BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for November 14, 2008

• A "small group" of SW Durhamites met with new County Commissioners Joe Bowser and Brenda Howerton last night to press them on development concerns in that portion of Durham County. Not present in the H-S report: who'll the two newcomers back for BOCC chair? (H-S)
• The Durham County Library is expected to prune 10-20k books from the Southwest Branch Library collection as part of the renovation effort; books not circulated recently or those that may be out of date or damaged will be removed. Items in good condition will get sold through the semiannual Friends of the Library sales. (H-S)
• An uptick in burglaries have taken place in and around downtown neighborhoods in recent weeks; the H-S profiled some in a story, while local listservs from Duke Park to W-H have had what appear to be significantly more break-in reports of late. Your Best Entertainment Value: The debate between the inimitable Seth Vidal and another W-H listserver on how to combat street crime. (H-S)
• New Durham NAACP president Fred Foster Jr. is pressing the City to release the "racially derogatory comments" purportedly made by a couple of D.P.D. officers and has called for disciplinary action if the stories are true; Mayor Bell tells the H-S that the public has a right to know the outcome of the probe but that "due process" must be followed first. (H-S)

Comments

[FourthPollworkerFrom theLeft]

I think Fred Foster has been the President of the Durham NAACP for at least a year now -- maybe he was recently re-elected? By the way, Fred deserves a lot of credit: he revitalized the Durham Voter Coalition; he worked as hard, if not harder, than anyone in Durham in this past election; and he did not always take a popular stand, either (e.g., food tax). Where ever you went, he was there, including all through early voting and on Election Day, giving people rides to the polls. Then he didn't even stop to rest after the election, popping up to host a breakfast the morning after. I have to say, I didn't speak to him even once during the election season, but when Obama was elected, he was one of the first people I thought of. I hope Fred savored every moment of the Obama victory because he earned it. Many people would have withdrawn from politics completely after the screwing he got in the primary, with the fake endorsement hand-outs and all, but Fred kept working for something and someone he believed in. He's earned my respect for that and respect from a lot of other people, too.