The Rhino Times will hold its Country Club Schmoozefest on Thursday, May 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Starmount Forest Country Club at 1 Sam Sneed Drive. 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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City Councilmember Mike Barber is asking for a significant raise for police officers to be included in this year’s budget. According to a list of salaries of North Carolina police officers, Greensboro, at $49,627, is 11th on the list behind Gastonia, Charlotte, High Point, Winston-Salem, Cary, Raleigh, Salisbury, Kannapolis, Asheville and Concord.
It makes sense for Greensboro to be losing police officers to nearby cities that pay more and where the city councils are not making constant judgment calls on their behavior.
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News & Record Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson complains in his column Sunday, May 7 that the police body-worn camera video of the arrest of Jose Charles was not made available to the public. He conveniently ignores the fact that Jose Charles was a juvenile when he was arrested, and in this state juvenile court records are sealed.
The dominant opinion both on the left and the right is that juveniles deserve protection so that misbehavior as a child doesn’t curse them for life.
Johnson from his column doesn’t agree and must believe juvenile records should be public just like the criminal records of adults. It’s an opinion that is difficult to understand or to justify. The criminal justice system isn’t perfect, but it does do some things right and one of those is keeping juvenile criminal court records sealed.
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Looking at the graphic for a story about the French election, I noticed there are 500 euro bills. Right now that would be worth about $543. We no longer have $500 bills, but what it made me wonder is what in the world someone would do with a 500 euro bill in Portugal.
The Muse and I visit Portugal every chance we get, and one of the things I always have to adjust to is the lack of change in the country. We were at a toll booth and, when we tried to pay an 11 euro toll with a 20 euro bill, we were politely asked if we didn’t have anything smaller. The only thing a toll booth does is collect money and give change, and they didn’t want to give us 9 euros in change.
Which makes me wonder if I invested in a 500 euro bill if I could eat, drink and drive for free because no one would have enough change.
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State government is kind of funny. First the governor introduces his budget, which is routinely ignored by everyone. Then either the House or the Senate introduces its budget, which becomes the model for the real budget. The House and Senate alternate producing the budget first. This year it fell to the Senate so the budget introduced this week in the Senate is probably pretty close to what will pass the legislature, be vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper and then passed again to override the veto.
