G.H. Lawrence & Associates Blog

Headlines surrounding the Mary Easley mess at N.C. State University have quieted down recently, but a couple of events last week are still worthy of attention. The school’s former provost, Larry Nielsen, spent a whopping 5.5 hours testifying before a grand jury looking into the situation. Meanwhile, the new chairman of the NCSU trustees, Lawrence Davenport, called for an investigation into how things at my alma mater went so wrong so fast. Nielsen’s lengthy testimony shows how serious the situation remains. Davenport’s call to action suggests that, hopefully, Wolfpack leaders understand that.

Anyone who thought this stuff was going away soon was naïve or uninformed. My sources ensure me it’s not.

We don’t know exactly what the grand jury is looking for, but whatever it is probably will not be pretty. Former Chancellor James Oblinger has also testified — and goodness knows he must have had plenty to say. Will former first lady Mary Easley also be called? How about her husband, former Gov. Mike Easley? Regardless of who gets the next chance to serenade the jury, the Wolfpack will be back in the headlines — almost certainly in a negative light.

That’s why Davenport’s call for an investigation is so important. At this stage of things, the university must illustrate to the public that it’s taking the situation very, very seriously. That can’t be stressed enough. Beyond the need to ensure that screwups like this don’t happen again, the school must come out on the other side  with it’s reputation as unscathed as possible. As I’ve said before, N.C. State simply cannot afford anymore hits on its reputation, especially with Duke and UNC just down the road. Those schools tend of have sparkling reputations. In terms of sheer public relations, they both make for tough competition.

What will happen next? Something tells me we may hear more about the former governor before long. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to hear more about his role in all this — as well as questions about the handling of his last campaign. The governor likely will have some questions to answer for the state Elections Board. That’s good for N.C. State supporters. Anything that shines a brighter light on the entire situation is good news. The only way State is going to put this catastrophe behind it is for the entire truth to emerge, warts and all. Sooner that happens, the better.

The last time I paid this much attention to Senate hearings for a Supreme Court nomination it was September 1991 and the nominee was Clarence Thomas. There have been several nominations worth our attention since then — heck, all of them are important — but I’ve not had the time or inclination to follow any hearings so carefully since Thomas found himself under that glaring heat lamp back in ‘91.

If I remember correctly, that was one of the first nominations to be covered on live radio and, I believe, television. I listened to the process relentlessly on NPR. It was early fall and I was about to move from Raleigh to Durham. My father was in town from D.C. and he and I drove around the Bull City for days looking for an appropriate spot for a young, single newspaper editor to set up housekeeping. I wasn’t happy about the move. The News & Observer was forcing me to make the change along with my new assignment to oversee its first genuine foray into Chapel Hill and Durham as news markets. The job represented a promotion for me and I was glad to take it. The move was not something I had bargained for and, so I was doing it under protest. A longtime Raleigh resident, I didn’t know my way around Durham. It seemed distant and a bit mysterious. For a lot of us back then, Durham was that funky, almost exotic place between Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Beyond a few Bulls games, my friends and I just didn’t spend much time there.

Anyhow, in September 1991 my father and I drove all over Durham with the sunroof open in my ancient BMW 320i and the Thomas hearings blaring on the radio. Every hour or so, we’d stop at the old Wellspring Grocery for espresso. We were always wired. So were the hearings. Anita Hill and all that. It was fascinating.

Now, 18 years later, we have another historic nomination on our hands. Television coverage of such hearings is commonplace. As usual for me, I’m getting my politics from MSNBC. Like 1991, it’s fascinating.

I approve of Judge Sotomayor. I like her blend of legal expertise and real world experience. The notion that justices should not allow life experiences to creep into their decisions is ludicrous. Older white men will always look at the world a certain way. So will Latino women. It’s only natural.

Watching these hearings, I can’t help but feeling older. A lot of water has swept under the bridge since that fall of 1991 — for me personally and for the nation. I’ve lived in Durham ever since. I have a family and we like it here. I believe Durham combines the best the Triangle has to offer — not as trafficky and sprawling as Raleigh, yet larger and more urbane than Chapel Hill. As I sit here with my laptop, trying to get some work done, I’m glad I’m not driving around looking for a new place to live. I’m glad the United States has come far enough that someone like Sotomayor seems a shoo-in for a place on the court. I’m glad someone like Al Franken has made it to the U.S. Senate. (Who, in 1991, especially among Saturday Night Live fans, could have imagined Franken as a Senator?) I’m glad to have such complete TV coverage of these hearings, in high definition no less. The past 18 years have been a ride for all of us. Something tells me the next 18 may be more remarkable than anything we’ve seen so far. Stay tuned.

As our canoe rounded a bend in the south fork of the New River this morning, our Ashe County solitude was interrupted  by a large dump truck plundering along a makeshift road just ahead, creating a chalky cloud of dust and a grinding racket. Another quarter-mile down river and we could see the truck’s destination: a development of small mansions popping up on newly cleared riverside lots. Already, the parcels were adorned with cheesy-looking lamp posts intended to resemble something from the London of Charles Dickens. We picked up the pace and escaped the noise and ruined view. Soon, all was peaceful again.

The canoe trip ended up being a lot of fun for me, my wife and our son. But I was left with questions about how quickly scenes like the one with the dump truck are being repeated, prompting one local to remark: “Ashe is for sale. Yep, the whole county.” He was only half joking.

Ashe County is one of my favorite places in North Carolina. The weather’s just right, the views are spectacular, the people are friendly and the river is just about always nearby. My wife and I have been casually looking at land there for years. But the longer we wait, the more bothersome all the changes become.

Of course, a similar trend is occurring all over the western part of the state — and our coastline is just about maxed out. But there’s something about the way it’s happening in Ashe County that worries me especially. Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about the local development restrictions. I certainly don’t follow the actions of the Ashe County Board of Commissioners. But why is it I get the feeling a fire sale is under way each time I cross the county line? I understand that people have a right to do what they please with their property, to make money from it if they can. Heck, if I had a bundle of buildable land in the mountains, I might choose to peddle some myself. On the other hand, this mountain land of ours is awfully special, a limited edition. Like the saying goes: God’s not making any more of this stock.

So I guess I’m a just cake-and-eat-it-too guy. I want my wooded homestead with a view. But I don’t want that view to include a bunch of subdivisions. Isn’t that the American Dream?