Ogi Overman, in a column to his new weekly paper The Greater Greensboro Observer (no website), opines that the N&R might be plotting to put the Greensboro Generals hockey team out of business.  He comes to his conclusion by, "(p)utting seemingly unrelated facts together, when taken as a whole, have the earmarks of a conspiracy."

He cites the "daily newspaper"s lack of coverage, unflattering stories and pictures, and the N&R's position that the City should get out of the hockey business as prime contributors to the team's fall from favor with potential fans.  Overman gives possible reasons for the paper's "bias against the Generals"... some believable... some questionable.

•  they have a vendetta against coliseum director Matt Brown... or
• "they simply don't care much for hockey"... or
• "they feel that intensely negative coverage sells more papers"... or
• "in a tight economy, it's not worth it to send a reporter to each home game"... or

or..."suppose that possibly, just possibly, when the coliseum pared down their ad budget and sliced a portion that in years past has gone to the N&R, the paper decided to play a little tit for tat and slice their coverage budget..."

"...if (that) is the case, the N&R has crossed the boundary of journalistic propriety that no daily newspaper should EVER cross!  It has let sales dictate an editorial position, a clear violation of everything sacrosanct in the world of journalistic ethics."

Two questions: 1) Is it possible that Ogi knows something to base this charge upon?  2) Why did he feel the need to ascribe journalistic propriety boundaries only to daily newspapers?

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In other GGO news, yours truly is heavily quoted in an article by Sam Heib entitled "Bidding Goodbye to Bats, Hello to Undetermined Preservation" about the future of War Memorial Stadium after the Bats leave at the end of this baseball season.  Apparently I continue to be the "go to guy" for WMS snippets and was interviewed by Bill Haas for a similar piece that is coming out in the N&R tomorrow.

The article points out the options and potential renovation/operating costs that Greensboro's taxpayers will be faced with once the 76 year-old, 6000-seat poorly-maintained stadium is relegated to a retirement consisting of playing host to amateur baseball crowds that will, by all accounts, number in the scores.

The cover story and picture features Ed Cone's favorite specialty author, Tristan Taormino who is cumming, again, to Greensboro. 

Pick up a copy of the GGO  if you can find one, I get mine at Bessemer Curb Market.  I asked Heib when he called last week if the paper was going to have a web presence.  He indicated it could be another couple of months but there are plans for it.

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I have been following the contoversy surrounding the "High Point Choice Plan" that was adopted by the Guilford County Board of Education with great interest.  One of my main concerns surrounds the implications that the plan might have for other clusters of Guilford County Schools that share similar racial/family income/space available disparities as exist at High Point Central, Andrews and Southwest High Schools.

Superintendent Grier, in a February 15th communication to a member of the group of parents who is opposed to the High Point plan stated*, "... the High Point plan is a pilot effort that could be utilized by the Board in years to come if they so desire."  So clearly this should cause all Guilford County parents to pay close attention to what is going on.   (*username/password required for Yahoo Groups- here, use mine. radiolurker/123456)

My take is that the School Board should have looked at creating "magnets" of the schools that actually need "magnetizing".  Andrews and Central together have over 500 seats available and Southwest is over-crowded so building additional classrooms at S.W. would make little fiscal sense to Guilford County's taxpayers. The way to fill those seats would be to make them so desirable that even I, in Greensboro, would seriously consider some "friendly busing" of my children to High Point.  This option may have been considered and dismissed as unworkable, I don't know.

One of the things that I kept reading in newspaper accounts of the ongoing war of words between opponents and proponents of the plan is that one of the School Board members chose to send his child to a private school.  It was not until I read this email from parent Ian Burton to board member Garry Burnett in the discussion group did I know who they were talking about:

 Garry,

In the High Point Enterprise yesterday, you quoted Richard Kahlenberg from his book "All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools through Public School Choice".

Since you're familiar with the book, I'm sure you agree with what he says in Chapter 1, page 2. "This book strives to hold the proposal to a standard rarely met in the era of racial desegregation: that supporters of integration should be willing to send their own children to the integrated schools they advocate."

I can only believe that this means you have already withdrawn your child from Greensboro Day School and that you are anxiously awaiting your child's ability to play the lottery in the High Point plan....

The parent (and the quote from the book) make good points... but there are many factors involved in a school choice decision and I don't pretend to know Burnett's mind nor motications.

Last week the group was instrumental in blocking funding for building improvements that need to be made in order to implement the plan by successfully lobbying the County Commissioners.  They are now taking their case to the Federal level in an attempt to block the Magnet School Assistance Proposal that has been submitted to the Department of Education.  The money from this proposal is critical to the plan's implementation.

Anyway, I'm going to continue following this flap.  The school board made what they believed was the best decision for all of Guilford County.  This decision has galvanized a group of mostly Southwest parents and students into a force that will have to be reckoned with.  

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