Todd Paris, Staff Writer and Salisbury Attorney
♦ Salisbury City Council met on January 3, 2017 and the public comment has been synopsized by RFP with amazing skill. These videos are highly condensed and highly recommended for voters.
The Good. Carolyn Logan epitomizes the old 60’s expression; “Tell it like it is!” She fearlessly appears for public comment month after month to comment about crime, poor police resources, and gang related crime. As reflected on the video, Ms. Logan became upset with Mayor Alexander using the phrase “You people” during a private conversation and then, when called on it, the Mayor claims she was speaking about all the public commenters and not just Black citizens. That brought knowing chuckles from the audience. If there was a fib-o-meter it might’ve gone off and on several times at full brightness.
The phrase “You people” is said to be not favored among Back citizens and in fact, a Salisbury Police Chief resigned a number of years ago after using this phrase while talking to a group of our Black citizens. Using this phrase shows a characteristic lack of good judgment on the mayor’s part. Black citizens might feel encouraged to ask for her resignation. Read more about this issue and check out this survey:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/8/694838/-
The Bad. County Commissioner Chair Greg Edds made an appearance to tout what I call his Declaration of Codependency.” RFP Staff ( and the deep bench of knowledgeable people available to our editor continues to amaze me) reveals that this “important’ county document is actually “cribbed” almost word for word from “Sustaining Partnerships for Regional Economic Growth – American Association of Community Colleges and the National Center on Education and the Economy with Support of the MetLife Foundation” and “A Regional Declaration of Interdependence by E.F. Morrison at al, 2008, West Lafeyette, IN: North Central Indiana WIRED.” (See page 12)
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Resources/aaccprograms/wed/Documents/MetLife_publication_FINAL.pdf
It’s almost word for word the same document with the addition of a new added idea of resolving conflicts “quietly.” There is no citation, nor “adopted from” language. It was copied from somewhere else and was certainly not created in, or for Rowan County. It’s not in anyway special and little more than a very lazy public relations stunt that runs contrary to our other lazy public relations stunt: the $500,000.00 rebranding slogan of “Be an Original.” Of course, RFP has already shown this tired old marketing phrase was worn out to be point of derision, in that it is not “original”, in the least. Oh well, On the Road Spencer, NC to sell more rebranded Indiana snake oil with a fake Rowan County label. “Now with an important new ingredient – “Resolve controversies privately.”
The Downright Ugly. That’s Edd’s pomposity to bring this declaration to governing bodies of equal dignity and tell them to “get over it” if they don’t like the wording. I thought Kenny Hardin too restrained over this slight. It’s quite clear Edds’ the giant “clown signs” on I-85, the re-branding junket (Be an Original), and this borrowed declaration that Edds has no good original ideas.
Perhaps they didn’t teach proper citation at Edds’ alma mater Bob Jones University or even permit the reading of books?
The Declaration of Interdependence::
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wk5tdie8cmxrrt/Declaration%20of%20Interdependence.pdf?dl=0
