Author: Scott D. Yost

it looks like Guilford County Manager Mike Halford, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston and the Democrats on the Board of Commissioners will get everything they’ve hoped and dreamed of for years.

You may not know it, but this week isn’t just any week – in Guilford County, it’s the annual event known as “Guilford Creek Week.” 
The week runs from Saturday, June 4 to Saturday, June 11 – technically making it a week and a day. It’s held to “celebrate the importance, impact and influence of the creeks and waterways of Guilford County and the municipalities within,” and the week is meant to “raise awareness about the vital role of local waters and how the health of that water can have a direct impact on communities.”

A lot of families in Guilford County were left high and dry on Memorial Day weekend after pools at Guilford County parks didn’t open in time for what’s usually the first day of the year of swimming at those pools.  The Guilford County Board of Commissioners met on Thursday, June 2, and county staff had some explaining to do for the county commissioners who had gotten some complaints and questions about the very popular county service.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners had planned to spend the majority of the Thursday, June 2 meeting talking about the upcoming 2022-2023 county budget. However, due to the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 students and two teachers dead, the commissioners devoted much of their meeting to address gun violence.  Several commissioners spoke on the issue before the board adopted a resolution declaring gun violence in the county a public health crisis.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners was laser focused on addressing gun violence when the board met on Thursday, June 2. There are a lot of things county leaders want residents to do, but one that became the catchphrase of the new effort is this: “If you see something, say something.”

A lot of strange things have happened in Guilford County government this century, but one of the strangest happened to Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch this week when Upchurch received his box of county government business cards.  The cards offer his contact information and identify him as a Guilford County commissioner. 

There will be a lot of political races on the ballot in November but one of the most interesting will be the contest between Democratic Guilford County Commissioner Kay Cashion and Republican former Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson. 

The three have contributed a great deal to High Point over the years and have all recently announced that they’re heading off into retirement: High Point Market Authority President and CEO Tom Conley, High Point Arts Council Executive Director Debbie Lumpkins and High Point City Clerk Lisa Vierling are calling it quits after successful careers.

Families in Guilford County and around the state who are in the state’s “Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children” – better known as “WIC” – can now purchase more sizes and types of Gerber formula, according to a Wednesday, June 1 press release from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).

week, High Point City Manager Tasha Logan Ford – who’s still fairly new in that position herself – announced two new hires for the city: Damon Dequenne (on the left above), who’s accepted the assistant city manager position and will start that job on Tuesday, June 21 and Sushil Nepal (above right), the city’s new planning services director will start on Tuesday, July 5.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department recently bought a slew of new vehicles to chase you down with, and – as everyone knows when it comes to law enforcement vehicles – they have to be packed to the brim with gear and equipment.  

this month, the Board of Commissioners is adding a new twist. The board is singling out female veterans for recognition at the board’s Thursday, June 2 meeting.

On Tuesday, May 31, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced a round of significant funding for mental health services in large population centers across the state. However, unfortunately for Guilford County residents, no services in the third most populated county in the state are supported by this round of funding – while services in Mecklenburg County, Wake County and other counties do get a boost.

Guilford County officials stated that its public pools wouldn’t be opening this Memorial Day Weekend as usual due to a staffing shortage. The affected pools are at Bur-Mil Park at 5834 Bur-Mill Club Road in Greensboro, Northeast Park at 3441 Northeast Park Drive in Gibsonville and Hagan-Stone Park at 5920 Hagan-Stone Park Road in Pleasant Garden.

News 2 Evening Anchor Julie Luck, who’s been fighting colon cancer this year, had some very positive news for her friends and viewers that she conveyed in a Facebook post: The disease is in remission and she expects to return to the airwaves soon.

High Point University (HPU) has High Point in its name, but that doesn’t mean the students are trapped in Guilford County’s second-largest city. In fact, sometimes they get to go to England’s largest city – London.

Starting this week, North Carolina will have the Winston-Salem-based “Carolina Cowboys” team – which is one of eight founding teams in the new Professional Bull Riders Team Series, known as “PBR” for short.

Messages of love, support and prayer have poured into the small town of Uvalde, Texas, after the horrific mass shooting in an elementary school there. On Thursday, May 26, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department joined in with that chorus of voices by releasing a statement on the shooting. The department also advised Guilford County residents that it is stepping up patrols of the elementary schools in the county to help reduce the chance of something similar happening here.

Wednesday, May 25, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) put out a lengthy press release reminding everyone that they’re still in danger of getting COVID.

PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker this week said that purchasing the Pawnee Road residence and land is another step in a long, ongoing process of accumulation.

In all, the Guilford County manager’s budget would mean nearly $20 million for GTCC for fiscal 2022-2023 – $19,657,500 to be exact.  That represents a 9 percent increase over the amount of funds the county provided the community college in the 2021-2022 budget that expires on June 30.

According to Guilford County Manager Mike Halford, Guilford County recently completed a workplace study and found a big complaint among its employees….

Guilford County Manager Mike Halford had a lot of facts and figures to give out during the message on his proposed fiscal 2022-2023 county budget, which he gave last week. But he started off that message in an unusual and touching way. Halford began by paying tribute to former Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman who passed away…

The airline industry and airport operations around the country have come a very long way since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic – and that trend continued to be evident in new stats released by Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA)…

The High Point Public Library is hoping for great weather this weekend – no more of this rain – when it hosts the 2022 outdoor Community Festival in the library parking lot at 901 N. Main St. in High Point.

Guilford County announced the details of that public hearing on the manager’s budget.  The public hearing on the proposed budget will be held on Thursday, June 2, at 5:30 p.m. in the Commissioners Meeting Room in the Old  Guilford County Court House, in downtown Greensboro. The official stated reason for the hearing is “for the purpose of discussing the proposed FY 2022-23 budget and to give all interested citizens the opportunity to make written and oral comments on the budget.”

For more than a decade, Guilford County and the City of Greensboro have been trying to figure out the best use for Bryan Park North and now they’re asking the public for further input. 

Food recalls happen often but it’s rare that the product is so popular that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) makes a special announcement.  But that’s what happened on Monday, May 23 when there was a recall of the popular peanut butter Jif.  The old ad campaign said that choosey mothers choose Jif, but NCDHHS officials pointed out that certain Jif brand peanut butters shouldn’t be eaten or served right now.

Launch Greensboro’s business accelerator program – LaunchLab Growth – will be focused on 10 new area companies on Monday, May 23 at what’s known as “Spring 2022 Demo Day.”  At the event, business entrepreneurs will give their pitches and get a chance to connect with the local entrepreneurial community.

On Friday, May 20 Guilford County announced a new communications and public relations director. The county named Julie Smith – who previously worked for the Denver Department of Finance in Denver, Colorado – to oversee Guilford County’s communications and public relations efforts.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston has a message for the voters of Guilford County: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Alston made his effusive remarks at…

On Thursday, June 2, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider approval of the sale of $700 million in bonds by Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital and its affiliates…

Multiple times in the past, Guilford County voters have told the county commissioners that they don’t want a quarter-cent sales tax hike. The county’s voters sent that exact same message in the Tuesday, May 17 election when nearly 55 percent of those voters said, once again, keep the sales tax rate where it is. So, the county commissioners have finally heard that message and – and ignored it once again.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners have been putting a great deal of time and effort into job interviews to find the next top attorney, and the board spent most of the day Thursday, May 19 doing so again. The Board of Commissioners has been looking for a new county attorney ever since longtime former Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne (seen above) announced last year that he was stepping down on December 31.  

On Thursday, May 19, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford stood up before the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and delivered his proposed budget for fiscal 2022-2023. 

At the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, May 19, County Manager Mike Halford did one of the most important things that a county manager does each year. This year, Halford’s budget totals $855 million and it recommends keeping the county’s tax rate at 73.05 cents per $100 of assessed property value. 

There were a lot of contenders seeking the office of Guilford County Sheriff this year – three on the Democratic side of the ticket and six on the Republican side – but only two remain after the primary elections on Tuesday, May 17. Democratic Incumbent Sheriff Danny Rogers, and Phil Byrd, who has a great deal of experience in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, where he’s served as a captain and worked in several different divisions will face each other in November.

Pat Tilman is the latest of those who would like to make the jump from Guilford County Board of Education to Guilford County Board of Commissioners by winning handily in the 2022 District 3 Guilford County Board of Commissioners Republican Primary.

Tillman ended up Tuesday night with 41 percent of the vote compared with 34 percent for Oak Ridge Town Councilmember George McClellan and 25 percent for Summerfield resident Dan Suter. 

In the Guilford County Board of Commissioners District 7 race in November, Democratic Guilford County Commissioner Frankie Jones, Jr. will face off against Republican Kenny Abbe. Jones won the Democratic Primary race for that district easily with 60 percent of the vote compared to 25 percent for Lisa McMillian and 15 percent for Anthony Izzard.

Over the last couple of decades, Guilford County Commissioner Kay Cashion has been something of a battleship candidate.

A lot of counties in North Carolina have seen voters approve a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax over the years, but Guilford County voters have never bought into the idea. That continued to hold true on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, when, once again, voters said, “Keep our sales tax rate exactly where it is – thank you very much.”

$1.7 billion. That’s how much money voters approved for Guilford County to borrow to fund the construction of new schools and the repair of old ones. 

Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue has been working to keep his District 2 commissioners seat – and now he’ll get a chance to do that in the November election. In the Republican Primary District 2 race, Perdue defeated opponent Steve Arnold, a former Guilford County commissioner who popped up after more than a decade of radio silence and decided to run in 2022.

Former Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson is looking to remove the “former” from that title and add “at-large” in its place. Branson took a big step in that direction on Tuesday, May 17, by handily defeating Alvin Robinson in the Republican Party Primary for the only at-large seat on the nine-member Board of Commissioners.

The former BB&T Building at 201 W. Market St. in downtown Greensboro – now the Truist building – is getting its parking lot and underground parking deck repaired and renovated The county is also doing the same to the underground deck that serves the Old Guilford County Court House.  That deck is underneath the governmental plaza – the Phill G. McDonald Plaza, as it’s officially known – the place where political rallies, community festivals and other celebrations are often held.

On Monday, May 16, officials with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) put out some advice for those parents who have been blindsided by the shortage.

The city of High Point and Guilford County has lost a much-beloved barbecue-making legend.  Bobby McRay Burleson – known better as Bob Burleson, the owner of Kepley’s Barbecue – died on Monday, May 16, at the age of 90, after decades of providing delicious meals to diners and good works to the community.

there’s also another – albeit informal – complaint making the rounds that has to do with Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers in the time leading up to the Tuesday, May 17 primary.  Rogers’ critics are complaining that he’s using county resources to do some self-promotion and increase his name recognition this election year.

On Monday, May 16, the High Point City Council will evaluate two requests for performance-based economic incentives packages. One is for $414,863 for an Ecolab project in the High Point North Industrial Center at 2519 Sandy Ridge Rd. and another is for $75,000 for Metal Works of High Point to upfit a building at 1245 Hickory Chapel Road.

This week, former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes is letting everyone know that the third and final book of that trilogy is now complete. The book, “Garbage Detail,” is the third in the former sheriff’s “Defender” trilogy.