RIP Andy Griffith

Fans leave flowers at the foot of Andy Griffith’s statue in Raleigh’s Pullen Park


Knowing this was coming doesn’t make it any easier. RIP, Andy Griffith: a North Carolina icon.

Andy Griffith’s broad shoulders carried a heavy load for more than 50 years. In 1960, he created an iconic fictional character so noble that today, church groups still seek moral guidance in Sheriff Andy Taylor’s every televised word, deed and gesture.

And over the years, when Griffith insisted that Mayberry, the perfect little town he invented, was absolutely not based on his hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., fans nodded, winked, said “Sure, Andy, whatever you say,” and went right on believing what they wanted to believe.

What they wanted to believe was that around the next bend or over the next hill was a place like Mayberry and a man as fair, wise and decent as Sheriff Andy.

Griffith died Tuesday at 86.

via North Carolina legend Andy Griffith dies at 86 – News – NewsObserver.com.

Progress CEO is out as Duke, Progress complete merger

Wow, I didn’t see this coming. Progress CEO Bill Johnson takes whatever golden parachute he was offered and bails. Feels like a bait and switch. If I didn’t have reason to suspect this deal wasn’t a good one for the public, now my suspicions are on high alert.

It makes me all the more curious as to why the public wasn’t privy to the backroom deals that were made to ram this merger through. I sure hope the N&O and other news organizations are successful in dragging these private deals into the light. There’s smoke: now go find the fire.

Duke Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers had been scheduled to serve as chairman and [Bill] Johnson as president and CEO when the two utilities merged to create the nation’s largest electric utility.

However, in the announcement early Tuesday of the formal merger closing and the formation of a new board of directors, the new Duke Energy said Rogers was staying and Johnson was out.

Johnson “resigned” through “mutual agreement” Duke said. He had been a strong advocate for the merger.

via Progress CEO is out as Duke, Progress complete merger :: WRAL.com.

Mondomix’s MP3 service calls it quits

Mondomix


I was crestfallen to tune into my favorite world music streaming service only to be greeted with this message:

Après des années d’intense travail, Mondomix doit abandonner son activité de vente de musique en téléchargement. Nous vous proposons à la place de découvrir nos vidéos, notre webradio et nos articles sur www.mondomix.com.

After years of intense work, Mondomix has to give up its legal music download activity. Instead, come and discover our videos, webradio and articles on www.mondomix.com.

Zut alors! I’ve purchased a lot of music through Mondomix’s service and loved discovering artists I would have never otherwise found through domestic services. It makes me even more determined to pick up the pieces and spread the word about the amazing music being made in the world.

Church, neighbors meet to seek fixes on noise

I was mentioned in today’s Midtown Raleigh News regarding the Glorious Church.

Another neighbor of the church, Mark Turner, said he also has heard noise – while in his house with the windows closed.

Turner, chair of the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council, offered to act as a mediator to help the two parties find common ground.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t offer to mediate so much as I was recruited to mediate! It’s all good, though, if we get this worked out.

I was asked to set up a meeting with all parties within the next two weeks. Right now I’m looking at Monday, July 9th but it all depends on what works for the parties involved. I was first looking at Wednesday, July 11th but most churches have services on Wednesday nights so that’s not convenient.

Incidentally, I cringed each time the church’s services were called “noise” at last week’s Law and Public Safety meeting. Even Bishop Spain did it. Whatever it’s called, though, I think it’s only fair that if one goes inside one’s home, one no longer hears it.

The ideal solution would be for a Raleigh window company to read this article and offer a deal to the church on new windows. It would be a great way for that window company to do a good deed as well as get some free publicity. I wonder who will step up?

via Church, neighbors meet to seek fixes on noise – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.