Updated: 2/15/2006; 7:08:49 AM.

   Hogg's Blog

            David Hoggard's take on local politics and life in general from Greensboro, NC
        

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Update: More coverage of last night's Commissioner meeting here (Hieb) and here (Capo) but not here (N&R - even though Mark Binker's excellent account is the B section headline)

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I just returned from the County Commissioner meeting...  three words for you... 

O H   M Y   G O D.

In the end, most everyone got what they were seeking:  Daycares go to 15 charges per site, Sheriff Barnes gets to spend some money earned by county prisoners on things that have nothing to do with their welfare, GTCC ($47M) and Guilford County Parks & Rec ($20M) will get to pitch their respective cases to the voters for bond funding in November.  But... O H  M Y  G O D  it was messy.

The melay started because Commissioner Linda Shaw finger-fumbled and recorded a vote against a Sheriff Barnes funding request that was obviously a mistake... she admitted as much and expressed her wish to take it back... but nooo.  Despite the fact that they have allowed such corrections in every other case of such an electronic voting mis-cast I have ever witnessed, and there have been many, some on the Board would not relent and let the meeting move forward.

The parliamentary wrangling that ensued would make Mr. Roberts of Rules fame twirl in his grave faster than Commissioner Mike Barber can say "move the question". 

Vice-chairwoman Carolyn Coleman was running the meeting due to Chairman Bob Landreth's absence - she was not up for the job.  Like a bunch of 2nd graders who sense when they are assigned a weak substitute teacher... the place fell absolutely apart under her non-existent gavel wielding.

At one point I left the chamber and saw my girl Mary Rakestraw in the lobby.  She had apparently decided to sit the whole Sheriff Barnes thing out.  Mary was watching the televised spectacle in an open-mouthed stupor. "Unbelievable", she said while watching her colleagues expend wasted words making assinign points of order of no consequence aimed at no one in particular.  I congratulated her on her upcoming graduation from such mind-numbing grammer school antics.

I left right after an unholy alliance was forged between arch-enemies.  Commissioners Yow (t-shirt-er) and Alston (t-shirt-ee) joined forces to be the lone votes against placing the $20M Parks & Rec bond before the voters.  Both of them vowed to work their respective butts off to defeat the P&R bond in November because the bond proposals were not yet near specific enough to suit their sense of the way largess should be distributed.  Capo and another guy sporting "Stop FTAA" buttons were the only two speakers against the P&R bond.

During the debate on the P&R bond, it felt to everyone watching like the vote was going to go against placing it before the voters.  Commissioner Barber, who has worked mightily to get it passed, motioned for me to meet him in the lobby.  He asked how I thought Rakestraw was going to vote on the issue.  I told him I wasn't sure, but would try to find out through eye contact and hand signals.

After much signalling from my seat in the audience I finally got my silent question to be understood by Mary, she gave a thumbs up - I caught Mike's eye and gave the same signal.  He smiled and relaxed a bit.  People behind me must have thought I was swatting a bothersome insect.

The whole night was very entertaining and for the most part petty and disgusting.  I don't think those are three adjectives most of the nation would use to describe a meeting of their elected leaders, but... here in Guilford County, NC we don't just like it... we vote for it.


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I just returned from a TV interview with WFMY's Frank Mickens.  Frank called this morning because he is working on a piece for tonight's 6:00 news about the proposed $20M Guilford County Parks & Rec bond package. 

He knew that we, here in Aycock, have a plan in place for the $300,000 that would be earmarked for a shared use facility at Aycock Middle if the bond is placed before, and subsequently approved by, the voters.  He wanted to get the story filed in advance of tonight's public hearing on the matter before the Board of Commissioners.

Confirming the fact that local media types follow local weblogs, Frank said, "Your blog has a cult following in our newsroom... good stuff".  I thanked him and invited him to comment on posts of interest and to start a blog of his own.

Frank also offered that he doesn't "lift" anything from these pages saying, "...it would be unethical".  I told him that he might as well, others do.  I invited him to lift away, WFMY-TV has my permission, just give a little credit where credit is due.  We'll see.


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Am I valuable to local media?  Actually I haven't thought about before, but maybe I am.

I just read an article from the Online Journal Review that Cone comments on and linked to: Media Discover Promotional Potential of Blogoshere.  The gist of the piece reveals that national newspapers and other sources are receiving unprecedented online traffic from weblogs.  Some of the outlets are actually being nice to bloggers and communicating with them.

Although the article is talking in more national terms, local bloggers here in Guilford County and the surrounding region are driving eyeballs to the traditional media.  Everytime a reader of this blog clicks on a story from the N&R, Rhino, WFMYGGO (someday, maybe) or others, that outlet receives an online visitor.  If the site I have linked to is worth it's salt... it offers advertising to the folks who visit them and... the cost to the advertiser on the linked site is based on how many readers pass through, soooo....

Let's say I get 200 hits per day, and one half of them click on a story I link to at WXII-TV.  When my reader arrives, their advertisers get the opportunity to sell to 100 people they wouldn't have otherwise reached. 

So yes, even local blogs have value to local media.  How much?  Hard to say.  But I can promise you that the number of hits local online media sources currently receives from this blog is exponentially higher than is was, say... a year ago this past Tuesday.  Is that number going to get smaller?  I doubt it.

Happy belated one-year anniversary HoggsBlog.  I wasn't looking for a mistress, but boy-howdy... I got me one.


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Update:  Date is set - Saturday August 28th - time and place being confirmed by Cone - keep the whole day open.

OK, let's do this thing.

All of you lurkers out there who are in reality closet blogger wannabes... unite!  Politicos, media types, regular folks who regularly scream at the TV and newspapers when they hear something they disagree with, and others who just keep asking, "what's this blog thing all about and how difficult can it be if even Hoggard can figure it out?", we're planning an information and idea exchange throw down.

First step: Send an email (dhoggard@triad.rr.com) or leave a comment here expressing your interest in attending a mini conference on blogging here in Greensboro.  At least we can start gauging interest in such an event.

Attendance will be limited to the first 200 who respond.  Hell, make that 400.


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© Copyright 2006 David Hoggard.
 
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