Author: Scott D. Yost

There’s been another shooting in Greensboro – this time at Sedgefield Country Club.  Fortunately, the man was only grazed by the bullet and he declined medical care.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners have been getting a lot of negative feedback lately on how long it’s been taking to get concealed carry handgun and pistol purchase permits over the last year and a half.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Wednesday, June 9 at 3 p.m. to discuss some key last-minute details before the board adopts a 2021-2022 fiscal budget later this month.

Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue isn’t just a commissioner.  He’s also the guy who, for years, as the director of Guilford County Emergency Services, was charged with doing everything he could to keep the people in the county safe.

Some students in Guilford County Schools have been showing up at home with gift cards given to them for things like good attendance and doing well in class.  While students at some schools “win” those gift cards for their positive academic accomplishments, at some other schools, students may make straight A’s and show up for every class and not get anything but a pat on the back. 

On Thursday, June 3, Jessica Gay Parks of Julian, North Carolina allegedly broke into and stole the county-owned Tahoe that’s assigned to Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers. 

A lot of people would hold a grudge about something like that. However, a Friday, June 4 press release from the Sheriff’s Department revealed that Rogers was praying not just for the thief – but with her.

Don’t leave a spare set of keys in your car when you lock it. That’s one takeaway from the ironic series of events on Thursday, June 3 – when the high sheriff’s car was stolen from the parking lot in front of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department headquarters.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a lot of lives, but, according to Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras, there’s another giant tragedy that’s been wreaked by the pandemic – the massive learning loss for students in Guilford County.

The Chinese may have invented fireworks, but, on Saturday, July 3 Guilford County Parks will be the ones shooting them off. On that day, the county’s parks department will host the “14th Annual Fireworks Extravaganza” at Northeast Park.

Creek Week is flowing around again. The week of celebrating local creeks and waterways is a joint effort between Guilford County, the City of Greensboro, the City of High Point, the Haw River Assembly and the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. 

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department announced this week that the Guilford County Inmate Reentry Program – which helps former inmates readjust to life outside jail and prison – will be hosting an open house on Friday, June 10. 

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) has been in a sad state when it comes to passenger traffic for about a year and three months – however, with the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding, airport officials liked what they saw on Memorial Day weekend. 

If you’re a kid or grownup in Guilford County who likes keeping cool during the summer heat, then you’ll love what the Guilford County Parks Department announced on Thursday, June 3.  Starting on Saturday, June 5, the county will open all the pools at its parks at full capacity.

For anyone who watched the viral video of a 14-year-old Southern Guilford High School student being attacked by a group of people who stormed onto campus, it’s no surprise that charges are being filed against the attackers and arrests are being made.

For years and years, reporters and other people who have wanted information from Guilford County government have submitted emails to the appropriate department or to the county attorney of to the the Clerk to the Board’s Office.  However, starting on Monday, June 1, those seeking public records or related information are being asked submit their public records request online to the county’s brand new “NextRequest” system.

Guilford County already has about 2,500 staff positions and, if Guilford County Manager Mike Halford has his way, that number will grow in the fiscal 2021-2022 county budget.

It’s not known how much of a pay increase the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will provide county staff in the upcoming 2021-2022 county budget, but new Guilford County Manager Mike Halford has made it known in a very public way just how appreciative he is of the effort county staff has put in over the very trying last year and three months.

On Saturday, June 5, beginning at 9 a.m., riders from the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department will be out on their choppers and other motorbikes to help raise some money. 

Every five years, the Guilford County Tax Department conducts a total revaluation of all the property in the county to establish that property’s current tax value.

People in Guilford County have a right to apply for and get a concealed carry permit for handguns – however, one recent speaker before the Guilford County Board of Commissioners said the delays for doing so are outrageous and she knows many other applicants who are fed up as well.

The money the Guilford County Board of Commissioners spends on education each year is about half of the county’s entire $600 million-plus budget – so you better believe the commissioners want to know where that money is going. 

If you live in northwest Guilford County in the Sandy Ridge Road area and are a City of High Point water customer, beware: High Point officials announced in a Thursday, May 27 press release that some areas are facing periods of low water pressure and outages in the distribution system due to a water main break.

A violent classroom attack on a 14-year-old student caught on video has drawn national attention and focused a spotlight on the question of whether there are adequate security measures in place in Guilford County Schools.

As Guilford County comes out of pandemic mode, residents of the county are happy to see all the old annual events coming back to life again – and that’s certainly true for the PTI 5/K/10/K Run on the Runway. 

All nine Guilford County commissioners have the option to spend four days on the scenic National Harbor just outside of Washington, DC this summer. While at least 6 of the 7 Democratic Commissioners on the board are taking the opportunity, neither of the two Republican commissioners will make the trip.

The amount of money in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is about $1.9 trillion, and roughly $104 million is going to be spent by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. 

Getting COVID-19 samples from stool samples that have been flushed into public wastewater systems doesn’t sound like it would be a terrific job, but somebody has to do it.

This summer, the High Point Public Library is hosting a series of virtual events in support of the city’s Teen Summer Reading Program.

On Monday, May 24, the state of North Carolina pulled a new incentive out of its hat. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced that it’s offering $25 “Summer Cash Cards” at select vaccine sites “to offset the time and transportation costs of getting vaccinated.” 

The National Association of Counties (NACo) has announced that it’s holding its annual convention in-person – as well as virtually – this summer, which means that some Guilford County officials will likely make it up to Maryland for the biggest get-together of county leaders that happens every year.

This new class being offered by the High Point Public Library will likely not be able to stop your teen from texting 15 hours a day, but at least it will give him or her another option as to how to use that phone. The library is going to host a film class for teens – ages 13-18 – that will teach them how to write, film and edit a short movie on their smartphone.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Tuesday, May 25 to receive a staff report on, and discuss the best ways to spend, the enormous amount of money the county is receiving as part of Guilford County’s allocation of the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

In addition to the bag search, the walk through a metal detector – and, of course, a wand search (since the metal detector seems to beep every time) – now there’s another layer of surveillance.  Members of the public attending a Guilford County commissioners meeting now have to stand and face a high-tech infra-red heat-sensitive camera that will, on a monitor, display a red or green dot on your head.  Green means your temperature is acceptable and you can go in; red means leave the building immediately before you infect everyone. 

In the county manager’s proposed 2021-2022 fiscal year budget, the county showed its hand as to how it plans to borrow $300 million for school system capital improvements that county voters approved in the November election last year.  

If you ever wanted to give your elected Guilford County leaders your two cents worth – well, there’s no better time than early June to do it.  That’s because, before the county adopts its new fiscal budget in mid to late June, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners always holds a public hearing to gather all the advice from the vocal folks in the county.

Guilford County Manager Mike Halford had quite a few bombshells in his proposed 2021-2022 county budget and one of the biggest is that, if he gets his way, Guilford County will for the first time establish a Public Relations Department at a cost of a half-million dollars a year. 

On Thursday, May 20, new Guilford County Manager Mike Halford brought his first budget as manager to the board. That budget calls for the county to keep the current property tax rate at 73.05 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

On Thursday, May 28, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford proposed a county budget that increases the amount of spending on Guilford County Schools by more than any county budget in the past two decades.

Of all the branches of Guilford County government, the Environmental Services Division of the Guilford County Planning and Development Department almost certainly has the longest name.  And, now, in a coordinated effort with Guilford County Parks, it has something to go along with that moniker honor – the division has just received a $10,000 grant to promote recycling in the county’s parks.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is considering moving the lines of two fire districts in the county and the commissioners want to know how people feel about the change.  To that end, the Board of Commissioners is conducting a public hearing on Thursday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room on the second floor of the Old Guilford County Court House at 301 W. Market St. in Greensboro.  It appears that regular people are being invited to attend this public hearing and actually speak in person to the Board of Commissioners.

On Monday, May 17, the High Point Branch of the NAACP announced in a press release its call for the City of High Point to establish a new “Commission on the Status of Black High Point.” 

On Wednesday, May 19, Guilford County announced that those working in and visiting county facilities will still be required to wear masks.

On Tuesday, May 18, the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship – Greensboro’s longtime small business incubator – announced that the Board of Directors was getting two new faces. Business consultant Andy Scott and Matt Moon, a general manager for a manufacturing company are joining the board.

You may know that Guilford County will take scrap tires off your hands, but you probably have no idea what happens to them after that.  Well, Guilford County takes those tires and hands them over to a private company – Central Carolina Tire Disposal –  and pays the company over $800,000 a year to make those tires disappear.

In the 6 a.m. hour of Tuesday, May 18 – when many area residents were still snug in their beds – officers with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, the Greensboro Police Department and the High Point Police Department were already earning their pay and then some.

At the Tuesday, May 18 board meeting of the Piedmont Triad Partnership (PTP), it was announced that Michael S. Fox, an attorney with Tuggle Duggins, will be leading the PTP team. 

On Monday, May 17, State of North Carolina health officials announced a new “NC Oral Health Improvement Plan,” which, as the name suggests, is a plan to improve the oral health of people in the state.

The Carolina Wetlands Association has designated one of Guilford County’s parks – the  Richardson-Taylor Preserve – as a “2021 Wetland Treasure of the Carolinas.”

If you’ve been upset for the past year and three months that you haven’t been able to attend a Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting in person – well, now’s your chance.  On Monday, May 17, the county announced that the board’s meeting on Thursday, May 20 will be open for in-person attendance for a maximum of 25 people. 

On Thursday, May 20, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to enter into an agreement to pay Aramark Correctional Services $1.6 million and change in the coming fiscal year to feed inmates at the Guilford County jails in Greensboro and High Point, as well as feed the youngsters housed at the county’s juvenile detention center.