YES! Weekly - February 3, 2021

More allegations from local survivors of teen drug rehab program - Part 2 PROJECT M.O.O.R.E.

www.yesweekly.com

P. 4

VALENTINE EATS

P. 6

PHAZEGOD

P. 14

February 3-9, 2021 YES! WEEKLY

1

inside

10

2021 E

OIC

K LY

CH

W

EE

w w w.y e s w e e k l y. c o m

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5

T ES

TH E

IAD’S B TR

YES!

2

GET

’S READER

S

5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL

Former members of a CONTROVERSIAL TEEN DRUG AND ALCOHOL PROGRAM in Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Atlanta allege staff tolerated acts of vandalism, arson, and animal abuse by teens in their care. They also allege that members were required to go off all medications, forbidden to see doctors, and discouraged or prevented from engaging in solitary activities like reading, drawing, or listening to music.

Editor CHANEL DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com YES! Writers IAN MCDOWELL MARK BURGER KATEI CRANFORD JIM LONGWORTH

4

6

14

KATIE MURAWSKI PRODUCTION Graphic Designers ALEX FARMER designer@yesweekly.com

GO VOTE!

VOTING ENDS APRIL 2, 2021 AT MIDNIGHT!

THETRIADSBEST.COM YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

AUSTIN KINDLEY artdirector@yesweekly.com ADVERTISING

4

PROJECT M.O.O.R. E., the second word standing for Mentoring Our Own and Rejuvenating the Environment, has transformed an old frame house just off Martin Luther King Drive into a place where youth can gather, learn and dream, charting plans for careers with on-site training in music, barbering, and cosmetology.

5 CLORIS LEACHMAN was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1926, and grew up during the Great Depression. She once told me that she got her sense of humor from her mother. “She was quite magical and a darling woman, and she told funny stories,” she said.

6 In normal times, VALENTINE’s is the busiest night of the year for restaurants. Of course, these aren’t normal times, so I can’t predict occupancy rates this year. But my advice is simple: if you plan to go out that evening, make a reservation as soon as possible, especially given that space has been curtailed and fewer seats are available.

7 Having rocked FOX with the hit series Glee for six seasons (‘09-’15), producer/

director Ryan Murphy goes back to high school with THE PROM, a star-studded, eager-to-please screen version of the Tonynominated Broadway musical extravaganza.

12 Of the 584 residents in the Forsyth County Detention Center, 234 have tested positive for coronavirus since November, according to the COVID-19 Ongoing OUTBREAKS in Congregate Living Settings report the NC Department of Health and Human Services issued Tuesday.

13 The 23rd annual RIVERRUN International Film Festival is scheduled to take place May 6-16, 2021, boasting more than 100 screenings of feature-length and short films. The festival’s line-up, culled from over 1,400 submitted films, will be announced on April 7.

14 With a new album out, “Forever” is now for Winston-Salem rapper Tevin “PHAZEGOD” Douthit. Reaching from his past and looking toward the future, PhazeGod’s set to stun on his latest record—which finds old friends in video game references and fresh perspectives following a gunshot to the face.

Marketing TRAVIS WAGEMAN travis@yesweekly.com Promotion NATALIE GARCIA

DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

[SPOTLIGHT]

BRITNEY DENT NAMED DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AS LEAD GIRLS EXPANDS INTO TWO NEW FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS

BY GINGER HENDRICKS

LEAD Girls and its outreach to at-risk girls is expanding to include two pilot programs in connection with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public School system.

Both pilot programs are specifically researching the impact that LEAD Girls and its curriculum can have when girls have access to participate beyond the three years of middle school. A pilot group of fourth and fifth-grade girls from Cook Literacy Model School will begin our age-specific program in February, with ninth-grade high school girls from Carver High School starting in March.

“We are continuing to see an increased need for our work – especially since our data shows consistently that our program and its curriculum is working,” said Joy Nelson Thomas, Founder and Executive Director. “We are growing, and I am thrilled to add Britney Dent in a fulltime capacity as our Director of Programs.”

Dent holds a Bachelors in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she is also pursuing a Masters degree. In addition to being named to the Dean’s and Chancellor’s Lists, she is a member of the Phi Sigma Pi Honors Fraternity and Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society. Dent has served as a middle and high school teacher in the North Carolina public school system for the past ten years in English Language Arts and Social Studies. She has been the Department Chair and Secretary, a Regional Curriculum

Facilitator Trainer, as well as a School Improvement Team Representative.

Since 2019, Dent has worked part-time as a LEAD Academy Facilitator helping to launch the program’s balanced literacy and educational support component. Under her supervision, 1,122 hours of literacy guidance were provided to 51 girls in 2020. Her skills led to some girls increasing their reading skills by a half of a grade level to an entire grade level over the semester as measured by the Lexile reader measure, a reading test used to track students progress.

As the Director of Programs, Dent will serve as a member of the senior management team where she will be responsible for the implementation, management, supervision, and overall evaluation of LEAD Girls’ programs, including our LEAD Academy, LEAD leadership program, Expo, entrepreneurial summer camp, and other pilot programs.

“The pilot programs will add to our already robust outreach into girls’ lives, and Britney’s management and addition to our team will be pivotal as we continue to ‘Change a girl. Change a community. Change the world,’” said Thomas.

Learning Everyday Accomplishing Dreams (LEAD) Girls of NC was established in 2015 to give young low-income and at-risk girls facing multiple challenges in their lives a

space to feel supported and to learn how to make choices to improve their lives into adulthood. Their mission is to provide the tools and resources through innovative leadership and personal development programming that girls need to become productive citizens and active leaders in our community, according to their website.

Visit leadgirls.org for additional information. !

Valentine’s Day Sweetheart Boxes Sweetheart Box $29 (12 Items) Mini Sweetheart Box $11 (4 Items) White Hot Sweetheart Box $11 (4 Items) Mini White Hot Sweetheart Box $2.50 - $5 (1 Item)

Items available in boxes are: Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Macaron, Cake Pops, Bon Bons, Hot Cocoa Bombs (add $2.50 per bomb), Chocolate Covered Oreos, and Mini Stuffed Cookies

Order deadline is February 10th!

1616 Battleground Ave, Greensboro, NC ∙ (336) 306-2827 ∙ ORDER BY EMAIL! EASYPEASYDND@GMAIL.COM WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

3

visions

4

SEE IT!

Initiative to help at-risk youth takes off in East Winston

O

BY JOHN RAILEY

n this day, a teenager stands in a sound booth rapping words as old as the world and art he emulates. The ones about the girl who is driving him crazy. “I like you, but I don’t love you … like you, like you …”

What’s different about this scene was that 15-year-old Davon Mitchell of East Forsyth High School would not have a nurturing place to rap the words he’d written if not for an innovative program for at-risk youth in East Winston that started last month.

“This is all about making music and keeping me out of trouble,” Mitchell said. “We get to do what we love and try to better ourselves.”

Project M.O.O.R. E., the second word standing for Mentoring Our Own and Rejuvenating the Environment, has transformed an old frame house just off Martin Luther King Drive into a place where youth can gather, learn and dream, charting plans for careers with on-site training in music, barbering, and cosmetology. The program gives its young participants a chance to learn job skills from professionals for free. On the music side, with its stateof-the-art equipment, students have an opportunity to create for free something that they typically would have to pay hundreds of dollars.

The project is the revamped brainchild of David M. Moore, well known in Winston-Salem for his Southside Rides, which puts newly released offenders, like he once was, to work in its car body shop. Now, he’s expanding his scope, trying to reach youth before they make the costly mistakes he and so many others made.

Winston-Salem State University’s Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM) has named Moore one of its Community Scholars and has given Project M.O.O.R.E. an Economic Mobility Opportunity Award. Moore and his initiative are in sync with critical themes of CSEM’s work: tapping into the abundance of talent and hope in East Winston and helping residents break down barriers that have too long thwarted moving economic mobility upward. The project also fits with CSEM’s involvement in the local My Brothers’ and Sisters’ Keeper initiative, which seeks to improve educational and career opportunities for young people of color, according to CSEM Associate Director Alvin Atkinson.

As he revamps the program, Moore highlights all the lessons learned through Southside Rides. Currently, the project serves six youth, ranging in ages from 14 to 19-years-old. Each six-month session requires attendees to complete their schoolwork, in addition to their job training, with the laptops that are on site.

As an incentive, qualified students will be able to use donated dirt bikes for limited times, and, if they graduate from high school, get to keep them. Moore will also award, each session, a renovated car from Southside Rides to a top student.

“I want them to graduate, at least from high school, and, hopefully, go on from there,” Moore said.

But for now, you can find those young and old preparing for the world ahead of them. Local barber Donovan Clark can be found getting his training station ready

YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

PHOTO BY JOHN RAILEY

Davon Mitchell works on a song in the sound booth with advisors Dennis Davis (l) and Courtney Buchanan upstairs while Matt Booe, a 15-year-old student at Quality Education Academy, works on his music with Moore downstairs. Both Moore and Clark are all too familiar with the peer pressure East Winston youth face and where that pressure could lead them.

“You don’t ever want to be on the other end of that one,” Clark said. “People perish because nobody ever tells them right.”

Hard work backs the program as well as a sprinkle of serendipity.

It’s serendipity that led musical artist Dennis Davis (also knows as Love Over Destruction or L.O.D., The Chosen One) to Project M.O.O.R.E and hard work that keeps him coming back.

Davis met Moore through Southside Rides while Courtney Buchanan, who works with The Guitar Center, met Moore by chance and wanted to participate in the program. The pair has fun as they teach students the music business, hooks, and everything that goes along.

“We all ask questions,” Davis said. “It’s how we learn.”

Davis, one of the program’s managers, and fellow artist Buchanan (who uses the stage name Lil’ Timme) worked with Mitchell and Booe.

He and Buchanan produced Mitchell’s song, “I Like You,” that Mitchell penned the words for.

With guidance from Moore, Davis, and Buchanan, maybe one of the participants just might make it big in the music business. Or find other ways to live through their art and give back to their communities like Project M.O.O.R.E. A testament to what community engagement is all about.

“It’s super cool. It’s for the kids,” Buchanan said.

Moore agreed.

“I’m having fun now.” !

JOHN RAILEY, raileyjb@gmail.com, is the writer-in-residence for CSEM, www.wssu.edu/csem.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

voices

Remembering Cloris Leachman

I

Jim Longworth

Longworth at Large

had only known Cloris Leachman for less than thirty minutes when she asked me to take off my clothes.

More on that in a moment, but suffice to say it was one of those things that sort of sticks in your head, much like everything Cloris did, and she did a lot.

Cloris passed away on January 26, 2021.

She was 94.

Cloris Leachman was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1926, and grew up during the Great Depression. She once told me that she got her sense of humor from her mother. “She was quite magical and a darling woman, and she told funny stories,” she said.

Cloris attended Northwestern on a drama scholarship, where she appeared in plays alongside her pal Charlotte Rae. And while she had a natural talent for acting, her natural beauty hat opened some early doors. At 20, Cloris was crowned Miss Chicago, and then competed in the Miss America pageant, after which she immediately boarded a train for New York City, where she landed a job as an extra in a film. That lucky break launched her into television, where she racked up several cameos in live dramas and anthology series until landing a starring role in “Lassie.”

Feeling that the part did little to challenge her as an actress, Cloris left the show after just one season and stayed busy in episodic television, on such programs as “The Twilight Zone,” “The Untouchables,” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

After playing a prostitute in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” she was cast by Peter Bogdanovich to play a neglected housewife in “The Last Picture Show.” While filming one day, Cloris had a particularly emotional scene to play in which she had to get angry and throw a coffee pot at Timothy Bottoms. She told me of her shock at only being allowed to do one take.

“We ran through the scene, and Peter said ‘CUT,’ and I said, ‘Wait a minute, aren’t we going to do it again?’ He said, ‘No, you’re going to get an Academy Award for that.’” And so she did.

Cloris followed that film with her signature television role as Phyllis Lindstrom, first on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Jim Longworth and Cloris Leachman then in a spinoff series, “Phyllis.” Leachman won two of her nine Emmys while appearing on Mary’s series. I spoke with her co-star on “MTM,” seven-time Emmy winner Ed Asner.

“She was a sophisticated rebel who broke all the rules, and it was a fun ride being with her while she was breaking them.

Cloris was also a real hottie.”

Another member of the MTM gang was Gavin MacLeod, who later went on to star in “The Love Boat.” Gavin recalled his affection and respect for Cloris.

“I first saw her when she toured with Kate Hepburn, and I was enamored by her.

Later, we ended up shooting an episode of ‘The Road West,’ in which I had to pretend to slap her. She thought I was really trying to hit her, so after our first rehearsal for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” we all sat down together for dinner, and Cloris said, ‘I’m not going to sit next to Gavin because he tried to hit me once.’ Despite that, we became friends, and on days when her car wasn’t working, I would drive her home.”

From 1986 -1988, Cloris took over her friend Charlotte Rae’s job as the house mother on “The Facts of Life,” a show that was written by Academy Award-winning writer/director Paul Haggis (“Crash”). He shared his thoughts with me about the experience.

“It was my first attempt at being a head writer, and I had always been a fan of hers.

Cloris was such a versatile actor and always found the truth in the characters she portrayed. She was an absolute marvel to watch, as she took my ridiculous dialogue and highly questionable plots and somehow grounded everything in reality, simply by her talent and belief. I feel blessed to have worked with her.”

Not surprisingly, Cloris’ talents continued to be in high demand, both in film and on television, almost up until the time of her passing.

I first met Cloris in May 2008 when she

participated in “A Mother’s Day Salute to TV Moms,” which I produced and moderated for the Television Academy. Cloris took over the event and kept everyone in stitches. She talked about the time she posed naked for a health magazine and then suggested that I disrobe right there on stage in front of 800 people. After things settled down, I asked the panel (which included Marion Ross) if there was a TV Mom they most wanted to be like: Cloris: I wanted Marion Ross’ job.

Jim: You mean you liked Marion in “Happy Days”?

Cloris: No, I just wanted the job.

Marion, still laughing, then mentioned a film in which Cloris had played a female trucker with huge breasts. Said Marion to Cloris, “You had the lowest bust I ever saw!”

Cloris: Yeah, I put a pack of cigarettes up in my sleeve, and I had been taught to drive this big semi. Anyway, I had this great big chest, and a woman with a baby came up to me on the set, and I said, ‘Get that baby away from me because he looks hungry.’

Dressing up like a trucker was no problem for Cloris. Neither was donning witch-like make-up to play a sadistic nurse or Frankenstein’s Frau. She was a beauty queen who only cared about how the performance looked. Perhaps Gavin MacLeod said it best when he told me, “As an actress, Cloris could do anything.” And I’ll sure miss seeing her do it. !

JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).

RESERVE YOUR SCREENING NOW

GROUPS@SOUTHERNTHEATRES.COM

from

$100

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

5

6

chow

EAT IT!

Chow down with John Batchelor: Valentine’s Day Edition

I

BY JOHN BATCHELOR

n normal times, Valentine’s is the busiest night of the year for restaurants. Of course, these aren’t normal times, so I can’t predict occupancy rates this year. But my advice is simple: if you plan to go out that evening, make a reservation as soon as possible, especially given that space has been curtailed and fewer seats are available. And if you prefer to eat at home, consider take out as a reward for the usually-cooking partner.

See the issuu.com/yesweekly website for restaurant recommendations in previous columns. Here are some suggestions regarding places I have not written about lately but still strongly recommend.

The Undercurrent (undercurrentrestaurant.com, 327 Battleground Avenue, 336-370-1266) is always attractive for meals on any occasion, whether special or just for personal enjoyment. For Valentine’s, they are offering, “Spread the Love,” a four-course takeout special for two.

First course consists of Shrimp and Crab Cocktail and Avocado-Citrus Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Aioli. A Caesar Salad with Parmesan-Garlic Croutons and housemade Caesar dressing follow. The main course is a six-ounce Filet Mignon with a roasted tomato reduction, green onion and cheddar cheese twice baked potato and grilled asparagus. Dessert consists of Tiramisu with raspberry-chocolate syrup.

Instructions for reheating are provided.

To enhance the home experience, music

by Jessica Mashburn will be live-streamed.

The Undercurrent YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

Order flowers via an online link to ABBA Designs. This is the most elaborate special occasion menu I have been able to find.

Of course, reservations are also available for dining in. From the regular menu, my favorite starters are the Country Pate with hickory-cranberry compote, Calvander cheese, flatbread, and smoked pecans; and Fried Oysters with sweet garlicbuttermilk cream, rosemary-thyme oil, peppadew peppers, pine nuts, and country ham crumbles. You won’t go wrong with any entrée. I am especially attracted to Seared Sea Scallops with hazelnut-thyme couscous, sautéed parsnips and spinach, vanilla-grapefruit vinaigrette, apricot puree, and potato frits; Skillet Seared Salmon Filet with sesame Carolina gold rice, French beans, lemon-parsley puree, chow chow, and crisp county ham; Grilled Joyce Farms Chicken Breast with grilled sweet potato, kale, chimichurri glace, orange-roasted pepper puree, and smoked pumpkin seeds; and Grilled Pork Tenderloin with chorizohominy hash, kale, poblano-roasted tomato salsa, cilantro- gold raisin puree, and avocado.

According to Chef-proprietor Chris Russell of B.Christopher’s (bchristophers. com, 201 North Elm Street, 336-2745900), the most popular menu item on Valentine’s is Chateaubriand for two, a filet mignon roast prepared from a center-cut sirloin. My wife and I are also fond of the Blackened Cajun Rib Eye with horseradish sauce (big enough to share). The Seared Scallop Risotto and the Roasted FreeRange Chicken are good alternatives to

Marisol

Dolce & Amaro beef. You might not expect a steakhouse to be a go-to place for vegetarian entrees, but the Goat Cheese Stuffed Portabella Mushroom with spinach, balsamic glaze, potatoes, and onion crisps would change your mind about that! We often start with the Fried Calamari or the Crab Cake.

Among the sides, we really like the Fried Onion Crisps, Shoestring Potatoes, Sautéed Spinach, and Asparagus. If you like Brussels Sprouts (I do!), get the caramelized version here with bacon.

Imperial Koi (imperialkoigso.com, 1941 New Garden Road, upper level, 336-2863000) has long been my favorite for Asian and sushi. This is one of the few restaurants in the Triad that actually has some semblance of a view.

Marisol (themarisol.com, 5834 West Gate City Blvd, 336-852-3303) is another of the Triad’s top-ranked restaurants. The menu changes frequently; see their Facebook page for updates. A recent post offered first courses of Flash Fried Buttermilk Shrimp with a spicy chile sauce, Foie Gras with strawberry jam, and Seared Scallops with saffron creamed rice. The entrée list led off with Twice Roasted Crispy Duck with a honey and Texas Pete glaze; Rack of Lamb with bacon and Cipollini onion balsamic veal stock; Flounder en Papillote, and Sautéed Trout with lemon brown butter and capers.

Sweets are especially important for this occasion, and Greensboro is fortunate to have several good venues: Dolce & Amaro (dolceamaroartisanbakery.com, 1310 Westover Terrace, Suite 110, 336- 7634349); Delicious Bakery (delicious-cakes.

com, 3700 Lawndale Drive, 336-2821377); Maxie B’s (maxieb.com, 2403 #7 Battleground Avenue, 336-288-9811); and Augustino Gusto Bakery (facebook. com/augustinogustobakery, 2508 New Garden Rd E, 336-740-7005).

If you need wine for this special occasion, the very knowledgeable folks at Zeto (zetowines.com, 335 Battleground Avenue, 336-574-2850) and Rioja (riojawinebar.com, 1603 Battleground Avenue, 336-412-0011) can help.

One other thought- if you want to “get away from it all,” one of my favorite mountain retreats, The Orchard Inn (orchardinn.com, 100 Orchard Inn Lane, Saluda, NC 28773-9722, 828-749-5471), still had reservations available when I checked.

This is not only a peaceful setting; the restaurant is excellent, too.

You might also consider using this occasion to engage in a bit of selfless action.

Donations to A Simple Gesture (asimplegesturegso.org) are especially well placed.

I learned of this initiative, which is dedicated to fighting hunger, in the context of a much-lamented farewell to Mark Freedman, a much-honored local restaurateur whom we lost in the fall. !

JOHN BATCHELOR has been writing about eating and drinking since 1981. Over a thousand of his articles have been published. He is also author of two travel/ cookbooks: Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants and Recipes from the North Carolina Coast, and Chefs of the Mountains: Restaurants and Recipes from Western North Carolina.

Contact him at john.e.batchelor@gmail.com or see his blog, johnbatchelordiningandtravel.blogspot.com.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

flicks

The Prom: Too much of a good thing

H

Mark Burger

Contributor

aving rocked FOX with the hit series Glee for six seasons (‘09-’15), producer/director Ryan Murphy goes back to high school with The Prom, a star-studded, eager-to-please screen version of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical

extravaganza.

Bright newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman plays Emma Nolan, a student at James Madison High School in suburban Indiana who has caused a furor by requesting that she be allowed to bring a female date to the high-school prom. Steely PTA spokesperson Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington) attempts to close the issue once and for all by simply canceling the event.

Once upon a time, Emma’s plight would have made national headlines, but it becomes a viral sensation, this being the 21st century.

Riding to her rescue, so to speak, are some Broadway stars with time on their hands. Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep), the quintessential diva, and self-absorbed Barry Glickman (James Corden) have just starred in Eleanor!, a musical version of the life of Eleanor Roosevelt – an extremely funny concept – only to have it close after one night thanks to a devastating putdown in the New York Times.

Desperate for attention, as they always are, Dee Dee and Barry seek a “cause” that they can support. World hunger is suggested, but Barry opts for “something we can handle,” and that something is Emma Nolan.

Flanked by veteran chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman), long-suffering publicist Sheldon Saperstein (Kevin Chamberlin), and perennially unemployed actor and Juilliard graduate Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells), best-known for an insipid sitcom called Talk to the Hand, Dee Dee and Barry charter a bus and ready themselves to take Indiana by storm. If nothing else, Dee Dee figures, she’ll earn points from Tony voters for her social activism.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

The first half of The Prom is by far the best, with some delicious digs at contemporary Broadway, show-biz egos, and a steady stream of stereotypes being deflated amusingly. Then, of course, there are the musical numbers, which are carried off with zest and style.

As befits its origins, the film is bursting with color and larger-than-life characters, and the actors are very good company, indeed, with everyone enjoying a turn – or two – in the spotlight.

It should come as no surprise that Emma’s intended date is Alyssa Greene (Ariana DeBose), who just so happens to be the daughter of her PTA nemesis.

Contending with snooty cheerleaders and cocky jocks, Emma can handle, but she can’t handle that Alyssa hasn’t yet come out as gay.

It should also come as no surprise that each character will have to come to grips with his or her own hang-ups and neuroses, whether it’s Barry’s lingering resentment toward his family for rejecting him as a teenager because he admitted he was gay (which fueled his ambitions), Dee Dee learning a thing or two about humility and true generosity, or Trent’s continued embarrassment at being best-known for a TV role he played decades ago.

(An inspired gag is that he is continuously recognized in Indiana because of reruns, whereas no one knows Dee Dee or Barry.)

Pellman brings a clear-eyed, unforced charm to Emma’s role, and DeBose convincingly conveys her character’s indecision, although they don’t exhibit much onscreen chemistry. Streep and Corden enjoy the showiest roles, which they pull off with aplomb. Kidman, Rannells, and Chamberlin are mostly relegated to the background but make solid impressions nonetheless, and it’s nice to see Mary Kay Place (as Emma’s grandmother) and Tracey Ullman (unrecognizable as Barry’s mother), even if they haven’t much to do.

If anyone steals the show – and everyone certainly tries to – it’s KeeganMichael Key as the sympathetic Principal Hawkins, who is firmly on Emma’s side and is entranced by grande dame Dee Dee, whom he’s worshiped from afar. With expert comic timing, Key’s reaction shots sell plenty of scenes, even if he’s had nothing to do until that moment.

Once the narrative agenda has been

established, it would seem the quickest route to a satisfactory conclusion would be a straight line. But The Prom, as wellmade and enjoyable as it is, doesn’t know when to quit. The musical numbers are indeed show-stoppers, but after a while, they tend to do just that – stop the show, sometimes in its tracks.

For all the enthusiasm and glitter, The Prom becomes repetitious and even exhausting. It’s made its point, it’s put on

a grand show, yet it grinds on, particularly in the third act. Some judicious paring, which might have meant sacrificing a few numbers, would have made this spoonful of sugar help the medicine go down much more smoothly.

– The Prom is currently streaming on Netflix. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

7

8

Need More Space?

Large Commercial Building for Sale 30,000 Square Feet Space Available

inquiries contact Ron Cox, Human Resource Manager, P.O. Box 111, 30 N. Main Street, Chatham VA or to rcox@womackpublishing.com

Suitable for • Light Industrial • Warehouse Storage

Amenities Include • Climate Controlled • Commercially Wired • Loading Dock • High Ceilings • Floors Reinforced For Heavy Equipment • One Block Off Downtown Troy Area • Secure Location

Montgomery County

139 Bruton Street, Troy, NC 27371 YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

leisure [NEWS OF THE WEIRD] BRIGHT IDEA

Recompose, a company in Kent, Washington, now offers an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional burial — human composting. The Seattle Times reported that Chuck Shepherd on Dec. 20, the first bodies were “laid in” — placed in steel cylinders full of soil, where decedents rest for 30 days, covered with wood chips and straw. After that, they’re moved to a “curing bin” to finish releasing carbon dioxide, and then remains can be returned to family or donated to an ecological restoration project near Vancouver. According to Recompose, the “finished soil is very similar to the topsoil bought at a local nursery.” “This is a very controlled process, completely driven by microbes,” explained CEO Katrina Spade. “It’s fueled by plant material and monitored in a very rigorous way.” The entire process costs $5,500 and includes an optional service.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

— Lisa Boothroyd, 48, of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, got a shock when the handful of popping candies she ate turned out to be small novelty fireworks used as noisemakers instead. The box of Fun Snaps was shelved among other candies at her local Costcutter store, she told the Daily Mail on Jan. 18, and the packaging was similar, but the result was painful: Boothroyd reported chemical burns on her lips and gums and a cracked tooth. “That moment I crunched down was terrifying,” Boothroyd said. “I felt explosions in my mouth followed by burning pain.” A spokesperson for Costcutter said the Fun Snaps would be “(removed) from the confectionery section with immediate effect.”

— A woman in Cajeme, Mexico, identified only as Leonora R., faces charges of domestic violence after repeatedly stabbing her husband when she found photos of him having sex with a younger, thinner woman on his phone, according to police. Local media reported the husband was eventually able to disarm his wife and clarify that it was HER in the photos, which were taken when they were dating. The New York Daily News reported on Jan. 26 that police responding to neighbors’ calls for help arrived and arrested her.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Japanese entrepreneur Shota Ishida, 30, has zeroed in on a way to relieve the anxiety felt by a narrow niche of people: the roughly 1% of the population, he says, who worry

about body odor. “It’s something they can’t bring up with friends or family,” he told CBS News, so they turn to his company, Odorate, for a scientific analysis to determine whether they are emitting offensive odors.

Customers create a smell sample by wearing a plain white T-shirt enhanced with odor-absorbing activated charcoal for 24 hours, then mail it to Ishida’s lab north of Tokyo. For about $150, Ishida will subject the sample to GC-MS analysis (a technology used to identify unknown chemicals) and produce a report, which can include such descriptions as “old-age smell” or “onions starting to rot.” He says about half of his customers are given the all-clear, with no obvious offensive odors. “Getting the facts is a huge relief for (clients),” he said.

WEIRD SCIENCE

In a first for paleontologists, the perfectly preserved anus of a dinosaur has been found in China. Psittacosaurus, a Cretaceous-period relative of the Triceratops, was about the size of a dog, and researcher Jakob Vinther of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom described the discovery as “unique” to Live Science. “It’s like a Swiss Army knife of excretory openings,” used for pooping, peeing, breeding and egg laying. It was not clear to the researchers whether the dinosaur was male or female.

ANTISOCIAL SKILLS

Trevor Savok, 20, is suspected of stealing underwear and AirPods on Jan. 17 from a group of young women staying at a Las Vegas area hotel, and leaving behind a note illustrated with a hand-drawn heart in one of their bags reading, “Text me if you want your panties back,” according to court documents. The women contacted Savok, who said he would return the underwear if they sent pictures of their private parts, KTNV-TV reported. Police arrested Savok, who worked at the hotel, and are asking the public’s help in finding more possible victims.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINAL

As paramedics in Houston responded to a call on Jan. 21, Renaldo Leonard, 36, jumped into their Houston Fire Department ambulance and drove, emergency lights flashing, about 4 miles to a Jack in the Box, where he got in the drive-thru lane, according to police. The Smoking Gun reported the ambulance was tracked to the restaurant, and Leonard was arrested and charged with felony theft of the vehicle, which is valued at more than $150,000. !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

[KING Crossword]

[weeKly sudoKu]

WEIRD WARDROBE

ACROSS 1 7 14 20 21 22 23

25 26 27 28 30 31 32 33

35 37 38 39

44 45 48 49 50 51 53 54 57 60 62 63 64 65

71

Ill will Accepted blame humbly Creatures Mafia code of silence Person of the hour Bill Clinton’s #2 Formalwear imparting a pleasantly optimistic feeling?

Flier Earhart Tricky rascal Some pipe shapes Model of iPod Weasel’s kin Room, in Spanish G-men, e.g.

Appropriate underwear in a law court?

Gemini, e.g.

Unwanted plant growth “Oh, sure!”

Neckwear making people unable to move?

ICU tubes Burnt residue Yellow hue With 72-Across, 1920s-’30s design style Royal flush card A Marx brother — Zedong Ukraine city Toadstool-shaped headwear?

Kilt wearer Stew sphere Moral errors Actress Perlman Women’s wear encircling a magazine?

Tooth filler

www.yesweekly.com

72 73 74 76

80 82 83 84 85 86 88 89 90

94 96 97 98

102 104 108 109 110 111 112 114

117 118 119 120 121 122

See 49-Across Abbr. of fair hiring Go bonkers Beach where everyone dons athletic wear?

Do a tally of Abbr. in personal ads Sir Andrew — Webber “— Day Will Come” Be in debt to Writer Joyce Carol — Frequently, to a poet Pull sharply Waist wear inscribed with images of sun-orbiting bodies?

Castle trench ERA or RBI Sit as a model Outerwear with huge pockets to hold LPs? Verbal gems 9-to-5er’s relieved cry Telegraphic code creator Slave away Inside info Pro at taking dictation Frozen spike Summer wear depicting cartoon scenes?

Weasels’ kin Looked scornfully Messenger of the gods Rains cold pellets Mean rulers Big bother

DOWN 1 2 3 4

Boulders Oven brand Sherpa land Deep fissure

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 24 29 32 33 34

36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 50 51 52 55 56

57 58 59

An Amerind Brit. mil. fliers Get — of (obtain) Implements Closing parts Homer Simpson cry Rusty color Avenged Singer — Marie Sheep’s call “Rum Punch” novelist Leonard “Yeah, makes sense” Nick of film Heartache Scorches “Angie” star Davis “Tommy” actor E-I linkup Royal flush card They’re shot from air rifles Modest reply to kudos Comical sort Scots’ toppers Many Apples Paperless novel, e.g.

Turkic language Bit of lifting lingerie I, to Freud Curved line Mani offerer Quick trip Helper: Abbr.

Gardening implements Stock up on As is fitting Grabs the attention of suddenly Cut to bits Counteract Buckeye State sch.

61 63 66 67 68

69 70 75 76

77 78 79 80 81 85 87 89 90 91 92 93

94 95 96 98 99 100 101 102 103 105 106 107 110 111 113 115 116

A bit drunk Plaintiff Regretted deeply Lysol target Jon who played Napoleon Dynamite Join together Studio prop Earring part “I’m Real” singer’s nickname Pixie Deteriorate Kiss go-with, often Stupefy Seal schools Mel who wore #4 Helpers in crime — Mahal Painter’s studio Used a sofa Elected (to) Platform for Apple devices Biceps, e.g.

Brunch dish Thin Slightly off Regional Hush money Slide on a sled, say Polyphonic choral piece Opinion pieces Lysol target It’s gathered in recon “Pippin” director Bob Mend, as socks Mets’ former stadium Ending for lion or seer — culpa “Zip it!”

February 3-9, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

9

feature

10

Fear, fraud and ‘fun felonies’: More allegations from local survivors of teen drug rehab program

F

ormer members of a controversial teen drug and alcohol program in Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Atlanta allege staff tolerated acts Ian McDowell of vandalism, arson, and animal abuse by teens in their care.

YES! Writer They also allege that members were required to go off all medications, forbidden to see doctors, and discouraged or prevented from engaging in solitary activities like reading, drawing, or listening to music.

Recent media reports on the “Troubled Teen Industry” have focused on shocking accounts of young people, including the teenaged Paris Hilton, being kidnapped by “transporters,” who convey them to drug rehab and behavior “boot camps” disturbingly similar to prison farms. But dozens of former “troubled teens” interviewed

by YES! Weekly describe something more insidiously coercive.

“We were never kidnapped like Paris Hilton,” said one former member and counselor who asked not to be named. “We volunteered for the abuse we suffered, and then volunteered to abuse others.

Programs like Insight and Pathway don’t need hired muscle like that Utah one does because they make kids complicit in their own abuse.”

“These programs effectively indoctrinate their clients to pass on what they are given, which is abuse,” wrote another former member, Liz Nickerson, in a recent email to YES! Weekly. As previously reported, Nickerson, a 32-year-old Greensboro native now living in Oregon, entered the Insight Program at 3714 Alliance Drive in Greensboro in 2004 when she was 16.

She was then, she alleges, “kicked out” when she became pregnant in 2006. “All of the girls who got pregnant were immediately kicked out, and all of the boys who impregnated them were allowed to stay, absolutely across the board.”

The Greensboro site is one branch of the Atlanta-based Insight Program, which also has locations in Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as Peachtree City, Georgia, and Tampa, Florida. Insight’s website lists as “related programs” the Crossroads ProYES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

Insight Program of Greensboro 3714 Alliance Drive gram in St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City, Missouri; the Cornerstone Program in Denver; and the Pathway Drug Abuse Program in Phoenix and Gilbert, Arizona.

Also related are the Step Two Recovery Center in Gilbert and the Step One Sober Living in Atlanta.

As described in the Jan. 5 YES! Weekly article The [Hate] Group, all of these programs are founded on the “enthusiastic sobriety” teachings of the controversial and openly racist Bob Meehan. The Insight Program website lists Meehan’s son-in-law Clint Stonebraker as the program’s owner and executive director and links to Meehan’s book Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Our Children and Drug Abuse.

Since December, YES! Weekly has made multiple attempts at contacting Stonebraker. On Jan. 4, this writer spoke to Will Guest, the former Head Counselor for Insight Greensboro, who is now Facility Director at the Raleigh location. When informed of the allegations being investigated by YES! Weekly, Guest stated he would forward my request for comment to Stonebraker.

Attempts to contact Stonebraker via his website, email, and his @ClintFCB Twitter account have been unsuccessful.

Emails and phone calls to the offices of Matt Meyer, director of the Georgia Insight Program, and Steve Winkelman, director of the North Carolina program, have also gone unanswered. At Winkelman’s Charlotte office, a woman who identified herself as “Sophia” said she would have Winkelman call back that afternoon, but that didn’t happen. Several former employees of the program allege that Insight, Pathway, and their related programs have a policy of not responding to inquiries from the press.

YES! Weekly’s previous article focused on allegations by multiple former Insight patients and staff members that it and other Meehan-derived organizations are a “racist, homophobic cult.” This article addresses three other claims that have been made by over fifty former members: Insight and Pathway tolerate and even encourage “fun felonies” – acts of vandalism, public nuisance, arson, and even animal abuse committed by

teenaged members as a way of bonding via channeling “rebellious energies” that might otherwise lead them to experiment with drugs or alcohol (as previously reported, chain-smoking is allegedly encouraged for similar reasons).

Teens are forbidden to take prescribed medication, both for physical and mental health, and are prevented from seeing doctors or other certified and licensed healthcare providers.

Engaging in such solitary activities as reading, writing, drawing, or listening to music on headphones is considered “selfing-out” and very strongly discouraged.

Blake Strider, who told YES! Weekly that she entered the Insight Program in Charlotte in 2017 and then in Atlanta in 2018 described a “fun felony” where live opossums were released inside a Charlotte Target.

“Of course, the poor things were destroyed by Animal Control,” she said.

Strider alleged that Steve Winkelman, then the Charlotte Program Director, was aware of this incident. Winkelman has not responded to inquiries on this matter.

Strider stated other “fun felonies” committed by teens from the Charlotte group included “a fire that caused over $81,000 in damage.” She said this was the blaze at the closed North Wilkesboro Speedway, which the Wilkes Journal-Patriot reported in July of 2018. Strider did not claim to have witnessed this incident but said it was discussed by members and staff at the Charlotte “shop” (as Insight’s various local headquarters and meeting places are called) and that “we were told not to talk to police about this.”

Strider also alleged that, when she was in Insight’s Step One program in Atlanta in 2018, “there was a boy in the group who boasted of killing cats, and who would capture wild geese and take them back to the OG [Older Group] apartment.

Counselors were aware of him doing this.

It was tolerated because he was so good at Outreach, meaning recruiting new members.”

Strider also stated that she was prevented from taking her prescribed ADHD medication.

“I was immediately taken off all meds. I was on Lamictal, from which it’s genuinely dangerous to go cold turkey.”

Strider said it became worse in Atlanta.

“When I became deeply suicidal in the

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

group, the senior counselor for their drug abuse program told me I was choosing to be a victim to my trauma, that I did not need medication and that I had to choose between therapy and the group. I was told that I needed to give in the love of the group and recant to a higher power, that therapy wasn’t going to help me.”

She also said that Insight prevented her from taking medication for her immune deficiency.

“When I was in Step One, I was forbidden from taking it by Matt Meyer, who said I couldn’t have medical equipment in the house, and nobody from outside the program could enter the Step One house, so I couldn’t have a nurse come in and administer it, either.”

YES! Weekly’s voicemail and email messages to Matt Meyer’s office included this allegation.

“I left the program because I was refused treatment and told I was just being a victim,” said Strider. “You are told that mania and depression are your character defects and the result of not living in God’s will.”

Strider also said that attempting to spend any time by yourself meant that one was disobeying God’s will.

“If I had the door shut in my room, it was severely frowned upon and considered ‘selfing-out,’ or being in your head.

There wasn’t a single night in the group that I was allowed to spend at home alone. They would practically kidnap you. If they thought you were at risk of getting high or self-harming, but also if they thought you were planning to leave the program, they would show up at your house, and you would have no choice but to get into their f------ car with them.”

Another former member who talked about “fun felonies” is the 32-year-old Joel Rubin, born and residing in Chattanooga, TN. “I participated in a lot of destructive, dangerous, and illegal activities when I was in the Atlanta Group from 2007 until 2009, all for the sake of enthusiastic sobriety,” Rubin said in a recent email to YES! Weekly.

“We called them fun felonies,” wrote Rubin, “and the counselors encouraged them. It was the best way to keep kids in the group. Counselors usually excused our shitty behavior. They would talk our parents into not punishing us and sometimes speak to law-enforcement when we would get in trouble with the police. They made me partially believe that, if I were sober, I could pretty much get away with anything.”

In his 1984 book Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, which the Insight Program still uses as a resource, Bob Meehan exhorted parents to recall times when they broke WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

the law as teenagers, stating “those were some of our fondest memories” and encouraged them not to punish their kids for engaging in such activities as long as they did not involve drugs or alcohol.

“I participated in ‘Opossum punting,’” wrote Rubin, describing occasions when young men from the group drove country roads in search of hapless marsupials.

“If one were found and froze up from headlights or flashlights, one of us would get out of the car and run up on it and kick it like we were trying for a field goal.”

Rubin said they would also drive to construction sites, where they would tilt over portable toilets and spill human waste into the street, stating, “We did 48 in one night.” He also described destroying the interiors of unfinished homes. “In one instance, we burnt down an entire nearly-completed home. I felt impervious to consequences and legal recourse.”

Rubin said that many of these activities occurred while teenagers were “wedging,” the group’s term for staying awake longer than 24 hours and competing to see who could “wedge” the longest. “Fueled by Red Bull and Monster energy drinks and chainsmoking, the longest I ever ‘wedged’ was 68 hours. I was driving kids around in my car like that. It was absolutely not looked down upon.”

Rubin wrote that, twelve years later, “I am just now beginning to unpack and come to terms with the abhorrent and disgusting actions I took and crimes I committed because I thought it was okay as long as I wasn’t ‘getting high.’ Buying cigarettes for 14-year-old kids. Encouraging them to guzzle energy drinks and stay up as long as I could during their developing years. All while being backed by the staff in doing these things. It is not a safe place for anyone who actually needs help.”

Jacqueline Liebler, who is now a Home Preservation Case Manager for an independent consulting firm, said she worked in various administrative positions for Insight in Atlanta and Augusta from 1997 until 2002 before managing Step Two Recovery Center in Phoenix from 2002 until 2008.

“When I ran Step Two, and a kid would get sick, I had to fight to take them to the doctor. One guy was running a fever for two days, and I was told not to take him to the doctor. I got in trouble for keeping him home from the Round Robin session and was told that I was ‘projecting’ my need for attention onto the group”.

Liz Nickerson stated “being ‘dramatic’ and ‘attention-seeking’ are buzzwords they use to deflect any complaint made by members or staff. I was told I was doing that when I complained that all the chainsmoking was causing me to have asthma

attacks. I was staying with a host family in Atlanta at the time, the Greensboro program not having started yet, and they had to take me to the emergency room.”

Nickerson also stated that one of the medications she was forbidden to take when she was in the Atlanta and Greensboro Insight programs was birth control.

“I started dating in the group when I was 17, which was allowed because the staff and my sponsors approved the arrangement. You can’t date without this approval, and they discourage you if they think you have a crush on the wrong person. I asked my mom to get me on birth control, and she did. A few months later, I was complaining to a friend in the group about my acne and being moody because of taking the pill. Then my counselor / sponsor pulled me into her office to tell me that ‘birth control is not sober because it is mood and mind-altering.’ And she told me I had to get off of it.”

Nickerson stated that she got pregnant.

“They ended up kicking me out of the group for this. Both the program director and my counselor accused me of getting pregnant on purpose to ‘trap’ my boyfriend.”

Cindy Russell, a Winston-Salem resident who graduated from GTCC Middle College High School in 2006, emailed YES! Weekly with her account of being in the Greensboro Insight Program in 2004.

“I was 17, and my parents were terrified I was going to drink myself to death. At my first Insight meeting, it was attractive to see folks my own age, whom I already knew personally, seeming to have an awesome time and wanting me to be part of it. I was told I could stay out until 3 a.m. with people in the group, and if my parents had any issues with it, staff would say it was good for my sobriety.”

Russell stated that she had been on medication for OCD since she was nine and had been “almost hospitalized” for suicidal ideations.

“The Greensboro staff at the time I joined told my mom that I could not stay in the group if I were taking those kinds of medications. She told me to lie because she was not going to pull her daughter of medications cold turkey that are known for making people feel crazy when that happens. I think they want people to feel crazy and not have those meds because it creates a dependency on the group. I was never once told to talk to my doctor about these medications or how to come off them safely.”

Russell said that she served on Insight Greensboro’s volunteer steering committee from 2005 to 2006 but was removed because she said, “It felt good to be part of something else for a little bit” after go-

ing on a mission trip with her church.

Russell also said she was accused of “selfing-out” when she started attending UNCG. As previously reported, many former Insight members allege that the group encourages kids to drop out of school and not interact with anyone outside the group. Russell wrote that she left the group when she was 18 because of this and because a boy she dating from the group broke up with her and told her it was because “people think I am too interested in you and not the group and they don’t support” the relationship.

Regarding “fun felonies,” Russell stated, “I used to get guilt-tripped if I did not want to buy Carmen, a 13-year-old patient, a pack of smokes. That’s what is so difficult with all of this. The gaslighting.

It’s so insidious.”

“We are encouraged to spy, tattle, and bully our peers into submission of these toxic ideologies,” wrote Liz Nickerson.

“The abuse is book-ended with an extreme emphasis of ‘love,’ so you are gaslit into believing that this conduct is normal or appropriate, and your problems or doubts about the program is your ‘insanity’ or ‘spiritual sickness.’ It’s also effective at silencing ex-members. Most of us are shackled by guilt because we perpetuated or were complicit in the abuse. I told so many girls their rape was somewhat their fault - because that’s what I was coerced to believe about my own rape.”

Nickerson asked that YES! Weekly share the URL www.enthusiasticsobrietyabuse. com, the website she and other survivors founded in early January, which has undergone considerable expansion and updates since our previous article. The site includes the following Mission Statement: Enthusiastic Sobriety Abuse is an expository council of survivors of Enthusiastic Sobriety Programs. Our mission is to bring awareness to the patterns of abuse perpetrated by these programs and bring some accountability to the leaders, owners, and high-level staff of drug abuse programs who use Bob Meehan’s philosophies. We aim to provide support and resources to current and former members, their parents, and staff of these programs so they may identify and recover from the trauma caused by their association.

The site’s REVEAL AND REPORT button bears the heading “If you have a story that you would like to report to your city’s ethics board or speak to a lawyer, you are welcome to send a message, and someone will contact you.” !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021 YES! WEEKLY

11

12

Forsyth jail inmate fears broken dishwasher is a factor in COVID-19 outbreak Of the 584 residents in the Forsyth County Detention Center, 234 have tested positive for coronavirus since November, according to the COVID-19 Ongoing Outbreaks in Congregate Living Ian McDowell Settings report the NC Department of Health and Human YES! Writer Services issued Tuesday. The same report lists 51 staff members as having tested positive, for a total of 285 cases.

James Wesley Rawls, a 47-year-old inmate who works in the detention center’s kitchen, believes the machine used to wash serving trays may be a factor in that 40% infection rate. In late December, Rawls spoke to YES! Weekly via the detention center’s PayTel phone system, in which calls cost $5 each and can last no more than 15 minutes. Calls with Rawls were arranged and paid for by the inmate advocacy organization The Prisoner Outreach Initiative (POI).

Records show Rawls has been a “resident” (as inmates are called) in the Detention Center for 19 months, charged in June 2019 with 21 counts of breaking and entering, and with no court date scheduled.

Rawls told YES! Weekly and POI he typically works two shifts, one in the kitchen and the other in the laundry room or showers, with an hour off in between. “They don’t pay us a cent,” said Rawls, “but it’s the only way of getting any time outside my cell.”

Rawls requested his real name be used.

“I’ve filed so many grievances, they know who I am.”

Rawls said the industrial warewashing machine used to clean the kitchen’s cafeteria-style trays does not function well enough to meet health department standards and presents a hazard even if there was no pandemic.

“They got the machine you put the trays through to clean them, but the trays are supposed to be sprayed down before they go through it. The water isn’t hot enough not the water you spray it with or the water the machine uses. Trays go through it and come out with food still on them. If it’s not hot enough to take everything off the trays, it’s not enough to kill bacteria and the COVID virus,” Rawls said. “And the people YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

that’s infected, it’s not like they’re getting a different set of trays from everybody else.

They get the same trays the rest of us eat off. So, when we collect them, all the trays are mixed together.”

On Dec. 29, Christina Howell, public affairs officer for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, was emailed about Rawls’ allegation. She responded with the following statement: “The dishwasher that is being utilized in the Detention Center kitchen is inspected annually by the Health Department and can be inspected up to two (2) times a year by the Jail Inspector. The minimum hot water temperature for the dishwasher is 165 degrees; currently, ours goes up to 190 degrees. If for some reason the dishwasher should be inoperable, we utilize Styrofoam trays.”

While multiple sources state temperatures of 160 or even 140 degrees Fahrenheit are sufficient to render inactive some strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, an April 2020 study by the Emerging Viral Diseases Unit at Aix-Marseille University in France was cited by Newsweek as finding that “to kill the virus in a laboratory setting, the team had to heat it to 92 degrees Celsius (197 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.”

Forsyth County Health Department records show the warewashing machine was last inspected on Jan. 17, 2020. On that occasion, inspector Jill Sakamoto recorded the following comment: “Warewashing machine not working in the kitchen. Person in charge stated they will use single-use articles instead of the trays.”

On Thursday, the Forsyth County Commissioners passed a resolution recommending the purchase of “a replacement industrial-sized dishwasher at the Law Enforcement Detention Center (LEDC).”

It included the following summary: The current fifteen (15) year old dishwasher at the LEDC [Law Enforcement Detention Center] is in urgent need of replacement after the frame that holds the doors has badly cracked. The dishwasher, if it cracks any further, cannot be repaired and will not operate. Due to the age of the equipment, parts are no longer available. Several times in the last twelve (12) months, the dishwasher has malfunctioned because of the frame issue, and Styrofoam trays, which cost $600-$750 per day (minimum of $4,200 per week), had to be used. In fact, since January 2020, the dishwasher has been out of commission

eight (8) times. Recently, the dishwasher would not function for three (3) consecutive days and cost approximately $2,250 in Styrofoam trays.

When asked about the health inspectors notation, the cost of Styrofoam trays and if the machine could’ve alreay been replaced, Howell responded with the following statement: “We are committed to being responsible stewards of our resources – especially as they are primarily county taxpayer dollars.

We did not request to replace the dishwasher sooner as we were able to repair and replace the broken components. Just as you would not buy a new car simply because yours had a flat tire, we did not request to replace the dishwasher until we knew it was approaching the end of its useful lifespan. In the Resolution that you cited, it noted that recently the dishwasher was recently out of commission for three (3) consecutive days. During 2020, the greatest length of time it was out of commission has been five (5) days; the shortest was merely a few hours. We utilized approximately $10,000 of single-use Styrofoam trays for the entirety of 2020.”

The warewashing machine was not the only health concern expressed by Rawls.He said washing floors and shower stalls were difficult and ineffective due to what he alleged were diluted cleaning solutions given to him by the corrections officers, which he described as “mostly water,” adding “they tell you to clean stuff, but don’t give you anything to do it with.”

He also stated inmates are not allowed hand sanitizer, even though “every CO got it on his belt.” Howell acknowledged this is true.

“We do not distribute hand sanitizer to the Detention Center residents as they each have an unlimited supply of soap and hot water available to them. Per the CDC, hand sanitizer should be utilized IF soap and water are not available,” Howell wrote.

“Additionally, the CDC recommends that hand sanitizers be at least 60% alcohol; there are safety and security concerns regarding introducing alcohol into the facility.”

Rawls made another and more disturbing allegation, stating that inmates who tested positive have been placed in beds outside the medical center. He alleges that inmates being treated for other issues had to pass “near those sick bunks,” adding “they had guys in hospital beds right outside of the cells and right outside the

medical unit, right there sleeping on them in the halls of the medical floor.”

Howell denied Rawls’ allegation .

“The procedures utilized for segregating individuals who show symptoms and/or test positive for COVID-19 were created collaboratively by the Forsyth County Health Department staff, the Detention Center Contracted Medical Services Provider staff (Wellpath), and FCSO Detention Center administrators. These procedures were strictly adhered to in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19. All residents who exhibited symptoms and/or tested positive for COVID-19 were immediately segregated in two specialized housing units. The movement of residents throughout the facility was carefully controlled so that residents would neither interact nor encounter one another, even as all residents being moved throughout the facility were required to wear proper PPE. Currently, the Detention Center resident population is at approximately half-capacity. The infrastructure of the facility does not allow for ‘bunks’ in the hallway, and more importantly, nor does our commitment to maintaining the safety and security of our residents.”

Rawls described more crowded confinement.

“The social distancing is out the door.

There ain’t no possible way. You can’t stay away from anybody unless you stay in your cell. You’ve got the laundry guys going down and getting all the contaminated clothes, which are all mixed together, and you got us kitchen workers doing double shifts every day,” he said. “When you go to work in the kitchen, you working around Aramark workers coming in from the outside. You’re being exposed to them and them to you.”

Rawls, who can’t afford his $300,000 bond, said that he’s going to do his best to “duck and dive this virus.”

“I’m one of the people they talk about, saying they shouldn’t face a death sentence or nothing like that from a disease just because they can’t pay a bond,” he said. “I don’t have any violent crimes. I got a $300,000 bond for breaking and entering, while the staff members that killed John Neville got out of jail on a written promise.” !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

RiverRun 2021: The show will go on The 23rd annual RiverRun International Film Festival is scheduled to take place May 6-16, 2021, boasting more than 100 screenings of feature-length and short films. The festival’s line-up, culled Mark Burger from over 1,400 submitted films, will be announced on April Contributor 7. Advance tickets will be available to RiverRun members on April 8 and will go on sale to the public on April 12.

Last year’s festival was canceled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but RiverRun carried on with a series of virtual and drive-in screenings throughout 2020 that proved successful and provided the impetus for ways to possibly present the 2021 festival.

“We were disappointed to have to cancel the 2020 festival,” said Rob Davis, executive director of the festival, “(but) we had several highly successful online and drive-in screenings during the summer and fall. Based on those successes, we are confident that we will be able to offer the film festival in May using online and drive-in screenings only.”

That doesn’t mean the festival won’t keep an eye on the evolving health crisis.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in terms of how to proceed safely with the 2021 festival,” he said. “We will definitely have virtual screenings, and our goal is a combination of virtual screenings and

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

safe, in-person screenings. Right now, it looks like the in-person screenings will be drive-in shows and socially distanced outdoor screenings. However, we will continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis.”

The festival’s official website (https:// riverrunfilm.com/) will be updated continuously to reflect any schedule changes.

“Our screenings over the past 10 months have done well,” said Davis. “We have presented 92 films, 63 of which were part of our 2020 festival schedule, and we’ve been pleased with audience response.

We’ve had much positive feedback and have had people come to the drive-in and watch films in our virtual theater who have never been to RiverRun before, so we’re happy to have new fans join us as a result of this new business model we have had to adapt.”

However the films are presented, Davis is pleased by the number of submissions for 2021.

“We have another great line-up of films under consideration for this year’s festival, which will include films that will appeal to a broad range of people and will reflect the artistry of many rising filmmakers,” he said. “Regardless of how we offer the screenings, I promise that we will have a robust festival for the entire community to enjoy.”

– The 23rd annual RiverRun International Film Festival runs May 6-16, 2021.

For more information, visit the official RiverRun website: https://riverrunfilm. com/. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

FREE DATE CHANGES ON 2021 TOURS* BEST OF HAWAII FOUR-ISLAND TOUR

$

$

12 days, departs year-round

FROM

2,349 *

2,099 *

Oahu • Hawaii Island • Kauai • Maui — Enjoy a fully guided

4-island Hawaiian vacation with centrally located lodging in Waikiki on Oahu, and beachfront lodging on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui. Guided throughout by our friendly Tour Directors—your local experts.

Includes 3 inter-island flights.

GRAND ALASKAN CRUISE & TOUR

FROM

$

1,799 *

1,549 *

$

12 days, departs May - Sep 2021

Seattle • Vancouver • Ketchikan • Juneau • Skagway Glacier Bay • Anchorage • Denali • and more — Visit

Denali National Park and Glacier Bay National Park on the same incredible trip! Cruise through the Gulf of Alaska and the Inside Passage as you discover the best of the Frontier State by land and by sea.

FREE ONBOARD CREDIT

CRIMSON CANYONS & MESAS NATIONAL PARKS TOUR

FROM

$

1,749 *

1,499 *

$

10 days, departs Jun - Sep 2021

Grand Canyon • Bryce Canyon Zion • Capitol Reef • Arches & Canyonlands • and more — Experience the stunningly red rocks of these 6 iconic southwestern national parks.

Travel through deserts, forests, mountains, and to the very edge of the Grand Canyon in this tour.

TM

promo code N7017

CALL 1-877-553-1557

* Free date changes anytime up to 45 days prior to departure for land tours, up to 95 days prior to departure for cruise tours. Deposits and final payments remain non-refundable. Prices are per person based on double occupancy plus up to $299 in taxes & fees. Single supplement and seasonal surcharges may apply. Add-on airfare available. Onboard Credit requires purchase of Ocean View or Balcony Cabin. Offers apply to new bookings only, made by 3/31/21. Other terms & conditions may apply. Ask your Travel Consultant for details.

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

13

tunes

14

HEAR IT!

W

ith a new album out, “Forever” is now for Winston-Salem rapper Tevin “PhazeGod” Douthit.

Reaching from his past and looking toward the future, Katei Cranford PhazeGod’s set to stun on his latest Contributor record—which finds old friends in video game references and fresh perspectives following a gunshot to the face.

“It sounds horrid, but getting shot actually had such a positive impact on my life,” Douthit explained, seeming otherwise unfazed. “If you know what you want to do on this earth,” he continued, “you need to go as hard as possible, especially if you have talent.”

And that talent he’s been honing since high school, with “Forever” referencing an early music project: ROCKETS Forever,

PhazeGod’s Forever is now while also reflecting the “infinite love” he holds for his craft. “This project felt like a summary of the avenues my artistry has explored,” Douthit continued, “I felt it was the perfect name.”

Within those avenues, Douthit maps his development of finding flow over the years—taking his time, as he explained, to “feel cadences out naturally,” with a “focus on giving myself to the music sonically instead of lyrically.” As a result, he’s used each project as a means to expand his sound. “Air Phaze,” released in 2017, was an experiment in auto-tune and freestyles. The “2Hot4Hell” and “FalloutBoy” releases in 2018 followed a path covering concepts and transitions.

“Onett,” released in 2020, marked his first time fully producing a project, on which he used remarkably less auto-tune.

“It brought my artistry full circle,” he said, reinforcing “Forever,” as a culmination of his efforts thus far. “It’s been such a blessing to be able to make it and share it with y’all,” he said.

And Douthit indeed is counting his blessings after getting shot at a party in

the good guys

Playing the Greatest Music of All Time Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

stream us at wtob980.com

PROUD SPONSOR OF Your Local Music Checkup with Dr. Jon Epstein | Every Monday @ 7pm The Gray Room Session | Every Monday @ 8pm George Hamilton V Piedmont Opry Time | Monthly Show YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021

July—barely two weeks after releasing “Onett.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be able to speak after having a bullet go through one side of my jaw and getting stuck in the other,” he explained, “it’s something I don’t take for granted.”

Without skipping a beat, he released the single, “My Jaws Wired Shut,” while still recovering over the summer—with his jaw literally wired-shut. “I wanted to reinforce that as long as I’m able to, I’ll keep evolving my craft,” he said of the experience.

“I’ve definitely gained a new level of introspection in my music,” he continued. “I think about life in a new light now, and I’m more encouraged to speak my mind more than ever before.”

Speaking his mind on influences, Douthit considers Lil Wayne his “favorite rapper of all time,” while also listing Kendrick Lamar, Chief Keef, Tyler the Creator, and Wiz Khalifa among his “top five” in music.

Switching to the visual, Douthit’s art carries notes of Cartoon Network kings like Craig McCracken, Glen Murakami, and Genndy Tartakovsky. His album art is laden with references to popular animated works like Yu Yu Hakusho, Invader Zim, Spirited Away, and Looney Tunes.

“I’ve been making cover art since high school, and eventually, I became known around the area for my covers,” Douthit explained of his work, freelancing design, and beats-for-hire services. “I love spreading my vision and working with different artists to find the perfect image for them,” he added.

The process has fostered his own sort of a triple hip-hop threat: rapper, producer, and graphic artist.

“Video games, cartoons, and anime have been big parts of my life,” he explained of the vessels which foster his vision and perspective—both for himself and clients. “Video games were my first love in life,” he added, noting their role as his gateway to music.

As a kid, Douthit was most attracted to songs with beats similar to his favorite

games. It’s a concept he continues to carry, with game sound effects rippling through his work and references gracing his covers—like the 16-bit sprites that make-up the art for “Onett,” or the Nintendo Super Star that shines in the center of “Forever.”

“The Super Star from Mario Brothers symbolizes my aura, star power, and just energy in general,” he explained of the oft-incorporated graphic. “Creative outlets feel like my way of powering-up,” he added, “we all have that power within us, but you have to reach into it.”

That power is emboldened on “Forever,” thanks to fellow members of the Steady Hype Collective like OG Spliff, who makes an appearance on the record, along with TiaCorine, RXK Nephew, Rollin$tone KC, and SemiRedd. $leepCatcher, and Black Magic fill-in on production credits.

“Forever,” the latest project from Winston-Salem rapper and graphic artist, PhazeGod, is out now via streaming platforms. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts “Katei’s Thursday Tour Report,” a radio show spotlighting artists and events. Thurs. 5:30-7 p.m. on WUAG 103.1FM.

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COMW

last call

[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

LADDY ISSUES

I’m a woman in my early 20s. My friends say I have “daddy issues,” because I tend to date men in their 30s. (I do have a decent relationship with my dad). I find men in their 20s Amy Alkon generally immature, slobby, and inconsidAdvice erate, with limited communication skills Goddess (and no desire to improve them). I can’t see how being frustrated with that means there’s something wrong with me, but I hear “daddy issues” so much I’m starting to wonder. —Annoyed Live with a 20-something manchild and you get the idea that guppies are on to something in how they sometimes eat their young — long before their gupp-ettes start spending their days smoking weed, playing Mortal Kombat 11, and waiting for the trash to grow legs, waddle out back, and throw itself in the dumpster.

Your friends join countless people with zero background in the therapy game who are quick to “diagnose” others with various insulting psychological issues. Luckily, few have the medical hubris to give your forehead a squint across the hors d’oeuvres and announce, “Excuse me, but I think you have a small tumor named Max pressing on your frontal lobe.”

Clinical psychologist Darren Fowler and his student, Sara Skentelbery, investigated the rather common belief that a woman

who dates older men (by 10 or more years) has “daddy issues”: an unhealthy relationship with her father. Comparing elderdating women with women dating more age-matched men, they found no support for the notion that they were using these men as psychological grout, a la, “I love how you fill the void from my pops never coming to my violin recitals.”

Evolutionary psychology research on female mate preferences suggests you might not be drawn to older men, per se, but men who are more mature, more willing to commit, and more able to support any children you might have together. In a few years, as guys closer to your age meet these benchmarks better, you might start dating men just slightly older (as research finds women tend to do). This only changes when women hit their 70s, when many become willing to give (somewhat younger) young bucks a shot. At this point, their friends in assisted living probably tell them they have “cradle issues,” but probably just because they’re jealous from eavesdropping on them through the walls: “Shout dirty to me, Chad!”

TENDER MERCENARIES

I’m a 30-year-old woman. My ex is an extremely wealthy and successful Wall Streeter I found to be a charming sociopath: lying, manipulative, and willing to do anything to win. I was curious about the woman he was with before me, so I Googled her. Like him, she’s in her 40s and very good-looking. She’s really accomplished: an Ivy grad and founder and CEO of a successful company. I was surprised to see she’s dating a guy who’s a construction manager. With all she has going for her,

why would she move from my ex to this man? —Curious Dating a sociopath lets you experience what it’s like to go temporarily insane. You scratch their back; they’ll stab yours and then somehow get you apologizing for how rude you were to leave those big blood stains all over their rug.

It’s not surprising that you and this other woman were drawn to Darth Trader. Research finds that women (from the Amazon to the, uh, Amazon.com) are driven to try to land high-status, high-earning men.

But evolutionary psychologist Norman Li observed that, in some studies, this priority sometimes ranked surprisingly low on research participants’ wish lists. Li attributed this to how a good deal of mating research gave participants “sky’s the limit” options that don’t reflect the real-world constraints on people’s choices; for example, the “trade-offs normally made when people select mates, whose traits come in bundles.” (“Good earner” is packaged with “looks vaguely Neanderthal.”) Context also matters, like whether a person’s own mate value, on a scale from 1 to 10, is “Little Engine That Could”-ing its way to 6.

Research by sociologist Yue Qian, among others, does find that high-earning, highly educated women tend to go for higher-earning, more highly educated men.

However, it’s possible that, for this woman, feeling burned by a “great on paper” guy who treats others as vending machines for his needs provided powerful “context,” motivating her subsequent choice of boyfriend. I see that women in their 30s and 40s who previously snubbed men who weren’t power brokers often start putting more weight on finding a loving man with good character. For this particular woman, a manly-man urban cowboy on a bucking earth mover might be just the change she needs — even temporarily — from a selfish, sociopathic Wall Street pretty boy. Ideally, if a woman describes the man she’s with as “amazing,” it shouldn’t be because he’s living proof that a human being can survive for decades without a heart. !

GOT A PROBLEM? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence. ©2021 Amy Alkon. Distributed by Creators.Com.

answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9

WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

[WEEKLY SUDOKU] sudoku on page 9

The Sportscenter Athletic Club is a private membership club dedicated to providing the ultimate athletic and recreational facilities for our members of all ages. Conveniently located in High Point, we provide a wide variety of activities for our members. We’re designed to incorporate the total fitness concept for maximum benefits and total enjoyment.

We cordially invite all of you to be a part of our athletic facility, while enjoying the membership savings we offer our established corporate accounts.

3811 Samet Dr • HigH Point, nC 27265 • 336.841.0100 FITNESS ROOM • INDOOR TRACK • INDOOR AQUATICS CENTER • OUTDOOR AQUATICS CENTER • RACQUETBALL BASKETBALL • CYCLING • OUTDOOR SAND VOLLEYBALL • INDOOR VOLLEYBALL • AEROBICS • MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM WHIRLPOOL • MASSAGE THERAPY • PROGRAMS & LEAGUES • SWIM TEAMS • WELLNESS PROGRAMS PERSONAL TRAINING • TENNIS COURTS • SAUNA • STEAM ROOM • YOGA • PILATES • FREE FITNESS ASSESSMENTS FREE E QUIPMENT O RIENTATION • N URSE RY • T E NNIS L E SSONS • W IRE L E SS INT E RNE T L OUNGE

FEBRUARY 3-9, 2021 YES! WEEKLY

15

Req's separate subscription/login for HBO Max,

SAY HELLO TO Watch your favorite entertainment in one place.

Plus,

included for a year.

CHOICE™ PACKAGE

64

$

99 MO.

For 12 mos. plus taxes & Regional Sports Fee.

• Stream on your phone, tablet and TV - anytime, anywhere.

Available only in the U.S. (excl. Puerto Rico & U.S.V.I.). Req’s compatible device & data connection. Limited to 3 concurrent streams.

• Access HBO Max, Netflix and more on Google Play.

Req's separate subscription/login for HBO Max, Netflix. Google login required. Google is a trademark of Google LLC.

HBO Max Offer: Access HBO Max only through HBO Max app or hbomax.com. HBO Max also includes HBO channels and HBO On Demand on AT&T TV. Data rates may apply for app download/usage.

AT&T TV: *$19.95 ACTIVATION, EARLY TERMINATION FEE ($15/MO.) FOR TV FOR EACH MONTH REMAINING ON AGMT., EQUIPMENT NON-RETURN & ADD’L FEES APPLY. Price incl. CHOICE AT&T TV Pkg. 1 AT&T TV device included for well-qualified customers; otherwise $120. New residential customers only, excluding DIRECTV and U-verse TV customers. Restr’s apply.

Get AT&T TV Today!

1-336-962-2615 AT&T TV: AT&T TV requires high speed internet. Recommend minimum 24 Mbps for optimal viewing (min 8 Mbps per stream). Limit 3 concurrent AT&T streams.

CHOICE: Ends 1/16/21. 1st & 2nd year Pricing: $64.99 for first 12 mos. only. After 12 mos. or loss of eligibility, then prevailing rate applies $110/mo. for CHOICE Pkg, unless cancelled or changed prior to end of the promo period. Includes: CHOICE Pkg. Req’s 1 AT&T TV device, included for well qualified customers; otherwise $120. Add’l devices avail for $120 each or on installment; non-qualified customers must purchase additional devices up front. Additional Fees & Taxes: Price excludes Regional Sports Fee of up to $8.49/mo. (which is extra & applies to CHOICE and higher Pkgs), and certain other add’l fees & charges. AT&T TV: Subject to AT&T TV terms and conditions. Avail. in the U.S. only (excludes Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). AT&T TV service will continue monthly at the prevailing rate charged to your payment method on file, unless you cancel, subject to any early termination fees. If you cancel in the first 14 days of order, you must return the included AT&T TV device within 14 days of order to avoid $120 non-return fee. Additional devices purchased on installment agreement subject to additional terms and conditions. See cancellation policy at att.com/help/cancellation-policy-att-tv.html for more details. Once you’ve canceled, you can access AT&T TV through the remaining monthly period. No refunds or credits for any partial-month periods or unwatched content. Compatible device req’d. Residential customers only. Pricing, channels, features, and terms subject to change & may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. Some offers may not be available through all channels and in select areas. Regional Sports & Local Channels: Not available in select areas. Channels vary by package & billing region. Device may need to be in billing region in order to view. GENERAL: Limit 3 concurrent streams per account. Programming subject to blackout restrictions. Taxes may apply. See your Order Confirmation email and att.com/legal/att-tv.html for more details. HBO Max: Access HBO Max through HBO Max app or hbomax.com with your AT&T log-in credentials. Compatible device or browser required. Use of HBO Max is subject to its own terms and conditions, see hbomax.com/terms-of-use for details. Programming and content subj. to change. Upon cancellation of your video service you may lose access to HBO Max. Limits: Access to one HBO Max account per AT&T account holder. May not be stackable w/other offers, credits or discounts. To learn more, visit att.com/hbomax. HBO Max is only accessible in the U.S. and certain U.S. territories where a high-speed broadband connection is available. Minimum 3G connection is requiredfor viewing on mobile devices. HBO Max is used under license. Offers may not be combined with other promotional offers on the same services and may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. Other conditions apply to all offers. ©2020 AT&T Intellectual Property. AT&T and the Globe logo are registered trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property. All other marksare the property of their respective owners.