Author: Scott D. Yost

NC Gov. Roy Cooper extended virus precautions across the state this week and sent notice to 36 counties – including Guilford County – that they need to take stronger local action against the spread of COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic has been truly tragic for human beings, however, for cats and dogs in Guilford County, the opposite is true. One side effect of the fear of catching the disease is that people have been spending much more time with their pets, and, in many cases, walking those pets several times a day. Another side effect is that many more people have been adopting and fostering animals from the Guilford County Animal Shelter, which has greatly reduced the shelter’s animal population.

There aren’t a whole lot of ways to fight the coronavirus and not everyone has always been sold on face masks as a way to do that, but right now Guilford County government is clearly 100 percent behind the use of masks.

This year, voting before Election Day – by mail or by early voting in-person – falls in the same category as Gibson’s character. There are a great many forces at work trying to get people to vote early, and, in the 2020 election, that encouragement to do so is clearly highly effective.

On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department announced the death of a sheriff’s deputy and issued a warning for people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Guilford County government has just filled one of its toughest jobs, human resources director. The new director, Joanette Freeman, will oversee employee benefits and personnel records, consult on salary ranges, and do the many other things that HR directors do – like keep employees from strangling each other.

For nearly two decades, the county’s Emergency Service staff has been stressing the need for a new county facility for the maintenance of Guilford County emergency vehicles and to meet other needs of the department, and, on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 11 a.m., Guilford County Emergency Services, along with the Guilford County commissioners and others in the community will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to publicly present Phase 1 of the new Emergency Services facility at 1205 Pepperstone Drive in Greensboro.

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a pandemic going on this year, and, if you haven’t thought about Halloween in 2020 yet – well, trust us: It’s going to be a lot different than in past years.

The Guilford County Board of Elections meetings, in fact, often go largely ignored at other times, and, at many meetings, no one except a stray reporter will show up. On Tuesday, Oct. 20 the Guilford County Board of Elections is holding a meeting to approve and disapprove absentee ballots, and, this year, that would no doubt draw a crowd, but due to COVID-19 only ten spectators will be allowed in the room.

On Friday, Oct. 16, two different messages were being circulated regarding the numbers behind the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina – with two opposing messages as to how frightened the state citizens should be. On Friday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) released its latest coronavirus stats for the state with the alarming headline “NCDHHS Reports Highest One-Day Increase of COVID-19 Cases.” The same day, John Locke Foundation put out a video with the tagline, “COVID-19 Case Numbers Can Be Misleading. Here’s What You Should Know.”

According to stats sent out by the NCACC, just before the time of stoppage, only 63.2 percent of North Carolina households had self-responded to the census. That puts North Carolina at number 36 out of 50 states and Washington, DC, in that regard, and it also puts North Carolina this year below the state’s self-response rates in 2010 and 2000.

In the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 16, a female inmate being held in the Guilford County jail in downtown Greensboro died in custody.

This week, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department announced the winter 2020 session of the Sheriff’s Citizens Academy.

COVID-19 has drawn all the headlines this year. However, a Thursday, Oct. 15 announcement from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is meant to remind people that coronavirus isn’t the only threat out there these days. The department reported that the state has seen its first death of the 2020-2021 flu season, and, of course, many more are expected.

After a national search for a new director with more than 90 applicants, Guilford County selected Guilford County Social Services Director Heather Skeens to fill the job that oversees the largest department in the county. In one fell swoop, Skeens became one of the most powerful people in Guilford County government.

It’s no secret that some Summerfield residents are opposed to any major development in that town. So it should come as no surprise that a group of citizens has begun pushing back against plans for a housing development that Summerfield organic farmer and developer David Couch presented at a Summerfield Town Council meeting last month.

Just about everyone in Guilford County – and across the nation – is gearing up to vote in the upcoming election and, if you’re reading this in a cell in one of the county’s two jails, you should get your chance to vote as well.

This month, the Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission is considering a very notable – if unassuming – house in High Point for a lofty designation as a county landmark. The place of note is the childhood home of jazz legend John Coltrane.

There’s a new, big, virtual economic development summit coming to High Point on Wednesday, Nov. 4 – the day after the election – and it should turn out to be everything from a celebration to a learning experience. The giant electronic get-together is this years’ annual meeting of the High Point Economic Development Corp.(HPEDC), the public-private hybrid in High Point that works – very successfully in recent years – to bring new business to the city.

Marvin Price, the man who’s been selected for the important second-in-command job at the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. Price will serve as the right-hand man of Greensboro Chamber President and CE0 Brent Christensen. Christensen has been searching for a replacement for someone to fill the executive vice president of economic development slot at the Chamber ever since his long-time friend and associate David Ramsey took a new job this summer.

Guilford County government will begin distributing face masks and bottles of hand sanitizer to people in the community beginning on Thursday, Oct. 15. The distribution of the items will be handled by Guilford County’s Division of Social Services rather than the public health division.

Something quite amazing has happened at Guilford County’s two jails during the pandemic. They’ve stayed remarkably free of COVID-19, even though the highly contagious disease has hit other jail and prison populations across the country.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced recently an enhancement to an existing program that will mean additional food benefits for more than 600,000 kids in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has announced a new partnership that it believes will invigorate a local program meant to grow minority-owned businesses in the area.

When the Guilford County Board of Commissioners first began giving out grants to small area businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, county officials were alarmed at how few businesses were applying. However, in the end, those concerns proved unwarranted because, now, practically all of the $20 million allocated for that purpose has been claimed.

However, work sessions are very different in tone and atmosphere than the more formal, regular Thursday night meetings the commissioners hold on the first and third Thursday of most months. This year, for mid-October, the board has pulled a switcheroo: It canceled a planned Thursday, Oct. 15 regular evening meeting and added a 3 p.m. work session for that afternoon.

Earlier this summer, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, along with airport staff, began planning to hold a movie night in the airport’s parking area, and this week PTIA announced the name of the movie and the details. After considering many movies, staff selected “Up,” which will be shown on Saturday, Nov. 7 in the airport’s south long-term parking lot. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will start at approximately 7:30 p.m. Airport officials are encouraging everyone to arrive early for the event that will generate money for local charities.

The Carolinas Golf Association – an educational non-profit founded in 1909 to promote golf in the Carolinas – will hold the 25th North Carolina Four-Ball Championship at two area golf courses from Friday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Oct. 11.

Tennessee-based Averitt Express freight company has opened a new service center in Kernersville. The facility features a 46,000-square-foot dock and 102 truck doors. It’s meant to handle the flow and distribution of freight in the region and outside of it. Averitt first opened a facility in the area in 1990. In the summer of 2018, the company purchased about 30 acres of land for this new center.

The coronavirus pandemic has in some cases brought families closer together. However, in a recent report to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, Guilford County Family Justice Center Director Catherine Johnson told the board that the COVID-19 crisis has created a harrowing situation for victims of domestic violence and has led to a dramatic increase in those incidences and related crimes.

Guilford College has received $2.2 million in government funding — the single largest non-endowment grant ever awarded to the school. The money comes from the Strengthening Institutions Program of the US Department of Education. The money is meant to support a new curriculum called “Guilford Edge” and to help bring about more positive outcomes from college students in all walks of life, including those from marginalized communities.

Ever since the coronavirus slammed hard into the US in March, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners has had to constantly work out the kinks of conducting the county’s business virtually. While the county commissioners and county staff now have most of those details under control seven months into the pandemic, one commissioner – Carolyn Coleman – is still having a devil of a time getting the hang of the new virtual world.

Unlike some counties in the state, Guilford County residents have never voted to give themselves a sales tax increase; however, county and school system leaders are hoping that 2020 is the year that that finally happens, and, to that end, the forces behind the initiative have set up a new website that details the reasons many are hoping for the increase.

Recently, there was a changing of the guard in one of the most important positions held by a Guilford County commissioner. Commissioner Kay Cashion, after being the board’s point person on the Sandhills Center Board of Directors for eight years, has stepped down from that seat. She’s being replaced by Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue, the county’s former Emergency Services director.

Based on information the NC State Board of Elections provided on Thursday, Oct. 1, voting by absentee ballot is proving very, very popular among the state’s voters. With just under a month to go until the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election, the state reported that county boards of elections have approved the absentee ballots of about 300,000 voters.

Soul singer James Brown was once known as the hardest working man in show business, and, right now, the hardest working man in Guilford County is probably Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt.

Just in time to provide some emotional support for a $300 million school bond referendum that’s on the Nov. 3 ballot, on Thursday, Oct. 1, the Guilford County Board of Education and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners released a joint public statement in support of better facilities for the county’s school system.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced on Thursday, Oct. 1 that it is partnering with United Providers of Health in an attempt to address the unmet health care needs of what the state categorizes as “historically marginalized communities.”

First Launch Capital Fund, a Greensboro-based venture capital fund formed two years ago to invest in Piedmont Triad region companies at the earliest stage of their development, has decided to put money into Soelect Inc., a company that makes solid-state battery components for electric vehicles, power tools and mobile devices.

Guilford County may have dodged a cyber-bullet this week. For months and months – years really – Guilford County has been planning to switch its financial reporting system over to a new system called “Munis” provided by Tyler Technologies.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Guilford County Planning Board will hold a meeting to hear input on a planned major update to the county’s Land Development Ordinance – a move that’s expected to result in the adoption of a new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).

The Guilford County Register of Deeds Office has been providing its essential services throughout the pandemic. However, these days, much, much more of that business is being conducted by mail, and the cost of postage spent by customers to get those documents has of course increased dramatically.

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, Guilford County announced to its citizens that most North Carolina families with children are now eligible for a $335 coronavirus relief payment.

One of the saddest elements of the coronavirus pandemic and the rules meant to prevent the spread of the disease has been an inability of some to visit friends and family members in nursing homes. On Monday, Sept 28, there was a ray of light in that regard as the state eased up on restrictions surrounding visitation, citing a stabilization in the spread of the virus.

Guilford County government has purchased a lot of things over the years – however, at least as far as the Rhino Times is aware, this is the first time the county has purchased a cattle squeeze chute. For the upcoming Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting, the Board of Commissioners’ agenda calls for the county to approve the purchase using $4,700 in grant money.

The State of North Carolina oversees a virus “COVID-19 NC Dashboard” on the web that includes daily stats on the number of positive cases, hospitalizations and other data related to the pandemic. On Friday, Sept. 25, the state announced that it was adding the results of a testing method that hasn’t been included in the statistics before. That measurement change increased both the number of positive cases and number of deaths the state is reporting.

Some citizens of the quaint town of Summerfield are wary of any development in that community. So a good number of them didn’t like the news one bit this week that Summerfield businessman, farmer and developer David Couch is planning to build a large residential development called Summerfield Farms Village.

A new report by Construction Coverage, a construction industry research and analytics firm, details the 10-year change in median home prices by cities across the United States. It found that the median price of a Greensboro home increased by 21 percent over the last decade.

Throughout the pandemic, the City of High Point has shown that it takes even a single case of COVID-19 at one of its government workplaces very seriously. On Friday, Sept. 25, the city demonstrated that caution again. After a city employee tested positive for COVID-19 at the Northpoint Customer Service branch office at 136 Northpoint Ave. in the building that also holds the High Point Parks and Recreation administrative operations, the city shut down the payment office.

In 2017, the North Carolina provided Guilford County with $3.6 million in state funds to study – and, potentially, plan and create – a water system that could have brought a new regional water infrastructure to Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and Summerfield.