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The Web site for the Guilford County Sheriff's Office has a county leader asking questions about whether it crosses a line with regard to the May 6 vote on $115 million in bonds for a new jail.

Does this Web site go too far in advocating for the jail bond? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

The site contains a link to another site, asaferguilfordocunty.com , which makes a case for a new jail. It cites a report that concluded additional jail space is necessary, shows photos of "overcrowding" in the current jail and of injured officers and inmates and notes that the state has warned the county it must address jail population.

Government employees are restricted in what they can and can't do when it comes to bond issues.

When acting as a private citizen, they are free to advocate as they wish. In an official capacity, the standard is different.

For Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston, an opponent of the jail bond, Sheriff BJ Barnes crossed the line.

"He's doing it in the name of the Guilford County sheriff," Alston said. "In my opinion, it is advocating."

Alston's fellow commissioner, Billy Yow, who with Barnes is among the members of the "Jail Bond Committee," said Alston's attack is off base.

"All the T's have been crossed and all the I's have been dotted," Yow said.

Barnes couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said elected officials can engage in education and even "issue advocacy" when it comes to bonds. Basically, that means they can talk about the issue but must stop short of saying "vote for the bonds."

The Web site doesn't appear to state its support for the bond quite so clearly. Much of the information is explicitly couched in terms of education.

"We at the Guilford County Sheriff's Office would like to assist you in making an informed decision about the up-coming Jail Bond," Barnes says in a letter on the Web site's front page.

Ultimately, Bartlett said, if someone makes a formal complaint, the board will investigate. If that happens, the fact that the information is linked from the sheriff's office Web site could add a wrinkle.

"It would put it into a gray area," he said.

More from the Web

Public participation is the cornerstone of democracy. At each meeting, the Greensboro City Council dutifully devotes at least 30 minutes to listening to the public.

People have been known to say surprising things. Last week alone, one person recited a poem, a person recounted a sexual assault allegation, and one man sought help for the hundreds of investigators he said have been following him. Across state lines.

And then, there were the guys with the kazoos.

Christopher Spence of Greensboro got up to talk about the endangered monkey whales. His impassioned plea for the mammal was interrupted by a chorus of fellows with plastic pipes, humming in support.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson, always the diplomat, asked them to keep it down so she could hear Spence's argument.

Spence had just enough time left in his three minutes to ask the council and the audience watching from home to visit www.monkeywhale.com and www.artbeatgreensboro.org.

Somewhere around that time, City Manager Mitchell Johnson got the idea that Spence and his crew might be playing an April Fool's joke. He asked Councilman Robbie Perkins to use his PDA to search for monkey whales on the Internet. And Perkins found an, ahem, adults-only site.

Word spread. Later, after the council returned from a break, they noted that folks shouldn't take Spence's advice, that those sites just aren't family-friendly. Even further, they asked the city staff to strike his comments from the video record, which is posted online after the meeting.

Thing is, it wasn't exactly a joke. This was a performance art piece staged to help promote ArtBeat Greensboro, a visual and performing art festival April 27-May 4.

And the merry pranksters didn't mean to send folks to a X-rated Web page, at least according to their marketing and public relations folks, who spent the evening trying to clear up the confusion. Monkeywhale.com contains little more than a promotional video and a link to the festival site.

The festival promoter noted that when he put "monkey whale" into Google, he came up with "N-Terminal Amino Acid Analysis Of Growth Hormones From Human, Monkey, Whale and Beef Pituitary Glands."

It's still unclear exactly what Perkins found on his PDA.

Compiled by staff writers Jason Hardin and Amanda Lehmert.