, Thomas Tchr-CTE Sci Visual Pendleton, Alesia Tchr-8 Gr Sci Mitchell, Ruthmarie Asst Principal (continued on page 22)

$66,570 $66,570 $66,570 $66,490 $66,490 $66,490 $66,490 $66,490 $66,490 $66,468 $66,468 $66,468 $66,468 $66,460 $66,418 $66,418 $66,418 $66,418 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,410 $66,374 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,340 $66,297

RHINO

REALESTATE www.rhinotimes.com

June 23, 2016

Everything you need to find, finance and buy the house of your dreams

Slug Wars

BY JILL PERTLER

Anyone who gardens grapples with the reality of pests. Most often, pests want to eat your garden before you get the chance to do so yourself. Or, they destroy the prettiness of plants by chewing holes in leaves and such. Pests are like a plague and a curse to gardeners everywhere.

My particular pest of choice is the common slug.

Although I suppose I didn’t choose them; they chose me, or better put, my garden. (continued on page 18)

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18 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

The New York Times

crossword puzzle No. 0612 ATTENDING PHYSICIANS

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BY FINN VIGELAND / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ 19

ACROSS

1 Jump to conclusions 7 Off-guard 12 Medium 19 Has reservations 20 It may be waved from the top of a pyramid 22 Olympic group in red, white and blue 23 Result of shaking a soda too hard before opening?

25 Parts of many modern addresses 26 In ____ (gestating) 27 Homecoming giveaways 28 Herbert of the Pink Panther films 30 Limited 31 5 is a high one 32 Busy Apr. workers 34 Noted sexologist, in her infancy?

36 Yahoos 38 Common tidbits in fried rice 40 “Is That All There Is” singer Peggy 41 Any day now 43 Daniel ____ National Forest 44 Stocking stuffer 45 Heroine of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” 47 Strike caller 48 “The paternity results are in … it’s the protagonist of a long-running BBC sci-fi show!”?

51 Bury Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

53 Masseuse’s stock 54 Messages you don’t want to send to your parents accidentally 55 Nosy person’s request 57 Watson’s creator 58 Element of one’s inheritance 59 Go to ____ 60 Cousins of gulls 62 Maiden name of Harry Potter’s mother 64 1970s-’80s Sixers star and friends?

68 Take out to dinner 70 Area with R.N.s 72 Disorder that the Ice Bucket Challenge benefited, for short 73 Certain Facebook reaction button 75 Collar 77 One of Spain’s Balearic Islands 79 Ones fully agreeing with you, metaphorically 81 Kind of pick 82 “P.U.!”

85 Controversial TV personality’s magical sidekick?

88 “I’m not overwhelmed” 89 Overwhelms, as with humor 91 Ironically, small Starbucks size 92 “Two thumbs up!”

93 “Quién ____?” (“Who knows?”: Sp.) 95 QB’s try: Abbr.

96 “Primal Fear” star, 1996 97 Rimes of country 98 Hurt a Bond villain?

101 A little progress, idiomatically 102 Quick smoke?

105 Loving, as eyes 106 Inits. at Grand Central Terminal 107 Feds 109 Fanny ____, Barbra Streisand role 111 Quickly 113 Sign on Lucy’s “Peanuts” booth … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme 116 Broccoli pieces 117 Four Corners tribe 118 What’s played mainly for kicks?

119 Mid-Long Island community 120 Rahm Emanuel’s post-White House title 121 Not onboard, say DOWN

1 Make sense 2 “Ish” 3 Sports bigwig every February 4 Alternative to a cab 5 Resort area in northeast Pa. 6 12-Across’s skill 7 “____ moi le déluge” 8 Big name in audio equipment 9 Audio equipment 10 Jump-start of sorts, in brief 11 Eucalyptus lovers

12 Our Children magazine org.

13 Release 14 The P.L.O.’s Arafat 15 Just below average 16 Resolve a dispute in a modern way 17 Has the lights off, perhaps 18 Detective’s assignment 21 “Butt out!” briefly 24 Certain airline alerts, for short 29 Knight’s greeting 33 Continues forward 34 Topless?

35 Plead not guilty 37 ____ and aahs 38 Moue 39 Good listeners 42 “Ask Me Another” airer 43 Suborn 44 Directed the rowers 45 Matchmaking site that asks, “Do you keep kosher?”

46 Land in South America 48 “You sure got me pegged!”

49 Strong appetite 50 Latin love 52 Bird so named because of its call 56 Frequent James Franco collaborator 58 Rock whose name sounds good?

59 Certain notebooks 61 Where “The Princess Diaries” is set 63 & 65 Technological escalations

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71 Chip material 74 Financial ____ 76 Dickens nom de plume 78 Beat 79 Department head

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86 Tabloid twosome 87 Stereotypically rowdy dudes 90 1961 Michelangelo Antonioni drama

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94 Awards won by Stephen King and Agatha Christie 96 Successor to South Carolina’s Thurmond in the Senate 97 Time to give up?

99 Kentucky Derby winner’s wreath 100 Abbr. on a cover sheet

101 Furnishings 103 More dangerous in the winter, say 104 Comedy, e.g.

105 Loopy little films?

107 Down Under greeting 108 Bad thing to lose 110 Rolling in it 112 Superlative finish 114 Longoria of “Telenovela” 115 She-bear: Sp.

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www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

slug

(continued from page 17)

I have a host of hostas and slugs treat them like a smorgasbord.

Typically, by mid-summer my garden is a regular slugfest. I’ve tried eliminating the slugs – or at least limiting their numbers – without much success.

They can be voracious (and slimy) little invertebrates.

I read up on slug removal; you’d be surprised at the number of ways to thwart a slug. There are commercial products, which in some cases could be harmful to pets and other animals.

I wanted to kill the slugs, not my cats.

You can get rid of slugs the old fashioned way – by picking them off the plants, but that’s rather tedious.

A similar technique involves placing a board (or other flat object) in the garden overnight. Slugs supposedly crawl under the object and you can remove the board – and slugs – in the morning. Picking slugs off the ground involves touching them. They are slimy.

I’m no ghostbuster and try to reduce the slime in my life whenever possible.

Some experts advise putting down sharp groundcover around plants to repel (and probably puncture) the slugs.

Crushed eggshells, diatomaceous earth or coffee grounds all do the trick.

Trouble is, I have a lot of plants, and we don’t drink that much coffee. Plus, stabbing a slug seems painful (to the slug).

Slugs can be their own worst enemy.

Some species are carnivorous. My garden should be so lucky. My slugs seem more intent on breeding than eating one another. Hence my (over) population problem.

My research took a turn for the positive when I remembered a critical and game-changing fact about common, garden-variety backyard slugs: they love beer. They love it so much they will actually crawl into a container of beer and drown not only their sorrows, but themselves.

True life can be weirder than fiction, especially if you are an inebriated slug.

As a gardening guru, I’d heard of this practice, but hadn’t ever tried it. It seemed like a waste of beer. I attempted the same technique with ginger ale once, thinking the sweet liquid might lure the slugs, but they are attracted to yeast, not sugar.

This year, I decided to tap the keg and see if an open bar would put an end to my slug-ish backyard buffet. I got little plastic containers, poured in a couple ounces of beer and put them near the hostas.

What do you know? It worked. The next morning I awoke to slug-filled cups. I also managed to save the life of a beetle that was frantically treading beer when I checked one container.

Maybe beer has a more universal appeal than I thought.

And, if it can help me help my hostas, well, I’ll drink to that. (I just won’t be drinking beer. I’ve got to save that for the garden.)

Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright, author and member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook

GREENSBORO PARKS & REC Hester Park • 3615 Deutzia St.

Sprayground Sessions for Children with Disabilities

The Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department kicks off a series of free sprayground sessions for children with disabilities and their families from 9:30 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 22 at the Barber Park Sprayground, 1500 Dans Road. Space is limited and registration is required at (336) 373-2735. Additional sprayground sessions are Wednesday, July 20 and Wednesday, August 17.

CAROLINA THEATRE 310 S. Greene St.

Carolina Kids’ Club

Wednesdays mornings through July 27, enjoy a family-friendly Disney movie preceded by exciting, kid-focused, live stage entertainment from Mad Science and lobby fun from Bricks 4 Kidz leading up to the show.

June 29 – Aladdin; July 13 – Toy Story; July 20 – Mulan; July 27 – Finding Nemo Doors open at 9 a.m.; stage games and live entertainment begin at 9:30; movies begin between 10:15 and 10:30, with events ending by noon. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets are $5 and include a kids’ snack pack. Five-packs of tickets are $20.

For more information, call (336) 333-2605 or visit carolinatheatre. com. For group tickets, call (336) 333-2600, ext. 5.

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS CENTER 134 S. Elm St.

Children’s Story Hour

Saturdays at 11 a.m., children 6 through 12 are invited to a story hour and then create an arts project. This event is free. For children ages 6 to 12 and their families. For information, call (336) 274-9199 or visit sitinmovement.org.

Crossword Solution

Sudoku Solution

From last week’s issue

From last week’s issue

A W N U R H I N F O L L S E E A C L O S Y O O H R O M E U M P S S S A B S P A S T A L W E E K E R A S E E N P O S T A R E L I I C A N P O S T

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HIGH POINT MUSEUM

1859 East Lexington Ave., High Point

6 7 9 5 1 8 3 4 2

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Alexander’s Battalion Field Hospital

Saturday, June 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., gind out what would have been in store for you if you were a wounded Civil War soldier.

Re-enactors will be interpreting the life of a Confederate Army surgeon and other medical personnel as well as demonstrating 19th century medical procedures and equipment. This event is free and all ages are welcome. For information, call (336) 885-1859 or visit highpointmuseum.org.

CHECK US OUT ON THE OPEN HOUSE PAGE

This schedule brought to you by your friends & neighbors at

Coldwell Banker (336) 282-4414

19

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20 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

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www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

The Sound of the

beep

PRICES JUST REDUCED!

What follows has been transcribed from the answering machine on our comment line. We edit out what is required by the laws of the state, of good taste and of good sense. The limit on phone calls is one minute and each caller may make up to two calls per week. If you have something to say, call our comment line at 763-0479 and start talking at The Sound of the Beep.

Yes, what I got to say is, is if walls don’t keep people out, why is Obama making that wall around the White House higher? I guess you can print that, can’t you?

%%% I agree. Get a decent photograph. And, also, Under the Hammer, give us some good information. Give us Trump’s military background. You might give your own. Also, you might tell us, what does Carroll pay John Hammer since you enjoy publishing salaries. What does he pay you?

Another thing, too, tell us about Trump’s great military background that makes him a good commander in chief. And, also, you know, tell us about yourself if you want to. And I am a Republican, but I don’t like any of the candidates quite frankly. And I think in the end, you’re going to have egg on your face, because Trump’s diarrhea of the mouth, he will self-destruct himself. He’s well on the way.

%%% Editor’s Note: I believe Trump has exactly the same military experience that Obama and Clinton had when they were elected president.

%%% Back when I was getting tattooed they actually meant something. Now everybody has got them: male, female, black, white. They don’t mean anything except that everybody is of the same equal foolishness.

%%% The mass media in this country are very fond of using the moniker rightwing extremist, or extreme right-winger when it comes to people like Ted Cruz or even Donald Trump. But as NBC News tonight describes Elizabeth Warren or even for that matter Bernie Sanders, who is a cardcarrying socialist, they use terms like progressive. Progressive? I mean who could disagree with progress? So the term is inherently biased. Or hero of the left. Or committed to her beliefs. Well, you know what? Ted Cruz is committed to his beliefs, too, isn’t he? But they never use such positive terms for heroes of the right. Only for those of the left. And that is just another way in which the mass media are not trying to inform you, dear reader. They’re trying to manipulate you. Just sign me off as An Independent Thinker.

Due to health reasons, after 30 years, Jay Winepol is retiring and CLOSING THE DOORS FOREVER!

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%%% Hey, I don’t quite understand the Gary Johnson routine. He, last time he ran, he got basically slaughtered at the voting poll. People just – his outcome was so bad. It looks like a Republicans are switching to Libertarian and wanting Johnson to run. And I don’t quite understand that. You know, I guess the Republican Party just wants to destroy itself, you know, because if they get a third candidate in there, Clinton is going to walk right in that White House. So, a lot of Democrats are saying Johnson, Johnson. Get him, get him, get him.

%%% I was reading a letter to the editor. It’s pretty apparent if you watch what’s going on in the news media, and what’s been going on ever since all this stuff in Ferguson, the politically correct crew is trying to do everything possible to erase any reference to white history. I know you won’t print this, but it’s a fact. Taken the name off of Aycock Auditorium,

(continued on page 24)

SELLING TO THE BARE WALLS! THE

DIAM ND GALLERY DIAM ND GALLERY

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21

22 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

uncle orson (continued from page 16)

American Ninja Warrior is back, and it’s better than ever. Some of the obstacles are unthinkably hard.

And yet people succeed at them.

You don’t have to be an athlete to appreciate watching human beings do things that no sane person would ever attempt, let alone succeed at.

I happened to watch a couple of episodes at the home of a friend who has the latest version of TiVo. It has software that speeds up both the picture and the sound by 30 percent, if you tell it to. The dialogue is completely understandable at that speed, and yet it takes up less time.

This means you can watch a whole episode of American Ninja Warrior with a lot less waiting through some of the excruciating ordeals, and the nattering of the commentators annoys you for a lot briefer time period. I suggested to my wife that we needed to get that model of TiVo to replace our present one.

To which she replied, “I gave you that one for Christmas. We just didn’t install it because we had so many programs recorded on our

present TiVo. At the end of summer, we can make the switch.”

Oh, yeah. It’s cool when you covet something that’s probably too expensive, only to find out that you already own it.

I don’t think that will happen, though, if I suddenly start wishing for a Tesla.

....

By the way, I have put some money into an IndieGoGo project called Solar Roadways. The idea is to “pave” streets and parking lots with hexagonal solar panels that generate electricity all day, except for the moments they’re actually in the shadow of a car.

I love the idea of making all that grey street and highway space into an energy producer, but in their research they recently discovered something interesting. They expected that flat solar roads would generate less electricity than solar panels on a south-facing tilted roof.

What they weren’t expecting was the discovery that this is only true on sunny days. On cloudy days, the

flat roadways are more effective at converting sunlight to energy.

Won’t it be cool when we drive our all-electric cars on roadways designed to generate solar energy to power those cars?

....

Why did the fireman wear red suspenders?

Because he wasn’t yet so fat that his belly would roll the top of his pants down and pop the suspenders right off the buttons. If the fireman got any fatter, suspenders would be out of the question.

Let’s face it, when a man gets to a certain size, it’s a battle just to keep his pants on. People always say, “Keep your pants on,” but it isn’t that easy.

The way nature deposits extra fat, a large guy is likely to have more fat in the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius area. This makes his waist wider so that the waistband of his pants will probably slide off easily without unfastening anything.

This makes it imperative that either belt or suspenders be used to keep the trousers from drifting downward.

But we have not yet begun to discuss the complicated part. When you’re carrying extra bummage, each

salaries

(continued from page 16)

Hull, Kadis McHam, Vernon Ross, Leslie Byrd, Nancy Aydelette, Martha Johnson, Mia Kilfoyle, Cynthia Westmoreland, S. Mader, Lessley Leland, Leslie Keener, Noel Dowd, Debbie Chavis, Shelena Joyce, Glenda Lesniak, Chester Dillard, Debika Kane, Patrick Auman, Kay Banner, Eden Botwe-Rankin, Adjoa Jenkins, Sabrina Moore, Turkesshia Woodbury, Malishai Van Brunt, William Devaughn, Vida Ilkenhons, Scott McCleese, Sharon Spence, Lana Haygood, Rhonda Brothers, Camilla Pettiford, Lisa Pope, Patricia

Tchr-EC General Curr Spec I-CTE Ind Ed Spec I-Lateral Entry Therapist-OC Spec-Media Tchr-Fl Span Spec-Media Tchr-K Supv II-EC Regional Ec Path-Sl Asst Principal Social Wkr Spec I-Mission Possible Tchr-5 Gr Tchr-CTE Exp Bus/Mkt Supv II-Lead Psychologist Project Mgr-Construction Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Coord I-AG/AP/Act Coord I-K-5 Math Coord I-Instr Techno Coord I-K-5 Literacy Coord I-Personlzd Lrng Programmer Analyst II Ec Path-Sl Tchr-CTE Comp Eng Tech Dir-Student Data Info Spec I-Title I Tchr-4 Gr Spec I-Title I Spec I-Pre-K Coach Ec Path-Sl

$66,247 $66,240 $66,240 $66,170 $66,135 $66,135 $66,135 $66,135 $66,060 $65,970 $65,956 $65,882 $65,860 $65,790 $65,790 $65,780 $65,780 $65,696 $65,556 $65,556 $65,556 $65,556 $65,556 $65,544 $65,520 $65,514 $65,448 $65,448 $65,356 $65,328 $65,328 $65,300

Seders, Robin Alexander, Randall Culclasure, Nancy Smith, Mary Black, Jane Dobbins, Barbara Hunter, Renee Koehler, Cathy Hylton, Tammy Loftis, Richard Ambro, Lilli Cooper, Jeanne Sabo, Denise Auman, Wesley Barnum, Enid Davenport, Pamela Ertzberger, Jan Hettenbach, Michael McKenzie, Janiese Priest, Kristen Stewart, Gregory Teasley, Edward Blumke, William Bias, Karin Fulp, Kimberly Rowland, Karen Hamilton, Tiffany Benton-Brown, M. Bryant, Veronica Thomas, Stacey Williams, Melinda Gassaway, Jesse

Ec Path-Sl Tchr-PE Tchr-Eng Tchr-Remedial (Scale) Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Pre Sch Ec Path-Sl Tchr-CTE Cet/It Essn Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Tchr-Sci Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Ec Path-Sl Tchr-Fl Span Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Tchr-8 Gr Math

$65,300 $65,205 $65,205 $65,205 $65,180 $65,180 $65,180 $65,090 $65,010 $64,934 $64,930 $64,930 $64,930 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,911 $64,871 $64,850 $64,850 $64,850 $64,730 $64,669 $64,669 $64,669 $64,669 $64,661

step up a stairway causes the back of the pants to be pulled down a ways.

If you don’t have a free hand to tug upward on your pants, you can reach the top of the stairs with your pants halfway down your thighs. In other words, please don’t go commando.

Clip-on suspenders, under such tension, tend to unclip. Belts tend to drift downward along with the waistband, unless you wear a sturdy belt, tightly cinched.

What is a “sturdy belt”? There’s a reason leather has been used for this purpose for centuries – it flexes and bends, and yet it takes a lot of wear and tear before a leather belt breaks.

The problem for overweight men is (a) finding a belt that’s the right length, and (b) finding one you can cinch tightly enough to keep your pants up on the stairs while not interfering with the process of digestion inside the circle of your belt.

Just to see what they felt like, I tried “flexible” or “elasticized” belts, and let me make this perfectly clear: You might as well not wear a belt at all.

The point of a belt is that while it has a tiny amount of give, it won’t give so much that the pants fall off. With (continued on page 27)

Martin, Teena Coord I-Personlzd Lrng Fulton, Cheryl Tchr-Math Karibian, Deborah Spec-Media Hilliard, Thomas Tchr-JROTC/Navy Draper, Rebecca Asst Principal Fisher, Elizabeth Spec-Media Oast, Sharon Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Houlihan, Marc Asst Principal Poole, Vera Counselor Trace, Jane Tchr-Al Broome, Brooksie Spec I-Equity Coach Ferguson, Katina Asst Principal Altizer, Tracey Tchr-EC General Curr Alford, Ray Tchr-CTE Ntwrk Engr Street, Nathan Coord II-K-12 Arts Peart, Gwendolyn Spec-Media Reece, William Tchr-CTE Netwrkng I Zenns, Linda Spec I-Induction Coach Harrington, Judy Tchr-CTE CDC Hinkle, Linda Tchr-PE Brooks, Morris Asst Principal Zwadyk, David Coord I-Assessment Bader, Thomas Tchr-CTE Carp Marshburn, Linda Sns Mgr-Busn Carter, Christine Coord I-K-5 Math Farrar, Jr., Joseph Prg Adm III-Purch Mgr Melton, Lisa Spec I-Title I Whitley, Lindsay Dir-Parent Academy Anderson, Audrey Tchr-EC General Curr Libertore, Anna Tchr-EC General Curr Creasey, William Analyst-Sr Network Patochek, Sammy Analyst-Sr Network Daughtrey, Kathryn Coord I-6-12 Literacy LaClair, Michael Coord I-Assessment (continued from page 30)

$64,656 $64,540 $64,540 $64,453 $64,438 $64,437 $64,437 $64,328 $64,296 $64,265 $64,176 $64,174 $64,167 $64,144 $64,140 $64,090 $64,044 $64,032 $63,888 $63,888 $63,855 $63,840 $63,839 $63,828 $63,804 $63,744 $63,744 $63,720 $63,694 $63,694 $63,672 $63,672 $63,636 $63,636

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

23

YOST Column

Yost Column

Yost Vows to Seek Refuge In Bathroom

by Scott D. Yost Usually, the Guilford County commissioners are shooting their mouths off, not their noses. And, usually, projectile weapons are barred from the commissioners’ meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House.

However, on Thursday, June 16, right after the Guilford County Board of Commissioners had passed a new county budget with a price tag of a cool $600 million, both those rules of thumb went out the window – and it was none other than Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Jeff Phillips who had brought a projectile weapon into the courthouse and was shooting off noses rather than mouths.

After the commissioners passed the budget, Phillips pulled out a toy elephant (Read: He’s a Republican), which was wearing boxing gloves and boxing shorts.

“I just wanted to test it out,” Phillips told those at the meeting as he revealed the miniature pachyderm that had a red rubber projectile ball where its trunk should have been.

“I practiced a little bit,” the chairman said. “This is designed specifically for those of you who didn’t vote for a budget tonight, and – since there’s only two of you – I’ll let the gentleman go first.”

He proceeded to shoot the rubber nose at Democratic Commissioner Ray Trapp – one of the two commissioners who had just cast a no vote for the budget that was put together by Phillips and the other Republican commissioners.

“You get the idea,” Phillips said.

“Apparently I need more practice.”

Phillips tried another shot but couldn’t hit anything with that one either.

This playfulness was clearly the chairman’s way of signifying the annual transition from a weighty and taxing budget process to the lighter, happier and less event-filled summer months – which, by the way, also makes life a little easier on the reporters who cover the board, since the commissioners’ grueling all-day work sessions are put on hold for a while.

So, in that same spirit of lightness, I thought we all might take Phillip’s hint and, for this week’s Yost Column, move from weightier matters to something simpler and cheerier: A hodgepodge of items with no real connecting thread – not to mention something that’s also heavy on pictures – reducing the mental work required by the reader to near zero.

You know how summer reading should be lighter than the reading the rest of the year? Well, here goes …

I graduated from Duke University with a degree in philosophy and economics

and I have a master’s degree in the philosophy of science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I have absolutely no idea when in the world I’m supposed to put my recycling can out on the street.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure it out. And the printed guide sheet that the City of Greensboro distributes to tell us when we’re supposed to do so is light-years beyond my abilities of comprehension.

This is major to my life, because I produce about 50 times as much recyclable trash as I do regular trash, and, if my recyclable trash doesn’t get emptied out on the day they come by then the already overflowing container will be sitting by my house for another two full weeks before the city comes back to get it.

I think it was Rhino Times Editor John Hammer who suggested a while back that I should just watch when my neighbors put their recycling out, and then put mine out on the street at the same time. However, after I tried that method for a few weeks, I realized that my neighbors were just making total guesses as well – or maybe,

even worse, they were trying to figure out what I was doing, and they were making their guesses based on when I put mine out – which ends up being a very vicious circle.

Then I happened upon the mysterious guide sheet from the city that I believe holds the answer.

For months now I’ve been studying the city’s sheet of dates, symbols, colors and diagrams in an attempt to decrypt it, and, while I haven’t been able to decipher it yet, the other night I think I finally had something of a breakthrough in my research: I’ve narrowed the symbols and colors down and I believe the city is using some variation of ancient Sumerian hieroglyphics that appear to be a very obscure cuneiform script of a dynasty in place around 8,000 B.C. in the Nippur region.

Though Greensboro has allowed residents to see the chart, it doesn’t provide any sort of Rosetta stone enabling us to translate it into a modern day dialect, or to know what meanings the strange calendar of red, blue, green and white spaces offers.

(continued on page 24)

24 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

yost

(continued from page 23) I thought maybe someone with the city would help so I called the city and asked.

The woman who answered said that the high priests of Greensboro did not allow the information out, but she said one key to the mystery was attempting to unveil whether I was a member of the red sect or the blue sect.

“How can I know?” I asked.

“That is highly guarded information,” she said. “But I can tell you something that will help you with the answers that you seek. Take the house number in your address and multiply it by the number of houses on your block. If your street name starts with a consonant, then add 14; if it starts with a vowel, divide by 2. Add that result together with the middle three numbers of the account number on your water bill. That final number will provide you a clue. The wisdom you seek can be found down that path.”

“But I still don’t understand,” I pleaded.

“That is all I am allowed to tell you without putting myself in great jeopardy,” she replied. “Good luck on your quest.”

So, anyway, I don’t know the answer yet, but I want to assure you that I’m determined to crack the code of when to put out recyclable garbage – and, believe me, when I do, I’ll write about it and tell the world and let my neighbors in on the secret as well.

Until then, the only thing we can do is what I’m doing now: put the recycling can out every hour on the hour all day long each and every day.

Speaking of things that happen at the point where my yard touches the street, here’s something that happened there the other day that sent chills down my spine.

I live on a pretty busy street, and people are always tossing things out of their car into my yard. I’m a curious person so I always see what it is that people have thrown out. Usually it’s receipts from a fast food restaurant or just a scrap of paper. One time I even found a gift/cash card. (I’m guessing it has no money left on it, but I am going to double check it the next time I’m at a bank.)

Now, sometimes it is interesting stuff, sometimes it is not, but the other day I picked up a scrap of paper and I read it and it was absolutely terrifying. This is no joke; I found this four-line to-do list in my yard just as I find so many other random scraps of paper. I didn’t see the car it came

from or I would contact the authorities.

This is what it said: • Tarp • Chain/lock • Bottled water • Candy

Let’s end on a positive note …

You know how they always tell you to, when a tornado hits, take cover in the bathroom closest to the center of the house? Well, I always thought that was just a bunch of bull and I figured it was just a “piece of mind” thing they told you to make you feel like you had some modicum of control over that horrific event like when the films in elementary school told you that, in case of a nuclear blast near you, you should duck and cover.

But after the story I saw on NBC Nightly News recently, I’m here to say I’m suddenly a believer in government

survival advice.

Now this isn’t the best picture in the world because I took if from the TV using my iPhone. But look at that amazing scene. The kid who lived through the tornado is standing there, for the news crews, in the same spot next to the toilet where he was when the tornado ripped away every inch of his house except what you see left there in the picture.

So, when they tell you to stand in the bathroom in the middle of the house when a tornado hits, well, for goodness’ sake, stand in the bathroom in the middle of the house.

You know how sometimes people say, “That’s more information than I wanted” – well, I certainly don’t want to know what’s going on in this case, but I will say to the person who wrote the note: If I were you, I think from now on I would burn the evidence rather than simply throw it out of a car window.

Last week, I had not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six Hamrick’s inserts in the Sunday News & Record announcing a 36-hour sale.

I get it Hamrick’s! You’re having a 36-hour sale. Got it! The prices are very good and I have only a day and a half to take advantage of them. OK. Thank you for letting me know. No need to tell me again. Listen, I swear to you, if you don’t see me there, it’s not because I didn’t know about it.

beep (continued from page 21) pulling down the statutes of the Confederate soldiers, taking down the Confederate flag and hiding it.

The very history that America was built on. Those times made us what we are, not any of that was racial prejudice towards anyone as years went by.

the House of Representatives and Senate. It will have to be whoever they choose for vice president.

Because vice presidents are very important. They have to attend all these state funerals. Well, I don’t know. I don’t know who I can vote for. I want to thank you. Bye now.

%%%

%%%

A lie is a lie. But a lie that is used to better yourself is a bold-faced lie, aka Elizabeth Warren. Pocahontas.

Common sense indicates that tall fescue grass should be tall. So, cut it no longer than three to four inches.

Most folks adhere to that. Tall grass helps the soil retain moisture, also shades weeds, thus preventing them from growing. However, some folks mow their tall fescue down as low as possible. The results are brown grass and weeds. These same folks blow grass clippings and leaves into the street. This

%%% Hello. I’ve been in the hospital and nursing home, and I haven’t been able to call in quite a while. But Hillary and Trump, goodness. I do not want to vote for that woman, but Trump is flapping his beak. Of course, neither one of them will get done what they say they’ll get done, because there’s a little thing called

(continued on page 26)

ask

C

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

arolyn...

25

Straight Talk

from the Dancing Divorce Attorney

by Carolyn Woodruff

Ask Carolyn…

Dear Carolyn, I am the mom of a 15-year-old. I try to supervise his cell phone but I’ve noticed this one particular kid that is bullying my son on Facebook. Some of the posts directed at my son are sexually explicit, and my son is a bit on the immature side. I’ve noticed he has become a little more reclusive lately. One of the recent bullying posts was “I’ll bet you are gay.” My son doesn’t respond. What should I do?

I have tried to talk to his father but he seems unconcerned. We share 50-50 custody.

Carolyn Answers ...

Cyberbullying is bad.

It is a cultural phenomenon society has not historically faced. Our laws have not been able to keep up with the rampant growth of the internet age.

Our founding fathers, in writing the laws of free speech, had no way to envision the internet age and evaluate

the harms or the effect on the world, or even an individual in the case of cyberbullying. Teens and immature brains are particularly susceptible to cyberbullying.

I will suggest several things to you particularly, and then I will discuss a very recent North Carolina Supreme Court case on cyberbullying, the Bishop case.

My suggestions are, one have open communications with your teen concerning internet use. When you ask about your teen’s day, ask specifically about Facebook, sexting and another internet usage. Two, since your teen lives in two households, have open communication with the other parent concerning this problem. Do your best to remain on the same page.

Three, monitor: Go to your local computer or cell phone store and talk to sales people about how to set up your child’s phone so that all texts are uploaded to a computer device you control. Review this information at least every week. Be “friends” with your teen on Facebook. Four, watch for any adverse psychological symptoms, such as crying, stressing out, cutting, suicidal thoughts or loss of sleep or appetite. Five, confront the parents of the cyberbully if you can find them. And, six, ask for a provision

in your custody order on parental responsibilities regarding internet issues.

Now, for a discussion of the new case, State v. Bishop.

In 2011, an Alamance County teen inadvertently sexted a third party, and said third party posted the sext to Facebook, tremendously embarrassing the teen. The teen became so distraught, crying at every turn that his mother went to the Alamance police. The police, using undercover online tactics, nabbed Robert Bishop and others in a cyberbullying ring. Bishop and others were arrested and convicted of cyberbullying under a fairly new statute making it a crime to torment someone on the internet. The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the conviction.

The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the conviction and declared the cyberbullying statute to be unconstitutional using a First Amendment free speech rationale.

According to the North Carolina Supreme Court, the statute does not require harm to the victim, does not define “intimidate” or “torment,” and does not define “private, personal or sexual information.” Justice Robin Hudson wrote: “Posting information on the Internet – whatever the subject

matter – can constitute speech as surely as stapling flyers to bulletin boards or distributing pamphlets to passers-by – activities long protected by the First Amendment.”

The problem, however, is that flyers and bulletin boards are not as instantaneous and as expansive as postings on the internet that can go viral to millions in a matter of seconds.

We need to look for a legislative solution to this societal problem.

Dear Carolyn, I’m a single dad and have two weeks of vacation with my 9-year-old daughter in July. I want to make this vacation really special. What ideas do you have for travel with my daughter this summer?

Carolyn Answers ...

My philosophy is that what adults remember when they think back on childhood are the special moments, and this vacation in July could certainly be one of the special moments.

Adults don’t generally remember the day to day cooking and cleaning from childhood, but a big trip will be remembered forever.

Here are my tips: Plan the vacation (continued on page 26)

26 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

city council (continued from page 9)

a 5-to-4 vote. A water rate increase has to have at least six affirmative votes to go into effect or it is brought back for a second vote. If it passes the second time, regardless of the vote total, it goes into effect.

Barber had voted for the rate increase, so if all the votes had remained the same, the motion would have failed on a 4-to-4 vote. But the city staff wanted this rate increase and it is the city staff, not the City Council, that is running the city.

Vaughan has said she doesn’t even know how items get on the City Council work session agendas. In the past, the mayor and city councilmembers decided what they wanted to discuss at work sessions. Currently, the staff decides what it wants the City Council to discuss.

But in the case of raising water rates, the staff really wanted this and in two weeks managed to turn three no votes from Councilmembers Yvonne Johnson, Sharon Hightower and Marikay Abuzuaiter into yes votes.

Assistant City Manager David Parrish gave a presentation on Tuesday that, according to councilmembers, explained why the rate increase was so necessary. It did nothing of the sort. The presentation was about what a great water resources department the city had and what good work the department does in providing clean water and cleaning wastewater.

Parrish didn’t mention a single project that couldn’t be funded if the rate increase wasn’t approved, and that might be because there isn’t one. The water resources department currently has $25 million in the bank and makes a profit every year.

The reason that water rates needed to be raised, it seems, is because Greensboro has the second lowest water rates of any comparable city in the state.

Wilkins pointed out that if having the second lowest water rates is a reason to raise water rates, and the rest of the City Council clearly thought it was, then having the highest property tax rate in the state seemed to be a good reason to lower property tax rates.

Vaughan always responds with the fact that Greensboro has a library system that other cities don’t have, pays for garbage collection out of taxes and not fees and other disparities. That is true, but it is also true that every city is unique.

Wilkins said, “There is no question of the rate. You can compare all the other things that you want. The rate is a number.”

Vaughan said that people have to understand that it isn’t a fair comparison and Wilkins suggested the city offer a class to new residents to teach them about why the tax rate that is the highest in the state isn’t.

The City Council also voted 8 to 0

ask carolyn (continued from page 25) with your child; ask her what she dreams of doing and have some ideas handy, with some brochures or readily available internet materials.

Talk about the trip a lot. Go on a special shopping trip to get clothing that will be new, special and unique for the trip.

Go on a father-daughter manicure/ pedicure trip just before the vacation, and get your toenails painted to match hers. (LOL, this takes a real man.)

Document the trip with photos, video and a scrapbook; you can work on the scrapbook several weekends after the trip is over. Spend time with your daughter on the trip; if she wants to hang-out at the pool, do it, even if you would prefer to do something else.

Don’t overschedule. Educate with the travel indirectly. Include a plan for an activity your daughter has not done before, such as a hot air balloon ride

with a responsible operator. Give her mother the travel itinerary and phone numbers.

Some ideas include a dude ranch, Charleston, the Grand Canyon, Bar Harbor, Maine (learning about lobsters), or the Outer Banks (dress up like pirates).

Send questions on family law and divorce to askcarolyn@rhinotimes.com, or P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro 27427 or at Ask Carolyn’s comment section at rhinotimes.com.

Note that answers are intended to provide general legal information and are not specific legal advice for your situation.

The column also uses hypothetical questions. A subtle fact in your unique case may determine the legal advice you need. Also, please note that you are not creating an attorney-client relationship with Carolyn J. Woodruff by writing or having your question answered by Ask Carolyn.

to accept Center City Park from the Bryan Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro as a gift. The foundations have been trying to give the park to the city for years, but previous city councils have always turned them down. The main reason city councilmembers in the past have said they refused to accept the park is the cost of maintaining the park, in particular the fountains.

Councilmembers have said that repairs on the fountains could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But a little added expense doesn’t bother this city council at all.

Greensboro is currently paying $350,000 a year for the maintenance and operation of Center City Park, and when Wilkins asked, he was told there wouldn’t be any increased expense; but when did the city ever do anything that didn’t end up costing more than the original estimate?

Center City Park will now be combined with the new LeBauer Park across Davie Street, which is scheduled to open in August, into Greensboro Downtown Parks Inc., which will operate both parks.

Councilmember Justin Outling asked a question about funding for the Interactive Resource Center, which normally provides daytime services for the homeless. During the cold spell last winter, the city allocated an additional $50,000 to the IRC to provide temporary night shelter for the homeless. According to Interim Assistant City Manager Barbara Harris, the IRC accepted the money but didn’t spend it all on providing night shelter for the homeless. Harris said that the IRC spent about $30,000 of the $50,000 on providing beds for the homeless on cold nights. But that the city was recommending increasing the funding for the IRC from $75,000 to $125,000, even though the money wasn’t spent the way the City Council directed that it be spent.

The City Council didn’t seem bothered by the fact that the money was not spent for its stated purpose and agreed to the increased funding.

In a truly bizarre exchange, Councilmember Sharon Hightower accused the state of agreeing to pay for 100 percent of street improvements at the intersections of Battleground Avenue with Cone Boulevard and New Garden Road as a way to avoid Greensboro Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) program.

Hightower said, “I think this is a way around our program.”

Fortunately, Hightower didn’t suggest that the city reject the state funding and spend millions of city tax dollars on the intersection improvements so that she could

oversee the MWBE program for those projects. If she had made the motion, considering the lack of concern this City Council has about spending city tax dollars, it likely would have passed 7 to 1, with Wilkins casting the only sensible vote in the matter.

Hightower continues to talk as if the MWBE program is a set-aside program with minorities and women guaranteed a percentage of the contract. That type of program would be illegal, as Hightower has been told many times.

The MWBE program actually is a goaloriented program where contractors have a goal of MWBE contractors they have to make a good faith effort to reach.

As long as a contractor can prove that they made a good faith effort to reach the goal, they have fulfilled the terms on the contract regardless of the percentage of MWBE contractors.

Because of Hightower’s intense interest in black contractors getting a share of every city contract, the City Council this term has spent more time discussing the MWBE program than any other single issue.

beep (continued from page 24) debris ends up in storm drains, which have to be cleaned out by city workers thus costing extra tax dollars. We also have folks who still don’t know how to prepare their yard waste for city pickup.

%%% Yes, I am a Trump supporter. And to you protestors out there, if you come to my door, you’re going to get exactly what you’re asking for.

%%% This is to the county commissioners up for reelection. If you don’t support your county workers in making changes, not only at other departments, but especially at DSS, don’t expect support at the polls in November. Workers remember what you did or didn’t do that affected their ability to perform their jobs and to take care of their families. So, yes, they’re going to take it to the polls again.

%%% Yes, reading here in the Beep from last week. Someone called in and asked the question, why are Christians banned from praying in public and erecting religious displays on their holy holidays? (continued on page 31)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

uncle orson (continued from page 22)

elasticized belts, the pants will be around your ankles all the time.

If that doesn’t happen, then you don’t really need an elasticized belt, because you’re so svelte that your pants stay up with or without a belt.

For years, I used leather web belts.

Not belts that have a web of leather in back and a normal leather strap-withholes where they clasp. I mean belts that are webbed from buckle to tip.

These flex and bend as much as you need – but as long as they’re not elasticized, the belt still holds your pants up. This gives leather web belts the least discomfort and the most holding power of any belt.

Best of all, since the tongue of the buckle can go through any gap in the belt, you don’t have to choose to set your buckle by the inches between holes on the strap.

There’s a nearly infinite range of hole placements on the webbing.

The drawback is that where the tongue of the buckle goes through the web at just the right spot, you’re probably going to cinch the belt exactly the same amount, time after time. This will result in putting so much tension and friction on the thin leather thong right at that junction point that eventually the thong will break, and ... ankle-trousers once again.

I have finally found what seems to be the best solution: SlideBelts (http:slidebelts.com). It looks like an ordinary strap belt with a classy looking buckle of simple grey metal.

But when you’re actually putting it on, you quickly realize that it’s nothing like the regular strap belt.

You see, the free end of the belt has no holes on it for the tongue of the buckle to poke through. No holes at all.

Instead, the underside of the free end has a strip of ratchet teeth.

You’ll never see them in normal wear, but when you slide the free end of the belt into the buckle, the mechanism of the buckle engages the teeth. Thus, for the last few inches in which you cinch the belt into place, the belt won’t be held by mere friction: You can hear the teeth clicking through the ratchet of the buckle.

That belt is not going to get looser until you tell it to.

Those pants aren’t going to fall off (if you cinch the belt tightly enough) and the belt isn’t going to show the normal stretching and wear-and-tear of inserting a buckle tongue through a hole or a gap in the belt.

And the sizing will be as perfect as with a web belt. When you get your belt, you try it on. If, to cinch

it properly, the free end tries to go beyond the ratchet strip, you’ll know the belt is too long.

So you remove the belt and then remove the buckle, revealing the cutleather end. Cut off as much as you need to cut off, reattach the buckle and keep trying it until you get the size right.

At the SlideBelts online store, you’ll find every kind and color of leather, and as long as your waist isn’t above, say, 50 inches (they say 48” but they’re being too conservative), you can size it yourself until it fits perfectly.

Because of the design, of course, with those ratchet teeth behind the free end of the belt, you can’t get a two-sided design. If you need two different colors, you’ll just have to make do with owning two separate belts.

Most belts cost $45 to $85. If a belt is cheaper than that, make sure it isn’t just the leather strap, waiting for you to buy a buckle separately.

There’s a full range of color, and if a particular color isn’t available in leather, you might find it in canvas belts that work the same way.

For those who, like me, fight the Battle of the Belt every day, the SlideBelt comes as a blessed relief.

....

I remember reading about how children have really short attention spans. Then we had some kids of our own, and I realized that children have an infinite attention span.

Our firstborn was about 3 when we bought a used Betamax VCR. We could only afford a couple of movies – the Robin Williams Popeye and a compilation of Chip ’n’ Dale cartoons.

Oh, and Breaking Away, because the guy we bought the VCR from owned a bicycle store in Orem, Utah, and so of course he had the best-ever biking movie.

Our son didn’t care about the bicycling – he was too young to follow the story. So his attention span for that tape was pretty much zero.

But Popeye and Chip ’n’ Dale, now – our boy’s attention span was endless.

When my wife had the world’s worst migraine – nobody had told her you shouldn’t get up within the first hour after a spinal tap – she would lie on the bed while Chip ’n’ Dale had their adventures, then stagger to her feet in agony, rewind the film (neither the TV nor the VCR had a remote; this was 1981, and remotes, when they existed, worked badly), and collapse again.

Our son didn’t mind at all. He

could watch the same cartoon over and over, and laugh at the same jokes every time.

No wonder he had a hard time believing me when I explained that some jokes are only funny once, and therefore have a diminishing effect when repeated again and again, with the expectation that adults will continue to laugh at it every time.

Attention span isn’t even a real thing. When psychologists used to measure attention span, what they were really testing was obedience in the absence of authority.

That is, they set a child to do a task. Then they left, and used hidden cameras to see how long the kid kept at it. They called the duration of the activity the child’s “attention span.”

When a kid is doing something he loves, he works at it, and keeps working at it till he’s satisfied or realizes he can’t do it. Of course, this can be a 1-year-old throwing all the toys in the upstairs rooms down the stairs to the main floor – gravity tests are all the rage among toddlers – but the point is that these little ones are born with the ability to remain intensely involved with a task they care about for, like, ever.

But a task you assign them to

27

do? Heck, even if you promise a reward, nothing can keep them doing something boring and pointless forever.

Even adults had to invent the coffee break because they couldn’t stand doing the jobs they were paid for, hour after hour, without a break.

That’s what growing up is all about: learning to obey the instructions of idiots long enough to keep getting paid for doing it. Or learning to do jobs you hate because nobody else is going to do them, they have to get done, so you might as well do it now before the job gets even harder later on.

Kids aren’t grown-ups. They can still pick and choose which idiotic instructions to obey. My first daughter was very resourceful in the ways she avoided doing jobs she didn’t want to do. At 2 years old, if I told her to pick up her toys in the living room before we went on to the next activity, she’d suddenly be a quadriplegic who was being tortured by fire ants.

Her body would be completely inert. It was the kind of power struggle parents have to win, so the child will learn the horrible lesson that you can’t always get out of jobs by (continued on page 28)

28 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

Children’s Home Society’s Beach Music

Photos by Elaine Hammer

uncle orson (continued from page 27)

acting miserable and injured. So I picked her up, balanced her diapery butt against my shin, and held her by the upper arms, picking up the toys by pressing her wrists together on each toy and putting it in the box.

She never broke character. Other kids might laugh because hey, it’s kind of fun to have Dad treat your arms like the shovel in the arcade game where you use a machine to pick up a toy inside a glass box and try to get it to the delivery slot.

But while her attention span for picking up toys was zero, her attention span for acting crippled was absolute. She never relented.

I mean never. I had to manipulate those limp arms and useless hands the entire time till the toys were all picked up. And then I had to carry her limp and moaning body into the bedroom to get her ready for bed.

Her act only stopped when the audience changed. When her mom

came in to take my place, suddenly that toddlerina had full use of all her limbs, and could talk and sing. But as long as I was in the room, she was the suffering mute and martyred cripple.

I don’t know if she can still do that whole limp-body thing – I’ll have to ask her husband how often he had to throw her over his shoulder to get her from the car to the house.

But I have to say that the real attention span of all my children was impressive. Then I found out that everybody else’s kids have that same kind of attention span.

Dogs. Cats. That’s who’s got a short attention span. Children engrossed in something they love are undistractable.

You know who else has a short attention span? Me. Start telling me a long story and if it isn’t immediately interesting, my brain will be off on something really compelling, like how, in the novel I’m writing, I can get a kid

named Dabeet out of Fleet School into hard space so he can see a Really Bad Thing happen. You know, work.

Short attention span is adults contemplating suicide as they play through an entire game of Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. Doesn’t matter how much you love the child. The game itself repels adult attention. You pray for your kids to be old enough to play Skip-Bo or, you know, lawn darts. Something that can keep you awake.

....

So now I’m going to test your attention span by talking about something that is only interesting to editors. Elaine Hammer, who edits my column, is constantly finding errors I’ve made.

Now, I’m really careful. I look stuff up. But sometimes, finding a definitive answer is hard.

For instance, in the IMDb listings and Google Search results for Chip ’n’ Dale, you can find them thus: Chip an’ Dale. Chip-n-Dale. Chip ’n’ Dale.

Chip n’ Dale.

You know and I know that it doesn’t

matter at all. As long as you don’t write Chippendale, you’re going to be OK. But editors are taught to seek consistency for its own sake. Even though Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” copy editors instantly reply, “I’m paid to keep my mind exactly that small.”

So editors go in search of “the” correct way that something should be spelled. And I can tell you this, after writing this column since January 2002: Whatever way I found is wrong.

No, I don’t mean that my editor arbitrarily picks some way other than the one I found. I mean that whatever I submit will turn out to be hopelessly, ignorantly wrong.

It’s supernatural: All the places where I saw it spelled my way completely disappear from the internet, never to be seen again.

It teaches you humility.

That’s why when I find the game written Skipbo or Skip Bo, I can be sure that the real spelling is Skip-Bo. But as soon as I settle on Skip-Bo, my editor will find that it’s something else entirely. Probably Uno.

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

29

LETTERS To The Editor

Letters

TO THE EDITOR

IN DEFENSE OF DEFENSE DEAR EDITOR,

the 53 wounded.

Police do not respond until a crime has been committed and for three hours people were being slaughtered.

When law enforcement went into that building, each officer had high capacity magazines filled with ammo because they know that the best chance for them to survive an assailant was not running out of ammo.

AR-15’s and other semi-automatic handguns may not be the best firearms for hunting, but law enforcement has proven them best for self defense. If you and your family are being attacked by multiple assailants, how many rounds of ammo is enough? I would hope you would have some left over.

Anti-gunners continue to call the AR-15 a military weapon of war, but the AR-15 has never been issued to the military nor used in a war.

I see where Democrat Attorney General Roy Cooper is saying that we need better firearm background checks to keep firearms out of the hands of terrorists. Although he follows the Democrat anti-gun sentiments, I hate to tell him, but local sheriffs and the FBI do the background checks he is criticizing.

“Assault” is a word used to describe aggression, not a firearm. If someone attacks me with a knife, the knife is the assault weapon. Our anti-gun betters then fall back to high-capacity magazines and restricting them.

Before the Orlando shooting, there was no on-duty law enforcement in the building and the patrons were denied firearms. Three hours later, 200 law enforcement officers were there to remove the 49 dead and help

Jed Norris

GET INFORMED DEAR EDITOR,

It has started.

If you want to see the direction dear leader and his cronies are working towards, read the article from the CBS news website by Rebecca Shabad, CBS News, June 14, 2016: “Jeh Johnson: Gun control is now a matter of homeland security.”

Call it conspiracy theory junk if you like, but now the omnipotent directorate (I’m sorry, Department) of Homeland Security is weighing in on gun control.

“We have to face the fact that meaningful gun control has to be a part of homeland security,” Johnson said in an interview on CBS This Morning. That statement should scare every freedom loving American.

Given the power and reach of the DHS and how easily they are given sway

over things, the last thing we need is for Clinton to have them under her control.

With her record of abuse of power and lack of concern for our constitutional rights as citizens, we will very quickly become a country of subjects instead of citizens. It is things like this and the sometimes obvious lack of knowledge of the Constitution, American history, world history and basic awareness of what is going on in this country that drives me to push people to get out and learn about who is in or running for office and then vote accordingly.

And I’m not talking about the watered down PC history they are teaching in the public indoctrination centers commonly referred to as public schools. You need to get out and question things, research them for yourself and make your own informed conclusions. Get yourself away from (continued on page 30)

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30 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

salaries

(continued from page 22)

Ibarra, Laura Tchr-ESOL Ashworth, Harold Spec I-Title I Stroud, Jamie Spec I-Academic Svcs Woods, Michael Spec I-CTE Ind Ed Ray, Sylvia Facilitator-Curr Lewis, Duane Asst Principal Gregory, Crystal Asst Principal Callaway, Leah Counselor Fedor, Wanda Tchr-CTE Busn Ed Terry, Kerry Tchr-2 Gr Tredinnick, Laurel Social Wkr Taylor, Cynthia Tchr-4/5 Gr Lev III Robertson, Ryan Spec-Media McCrea, Andre Tchr-EC General Curr Bobalik, Karen Therapist-Phy Hillenbrand, Barton Tchr-Math Shelton, Karen Tchr-4 Gr Ewalt, David Empl Couns (Early College) Morris, Traci Counselor Hernandez, Robin Tchr-EC Lead Jones, Lisa Tchr-EC General Curr Poff, Cheryl Tchr-EC Pk Del Rosario, Mari Pino Tchr-Fl Span Harris McIntyre, D. Tchr-6 Gr LA Mullen, John Tchr-Eng Stuber, Stefan Tchr-Band Sarin, Ratna Tchr-EC General Curr Hosey, Melissa Coord II-EC McNairy, Deirdre Counselor

$63,600 $63,540 $63,540 $63,540 $63,539 $63,514 $63,470 $63,418 $63,418 $63,418 $63,418 $63,403 $63,400 $63,350 $63,330 $63,330 $63,330 $63,250 $63,250 $63,240 $63,240 $63,240 $63,210 $63,210 $63,210 $63,210 $63,170 $63,132 $63,120

Childress, Susan Squire, Christie Hill, Kristie Diehl, Carol Langley, Carmen Stratton, Tara Ostrom, Ingrid Skinner, Susan Bailey, Rochelle Ehlers, Thomas Cleaver, Lelia King, Suzanne Gwynn, Kathleen Roan, Marcy Cox, Martha Glime, Allen Rainey, Lorie Teague, Laura Bennett, Allison Bradley, Bennie Granger, Kevin Green, George Lawrence, Lori Martin, Greta McNeill, Angela Stokes, Latrice Washington, Dwayne Altvater, Kristie Blunt, Hiawatha

Tchr-EC General Curr Counselor Tchr-1 Gr Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC Pk Tchr-EC Behav Supp Itin Tchr-EC General Curr Tchr-EC General Curr Asst Principal Asst Principal Counselor Nurse Prg Adm II-Sup Sv/Sp Proj Asst Principal Analyst-Network Analyst-Network Asst Principal Coord II-EC Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Asst Principal Prj Mgr-Comp Deployment Tchr-5 Gr

letters

(continued from page 29)

being or becoming a sheeple.

Currently, the big lament is “how do we stop these attacks?” If someone is prepared to die committing these acts you are rarely going to be able to stop them, assuming you can even find them. What you can do is minimize the number killed by letting people have the ability to defend themselves and others when these demented animals rear up. Gun free zone signs should be replaced with potential slaughter zone signs given the current situation.

Finally, the police do a great job but they can’t be everywhere at once.

When seconds count the police are minutes away. You are ultimately responsible for your safety, no one else can or will be. Not the police and definitely not the government.

Go Galt and go vote

Alan Marshall

ENOUGH “CHANGE” DEAR EDITOR,

I do not care for the Islamic religion teachings and I especially don’t like Sharia law. I totally agree with a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

I have always believed that the person currently occupying the White House – the one I have always despised – is a Muslim, who feels a special alliance with the radical Islamic terrorists. He won’t declare war on these savages and he will not allow us to fully engage in fighting them. He won’t even use the proper term to describe them.

He continues his quest to bring more and more unknown immigrants into the US, knowing full well that many will be Islamic terrorists, just like the one who committed the heinous murders in Orlando. How many more Americans have to die while he continues his intended agenda to transform America?

I don’t think he cares.

If you would, please recall the movie The Manchurian Candidate. It may be a stretch, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. It’s not that hard to imagine that he was indoctrinated at a young age while living in a Muslim country and he was made a pawn of, oh, let’s say Iran.

He truly feels an affinity for those Muslims. As was the case in the movie, Obama has Muslims who are members of his administration, possibly keeping him on track to

$63,100 $63,048 $63,031 $63,030 $63,030 $63,030 $62,960 $62,960 $62,942 $62,942 $62,933 $62,933 $62,928 $62,854 $62,844 $62,844 $62,821 $62,790 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,788 $62,772 $62,671

McIntyre, Barbara Cooper, APril Cantey, Joy Cantey, Domieka Davis, Tamika Haislip, Becki Blythe, Yatisha Chorpening, Mary Lebby, Kathy Sexton, Karen Sills, Harrolde Harper, Donna Ray, Frances Able, Margaret Leftwich, Sylvia Bronson, Christopher Williams, Ellis Young, Chiyanna Travis, Nancy Mcmillan, Timothy Woodard, Suzanne Johnson, Beverly Henderson, Myra Langhorne, Nanette Sumner, Tina Armond, Arlisa Weathers, Ingrid Sanderford, Diane Sturgill, Dorie Dobbins, Amy Gray, Patricia Mills, Debra Shelton, Donna

complete his intended agenda. He wants this country to change so much he’s willing to allow terrorists to kill multitudes of Americans. He’s hoping we will be so scared that we then allow the government to take more control over our lives and then, presto – the caliphate to bring America under Muslim control will be accomplished.

This scenario is not so hard to believe; but I think that the time frame between now and the election is too short to fully complete the goal.

However, during the allotted time he has left in office, we will most likely see more brutal acts of terror committed by Muslim extremists here and elsewhere.

This evil and insane ideology is the greatest threat to mankind. I look forward to the strength of Donald Trump to put an end to this madness.

Debbie Hill

ARRESTING PROPERTY DEAR EDITOR,

Have you heard about civil asset forfeiture laws?

These laws give law enforcement officials the right to “arrest” property such as money, cars, houses, etc. without charging the owner with a crime. In Oklahoma, some police officers are now using credit card scanners that can get information

Tchr-PE Spec I-Online Instr Des Coord I-Ms Literacy Coord I-Personlzd Lrng Coord I-Personlzd Lrng Coord I-K-12 Health/Pe Supv I-Homeless, Com Sup Tchr-PE Tchr-2 Gr Tchr-2 Gr Tchr-K Asst Principal Tchr-EC Adapted Curr Tchr-CTE Exp Bus/Mkt Tchr-2 Gr Supv I-Virtual Learning Tchr-CTE Tech Ed Asst Principal Tchr-1 Gr Tchr-EC Adapted PE Tchr-EC Adapted Curr Tchr-Mus Counselor Social Wkr Tchr-EC General Curr Asst Principal Social Wkr Tchr-EC Gen Curr Tchr-EC Gen Curr Ocs Tchr-Chorus Tchr-K Tchr-3 Gr Tchr-6 Gr LA/SS

$62,671 $62,664 $62,628 $62,628 $62,628 $62,628 $62,568 $62,551 $62,551 $62,551 $62,551 $62,502 $62,500 $62,479 $62,479 $62,448 $62,440 $62,425 $62,270 $62,210 $62,210 $62,206 $62,110 $62,110 $62,070 $62,062 $62,040 $62,020 $62,020 $62,000 $62,000 $62,000 $62,000

from any card with a magnetic strip.

During traffic stops, police officers use the scanners to “freeze and seize” money from prepaid debit cards. Most of the money goes to law enforcement agencies. The rest of the money goes to the ERAD Group Inc., which makes the scanners.

If this isn’t an unreasonable search and seizure, what is? Twenty-five states also use similar devices. Is our state one of them?

Law enforcement officials should not have the right to arrest property if the owner hasn’t been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime. Police officers should serve and protect citizens, not freeze and seize the property of citizens that have not had their day in court.

Chuck Mann

STATE VOTER FRAUD DEAR EDITOR,

The biggest voter fraud suspect in North Carolina is oddly enough the state. There was a time I told people to vote and it’s important, but it really does not matter – voting is fixed. The state cuts up districts based on race and party and what we have is elections with one party running, elections where (continued on next page)

letters

(continued from previous page)

one party can’t do well. The 13th and 6th Districts are Republican Districts and were cut up to benefit the party, and the 12th District was designed to make Democrats happy with one seat.

The fact is we, the people, are to blame because most don’t vote and just look at local elections, poll workers are so bored they sleep. We have voter ID, which was not needed, but I can live with it. The odd thing about voter ID is more complain and don’t even vote. I remember working a poll and someone asked me if they need ID and I said no. She said good, she didn’t have one. And I said you drove here, you need a photo license.

Crazy stuff.

The fact is voting is so wrong in this state. It bothers me to see people win a race with no one running against them. That’s a punk election – who holds elected office and never having someone run against him. This is not elected but given to them by the powers in the state. This state has gone backwards and not forward.

Sal Leone

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

DON’T VOTE GRINCH DEAR EDITOR,

I do not like this Clinton witch Who spews her lies without a hitch.

I do not like she does not care About Benghazi; what happened there.

I do not like she’s not in jail.

Those heroes pled to no avail.

Their murders all upon her head, Yet she sleeps soundly in her bed.

I do not like that she’s a con, That when she’s caught goes on and on, To cover up what we can see By video films so vividly.

I do not trust words from her lips, One day it’s one thing then it flips.

Top-secret emails sent by mistake?

Fools of us she’d like to make.

Sorry, she’s certain we already are, That’s why she’s trying to go so far As to take the top seat in the land, To have all that power in her hand.

I do not like her “politics,” Her lying, conning, murdering tricks.

Her words and deeds, of honor lack.

It saddens me we’ve gone off track.

I think it obvious to end on this note, By saying for her …

I will not vote.

Anonymous

beep (continued from page 26) The answer is, they’re not. There is no such law prohibiting that. What you can’t do, and this holds true for all religions, is use government edifices or resources to proselytize your particular religious faith. That’s why it’s a problem having specific Christian prayers in our schools and public meetings or courthouses.

The Muslims can’t do it either. And that’s right. Because the only way to have religious liberty is to make sure that government is not involved in religion and religion is not involved in government. Religious liberty only exists under a purely secular government.

%%% Hello. On this issue at the Rich Fork Preserve between the environmentalist hikers and the mountain bikers, I think there is a simple way to resolve this. If all the mountain bikers were to simply selfidentify as hikers, trans-hikers we’ll call them, that should quickly resolve the matter. I mean, after all, if a

transgender woman with a penis can be overlooked, then the fact that a trans-hiker happens to be riding a mountain bike can also be overlooked.

%%% They must expect a riot tomorrow at the Trump rally because of the Mexicans to deal with this wall thing. Everybody wants to tear the wall down and we want to build one. If it’s not a riot tomorrow, I’ll be surprised. All it takes is the wrong person with him running his mouth and our president and his gay coalition. The politicians, and that crook Hillary stole stuff from the White House when her and her husband left. And they’re trying to elect a criminal into the White House, really?

%%% Driving around you start noticing people that don’t obey the laws.

I just happen to think, if there were a surprise test, I bet half (continued on page 32)

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32 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

under

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has ever visited. On these visits she will have tea with the head of state, have a bunch of photos taken, do a little sightseeing and be off to the next capital city without signing any type of agreement or treaty or discussing anything more important than the weather and the local cuisine.

About every two weeks she will change her hairstyle, which actually means changing her wig. This will be seen as a major news event by the mainstream media for about a year until even the mainstream media realize that people are bored with her wigs.

She will ignore all the protocols that keep top-secret information safe from foreign governments – both our friends and enemies. Russia will know far more about what the US is doing than the average US citizen, who won’t have access to her emails and BlackBerry communications like the Russians will.

But it won’t make much difference because the Russians will fairly quickly learn that Hillary Clinton plans to do nothing as president other than fly around the world greeting people.

She will be impossible to get along with for congressional leaders, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. Information about the president screeching at congressional leaders behind closed doors will be leaked on a fairly constant basis whenever she is in Washington, which won’t be very often.

The good news for those who are opposed to Hillary Clinton’s policies is that it won’t matter whether Congress is controlled by Democrats or Republicans – her proposals will be dead on arrival in Congress because the congressional leaders will be so turned off by having to deal with her that even the Democrats will undermine any major policy initiatives she attempts, if she attempts any.

(See First Lady Hillary Clinton’s

healthcare plan for an example of how Congress will deal with president Hillary Clinton. It failed miserably.)

And her administration will be the most closed, opaque, secretive administration in modern history.

Despite the fact that foreign countries will know exactly what she is up to all the time because of lax security, the American people will be kept in the dark unless foreign leaders decide to leak what is going on behind closed doors.

White House tours by the public will be stopped for security reasons in her first months in office and will never resume.

And if we are going to judge future performance on past accomplishments, if Trump is elected he will have amazing successes as president and some big failures, but the successes will far outweigh the failures. It is what Trump has done in his professional life. He set out to make a lot of money and he made billions of dollars – enough to self fund his presidential campaign without missing the millions he has spent because he now has more money than he could spend in several lifetimes.

Trump will run an extremely unorthodox presidency, which will be one of the most open in history. As president he will regularly appear on news shows, in person and by phone. He’ll actually answer questions when asked by the media.

His demise will be predicted every week by the political pundits and they will be wrong.

If you accept as a fact that the CIA, FBI and other government agencies are correct in their assessment, then there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of terrorists already in this country. And others who are already here – like Omar Mateen in Orlando,

beep (continued from page 31) these people out here on the road couldn’t even pass the driver’s test to get their license the first time.

%%% Yes, what I would like to know is, from someone, if this country over here has got people that has got to have a food bank set up on

every corner to feed the American people, why is it that Hillary Clinton and Obama want to bring 10,000 refugees over here that has absolutely nothing to offer the US? They have no jobs, no education. Just a string of children. And we can’t feed our own people in this country today.

Syed Farook in San Bernardino, Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood and Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev at the Boston Marathon – are being radicalized by the internet and/or trips to the Middle East, presumably to training camps or to meet with and get instructions from radical Islamic terrorists. The FBI has thoroughly checked these people out and can find no legal reason to detain them, and we have a problem that is only going to get worse.

But if you accept what government authorities are telling is true, then what do you do to protect yourself and your family? Do you avoid public gatherings like the Boston Marathon, dance clubs and even workplace Christmas parties? In both the mass killings at Fort Hood and San Bernardino, the people killed were gathered for work related events. San Bernardino was a party, which I would imagine people could have skipped, but at Fort Hood, the Army personnel were gathered to be sent overseas.

How could anyone avoid that?

Now you could choose to believe what Obama is saying and not think that the killings are related to radical Islamic terrorism, that it just so happens that all these killings were carried out by people with known ties to radical Islamic terrorist groups, but that’s not where the problem is.

If the government doesn’t believe that these killings are linked – and the link is radical Islamic terrorist groups disrupting our society – then there isn’t much chance of any solution for the foreseeable future. Obama doesn’t see the problem as radical Islamic terrorism, but as guns being too readily available to the general public.

There is once again talk of banning assault weapons, a class of rifles defined by the Clinton administration.

It was one of the dumbest gun control measures ever enacted, because it doesn’t ban guns based on their firepower, but based on how they look. And that appears to be one of

How does he expect 24,000 or even 10,000 people to come into this country here and live? Now, I’d like for somebody to tell me that. He don’t. He expects everybody to get down like a third world and, then, everybody will be starving to death like they are in those other countries.

%%% Remember back in king Obama’s first term, he said if the political winds started blowing towards the Muslims he would intervene. Well, I

the reasons that the left wants to ban assault weapons, because they are really mean looking guns.

But the assault weapons ban didn’t ban any type of weapon. What it forced gun manufacturers to do was change the way the weapons looked. The manufacturers didn’t have to make any changes to operating portions of the rifles, only the accessories. It would be like discovering that many fatal drunk driving accidents were caused by drunks driving cars with leather seats and the government banned cars with leather seats.

People who favor more gun control often say that they think hunters should be allowed to keep their hunting rifles and shotguns but that they don’t see why other people need to be armed. There is nothing in the Second Amendment about hunting.

However, security is mentioned. This is the entire Second Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

So it is not only the right of people to possess arms, but to “bear” arms, and it has nothing to do with hunting.

One aspect of politics that we are nearly all guilty of is accepting the fact base given to us by the mainstream media.

It’s difficult not to because it’s everywhere. You read an article in a newspaper. Hear a radio report on the same topic and then see some liberal journalist moonlighting as a pundit on a television talk show echo the same story. You may have had doubts the first time you heard it, and the second, but by the fifth or 10th time you’ve heard it repeated, you accept it as a fact. Anyone who disagrees is labeled a right-wing nutcase who can’t be trusted.

At the Trump rally in Greensboro I didn’t hear Trump say one word about a moratorium on Muslims (continued on next page) guess that means the Muslim and terrorists, too, huh? Because he does everything he can to hinder the stopping of these terrorists. We keep letting these people come into this country, we’re going to keep having trouble. It’s a nobrainer. And where are the socalled good Muslims? Why ain’t they getting in front of the camera and speaking out against these terrible acts? Is it because they

(continued on next page)

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

under (continued from previous page) immigrating to the US. What Trump said was that he would not allow people from countries that sponsor terrorism to come to the US unless they were properly vetted. He did question how they could be vetted.

As he noted, their passports are better than ours because they stole our machine. How in the world ISIS was allowed to get their hands on a passport machine, and why it wasn’t destroyed, is a mystery, but they have a passport machine and a bunch of blank passports. So how do you tell if the passport was issued by the government or by ISIS? It seems

beep (continued from previous page) are celebrating in their homes watching it on TV? I wonder.

%%% Every time a person with radical views goes on a killing spree, our government and law enforcement try to figure out why and what was the motive. I got the answer.

Get you a copy of the Koran.

It’s all in there. It says, kill the unbelievers. Kill the infidels. Kill the Jews. Kill the Christian. Kill the gays. Come on, America, get your head out of the sand.

%%% Hi. I don’t call this number much, but I’m responding to the beep about contacting the council about the raises and not much you could do about it. You could vote them out. That’s what you can do.

%%% I saw where king Obama was really upset about Donald Trump and what he said and this and that and the other. But I was told when you’re overseas if your father is a Muslim, and you’re born into that family, you are a Muslim too. I wonder if anybody ever thought about that. That makes a reason why we don’t get onto these Muslims. We don’t want to be talking about our cousins.

%%% Geez, I think on the news Hillary said, if you’re being investigated by the FBI you can’t buy a gun.

So, I guess that doesn’t apply if

(continued on page 34)

like a good question. Do we want people with ISIS issued passports immigrating to the US? I don’t think ISIS is issuing passports to people that don’t support them.

But I haven’t read it reported anywhere that Trump has modified his stance on immigration; what I keep hearing is that he wants a ban on Muslims entering the country.

It’s not what he’s saying now, but I heard a couple of people say it on a recent news show. They also didn’t report that from the beginning it was going to be a temporary ban until our government could figure out who these people are.

Of course, nobody has to go through US immigration control if they don’t want to. They only have to get to Mexico and then they walk across the border. Even if they are picked up by the Border Patrol, they aren’t sent back, so the only reason to hide from the Border Patrol would be if someone were carrying drugs, or a large amount of cash or weapons into the US. Otherwise, you might as well let yourself be picked up and get free food, housing and transportation.

You would expect the national media that travels with Trump to love him because he is so entertaining.

Reporters who have covered national campaigns say they can give the candidates stump speech word for word in their sleep. So a bunch of worn out, sleep deprived reporters will be sitting there trying to stay awake and, if the candidate leaves out a word or changes one word, they all perk up because they know something was different. They might not know what it was until they go back over the speech, but their subconsciouses are so used to hearing the same speech something goes off in their heads when it’s different.

Trump hits the same themes, but all his speeches are different. Its goes against Campaign 101, which says you have to stay on message and hammer that message home. Trump is rarely on message. And even though the mainstream media say that his ideas are far too radical, when he was running in the Republican primaries, the other candidates picked up his themes if not his verbiage. The other candidates started talking about border control and building a wall or fence. And they started talking about controlling immigration from countries that sponsor terrorism.

It may be a tough assignment, but some reporter for the mainstream media needs to spend an afternoon in a gun store and learn something about weapons. Politico has a long article on how the killings in Orlando prove that the AR-15 is the weapon of choice of those who want to kill a lot of people. At the very beginning of the article it is noted in parenthesis and italics that Omar Mateen didn’t use an AR-15, which you might think would kill the story. No, the editors made the note that Mateen didn’t use the AR-15 and then ran the story about how horrible AR-15s are anyway.

Anyone who knows about guns could look at one photo of the gun Mateen used and know that it isn’t an AR-15. The gun he used is a Sig Sauer MCX. And while it does resemble the AR-15 in the way a Volkswagen resembles a Saab, it isn’t an AR-15 and doesn’t operate like one, except it is a so-called assault weapon and is semi-automatic, which means it fires once every time the trigger is pulled. Fully automatic weapons will keep firing with one trigger pull until the magazine is empty. Military assault rifles have a fully automatic mode.

Pistols like the Glock that Mateen used are called automatic, but are

33

actually semi-automatic and also fire once each time the trigger is pulled.

It’s not that confusing, but the mainstream media refuse to learn anything about guns, so the media constantly get it wrong.

One editorial stated that Mateen carried “military grade” weapons.

This is simply not true. The Sig Sauer MCX and the AR-15 are not military grade weapons; they look like military weapons. Even if you put advertising stickers all over your car to make it look like a NASCAR racing car, it won’t go any faster, and if you make a civilian rifle look like a military rifle it won’t operate like one.

Since there is no indication that these shootings by radical Islamic terrorists are going to stop – in particular because the federal government won’t even recognize they exist – then it behooves the mainstream media to have at least one person on the editorial side of the paper learn about guns. They don’t have to like guns, own guns or even have any interest in guns, but journalists learn about topics all the time that they have no personal interest in. It is high time they stopped writing about a weapon that millions of Americans own like it is some artifact from a Martian culture that nobody on Earth understands.

tax (continued from page 10) property taxes still outstanding for 2015-2016, despite its near perfect collection rate.

One move the county made a few years ago was a reduction of the amount of the discount that county taxpayers received for paying early.

French said that, when he first took a job with Guilford County years ago, the discount was 2 percent for those who paid early. That was eventually lowered to 1 percent and, a few years ago, it was further reduced to a half-percent.

French said those changes in the discount rate haven’t seemed to effect the overall collection rate. He said the discount rate likely has more to do with when the money comes in than whether or not it comes in. The 2 percent discount, he said, was implemented largely to account for the time value of money when interest rates were very high: Having that money in hand earlier meant Guilford

County could earn money on those funds. However, since the interest rate has fallen so much, that’s not really a factor. French said that, when interest rates were 8 percent or higher, it was easily worth taking a 2 percent hit to get that money in the county’s hands earlier.

Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing said this week that he was very pleased to see the collection rate at over 99 percent.

“I think it’s due to a slowly improving economy and the really hard work of the Tax Department,” Lawing said.

“They’ve been more focused on collections and the unemployment rate is lower. More people are working and they can pay their taxes.”

The manager also pointed out that, in the last fiscal year, 2014-2015, Guilford County fell just short of the mark – coming in at the tantalizing tax collection rate of 98.99 percent.

34 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com

beep (continued from page 33) you’re running for president. Thank you very much. She is looking kind of tired, too.

think they could be good stewards of the people of Greensboro’s money? I just wish you would print that …

%%%

%%%

Hey, you guys do a great job. I was just curious. A couple of weeks ago I was reading where one of our city councilmembers had said that how qualified they were to do the job and they always had the best interest of n the people regardless of what people said. Well, I was just wondering. This particular councilwoman, I think she’s got a lot of unpaid taxes. And her husband was caught with an illegal gun or not registered firearm. And didn’t have a permit to carry it. I was wondering if they think that they’re so – how to you say it? – above everybody else, and they are doing the best for us, can you print the ones that owe money or have owed money to the state, or to the federal government? Because if they’re not good stewards of their money, how in the world do they

I was wondering if you were going to be bringing back News of the Weird.

I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

%%% Editor’s Note: The jury is still out.

%%% I’m calling about the lady that was talking about the police. The reason the police are not doing anything is because their hands are tied. And the reason that their hands are tied is you need to talk to Nancy Vaughan about that. And I think it’s bad that we’re paying, the citizens of Greensboro are paying for the police department to do their job and they can’t, because our mayor is not letting them. And I think that it is a shame. And I think something needs to be done about that. I think Nancy Vaughan needs to answer to the Greensboro citizens for that. And she needs to come clean

not only for that, but why she’s giving herself a big, humongous raise for doing nothing. I think that’s awful.

And I think Greensboro needs to find out about why all this is happening, and we’re paying for it. Shame on you, Nancy Vaughan.

%%% I totally agree with everything Donald Trump says, and what he stands for.

And if that makes me a racist, then I’ll gladly wear that label.

%%% I don’t know how many terrorist attacks there have been since Obama took office. But the number of attacks and the number of people who have died, which is maybe 100, pales in comparison to the largest terror attack on US soil, which was 9/11, which happened under the watch of George W. Bush. So, let’s quit bashing Obama for maybe 100 people that have died and remember that 2,500 or more people died during terrorist attacks – one terrorist attack – when George Bush was in office.

%%% That fool Von Miller. People are out here – I’m struggling to get my kids to college. And get them a car

so they can go to college. And you’re sticking your nose up at $40 million. Who in the world do you think you are? You people make me sick. People out here are going to watch you play football and act like you’re a god or something, and you are sticking your nose up at $40 million. I just don’t understand this country anymore, man. I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. And I hope you don’t get it. By the way.

You’re probably going to be one of those foolish football players that gets all this money and, then, in 20 years later you’re going to turn around and sue the NFL …

%%% I believe if a candidate for president of the US tells grieving family members of the murdered ambassador to Libya in Benghazi and three other US citizens at the embassy a bald-faced lie as to why they died, she, or he, is unfit to hold the highest office in this land. However, the way this world seems to be going, that’s sadly becoming the new norm apparently going forward. This is beyond disgraceful. It’s incomprehensible as far as I’m concerned.

www.rhinotimes.com | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | RHINO TIMES

under theHAMMER

35

by John Hammer

The political pundits at this point are beyond amusing and starting to get annoying.

It was amusing when week after week during the Republican primaries they predicted the demise of the Donald Trump campaign the following week.

According to the pundits the Trump bump to lead the polls after his announcement would only last a few weeks. Then there was the theory that people would tell pollsters they would vote for Trump but they were all lying and once the voting started Trump wouldn’t win a state. There was the theory that boiled down to Southerners were dumb and Trump couldn’t win outside the South. Then the popular theory was that Trump would never get over 50 percent of the vote.

It was relentless, and week after week the pundits were wrong.

People said they were voting for Trump and they did. He could win outside the South. He did get over 50 percent of the vote.

And, by the way, he did win the Republican primary by an even larger margin than Trump himself predicted and with more votes than any Republican presidential candidate in history.

But the pundits haven’t given up, now they are saying that there is no way that Trump can come back from this “horrendous” 5 to 8 point deficit in the polls and win in November. It will, according to the pundits, be a spectacular loss – bigger perhaps than the loss by Barry Goldwater in 1964, the gold standard for Republican losses.

There is this tiny little problem: The pundits have been predicting Trump’s disastrous defeat for over a year now and all he has done is won. Trump did a remarkable job in the Republican primaries and won the Republican nomination against 16 opponents much quicker and easier than Hillary Clinton did against one old socialist and a former governor who has long been forgotten.

One of my favorite stories is about how Trump is now behind where other losing presidential campaigns have been at this point.

It seems that might be a good thing because you certainly don’t want to be right where other losing

campaigns were at this point.

One point that I feel confident of is that nobody right now knows what’s going to happen in November. The people who are paid to know don’t appear to have a clue; they just keep repeating the same tired old antiTrump rhetoric they have been saying for over a year. At this point Sen. Bernie Sanders could decide to run a third-party campaign. Mitt Romney could as well.

Look at Sen. Marco Rubio, who said repeatedly he wouldn’t run for reelection to the Senate and now he’s changed his mind. He knows he has to do something between now and 2020, when he will certainly run for president again. And being a member – even, as he has been this year, a nonvoting member – of the Senate is a great platform to launch a second bid for the presidency.

Politicians change their minds and events change the public’s mind.

By November we may be having an attack like the one in Orlando every week, or we may not have another.

Either situation would have more of an effect on how people vote than anything the candidates themselves are going to say.

President Barack Hussein Obama is the most powerful man in the world because he is the head of the most powerful nation with the most powerful military. But even Obama can’t stop the tide or change history.

Obama has consistently refused to use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” to describe incidents of radical Islamic terrorism. The Obama administration shockingly tried to edit the remarks made by the Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, to remove any references to ISIS, or the leaders of ISIS, and even changed Allah to God. It was incredibly naive. The word was already out that Mateen had said he was declaring his allegiance to ISIS and killing people in the US because the US was killing people in his country. The fact that he was an American by birth and this is his country makes that a contradiction, but that is for the public to deal with.

How on earth did Obama think that he was going to be able to get away with it? Even the mainstream media, which usually supports any fool thing Obama says – like the greatest threat to the world is global warming – rose up in opposition to the idea that

Obama could change what Mateen said to the police.

This is delusional, but it is par for the course for Obama. By not recognizing that Russia was invading Ukraine didn’t mean any fewer Ukrainians died. But it did help Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also claiming that Russian troops were not invading Ukraine. Honesty from our president may have helped the Ukrainians, but not as much as providing them with weapons.

The US has zero chance of defeating radical Islamic terrorism if our president isn’t willing to admit that it exists. But Obama seems to be content to continue to claim that he ended the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, even though he had to halt the troop pullout of Afghanistan and has been forced to send more troops to Iraq, and now Syria, where Obama said several years ago that President Bashar al-Assad only had a short time left in office.

Who is the US supporting in Syria?

What is it that the US is attempting to accomplish with our bombing and troop involvement? The Russians are clear about what they are doing.

They are supporting Assad and having success doing it. We don’t appear to know why we are there or who we are supporting. It is no wonder we don’t appear to be accomplishing much.

Obama says that American troops are not involved in combat in Iraq and Syria, and when American soldiers have been wounded and killed in combat he continues to say that American soldiers are not involved in combat. If they aren’t in combat, how can they be wounded or killed in combat?

The very least Obama owes the American people who twice elected him president is some honesty about what is going on in our own country, as well as some honesty about what American troops are doing in combat zones.

The sad truth is that Obama seems to believe that simply because he says something it is true. Outside the White House people like that are considered delusional and are sent to mental health professionals to get help.

Hillary Clinton calls Trump’s ideas “dangerously incoherent.” But which is more dangerous, Trump having

ideas and wanting to accomplish goals or Hillary Clinton’s indecision and inaction?

Hillary Clinton could have saved the lives of at least two of the four State Department employees killed in Benghazi. She did nothing while people who worked for her fought off an organized attack by a Muslim terrorist organization for over eight hours. Then she lied about the attack, making the incoherent claim that it was not an organized terrorist attack but a spontaneous mob protesting a YouTube video. She expected the American people to believe that people showed up at a spontaneous demonstration with heavy machine guns and mortars. Then she lied about saying what she said.

If she can’t make a decision on what to do about what was by comparison a minor military skirmish, how could she possibly be commander in chief? The best predictor of future actions are past behaviors. Her behavior as senator and secretary of state are of inaction, indecision and lies. Even Hillary Clinton herself was stumped by the question: What did you accomplish as secretary of state? She was stumped because she didn’t accomplish anything of note, if you don’t consider setting up some really lucrative speaking engagements for her husband noteworthy.

Neither Obama nor Hillary Clinton can be blamed for the mess they inherited in the Middle East when they took office. But Obama has had seven years now to accomplish something in that area and it appears all he has accomplished is given Iran a path to nuclear weapons, plus a bonus of about $150 billion that the Iranians say they will use to support terrorists.

I don’t believe that even the most strident Hillary Clinton supporter could argue that the Middle East is less turbulent now than it was when she took office as secretary of state.

If we predict the accomplishments of a Hillary Clinton presidency based on her accomplishments as secretary of state, then if Hillary Clinton is elected president she will put more miles on Air Force One than any previous president. She will visit a host of countries that no US president (continued on page 32)

36 RHINO TIMES | Thursday, June 23, 2016 | www.rhinotimes.com