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Former police Chief David Wray may have moved on to another life in Tennessee, but he has left friends and supporters here in Greensboro.

Supporters in the most literal sense: Folks have been sending unsolicited donations to Wray for years, said one of his attorneys, Locke Clifford.

Clifford set up the trust fund for Wray after he received an unsolicited check from someone in the community.

"I got a check and there was a note on it saying, 'I would like to defray David Wray's legal expenses.' It was just a friend," Clifford said. "Now it is catching on."

Clifford said the money can be used for anything, including legal expenses.

Wray, who left his post in Greensboro amid controversy in 2006 and now works for the Transportation Security Administration in Tennessee, is being sued by officers Julius Fulmore and James Hinson.

The city won't agree to pay for the defense, so Wray is footing his own bill.

Wray's other attorney, Ken Keller, said the former police chief will likely ask the city to cover his legal expenses again, through lawsuit if necessary, after the suits are resolved.

As Clifford puts it, the legal fundraising is the community's response to "obvious injustice."

Clifford declined to say how much money was in the fund or who has been contributing to it.

Some national love

Our little ol' U.S. Senate campaign is getting some love from the national media, with Scoop's Google reader working overtime to bring us all the mentions of Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole and Democratic challenger state Sen. Kay Hagan.

"It's going to be a tight race because it always is, or almost always is in North Carolina," Dole said in Lincolnton last week.

"We're pulling out all the stops."

One of those stops will be a fundraiser in Florida with Gov. Charlie Crist on Aug. 25, according to the Orlando Sentinel's Central Florida Political Pulse blog.

"The invitation for the Aug. 25 fundraiser sent out by Dole's campaign says the minimum suggested donation is $1,000 and 'personal/PAC contributions accepted,'" according to the Web site.

Congressional Quarterly continues its monitoring of the race, rating it as "Republican Favored," one step out of the "Safe Republican" category that many expected at the beginning of the year.

And in a story on the shifting fortunes of political parties in the South, the North Carolina contest gets a - brief - mention from the Wall Street Journal that marks the contest down as a "GOP seat in a competitive race."

No word yet, though, on whether tabloids plan to assert either candidate has an alien love child or some such.

Staff writers Amanda Lehmert and Mark Binker contributed.