The third meeting of the task force planning the future of War Memorial Stadium was last week and from everything we have heard so far - the old ballpark's seating structure is pretty much shot and will probably have to be demolished.

According to a summary assessment from concrete guru Bob Kennerly of Sutton-Kennerly & Associates... "The concrete riser system supporting stadium seating has deteriorated to a degree where its repair will be more costly (by a facto of 1.5 to 2 times more expensive) than a demolition and replacement in kind."

So, the question will be not if large parts of the stadium will be demoished and (perhaps) rebuilt, but how much of the old original structure will have to remain in order for it to remain listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.  We will likely get answers to that question during our next meeting on November 10th when we meet with a historic properties consultant.

My informed guess is that this consultant will point out that WMS's National Registry nomination was based on the historical and architectural significance of the entire structure, not merely the stadium's distinctive facade.  Greensboro could soon be faced with the decision of either to restore the stadium in its current form at an exhorbitant price... or, tear it down and rebuild a much lower capacity stadium which would not meet the Secretary of the Interior's guidelines for retaining the 1926 structure's listing on the National Registry.  It will be an interesting meeting.

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From Commissioner Skip Alston in today's Carolina Peacemaker...

"...I'm going to file a complaint and get my lawyer to sue the News and Record. Enough is enough. It's one thing to go after me personally, but to make up stories just to make me look bad, I'm not going to tolerate it anymore..."

He goes on to say that Loraine Ahearn's October 2nd column entitled "What if your landlord heads the NAACP" was timed to affect the outcome of the the NC NAACP presidential election held in Greensboro later that week.  But the article didn't start off that way. 

Even though the Peacemaker story's headline is "St. James Homes: Is complex worth saving?", it never answers that question.  But it does show that problems at the troubled low-income housing complex are manifold...

"Elaine McKinnon of 1234-C is very frustrated. She thought she was taking a relaxing bubble bath with her scented candles, but it soon became a nightmare. She heard a noise much like a gurgle before she realized that her neighbor's toilet was backing up through her drain...."

It looks like this whole thing ain't over... not by a long shot.  But as for the problems at St. James and any pending lawsuit, I do think the Commissioner doth protest too much.

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