Category Archives: Journalism

Journalism

Students hold sit-in to silence Sam at UNC-Chapel Hill

Students gather at the base of Silent Sam, a Confederate monument on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on Aug. 25, 2017.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Administrators have said Silent Sam will remain on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the foreseeable future, and students have vowed to remain at the Confederate monument until it is removed.

The 24/7 sit-in at the statue, which faces Franklin Street from McCorkle Place, stretched into the weekend Friday night as students remained at the foot of the pedestal through rainfall and made plans to spend the night on the quad.
Attempts earlier in the week to pitch tents were thwarted by police, but supporters brought umbrellas, chairs and food for those gathered.

The statue of a Confederate soldier was erected in 1913 to mark the 50th anniversary of the American Civil War through funding from alumni and the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a memorial to the students who died fighting for the South.

Silent Sam, so called because the soldier carries no ammunition, sits on a pedestal bearing carvings, although it was covered Friday by signs and banners.

Signs posted around the pedestal at Silent Sam on campus in Chapel Hill on Aug. 25, 2017.
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$Texas, Journalism, Me Myself and Ty, Politics

Sen. Tillis holds town call

Sen Thom Tillis (R-NC)

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) held a telephone town hall Tuesday for residents in Wilson, Wayne and Lenoir counties, taking submitted questions and live inquiries from constituents in Eastern North Carolina.

Tillis, former N.C. Speaker of the House, stressed the need for Republicans to wield their Congressional supermajority with a look to bipartisanship, something he said Democrats failed to do when they held majorities in the House and Senate.

“We need to get members on both sides of the aisle talking,” he said. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty

Mt. Olive Pickle sees #ADayWithoutImmigrants attendance dip

Operations went smoothly Thursday at Mt. Olive Pickle, but a number of workers were absent on a day activists nationwide promoted as a general strike for migrant workers.

While social media posts suggested administrative staff were called onto the canning line to fill in for missing workers, Mt. Olive spokeswoman Lynn Williams said Thursday evening she didn’t know if those accounts were true.

“I really don’t know if that’s true or not actually,” she said. “I have no idea. I haven’t seen the social media post either. We did see a dip in attendance today, but we made some adjustments.”

 

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty, Politics

Thanks for inspiring me, Donald Trump.

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump signs autographs after a primary rally in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Feb. 19, 2016.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from following Donald Trump across the Carolinas it’s that people appreciate someone who tells it like it is.

Yes, Trump has inspired me. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty

In Kinston, a city’s anxiety crests with its river

 

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National Guard vehicles staged at the intersection of Herritage and King streets on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2016.

The parking lots adjacent to the Chef and the Farmer and the Lenoir County Office Complex on Herritage Street have gradually evolved into an unofficial center of operations for emergency management officials this week in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and horrific flooding that’s displaced thousands across Eastern North Carolina.

Tiffany West Park, where Gov. Pat McCrory addressed the public just a day earlier, was completely underwater across the street from where emergency response vehicles from across

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National Guard vehicles staged at the intersection of Herritage and King streets on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2016.

the state are staged. In post-Matthew Kinston, the area around the Lenoir County Farmers Market gives first responders maximum mobility, with National Guard humvees and swift water boats staged nearby to transport aid should an emergency arise anywhere along the river basin that was once the U.S. 70 Corridor.

With most storm prep finished Thursday, Friday was a day of waiting and worrying for residents and business owners from Herritage Street downtown to Cedar Lane in East Kinston. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty

Neuse River edges into areas untouched by Floyd

It’s been nearly six days since Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Charleston County, S.C. and the tropical storm’s atmospheric  remnants have long since dissipated into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving blue skies across Eastern North Carolina for the better part of the week.

In some cities across the east, displaced residents are beginning to get an idea of their losses as the river levels ease off, but in Kinston officials, business and homeowners are bracing for the riverside city’s toughest test in recorded history.

Preparations for flooding events along the Neuse River began even before the rain arrived, as crews cleared storm drains in anticipation of the first October hurricane to strike the Carolina coast since 1954. Every day this week volunteers have gone door to door in neighborhoods expected to flood to warn about the rising water, but it was clear Thursday morning that time was beginning to run out for those evacuating.

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More than 150 community members stood within feet of the rising Neuse River waters at Tiffany West Park during a prayer gathering and call to action. “Where you’re standing is going to be underwater,” Mayor B.J. Murphy told those gathered.

The Neuse crept up during the group prayers of more than 150 community members gathered at Tiffany West Park Thursday morning before Mayor B.J. Murphy and council members Felicia Solomon and Robert Swinson gave the latest update: 29 feet.

Flood stage is 14 feet for the Neuse, which begins in Durham County and empties into the Pamlico Sound near New Bern. “Floyd stage” — the record set during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 — is 27.7. By 9 p.m. Thursday the river was at 27.92 and still expected to pick up another foot before finally cresting, although levels are expected to stay near 26 feet through at least Monday, Oct. 17. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty, Sports

Values & disaster-stricken North Carolina

Gov. Pat McCrory broadcast his press conference live on Facebook Tuesday night from Raleigh as he laid out the state’s continued response to Hurricane Matthew.

With flood waters along the Neuse River still advancing on hundred-year flood records, McCrory assured that the state’s disaster relief funding will last into 2017 while vowing to call a special session as early as next week if more money is needed to aid displaced residents from affected counties, which stretch from Edgecombe County near Rocky Mount to Robeson County on the South Carolina state line.

McCrory then opened up for questions, but in the end only had to answer two, both from the same reporter: Kirk Ross of the Washington Post.

The first: “I wanted to see if you have any numbers or estimates on the livestock
and what are some of the concerns while you’re trying to get them buried as soon as possible?”

It may sound odd that the first question from the national press about a major weather event that has, as of this writing, claimed the lives of 20 North Carolinians would be about livestock, but Eastern North Carolina is the the production engine of the state’s poultry and pork industries.

The N.C. Farm Bureau Federation reported in July that the state ranks second in the nation in hog & turkey production and fourth in the production of broiler chickens & trout.

How McCrory would have an estimate of livestock lost while the waters in some areas were still rising is beyond me, but make no mistake that the general consensus here in Kinston is that we, too, are very concerned about the animals throughout Eastern North Carolina. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Politics

The Truth Is Out There (But Not In TIME)

Perhaps the best explanation of the ideological shift of “objective” journalism is made in “The Truth Is Out There In 2016. Way Out There” from the Oct. 17, 2016 issue of TIME.

In post-birtherism America, our “truthiness” is weaker than our gluten tolerance.

In the article, Stephen Colbert himself says the reality of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is “completely divorced” from the one you and I reside in.

It seems truthiness doesn’t have enough wiggle room to allow for thousands of applauding Muslims. Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty

Eastern North Carolina deserves better journalism

Hurricane Matthew 147.JPGThe City of Kinston ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents living near the Neuse River Monday beginning at 2 p.m. as the river and others across Eastern North Carolina  are expected to crest at record levels not seen in the region since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Some residents began evacuating over the weekend, spurred to action by rumors that the mandatory evacuation was already in effect. Facebook posts claimed the National Guard was knocking on people’s doors to get them out of flood zones even while the rain was still coming down.

Most of the confusion, it appears, stemmed from a single media report from Wayne County, where the Goldsboro Daily News was reporting on flood conditions in its listening area. (GDN is the Curtis Media Group news division of its Eastern North Carolina cluster of radio stations.) Continue reading →

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Journalism, Me Myself and Ty, Politics, Sports

Swinging for the fences

First off, I submitted the Kinston Wholehogs.

I don’t believe anyone ever relishes naming a new team. All selecting a mascot did for the Rio Grande Valley was stir up regional hostilities amidst the already tumultuous merger of two University of Texas branch campuses into a single research institution. the_university_of_texas_rio_gande_valley_athletics_logoThe mascot and team name they settled on — the Vaqueros — still angers alumni who graduated as Broncs, Scorpions or Ocelots and those who see the Spanish word for cowboy as an unnecessary homage to the population of the Valley, which is 90 percent Hispanic but 100 percent in the United States.

Culturally, the regional disdain for the mascot was over my head, but when the Texas Rangers organization last week released its slate of five name options for its new Carolina League affiliate in Kinston, I knew resistance would quickly follow.

While others have dug in on why “Down East” isn’t a true reflection of the team’s locale, I see the organization reaching out with a clear compromise in its five-team offering: the Eagles, which pays homage to Kinston’s first minor league team in 1925 in the Class B Virginia League.

A handful of people I’ve talked to about the team names have suggested the vote is a stacked deck designed to coalesce local support around the Eagles since it’s harder to build a voting bloc behind any of the more outlandish names. Hamhawks and Hogzillas will split the barbecue vote, while Eagles seem to be a more natural fit over the Wood Ducks due to the historic connection I mentioned.

And that is exactly why we must unite behind the Shaggers. Continue reading →

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