Triad Today

In December 2009, I wrote about the growing use of misplaced invocations. Now, four years later, that trend has not abated, so I’ve pulled my objections out of mothballs just in time for Christmas.

’Tis the holiday season when many of us celebrate and reflect upon our spirituality and religious beliefs. Some folks believe that God is responsible for everything man does, and for every event that occurs. Others believe that God gives man the capacity to make his own successes and messes. But regardless of your interpretation, most of us agree that prayer to God is being cheapened these days due to frequently misplaced invocations of His name.

As a nation we ask God to protect our currency, while Congress calls on Him to guide them through each legislative session. But does that mean God is responsible for our bad economy, or for the corruption and stupidity running rampant in politics?

The government asks God to be on our side when we go to war. But does this mean God planned for us to invade the wrong country in 2003, and murder over a million people in the process?

Athletes ask God to favor them before each contest, but does that mean the Almighty wants half of the sports teams to lose each week?

Meanwhile, some of our preachers ask God to punish folks who are different from the majority of us white bread, straight Americans. Does this mean God condoned slavery, and that He hates gays?

Increasingly, politicians, athletes and preachers seem to invoke God’s name inappropriately, and they do so unashamedly. Let’s start with sports.

Today, it is commonplace for a college football team to pray to God for a victory. Notre Dame even has a monument named “Touchdown Jesus.” But holy invocations are not limited to students who attend religious institutions. When scoring touchdowns for the University of Florida, Tim Tebow began each post-game interview by attributing his accomplishments to “My Lord Jesus Christ.”

But, football isn’t the only sport where God is called on to save the day. Baseball players routinely genuflect before stepping into the batter’s box, and point to heaven following a homerun blast.

And then there are the comments made by golfer Zach Johnson following his 2007 victory at the Masters. Johnson gave God the credit for his win, and added, “Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God.” Come on Zach, you were hitting a little white ball around, not doing missionary work in Darfur.

These athletes seem to think that God has willed them to victory, and that He is responsible for their success. Such invocations cheapen the Almighty, and make it difficult to understand why He can’t deliver every time. Athletes who use prayer for their own personal gain, therefore, put God in an untenable position.

So too, do Christian politicians and world leaders, who have justified their actions by hiding behind the Almighty. Following the World Trade Center attack, President Bush invoked God’s name repeatedly in an effort to gain support to invade an Islamic nation that had nothing to do with those attacks. On Sept. 20, 2001, Bush told a joint session of Congress: “God is not neutral.”

And while invoking God’s name to win a football game or a war is wrong on so many levels, I am almost equally offended by those who pretend to speak for God in matters of social conscience.

OsDir.com quotes Rev. Pat Robertson as having said that the “widespread practice of homosexuality will bring about terrorists bombs, earthquakes, tornados and possibly a meteor.” It is that kind of sick rhetoric that continues to divide our nation and fuel prejudice.

For Christians, this is a time to celebrate the birth of a peaceful, compassionate and tolerant man. A man who never invoked his spiritual Father’s name for trivial pursuits, or to justify violence, or to condone prejudice. And just for the record, Jesus also never profited from invoking God’s name.

that practice was started in earnest by the Roman Catholic Church, who frightened their followers into tithing or else face the prospect of not entering heaven. And that pay-for-pray practice continues today with televangelists and motivational religious speakers who collect millions of dollars by promising their donors a better life and even increased wealth.

Prayer can be a wonderful thing, especially selfless prayers of intercession for others. In fact, nothing could be more noble than calling upon God to help those less fortunate. But misplaced prayer and inappropriate use of God’s name is far from noble.

Perhaps an appropriate News Year’s resolution would be for all of us to be more judicious with our divine invocations, and to reject the influences of those who aren’t.

Deer Santa,

All I want for Krismas is for our politishuns to get well. I herd on TV that you hav to see a doktor if an elekshun lasts for more than 4 hours, so pleeze give them shorter elekshuns next yeer.

Yur frend,
Jimmy Longworth
2nd grade

Back when we used to have an official war on drugs, First Lady Nancy Reagan told kids to “Just Say No.” It was a naive, simplistic and unrealistic campaign, yet her message was commendable.

Too bad we can’t “Just Say No” to the “N” word, and be done with it. Actually the Detroit branch of the NAACP attempted to do something similar back in 2007 when it officially declared the “N” word dead and buried.

Problem is that not everyone attended the funeral, and the dreaded “N” word is still part of our common lexicon. Unfortunately it’s going to take more than a slogan or a publicity stunt to lay that vile word to rest.

In the mean time, young people of all races are receiving mixed messages about whether (or if) it’s okay to use the “N” word, and in what context. Chris Rock blurts the word frequently in his act, but the late great Richard Pryor abandoned it in his last years.

Professional athletes are divided on its usage, and so are black sports columnists. Mike Wilbon admits he uses the “N” word all the time with family and friends, while Stephen A. Smith, a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, abhors the word.

But if, as the cliché says, “Children are our future,” then what exactly are we teaching them about the use and abuse of this hurtful word?

A few days before Thanksgiving, the Fritz Pollard Alliance requested that the NFL impose a 15-yard penalty for abusive language on the field, and that includes the “N” word. Their recommendation comes on the heels of a season full of high-profile, racially charged incidents including one with a white player from the Philadelphia Eagles who got drunk and yelled to a crowded night club, “I’ll fight all you n***ers!” Then there’s Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin who quit the team because his white teammate bullied him and used racial slurs. And most recently, the NFL had to fine one of its own black umpires for calling a player the “N” word.

Perhaps a 15-yard penalty is a good remedy because it would serve as a constant reminder to players and fans not to use hateful language. Perhaps since kids follow pro football, the penalty will be enough to help us phase out the “N” word by the next generation. But perhaps not. I am reminded of a time not so long ago when educators, doctors, and elected officials worried that parents weren’t teaching their kids about sexually transmitted diseases and the unwanted teen pregnancies that can result from unprotected sex.

The remedy was to offer family life education classes at school. Perhaps we should consider a similar strategy for diffusing the “N” word. That’s what TV producer David E. Kelley suggested in a 2002 episode of “Boston Public.”

Sparked by a fight between two black youths because one called the other the “N” word, their white teacher took it upon himself to conduct a series of classes about the history of and controversy surrounding the “N” word. He used as his text, a book titled, N***er, by Randall Kennedy, a black Harvard law professor.

Kennedy offers a historical perspective on the “N” word (from the Latin “niger” for the color black), and how its earliest uses were descriptive not derogatory, which it became by the mid 19 th century. Kennedy points out that today when whites use the “N” word, they are “widely perceived to be showing their true colors as bigots.”

But what about blacks who use the word with each other?

In “Boston Public,” a black student paraphrases Kennedy, saying, “When blacks use the ‘N’ word, we’re taking it away from the white supremacists and making it our word. We’re taking power away from the racists.” But a black teacher in the TV episode opposed any use of the word by anyone, saying, “As long as people continue to use it, they give it life, and it lives as a symbol of hatred.”

David Kelley did a great job of demonstrating the importance of having open dialogue on this controversial word and what it represents, so I asked two area superintendents if they would allow a high school teacher to conduct a class on the “N” word.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Beverly Emory said that schools in the district “tackle this issue in a myriad of ways that directly relate to the curriculum standards… and with so many efforts to send the message of treating everyone with respect and kindness…. To make this message singularly about such a derogatory word doesn’t benefit our district.”

Guilford County Schools Superintendent Mo Green told me that while he would have reservations about discussing the “N” word in class, he would allow it, so long as the teacher “has an understanding of the historical context,” and first meets with the diversity officer and the principal so they could help him frame the discussion.

I also asked Winston-Salem Human Relations Director Wanda Allen-Abraha for input. Allen-Abraha has conducted a number of student forums, including a recent one on racism.

“By teaching the history, hurtfulness, and hatefulness surrounding the ‘N’ word, all students would gain a greater understanding that assigning the word to a particular race is, in itself, racist,” she said. Allen-Abraha also said she would be willing to sponsor or develop educational forums for the school system which would include discussions about the “N” word.

I’m just an old white guy with no right to dictate to kids of either race what words they should or shouldn’t use, but I do believe that education is the key to changing minds and habits. So let’s get those class discussions started, and let’s bring on those 15-yard penalties.

First of all, I apologize for the profanity-laden headline, but last week was supposed to be all about giving thanks, and instead it was all about people, companies, agencies, and organizations sticking it to us.

Here, then, in no particular order, is a summary of selective sh*t that happened last week.

It is common knowledge that Blue Cross Blue Shield supported Obamacare because the insurance giant stood to pick up as many as 40 million new customers. Meanwhile Big Blue and the White House knew all along that about 15 million Americans subscribed to healthcare plans which wouldn’t meet Affordable Care Act guidelines, and that, despite the President’s pledge to the contrary, those folks would not be able to keep their plan. And so, earlier this month, BCBS started mailing out cancellation notices.

President Obama came under fire from both parties for lying to consumers, so he backed down and ordered that anyone who had his policy canceled could have it reinstated. There’s only one catch. In order to keep the policy they had all along, these canceled customers would have to pay Blue Cross a higher rate than they did before, even though their policy didn’t suddenly become more compliant. Last week our useless Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin aided and abetted Big Blue’s ballsy move by approving a huge rate increase in premiums, as much as 23 percent for some customers. Thanks Wayne, you are a real champion of the people. Congratulations are in order to Blue Cross and Mr. Goodwin for making sh*t happen last week.

Not content just to mislead us about our healthcare plans, President Pinocchio’s nose also grew when it came to the military. Back in September 2012, Obama promised to have all soldiers out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

That was an important pledge to those of us who felt we never should have sent troops to any Middle Eastern country to begin with, and it was a pledge that helped propel the President to a second term in office. But guess what sh*t he pulled last week? Mr. Obama announced he was extending the deadline for withdrawal.

Not by 60 or 90 days, but by 10 freakin’ years! That’s right, our troops will now remain in Afghanistan until the year 2024. It seems President Karzai is worried that radicals will take over the Afghan government if we pull out. Hey Mr. Karzai, having radicals take over your government isn’t so bad. It happened to us in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012.

Speaking of putting people in harm’s way, George Zimmerman, that notorious vigilante who murdered Trayvon Martin, last week pulled a gun on his own girlfriend. Police arrested Zimmerman and found a small arsenal of weapons in his home. Crazy George’s ex-wife then told the media, “He’s a ticking time bomb.” Hey lady, where the hell were you when your psycho racist ex-husband was on trial for killing a defenseless black man? Thanks a lot for the helpful newsflash. Together, you and George made sh*t happen last week.

The next category comes under the heading of salary sh*t. Last week the News & Record’s Travis Fain reported that Greensboro Housing Authority CEO Tina Brown makes $242,000 per year. That’s more than her counterparts in Durham, Raleigh and Charlotte, who make $114,999, $210,402 and $198,162 respectively (Charlotte has twice the housing budget than that of Greensboro). It also makes her the highest paid housing director in the state, and puts her in the top 30 in the nation, out-earning housing chiefs in cities like Chicago and Boston! And to avoid violating a federal pay cap, part of Brown’s salary is derived from rent paid by local tenants. It all just seems obscene to me.

Speaking of obscene, last week we learned about surveillance-related sh*t, including that the NSA spies on those of us who look at pornography online. The NSA says this helps them discredit radicals who might try to incite the populace. And just as the NSA story broke, the Center for Media Justice reported that Wal-Mart, the company who pays poverty wages, has plenty of money to spend on data collection. CMJ says the retail giant now possesses information on 145 million Americans.

And while that may seem a bit creepy, it’s not the worst thing Wal- Mart has done. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the manager of a local Wal-Mart asked his low wage employees to donate food to other low-wage employees so they could enjoy Thanksgiving.

What’s the lesson here? Simply that Wal-Mart is doing to its workers what pornographers are doing online, so the NSA should start spying on Wal- Mart, and get rid of the real sh*tty radicals.

They make mistakes. But the mark of a great President is his willingness to admit when he’s wrong, and then to correct his mistake. No, I’m not talking about Barack Obama’s botched Affordable Care Act, and his broken promise to let everyone keep their existing health plan. I’m talking about John Kennedy, and how he misread history, unintentionally insulted the state of Virginia, and was compelled to make amends.

The story begins on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1619. That’s the day 38 English settlers from the London Company, navigated their ship down the James River and onto Berkeley Hundred (Harrison’s Landing), in what is now Charles City, Va., just 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, which had been settled 12 years prior. The landing party was led by Capt. John Woodlief, who, as prescribed in the company charter, ordered a day of Thanksgiving

to be observed upon their arrival, and every Dec. 4 thereafter.

Over time, Berkeley became known for its historic firsts. The first bourbon whiskey was made there in 1621 (by a preacher no less). “Taps” was played for the first time while the Union army was encamped at Berkeley in 1862. And, of course, it was the site of America’s first Thanksgiving. More on that in a moment.

In 1907 Berkeley was purchased by John Jamieson, who had served as a Union drummer boy during the Army’s encampment at the plantation. Ownership later fell to his son (and my friend) Malcolm, who passed away in 1997. Mac loved Berkeley and was aggressive in marketing the historic site, including through the use of promotional videos and commercials, which I helped to produce. He invited the public to tour the house and grounds, sold Berkeley boxwoods and bourbon, and held an annual Thanksgiving pageant, which attracted tourists from across the country. But the celebration wasn’t always widely recognized.

One hundred years after his father beat the Yankee drums at Berkeley, Mac was upset by something another Yankee did. In the fall of 1962, President Kennedy issued his yearly Thanksgiving Proclamation in which he recognized his home state of Massachusetts as the site of America’s first Thanksgiving. And so, on Nov. 9 of that year, Virginia state Sen. John Wicker was prompted by Mac to write to the President and point out Kennedy’s faux pas. In his telegram, Wicker referenced historical records about Berkeley’s celebration, which took place one full year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620.

Later that year, Kennedy confidant and noted historian Arthur Schlesinger sent a reply to Wicker with a tongue in cheek apology from the president. According to Berkeley records, Schlesinger “attributed the error to unconquerable New England bias on the part of the White House staff.”

The following year, on Nov. 5, 1963, President Kennedy had to eat crow during his annual Thanksgiving proclamation, saying, “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and Massachusetts, far from home, in a lonely wilderness, set aside a day of thanksgiving”. Kennedy’s New England bias wouldn’t allow him to disavow Plymouth entirely, but Mac was happy that Berkeley finally gained official recognition for holding the first Thanksgiving, even if it was a shared honor. Sadly it was to be Kennedy’s last such proclamation. He was assassinated 17 days later in Dallas.

Last week the airwaves were replete with Kennedy documentaries and movies to commemorate his death. Some were excellent (JFK: The Final Hours, narrated by my friend Bill Paxton) and others were sophomoric (Killing Kennedy).But good or bad, they all brought back traumatic memories of JFK’s murder. After watching several of the disturbing documentaries, I tried to make myself think of something pleasant. The holiday season was upon us, so I naturally recalled my visits with Mac Jamieson and his funny fervor over bragging rights to the first Thanksgiving. I remember him almost making me ill on two occasions. Once when he drove his car erratically over the trails of Berkeley, and the other when, knowing I didn’t drink spirits, he shamed me into sampling some Berkeley bourbon.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that I am reminded of toasting America’s first Thanksgiving. Perhaps we all need to raise our glasses now and give thanks for the family and friends we love, and for the bounty we share. Perhaps we also need to pledge to help those who are less fortunate, and who continue to struggle in an unforgiving economic downturn. Perhaps we would all do well to emulate those weary English settlers, and be thankful for just surviving another day of our long journey.

So here’s a toast to Captain Woodlief, Berkeley, old Mac, and to that Yankee president who set the record straight. Happy Thanksgiving!

The other day I read about a 52-year-old wife and mother who fulfilled her lifelong dream by trying out for and making the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleading squad. I suppose her story was inspiring on some level, and I’m not knocking anyone’s aspirations. I’m also probably the least qualified person in the hemisphere to comment on or criticize cheerleading. Nevertheless, we should all be concerned about the safety and impressionability of our children, and, by association, the relevance of the professional cheerleaders who they seek to emulate. Let’s begin with those NFL role models.

In October 2010, New York Times columnist Bill Rhoden made a case for eliminating NFL cheerleaders altogether. Said Rhoden: “Today’s NFL cheerleaders are little more than props that reinforce objectified sex roles. The professional cheerleader has become feminized and eroticized.”

At least six NFL owners agree. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Green Bay, and the New York Giants have abandoned their cheerleading squads, and Detroit never had one. Giants owner John Mara told Rhoden: “Philosophically we have always had issues with sending scantily clad women out on a field to entertain our fans.”

Despite such criticisms, 16 other NFL teams continue to field a cheerleading squad, and while most fans can’t hear or see what the gals are doing on the sidelines, the TV cameras love to show skin and sexy dance moves. So don’t look for pro cheerleading to go away any time soon.

Meanwhile, millions of girls from middle school through college age see the NFL cheerleaders as role models, and like the 52-year-old mom, want to dress and act like their heroines. OK, so sexy costumes and suggestive dance moves have never hurt anybody. But the bi-product of that culture has.

Today, 3.6 million people in the United States participate in cheerleading, most of whom are girls and young women. But get this. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and XOJane.com, 66 percent of all catastrophic injuries among female high school athletes are due to cheerleading. And, according to Provena’s Human Motion Institute, the number of children ages 5 through 18 admitted to hospitals for cheerleading injuries grew by 100 percent between 1990 and 2002, from 10,900 to 22,900. These are disturbing and totally preventable statistics.

In ancient times when I was growing up, cheerleaders just had pom poms and strong lungs. Back then it was an extracurricular activity. Today cheerleading is widely recognized as a sport where young people form human pyramids, toss girls 20 feet into the air, and perform all sorts of dangerous acrobatics. But if cheerleading is a legitimate sport, then why aren’t we as a society as outraged by the incidence of serious injury in cheerleading as we are in football?

The NFL, for example, has finally come to terms with its role in causing concussions and long-term brain damage, by eliminating helmet-tohelmet contact and other types of violent collisions. Even so, the impact of those harmful hits is being felt in the heartland. Last week, the chief medical officer of the Pop Warner football association reported that the number of children participating in PW football is down 10 percent over the past two years because parents are concerned about the possibility of head injury. Yet, while the number of boys playing football is dwindling significantly, the number of girls participating in cheerleading has grown by 600,000 in recent years. This despite the aforementioned injury statistics. Sure the two “sports” are different, but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to the dangers of cheerleading. Says AAP board member Dr. Cynthia LaBella: “Relatively speaking, the injury rate (in cheerleading) is low compared to other sports.

But the number of catastrophic injuries continues to grow.”

There is obviously a societal disconnect here.

Fortunately groups like the AAP and StopSportsInjuries.org have advocated for stricter guidelines to reduce the risk of serious injury from cheerleading. Those include limiting human pyramid formations to two body lengths, restricting the number of people who can toss a squad member in the air, and requiring that a thrower remain behind the flyer at all times. But here’s the rub. According to AAP, only 29 state high school athletic associations recognize cheerleading as a sport, and those who don’t are not required to provide certified trainers, hire qualified coaches, or have a system in place for surveillance of injuries. Clearly, all 50 states need to agree on the classification of cheerleading, then institute uniform regulations and enforcement of same.

In the meantime, more and more girls will sign up for cheerleading, and many of them will become seriously injured. Do I think those injuries are a direct result of children watching sexy adults cheerlead on TV? No. But it is a shame that the glamour of one has distracted us from a national referendum on safety reforms for the other.

In his address to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 9, 2009, President Obama outlined his vision for healthcare reform. At one point during his speech, the President was reassuring his audience that illegal immigrants would not be covered under the proposed Affordable Care Act (ACA), when he was rudely interrupted by South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson who shouted, “You lie!” Those in attendance and many of us watching at home were appalled by Wilson’s behavior. After all, this was the President of the United States, and it is just not proper for anyone to interrupt him during a speech. I condemned Wilson at the time, and I still think his actions were inappropriate. But last week we learned that Obama deliberately misled Congress and the nation in order to gain passage of ACA, so now, I must regrettably admit that Mr. Wilson’s concerns were valid.

On July 21, 2009, and 36 times thereafter prior to the passage of ACA, Barack Obama publicly stated the following: “We will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan. Period.”

It was that promise which eventually persuaded a handful of skeptical congressmen and senators to switch their vote, and help ACA pass by a razor-thin margin. That was then, and this is now. Earlier this month, many Americans started receiving cancellation notices from their insurance company, while NBC’s Lisa Myers reported that the White House knew all along that nearly 15 million people would eventually lose their existing coverage which the President had promised they could keep.

News of the deception went viral, and soon, even liberal pundits were starting to use the “L” word to describe our President. Those included Piers Morgan, John Stewart and Bill Maher, the latter of whom had contributed $1 million to Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. On Nov. 5, the President attempted damage control, implying that his previous promises had been misquoted or misunderstood. “If you had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law, and you really liked that plan, what we said was, you could keep it if it hadn’t changed since the law had passed.” Sorry Mr. President, but that’s not what you said. You said repeatedly that if we liked our healthcare plan, we could keep our healthcare plan. Period. Obama was now pulling the old bait and switch, which Merriam-Webster defines as “the ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain political support, then thwarting expectations with something less desirable.”

White House and Democrat spinmeisters tried to explain that there was no lie, and no bait and switch. They said that the millions of people receiving cancellation notices had inferior policies anyway, and if they were allowed to keep those policies, the rest of us would end up footing the bill, and our premiums would rise. Hey White House lackeys, here’s a newsflash for you: First, you can’t justify a broken promise by pretending that 15 million Americans don’t matter, when the very reason for reform was to make sure everyone had coverage; and second, those of us with grandfathered policies are still going to pay higher premiums even after 5 percent of our population tries to replace their healthcare plan which was just canceled.

For months now I have criticized radical Republicans in Congress who kept calling for a repeal of Obamacare, but now the very architect of that plan has himself given credence to the repeal movement. Simply stated, had the President told Congress that millions of their constituents would not be able to keep their healthcare plan, then ACA would not have passed.

Those of us who believed Obama deserved a second term, have lately had to face the harsh reality that the man who promised various reforms and a commitment to transparency, has delivered just the opposite. And the healthcare debacle isn’t his first offense. He also promised there would be no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens, and that he would cut the deficit in half. And we’re still not exactly sure why he left our embassy at Benghazi unprotected, or why not a single Wall Street pirate has gone to trial for their role in causing the 2008 recession, from which we still haven’t recovered.

Barack Obama has, to say the least, been a disappointment. He was to be a breath of fresh air following the hawkish Bush/Cheney administration, which waged war on the wrong country, and was responsible for the deaths of over a million innocent Iraqi men, women and children. Obama was supposed to be the man who would restore America’s image overseas, and lift our spirits here at home. Instead, our allies are pissed off at him for tapping their phones, and his own people are pissed off at him because they still can’t make a living wage, and now can’t keep their healthcare policy. There’s just no respectful or polite way to say this, but Barack Obama is not just a bad President, he’s a liar. Period.

Once, when The Love Boat was navigating primetime waters and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and McHale’s Navy were still in re-runs, an Entertainment Tonight poll named Gavin MacLeod the most recognizable man on TV. Last week, that likeable icon christened his long-awaited autobiography, and it doesn’t disappoint.

This is Your Captain Speaking: My Fantastic Voyage through Hollywood, Faith, and Life is both informational and inspirational, as MacLeod opens up about such pleasantries as being broke, getting fired and turning to demon rum, all of which he survived thanks to the Man Upstairs. I asked my friend why he waited so long to write the book.

GM: Because I’m 82 now, and I only have a few years left. I wanted to do it while I could still remember. I’m not kidding. When I was writing it, there were so many things we had to omit. If this book sells, we’re going to do another book called, This is STILL Your Captain Speaking.

Born Allan George See, Gavin grew up in the town of Pleasantville, NY and was bitten by the acting bug in kindergarten, where he starred in a Mother’s Day play.

GM: My teacher used to say I was the cutest boy in the class (because) I had won the Charming Child contest from the New York Daily Mirror. I played the part of a little boy who was trying to decide what to give his mother for Mother’s Day. He had no money, so he went into the forest and a bear said, “The thing to give your mother is a bear hug.” So I gave the girl who was playing my mother a big hug, and the audience applauded. I thought, “They like me! I want to do more of this!” And that was the beginning of me wanting to be an actor.

Like most struggling young New York actors of that era, Allan (now Gavin MacLeod) took other jobs while waiting for his big break. He worked as an usher at Radio City Music Hall, and as a cashier at Jim Downey’s Steak House, a popular hang-out in the heart of the Theatre District. Over time, Gavin got used to meeting big stars, but he wasn’t prepared for one particular customer who came in for a bite after working all day at the Actors Studio.

GM: One night I looked up across the bar and there was Eli Wallach with Marilyn Monroe. She had on an open blouse and a sweater over her shoulder, and was wearing no make up. And I thought, “Oh my God, it’s Marilyn Monroe!” They came over and sat down right across from me. She didn’t know I was an actor then, she just thought I was a young guy with a bad hairpiece. I said, “Hello, how are you and how do you like New York?” And Marilyn said, “It’s so different here. Everybody is so nice to me.” Then I said, “Well you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” and she laughed. And I said, “You know what I’m going to do when I get home at 1:30 in the morning? I’m going to call all of my friends and tell them I met Marilyn Monroe.” That’s when she really laughed.

JL: I bet your friends loved that.

GM: They all got a big kick out of it. They were all young actors.

A year later, Gavin made it to Broadway as a replacement actor in A Hatful of Rain, and from there he appeared in a number of live TV dramas. Then in 1962 he landed the role of sailor Joseph Happy Haines in McHale’s Navy, and all was well until his friend Ted Knight came aboard to do a cameo.

GM: Ted said, “Gavin how can you do this? You’re just a glorified extra.” What he said began to weigh on me, and I started drinking every day after work. I wasn’t myself. I was sort of disintegrating.

Gavin left McHale’s Navy, stopped drinking, and was selective about the roles he took in film and on television. The move paid off, and he was offered the role of Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But MacLeod thought he’d be more believable as Mary’s buddy Murray Slaughter, and the rest is comedy history. “MTM” ended production in 1977, and within two weeks, Aaron Spelling asked Gavin to assume the helm of The Love Boat.

The Love Boat was known for featuring iconic Hollywood guest stars each week, and Gavin couldn’t have been happier.

GM: God gave me this opportunity to meet these people who I had wanted to be like when I was a little boy, and here they are on my show. I never stopped pinching myself!

The Love Boat ended its run after 10 seasons, but MacLeod continued on as the face of Princess Cruise Lines. Meanwhile he turned down choice roles on TV to appear in religious films and devote his life to Christ.

Given Gavin’s immense popularity over the years, I wondered if there was ever a time when fame went to his head.

GM: No because I know how things can change overnight. I never believed all the publicity. I don’t want to seem unduly humble, but I am a very grateful person. God has really had His hand on my life.

Arnold Palmer must be a descendant of Ponce de Leon, because anyone who comes in contact with him feels young again. When I met him earlier this month, I went from age 60 to 10 in a matter of moments, at least in spirit. Arnie’s smile and handshake took me back to 1964, about the time he won his fourth green jacket at Augusta. Imagine, all those years I had been a vicarious member of Arnie’s Army, and now I was actually sitting down with the King of Golf for a private interview. It was surreal. Yes, over the past 40 years I’ve interviewed big stars like Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor, but this was Arnold Palmer for God’s sake.

As my production crew checked camera and microphone levels I confessed to Arnold that I was nervous about meeting one of my boyhood heroes. He reached over and put his right hand on my forearm and smiled as if to say, “Relax son, I’m nobody special.”

But he IS special.

Palmer is one of those rare celebrities who is the exact same person whether the cameras are rolling or not. And he has always been humble, having grown up as the son of a greenskeeper at a country club where he wasn’t allowed to use the course. Today he owns that club, but you would never know it by talking with him. Arnie’s humility was also evident when answering my first question.

JL: Everyone knows the story of how your father, Deacon Palmer put a golf club in your hand at age 3, but at what age were you cocky enough to realize you were a great golfer?

AP: That’s a good question because my father was tough, and he kept me from becoming a cocky kid. His mannerisms, his teaching held me down, and at the time I thought, “Well, boy, he’s too tough on me.” But later on I realized that the things he was doing are the things that let me do what I did.

He never got overwhelmed with what I was doing, or how I was playing. And he rarely ever told me how good I was. He would say, “Just show me, and that’s good enough for me.”

JL: I understand, but when did you THINK you were really good?

AP: [When] I came to Wake Forest and I was able to compete with the people I was playing against.

That’s an understatement. While attending Wake Forest College (then located in the town of Wake Forest), Palmer captured both the Southern Conference crown and NCAA individual title in 1949 and 1950, led the Demon Deacon team to three Southern Conference championships and won the inaugural 1954 ACC championship.

It’s no wonder, then, that Wake Forest University recently honored Palmer with a beautiful bronze statue. The sculpture stands 9 feet in height (13 feet if you measure from the tip of the up-stretched golf club) and weighs 1,392 pounds. It was created by Bruce Wolfe and forged by Dick Polich’s Tallix Foundry. Arnold is depicted in his famous contorted pose after taking a big swing. “The statue looks like it was modeled on Arnold at the ’64 masters,” I said to Polich. “You’re right,” he said. Speaking of which, there probably wouldn’t be a statue at Wake Forest unless Palmer had also gone on to great success as a pro. He did. Arnie ushered golf into the television age, and won 92 professional tournaments, including seven majors. But he had a little help along the way.

As Palmer’s fame grew, so did the crowds
at tournaments, thousands of who followed Arnold from hole to hole.
They became known as “Arnie’s Army,” and I wondered what impact they
might have had on his game, and that of his competitors.

JL: Today we hear about the crowds at big football stadiums being the 12th man
on the field, and affecting the outcome of a game. Did “Arnie’s Army”
help you play better? And, conversely, do you feel it might have
intimidated the men you played against?

AP: Well I think both are true. And I think it encouraged me because I felt a
responsibility to the people, as I did to my father, to perform at the
top of my profession.

JL: So did your competitors feel so intimidated that they missed a putt here and there?

AP: Well (smiling) I can only speculate on that and say I hope they felt intimidated.

The statue honors not just Palmer the golfer, but Palmer the man. In
addition to providing numerous scholarships to Wake athletes over the
years, Palmer has supported a myriad of charitable causes and
organizations. He served as national chairman for the March of Dimes, a
women and children’s hospital in Florida bears his name and, on the day
of his statue unveiling, Arnie delivered lunch to a local shut-in. It
was the five millionth delivery for Meals on Wheels in Forsyth County,
which began its mission in 1962, the same year Palmer won his third
Masters.

These days, Palmer and his wife Kit spend summer months at their home in
Latrobe, Pa. and they winter in either Bay Hill, Fla. or La Quinta,
Calif. And Arnold continues to design professional golf courses which
can be enjoyed by men of lesser skills than his. But then, when it comes
to golf, who doesn’t have lesser skills than Arnie?

For now, the breathtaking bronze statue of Arnold stands watch over Wake’s
practice course, but eventually will be moved to the golf complex which
bears his name. It is ironically an easily measurable monument to a
humble man, who has never known just how tall he stands in our eyes.

Governor Pat McCrory is on a mission to create jobs by making North Carolina more competitive and more attractive to new industry. Thanks to his Partnership for Prosperity program, which streamlines the industry recruitment process, he’s already made substantial progress in that regard. But he’s also made some enemies who haven’t appreciated having their toes stepped on along the way.

It reminds me of my first two years as mayor of Charlotte where the status quo punished me, hit me, but I kept going because we had to,” he said. “We have no choice. People are hurting right now, and there’s no reason for North Carolina to have such a high unemployment rate.”

Last week, Governor McCrory took time out from his incredibly busy schedule to tape an exclusive, half hour interview for Triad Today The special program will air this Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on WXLV abc45, and again on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WMYV MY48.

This was McCrory’s fourth visit to Triad Today but his first since taking office in January. He is arguably our most traveled governor in recent memory, and a breath of fresh air from the previous two administrations which were scandal-ridden, and Triangle-centric.

“I get out of Raleigh at least two to three days a week, because you get caught up in the bubble of seeing the same hundred people,” he said. “I don’t care what profession you’re in, if you sit in your office and don’t get out on the floor and see people, you’re going to lose perspective on what’s happening, and I enjoy visiting all parts of North Carolina.”

But while McCrory is greeted with cheers at most every stop, his legislative initiatives have met with opposition and criticism from the news media, myself included, who have accused the governor of partisan politics in setting public policy.

For example, I asked why he didn’t allow the NC Department of Health and Human Services to draw from his Rainy Day Fund back when the government shutdown first began, instead of announcing an end to Work First benefit checks, which help to feed some 70,000 children.

“Actually some of the news reporting was incorrect,” he said. “It was future things that we weren’t going to do. But we literally had the money up until the end of October, so some of it was misreported by some of the critics. What we did was say we’re not going to sign up any NEW people after the end of October, and the reason is we didn’t have any money budgeted. If I steal from the Rainy Day Fund for that, then what happens if I have a Medicaid shortfall like we had last time? So we’re having to make some tough decisions, but I would have re-visited that decision at the end of the month.”

I also criticized the governor for ending extended unemployment benefits to 170,000 people. But, as it turns out, I didn’t have all the facts. McCrory set me straight.

“These were people who had been on unemployment for 90 weeks, and what the Obama administration offered me was, ‘We will extend you unemployment,’” he said. “But that is not his money, that’s a loan. We already owed the federal government $2.4 billion from the previous loan accepted by the Perdue administration, who didn’t know how they were going to pay that back, so they increased taxes on businesses to pay the interest on that loan, and businesses were actually having to lay people off to pay the interest on the loan. So when the president offers an extension of unemployment, you and others say, ‘Why aren’t you taking it?’ Because it’s a loan which requires repayment. Nevertheless we offered President Obama a compromise. We have the ninth highest unemployment compensation in the United States. Let us lower our unemployment compensation equal to what Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia are paying. Let us lower it, and we’ll take the extension so our debt won’t continue. And the White House said, ‘No, we’re not going to let you lower it.’ That basically made the decision for me, because our debt would have ballooned to $3 billion.”

Then there was McCrory’s decision not to accept three years of “free” Medicaid extensions from Washington. “That doesn’t include the administrative cost,” he said. “I would have had to hire a thousand more people, and set up a whole new bureaucracy. Our Medicaid system is broken, and forecasting is off by $535 million. That’s where the teacher pay raises went. So I need to fix the current system before even considering expanding the future program.”

These are just a few of the issues McCrory addressed on this week’s Triad Today, and I’m glad he did. Triad Today gave the governor an unedited, unfiltered forum for explaining his vision and accomplishments, and that’s something he needs to do more of going forward. In the meantime, he is resolute in his approach.

“We inherited a lot of broken things, and frankly I’m not going to run away from them, whether I get some black eyes as a result,” he said. “I could have hid a few more problems under the rug and pretended they didn’t exist, and probably had a higher approval rating, but I didn’t come here to live in a mansion. I came here to do something.”

As a broadcast journalist and Emmy judge, I admittedly watch a fair amount of television. But the TV is always turned off while I’m working on my column. Such was the case on the weekend of Oct. 5 when I was penning a commentary on the need for stricter DWI sentencing in North Carolina. Had I been channel surfing instead of writing, however, I would have seen the Triad’s most notorious drunk driver appearing in a tasteless, insensitive car commercial titled,“Driving Dead.” Yes, Tolly Carr, the former real-life TV anchorman who drove drunk and killed a pedestrian, was popping up all over Time Warner cable as a fake TV anchorman in a spot about dead people and used cars. More about the commercial debacle in a moment, but first the back story.

In the wee hours of a March morning six years ago, 26-year-old Casey Bokhoven was walking home from work in downtown Winston-Salem. Not far away, Tolly Carr was completing a tour of three local bars, and was three sheets to the wind. Carr refused to take a cab home, instead opting to drive himself and a female companion. None of his drinking buddies stopped Carr from getting behind the wheel drunk. Moments later, Carr’s vehicle jumped a curb, struck young Bokhoven, and dragged the victim down the street. Tolly had been drunk for hours. Casey was dead in an instant.

Carr, his attorneys, the judge and the media all referred to what happened as an “accident.” But if ever there was a misuse of terminology this was it. Bokhoven’s death was no accident. Had Carr been sober and temporarily lost control of his car, then what happened would have been an accident.

But this wasn’t Tolley’s first rodeo. He didn’t suddenly decide to start drinking that fateful night. Carr planned to drink and get drunk. He made a conscious decision not to take a taxi home. He deliberately got behind the wheel of a lethal weapon and drove it knowing he was intoxicated. These are the actions of a man who thought himself above the law… an arrogant, inconsiderate man with no regard for the safety of others.

Immediately following the incident, Carr did and said all of the right things. He spoke to church and school groups, and anyone else who would listen to his apology, and he led them to believe that his drunken state was a first-time occurrence. Most people bought his act without knowing what really happened or why. Meanwhile, Bokhoven’s family sought a wrongful death jury trial so that the public would know the gruesome details of Casey’s death, and get a true picture of Carr’s real personality. But in November 2008, the Bokhovens settled with Tolly, who agreed to make a “confession of judgment” and to make restitution to the victim’s family beginning one year after his release from prison. That release came in 2009, and over the past few years, Carr has been working for a local video-production company.

After receiving e-mails from Casey’s friends and family, I was convinced that their wounds would never heal if Tolly sought an on-air job in this market. And so, in my Dec. 5, 2008 column I urged Carr to stay out of the limelight, or else move to another state if he felt compelled to return to TV anchor work. But arrogant, insensitive people rarely change their stripes, and earlier this month, Carr thought it would be okay to appear on camera in a commercial for Frank Myers Auto Maxx, in which he pretended to be an anchorman in a spoof of the The Walking Dead.

Myers often produces commercials with holiday themes, and this one was made for the Halloween season. According to a report on JournalNow.com, the TV spot attempted to compare old cars with zombies, and it aired throughout the weekend before Myers pulled it on Monday, after having received complaints from viewers who understood what Myers and Carr didn’t: It was in VERY bad taste.

When asked for a statement by the Winston-Salem Journal’s “Ask Sam” column, owner Tracy Myers said, “I obviously didn’t use good judgment when I asked Mr. Carr to be featured in the TV commercial… I understand how Mr. Carr’s appearance in the commercial could be considered offensive and in bad taste”. Tracy’s non-apology missed the mark. He merely admitted that the spot “could be considered” offensive, which is code for “I don’t think it was offensive.” Still, Myers isn’t the villain in this drama. Carr should have known better, but again, an arrogant, insensitive person never knows better.

There are those who say Carr should be left alone by media jerks like me. After all, he served his time (albeit not nearly enough). And, as Tracy Myers said, “everyone deserves a second chance.” Well, Tolly DID get his second chance. It’s called being free to walk around and enjoy living. Casey Bokhoven didn’t get that second chance, and the man responsible has no business being in the public eye.

Seven years ago the Charlotte Observer reported something that we already knew: DWI sentencing was inconsistent from county to county, and from court to court. But the Observer also backed up its story with specific data that could no longer be ignored. For example, their investigation found that North Carolina judges acquit about one-third of all DWI cases. Even more disturbing, the Observer found that while some counties convicted 90 percent of drunk drivers, others convicted 10 percent.

The General Assembly had seen enough, and passed a law requiring the state Administrative Office of Courts to collect, maintain, and make public the data as to how all DWI cases were disposed of. Sounds like a reasonable request, but earlier this month, a state audit revealed that the AOC had failed to make their DWI records readily available on the internet as directed. The AOC told McClatchy Tribune that its non-compliance was due to budget cuts.

Hopefully, in time, the AOC will gets its act together so that we can accurately analyze and explain sentencing discrepancies. The immediate and long-term problem, however, remains. How do we guarantee uniform sentencing, so that someone who blows a .08 in Manteo receives the same punishment as someone who blows a .08 in Murphy?

Perhaps such inconsistencies in sentencing, particularly with regards to cases of absurd leniency, wouldn’t be such a big deal if the drunk driver was the only person affected. Unfortunately, too often others are involved, and even killed. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, more than 16,000 people die in alcohol-related crashes each year. That translates to one death every 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drunk drivers get behind the wheel 112 million times per year, and 30 people die every day as a result, one death every 48 minutes. No matter which study you cite, neither is encouraging. But when sentencing of these killers isn’t uniformly strict enough, those statistics become even more grim. MADD reports that one-third of all motorists arrested for drunk driving go on to become repeat offenders.

All of a sudden, AOC’s failure to report on inconsistent convictions and sentencing looms large, and should produce an immediate call to action. It hasn’t. A few days ago I talked with a sitting judge to try and understand why things are so bad, and why such discrepancies exist in sentencing which often lead to acquittals of drunk drivers. The judge spoke on condition of anonymity:

“I think it’s how judges interpret the law. The district attorney either approaches a conviction with proof beyond a reasonable doubt of appreciable impairment [meaning there are no test results available, and the case relies on the arresting officer’s assessment of the driver’s behavior], or you can go for a conviction based on impairment as shown in blood alcohol levels. There are some judges who feel you have to do both. It’s interesting to listen to them. I don’t know whether it’s generational, or the way they were raised, or the way they feel, but you might blow a .08 [and be acquitted] because you might not have seemed appreciably impaired. I think that’s where some of the breakdown might occur. But you also have to look at what point people are found not guilty, or had their case dismissed. Did the case survive pre trial motions? Did it survive reasonable suspicion? Did it survive probable cause? And then, if you survive those, was the State able to prove [its case] beyond a reasonable doubt?”

Despite all of these permutations, the judge I spoke with still thinks the existing state statutes are clear on their face, but admitted that something needs to be done.

“A district attorney or someone from the state would have to appeal a judge’s finding that a person was not guilty even though he blew a .08 or above, and then try to get some clarification through case law.”

Until that time comes, we must all remain vigilant and stay informed. Most local newspapers publish reports on DWI cases, and we need to pay attention to which judges are handing down convictions with tough sentencing, versus which judges demonstrate a pattern of leniency. Those who fall in the latter category can be voted out of office while we wait on the general assembly to create a more uniform sentencing law.

Our pledge of allegiance boasts that, in America, there is justice for all. Our symbol for guaranteeing that pledge is a statue depicting Lady Justice as blind. How then can judges continue to only issue justice for some, with their eyes wide open? It’s a question that must be answered before more lives are lost.