The second edition of “Art on Main” was held on May 7, 2011. I didn’t get to attend the first one in [...]]]> “Art On Main” was an awesome street festival in May, and I was hoping for just as much open-ended fun for the fall edition. I’m starting to doubt if that will happen.

The second edition of “Art on Main” was held on May 7, 2011. I didn’t get to attend the first one in Fall 2010 because of work obligations, but I wanted to check the second one out. I went there fully expecting to spend about 30 minutes getting photos and then I’d move along to my next stop. Four hours later, I was still there and having a great time just seeing what the local arts community actually consists of.

I knew diddlysquat about Southside’s art community until I saw what it was all about. I knew that Melissa Charles was a catalyst for getting arts-related people organized and that she is a genius when it comes to that stuff. I spent well over four hours just walking around the two blocks of Main St and was amazed at what I saw. Crafters, photographers, singers, dancers, performance art… even a well rehearsed flash mob dance. I met new friends, saw new things and was totally amazed at what I saw and what the Southside art community was all about. There were even plenty of things or children to do there.

Let’s get real, folks. I’m not in the hoity-toity Art Appreciation Society where people look at paintings, tell you loads of bullcrap about what it really means, then look down on you because you think the painting looks like it was done by a chimpanzee. “Art on Main” was great because it was fun for People Like Me. “Art on Main” was a complete success and I promised that I would spread the word. I was really looking forward to the Fall 2011 festival for another round of laid-back fun and entertainment.

(insert sound cue of tires screeching & cars crashing).

Danville Arts & Humanities has taken over “Art on Main” and it’s now part of the new “River District Festival”. “Art on Main” in October is now the “1st Annual Art on Main Juried Show (An Official Event of the Danville River District Festival”. Melissa Charles now has nothing to do with the event, nor it seems does she have anything to do with Danville Arts & Humanities. Melissa is a class act, and she won’t (nor do I expect her) to say anything about what’s happened. That being said, I’m wondering what’s going on. The loss of Melissa Charles’ leadership, talent and skills is a giant loss for this festival.

From what I see at the River District Festival’s website, “Art On Main” is becoming a formalized juried art show. The prices for the vendors have more than doubled, the talent performances now include a talent competition (tough luck if you’re over 35 years old and wanted to perform in that). The website says…

The River District Festival is proud to host an eclectic array of local and visiting–vocalist, musicians, performing artists, and dancers. The day’s entertainment will divide into professional visiting performances, local professional performances, and an amateur talent competition.

… but I have no idea what that means. I thoroughly enjoyed the “very less than professional” entertainment at the May festival, which included pretty much ane range of anybody that had a decent amount of talent.

“Art on Main” was a festival for the regular Joe and that’s why I stayed there for over four hours. The museum held “Art on the Lawn” at the same time that day. I stayed there about 10 minutes in the High Society until I couldn’t wait to get back to the fun on Main Street. I don’t want to see a juried art show with high vendor fees. I don’t want to see only professional talent. I want to have fun like I did at May’s street festival.

“Art on Main” worked fine the way it was in May. I have no idea what’s going on with Danville Arts & Humanities or why a growing street festival seems to be having all the fun sucked out of it and is being replaced with a hoity-toity juried art show all in the name of the new “Danville River Festival”. Does anybody else know what’s going on?

If I’m wrong on something, I’ve got no problem admitting it. On the other hand, Don McEachin prefers to stick his fingers in his ears and say “LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Gun crimes drop at Virginia bars and restaurants

As regular readers well know, I recommended Reidsville’s “Lucky City” as a good place to go. Well, not anymore because Lucky City has closed down.

I got an email from Debbie Moore on Friday saying that Lucky City was going to close [...]]]> Bad things usually happen when you piss off people in government.

As regular readers well know, I recommended Reidsville’s “Lucky City” as a good place to go. Well, not anymore because Lucky City has closed down.

I got an email from Debbie Moore on Friday saying that Lucky City was going to close that night. I was quite surprised and after some interviews, we found out that Richard Moore had gotten a “7 day intention to terminate” the lease and they had to get out. That’s quite bizarre because they had always paid their rent on time… so I’m trying to find out why the building owner (Dr. William Bradford) decided to get rid of a paying tenant.

Let’s get some things out of the way. Richard Moore pissed people off at times. He thumbed his nose quite regularly at “The Establishment”, and often came out on top because he was usually right. He started a “Reidsville Downtown Merchants” Facebook page after the previous one was deleted and proceeded to mock the downtown businesses in a fun way. He unofficially changed the name of Lucky City to “Reidsville Public Library” for no apparent reason, causing some confusion among people. He continued to have fun at the expense of local & county government officials. In short, it was “Richard being Richard”. You may not like the way he did things, but Lucky City was a quirky, successful business that added a lot to to Reidsville’s downtown. Unfortunately, it looks like Richard pissed off one too many people. I, along with many others, will miss their selection of beer and wine. I’ll also miss the group of friends I met that considered themselves Lucky City’s “regulars”.

We’ll probably never find out who orchestrated the downfall of Lucky City (unless you count Richard’s antics as the reason… which I don’t). That’s the biggest shame of all.

I’m in favor of an independent study to determine if uranium can be mined safely. I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to know if it can be mined [...]]]> Some of the anti-uranium folks seem to think that I’m in favor of uranium mining. As I’ve said before, they’re quite wrong.

I’m in favor of an independent study to determine if uranium can be mined safely. I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to know if it can be mined safely or not. I get completely frustrated by the anti-uranium nutballs who say that Southside VA will be glowing for 500 years or other assorted ridiculous claims like that. People like Jack Dunavant irritate me when they try to control the debate using intimidation (remember his beloved “Chemical Trespass” idea that got obliterated?) and other heavy-handed tactics.

Well, there are tactics by the pro-uranium mining side that piss me off just as much. Walter Coles, come on down!

Uranium VP: Mining bill likely in 2012

Walter, just like the gloom-and-massive-doom nutballs on the other side, you have no idea if uranium mining can be done safely. Patrick Wales can spin your remarks in any way he chooses but by making this speech, you have severely damage the respect that I have of you and your company. I always believed that you were in this business to make a profit, but now I’m wondering if that’s the only motivation that you have.

Union decries Swedwood conditions

Danville’s getting a good reputation as a place that’s business-friendly. The only big union employer in the area is Goodyear, and Goodyear pretty much told the union what concessions they would have to take to keep the plant open in the last [...]]]> The “Union at Swedwood” talk is starting again.

Union decries Swedwood conditions

Danville’s getting a good reputation as a place that’s business-friendly. The only big union employer in the area is Goodyear, and Goodyear pretty much told the union what concessions they would have to take to keep the plant open in the last round of contract talk. The local USW members stomped their feet a little bit, made a little noise, then did the only rational thing they could do and accepted the company’s terms. I gained a lot more respect for the local USW membership when they did the right thing. Goodyear played fair as well in that situation by telling exactly what was needed, then rewarded the local plant by expanding. That being said, the absolute last thing that Southside needs is a new unionization because that would pretty much destroy economic development efforts in the region.

Now you’ve got this union that is trying to insert itself between the Swedwood workers and the company. The violations noted in the article are quite minor, and the plant seems to be doing well. It seems that this union will do anything to get their name out there.

Building and Wood Workers’ International led a protest against Swedwood Danville conditions on Dec. 7 at the IKEA in Geneva.

Oh, I’m sure that accomplished a lot.

Swedwood maintains it hasn’t violated the agreement and that when Swedwood learned of the claim that workers wanted to join the union, it suggested a secret ballot process to determine the accurate position of workers, Steén said.

“And, we will respect the result of the election process,” Steén said. “This offer has, however, been declined by union representatives.”

Gee, I wonder why? Could it be because this union knows they wouldn’t have a chance in hell of winning? When the company encourages a union referendum, you have to believe that things are going well inside the walls. If you ever wanted a reason on why the “Employee Free Choice Act” (card check) is horrible legislation, all you have to do is point to this example. I’m not totally anti-union because in plants like Goodyear, the USW can actually help with safety issues. I am totally against union thuggery (looking at you on the picket line, USW!) and the way that lots of unions have became mouthpieces for politics.

There still is a small place for labor unions in this country, but Swedwood isn’t that place.

“Willow Lane Brawl” case comes to an end

Two “assault on police” charges just go away. Interesting…

Were the original charges overstated or is this a good lesson that money can [...]]]> How much jail time does a person get for “Felony Assault on a Police Officer” and “Felony Assault on a Police Dog”? Nothing!

“Willow Lane Brawl” case comes to an end

Two “assault on police” charges just go away. Interesting…

Were the original charges overstated or is this a good lesson that money can buy you out of most trouble?

Here we go…

5th District Thoughts

(Editor’s Note: This article is solely the viewpoint of the author and not necessarily the opinion of SouthsideCentral.)

I find it greatly interesting, yet tremendously sad that a sitting congressman has decided that, [...]]]> At SouthsideCentral, we welcome article submissions from our readers. In this OpinionCentral, Dave Cline weighs in on the 5th District election.

(Editor’s Note: This article is solely the viewpoint of the author and not necessarily the opinion of SouthsideCentral.)

I find it greatly interesting, yet tremendously sad that a sitting congressman has decided that, instead of running on his record and telling us why we should send him back to DC, has opted instead to work to get out the vote for an opponent. That’s right. He is actually encouraging people to vote for someone other than himself.
Odd, huh? Most reasonable people would find it strange that a politician would actually encourage voters to cast their vote for someone other than himself, yet that is exactly what Tom Perriello is doing.

All across the fifth district we see TV ads, hear radio spots, and receive mailers from our congressman and his tremendously supportive democrat party touting the attributes of an ‘independent third party candidate’. These advertisements essentially encourage conservatives and independents (who are obviously not going to vote for Perriello) to cast their vote for this candidate thereby taking potential votes from Republican Robert Hurt and increasing the chance of Perriello squeaking his way back to Washington. Remember he won by a mere 700 votes or so last time.

The liberal democrat congressman knows that the majority of the voters in the 5th district do not support the big spending, heavy taxing, job killing agenda running amuck in DC that he has walked in lockstep with. He knows that higher taxes, greater regulation, and deeper entrenchment of federal government control over the economy is not what we want. However, being the big spending progressive liberal that he is he just cannot help himself. So instead of telling us the truth; that he is going to keep doing what he did before and walk in lockstep with Obama and Pelosi – he seeks to siphon enough votes away from Robert Hurt by encouraging them toward another candidate hoping to once again pull out a win.

The people of the 5th district are smarter than that, Mr. Perriello. We see exactly what you did while in DC and what you are doing in this campaign. We will not be deceived. Your political spin and games will not work.

Congressman, we hope to bid you a genuine and heartfelt farewell on November 2nd. I wonder though, Ya still got that apartment you where you lived in New York before running for congress in the 5th district of Virginia in 2008? I think you will need it.

Let’s all send a message to Washington. Stop the spending, balance the budget, and do not raise taxes. We send just that message by .voting Robert Hurt on November 2nd.

I’m Dave Cline, and I approved this message!

Dave Cline
South Boston, VA

As many of you know, I’ve taken a job in broadcast media. Because of that job, I’ve had to work with a [...]]]> It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Let’s get this update started with a statement on why it’s hard to talk about political topics, then we’ll get to what’s been going on.

As many of you know, I’ve taken a job in broadcast media. Because of that job, I’ve had to work with a lot of political candidates regarding advertising so I have to deal with ethical conflicts of interests when I make political observations. Next, I try and stay as objective as possible when I am representing the TV station, both when on-air and out in the community when I’m covering the news. Although I have made it clear to my readers that SouthsideCentral is my personal site when I express my personal opinions, I’d be a fool to believe that all of my readers are able to make that distinction. That’s another thing that I have to consider. (By the way, my employer is perfectly happy with me continuing to express my personal opinions and observations, to some of my detractors’ dismay.) When I combine all of these potential pitfalls, I have to tread carefully but I am continuing to produce SouthsideCentral content. That being said, I am reminding my readers that the following is my personal opinion.

Let’s get started with observations about the three candidates in the race.

• Tom Perriello – Money talks. Perriello’s got plenty of money and although some rumors floated around that he was going to lose funding as being in a “non-winnable race”, I firmly believed that was a load of horsecrap the moment I heard it. Perriello’s campaign is rolling along quite well and it’s being guided on the right path. He’s mostly doing the right things and is in the race to win it.
• Robert Hurt – Hurt’s running a well-oiled campaign as well except for one major flaw. The “refusing to debate if Jeff Clark is present” may be perfect political strategy, but it’s coming at a cost to his campaign. Hurt needs to get one high-profile debate in with both of his opponents to shut up the people who are claiming he’s cowardly. Once that happens, Hurt would be able to point to that debate and say “I gave him a chance.”
• Jeff Clark – Even if you’re totally against Clark even being in the race, you’ve got to give him credit for sticking it out despite being outgunned & out-funded.

Now let’s get this thing started in the semi-dreaded (Very) Random Thoughts format!

• One of my callers last week made a good point by saying none of the candidates are telling her why she should vote for them.
• With one month to go, let’s play “Follow The Money” and see where donations and finding comes from.
• WMDV caught Robert Hurt at his Danville fish-fry event on Monday and he said that he would come on WMDV for an hour show.
• Unsurprisingly, I’m seeing a lot of the “I’m Republican but I don’t like Robert Hurt” people showing support for Robert Hurt. I told you so.
• Here’s a funny story from the last Danville Tea Party meeting. Angry Old Man stands up and says “Jeff Clark says he’s a tea party guy but he’s not one of us!” (or something like that, but you can feel the get-off-my-lawn outrage in his voice). When it’s pointed out that Jeff Clark is sitting two rows behind him and that he is welcome to talk to Clark, Angry Old Man sits down and shuts up. Lesson learned: Shouting at a telephone pole is fun when the telephone pole can’t point out your shortcomings.
• Hurt’s latest attack ad just pissed me off by calling the health care reform the “Pelosi-Perriello Healthcare Plan”, however if there was a Full-Truth In Negative Advertising law, there wouldn’t be any negative ads. Why confuse the voters with the truth?
• As a voter, your job is to pick the best candidate. If you truly feel that Jeff Clark is the best candidate, you should vote for him. There’s no shame in that.

That’s enough for now… thanks for the patience as WMDV gets going!

The Southside tour started with Chatham on Monday, Danville on Tuesday, Martinsville on Wednesday, and South Boston on Thursday. Let’s go to the “random thoughts” board…

First, thanks for the birthday wishes. It means a lot.

Next, let’s talk about what’s getting ready to happen for Halifax County. If you’re [...]]]> The HalifaxTalk people who don’t like me and the ones who obsessively stalk me can read this too. It’s also open to people who want to know about WMDV.

First, thanks for the birthday wishes. It means a lot.

Next, let’s talk about what’s getting ready to happen for Halifax County. If you’re a Comcast cable subscriber in the South Boston/Halifax system, you’re about to get a brand new TV station. WMDV-TV is currently broadcasting over-the-air on channel 47.2 to southern Pittsylvania County, all of Henry County, Danville, and Caswell & Rockingham Counties in North Carolina. Because the station’s transmitter is on White Oak Mountain, our broadcast signal doesn’t reach Halifax County at this time so WMDV has reached a retransmission agreement with Comcast. WMDV-TV will be seen in South Boston/Halifax, Danville, Martinsville, Chatham, Gretna & Altavista. We have made all of the arrangements necessary for Comcast to start delivering our station to the area and WMDV could be on the cable systems as soon as this week.

WMDV-TV is part of the Star News Corporation and also has TV stations in Martinsville & Reidsville, NC. We specialize in local programming and feature news/talk call-in shows. We also feature guests from all walks of life including local government and elected officials. We invite our viewers to call in to our shows and talk to our hosts & guests about what’s really going on and we promise that you’ll have a voice with your elected officials on WMDV (as well as have a chance to express your own opinions). The network affiliate TV station cover our area as well, but they don’t have the time to devote themselves to in-depth coverage of things that happen here. At WMDV, we plan on producing a minimum of two to four hours of local programming each weeknight and will supplement that programming with coverage of local & regional events. In other words, it’s a type of TV station that the Halifax County area has never seen before. It’s worked well in the Martinsville & Reidsville areas and it’s going to work well in Halifax County.

You may notice that I used the word “we” up above and that’s because I am heading up the WMDV-TV efforts. I will be the host of the majority of our on-air programming. I have been working for Star News Corporation for the past four months and am currently hosting shows on our existing stations. I have a good knowledge of the region and have a good working relationship with the region’s government leaders and elected officials. I have already started the progress of booking guests from Halifax County (and the region) for our talk shows and look forward to filling our programming schedule with content that you will want to watch. As you know, I always maintain an open line of communication with my friends and I am keeping that philosophy open with the new viewers that watch our stations. I want to hear what’s on your mind, what’s going on, and what you want to see on the station. Star News Corporation is known for covering and televising local events and we look forward to continuing that in the WMDV coverage area. We’re community-based, and we’re going to give Halifax County a new way to talk & something to talk about.

We will also offer television advertising packages that will include commercials, short & long-form infomercials and TV show type programming at the lowest media rates ever seen in the area. If you’ve got a business or service that you want people to know about, you will be able to reach well over 35,000 households in the Southside Virginia area at prices that will be affordable for you, no matter what size your business is. WMDV does all of our advertising production in house and doesn’t charge production fees for advertising contracts that meet our minimum time-frames. We have plenty of references available that will be glad to tell you how much Star News advertising has done for their business.

As you can tell, I’m excited about this new career and also excited to bring this endeavor to Halifax County.

Now, let’s get to the HalifaxTalk part of this essay. As you know, Darrin Talbott banned me from the HT message boards after my comments in this thread. I made an attempt to talk to Darrin and documented it in this SouthsideCentral article. Darrin replied in a thread called “Free BruceH”, and I made my response here. After that, I’ve had no communication with Darrin and only passing conversation with Bunny. I thank all of my friends for the support. Through credible sources and friends, I’ve found out that it’s just not Darrin that recommended my banning and continue to not want me back. I have no need to be allowed back on HalifaxTalk but with the imminent arrival of WMDV, I feel that it’s time to move forward.

I feel that WMDV & HalifaxTalk could both benefit from working together. The majority of elected officials and government leaders have no desire to participate at HalifaxTalk due to the anonymous sniping and hostile attitudes that have been demonstrated quite often in the past. That hasn’t been the case at any of the other Star News stations and it will not be the case at WMDV. When you’ve got a potential audience of over 35,000 subscribers, leaders and people will participate. Let me make this perfectly clear… I will not (nor never) apologize for any of my statements on HalifaxTalk. I stand behind what I say and always will. I am opinionated at times and I have no problem offering up those opinions. If you don’t like me, I don’t care & I can sleep well with that knowledge. I’ll do just fine without your support. If you do like me, I’ll be there for you.

Here’s what I’m proposing… If Darrin & Bunny are willing to work with me & WMDV, I would be willing to set up a section on HalifaxTalk where I could tell people about what’s coming up on our programming. I would open threads up for people to submit questions for our guests and to suggest potential show topics. I would also respond to viewer’s comments just as I currently do via phone, email and our Star News Facebook page. I want to make sure that people know that Halifax County will not be the sole focus of our WMDV programming, but we feel it’s an underserved market area and needs a local TV station that covers this area.

So there you have it, folks. I’ve told you about WMDV and our plans. It’s going to happen and I want you to be a part of it. I cordially invite everybody who reads this letter to come visit the new WMDV studios in Danville. We’re located at 3334 US 29 N, and that’s 2/10′s of a mile past the Market Square shopping center and the Danville city limits. Make contact with me, and I’ll let you know when I’ll be in the studio and we’ll work out a good time for you to come visit. If you’re on Facebook,I invite you to add me on as a friend if you haven’t already & I also invite you to find our Star News fan page and join it. You can email me at any time at bhedrick@southsidecentral.com or bruce.hedrick@wgsr47.com. You can also call me as well. I’ll be glad to give you my direct phone number on request or you can call 336-446-WMDV (9638) at any time. I will continue to operate SouthsideCentral, and here’s a SC article that tells you all of the ways to contact SC & see additional SC content. I’m also actively looking for guests that have a story to tell, so feel free to let me know any ideas that you have on that. As for the HalifaxTalk issues, the ball is now in Darrin Talbott & Bunny Propst’s court. I would like to work together with HalifaxTalk… but if that doesn’t happen, WMDV is coming to the area anyway.

I thank you for taking the time to read this open letter. If you have any questions or comments, I’m always available to talk.

Sincerely,
Bruce Hedrick

Mountain Road Resident Requests Lower Speed Limit

Lovely. If this passes, Halifax will now have even more areas for revenue enhancement operations and it won’t change one thing about the safety level.

City’s Bluffwalk tab nears $1 million mark

My mind truly boggles. Guaranteeing a $3.2 million dollar loan to a private investor wanks right up there with Buena Vista building their own golf course. I just [...]]]> Have you ever wanted to build your own hotel and not have to pay for it? Move to Lynchburg!

City’s Bluffwalk tab nears $1 million mark

My mind truly boggles. Guaranteeing a $3.2 million dollar loan to a private investor wanks right up there with Buena Vista building their own golf course. I just checked the Craddock-Terry Hotel’s prices out and I just don’t understand why they aren’t at full capacity. Gee, you would think they’d be turning people away because their “Best Available” rate is only $159.

OddsMakers on this business venture going bankrupt and sticking the Lynchburg taxpayers with the entire bill: 97%

The Register & Bee’s John Crane wrote an excellent article about the meeting, so I’ll refer you to that for the play-by-play. I just want to touch on two experiences I had during the meeting.

Danville’s first public hospital falls victim to old age

It didn’t fall victim to “old age”. It fell victim to owners that didn’t give a damn about about the property, a neighborhood that’s a war zone and a fire that happened 14 years ago. Now [...]]]> For a very brief moment, I was almost concerned.

Danville’s first public hospital falls victim to old age

It didn’t fall victim to “old age”. It fell victim to owners that didn’t give a damn about about the property, a neighborhood that’s a war zone and a fire that happened 14 years ago. Now that the wrecking ball has finally entered the building, we’ve got an outcry of “Save The Historic Hospital!”

The owners, the historic societies and people with enough money to actually do something with this building have had plenty of time to do something about this dilapidated eyesore and they have done absolutely nothing. The current owner, Cora Tucker, is a landlord in Durham NC and has had seven years to try and make the building livable. How’d that work out?

Of course, Danville’s history is important and certain things should be preserved… but this building has gone past its lifespan. Unless a Millionaire with Magical Money steps up in the next week, it’s time for the City of Danville to show that it’s fighting blighted properties no matter what building it is.

Danville Utilities awards $12,000 grant to Habitat

During the past winter, customers of Danville Utilities frequently complained about high electric bills. Despite assurances from the mayor and city council who said “We’re listening to you”, [...]]]> $12,000 isn’t that much for Danville Utilities in the overall budget, but they’ve got a bad sense of timing.

Danville Utilities awards $12,000 grant to Habitat

During the past winter, customers of Danville Utilities frequently complained about high electric bills. Despite assurances from the mayor and city council who said “We’re listening to you”, nothing has came out of this listening yet and we’re five months past the issue. Danville has a Utility Commission that meets monthly but again, we’ve heard nothing about any billing policy changes. Now comes this donation of $12,000. It’s a good program and it’s a good cause, but there’s no explanation where the $12,000 came from. That amount of money wouldn’t affect anybody’s utility bill, but it’s the image of giving money away when customers are complaining about utility rates that cast this donation into a bad light.

Good donation. Bad timing. Danville Utilities should have seen this public reaction coming.

Two years ago, I swore that I would never have the need nor desire to get a smartphone. I was totally wrong on that and quickly found that a smartphone is almost a requirement to run a website and do business in today’s world. Today’s “accident” [...]]]> Today was a bad day for my cellphone.

Two years ago, I swore that I would never have the need nor desire to get a smartphone. I was totally wrong on that and quickly found that a smartphone is almost a requirement to run a website and do business in today’s world. Today’s “accident” really taught me a lot about the cellphone business.

Let’s rewind to this morning. I’m making my way to Danville’s City Hall carrying my laptop, backpack, a TV camera and a tripod. Needless to say, that’s a load to haul. Unknown to me as I walk past the Masonic Temple River City Towers building (Yeah, I still call it the Masonic Temple), my Blackberry phone holster flips and dumps my phone onto the pavement. Blissfully unaware of this fact, I proceed to the City council chambers and set up for the meeting. As I’m finishing getting everything ready, I decide to check my messages and realize that my phone is missing. I resist the urge to go into total panic mode and pull out my emergency prepaid phone that I carry and call my number to see if my phone is nearby. Of course, there’s no sound around as my phone isn’t anywhere close. That’s when the total panic mode kicks in and I start to retrace my steps. I make it back to the scene of the mishap and find my phone laying on the sidewalk with the battery door about 5 feet away. There’s no damage to the phone but I notice my battery is missing. Uh-oh! There are steel grates on some of the downtown city sidewalks that have been sealed up for a very long time and six feet down, there’s about 3 inches of water. Yep, you guessed it. My battery’s at the bottom of that nasty bacteria frappe. Lovely.

Well, I’m overdue for an upgrade on my phone so after I finish my work at the City Council meeting, it’s time to go shopping for either a new battery or a new phone. I quickly found out that finding a Blackberry phone battery in Danville is impossible. No problem, because I know we’ve got two Verizon “Authorized Retailers” in Danville. I make my way over to the “Wireless Zone” at Coleman Marketplace. I walk in and the salesclerk behind the counter takes my information… sorta. Obviously, her text messaging is much more important than actually taking care of a potential new customer. Verizon’s customer service needs to call me to confirm my account information, but since my phone doesn’t have a battery, that’s not possible. I ask if she’d let me borrow her battery for a minute so that we can authenticate my account, but clearly that’s not possible because she’s too busy sending three more friggin’ text messages while not giving a damn about me. Going once… going twice… and… NO SALE! I walk out of there and head to the one on Mount Cross Road.

I head to “A Wireless”. That’s an interesting name which was deviously picked out because when you’re an Authorized Retailer, Verizon makes you put your business name before the words “Authorized Retailer” on your business signage. So with that business name, it makes the sign look like “A Verizon Authorized Retailer” and lots of people think you’re dealing with Verizon directly when you’re not. Anyway, I walk into the store and immediately get greeted by four employees. I tell them my situation and that I’m running short on time today, so we get my account information confirmed and start talking about what’s available. While aggressive salesmanship can be useful at times, I was completely overwhelmed by the “We need to close this sale now” attitude. To top that off, I know that this store’s pricing is way higher than what I can get by directly dealing with Verizon. I start to leave and the aggressive salesperson says “You’ll be back by 4, right?” and “I can deliver this phone to you today, just put this $250 on your credit card now”. NO SALE! I bail out of there quickly and get to my office. (Edited to add: Not only did Mr. Buy The Phone Now! try to push me around, he even very strongly hinted that I needed to add another phone line to my service. Mouthy’s smart, but he can’t use a cellphone yet.)

Once I get to the office, I go online and pick the phone that I want. I call Verizon and tell them exactly what I want, what I’m willing to pay and the services I need. I talk to a very friendly and knowledgeable salesperson and we work out a deal. I order the phone online while I’m on the phone with her and she immediately applies the discounts that we worked out. The phone that the aggressive salesperson wanted me to pay $250 for becomes a phone that costs me $50 and it will be delivered to me at my office tomorrow morning.

Moral of the story: Pay attention to your customer and they just might buy from your store. Don’t push your customer aggressively and they just might buy from your store. Take the time to listen to what your customer needs and make the necessary small steps needed to close the deal and the customer will buy from you. I’ve been a Alltel/Verizon customer for over eight years now and with the service I received from Verizon today, I’ll be a customer for a long time. As for the “Authorized Retailers”… never gonna happen, folks.

Update #1: I’ve just received an email from the owner of the “Wireless Zone” store in Coleman Marketplace that is very apologetic for the poor service that I got last week. She’s asked me to call her on her personal cellphone to discuss this further. I’ve got to admit that I’m quite surprised by this email and I’m also very pleased. I’ll update this article again once I talk with the owner.

Update #2: I had a nice phone call with the owner of the “Wireless Zone” store. Shes got the right attitude that it takes for customer service and I believe that she was make sure my experience doesn’t happen to any other customer. Based on our talk, I’d be verywilling to go into her store and give them another chance to earn my business.

Danville council approves zoning changes

Let’s start off with the good decision: Council approved the rezoning of 1624 South Main St. into the commercial category, overruling the Planning Commission and city staff’s recommendation. That area of South Main St. is already pretty much a commercial area and [...]]]> …proceeds to get one wrong. Oh well.

Danville council approves zoning changes

Let’s start off with the good decision: Council approved the rezoning of 1624 South Main St. into the commercial category, overruling the Planning Commission and city staff’s recommendation. That area of South Main St. is already pretty much a commercial area and although some residents objected to the zoning, it was clear that this tax preparation business would not cause any more traffic issues than is already present in that area. David Luther showed his business wisdom by pointing out that the house already had a commercial history. City Council did the right thing on this decision… but I’ve got some problems with what happened before.

First, the Planning Commission totally blew this in voting to recommend denial of the zoning change. The second problem I’ve got with this process is a big one and Adam Tomer zeroed in on it. When interim director of community development Ken Gillie Jr. remarked that there were plenty of other vacant storefronts in the area available for rent, he (and the staff & planning commission) just didn’t get it. Hilda Hatchett said that she had paid over $100,000 in rent and let’s face it, that rent money was going down the toilet. If a business in the city has the opportunity to buy property, they should be able to do that. Adam Tomer said that city staff have no business in basing their recommendations on whether rental property is available, and he’s 100% right. Gillie (and any other city staff who participated in this process) overstepped their bounds on this, and I highly praise Adam Tomer for calling them out on this.

Unfortunately, my praise for City Council stops there. In the next zoning issue before council, they were asked to rezone 204 Woodland Avenue to Transitional Office status to allow Averett University into an office building for their maintenance department. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve this, however some of the nearby residents objected to the rezoning. One of those residents was City Manager Joe King who said (as a resident of the area & a private citizen) that “This rezoning will initiate incremental erosion of the neighborhood’s character”.

Nobody spoke at the public hearing, which is a sad fact that people don’t want to get involved. After the public hearing, Council immediately went to the vote without any councilmember making comments. Three councilmen voted “No” without telling why, yet the matter passed on a 5-3 vote. City Council may have discussed this in a work session but I feel that in a case like this where there is some definite opposition, there needs to be some explanation of the votes that will be cast. I’ll find out what was going on this week and add something to this article once I get some answers.

Crowd spoke truth about mining

While I’m very sorry that Frederick Towle died from leukemia as a result of uranium exposure, that has absolutely nothing to do with uranium mining and the technology of today. Nobody knows if the uranium [...]]]> Every time I think the anti-uranium folks couldn’t go any lower, they dig deeper.

Crowd spoke truth about mining

While I’m very sorry that Frederick Towle died from leukemia as a result of uranium exposure, that has absolutely nothing to do with uranium mining and the technology of today. Nobody knows if the uranium in Pittsylvania County can be mined safely using the advances of modern technology. That’s why I support the scientific study that will have come to a conclusion based on people that are a heck of a lot smarter than I am.

As I have done before, I strongly condemn the anti-uranium crowd’s use of tactics that have absolutely no basis in fact as they try to scare the people that don’t have the intelligence to think on their own. If the scientific study comes back with the conclusion that uranium can not be safely mined, I’m perfectly willing to continue the ban that’s currently in place. On the other hand, if the study reveals that the uranium can be safely mined, the anti-uranium crowd have already declared that they will not accept that decision. An open mind is a good thing… especially when it comes to an issue like this that could potentially bring great economic benefits to a region that definitely could use it.

Early this morning, Danville City Council member and former Mayor Ruby Archie passed away at the age of 76. She had taught in the Danville Public School system for 37 years before her retirement then embarked on a 16-year political career with City Council.

Beware trick knowledge of history

Wow. After reading that, I feel that I should apologize for my part in keeping the black man down. Of course, that feeling quickly subsided when I realize that Mr. Minister Malvester Muhammed (should I refer to him in the future [...]]]> Well, at least his own version of history.

Beware trick knowledge of history

Wow. After reading that, I feel that I should apologize for my part in keeping the black man down. Of course, that feeling quickly subsided when I realize that Mr. Minister Malvester Muhammed (should I refer to him in the future as 4M to make it easier to type?) is a racist jackass who sets back interracial relations every time he opens his big mouth?

Hey, Mal? I don’t see color. I don’t give a damn if you’re black or white.