Ginny from the Blog

Remember the puppy that was stolen from a Cary apartment during a burglary? She was a Golden Retriever named Lulu, and when she went missing Cary Police put out a press release asking the public for help finding her. I blogged about her because I didn’t know how I felt about the police putting out a news release seeking help finding a lost dog.

Well, Lulu has been reunited with her owner, the News & Observer reported Sunday. Supposedly, Lulu was purchased by an unsuspecting woman at a gas station in Angier for $50. The woman couldn’t keep up with the new pup, the N&O reported, so she gave it to her sister who apparently realized it was the stolen pup. Awww. A happy ending.

I have to wonder though, who buys a puppy from a gas station?

I donated blood on MLK Jr. Day. You should too. It doesn’t hurt. If you don’t like needles, just look away and take a deep breath, and you’ll do fine. The American Red Cross really needs your blood. To find the closest place to donate go the the Red Cross Web site and type in your zip code.

The Triangle chapter is incredibly low on type O negative, B negative and A negative blood. And if that’s not a good enough reason, then look at it as a good way to save money. Because everybody knows if you donate blood and go out drinking afterward you get tipsy a lot faster, thus spending less on beer. The Red Cross does not endorse this behavior, as the Minnesota Daily recently reported:

Dr. Gary Bachowski of the Red Cross said donating and drinking doesn’t fit with the philosophy of giving blood to those in need. “It’s our policy to collect blood from donors who really don’t have any other reason to give other than that it’s a good thing to do,” he said. … Donating and then drinking can also be dangerous, Bachowski said. When a person donates blood, a tenth of his or her blood volume is removed, he said. In an average man, that equals about a pint of blood.

When was the last time you donated blood?

What would Durham’s “state of the city address” have been like if it was delivered by presidential hopeful Barack Obama instead of Mayor Bill Bell?

Well, first of all, I can guarantee city hall would have been packed (although, it’s likely that even with a packed crowd the public-to-journalist ratio still may have been in the range 10-to-1 range that Kevin referenced in his Bull City Rising blog.)

Independent Weekly editor Lisa Sorg speculated how the annual address might have been different in her most recent column. Her rendition includes some words Obama is known for dropping, such as “hope” and “change.” This may be the most spot on paragraph in her psuedo-speech:

Yes, we have challenges, but we also have hope. We hope someone will visit downtown after six o’clock. We hope someone will pay $60 to see a show at the Durham Performing Arts Center. We hope, someday, someone will speak of Durham without uttering the words “Duke” and “lacrosse.”

Anyone else want to try their hand at guessing what Mayor Bell’s speech would have sounded like if it were delivered by John Edwards, John McCain or maybe even Ron Paul?

I have to wait at the same, ridiculously long red light almost every morning I drive to work. This morning I was feeling pretty grumpy as I waited for the light to turn green. I looked over at the restaurant on the corner and noticed this stuffed snake sticking out of the window above Northside Billiards on Whitaker Mill Road in Raleigh.

I’ve never noticed it before. It made me smile (on a day when I could really use a smile), and I had to snap a shot. I just called the pool hall to find out if it’s always been there, and the guy who answered the phone just said he puts it up every year around Halloween. He just hasn’t taken it down yet. I’m glad he didn’t, because it made my morning.

Do you drive past anything unusual on your commute to work?

I watched Durham Mayor Bill Bell deliver the annual State of the City Address last night. The mayor opened by touting some of the city’s accomplishments last year. Then he spoke about the challenges for the upcoming year. On a lighter note, if there is any question about my attendance at the speech, a competing local TV station solidified my presence by including me in their broadcast (see right).

Among the highlights from Bell’s speech:

• The city and county must continue to work to reduce green house gas emissions
• The city should change its pricing structure for water so that heavy water users are paying higher rates
• City administrators should “present a definitive proposal defining” the city’s legal authority to deny water and sewer connections for future developments
• The city should continue to make revitalizing inner-city neighborhoods a top priority, including North East Central Durham, Southwest Central Durham, Rolling Hills and the South Side Community
• The city and its residents need to step up efforts to reduce crime. Residents, he said, should participate in neighborhood watches. Additionally, he said, the bonds set for people charged with serious crimes needs to be looked at. For even more details, check out the recap posted on the Durham blog Bull City Rising.

Afterward, I stopped some residents in the lobby and asked them what they thought about the mayor’s speech:

Things are intense on the assignment desk right now. The scanners are abuzz with word of multiple wrecks around the triangle. Supposedly a several car pile up just occurred somewhere near 540 and I-40, and even more crashes are being reported. It seems most of the crashes are occurring on overpasses, particularly in the Durham area.

I hope if you’re reading this post it finds you safe. And if you must head out this morning, please be extra careful.

Did you see any of these crashes today or experience any close calls?

I participated in a local initiative today designed to get people to volunteer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day instead of taking the day off. I spent part of the day giving some love to cats living at the SPCA of Wake County, 200 Petfinder Lane, Raleigh.

Here’s what the shelter offers:

Last year, I volunteered to work on the holiday commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (it was a company holiday). I covered a couple of parades in his honor on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton, SC, for the newspaper I was working for. I wanted to take a different approach to the story that no doubt had been written year after year, so I asked marchers why they decided to participate in the parade rather than stay at home. The adults I interviewed all had good answers, explaining it’s important to remember and highlight the fight for civil rights our nation endured only four decades earlier. Some of the children, however, seemed to treat the parade as a roller rink, skating down the road in those Heelys shoes that were oh so popular then:

While adults walked briskly in marches Monday on Hilton Head Island and Bluffton to commemorate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some children skated past them in gym shoes equipped with plastic wheels.

For the children and young adults at Monday’s marches, the civil rights movement is something they’ve only read about in history books. So it might seem fitting that some youngsters seemed more concerned about losing their balance on the heels of their trendy skate shoes, then about the struggle that allowed them to play together, regardless of race.

“I think they have a clue about the purpose,” of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said Bluffton resident Gwenita Jenkins, whose 7-year-old niece skated through downtown Bluffton with a life-size cutout of King’s photograph tied around her neck. “But the unfortunate part is they have what they want already, so they don’t know what it’s like not to have.”

As society becomes further removed from the days when Jim Crow signs hung over drinking fountains and blacks were directed to the back of the bus, it becomes more challenging to make children appreciate the struggle for civil rights.

So as our nation celebrates the birth of the civil rights leader today, I wonder whether you think children appreciate the significance of the day.

I ordered a kid’s meal from Chick-fil-A today and was pleasantly surprised by the prize. The fast food restaurant is giving away presidential trivia cards instead of toys. This is a brilliant idea. Apparently, the restaurant is known for these educational goodies, according to its Web site.

Educational, interactive, character-building Kid’s Meal prizes help bring grownups and kids together. Even our bags include activities, games and facts that stimulate young minds and help plant the seeds of good value.

On a side note, you’ll notice the friendly face of NBC17’s Ken Luallen next to my trivia cards. Ken is one of our astute reporters, and I thought it would be funny to try to embarrass him while he was waiting in line to order his chicken sandwich.

So I walked up to him and loudly declared: “Oh my gosh, you’re Ken Luallen from TV.” People started turning their heads to see who I was talking to. Then, I asked if I could get my picture taken with him (he had no idea I was going to do this) and he politely agreed. Always fun to give the reporters a hard time.

Have you ever run into anyone famous in the Triangle?

Forecasters are saying snowfall and/or rain is possible Saturday, and with that possibility, organizers of the Durham parade just made this announcement:

Due to the prediction of inclement weather, The 6th Annual Durham MLK Parade originally scheduled for Saturday, January 19th at 12 noon has been postponed. The new date is Saturday, February 2nd at 12 noon – “Honoring Dr. King during Black History Month.”