Bits (bytes) and Pieces

Farewell to an artist

Kelly Jo Petersen of Winston-Salem, who died Sunday of cancer, did more good in her 41 years than many people do in a much longer lifetime.

She was first and foremost an artist. She harnessed her contagious passion for the arts for many causes, most notably her leading role in the development of the Downtown Arts District. Her store, Patina, is an anchor of that now-busy area. Her many friends and her husband, Ralph Womble, will keep the district going. It won't be the same without Petersen. But her artistic legacy lives.

For the birds

We rejoiced with everyone else when the pilot brought that plane down safely in New York's Hudson River Thursday after the plane apparently hit a flock of birds. And we couldn't help but think: That's one more good reason that the U.S. Navy's plan for putting an outlying landing field near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern North Carolina is dead for now. Birds and planes don't mix.

Get the GMAC headquarters

" … A couple of days ago I was talking with some friends and we were discussing GMAC restructuring so they could get some of the government's bailout funds … The next morning I read that GMAC was indeed headquartered in Detroit, but they were considering a move to Charlotte because they already have operations there, the CEO used to be a Bank of America exec and kept his home in Charlotte after taking the position at GMAC, and they figure there will be some banking professionals looking for work when Wells Fargo starts laying people off. (Since GMAC has restructured as a bank holding company they need to hire bankers).

"So, are our economic development people here in Winston-Salem thinking about going after GMAC?"

-- Posted by Jon Lowder on his blog, jonlowder.com, last week.

One in, one out

Among those who will be leaving Washington as President-elect Obama takes power Tuesday is Lyons Gray of Winston-Salem, who's been serving as the CFO of the Environmental Protection Agency.

But Winston-Salem will still have a local resident in power at a top agency: Frank Torti, the chief cancer researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, will be the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration. It's uncertain whether Torti has a strong shot at becoming the permanent head of the FDA.

But because of Gray, Torti and Sen. Richard Burr, bigwigs in Washington definitely know where Winston-Salem is. Now, if Washington would only send more money our way.

Couch potato

"Watching on TV is the best thing; in the comfort of your own home, near bathrooms and the fridge."

-- Posted on journalnow.com Wednesday in response to a story that day about local people headed to the presidential inauguration.

Beyond politics

With much of the country feeling hopeful about the inauguration, Rep. Virginia Foxx warned in a campaign- fundraising letter last week that "for those of us who believe in limited government, individual liberty, free enterprise, this is a scary time."

Foxx worries in the letter about the Democrats controlling the White House and both houses of Congress. But toward the end, she notes that her duty to her country "transcends party and politics."

Good to know she's transcending instead of descending.

Two victims

"That's right, Jill Marker is the victim. But if this man is innocent, then there are two victims. … Having a random person go down for this crime is not justice."

-- Posted on journalnow.com in response to a story last week about Kalvin Smith, the man convicted of beating Marker, being denied a new trial.

Eat something

Krispy Kreme, which is based in Winston-Salem, is giving customers one free doughnut each on Inauguration Day, and Dunkin' Donuts is selling a "Stars & Stripes" doughnut.

We won't get in the middle of the doughnut war. But we'd be surprised if the lanky Obama, apparently too health-conscious to engage in the campaign tradition of gorging on the local fare, eats a doughnut from either store.

Bill Clinton he is not.

Dell blues

"I think one has to realize that given the evolution of technology devices, the desktop PC has had a death sentence on it for the last few years … Apple knows how to market new products. Maybe Dell could have taken a page from its playbook. About the only page they did take was making their laptops in cute designer colors."

-- Posted on journalnow.com in response to a story last week that touched on the possibility of the local Dell plant closing.

Taxpayers need not know

Steve Googe, who heads economic development for Davidson County, and the commissioners there are up to their old tricks as they consider up to $162,000 in incentives for a company that could bring more than 300 jobs to the county.

Davidson officials, who won't name the company, call it "Project Power." Why not just call it "Project Secrecy"?

Invasion of the invasives

The U.S. Forest Service issued a warning this week about invasive plant species in the South that "greatly increase expenses as public and private land managers work to combat their spread and deal with their effects. …"

Count among them the invasive Florida retiree.

The man in charge

Vice President Dick Cheney, on CNN's Late Edition last week, said that his successor, Joe Biden, should make sure he knows what the president wants him to do.

Just as Cheney made sure President Bush knew what Cheney wanted Bush to do.