Triad Today

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.

These past ten years have been replete with significant events:

• We barely averted another Great Depression;
• We watched the body counts rise at schools, movie theatres, and other venues, but refused to ban the sale of assault weapons;
• We turned a blind eye to the human and financial costs of juggling military actions in multiple countries;
• We kept electing the same politicians who allowed our health insurance premiums to double, while they doled out corporate welfare and rewarded companies for taking our jobs overseas;
• and we were appalled when North Carolina’s Republican controlled legislature treated teachers, women, gays, and the unemployed like enemy combatants.

All of these serious topics and many more were covered on Triad Today, but we also had our weird and wacky moments as well. Like when a Congressman cursed at me; or when a county commissioner with a racist t-shirt told me he wasn’t a racist; or when a woman performed a belly dance in front of me with her mother watching; or when a Mayor threatened to walk off the show if we didn’t turn up the heat in the studio; or when Ed Asner licked my wife during a commercial break. Remind me to tell you about that later.

Mostly, though, Triad Today has saluted and recognized community professionals and volunteers, who work at area hospitals, schools, and non profit agencies, to help improve our quality of life, day in and day out. These include folks at Senior Services, Greensboro Urban Ministry, the Urban League, the Red Cross, Mountain Valley Hospice, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Crisis Control, Second Harvest Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill Industries, Cancer Services Inc., The YMCA, Carolina Organ Donor Services, the Girl Scouts, and hundreds more.

This week, Triad Today celebrates its 10th anniversary, so YESWeekly editor Brian Clarey asked me to reflect back on some of the show’s highlights and lowlights, and I was honored to do so. First, a bit of history before we get to the tall tales of 10 years on Triad Today.

In the not so distant past, TV stations were locally owned, and the owners met the needs of the community by producing various kinds of public service and public affairs programs. There were talk shows, cooking shows, coaches shows, kids shows, and even talent shows (decades before American Idol). But as the twentieth century came to a close, those kinds of local programs had all but disappeared from the television landscape. That’s why in the fall of 2003, I decided to bring back the old-fashioned public service program, and launched Triad Today. At the time, a newspaper reporter asked me to describe the show, and I replied, “It’s so old, it’s new.”

Then as now, Triad Today is still the only locally produced public affairs program on commercial television in the Piedmont. And we’re proud to have been recognized by Congress for our commitment to community service. Triad Today was also presented with the Spectrum of Democracy award for our commitment to voter education, and for giving large blocks of air time to candidates for statewide and federal office.

Triad Today now airs twice per week, Saturdays at 7:30am on abc45, and Sundays at 11am on My48. But this weekend we’re adding a third broadcast on Sunday at 3pm in order to showcase our 10th Anniversary special to a wider audience. The half hour special features interview clips from about 40 of the approximately 5,000 guests we’ve had on Triad Today since October 3, 2003. I hope the other 4,960 guests will understand not being included due to time constraints. Speaking of guests, let’s begin our trip down memory lane with a look at some of the political candidates who have appeared on Triad Today.

 

POLITICIANS

Over the past ten years, candidates for Congress, US Senate, Governor, and Lt. Governor have traveled from every corner of the state to appear on Triad Today. Well, except for Brad Miller. You may recall that while serving in the NC General Assembly, Democrat Miller helped design his own personal gerrymandered district so that he could step down from the State Senate and waltz into the US Congress. When it came time for his first re-election bid, Miller’s handlers agreed to let him appear on Triad Today, but then cancelled when they learned that I had been critical of his role in re-districting. I called Brad and asked him why he was afraid to be interviewed, and he used some curse words. Later when I recounted our conversation in YESWeekly, Miller told reporters that he decided not to appear on Triad Today because I was just a “jack leg journalist”. Eventually Republicans took over the world and Miller decided not to run for another term if it meant facing an actual opponent on even ground. So much for the jack-leg Congressman.

In 2004, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue showed up on Triad Today as a solo act, then promised to return to face her opponent for a Gubernatorial debate. But a few months later when Pat McCrory arrived at our studio, Bev was nowhere to be found. So we placed an empty chair next to Pat, which he referred to during our one-on-one discussion. It was tacky, but fun. Pat lost to Perdue that fall, but got his revenge four years later when Bev’s various scandals and weak job performance led her to sit out a bid for re-election.

In 2008, both Kay Hagen and incumbent US Senator Elizabeth Dole stopped by to be interviewed, but neither agreed to appear jointly. I think it had to do with my pressing them on their refusal to repeal bad trade agreements which were sucking jobs out of our State. Separately both women told me that they would “study the issue”. Meanwhile, 11% of our neighbors didn’t need a study, they needed a job.

Then there were the candidates who showed up to be interviewed, but probably shouldn’t have. Case in point, Winston Salem City councilman Vernon Robinson. In 2004, 5th district Congressman Richard Burr decided he would make a run for the Senate, and that opened up the field for eight GOP candidates who hoped to replace Burr. When the primary results were in, former city councilman Vernon Robinson led the field, but did not garner 40% of the vote, so he and second place finisher Virginia Foxx (then a State Senator) were poised for a run-off. A few days before the special election, Vernon and Virginia arrived at the Triad Today studio where I moderated a conversation between the two combatants. At the outset Vernon was in the driver’s seat. He was smooth, articulate, had already finished first in a crowded primary field, and had great name recognition from his off the wall proclamations. Vernon often referred to himself as the Black Jesse Helms, and 5th district Republicans seemed amused. But during the debate with Foxx, Vernon kept referring to his experience as a “missile combat crew commander”, thinking that would appeal to his base and, at the same time, point to Foxx’s lack of military experience. So I finally asked the now fateful question, “Vernon exactly what war did you serve in?” After a long pause, he replied, “Uh, the Cold war”. I pressed him by asking, “But was there an actual engagement with an enemy in combat?” Again Vernon stumbled and said, “Veteran means you serve the country”. The fact is he had no combat experience. He never recovered from that debate. Foxx went on to defeat Robinson, and today she is an entrenched incumbent. Some say that my questioning of Vernon propelled Virginia into Congress. Others speculate that 5th district White Republicans just couldn’t bring themselves to elect a Black man to federal office. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between.
HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES

Scores of Hollywood legends have appeared on Triad Today over the last ten years including Dick Van Dyke, “Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman, the late great Rue McClanahan (“Golden Girls”), James Best from “Dukes of Hazzard”, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from “Gilligan’s Island”) “Hart to Hart”‘s Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, and Ed Asner, who licked my wife.

Remind me to tell you about that later.

In a salute to TV Dads which we taped in Hollywood, I interviewed nine iconic television fathers. Seated immediately next to me were Van Dyke, Cranston and Dick Van Patten, with Bryan in the middle. I asked each man how they first learned about the birds and the bees. When it came Bryan’s turn to answer he quipped “What a provocative question, and how ironic that I find myself seated between a couple of Dicks”.

During my interview with Cloris Leachman, the multiple EMMY and Oscar winning actress asked me to disrobe. “Cloris”, I said, “My wife is sitting right there.” Cloris was not phased and simply waved to Pam, saying “Hi wife.”

Long before the release of her sexually charged autobiography, “Partridge Family” mom Shirley Jones told me about the time she posed for Playboy magazine at age 70. “I told Hugh Hefner that I would show some leg and a little bosom, but I would not pose totally nude, and he said OK”.  The photo shoot went well, and afterward, Hefner decided he wanted to see more of Shirley. “He said he wanted to see more body, and I said ‘that’s all the body you’re going to get!”. No one knows where those photos are today, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them. Shirley is now 80 years old and still beautiful inside and out.

Speaking of nudity, RJ Wagner talked about his sex scenes with Stefanie Powers, and how the mood was always broken by sounds of Freeway the dog’s handler barking out commands. “There was a lot of panting going on”, remarked Wagner.

“From you or from the dog?” I asked. “From the dog, and a little from me too”, RJ said slyly.

I had fun talking with Rue McClanahan. Among other things, she said that she had known George Clooney for a long time and that he would never marry.

“Why?” I asked naively. “Because he’s just precious”, she said, with a smile on her face, knowing that she had sort of outed Clooney. But we also talked about the first time she discovered she had breast cancer. It was rare for the raucous Rue to be serious on camera, but she didn’t hold back. Then fully recovered, I thought she would live forever. We lost her a couple of years later.

Dan Truhitte has appeared on Triad Today twice. Truhitte starred as young Nazi Rolf in the blockbuster film “The Sound of Music”. Today he and his wife live near Charlotte and he still has a great voice. One one of his visits, I surprised Dan with an email message from his “Sound of Music” co-star Charmian Carr (Liesel) who signed the email, “Love Charmy”. The on-screen couple hadn’t seen each other in decades and Truhitte was touched by her gesture. Speaking of Rolf and Liesel, Dan told me that she was not “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”, and that he was not 17 going on 18. Carr was actually 21 in real life and Dan was 20. I asked why Rolf and Liesel never had sex in the movie, and Dan replied, “because they were good Catholics. Or maybe they were Lutheran”.

Speaking of sex, Dawn Wells told me she wished that Mary Ann and the Professor could have hooked up, but that it just wasn’t possible on 1960’s TV. Wells did say that if Gilligan’s Island were filmed today, all of the characters would have been sleeping in the same hut, if you know what I mean.

And then there was Ed Asner, who licked my wife. Remind me to explain that later.

 

PIEDMONT PERSONALITIES

Celebrities don’t always have to be from Hollywood, and over the years, I have had a number of Piedmont personalities appear on Triad Today. As with most celeb interviews, there’s plenty of fun to be had, but I also enjoyed hearing local notables talk about things that are very serious and personal to them.

Racing legend Richard Petty spoke from the heart about his Victory Junction Gang camp for terminally ill and disabled children. The camp was built in honor of Richard’s grandson Adam, who was killed in a crash while working as a fourth generation NASCAR driver. Petty told me about the various activities available to the kids, saying, “It’s like a Disneyland deal”.

Woody Durham, longtime sportscaster and voice of the Carolina Tar Heels, stopped by to plug his new book and we reminisced about our time together at WFMY back in the mid 1970’s. But Woody also wanted to make sure he talked about the audio CDs he had recorded containing memorable moments from UNC sports. Proceeds from the CD sales are going to support Ronald McDonald House.

FOX 8’s Brad Jones and Cindy Farmer appeared together on Triad Today‘s 200th program back in 2007. The pair had been together for so long that they said viewers thought they were married to each other (they’re not). They also spoke of the numerous charities they support, and why. Said Cindy, “Our viewers do so much for us, and we like to be able to give back. There’s no better feeling than the one you get when you truly are helping someone and making a difference in someone’s life. Our paycheck comes from people who watch us, and we realize that.” Broadcasters everywhere would do well to keep that in mind.

WXII anchor Wanda Starke certainly does. So do her co-workers Kimberly Van Scoy and Margaret Johnson. Starke told me about her commitment to see that every orphan who needs a home, gets one. Starke herself was adopted as a child.

Van Scoy has led many different community campaigns, including a toy drive. Her interest in that stems from having delivered toys to underprivileged kids when she was a little girl.

And Margaret Johnson continues to lead by example, having beaten cancer, and now serves as an inspiration to Mothers and wives who are battling the disease.

Wake Forest head football coach Jim Grobe came on Triad Today and we talked very little about football. Instead we discussed his role as an educator. He also said that when it comes to recruiting players, he would choose a man with good character over a man with great talent.

Speaking of college coaches, the legendary Clarence “Big House” Gaines made several appearances on Triad Today, and always had something thought provoking to say. Like the time I asked him if big time universities were still stealing African American athletes from HBCUs as much as they used to. “It’s even worse today…as you know the athletes go to where the spoils are.”

And then there was the late Rich Brenner. Rich had been a sportscaster nearly all his adult life, and during his tenure at FOX8, he was known for his professionalism, and for his biting sports commentaries. As soon as I heard Rich announced he was retiring from the TV station, I invited him to be a regular member of our Triad Today Round Table panel. Rich didn’t hesitate and I soon found out why. For decades he had been limited to opining about sports, but this guy possessed a wealth of knowledge about a myriad of topics. He loved coming on Triad Today and debating public policy and social issues with the rest of us. We all miss Rich a lot.

 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

On a typical week, Triad Today consists of four interview segments and the aforementioned Roundtable discussion with regulars Ogi Overman, and Keith Grandberry (CEO of the WS Urban League), along with rotating panelists Guilford Sheriff BJ Barnes, WMAG’s Lora Songster, YESWeekly editor Brian Clarey, and Forsyth Commissioner Dave Plyler.

From time to time, though, we devote an entire half hour to one topic. Over the years, our special edition programs have included periodic reports on the state of public education, a salute to entrepreneurs, promotion of the National Black Theatre Festival, celebration of the Winston Salem Centennial, a focus on diversity, and many more.

In one special segment I brought together Novant CEO Jeff Lindsay and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center CEO John McConnell for a discussion about the quality of healthcare in our region, and how they were setting about to make improvements in the face of changing laws. Lindsay mentioned that his nurses (who work a 12 hour shift) had only been spending on average about 2 hours per day with their patients, and that he was working to increase that to 8 or 9 hours per day. McConnell talked about how the expansion of Medicaid in North Carolina could actually create about 20,000 additional jobs in our area.

Aside from the information they imparted, it was wonderful to see two competitors sit down together and discuss solutions for keeping us all healthier.

Then there was the time I sat down with Darryl Hunt right after he had been released from 20 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. I noticed that Darryl had a genuine calm about him, and seemed totally at peace with himself and the world who wronged him. So I asked him, “Are you telling me you didn’t harbor any ill feelings to anyone while you were locked up?” His reply: “I have relied on my faith, and I truly believe if you believe in God, then you let God handle the difficult problems”.

But the most memorable Triad Today program was the one in which Elaine Riddick was the sole guest. Elaine, now almost 60 years old, was raped at age 13 and became pregnant as a result of that rape. Unbeknownst to her, after her baby was delivered, doctors sterilized her under orders from the state Eugenics Board. As it turns out, Elaine was one of 7,000 victims who were sterilized against their will in North Carolina, most of which occurred between 1946 and 1970. I invited her on Triad Today to talk about her experience, and to share her thoughts about proposed legislation (championed by former State representative Larry Womble) that would award surviving victims cash compensation. Elaine told me that she had been raped twice. Once by the rapist and once by the State. I asked her which rape was worse, and she replied without hesitation “The second rape was worse”.

 

ORGASMS and THE LOST JEWELER

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve had our share of weird and wacky things to happen on Triad Today, like Ed Asner licking my wife. Remind me to tell you about that later. Anyway, Dr. Stuart Meloy, an anesthesiologist and pain consultant, came on the show one day to talk about a device called the spinal cord stimulator, which he had invented to help relieve back pain in women. But he proceeded to tell me that using the device also made his patients have orgasms. I never asked him what the co-pay was for those office visits, but I keep waiting for him to make the home version of his Orgasmatron available at CVS.

And then there was the missing jewelry lady. I had invited a spokesperson from a jewelry store in Hanes Mall to come on Triad Today and educate our viewers about the different types of diamonds. The guest, an elderly lady, was scheduled to arrive at the studio in Winton Salem shortly before 2pm (it’s about a 10 minute drive from Hanes Mall to the studio). But 2pm came and went. Then 2:15pm, 2:20pm, 2:30pm, and 2:45pm and still no jewelry lady. 3pm, 3:15pm. Finally we called the store manager to see what had happened to the lady, and he freaked out. He didn’t ask us to call the hospital emergency rooms, nor did he seem worried about what might have happened to the woman. He was panicked about having hundreds of thousands of dollars of diamonds missing, and probably thought the elderly employee had caught a plane to Rio. She finally showed up around 4pm and explained that she thought the TV station was in Greensboro, but then found herself in Reidsville. We went ahead and taped her segment and she did a great job despite her ordeal. I always wondered if she made it back to the store, and if the manager ever asked her if she was alright.

Well that’s all the space I have for this story, so please watch the Triad Today 10th Anniversary Special this Saturday and Sunday. Also visit my other website, www.JimLongworth.net. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to explain about Ed Asner licking my wife. Well get your mind out of the gutter.

During a commercial break, my wife Pam  came over to see if Ed wanted anything, and he said yes, for her to come see him in Los Angeles, and he would “show her a really good time”. Ed then leaned over as if he wanted to peck Pam on the cheek, and when she leaned in, he licked the side of her face. A bit kinky perhaps, but not totally unexpected that something on Asner would be “Up”. Now aren’t you ashamed for having your mind in the gutter all this time?

Speaking of my lovely wife, we met and started dating just as I was launching Triad Today, so this is sort of a double anniversary for me. I also want to say how supportive Pam has always been. For example, immediately after I had taped an interview with a big celebrity, I walked over to her and tried to fish for a compliment. “Honey I really think I could have done a better job on that interview”, I said. “Don’t worry”, said Pam. “Nobody was even looking at you. A monkey could have done your job”. That sentiment keeps me grounded. And it should because Triad Today isn’t about me, and never has been. It’s about the guests who share their knowledge and expertise, and the viewers who take time to watch and listen. It’s also about the sponsors who have stuck with me over the years, and made it possible for Triad Today to be a conduit for community information.

Who knows, maybe a monkey CAN do my job, but I have ten years experience over any jack-leg primate who might try to replace me, and that has to count for something.