Hogg’s Blog

After they left Fisher Park yesterday, a large contingent of Greensboro Police crossed the tracks and set up shop across the street from my house in the Aycock Neighborhood.

I walked over to talk with them as a couple of neighbors were driving by on their way home.  The common resolute question from both after seeing so many police cars and personnel on their street was, “what has happened now…?”.  I assured them that the police were just here to hand out fliers door-to-door and let the public know they were as concerned as anyone that the perps who killed Mike Ali were still at large.

I had a short conversation with Lt. Brian James and told him of the neighborhood’s ongoing concern that we had not received any information about the status of the “Castle” murder back in September.  James assured me that investigators had some solid leads but building such a case takes time.

His response was good enough to assuage my concerns, but it might have been a good idea for the police to have included just that tidbit of information in the “Stop the Violence” flyer they were handing out in surrounding neigborhoods, which included descriptions of the Red Mike suspects.

Yes! Weekly’s editor Brian Clarey focuses an editorial this week on the successful passage of the $20M Parks & Recreation bond.

Sporting the breathless headline, “Greensboro gets fooled“,  the text of the editorial shows that the title is indeed true; but not in the way intended. Greensboro is actually getting fooled into thinking that Clarey might have a clue on this subject.  In the process, the editorial does a disservice to the reputation of Greensboro’s  Parks & Recreation Commission, of which I am past-chair and still serve.

Clarey states: “…the P&R Commission saw fit to earmark $12 million of the $20 million for a natatorium.”

No we didn’t.  The bond had nothing to do with us.

Truth is, the City Council pretty much told us to “shove it” and decided all by themselves to put a P&R bond up for voters this year instead of 2010 as we had planned.  In addition, once we were apprised and surprised that the bond would be forthcoming, we wanted our carefully planned list of priorities to populate the  bond.  None of it included anything about a “natatorium”.

It was Councilman Mike Barber, not the P&R Commission (or Department), who championed the idea of including the, and this might be important, $10.2M, (not $12M) swim center as a part of the ballot.  A majority of Council agreed… and here we are.

Wake the hell up here, Brian.  All I was trying to do was make sure that the few priorities the P&R Commission had left on the bond’s wish list had a fighting chance of getting passed when I suggested that the swim community might want to consider a quiet campaign.

Editing note:  It’s 6:45p right now and I’ve got to go somewhere.  Check back later… I have much more to say about Brian’s B.S. charge of “trickery”.

I’m getting credible reports that the Sunday morning tragedy at Red Mike Grocery in Fisher Park did not include robbery of the business.  No one has mentioned that Mike’s death was the result of anything other than murder, however.

Another source, namely the police-connected Troublemaker, says the police have suspect(s) in their sights and that an arrest is imminent.  Many people are hoping that Ben is right about that.

Being in the old window restoration business, I have received several calls lately from Fisher Parker’s wanting to add security devices to their windows in the form of better locks and substantial storm windows.

I’m glad for the business but pissed about the reason.

Our little girl had an extraordinary showing during halftime at Friday night’s homecoming game at Grimsley High School.

She was up against 12 of her school’s most beautiful and popular girls for the title of Homecoming Queen.  We were delighted when it was announced that the student body voted her first runner-up.  Josie was quite the item as she circled Grimsley’s running track in a to-die-for 1966 Mustang.

Josie has adopted for herself the title of “Homecoming Princess”.  I like that and love her.  Photos are upcoming.

Over at Triad Watch, Keith has been looking over the 3rd quarter campaign report for the Geo. C. Simpkins PAC and found a curious donation: Page 3 of the report shows that Action Greensboro gave the PAC $5,000.

Keith posits that such a donation by a non-profit is possibly illegal due to their 501c(3) status.  Over at Guarino’s blog, long-time PAC detractor, Dr. Joe asks several questions, “…Does not this give the appearance of a quid pro quo?  Fourth, this contribution reinforces the Melderec con Simkins machine aspect of our local government.  In fact, it animates it.”

Seeing large donations on the report from NC Senator-elect Don Vaughan and newly-re-elected County Commish Paul Gibson is no shock.  Such donations are common practice among Simkins-endorsed candidates and are used to pay for mailers and other activities to help get the word out regarding endorsements.  So, yes, “quid pro quo” has long been the status quo for the PAC and its endorsees and they make no secret of it.

But why such a large donation from Action Greensboro?  They weren’t running for anything.  Was it to help get the referenda passed?

I’d like to hear an explanation.

Update 9:10p - Nothing mew to report in nearly 10hrs.  Do the Greensboro police completely underestimate the power of information in the hands of citizens?  I think they do.

Update 12:01p - A friend who works in the ER at Moses Cone Hospital just called and said Mike is dead.  He suffered two gunshots: one in the arm and another in the head.  The friend surmised that the assailant was apparently using hollow point bullets because the head shot killed Mike instantly.  N&R confirms and provides other details including Mike’s given name: Muhammad “Mike” Ali.

Update: 12:25p - The police are saying there are two suspects.  Both are “clean shaven black males” 25 - 30 years old.  One was seen wearing a grey shirt and ‘hoodie’, the other was wearing an Oakland Raiders jacket all black clothing.  They are still at large.

*************************

Red Mike Grocery in Fisher Park is the scene of some disturbing police activity this morning.

A couple of Fisher Park neighbors report they heard “four or five shots” around 9:20a today.  The police were quickly on the scene just as parishioners were arriving for service at First Presbyterian Church across the street from the convenience store next to Fisher’s Bar (map).  The police are urging everyone to stay in their houses until further notice.

Mike, one of the owners of Red Mike Grocery at Elm St. and Fisher Avenue, was taken away on a stretcher.  One of the neighbors who saw Mike being wheeled out said he looked to be shot up pretty bad.

My family shops at Red Mike several times a week and know Mike and his partner Red to be nice guys.  We are hoping for the best.

The neighborhoods of Aycock and Fisher Park are on high alert as police and their dogs are searching for the shooter.  The two neighborhoods’ listservs are linked and quite active.

A Fox 8 news truck pulled up as I was leaving the scene around 10:30.

The location of the shooting is just blocks from the murder scene that rocked both neighborhoods nearly two months ago.  Our police department has not given any indication if they are still pursuing that case or anything else about it.  Hopefully they will keep the public better informed on this incident and their investigative progress.

I’m afraid that Ben is going to bust a nut unless I link to his latest on the Wray Fray, discussions regarding the city’s possible $750k EEOC settlement and other things…

There are some serious issues swirling, and several local media outlets have chosen to ignore them so far.  But I don’t think they’ll be able to continue that for long.

There is talk about storming the next City Council meeting.  That ought to get a little press.

The strategy of silence I mentioned a couple of days ago that was implemented to get the P&R bond passed, despite the presence of the $12M - now we can say it - natatorium, received some N&R ink this morning.

P&R Director Bonnie Kuester confirmed the simple reasoning for the strategy when she told reporter Amanda Lehmert “…in her 40 years with the department, a parks and recreation bond referendum has never failed.”

During a phone call with Director Kuester yesterday, I told her that I was going to push hard to get my pet project, War Memorial Stadium, under the P&R umbrella during the next P&R bond referendum.  That stadium is one of the oldest P&R facilities and it deserves the same silent treatment as that afforded to what will now be one the department’s newest.

Another way to bolster War Memorial’s chances at the polls in the future might be to simply refer to it as “The Stadium”.  Voters don’t seem very interested in alloting money to any facility they own containing the words “War Memorial”.

Brother Keith from Kentucky just called to discuss the election and he made a point about polling data that I’ve not heard discussed. (perhaps someone can correct me on this)

From our understanding, most pollsters do their thing via telephone pulling names from a directory of some sort.  Cell phones are not listed in phone books.

Neither brother nor I know of anyone under the age of 30 who owns a directory listed land line.  Don’t the polling numbers get seriously skewed when you consider the demographic of those of us dinosaurs who still have a land line?

As Jinni and I left Aycock Middle School a bit ago after casting our ballots, I said to her that I wonder what it’s like for a black person to cast a ballot for a black man for president who might actually win.

So, as I went to my car, I noticed the black woman who had just voted in front of me getting into her car… she was wearing an Obama baseball cap… I figured that made her a pretty safe bet to get a response.

“Excuse me, ma’am”, I said, “but, may I ask you a something?”  “Sure you can”, said the lady.  I dove right in, “I really don’t have any way to relate to what you just did in there, so could you tell me something:  What’s it like, as a black woman, voting for the first time for a black presidential candidate that could very well win this thing?”

Obviously kind of surprised that a white guy off the street would ask such a thing, she looked me straight in the eye and said, “I’ll tell you this, it’s historic.  I feel I am part of history in the making”  Then I noticed her eyes well up a bit as she continued, “I’m seventy three years old and honestly never thought I’d live to see it.”