There are going to be some interesting contests for the upcoming elections for Guilford County Board of Commissioners and we are probably in for a some real fireworks in some of the races.  Today the N&R's Alex Wayne offered up a pretty good synopsis of what we might have in store (not posted of course).  Here is what I have found so far about District 4, I'll get into District 7 and perhaps at-large tomorrow.

Because Chairman Bob Landreth (D) is probably not going to run again, the Republican's see an opportunity to gain a seat in that District 4.  There will be a primary in this one between Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Marcus Kindley and long time Republican politico Carl Allen.  I have not yet heard who the Democrats will be forwarding as a candidate in that race

Allen is the first out of the shoot with a website named www.nomoreclowns.com that is replete with an obnoxious and unavoidable .mp3 of Sondheim's Send In The Clowns, (kind of a strange selection as it suggests the opposite of the website's name).  Hopefully they will get away from the cutsie stuff and name the site carlallen.com or something professional that the voters of Guilford County will take seriously.  I am sure that more and better content will be forthcoming.

Although Marcus Kindley does have a local, weekly radio show, he has no web presence that I can find.  A quick Google search does offer some background however.

In early 2002 he and the Guilford GOP were called on the carpet by the media (Indy, AP, N&O) for placing a link to a now-defunct anti-Islam website on the local GOP website.  Kindley apologized but never took any responsibility for the gaff.

An Ed Cone blog entry from April '03 pops up on the search and is critical of Kindley for not denouncing Commissioner Billy Yow's NAACP comments. (a pattern of racial bias is emerging IMHO)

I am no fan of Kindley's either and said so during a recent run-in that I had wih him during my campaign for City Council.

Guilford County is long over-due for some elected leadership by and for grown-ups.  I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for some maturity and will report it when I find it.

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The Westerwood Neighborhood Association went through a nasty fight over historic district status in 2002 (the City Council voted it down).  Accusations of wrongdoing were launched by neighbors on both sides of the issue and a once cohesive neighborhood found itself at war with itself.

One of the strangest episodes of the whole affair was provided by outspoken neighbor Ben Hawkins on Mendenhall Street.  Because he was under the mistaken impression that he would not be able to paint his house purple under historic district guidelines, he got his paintbrush and did just that... and topped it off with pink trim.  He has since added several things to his front yard including several toilets, an outhouse and other "yard art" (none of which would be 'verboten' under the guidelines, BTW).

One of the toilets was dedicated to me because of my stance on the issue during the recent City Council race, so I checked on Ben's place from time to time when driving through.  I noticed that right before Christmas he had removed his 'yard art'.

I have been following a discussion group on the subject that has been very amusing, bitter and contentious.  Today I noticed what was billed as a post from Hawkins about the removal saying in part, "I finally learned the error of my ways and decided to take down all my lawn "art" for the sake of restoring harmony to the neighborhood. Please don't associate myself with any of the negatives views on Westerwood. It is a fine place in which to live."

Problem is, Ben didn't write the post and folks are upset about the deception by the ghost writer.  "No historic" activist Ken Mayo demonstrates that the Westerwood issue may have died down in the public eye but it is a long way from over.  Ken writes, "What else is new - the proponents have lied and deceived throughout this "process" and it appears that they continue to do so."

That community needs to heal.  Someone from the City should bring everyone involved into a locked room and get all of the hatchets buried.

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Happy New Year!

Got back from Kentucky late on Sunday.  Dorothy is right, "there's no place like home" and that applies to both NC and KY.  It was great to see everyone but the trip is arduous.  Nine hours up, no two nights in the same bed, more hours of travel between families. 

Itinerary included: Bowling Green for Jinni's family, up to Louisville at brother Keith's place for my crew, then down to Hodgenville to check out Dad's new truck and make sure that my boyhood home was still intact, back down to Bowling Green for New Year's and paintball at "the cabin" (more later on this) then back to Greensboro.

Next year, we are going to figure out how to bring everyone here or some other neutral ground.  We'll pitch tents if we need to but with the current weather everyone could just pile in to my big ol treehouse in the back yard.

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