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Voters should be able to get plenty of information Thursday about Greensboro City Council candidates.

That's because two groups are having forums on the same night. The details:

*The Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro, 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Greensboro Historical Museum, 130 Summit Ave. The districts 1 and 2 and mayoral candidates are invited. Information: Ralph Johnson, 988-6001.

*The Democratic Women of Guilford County, 7 p.m. Thursday, Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, 501 S. Mendenhall St. Candidates for the district and at-large races are invited. Information: Mary Bell-Hemingway, 540-1245.

If you're trying to visit both, MapQuest.com says that they're 1.31 miles apart and that the trip will take four minutes. The way the forums are set up, district candidates at the Concerned Citizens forum should be able to make it in time for the Democratic Women's forum.

Districts 1, 3 and 5 and the at-large seats will be on the primary ballot Oct. 9.

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Keepin' it fairly clean

Scoop did a little research to find out whether any of the candidates have had serious brushes with the law.

We didn't find much in the search, which included Guilford County records spanning three decades.

Many of the candidates had spotless records — not even a minor speeding ticket — and none of the others had been convicted of anything serious.

Virtually all of the offenses were driving-related .

Grier's gain

Superintendent Terry Grier was all a-grin last Tuesday after the Guilford County Board of Education awarded him his largest raise yet.

The board voted 10-1 to increase his salary by $15,030, bringing his total salary to $202,903. He started making $164,000 when he came to Guilford County Schools in 1999.

Board members congratulated him and his staff on working over the past school year to meet an assortment of goals, including increasing the graduation rate and percent of students earning a passing score on Advanced Placement exams.

But Garth Hébert, who frequently questioned Grier's leadership before joining the school board in December, felt the need to provide a disclaimer

to his supporters for his yes vote:

"My constituency is going to be shocked that I would vote for a raise for Dr. Grier," Hébert said. "The board set the goals. In all honesty to the man, he met those goals."

Darlene Garrett, who cast the lone no vote, also explained her reasoning: a drop in SAT scores.

"I do think he did a very good job," she said. "He substantially met the goals, but not all of them."

Staff writers Jason Hardin and Morgan Josey Glover contributed.