Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 31, 2010
Some folks say Preachers should not be involved in Politics. Damn they don’t know their history. They don’t know the role that the church used to play. If the church had not gotten so laid back and I wonder would we have the problems we face today in our communities. (Click on picture to view video)
Posted in Faith-Based Pimps, From the Publisher, Rev. Al Sharpton | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 30, 2010
U.S. Representative G. K. Butterfield
First District of North Carolina
For Release: Immediate
Date: May 28, 2010
Contact: Ken Willis
Phone: (202) 225-3101
Butterfield to Visit Heritage Hospital
Tarboro, N.C. – Congressman G. K. Butterfield will meet with Heritage Hospital officials and tour its new outpatient oncology office on Friday, June 4.
Butterfield will meet with Heritage Hospital Administrator Wick Baker at 8:30 a.m. to discuss health care issues. The 30-minute meeting will be followed by a tour.
Heritage Hospital is a full-service, 117-bed acute care facility where residents of Tarboro, Edgecombe county and surrounding communities receive a wide range of health services.
In 1998, Heritage joined University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina. This partnership has enhanced the hospital’s range of services and improved the quality of care. The hospital provides more than 20 specialties. In addition to acute care, services include rehabilitation, oncology and outpatient clinics.
WHAT: Butterfield to tour Heritage Hospital and meet with staff
WHEN: Friday, June 4, 8:30 – 9:45 a.m.
WHERE: Heritage Hospital, 111 Hospital Drive, Tarboro, N.C.
See related:
Posted in Congressman G. K. Butterfield | 6 Comments »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 30, 2010
U.S. Representative G. K. Butterfield
First District of North Carolina
|
Contact: Ken Willis |
Butterfield Applauds U.S. Marshal from Nash County
Washington, D.C. – Congressman G. K. Butterfield today applauded the U.S. Senate confirmation of a Nash County Lieutenant Sheriff as a U.S. Marshal.
In February, President Barack Obama nominated five U.S. Marshals, including Scott Parker from the Nash County, N.C. Sheriff’s Office. Today, Parker was among those to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
"Scott Parker has a long and outstanding record in law enforcement,” Butterfield said. “I know he will bring the same passion and commitment to this new challenge, and I know the entire community is proud of him.”
Butterfield said that he was also pleased that Parker, an African American, would also provide some needed diversity.
Currently, Parker serves as the Narcotics Division Commander of the Nash County Sheriff’s Office, where he has risen to the rank of Lieutenant since joining in 1995. From 1989 to 1995, he was an Assistant Commander with the Roanoke Chowan Narcotics Task Force in Hertford County, North Carolina. Parker served with the Nashville, North Caolina Police Department from 1987 to 1989.
Butterfield said he had expressed his support for Parker to U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, who recommended Parker’s nomination.
Posted in Congressman G. K. Butterfield, Scott Parker U.S. Marshall | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 30, 2010
If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view the online version
Welcome to this week`s edition of SPINCycle.
Be sure to tune in to this week’s NC Spin when our panel will talk about the House consideration of the budget, the big shakeup at DHHS, and privatizing state services. This week’s panel includes former Attorney General and Secretary of State, Rufus Edmisten; Chris Fitzsimon, Director of NC Policy Watch; Becki Gray, columnist with Carolina Journal; John Hood, President of the John Locke Foundation and moderator Tom Campbell.
Tom Campbell`s Spin
The Senate’s proposal to borrow half a billion dollars is fiscally irresponsible. Borrowing money a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.
Heard on the Street
The Senate wants to do what?
The rumbling you hear is reaction to the Senate`s horrible idea of borrowing half a billion dollars to repair a few buildings and spend $260 million on engineering facilities at NC A&T and NC State. Am I missing something or are we in the midst of a financial crisis that necessitates cutting almost 800 million dollars from current state spending? And aren`t we projected to have a budget deficit next year that could amount to 3 billion (with a B) dollars? What in the world could possibly convince Senate leadership that now is the time to go out and borrow $500 million?
One of the problems with doing everything behind closed doors is that bad ideas are not exposed early on. Reaction has been extremely negative, except in the Senate. Even Republican Richard Stevens, normally a fiscally responsible legislator, is drinking the Kool-Aid. Treasurer Janet Cowell might have been too subtle for Senate leaders to grasp that she was telling them politely this was a bad idea.
Our state has agreed to allow debt service payments of no more than 4 percent of state spending. If we borrow the 450 million the Senate proposes, the amount will exceed 4.25 percent. Even if we don`t borrow more money the debt service will be at 3.99 percent by 2012.
For more discussion on this be sure to hear this week`s NC SPIN program and read My Spin, “Borrowing Money a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.”
“We`ve already cut the fat, this cuts the muscle” blues being sung frequently.
While the Senate has been rightfully criticized for putting the budget together behind closed doors there is only a degree of difference in the House. In subcommittee meetings the various chairs are openly reporting that they have been given instructions to do…. A small group in the House is also running the show, even though there is more openness than in the Senate.
One thing observers are picking up as the House goes through the budget discussions it is apparent there is a big pot of money not being brought into play. House leaders are hush-hush and there are two lines of thought about what is happening. One has the House proposing a full-scale invasion of the Lottery Trust Fund to provide enough to k-12 education so as not to have to fire any teachers.
Josh Ellis of State Government Radio reports that there is real concern that the feds will not come through with the additional $500 million needed to fund Medicaid beginning in January. If this patch doesn`t come through, there is an additional half a billion dollar hole to fill. Appropriations co-chair Mickey Michaux says the federal relief package is falling behind schedule. Governor Perdue went to Washington last week to encourage this and other federal relief funds.
The House Education package will differ from both the Governor and the Senate. Governor Perdue proposed cutting the education budget by $238 million. The Senate reduced spending by only $158 million but the House Education subcommittee approved cuts of $360 million. $108 million of those cuts would come from the University System. UNC Board of Governors chair Hannah Gage, from Wilmington, was the latest to sing the “we`ve already cut the fat, this cuts the muscle” blues.
By the way, the House education budget does eliminate the in-state tuition credit for out-of-state athletes. That`s about an 11 million savings. Now that Tony Rand has left the Senate it will be interesting to see if the House can prevail on this issue.
House budget leaders also say they want to restore some money to Health and Human Services programs that were cut by the Senate.
As we understand it, the timetable is for the House subcommittees to finish their work this week and have reports ready to go to the big Appropriations committee for a vote as early as Monday night. The full budget will be put on the floor early next week with the goal of final approval by Thursday.
Hear more talk on the budget on this week`s NC SPIN.
Slow down and make better laws
Governor Perdue has been lobbying the legislature to establish a “mobility fund” for transportation projects. Funding for the projects would come from increased fees for licenses and registrations. Not only has the proposal not gotten the legislative support Perdue had hoped for, it actually got unendorsed. Former new car dealer, Representative Nelson Cole (D-Reidsville) had signed on to be a lead co-sponsor of the mobility fund bill in the House. But then he read it and quickly removed his name from sponsorship. Cole admitted that he had signed on too quickly, before he read the bill, blaming his mistake on the rush to pass legislation in this short session. Mark Binker from the Greensboro News-Record reported the story on his Capital Beat blog.
Hey folks, there`s no fire here. Let`s take the time to read the fine print in all this legislation you`re passing. Not only is it embarrassing when we later discover stuff you didn`t know was in the bills but it is actually a bad way to run a state.
Boseman bill puts video poker under lottery
Retiring Senator Julia Boseman (D-New Hanover) has introduced legislation to legalize video poker machines, with licensing and taxation overseen by the North Carolina Education Lottery. The bill anticipates revenues amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Polls show GOP gains
Speaking of Boseman, the Democrat who is seeking to replace her, former UNC Wilmington Chancellor Jim Leutze, is trailing the GOP nominee, Thom Goolsby 55-37, according to a Survey USA poll. Democrats are saying this is because Goolsby has more name recognition. Say what? More name recognition than the man who was on UNC-TV for years and served for many years as chancellor of the region`s public university?
Down the road, in Senate District 10, there`s a battle brewing between former DA Dewey Hudson and Brent Jackson, a successful agribusiness leader. Jackson trails the longtime DA 44 to 36. Republicans think they stand a chance to capture this seat long held by Charlie Albertson.
We also heard this week that House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman is trailing his November opponent at this juncture by 8 points.
Senate race counting down
Last week it was former opponent Ken Lewis endorsing Elaine Marshall in the runoff election for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. Then Lewis took a job as Marshall`s campaign manager. This week, two of the other primary candidates, Susan Harris of Old Fort and Ann Worthy of Gastonia, threw their support to Cal Cunningham, along with former Senatorial Candidate Jim Neal of Chapel Hill.
Political pundits still tell us they think that Marshall will win the runoff handily but Election Day is 25 days away. Candidates are desperately trying to raise money so they can get on TV the final weeks of the campaign. Cunningham is calling media and about to place buys. So far, nothing from Marshall.
Fetzer: D`Annunzio “unfit for public office”
It isn`t often you see a state political party get involved in a political campaign but it is happening in the crazy 8th Congressional District. GOP Party Chair Tom Fetzer came out with guns blazing this week in an attempt to defeat Tea Party candidate Tim D`Annunzio. The machine gun promoting religious zealot uses unorthodox campaign tactics but he led the vote in the Republican primary on May 4th. The party is officially supporting former sportscaster Harold Johnson in his bid to run against first term Congressman Larry Kissell. Republicans really want to recapture this seat.
Tim, perhaps calling the government the “Antichrist” went a bit over the top. Ya think? Read the story from the News and Observer.
More SBOE investigations
More witnesses are being interrogated over plane flights for Governor Perdue, we are told. We wonder why none of the mainstream media have asked Perdue directly about whether there were additional flights not reported and, if so, what the explanation is for this additional revelation.
There are loud whispers that we will learn more about more contributions to Perdue and Basnight that were reimbursed by another person. The subject of this investigation by the State Board of Elections is a former state senator, we are told.
Where`s the story?
The News and Observer and WTVD-TV have been running front page stories about the liaison Jesse Helms had with the FBI while still a VP at competitor Capitol Broadcasting`s WRAL. I read the story twice to see where the problem was…..and I still can`t see it.
My dad was General Manager of WNCT-TV in Greenville during the late 50`s and early 1960`s. I remember his telling me he had been approached by the FBI and CIA about being “eyes and ears” for suspicious activities. I wouldn`t be the least surprised to find the Daniels family and the N&O had those same approaches. I remember well that when the Bay of Pigs invasion was under way my dad was in Washington for a State Department briefing, which was promptly cancelled and the city went on lock-down.
These were different times. Let`s focus on some real problems. Helms is still a lightning rod to many but there ain`t no story here.
Soles dealing to the end
Even as heis being forced out of office, Senator R.C. Soles is up to his old tricks, introducing legislation that would allow his old buddy and district DA Rex Gore to begin receiving his retirement package earlier than state law currently allows. Gore, you might remember, refused to participate in prosecuting his friend and tossed it to AG Roy Cooper, who didn`t share his reluctance.
A second bill would split the district of the District Attorney in Soles` district, a move which would cost more than a quarter million a year. Soles says it has grown too large for one DA and two are needed. The Charlotte Observer, in a stinging editorial criticizing the bills, says it is to guarantee that Democrats are in control, a move in Soles` best interests. Read the editorial.
By the way, Gore has since asked Soles to drop the legislation. Soles, trying to save some face from this bold attempt at payback partisanship, says he wants to see if any other DA`s might benefit from the legislation. If this bill passes, every legislative Democrat in North Carolina will read and see it on TV before November.
Broadband rights
When Time Warner Cable refused to install high-speed Internet service, especially in lower income sections of their city, the City of Wilson took action. Despite protests from Time Warner, Wilson`s leadership wired their city and will reap rewards from citizens having faster Internet access than found in cities like Raleigh but also in getting fees to pay off their investment, similar to municipal utilities like water and electricity.
As you might expect this angered AT&T and Time Warner so they had Senator David Hoyle, in one of his final acts, introduce S1209, cleverly titled “No Nonvoted Local Debt for Competing System.” This measure, clearly supported by the two large companies, would prohibit future cities from installing broadband or any service without having to take it to a vote of their residents.
Do you see the rich irony here? In the same week, our Senators (including Hoyle) proposed incurring $450 million in debt without a vote of the people by considering a bill which refuses to allow local governments to do the same thing. Another example of “do as I say, not as I do.”
Wait a minute. Aren`t the cable franchises granted by the cities? If they can approve a franchise for Time Warner they should be able to grant themselves one also, especially if the cable and/or phone companies are not doing their jobs in a timely manner.
The bill was scheduled for Senate Finance Committee approval this week and we understand the wheels were greased for quick passage…until the NC League of Municipalities and a coalition titled “Broadband for Everyone” pointed out exactly what this bill contained. The bill was pulled without hearing. If Tony Rand was still in the Senate we could have suggested the bill be sent to Senate Rules Committee. Nothing ever saw the light of day after going to Rand`s Rules committee.
More DHHS controversy
After last week`s glowing comments about DHHS and Secretary Lanier Cansler, I caught a fair amount of criticism from bloggers and others. During that interview Cansler told me about appointing John Tote from the Mental Health Association as new head of mental health.
Then the media started reporting the problems with unpaid withholding from Tote`s former employer. Why didn`t Cansler know this, people have rightly asked? All you had to do was Google to find out the story…it wasn`t hidden. We had another interview with Cansler this week. He told me that he knew about the withholding problem but had been led to believe it was a one or two month situation, not something that went on for six years. Clearly this was unacceptable and following our meeting Cansler met with Tote and told him he could not begin work.
Curiously, Tote was angry about the situation, saying nobody`s family should have to go through what his family had been put through. Give us a break, John. DHHS and Lanier Cansler didn`t create your problems. You, as chief executive, and your former employer did. You are not a victim.
Now it`s back to square one to find another leader for mental health. Count on Cansler to go outside the agency again.
In legislative hearings this week, Cansler repeated to lawmakers that in-home services was out of control and that big cuts could be made without endangering services to those who really needed them.
DHHS and especially mental health has huge problems. Perhaps larger problems than can be resolved. Cansler is making changes and we say give him a chance to see if they work.
For more interesting debate on this subject catch this week`s NC SPIN.
Until next week, watch out for the SPIN!
Claire Cox-Woodlief, Editor
Tom Campbell, Publisher
contactus@ncspin.com
www.ncblogger.com
www.ncspin.com
NC SPIN’s facebook page
Posted in NC Spin | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 30, 2010
Picture: Sunny and Ashley Osment
Ashley Osment, Sr. Attorney at UNC’s Center for Civil Rights and columnist for the Chapel Hill News, died in her sleep on Friday evening, May 28th. Since July 2007, Osment had been trying to hold off the inexorable progress of a rare type of ovarian cancer. She was determined to put her life over the cancer, so she could enjoy her daughter, Sunny, her job, and her family and friends as long as possible. She refused — to her last breath — to let the cancer control her life.
Osment grew up in Sylva, N.C., the daughter of Luther and Barbara Osment. Rev. Osment was the Director of Baptist Missions in Western North Carolina. Barbara Osment, a music teacher, taught hundreds of mountain kids, including her own, to love and play mountain music. Ashley was in the middle of the Osments’ five children–Tim and Jane were slightly older, and Joe and Matt were slightly younger. Her brothers and she played basketball all the time, and Ashley was a high scoring guard on her school’s basketball team with a sweet jumper and aggressive drive. Toward the end of her high school junior year, she wrote an essay called "No Better Gift" about the history of mountain music, which won a year’s scholarship to Western Carolina. She skipped her senior year, parked cars at a Highlands N.C. restaurant, and bought three acres of beautiful land in the mountains about 8 miles south of Highlands. With the help of her grandfather and many friends, she built a cabin on her own land, a magical place she treasured and shared with her many friends and family. After her freshman year at Western Carolina, she caught a ride to Chapel Hill and it became her home for her rest of her life.
Osment was a student activist and history major at UNC. She helped coordinate solidarity educational actions with indigenous liberation movements in Central America and Iran. After graduating from Carolina in 1987, she worked in the Washington, D.C. office for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She tried to educate congressional staff members about the negative aspects of the Reagan-Bush policies in Latin America. In 1990 she returned to Chapel Hill to resume her studies in history. But in February 1991, Bob Sheldon, owner of Internationalist Books on Rosemary Street, was murdered and Osment quickly became the unanimous choice of Sheldon’s friends and family to manage the new cooperative they had formed to keep alive his progressive bookstore. Osment met Al McSurely, a civil rights lawyer, who had been asked by the Sheldon family to help them honor their only son’s legacy. Osment and McSurely clicked. While working on getting the new bookstore cooperative off the ground, Osment also managed the McSurely Civil Rights law office. She helped McSurely win major civil rights victories, including the Keith Edwards case, the Housekeeper cases, a major Title VI complaint against the Chatham County Schools on behalf of all children of color in the County, and many others. While working on these cases, Osment completed law school at UNC in 1995, and helped raise McSurely’s three children, Caitlin Swain-McSurely, Walker Swain-McSurely, and Erin Swain-McSurely. McSurely and Osment married in 1995, and in September 1996, they settled the Housekeeper’s case and Quinn Soleil ("Sunny") Osment was born.
When Sunny was born, Osment’s balancing of her pasions for justice, her children (Sunny, Caitlin, Walker and Erin), and music challenged her creative feminist genius. In 1997, when Sunny was about 8 months old, Osment met Maria Palmer, who had just started a small day care center on Cameron Avenue, exactly halfway between the Osment-McSurely home and their law office above the Rathskellar. Within a few months, Sunny had been accepted as a full-fledged member of the Mi Escuelita Spanish Immersion child care center, which Palmer and Osment organized. Mi Escuelita became the pilot for Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools’ Dual Language program, which Sunny is still enrolled in as a rising eighth grader. During this period, Osment took a difficult case of a Granville County high school secretary, Ms. Mary Cash. Granville Schools refused to pay Ms. Cash for any overtime work, such as spending hours on the phone each night recruiting substitute teachers. Osment sued on behalf of Ms. Cash in the U.S. District Court. But the Court ruled Granville Schools were immune from being sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act. About the same time, in 2000 the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the dismantling of the creative measures that NAACP lawyer Julius Chambers had helped put in place in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools since 1971, and had turned loose the tide of lawsuits by suburban white parents against special programs designed to further racial integration of schools and classes. This blow to civil rights caused many lawyers to advise Osment against appealing the Cash case to the 4th Circuit. Osment, however, took her case into this hostile forum and, in early 2001, won a resounding decision for Ms. Cash and similar school employees in all five states in the Circuit. In 2004, UNC’s Center for Civil Rights, headed by Mr.Chambers, began looking for an experienced civil rights lawyer to head up its new Education section. Osment applied, and when the lawyer who had opposed her in the Cash case wrote a strong recommendation, she was hired in early 2005. Her surpising victory in Cash was not lost on many education lawyers who believed the rightward tilt of the federal appellate courts was part of a larger right wing strategy to use tactics of resegregation to divide white voters through indirect appeals to racial fears.
Osment quickly became an expert on the tactics and strategies–both in the courts and at the ballot box–of the insidious resegregationist movement. Long before the "neighborhood school" card was played in Wake County, national organizations were watching the backsliding of school systems’ commitment to racial integration, backed by extreme right wing judges in federal courts who had been appointed by Reagan and the Bushes. For five years, even after her cancer had been discovered in 2007, and its recurrence in 2008, Osment litigated, organized conferences, created educational materials, and trained hundreds of Black and White educational leaders about the rising threat of the resegregationist tactics in the courts and in relatively inexpensive elections. Her last year of life was particularly frustrating, because she knew her expertise and national contacts would be critical to building a strong, grass-roots resistance movement in Wake County, in Wayne County, and other areas of the State where resegregation is openly condoned by elected school boards.
She was in great pain, after the cancer spread to her hip, and she had to use crutches to get around for the last six months. But, as readers of her Chapel Hill News column know, she remained direct, honest, and exquisitely graceful in her efforts to deal with cancer, and its ruination of her life and hopes. She was able to enjoy many good times with Sunny over this last period, when she knew she was dying. She was also comforted by her three step-children’s unqualified commitment to their sister and their father, McSurely, during the terrible suffering she endured the past few months.
Humbly submitted:
Al McSurely
Family will receive friends on Sunday May 30
Memorial Service Wednesday, June 2nd
Dear Friends,
We are all doing well, and Sunny has her best friends, siblings, and Osment family holding her literally and figuratively. I’m on automatic pilot, organizing and making plans. One of my plans is to deal with the loss of my best friend in about a week. In the meantime, we are open for visitors and food offerings at 415 W. Patterson from 1-6 p.m. on Sunday. The Osment and McSurely families will be eating together on Sunday evening.
Today we are closed, but we love and are thankful to everyone for your warm prayers, thoughts, vibes or whatever you want to send toward us.
The Ashley Osment Memorial Service will be at the Chapel Hill Bible Church, at the corner of Erwin and Sage Roads, behind Lowe’s, on Wednesday, June 2nd at 11 a.m. Tonya and Nancy (tcarterreichle@gmail.com) are coordinating an "after-service" reception at the Bible Church, and may need help with pot-luck kind of sandwiches and other things you can hold in your hands, and walk around, and talk with people while eating. Since Ash had so many friends, we are not going to open the pulpit for everyone to remember her there. We ask that you write out your most poignant and funny memories of her and e-mail them to Caitlin (caitlin.swain@gmail.com), or bring them to the service and give them to me or Caitlin. We will put them in a notebook for Sunny and the rest of Ash’s family to treasure down the road.
Al
Note: I remember communicating with Ashley over the internet long before I got to know her. She had begin to read my newsletters and she would send me comments about how she appreciated my work. And then one day I happen to meet her and we have been friends every since.
I had met Al back in the late 80’s long before she and Al were married. I was tickled to death to find out they were married and from that day forward we all were friends.
I got to meet some of the children as well over the years.
Al always refer to me as his brother and I likewise so therefore you know what that makes Ashley. You guessed it, my sister.
When I got the email on yesterday as I was driving to Rocky Mount that my friend had expired, I immediately emailed Caitlin and Al to let them know I am just a phone call away. And later last night I received the above from Al.
I feel honored and privileged to be able to post this on The DCN Online Blog in honor of my friend Ashley Osment.
Posted in Al McSurely Civil Rights Attorney/NAACP, Ashley Oment Civil Rights Lawyer | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 29, 2010
However, Eunice Lindsey, a Wilson County Board of Education member, suggested at a public forum held Thursday night at Darden Middle School that the board look to the community to help further reduce the number of students suspended each year. (Read more @ Wilson Times)
Note: You must subscribe to this paper in order to read it.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 27, 2010
Mr. Clegg,
I am writing to express my concerns about the computers for public use in the rocky mount office of the unemployment office. this office currently has ten (10) computers for public use and this may be an adequate number of computers as i rarely see people
waiting to use the computers. however, i would like to express concerns about several other technical "challenges" that exist:
With the unemployment rate in rocky mount at a reported 15%, (I personally believe this rate is much higher) one would think that management would show some concern for these unemployed persons who are looking diligently looking for employment in perhaps the most economically depressed area of the state. (Rocky Mount has been identified as one of the ten most impoverished cities in the country according to Forbes Magazine)
It is my understanding that State of North Carolina has received federal stimulus funds. Could the Rocky Mount Employment Security Commission receive some funds to update the computer system so as to allow those people who ARE looking for work to have the resources to locate work? As an unemployed person who who comes to the unemployment office almost daily, I could accomplish so much more with access to a more technologically advanced system that had internet access, word processing, printing capabilities and would not compromise the security and privacy of my e-mail account. I could perhaps even locate employment and no longer have the need to visit the rocky mount unemployment office.
Please acknowledge the fact that even in 2010, not everyone has access to a computer at home. Several people do not even have computer skills. How frustrating it can be to have to depend on a system that appears to be handicapping and hindering us as unemployed persons, rather than helping us.
Vanesia J. Joyner
PO Box 2582
Rocky Mount, NC 27802
The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. ~Ellen Glasgow
Posted in Employment Security Office Rocky Mount NC | 1 Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
In a "This Week" interview Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he was not comfortable with Rand Paul’s views on civil rights. Steele’s comments came in a debate with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine. Anchor Jake Tapper asked Steele, “Are you comfortable with” Paul’s views? (Read more @ ABC News)
Posted in Civil Rights Laws, Rand Paul | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
Birmingham City Schools
Superintendent’s Entry Plan1
Purpose and introduction
The purpose of this plan is to present the goals, objectives, and activities associated with the successful transition of Dr. Craig Witherspoon as Superintendent of Birmingham City Schools. This plan is centered on listening, learning and allowing for effective leadership of the district moving forward. (Read the Whole Plan)
Dr. Craig Witherspoon is the former Edgecombe County Public Schools Superintendent. Witherspoon is the 1st black superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools who recently moved on to lead the Birmingham City Schools.
Posted in Dr. Craig Witherspoon Former Superintendent Edgecombe County Public Schools, Dr. Craig Witherspoon Superintendent Alabama Public Schools | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
I sit back and wonder how folks can see things going on around them and not respond. Some folks see things happening first hand and say nothing. Some folks see things are happening after reading or hearing others talk about what is happening and they say nothing. You would think that when they (church folks, community organizations and folks of good will) see others responding to things that are going on that they would respond to find out more and to see how they can help. But not!!
Well let the happenings be them or someone close to them and they will contact those who are responding to the happenings. Now those who have not been responding will contact those who they know have been responding and will want them to stop what they are doing and respond to their issue.
We all should be responsive to what is going on around us. When individuals learn their role then we will see a change in our communities. But as long as those who are not responsive say nothing we will continue to get the same results.
Posted in From the Publisher | 1 Comment »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
I purchased a GQ Magazine on yesterday after talking about it on Thursday night on “Connections” Daily Talk Show broadcasted daily 7 PM – 8 PM on WNCR TV 41 digital tv, Suddenlink Cable 20, Windjammer Cable 6 and online at http://www.wncrtv41.com/ and http://www.dcntv.org where George Fisher is the host and I am a co-host.
I glanced the magazine on yesterday while sitting in my car waiting for a funeral to begin.
As I began to re-read the article on today I became disgusted when I got to the 2nd page of the interview with the cabbie. The cabbie talked about how he knew these girls and how he transported them to one of the grubby motels on Highway 301. He said a john had bought them a room whereby they would smoke cocaine and turn tricks.
Now I find it hard to believe that this cabbie was the only one who was aware of this. Why didn’t the cabbie, the motel owners and others who were aware of this not report what was happening at the motel to the police?
Well I have always wondered how these small motels stayed in business so now I see. It is sad that these types of carrying on is what probably kept these motels in business.
Read the article in the GQ Magazine to see the rest of what the cabbie had to say.
So why is it some folks feel it is okay to say that the Rocky Mount Police Department and the Edgecombe County Sheriff Department has not done enough? Do you think that if it had been reported to the Rocky Mount Police Department about the illegal activity that was going on at these motels that it is a possibility that none or a fewer number of these girls would be lost?
So now my question is, “Whose fault is it the girls of Rocky Mount was lost?”
At one time I was concerned about the relationship with the mothers of the murdered and missing and law enforcement because of the anger that I had seen as if law enforcement was not doing enough. During the recent memorial service held Edgecombe County Sheriff James L. Knight said it would take more than this to divide us. Powerful. So powerful that Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II President of the NAACP NC State Conference of Branches elaborated on it before he gave his speech during the memorial.
See related:
Memorial service staged to unite community – The Rocky Mount Telegram
Murdered and Missing Women
Posted in John Manley Former Chief Rocky Mount Police Department, Missing/Murdered, Missing/Murdered Women in Rocky Mount NC, P.R.O.M.M. Parents & Relatives Of the Missing & Murdered, Sheriff James L. Knight Edgecombe County | 2 Comments »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
Open letter
May 23, 2010
Request for resignation William Ellis Principal G.W. Carver Elementary School
I am requesting that William Ellis Principal G.W. Carver Elementary School Pinetops NC to resign his post at the end of the 2009 – 2010 School Year.
I am requesting that he resign for the following reasons but not limited to. I am working with some parents on several different issues that are ongoing and have not been satisfactory as of yet.
Issue 1: A kindergarten student has been denied receiving basic education since the beginning of the 2009 School Year.
The parents were actively engaged in the child’s education and requested help for their child who needed some special services but did not get a response from the system until one day from being 90 days. Ellis seems to think that it was okay because the school supposedly met the timeline which is 90 days.
No it is not okay. It is not okay because black children are used in almost every statistic for showing that black children are behind academically. It is not okay because it seems as if the teacher that this kindergartener started out the school year with was not concerned about this child receiving special services. It seems as if this teacher had written this child off.
An incident happened in this teacher’s room in February where the kindergartener ate another child’s vomit and this teacher nor Ellis informed the parents. But on top of the vomit a chemical was put on the vomit before the child had eaten it. The parents requested a meeting and Ellis has refused to meet with the parents. So this is evidence that he is not concerned about this child and we are concerned that he is not concerned about other children as well who have been single out like this kindergartener.
The child was taken to the doctor the following week after the parents found out about it. The interim Superintendent requested the parents to take the child to see a doctor again but this is nearly 2 months after the incident happened. The teacher nor Ellis has shown any concern.
It appears that Ellis was willing to move the child to another school before moving the child to another classroom because the parents felt the only alternative was to move the child from the school since it appeared that the teacher and Ellis did not care. I told the parents that was not the right thing to do because the parents would have been responsible for taking the child to and from the new school.
Outcome: The child was moved to another classroom in March and the child is doing well. The new teacher seems to be working diligently with the child. The child seems to be happy now and not as if he is in bondage. In which in a sense it appears he was trapped in an environment that was hindering him from receiving a basic education. But the sad part is when the child was removed from the previous classroom, the school year was almost over. The time that this child has lost can not be made up in such a short period of time. Ellis has not responded to the request from the parents in regards to the vomit incident be it a meeting and/or responding to the questions that was submitted to him. It appears he is protecting previous teacher and himself.
The school did not follow policy and procedures. Parents were and still has not been notified by the teacher in the classroom where the vomit and chemicals were eaten.
Issue 2: In March some 5th grade girls life were in danger involving some 5th grade boys chasing them with a knife and contact was made with the knife.
Although it was atleast 4 girls involved, I am speaking to 2 girls that were involved. One of the girls is my great niece and the other is a cousin.
An incident happened on the school’s playground at the end of the school day. The boys were chasing the girls with a knife and my niece’s pants were cut and my cousin received a nick on her hand as she tried to keep the boy from poking her with the knife. A staff member was able to intervene and he did not allow the boys to get on the school bus.
The girl’s parents were not contacted about this serious incident. My niece’s mother found out after she received a call from someone at the Boys and Girls Club at another school where she had gone after the school day. She went out to the school the next day and she was told by Ellis that he was going to get the police involved.
My cousin found out about the incident a couple of days later via a text message when someone asked her about her daughter. She then asked her daughter about it and her daughter told her that the assistant principal Florence Wilkins was suppose to handle it. The parent went to the school and Wilkins disrespected her and said she knew why she was there because she was not notified and that she had had a hectic day. After walking out of her office the parent told Ellis what she said and Ellis said he was not going to be behind the 8 ball that he was not going to be responsible for what his assistant had said. Wrong answer sir you are responsible for your staff and students as long as they are on your campus.
The parents ended up going to Tarboro to the magistrate office to take out a warrant however to find out that they had to go back to Pinetops to meet with the Pinetops Police Department so they could file a juvenile petition. Well Ellis should have filed the petition per the handbook because the police should have been notified because a weapon was used and the girls were threatened.
Outcome: The school did not follow policy and procedures because they never contacted these 2 parents that are still engaged in this process and it is believed that the system has not talked to the other girl’s parents whom were involved. The police was never contacted and if it was not for my niece and cousin parents, there would not have been a juvenile petition filed.
Ellis also had the audacity to speak to the local Daily Southerner newspaper and made some comments that were half truth. He made it appear that it was only 1 parent who had approached him when it was 2. The parents did a rebuttal to the article and it was never printed in the paper. This is because the paper supports certain principals and educators and not making sure the truth is made known.
Opinion: This school is out of control. Anytime the staff will purchase tee shirts talking about my principal got my back is just down right disgusting. This is discrimination in my opinion because it sends a message that the staff can do things and Ellis has their back. This is true in the case with the vomit incident where the teachers in that classroom have been protected and the assistant principal in the knife incident because Ellis has not reprimanded either for their actions.
This is only 2 issues that I am working on however I have received calls and/or spoke with some folks about some others. Many parents feel intimidated and that they have no confidence in Ellis.
It appears that Ellis is not concerned about these 2 issues but has put the focus on me since I have been involved at the parents’ request. But I guess he has a right to be because he knows that I am no dummy when it comes to dealing with school issues since I am a longtime grassroots effective community advocate especially for the children dating back to 1993.
It is time for Ellis to go because it appears that the staff at G.W. Carver Elementary School is in a comfort zone and that Ellis got their back.
Well who has the children and the parents back? Since Ellis has not followed the proper policies and procedures for running this school then it is time that he resign or be removed.
Curmilus Dancy II
A Grassroots Effective Community Activist
Dancy Communications Network
Signatures of parents who are mentioned above
See related:
G. W. Carver Elementary School Does Not Follow Their Own Policies and Procedures
Posted in Education Edgecombe County Public Schools, From the Publisher, G. W. Carver Elementary School | 4 Comments »
Posted by Curmilus Dancy II (Butch) on May 23, 2010
If the answer really is "Yes" all of y’all had better start chapters of the Collective Banking Group, like tomorrow! Jim
Can
Bank of America
do this?
Thanks to the hundreds of responses I received from the initial posting of this question.
My client has a checking account and credit card with Bank of America. The only thing the two accounts have in common is his social security number and address. On May 5, 2010 he received a letter from Bank of Americainforming him that they exercised their right to debit his account in the amount of $4743.30 which will be applied to the balance owed on his Bank of America credit card account. The balance owing on the credit card is now $3236.26. The balance left in his checking account is $100.00
Is this legal? YES
Here is the reply from two reliable sources: Attorney David Workman, and Ginna Green, Center for Responsible Lending — California Office.
It’s called the "bankers’ right of set-off" — which gives banks in which a customer has a deposit account the right to dip into that account to pay debts the customer has with that bank without going to court like other creditors do.
He should check the deposit agreement with his bank, which will almost certainly have a clause in it saying so, and saying under what conditions they can exercise that right.
Marie Deary, BSEE,MSEE, MBA
Loss Mitigation Counseling Specialist
Shore Management Solutions Inc.
3064 E. Broadway Ave.
Long Beach Ca. 90803
562-434-8877
Posted in Bank of America | Leave a Comment »
