At 6:31 p.m. during the Thursday, Aug. 19 Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting, a gunshot-like sound from outside the meeting room put the board’s security officers on alert and prompted two officers to leave the room and investigate the alarming sound from the street outside.
The nine Guilford County commissioners, who sit on the opposite end of the big window that overlooks downtown Greensboro, apparently didn’t hear the noise. They were talking when it occurred and they continued with the business of the meeting unaware of what was happening.
The security officers’ facial expressions were obscured by masks, however, the officers’ movements and activity clearly indicated their concern.
About three minutes later, one officer came back into the commissioners’ meeting room and reported something into the ear of Guilford County Emergency Services Director Jim Albright, who, upon hearing the report, looked instantly more relaxed.
The officer later told the Rhino Times that the noise was a sound effect or fireworks effect used at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game when a home run occurs.
The baseball stadium is little more than a stone’s throw away from the Old Guilford County Court House where the commissioners meet.
Albright said the sound effect from the game has caused county officials alarm before.
“It sounds just like a gunshot,” Albright said. “It scares the hell out of us.”
The sound effect used by the stadium does sound remarkably like a gunshot from the street below.
Thursday night, the Greensboro Grasshoppers were playing the Bowling Green Hot Rods.
Over the past two years, there has been much greater security around the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. Years ago, there might have been two security guards at a meeting where no large crowd was expected. Now, it’s not uncommon to see a half dozen officers working the meetings, even though nearly no audience members show up due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a constant problem for neighbors living in the immediate area – on Friday nights they have a massive fireworks display that lasts at least 15 minutes. The City Ordinance requires that this be over by 10 PM but there are occasions when it starts after Midnight. Not only does it interrupt many people’s sleep patterns but it is very disturbing for animals.
With the decisions this board makes and the direction they are taking the county, I don’t think many of us would be surprised if one day this wasn’t just some activity from the ballpark. The world is a crazy place right now. It’s not a laughing matter, but you have to laugh when you think how much better off we were when the biggest disruption to a meeting was when the late E.H. Hennis would cuss out the board in the name of the Ku Klux Klan and complain about various people & topics. Nowadays there is a real threat of violence, not just words.