Church's absence would be felt
We have lived two doors away from St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Germanton for more than 40 years. We attended most of the regular Sunday evening services held there in the 1980s and many of the twice-yearly services that were held there until late 2009.
The building does not appear to be abandoned, and it has always been maintained, so we were shocked when we learned the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina wanted to sell the property ("Steps taken to move St. Philip's," April 7).
As soon as we heard that the unimaginable might happen, that Germanton might lose one of only three church buildings in town, a group of interested people formed a nonprofit, Friends of St. Philip's Church of Germanton. Had we had any idea that the diocese was considering a change in its care for St. Philip's or that the diocese needed assistance with the building, we surely would have organized ages ago.
Germanton is a small town. Blink and you'll miss it, as the saying goes. Sadly, the diocese seems to have blinked, because it seems that the diocese has not realized that St. Philip's stands on a main street where its presence or absence will be felt acutely. To us, St. Philip's is a landmark, and as great landmarks do, it identifies our town and we are worthy of that identification.
JOHN AND LINDA WOODARD
Germanton
Support Robert Ewing
There are several people running for the Forsyth District Court judgeship being vacated by Chester Davis, who is not running for re-election. I support Robert Ewing for that District Court judgeship for the following reasons:
I have seen Robert Ewing in many different courtrooms over the past 16 years and know him to be a very competent attorney with an excellent knowledge of the law. He also does criminal appeals to the N.C. Court of Appeals and the N.C. Supreme Court, which requires more than an excellent knowledge of the law.
I saw him as the jury foreman of a jury in a Forsyth Superior Court criminal trial in which the jury found the defendant guilty.
I know him to be a morally upright family man with a wife and two young daughters.
He belongs to many legal associations, as well as being a member of the Forsyth County Bar Association ethics and grievance committee. He was also president of the Forsyth County Criminal Defense Association for the year 2000.
He has been very active in civic affairs, including being a member of the Dixie Classic Fair Planning Committee, a member of the West Forsyth Family YMCA and a member of the Task Force for Winston-Salem Downtown Development.
Robert Ewing is a good man who will make a really good judge.
RONALD J. SHORT
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Winston-Salem
Finish the Thought
Last Saturday, we asked readers to complete the sentence: "Justice will be served in the Trayvon Martin case if George Zimmerman is ..."
"… allowed to present the accurate facts about what really happened. Only he and the witness know. Justice had already been put in jeopardy when the Grand Jury was not allowed to do its job. It is unbelievable the number of protests that have been held before people had all the facts, including the one at the large church in Winston-Salem. I guess I just assumed that Christians would want the truth before rushing to judgment."
LEE JOHNSON
"… convicted of killing an innocent child because of the way he looked and his perception in his twisted mind that Trayvon Martin was a criminal. We will never know exactly what happened before the shooting since there's only one side to be told. However, we do know that Trayvon called his girlfriend and told her that he was scared because he was being followed. Having a gun gave Zimmerman this superior attitude and overzealous power to confront someone even after he was told not to by the police. If he didn't have a gun, he may not have been so "brave" and waited for the police, thus saving a precious life.
"The 'stand your ground' law should apply to Trayvon, who was a scared boy and fighting for his life, especially when he was calling for help, and not applied to Zimmerman, who was certainly the aggressor."
VELMAR FAISON
"Answering this question one way or the other is no justice at all. I cannot hear arguments presented by both sides in the courtroom because I'm not there. None of us can answer this question, without the one single generic answer that, if heard by 300,000,000 Americans, it would be interpreted 300,000,000 different ways. A 'fair trial.' Can that even happen now? What is 'fair'? Justice in this case can only be determined by the citizens of Sanford, Fla. Not the citizens of Winston-Salem, N.C."
WES PATTERSON
"… tried in a court of law instead of the media. This high-octave media needs to hold their opinion until all evidence is in. The judge and jury are the only ones who can make this decision — certainly not Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson."
NAOMI J. DAVIS
"… given a fair and impartial trial. This is the gold standard in our country, and anything less does not serve justice."
CHARLES F. WILSON
"… given a fair trial in which impartial jurors weigh his actions against the 'stand your ground' law. The decision may not be fair, but it will be according to the law and, therefore, 'just.'
"The injustice of the situation is not that Zimmerman's actions violated the law, but that the law itself violates our society.
"Every possession I have is the result of my spending some of my lifetime to obtain it. When someone steals from me, they have stolen a part of my life. Is a small part of my life worth the entire life of another person? Is that justice?
"As a country, we shun vigilantism because we believe in justice. Trayvon Martin didn't have the opportunity to be innocent until proven guilty. Is that justice?
"The real responsibility for Trayvon Martin's death lies with the voters of Florida, who allowed such a travesty to become law. If his death brings about a change in that law, he will have served the cause of justice far more than the outcome of Zimmerman's trial ever could."
DOROTHY MATHEWS
"… prosecuted according to the law, not public opinion."
WILLIAM SAMS
"… tried in another country that never heard of either man."
CHRISTINE PULISELIC
Election deadline
Letters about the primary election must be received at the Journal by 5 p.m. April 26 to be considered for publication. Campaign workers and family members should please acknowledge their relationship when they write.
Justice will be served if George Zimmerman is given due process.
ReplyDeleteThere's not jury in the U.S. that will be able to find him not guilty because of all of the racial strife the liberal media and radical, racists like Sharpton and Jackson have whipped up.
DeleteIf a jury found him not guilty, African American racists would probably pursue members, and their lives would be in constant jeopardy.
Add in Obama's AG Eric Holder, and his views on race and crime, and you've got a recipe for injustice.
OK, maybe I didn't understand Wes, but his comment made sense to me today as did most of the other ones.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed OT's commentary on polling from last night. Intriguing to me that little Germanton might lose one its landmarks. Just like rural America is becoming more Red and poorer and larger metropolitan areas are becoming ever more Blue and more wealthy. Appears one of our richer and bluer areas wants to poach a church and landmark from a poorer redder areas.
I believe Wes is totally wrong. Justice is served by due process not by the oral arguments made by opposing sides. Those arguments are just part of the process. Justice is served on a daily basis all over the US without the general public hearing the arguments. Granted this is a very high profile case on many levels, just like O.J. or Casey Anthony or Bush v Gore.
ReplyDeleteThere is another cool old church in Rural Hall, the Nazareth Lutheran Church, founded in ~ 1780. A couple of years ago when I was working on genealogy, I found my Greatx5 Grandparents are buried there, Johann Jacob Petri(d.1804) and Eva Kuelin(d.1806). His original headstone is gone, but hers remains and is written in German.
Bob: "due process" IS oral argument. Justice is served (won) by the side who's argument won the jury over.
ReplyDeleteBTW and on a different (yet same) subject: The exchange between Wes and myself the other day abruptly ended when I asked him to prove me wrong that Jesus hates gay marriage is not in the bible. Or did I just miss it? Ya know, sometimes my comments get gone on JournalNow online.
I respectfully disagree. The Supreme Court held for Miranda in a 5-4 vote, stating that "the prosecution may not use statements ... of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination." A person held for interrogation must be informed of his rights to a lawyer and to remain silent. As a result of the ruling, Miranda’s confession was deemed inadmissible and he was allowed to go free.
DeleteThat is a part of due process.
also part of due process is a speedy trial. In Florida, the Speedy Trial Rule is controlled by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191. According to this rule, a person must be brought to trial within 90 days of his/her arrest if the charge is a misdemeanor and 175 days from arrest if the charge is a felony. If those time periods elapse and the defendant has not been brought to trial, he/she must then file a "Notice of Expiration of Speedy Trial Time" and serve it on the prosecution. Assuming the defendant has not waived his/her right to a speedy trial, the trial must commence within 15 days. If trial does not commence within 15 days, the defendant is entitled to permanent discharge.
DeleteThe Court has also ruled that, in certain circumstances, the Due Process Clause requires a judge to recuse him/herself on account of concern of there being a conflict of interest. Two judges in FL v Zimmerman have already recused themselves for conflict of interest.
DeleteBob, it depends on point of view. In FL, maybe other states, due process IS a speedy trial but it's still a JURY trial. Juries heavily depend on persuasive prosecutorial/defense arguments and make their decisions based on that. IMO, of course.
DeleteI agree that the trial and the oral arguments are a part of due process, no doubt.
DeleteUsually, I avoid making suppositions and unsupport or proven facts . However, since everyone seems to 'think' they know everything in the Martin/Zimmerman case, I'll jump in on the bandwagon.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, George Zimmerman was assigned or self assigned to be a community watch person in the the area in question. As such, many of these individuals are designated as trained observers. They are trained to report to police any suspicious activity in the area. If they are not in a position to report contemporaneous information, they are worthless.
The recent break-in and thefts in the area had put Zimmerman on high alert. Although I don't know the racial make-up of the area, if a black males do not live in the area, that would raise Martin's presence in the area to the level of at least unusual. Zimmerman then reports that Martin is behaving oddly, like he's on drugs. He's wondering around the area as if he doesn't know where he's going.
What does Zimmerman do? He reports Martin's suspicious activity directly to the police, just as he is trained to do.
The characterization that Zimmerman became the 'aggressor' after he followed Martin initially is total fabrication on the part of racists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson trying to gin up racial violence and hatred. Again, Zimmerman was doing what he's trained to do-to observe.
Martin's girlfriend's statement supports the fact that that Martin became agitated when he found out he was being followed. Did Martin then become the 'aggressor' as everyone accuses Zimmerman of? Zimmerman says yes.
Although the liberal media has been quick to put up pictures of Martin up when he was clearly 13/14 years old. Martin was a 17 year old football player, in good physical shape. The liberal media also repeatly reported Martin as a 'child'. A 17 year old with gold teeth costing thousands and thousands of dollars throughout his mouth is hardly a child.
At any rate, you then had a physical confrontation. According to the photographs I've seen, it took place near a sidewalk. Zimmerman reported that Martin was banging his head against the sidewalk, and that he was yelling for help just before he shot him.
The yelling for help is supported by police 911 tapes. Martin's mother said it was her son. Zimmerman has said he yelled for help. I think who yelled is profoundly significant.
Like I've said before, a person doesn't have to armed to pose a deadly treat to another person. If reports that Zimmerman's head was being banged on the sidewalk by Martin, then Martin's actions clearly represented a deadly threat to Zimmerman.
Self-defense is an important component within the justice system. It shouldn't be idly thrown away just because some racists want to cause some trouble. Instead of believing everything the liberal media says in order to advance the liberal agenda concerning guns and race, I hope people will take an objective, and empirical look at the facts and circumstances before coming to a final conclusion.
And yes to all of you liberals' question, if the racial roles would have been reversed, I would have made the same observations, and initial cursory conclusion.
Apart from hip hop fashion, these fake gold teeth are in great demand for kids, costume parties. Whether you need to become a pirate or a gangster, his costume won't be complete with out the fake gold teeth. They are re-usable. Some of the main qualities of fake gold teeth are as follows:
ReplyDeleteThe most important of all is that they are a lot cheaper than the real gold teeth, and so are more affordable.
Fake gold teeth range has a lot of designs to offer.
You can have unique custom made designs in the fake gold teeth range as well.
Fake hip hop gold teeth are easy to care for and involve no hassle.
As they are cheap, you can switch to the latest trend with in no time.
Go ahead and dazzle the world with your smile;->
Gold Grill- $13.95
A lot of young men and women wear them. Even if they are real it's immaterial.
DeleteSo you don't know if they were real or not?
DeleteGold teeth, real or not, are clearly part of the gangster, drug dealing culture. It demonstrates to me that Martin was, at the very least, a wanna-be thug.
And rock 'n roll is an instrument of the devil, so anyone that has listened to rnr is a wanna-be Satan?
Deleteno matter how you look at it, it's immaterial to the case.
Deleteunless he bit him.
DeleteGangsters usually carry guns, does that mean that anyone that carries a gun is a wanna-be gangster?
DeleteGold teeth are much like gang signs in the drug culture. They 'status' symbol. If those teeth were real in the photograph that I saw. Martin would have probably been way up the ladder for a 17 year old drug dealer.
DeleteZimmerman was, for all intents in purposes, a wanna-be cop.
DeleteCheck and mate
DeleteAppearance is extremely important in life Bobby. You should know that by now.
DeleteIf you go to an interview in a coat and tie, you've got a better chance of getting a job than if you are all tatooed up and go in flip-flops.
Come-on, even a guy that used to use 'Buffcoach' for a name on the internet knows that?
Depends on what job you are applying for.
DeleteBobby, was Zimmerman justified or not in his use of force?
ReplyDeleteWe're debating gold teeth. What's your position on the shooting?
DeleteWords, "use your words" much better and civil than guns.
Deletethat is what the trial and due process is all about. I can make no judgement on justification. As far as my position on shooting goes. When one person shoots another, manslaughter has occurred. Whether it was justified or not should be adjudicated.
DeleteI didn't bring up gold teeth, just pronounced it immaterial. My grandmother had some gold caps.
DeleteI just saw a picture of Martin with gold looking teeth/caps. I know they cost a lot of money because I asked my dentist about them. I didn't want any, and in fact, one dentist wanted to put one in, and I told him no under no circumstances.
Deletereal gold caps are expensive, but the fake hip hop ones aren't
DeleteI have a UNLV #10 basketball jersey. Does that mean I am way up the ladder in the Vice Lord Nation United? Hardly,even though that particular jersey and number is their calling card. (I would never wear that jersey on south side of Chicago)
ReplyDeleteBobby, now you're just being silly. You want to just argue.
DeleteHey Bobby...I was over in Westend yesterday and there were a bunch of Vote no on Amendment one signs over there. That must be a hot-bed of gay activity over there. I never knew that.
DeleteIsn't that what we do here, argue political, social, and other points. Generalization is the mother of profiling.
DeleteWhat a surprise the houses are located right next to the 'Y'. But what do I know. Right?
DeleteWell, I thought we'd at least try to stay to the general topic, not talk about your UNLV
Deletebasketball jersey.
then you know very little of Winston-Salem. Many of the wonderful historic homes of West End are being bought and renovated by gays. It's happening all over. In the mid-90's downtown Asheville was dead and dormant. Now it's thriving with galleries, restaurants, music, thanks in a large part to the gay and lesbian community, and the people of Asheville recognize that.
Deleteand a lot of straight couples have those signs in their yards too. I know, I live in the West End area and do a lot of walking in the neighborhood, when my feet will allow it.
DeleteDo you have a 'no' sign in your yard? If you do, I probably saw it. I saw a bunch.
DeleteNo sign, but I am giving rides to early voting.
DeleteI don't have a yard. Guess I could put one on my car.
DeleteI'm sure all the liberals will be rushing out to vote for 'Walter Dalton', and no on Amendment One, so not to worry.
DeleteI thought you lived on Burwell Rd in Stokes County Bobby?
DeleteNo, that's my cousins place, right there at the Gap.
DeleteI saw that road the other day when I went to Hanging Rock to hike/run. It made me think of you.
DeleteMy grandfather used to own most of the land between the Gap and Stoney Ridge Rd. there at Moore's Spring.
DeleteBeautiful land through there.
DeleteI'd rather live there than in Westend.
Yep, that would be it. There before you take Moore's Spring Rd., on the right GW has a big farm with a huge sorta log house and a rock the size of a small car at the entrance. They have a bunch of pygmy donkeys.
DeleteYep, if I had my choice, I would too.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Deleteand you were doing so well.
DeleteBobby, I still like you. The only time I've gotten miffed at you is when you started listening to 'Snooki'.
DeleteOkay Bobby. I enjoyed the chat. Have a good afternoon.
DeleteGood PM, folks.
DeleteI said I wanted no more references to "rump-crushers" or similar.
Dad holds on, not expected to last much longer.
the jersey can in because we were discussing stereotyping.
ReplyDeletethe only place I've seen vote 4 amendment one signs was Peace Haven Rd., near Calvary Baptist Church. Imagine that, too.
ReplyDeleteI've seen so many, I can't remember all of the locations.
DeleteI'm sure there are many. I just haven't seen them.
DeleteI've seen several pro-Amendment One signs on my drive to work along Old Hollow Rd. (Hwy 66) in Walkertown. Of course, I also recall those same houses having signs supporting the Christian flag when they had that flap in King. Not sure how the incident in King had any affect on Walkertown, but whatever gives you a reason to wake up in the morning.
DeleteWalkertown. 'Nuff said.
DeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: It is a shame when these old churches in small communities that have been around for hundreds of years slowly fade away as elderly members die out without sufficient young members (who have moved to where the jobs are) to replace them. Empty buildings are expensive to maintain, so I cannot blame the Diocese for wanting to sell the church.
LTE 2:Endorsement. "...have seen Robert Ewing in many different courtrooms over the past 16 years and know him to be a very competent attorney with an excellent knowledge of the law." As an attorney, Mr. Short is in a position to make a quality choice for the best candidate for judge. The vast majority of voters have most likely never heard of the candidates and have no idea what qualities to look for in a judge. While there are some elected offices where incompetence can be overcome (such as Lt. Gov. which is just a figurehead position in case the Gov. dies), judgeship isn't one of them.
Finish the Thought: Surprisingly decent answers for the most part considering far too many equate justice with revenge or have already convinced themselves of the verdict based on what they've heard in the media. Like Bob, I will go with receives due process culminating in the appropriate verdict based on evidence presented as well as an appropriate sentence if found guilty. I think Ms. Matthews once again nails it particularly with her last paragraph.
Wanna-be's everywhere. Eric Cantor just said he has Jay-Z and some Wiz Khalifa on his ipod. He needs to get some Gucci Mane and The Joker.
ReplyDeleteOn "gay=lifestyle" vs. "hetero=normal"
ReplyDeleteOn marriage equality
"Usually, I avoid making suppositions and unsupport or proven facts."
ReplyDeleteProbably the funniest thing ever said on this forum...at least the first five words...the rest is incoherent and makes no sense.
The poster is a supposition and nearly always incoherent.
You saw that too?
DeleteGracias, mi dulce, but I take no credit for spotting this.
DeleteIt was brought to my attention by my pet aardvark, Sheba. She figures that any child over three could make the same connection.
If you want to hear a great song with "dulce" in its title, go here.
Click on "songlist" and then El Dulcerito Llego (The Sweets Vendor is Here). The song is "son", the national music of Cuba and simply great.
You will be listening to one of my favorite bands, West End Mambo, created in 1999 by a Russian and a Cuban who lived near each other in the Gray Court Apartments in W-S.
Today the band is made up of folks from America del Norte, America del Centro and America del Sur, all of whom live within 20 miles of you.
Their next gig is this Saturday from 3-6 PM at the Center City Park in Greensboro. I'm sure that they will also be featured in the W-S downtown summer music series…schedule to be announced in May.
If you can sit in a chair without moving while they are playing, you are dead and may stop breathing.
LOVE ME SOME SAX! I also listened to "Moliendo Café" Thanks for the sampling.
DeleteIf you really want to move, reggaeton will do it for you.
DeleteThe sax player is Norte Americano Steve Blake, a Greensburgher who also does the arrangements. For a long time he has been the most eligible bachelor in the Triad. A few years ago, someone told me excitedly that Steve was going to marry "X", another friend...even gave me the date that it was to happen.
DeleteI said "Never happen!" It didn't.
To imagine Steve married is to imagine Anne Romney working checkout at Wal*Mart.
Our favorite fount of misinformation has had his say, now let's look at some actual facts about the Retreat at Twin Lakes and its most infamous resident.
ReplyDeleteIn 2004, Engle Homes began construction on 263 two-story townhouses, with upstairs porches and covered back patios and plenty of green space.
Inside, the townhomes boasted granite countertops, hardwood floors, master suites and walk-in closets. Outside, there was a pond, a clubhouse and a community pool.
Everything was walled in, to keep out the unknown.
The initial cost of a 1,400-square-foot townhome and the pass code to that front gate: $250,000. Then came the Cheney/Bush crash. Today, post-boom, the price has dipped below $100,000.
Meanwhile many owners were foreclosed and evicted. Dozens of investors, unable to unload their property, resorted to renting it out for whatever they could get.
Still, by early this year, 40 properties were vacant and half the residents were renters. The demographics of the Retreat at Twin Lakes are 50% white, 25% black and 25% Latino.
Brandy Green, black, was a renter. Her boyfriend lived in Miami, and his teen-aged son, Trayvon Martin, had visited her on several occasions. There were a lot of kids living in the complex and the older ones always looked forward to Trayvon's visits because he made an extra for their football games.
George Zimmerman, white Latino, was also a renter. He moved in shortly after the crash in 2009 and almost immediately began calling 911. At first his subject was the usual crackpot stuff…people driving without headlights, people doing wheelies, other people's dogs.
Then last summer, there were three break-ins in the complex. From then on Zimmerman's calls were always about black teenagers. There were plenty of teenagers living there, white, black, latino, so there were many, many calls, but none of the teenagers in Zimmerman's fantasies were white or latino…all were black.
In September, several residents contacted the Sanford police about starting a neighborhood watch program. About 30 residents showed up for a meeting in the clubhouse at which police volunteer coordinator Wendy Dorival explained that neighborhood watch meant observing and reporting and nothing else.
"…this is not about being a vigilante police force," she told them. "You're not supposed to patrol…and you're certainly not supposed to carry a gun."
The residents at the meeting were enthusiastic about having a neighborhood watch, but as is often the case in such endeavors, none of them wanted to actually do any work, so George Zimmerman essentially appointed himself "Captain".
The job of a neighborhood watch captain is simply to organize, receive reports and distribute information. Nothing more.
But right away there were complaints about Zimmerman being out and about and confronting residents in a bullying manner. Several of those complaints were brought before the owners association, so they knew that Zimmerman was some sort of nut case. But nothing was done to reign him in.
We have seen the result. There is a neighborhood watch sign outside the main gate at the Retreat at Twin Lakes. But the police have no registration for a Twin Lakes neighborhood watch group.
As if things weren't already bad enough, the owners association has just discovered that they are responsible for George Zimmerman's misconduct, because they knew about it and did nothing. Legal experts agree that should Trayvon Martin's family sue, and they almost certainly will, they will win in a slam dunk.
Like Forrest Gump's mom said: Stupid is as stupid does.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteZimmerman is also reportedly 'Jewish', and we all know how African American hate the Jewish population. Add in the fact that he appears to be white. It's a recipe for a virtual hate fest for the African American community.
ReplyDeleteStupidity comes in many forms. The inability to see and acknowledge the truth because of political and racial beliefs is the ultimate form of stupidity and ignorance.
Ha, ha…like the Energizer Bunny…relentlessly mindless…
ReplyDeleteGeorge Zimmerman's mother, Gladys, is a Catholic from Peru and worked for many years as a translator at the Prince William County courthouse in Virginia.
His father, Robert, Sr., is retired military, a Catholic and something of a control freak. When George and his siblings were growing up in Manassas, Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s, they were kept home and not allowed to play with other children.
They attended All Saints Catholic School on Stonewall Road. George was an altar boy at All Saints Catholic Church. Sounds more like Santorum than Lieberman.
When one gets their information from crackpot sources, one will always be:
Stupid is as stupid does.