theCLog

A halfway house is moving to a Northeast Charlotte neighborhood. The house will give women who had good behavior in prison an opportunity for a second chance.

But their neighbor isn’t happy the house is coming there.

The halfway house’s neighbor isn’t some old stick in the mud woman, it’s a church.

A church. This doesn’t seem very Christ-like.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Harbor Baptist Church thinks these women will harm the 500 children the church ministers to.

Sounds like these kids are getting hurt from the intolerant people who are supposed to be helping them.

Not what Jesus would do.

Project supporters broke ground for the Center for Women on Friday. But Harbor Baptist Church on Old Concord Road remains optimistic it can stop the project.

The next episode in the controversy takes place today: At the order of Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin, the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment reconsiders a previous decision to give the site a zoning variance that allowed work to begin.

Church officials filed a court challenge to that decision in February.

However, backers of the center said that, even if the zoning decision is reversed, the project will go ahead, with adjustments. Construction is set to begin in September.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be a church that would oppose this,” said Myra Clark of the Center for Community Transitions, which is behind the project.

“I would think that reaching out to people who have lost their way is a core value for most churches. And I had hoped the women would be able to worship at that church.”

On that point, the church agrees. Harbor Baptist Pastor J.R. Farrington said he’d be thrilled to host the women at his church, which has up to 700 in its pews on Sundays.

Here’s hoping that these women will find a better church to worship in. A church where the pastor is not an asshole.

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In Charlotte and Tabor City two would be burglars learned the hard way that some people take the right to bear arms seriously.

But will the justice system punish these men who protected their houses? Should either of these men face charges?

Let’s start with what happened in the Queen City. According to the Charlotte Observer, a 76-year-old man allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old robbery suspect.

Legal experts say the decision of whether to charge a 76-year-old man who allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old robbery suspect will hinge on many factors, primarily whether the man thought his life was in danger.

The issue is complicated by the fact that the shooting happened away from the house, after the robbers had left.

The robbery happened Saturday afternoon of W.T. Harris Boulevard. Three teens, including the one who was later killed broke into the man’s home, tied him and his wife up and according to the Observer, got away with jewelry, a black wallet, cash, a .38 revolver and a gold Masonic ring.

Was that worth the life of a teenager or during the course of the robbery, did the teens threaten to come back do something else to the family?

The teenagers ran from the house on Grier Road, police said. The man freed himself, had his wife call 911, and drove after them, police said.

When he caught up with them on Ginger Lane, about two-tenths of a mile from the house, police say he shot and killed Fluker.

It seems as if something forced this man to take the law into his hands and follow the people who’d violated him and his wife. It had to be more than the Masonic ring.

Also making news this morning is the state senator who shot a would-be intruder.

State Sen. R.C. Soles apparently shot a would-be intruder at his home outside Tabor City around 5 p.m. Sunday, a local official said.

Kyle Blackburn was transported to an S.C. hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, said Rex Gore, district attorney for Columbus, Bladen and Brunswick counties.

Blackburn was accompanied by another man, B.J. Wright, a former client of Soles, who is a lawyer. Wright was released from prison this month after serving time for probation violation, Gore said.

This case is a lot stranger than the Charlotte case because there are allegations against Soles that makes you wonder if this was a robbery or something else.

The SBI already has been looking into allegations by another former Soles client that Soles fondled the man 12 years ago. The man, 27-year-old Stacey Scott, recanted the allegation last week, days after it was broadcast on a TV news report.

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As an author, hearing about the death of a fellow writer makes you very uneasy.

Finding out that a crime writer was found floating in the Pee Dee River makes you wonder what he was working on that may have caused his death.

According to The State:

The body of Dale Hudson, a well-known author who profiled some of the area’s most infamous homicides, was found Saturday night by two fishermen in the Pee Dee River.

Marion County Coroner, Jerry Richardson, said foul play has been ruled out in the death of Hudson, 56, who had been missing since Wednesday.

“There were no signs of blunt force trauma or of gunshot wounds. We’re waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine a further cause of death,” he said.

But this seems too simple and too contrived for this to be the end. I wonder if investigators have looked at Hudson’s files, seen what he’s working on to determine if his death is something more than an accident.
I wonder if Hudson was working on another book that someone didn’t want published.
He was from Myrtle Beach, why would he hang around the dirty Pee Dee River?

According to Horry County police Sgt. Robert Kegler, Hudson last spoke to his wife on Wednesday around 11 a.m.. He told her he had a migraine and was pulling over to rest. She told police he was supposed to call shortly after to let her know where he would be resting. She told police he never called back.

Police found Hudson’s car abandoned in a stretch of woods in Marion County Friday. Detectives with the departments violent crimes unit and crime scene investigators went to the scene where the vehicle was found and are investigating Hudson’s disappearance, Kegler said Friday.

Does anyone find it strange that a man who makes a living writing about real life mysterious would pull over in the woods to rest? I spent three years covering the police beat and after reading about three robberies from ATMs at night, I don’t visit them after 5 p.m. anymore.

This death is very suspicious and hopefully there will be answers sooner rather than later.

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Michael Vick is back in the NFL — after spending 18 months in prison — it is time to stop punishing him for dog fighting.

Yes, it was wrong. But he didn’t kill a person and people need let it go.

I knew the Carolina Panthers weren’t going to sign Vick because Charlotte is a punk ass city. Yeah, I said it.

Charlotte is the only place where people love dogs more than they love people. Hit a woman, you may go to jail, abuse a dog and you WILL go to jail.

But the NFL needs to realize, PETA doesn’t football tickets. Real football fans want to see their team win. Philly is a good fit for Vick. I’m sure those rowdy fans in the city of brotherly love just want to see the Eagles win a Super Bowl, something the Panthers will never do as long as Jake Delhomme is the quarterback.

CNN reports that Vick once again apologized for his involvement in dog fight:

“I think everybody deserves a second chance,” Vick said at a news conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday. “Now I want to be part of the solution and not the problem.”

The league suspended Vick indefinitely in August 2007 after he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bankrolling a dogfighting operation at a home he owned in Virginia.

Vick, 29, was freed from federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, on May 20 and returned to his Virginia home to serve the last two months of his 23-month sentence in home confinement.

“Everything that happened at that point in my life was wrong,” Vick said of his involvement with the dogfighting ring.

“I had to reach a turning point. Prison definitely did it for me,” he said.

He’s sorry, so let the man play football and let the dog jokes rest.

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We laugh about South Carolina and all of it’s woes, but a recent poll shows that there are just as many idiots living in the Tar Heel State.

Barely half of N.C. voters believe President Obama was born in the United States, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 749 North Carolina voters Aug. 4-10, and found that 54 percent believe that Obama was born in the United States. Twenty-six percent of those surveyed said they do not believe Obama was born in the U.S., and 20 percent said they were not sure.

The survey found that only 24 percent of Republican voters in North Carolina believe Obama was born in the U.S.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Conservative critics of Obama contend he is not a natural-born U.S. citizen and, therefore, not eligible to be president.

Let’s be real, the only reason “conservatives” [read white folks] want to believe President Obama isn’t US born is because they don’t want a black president.

Hawaii is a state of this union and that is where President Barack Obama was born.

Are we truly to believe George W. Bush was a C-student in college when he couldn’t pronounce nuclear? We believe Bush was taken by surprise on 9-11, but think that Obama was born in an African village?

Wake up North Carolina, Obama is the president and if you don’t like it, the borders are open for you to leave.

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If justice is swift, this is my last Mark Sanford blog.

But we are talking about South Carolina, so I’ll probably be writing about the governor until he leaves office on his own.  You know, when his term is up.

According to an Associated Press story, The S.C. senate says Sanford broke the law, not when he left the state without leadership while he was poking Maria in Argentina, but when he took first class flights and charged it to the taxpayers.

State Sen. David Thomas, whose budget committee investigated Sanford’s flights after reports last month by The Associated Press, sent evidence to Senate leaders Monday showing the Republican governor violated state laws requiring the cheapest travel possible.

Thomas said Sanford’s pricier flights on two trips cost $13,700 more than the economy flights available.

Legislators can consider sanctions against Sanford ranging from demanding reimbursement to impeachment, said Thomas, a Republican from Fountain Inn.

“It could be perceived, if it’s significant enough and a case can be made of it, to constitute a case for possible impeachment,” Thomas said.

A possible case for impeachment? Why doesn’t someone in S.C. government grow a pair and force this lame duck out of office? What has Mark Sanford really been doing to make the Palmetto State a better place?

He didn’t want stimulus money and if any state needs it, our southern friends do. Have you driven on a South Carolina road lately?

Maybe this is where part of the money to fix S.C. went:

Last month the AP reported Sanford, who once criticized state officials for costly travel, charged the state over $37,600 for first-class and business-class flights overseas since November 2005.

Thomas, chairman of the Constitutional and Administrative Subcommittee of Senate Finance, conducted his own probe, focusing on state trips Sanford took to China in 2007 and London in 2006.

Sanford’s $12,172 charge for travel to China included business-class accommodations on United Airlines. He also flew in first class on U.S. Airways to London in 2006 for $7,065, state records show.

Thomas said there is no documentation showing Sanford or anyone else reimbursed the state for the more expensive flights. Other state employees traveled in the less expensive economy class on those flights, he said.

Sanford charged the state $8,687 for a trip to Brazil last year that included a leg in the more expensive business class, records show. He has since acknowledged visiting his mistress in Argentina during that trip, a trade mission planned by the state’s Commerce Department, and reimbursed the state $3,300 for part of the trip.

Hey, hey, ho, ho, it is time for Mark Sanford to go!

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Another day, another Mark Sanford inquiry.

Can someone please tell me again why this cheating, lying, non governing governor still has a job?

The State is reporting that:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford used state aircraft for personal and political trips, often bringing along his wife and children – contrary to state law regarding official use, an Associated Press investigation has found.

According to state budget law, “Any and all aircraft owned or operated by agencies of the State Government shall be used only for official business.”

Now, if this latest matter doesn’t force this lame duck love gov to resign, nothing will. Sanford won South Carolina because he was supposed to be a different type of politician.

The governor has made a political career out of being outwardly thrifty – known to demand that state employees use both sides of Post-It notes. He has frequently railed against government spending, and attempted for months to block federal stimulus money for South Carolina schools.

Last month, the AP revealed how Sanford had flown first class and business class on commercial airlines at taxpayer expense, despite a law requiring lowest-cost travel.

So, Sanford, who always talks about his Christian beleifs, is thumbing his nose at man’s law and God’s law. (Adultry is a sin, even when a Republican is committing it.)

If this guy doesn’t resign and soon, South Carolina is going to become an even bigger laughing stock.

Here in Charlotte, the head of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is proving to be just as useless as Mark Sanford. Dr. Peter Gorman is faced with a choice, keep getting rid of teachers or keep middle school sports.

Guess what The Charlotte Observer said he picked.

If you said teachers, you’re wrong.

Late last month, Gorman had said middle school sports and CMS-TV would be cut in a worst-case state budget scenario — a situation in which the state would mandate yet another round of budget trimming.

But in the interview with WBT, Gorman said he thinks the elimination of middle school sports — a proposal which had generated controversy — will not happen.

“The board could still vote to do that, but I will not reommend it,” Gorman said. We’re still taking large cuts. But they’re just not as large as we had feared”

When asked how many of the laid-off teachers might be rehired, the CMS superintendent said he doesn’t know.

“We worked all weekend on that, and we’ll work on it again today,” he said. “But I don’t have an exact number yet.”

But middle school football and track are a go. How many middle school kids actually play these sports? Are there still PE classes in schools? I’m sure people will say that sports teach kids lessons — that’s not a false statement — but teachers teach a lot more than tossing a ball.

Are we seriously even having a discussion about hiring or keeping teachers on the job versus allowing kids to play sports? There are plenty of city leagues around town, including the Police Athletic League. Because who really goes to middle school sporting events? How much money does a middle school football game bring into CMS?

It should’ve been a no-brainer to cut middle school sports to save jobs in CMS. I’m sure the middle school coaches could teach a class.

So, when do parents start calling for Gorman’s head?

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Jenny Sanford is telling her cheating ass husband adiós.

That cheater just happens to be the Governor of South Carolina, who recently returned from a European vacation with his family.

Guess Jenny didn’t fall for his bullshit.

In an article on the Charlotte Observer’s web site, Jenny Sanford told reporters:

“I am so thankful for the overwhelming support and prayers we have received from people all across South Carolina. I am literally in awe of how blessed we are to have such love and support from family and friends, old and new.

“It is with this support, and after much careful and prayerful consideration, that I have decided to move back to our home in Charleston with our sons for the upcoming school year.”

That really sounds like a couple that’s working on their marriage.

I hope Jenny Sanford ushers in a new type of political wife. You don’t have to stand by that low down, dirty dog of a husband when he cheats on you with a soul-mate, boy in the airport or White House intern.

You get more respect when you leave the bastard.

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A lot has been said at the former United Way Director, Gloria Pace King.

She’s been called greedy, blamed for the fact that no one is donating to UW and so on.

A federal judge, according to the Charlotte Observer, tossed out her discrimination lawsuit. All right, but let’s look at human nature for a second — the UW board offered King a lot of money. And she took it.

What would you have done? And don’t get all PC on me. If you had unchecked cash and memberships to exclusive clubs that was paid for by your employer, you would’ve ridden that wagon until the wheels fell off.

I don’t understand why people are mad at King, the board gave her those things. But when it came out, the board threw her and her Jimmy Choos underneath the bus.

But honestly, anyone in her position would’ve done the same thing. That’s how humans are. We take what’s given to us.

King filed suit in April, accusing the United Way’s board of discrimination and wrongful termination, among other things, in her firing last fall. Board members said they fired her because public outcry over her $2 million supplemental pension made her leadership untenable.

At the time, the board denied her the pension, but said it would pay more than $300,000 remaining on her three-year employment contract. Board leaders told her they reserved the right to revisit the terms of her dismissal, and began an internal investigation.

King said in court papers that United Way leaders had bowed to pressure from people in the community who couldn’t accept the fact that a black woman would be so highly paid. In support of that claim, she cited their choice of Mac Everett, a white man and retired banker, as her interim successor.

This spring, the United Way accused King of inappropriately billing the agency for tens of thousands of dollars of her personal expenses. The board then stopped her salary payments. King accuses the agency of breaching her contract in denying her the pension and salary payments.

The board has said King is the subject of a criminal probe by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service. King denies any wrongdoing.

The UW is the real villian. Didn’t someone on that board think giving her all of that money would cause the public to question what they’re donations were really going to? If not then there are a bunch of idiots running that organization. [Even if some of them aren't there now. They're running a business somewhere in Charlotte and we should all be afraid.]

So, the lawsuit maybe a little much, but I dare anyone to say they wouldn’t have taken the sweetheart deal King was offered.

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John Edwards’s former lover and Mark Sanford are making headlines all over again.
Why won’t they just go away?

Let’s start with Johnny boy’s ex. According to The News and Observer in Raleigh:

Rielle Hunter, former girlfriend of John Edwards, arrived at the federal courthouse in Raleigh this morning, where a grand jury is meeting.

Hunter was carrying her daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born Feb. 27, 2008. Edwards later confirmed that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006, but he has denied being the father of the girl.

Yet, Hunter doesn’t show the girl’s face as she walks into the court house. But wait a minute, who takes a baby to testify in front to the grand jury anyway? Is she trying to prepare the little girl for the court case that’s bound to happen when it comes out that Edwards is the father? Smells like a Maury Show expose. What John Edwards should do — something he hasn’t done ever from the looks of things — is tell the truth. If you are the father of this love child, please tell the truth and get it over with. Your political career is toast and that great hair cut and “aw shucks” attitude of yours isn’t fooling anyone any more.

And in South Carolina, the governor is back. Finally. According to an Associated Press story that was published in The Charlotte Observer, Mr. ‘I found my soul mate in Argentina’ Sanford, is back from a family vacation in Europe and plans to actually get some work done for the state of South Carolina. Wonder where he stands on lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18? Since he’s the governor, shouldn’t we know that.

Sanford is heading back to work after a European vacation with his family as he tries to patch things up after admitting an affair with an Argentine woman.

Sanford has no public events scheduled Thursday but will have a handful of meetings.

Spokesman Ben Fox says Sanford will go over efforts to enforce a new state law intended to crack down on businesses hiring illegal immigrants.

Fox says Sanford also plans to get an update on how the state is monitoring federal stimulus cash spending. Sanford had been a GOP darling earlier this year for his outspoken opposition to taking federal money to help avoid teacher layoffs.

Sanford also has a meeting to hear issues involving development around the state’s military bases.

It seems that Sanford could’ve gotten a lot more work done had he kept his pants zipped and is behind in South Carolina. I mean, come on, this state has problems! Serious problems and the governor is having a cross-continential love affair?

Just resign already!

And then the biggest cheater of all, Bill Clinton proved this week that sinners have soul too.

Clinton did what his wife couldn’t do, freed two American journalist from North Korea.

CNN says:

But with the success of his North Korean mission so quick and easy, it’s conceivable that Bill Clinton could add the role of “diplomatic cleaner” to his resume — a version of Harvey Keitel’s role as Winston Wolfe in the movie “Pulp Fiction” — a fixer of messy problems, which he solves with a combination of stylish charisma and lucid thinking under pressure.

So, Sanford and Edwards shouldn’t worry, save some women from a dictator and it will be all lovely again. But for now, please go away and atone.

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