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Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:47:19 -0400

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Allen Johnson: New Aquatics Center can break ground in more ways than one

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:00:00 -0400

The Greensboro Coliseum officially broke ground on the city's new Aquatics Center on May 6.

At close to $19 million, the construction of the facility will cost nearly 16 times the $1.2 million a local small-business incubator, the Nussbaum Center, received in a loan the day before.

Some might argue which is the better investment.

Allen Johnson: Council still could use some schooling on value of small businesses

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 09 May 2010 03:00:00 -0400

Check the campaign platforms of every City Council candidate in 2009, regardless of his or her political stripe, and all of them -- male or female, veteran or newcomer, Tar Heel or Blue Devil -- said they wanted to create jobs.

Allen Johnson: Jury duty calls, then tells me, ‘Never mind.’

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:00:00 -0400

You may have read on this page an editorial (or two) wagging a judgmental finger at the scofflaws who ignore their duty as jurors in local courtrooms.

We even praised a Guilford County judge who got so fed up with truant jurors that he dispatched deputies to round up the no-shows. That’ll learn ’em.

Allen Johnson: I want my county government back

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:00:00 -0400

Imagine, for a moment, the following scene at a Greensboro City Council meeting:

Council member Trudy Wade asks City Manager Rashad Young his best-guess estimate of the expected city budget deficit. Young refuses to answer.

Another council member, Mary Rakestraw, poses the same question. Young still won't say.

Allen Johnson: I won't miss it if the city kicks loose-leaf collection to the curb

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 03:00:00 -0400

Among the ideas floated for possible budget cuts is the elimination of the current method of fall loose-leaf collection in Greensboro neighborhoods.

For some people this apparently would pose an unimaginable hardship.

Personally, I wouldn't miss it one iota.

Allen Johnson: More space and more voices on opinion pages

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 03:00:00 -0400

Effective this week, the News & Record will restore a Second Opinion page on Saturdays.

We know it's uncommon for newspapers to add in this age of subtraction rather than addition, but we see this as a good investment that we believe readers will appreciate.

Allen Johnson: More independent coliseum would be more profitable

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:00:00 -0400

Some people believe Matt Brown is too big for his britches.

I wonder if he just needs a new tailor.

Allen Johnson: Should my Diet Dew addiction be punished with a tax?

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:00:00 -0400

I don't smoke. I rarely drink. And I eat red meat in moderation.

But one my few true vices (at least as I see it) is my conspicuous over-consumption of soft drinks.

Even as a child I craved the sugary rush of a grape Nehi. Before you knew it, I was scoring Cheerwines and Dr. Peppers.

Now I'm hooked on the hard stuff.

Allen Johnson: Film tells important story, features local connections

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

"Blood Done Sign My Name" is not a great movie.

It is not even a good movie.

But it is an earnest, unflinching film that wears its considerable heart on its sleeve like a badge of honor.

Allen Johnson: Wake County ditches its school diversity policy

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:00:00 -0500

As expected, the new Wake County school board is rolling back that school system's diversity policy.

With tempers flaring and extra security on hand, Wake's nationally praised socioeconomic diversity guidelines were kicked to the curb last week in favor of neighborhood schools by a slender 5-4 margin.

Allen Johnson: A few words from readers about the Books pages

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

The News & Record's revived Books pages turned six months old last week after being snatched by reader demand from a premature burial.

Though we had pulled the plug on the pages more than a year earlier, you never stopped telling us you wanted them back. So we listened.

Allen Johnson: Rush to judgment in shooting reckless and premature on both sides

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

There's more than enough tragedy to go around in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Christian Rook by a sheriff's deputy.

A young man's life snuffed short before he was old enough to vote or legally drink a beer.

A grieving family.

An officer who must live with the outcome of one split-second decision for the rest of his life.

Allen Johnson: Why Alston's the most powerful politico in the county

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Despite all the recent huffing and puffing about county commissioners Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston overstepping his bounds as the broker for a proposed new hotel, don't expect much to change.

Allen Johnson: Some credit for new civil rights museum goes to ... Jim Renick?

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

The name Jim Renick is rarely seen or heard these days in Greensboro.

Even less so after the school's Board of Trustees abruptly erased the former N.C. A&T chancellor's name from the new education building then under construction in 2007.

Allen Johnson: Hotel debate desperately needs someone without a dog in this fight

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Where do I stand on a proposed new $54 million luxury hotel for downtown Greensboro?

To be honest, I still don’t know.

Allen Johnson: Elon PA program could come to Greensboro

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

As UNCG continues its dogged pursuit of a pharmacy school, another high-demand health education program might also land in Greensboro.

Discussions about a new physician assistant program at Elon University are in the preliminary stages.

But Elon has a knack for making things happen.

Allen Johnson: Reid's tangled tongue told us more than you might think

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

It was encouraging to hear Mayor Bill Knight tout diversity as an asset last week,

"I believe this diversity is a source not of conflict and problems, but of strength, creativity and inspiration," he said. "We don't just have an amazing community. We have a community capable of conquering challenges working together."

Allen Johnson: Don’t forget South Elm and Lee

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Here today. Gone today.

The developers of a proposed new downtown hotel have turned away from the corner of South Elm and Lee Streets as the potential site.

Now they’re shopping their plan for a location closer to the heart of the center city, at Davie Street and February One Place.

In this case, being snubbed actually may be a good thing.

Allen Johnson: From Royal Villa to Royal Pain

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Two words of warning for the supporters of a new luxury hotel in Greensboro: Royal Villa.

Boasting 347 rooms and a 10,000-square-foot convention center, it was billed as the biggest and best hotel complex from Murphy to Manteo.

One of the Royal Villa’s investors included the speaker of the state House at the time, Carl Stewart of Gastonia.

Allen Johnson: Hey, Charlie Brown, thanks for sticking around

"Allen Johnson ()" — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -0500

"Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know."

-- Lucy Van Pelt in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

Allen Johnson: Random thoughts while pounding the pavement

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -0500

One fringe benefit of my daily jogs is that they fill my mind with an endless stream of random thoughts. Some recent notions that have run through my mind while I've run through my neighborhood:

Does anybody actually stop at stop signs anymore?

Allen Johnson: Lessons swim center boosters can learn from the Natural Science Center

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -0500

I wonder if members of the outgoing City Council would have been so willing to spend more than $18 million on a new competitive swim center if it were their own wallets they were reaching for instead of ours.

Thankfully, the incoming council seems less inclined to spend first and ask later.

Allen Johnson: The inconvenient truth about Tasers and danger in our schools

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0500

Even as Guilford County was debating, once again, the wisdom of police officers carrying stun guns on school grounds, four teens were being arrested in Wake County on Nov. 12 for a bringing a .22 caliber revolver and a butterfly knife onto the campus of Broughton High School.

The pistol turned out to be unloaded, but a knife requires no ammunition.

Allen Johnson: Bill Burckley's scary trip to the edge and triumphant return

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0500

City Councilwoman Trudy Wade says she's always known political consultant Bill Burckley as a "gentleman."

C'mon, Trudy.

What you've always known is better than that.

Wade has been around long enough to know Burckley, a former council member, can be both annoying and relentless-- like a pebble in your shoe, or a mosquito in the dark.

Allen Johnson: Can UNCG and UNC-CH meet in middle on pharmacy schools?

"Allen Johnson ()" — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500

When asked about UNCG's hopes to establish a new pharmacy school by 2011, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp, a smart and impressive man, gingerly tip-toed through an answer.

"It's not my decision," Thorp said in a meeting with News & Record editorial writers last March.