newsobserver.com projects - prisons - Comments

Re: Prison smoking, cell phone ban passes

Hondov65 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:05:39 -0400

There is always a officer outside the Single Cell Facility smoking especially Single Cell B. This ought to be interesting.

Re: Prison director retiring

moviefan12 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:36:59 -0400

He was a great prison director. Hope all is well for him.

Re: Prison smoking, cell phone ban passes

Hondov65 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:46:26 -0400

There will be more of a problem with Correctional Officers than inmates as far as smoking goes.

Re: Prison smoking, cell phone ban passes

carbonLib — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:06:11 -0400

it's SUPPOSED to be PRISON! .......not a layover at an airport hotel from snow!!

Re: Budget plan not as bad as feared

currin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:49:00 -0400

I don't know about you but, I view having my longevity taken away as a pay cut.

Re: Prison director's salary released

PercyKution — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:46:37 -0500

And that's just his paycheck, NOT INCLUDING WHAT HE CAN EMBEZZLE, STEAL, AND ALL THE CONTRACT KICKBACKS AND PAYOFFS.

Re: Not his first escape attempt

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:20:19 -0500

Comment deleted for tastelessness.

— RTB

Re: Not his first escape attempt

billybo — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:37:57 -0500

It appears Alvin Keller is not up to the task for this job!

Re: Prison director retiring

JTwist — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:23:01 -0500

He should have left six years ago and saved the state some money.

Re: Easley: Fast track projects to boost economy

GrayJ — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:14:02 -0500

WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF

Published: November 28, 2008

While local drivers may be stuck in traffic waiting completion of the Northern Beltway, drivers in Fayetteville will soon be speeding around their city on a new loop highway.

And that just goes to show you that it pays to have friends in high places.

This fall, the N.C. Board of Transportation has approved $270 million for the completion of the Fayetteville loop, all in the waning days of the administration of Gov. Mike Easley. The state's other nine loops, many in cities much larger than Fayetteville and with a lot more traffic, are still waiting for the cash they need to finish.

It's no surprise that Fayetteville and Cumberland County got the loop money. Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett is from the city and the local senator, Tony Rand, is about as powerful a legislator as North Carolina has. The two clearly pulled the right strings.

The board's preference for Fayetteville came to light in recent reports by McClatchy Newspapers.

There is a legitimate reason to build the Fayetteville loop. Fort Bragg, under the new national base alignment, is growing fast. And that's very important to all North Carolinians.

It would be easier for local residents to accept, however, if an impartial panel, free of political horse-trading, had decided. But that is not the case with North Carolina transportation decisions now, nor has it ever been.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt, wracked by several board scandals in the mid-1990s, pushed through a tepid reform. Just enough deck chairs were moved to make the system look more equitable while leaving the good old system of preferences solidly in place.

Much of North Carolina's transportation money is distributed according to formulas designed to assure fairness, at least among the state's regions. But loop money is different. It goes where the board says it will go.

Nancy Dunn, Winston-Salem's reform-minded representative on the board, says the Fayetteville preference demonstrates that a clearer, more transparent, more structured system must be in place for loop money choices.

Gov.-elect Bev Perdue will come to office on a promise to reform the current system. She says she will take from the board the power to decide which roads get funds and which don't. She's also promised to reduce the political potency of board members.

But unless the changes Dunn proposes replace today's system, the politics will simply flow to some other group. And roads will continue to go to towns, cities and counties with friends in high places rather than those places with the worst traffic needs.

Re: Fayetteville loop

Gosh — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:06:15 -0500

The Base Realignment (BRAC) benefiting NC is adding over 100,000 new people and new industry to the surrounding areas of Cumberland County over the next few years.

While other bases close around the country, NC will be growing, especially with defense jobs.

Some investment in infrastructure seems warranted.

I know securing our military bases was one of Governor-elect Perdue's big pushes, and Mayor McCrory would have preferred all that infrastructure money go to build even more roads around the failing bank industry in his little Carowinds suburb instead, but I think American taxpayers have donated enough to the Charlotte economy with the $700 billion bailout already.

Don't you?

Fayetteville loop

GrayJ — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:42:05 -0500

What about the fast-tracking of the Fayetteville loop? Of course Fayetteville is home to transportation secretary Lyndo Tiplett and #2 Tony Rand. While projects in larger cities are put on hold, Eastern North Carolina with it's chokehold on the state exploits once again.

Re: Time off for good behavior?

doingbattlewithdemons — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:11:20 -0500

Working to fix a problem? He can't fix a problem that he let go down for years. He has been non-existent to probation until this occurred, allowing Robert Guy and his lack of oversight to a known problem to continue with ineffective and nepotistic-like hiring.

Re: Donnan's letters to the editor

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:21:32 -0400

No dig on letter writers intended, though I think these days you're better off writing comments like this or starting your own blog.

— RTB

Re: Donnan's letters to the editor

bellaparola — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:14:37 -0400

I appreciate the due diligence - but as I said, this info appears to be totally irrelevant to the campaign or the position, and that makes it far worse than boring. Of course, you said that word, which I neither used nor implied.

And the bit about frequent letter-writers was not lost on this frequent comment-poster who long ago gave up writing letters to be sliced, diced and discarded by newspaper staff. It's always nice to know where we stand in the esteem of the fourth estate.