Friday Odds and Ends

Roadway Update: A few weeks ago I wrote about Roadway an abandoned Labrador Retriever. I've checked the last couple of trips down I-26 at the Bowman Pilot Truck Stop and the word is Roadway is gone. Not sure if the family I wrote about adopted her or not but I'm an optimist so I hereby declare it so. The original post is here.

CMPD's Deputy Chief Harold Medlock goes all Fallujah at Comstat Meeting - Or at least that's what Cedar Posts is hearing. Seems the South Area's top officer has a different view of the Speed Street riots, and is busy throwing certain people under the bus.


DC Harold Medlock speaking in South Charlotte

While Chief Monroe states that "at no time did we loose control", Medlock is blaming certain command staff and RAC's for never having control and allowing the whole thing to get out of hand.

Emails and comments suggest Medlock's attack is born out of complete disrespect for rank and file and a management style whose key ingredient is FEAR and not intelligence.

"I am not on command staff, but out here in the real world we just don't get it.
And it's demoralizing....you don't know who to trust, who is really looking out for the troops. It seems people are mostly just looking out for themselves. And the people that are looking out for us don't stand a chance! We've all heard about this latest bashing, and it pisses us off."

"It was more like a bloodletting, really obvious and very personal with no redemptive value whatsoever. People I talked to were shocked, and all agreed it was punitive, even for (Medlock)."

Cedar's Take: I am not sure what really went down, but it doesn't seem to be over and if backfire and karma have anything to do with it, Medlock may have just set the city up for a major troublesome event come July 4th. Keep in mind that 12 hour shifts don't make for happy troops. I'd expect we'll have a week or more off 12 on 12 off, til we get past the upcoming holiday weekend.

Fear and intimidation have been the hallmarks of Rodney Monroe's CMPD since day one. But true leadership is not that of an iron fist and then taking the day off to play golf while your henchmen beat up subordinates. Leadership is best when its by example.

Note: Do not under any circumstances email Cedar Posts from your CMPD computer. It will cost you an active suspension, just ask around.

Has the "Uptown Crackdown" Begun? According to the "Local Paper" an effort to crack down on young urban African American youth may have gotten underway at Charlotte's EpiCenter.

Last week Phillip Agnew headed to Charlotte's EpiCentre. But now he says it's unlikely he'll ever return after a sideways-turned hat resulted in his arrest.


Agnew's Mug Shot

Agnew said on June 2, he was outdoors on the EpiCentre's top floor, when a security officer approached him and told he was violating the dress code, he said. He was asked to turn his hat around.

Agnew refused "I told them I was dressed just like everybody else for the weather," he said.

Then two police officers approached and asked him to turn his hat around, but again he refused. That's when he was escorted out, handcuffed and taken to jail. He was charged with second-degree trespassing.

Signs are posted throughout EpiCentre, lay out a dress code.

"The following is not permitted: Profanity on clothing, sleeveless shirts on men, bandannas, hats not worn forward, excessively torn clothing, undershirts, work boots, excessively baggy or sagging clothing, shirts of an inappropriate length, sweatsuits or athletic attire," the signs read.

The signs also say that dress codes of venues inside the EpiCentre may vary, and management reserves the right to refuse admission to or remove from the premises anyone whose "conduct is deemed to be disorderly or who fails to comply with the terms of entry."

Agnew, said he believes the policy discriminates against young urban African-Americans. Agnew has launched a Facebook page called "Do Not Enter the (Epi)Center" to raise support for his boycott. Agnew's Facebook page is here.

You can read the full story here.

NC House Approves Voter Id Law The measure would require voters to show a driver’s license or other photo identification in order to cast a vote in all elections.

The voting law is popular with Republicans who feel that many GOP races were lost to voter fraud during the Obama 2008 "Hope and Change" wave. Democrats on the other hand are crying foul with words like "Chains" and "Jim Crow".

But to this voter, and my perfect voting record over the last 20 years, its more personal. The polling place is one of the last threads of true community we have. The annual visit to the precinct, bumping into neighbors I haven't seen all year is part of the joy felt while casting a vote. The simplistic act of signing in without an ID and the feeling of belonging without question will be lost with the demand to see your ID.

Gone will be the good feeling of being known, the respect of the "I Voted" sticker lost to being nothing more than a stamp that say I too comformed to proving my citizenship and now I follow the rest of the lemmings to the cliff.