Sixth District Congressman Mark Walker was at that congressional baseball team practice where a man with a rifle opened fire. Walker said he was shaken but not hurt.
The good news so far is that no one other than the shooter was killed. There is no good reason to shoot someone in cold blood, but shooting people because of their political party is proof that the political divisiveness has gone too far.
We should all be able to disagree politically but get along socially. Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up call to all of us that there is much more to life than politics.
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The Rhino Times First Schmoozefest of Summer is Thursday, June 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Kickback Jack’s at 1600 Battleground Ave. Those who sign in and wear a name tag are welcome to enjoy free hors d’oeuvres and beer and wine (while supplies last).
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It’s budget time, which means the schools are demanding more money and the Republican majority on the Board of Commissioners don’t want to raise taxes so they allocated more for the schools than they received last year, but not as much as the schools requested.
Here’s a solution where they both would get some of what they want. The county budget that is slated to pass includes a 13 percent unappropriated fund balance – read savings account. The Local Government Commission recommends a minimum of 8 percent. Let the county staff have some wiggle room and keep 9 percent in the fund balance, but allocate the remaining 4 percent – about $24 million – to the schools for capital needs. I firmly believe there is not enough money on earth to satisfy the schools, but there is no good reason for the commissioners to be stuffing money under the mattress when there are needs in the county.
It would be one-time money, so the schools would have to be warned that they wouldn’t get the same amount next year, but it seems like a much better solution to spend the money on education than to tax the people of Guilford County so that the county can have a huge savings account.
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Mayor Nancy Vaughan is going to make an official announcement some time soon that she is running for her third term as mayor. However, unlike the previous two terms, this term will be for four years. Vaughan had a pretty easy time getting reelected in 2015; she fell just short of getting 90 percent of the vote.
It appears the state legislature is going to pass a budget well ahead of the deadline of June 30. The budget is reportedly going to be presented this Friday and will likely be voted on next week. That will give the legislature time to override the expected veto by Gov. Roy Cooper and still get the budget passed before the end of the fiscal year.
If the budget doesn’t pass by the end of the fiscal year, the legislature passes a continuing resolution to take care of things until the budget does pass. In 2015, the last time the state voted on its two-year budget, it didn’t pass until September.
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This one belongs in News of the Weird. Greensboro police arrested Adam Terrell Parker last week and charged him with attempted robbery of the Scooter Depot at 3800 W. Gate City Blvd. The police have pretty good evidence that Parker, when denied a refund, pulled a gun to emphasize his point. The police can prove it was Parker because Parker was wearing a court ordered electronic monitor as a condition of his release while awaiting trial on previous charges. The electronic monitor places him at the store when the incident took place. So now Parker has been charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a concealed weapon in addition to attempted robbery.
Parker is back in Guilford County jail and it seems unlikely he will be released on an electronic monitoring device again before he is brought to trial.
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It’s simply a fact of life that if you want more people to participate in something, you provide more and better services. If the city wants more people to ride the bus, it buys more buses that run more frequently, to more locations, provides better bus shelters and lowers the ticket price.
If it wants more people to use the libraries then it builds a whole bunch of branches to make it more convenient.
However, in dealing with homelessness, the government provides more services for the homeless, more shelters with more facilities and is then shocked that the homeless population increases.
