(Or is it "its"?... anyway)  Councilman Phillips asks for some input on the city's budget in a flat year...

"If you don't want a tax increase we've got to cut somewhere. Let me hear your ideas."

He provides links to all the materials you need to be a back seat council person.  Have at it.

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Update:  Although I don't like the tone of the first comment Tom received, I do think the suggestion is a good place to start the discussions.  Cut all City budgets by 5%.  I'll add an additional step: Adopt 'zero based' budgeting for '06.

Let the "But, what about...." begin.

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During an appointment with her oncologist last week, Jinni told the doctor of a change in the tumor in her breast.  She felt (and I helped) that the tumor was changing somehow, and as a matter of fact, we could detect more than one.

The oncologist felt her up (ok JW, he examined her - so much for medical humor) for himself and said he didn't know what was going on but her surgeon would deal with it when he went in to cut it all out sometime in April.  Not satisfied with that response at all, Jinni said 'screw that' and called her surgeon for an appointment.  That appointment was today. 

After a quick examination, the surgeon was concerned enough to take an ultrasound to see what was going on.  He quickly determined that she was right about the multiple masses, but the new ones were benign cysts (actually fluid filled sacks) and not additional cancer tumors.  He further determined through the ultrasound, that the original cancer has actually shrunk quite a bit because of the chemo she has been enduring.

I just left her because she was headed down to get the cysts aspirated and they usually kick me out of such proceedures.  They will run some tests on the fluid extracted to see exactly what is happening.  As I was leaving, the surgeon said she did the right thing by coming in today.

Lesson:  Trust no one but yourself to do what needs to be done.

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This past Saturday, the N&R pulled an inadvertant release of a draft article on the City Council's reactions to County Commissioner Skip Alston's charges of racism within the city staff.  They finally ran Matt William's piece today.

John Robinson explains what happened, why they pulled it and why they are staying with the story... he also has received correspondence suggesting that the matter be dropped...

"Here's why we haven't: Accountability for your statements, particularly when you're accusing people of reprehensible behavior, is vital for anyone, especially elected officials."

Bravo. 

Being one of probably two people who read the original on-line draft of the article on Saturday, I can tell you the only change I noticed in the copy was the number of days Alston was given to respond.  Which, of course, he still refuses to do.  Another notable difference was the addition of Mayor ProTem Johnson's interestingly put no-comment-comment...

 "The more you flame negativity, the worse it gets," Johnson said. "I don't really have an opinion on it."

As I wrote on Saturday, the reported responses from our City Council were split in two, along racial lines...

• White folks Perkins, Gatton, Phillips, and Holliday's reactions can be best summarized as, 'That's just Skip, he's crying wolf again.'
• Black folks Burroughs-White, Johnson and Bellamy-Small reactions can best be summarized as, 'We don't want to talk about it.'

 My take from Saturday still stands... 

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This morning's N&R carries a full page ad from Dell Computers announcing they are breaking ground for their new manufacturing facility today over in Forsyth County...

"Our new facility is expected to open in fall 2005.  Thank you to the organizations and companies that have helped us expand our horizons into North Carolina..."

The ad goes on to list a great number of prominent organizations and companies that 'helped them expand their horizons' into our great state.  There is not one mention of the 'organization' that really made it happen; the taxpayers of North Carolina.

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