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Sunday Roundup
posted at 2007-12-09 21:10 | Last modified 2007-12-09 21:23
Oh, Brother…
It’s been a rough week for Randy Parton, brother of the Nashville Diva. First, Roanoke Rapids officials divulged results of an investigation showing Parton’s been living it up on taxpayers’ dollars – buying booze and gambling in Vegas, courtesy of a more-than-generous economic development deal. The AP has more here.
Then Thursday night, Parton was banned from the theater that bears his name after city officials accused him of being drunk and spouting profanities backstage. The N&O’s Jerry Allegood and Matt Ehlers report Parton’s manager is hoping things can be patched up. Roanoke Rapids Mayor Drewery Beale sounds somewhat less optimistic.
Meantime, Randy Parton spoke out about the allegations to the Roanoke Daily Herald here. And Fayetteville’s John Ramsey had this profile yesterday of Rick Reno, the Fayetteville venue manager who’s been brought on board in Roanoke Rapids to whip the Parton theater into fiscal shape.
Black gets an extension
Char-O’s David Ingram reports former House Speaker Jim Black has asked for and received a seven month extension on the 1M dollar fine he owes the feds. Attorneys for Black say he was planning to sell a parcel of land to raise the money, but he can’t get a fair bid because everyone knows he has to sell to pay his fine. (Even assuming that’s true, you still have to wonder why that would change over the next seven months.) Black’s nemesis Joe Sinsheimer weighs in, too. The story’s here.
Meck Sheriff
It's a story that started out weird and keeps getting weirder by the day. If you haven’t been following it, former Sheriff Jim Pendergraph is stepping down to take a job with Homeland Security. It’s up to the local Dems to pick a replacement, and so far, it hasn’t been pretty.
Thursday night’s caucus vote came down to two candidates: party-backed acting sheriff and long-time deputy Chip Bailey, and attorney and l4-year force veteran Nick Mackey. Mackey resigned from the force in ’03 after he was accused of falsifying his timesheets, though he we went to court against the Charlotte Observer to keep the details of his departure sealed in his personnel files. Mackey won.
In the latest twist, the Char-O’s Jim Morrill says a local Dem activist is filing a protest against the Mackey election. WCNC’s Natalie Dick says Meck commissioners are threatening to buck the law and refuse to back the party’s recommendation.
Meantime, the Char-O has been accused of bias for its investigation into Mackey’s background. Editor Rick Thames had this defense today of the paper’s coverage of both candidates.
Also in Charlotte
The Observer’s Liz Chandler and Ted Mellnik had an excellent story this morning on one of the side effects of the mortgage meltdown – entire neighborhoods falling into blight and crime in the new suburbs north of Charlotte. From the story:
"While the crime rate citywide held steady, the rate in the heart of Charlotte's 10 highest-foreclosure areas rose 33 percent between 2003 and 2006, an Observer analysis found. All of them are suburban areas filled with starter-home subdivisions. They were built since 1997 with homes valued at $150,000 or less...
Windy Ridge is 5 years old, but already 81 of its 132 homes have lapsed into foreclosure. Dozens stand boarded up or vacant, with windows smashed and doors kicked in..."
And elsewhere...
- Winston-Salem's Paul O’Connor looks at why all five top gubernatorial candidates came out against allowing illegal immigrants access to community colleges.
- The N&O’s Rob Christensen and Jonathan Cox try to size up the toll John Edwards’ wealth may be taking on his campaign as the champion of the little guy.
- The AP reports former Congressman Charles Taylor won’t seek a rematch against Heath Shuler in 2008.
- But others out west are lining up to run for office. Asheville’s Jordan Schrader has a rundown here.
- And WSJ's Bertrand Gutierrez reports DOT board member Nancy Dunn thinks WS and other urban areas are getting a raw deal from state transportation planners.
Google: Good for reptiles, too.
During an afternoon spent raking bushels of leaves, I ran across a tiny pink-brown snake under the leaf cover in our wooded backyard.
I'm not one to kill a snake on sight - I have a lot of respect for them, and actually kind of like them - but with dogs out there, I couldn't set him free if he was a baby copperhead or some other venomous type. So I got him into a bucket and hustled inside to my laptop to look him up.
Turns out he's a totally harmless "worm snake" (he did actually look a lot like a nightcrawler). When I was a kid, my folks would have killed a snake like that, just in case, and understandably so. But I wonder how many snakes are spared these days because it's so easy to get instant info and images online.
Anyway, the little snake's been returned to his backyard domain, where I hope he'll eat lots of bugs and nasties. He's even got a name now: Google.
Comments? Drop me a line.
