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Deal is not just laying off 900 workers in Winston-Salem, it's also threatening them.

Employees "said they had been told by Dell officials that their severance package, ranging from eight to 12 weeks of pay and other benefits, would be terminated if they spoke with the media," the Winston-Salem Journal reported Friday. Workers who were interviewed declined to be identified.

The Dell experience isn't going to be remembered fondly here, even if employees don't talk.

Gang presence overstated?

A committee convened by school board member Deena Hayes has concluded that the gang presence in local schools is overstated.

Among the findings was that gang violations totaled 73 last year versus 75 in 2007-08 and 114 in 2006-07. "It's much less of a problem than the dialogue has suggested," Hayes said.

The school administration ought to heed the report and benefit where it can. But it would be premature and unwise to declare any kind of victory right now.

These statistics have been known to rise and fall dramatically. For instance, the year before 114 gang-related violations were recorded, only 51 were logged in 2005-06.

The extent of the gang problem in schools lies somewhere in the middle between overstatement and denial. Thus, it serves no useful purpose to declare we're L.A.

Nor does it do any good to proclaim we're suddenly Mayberry.

Principals and law enforcement know what happens in the absence of diligence on an issue like this.

The best prescription for the gang problem is recognizing it for what it is now and preventing it from growing.

Camp Lejeune's troubles linger

Marines who say they were made ill by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune aren't being forgotten.

A bill sponsored by Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan, which passed the Senate during the summer, forbids discarding their claims pending completion of a study into what may have caused the health problems.

Rep. Brad Miller's bill in the House would allow any veteran or family member based at Camp Lejeune during the period in question who has suffered adverse health as a result to be treated at a VA health facility.

That's the least the federal government should do. A report released earlier this year failed to shed much light on what effects the polluted water may have had. What's known is that some Marines stationed there suffer from debilitating illnesses, including breast cancer. Congress must press harder to get answers.

Mass indifference?

Only 6 percent of registered voters turned out for last week's city primary. That means 94 percent of them did not.

There was no lack of choices, with 28 people running in the primary. Yet, for whatever reasons, voters simply shrugged and stayed away.

Maybe all of the people who say city government needs a makeover are louder than they were influential. Who knows? Turnout was so low that anything seems possible in the general election -- depending on who bothers to participate.

Then again, municipal primaries held Sept. 15 in Charlotte and Winston-Salem attracted less than 5 percent of voters.

So as bad as we were, we weren't the worst. Yay.