"Nobody Reads That Blog Anyway": The Powers-That-Be In Asheboro, North Carolina Could Not Be More Cluelessly, Dangerously Wrong

As a blogger, you know that you're getting the job done when newspaper Editors are publishing Editorials in their print edition directly aimed at you (I really do want to thank Ray Criscoe for the free ad - and I welcome new readers ) . . . and the statement, "Nobody reads that blog anyway" comes up in your ever-increasing "intel".

Of course, that translates into, "Why yes, Mary, the locals actually are reading the blog . . . in increasing numbers". 

And that goes along with what I've been saying all along . . . that the powers-that-be in Asheboro - particularly over at the Courier Tribune (until recently run by David Renfro) and the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation (run by Bonnie Renfro) have never understood the power of the Internet in breaking through all of their Lake Wobegon-style cheer-leading for "the (beautiful/strong/good-looking) right people" running the place (i.e. everything is swell in Asheboro and always has been and always will be . . . and all criticism is destructive criticism) . . . and speaking truth to power.

They've never understood that dissent is a positive . . . and very necessary . . . force for good and growth in a community.  They've certainly never understood that it's bad strategy/karma to treat good people like garbage. 

It may take time, but the wrong you do comes back to you in spades . . . in ways you never anticipated. 

I believe the term is called, "checks and balances".

There is an article in the Greensboro News and Record this morning (honestly, I'm getting the very odd feeling that John Robinson may finally actually be trying to help me stir the turds), that speaks to just that.

I've said before that, in the wake of the economic meltdown, and with medicine on the fast-track to hell, young doctors - and other young professionals - are much smarter & more savy than the newbie lambs were fifteen and twenty years ago.  And they have a lot more resources.  They can go on the Internet, and in a matter of seconds-to-minutes, know a whole lot more about Asheboro (and anyone they are interviewing with) than David and Bonnie (and Bob Morrison/Randolph Hospital) ever wanted them to know . . . they can immediately have information that the "team" of David and Bonnie have worked so vigilantly to cover up/keep a lid on locally.

As the article alludes, companies do it too:  "(the) experts who help companies find locations do their work quietly and most cities never know they’ve been scouted."

They do their work quietly.

A Housecalls hit on StatCounter from someone at Randolph Hospital (nobody reads this blog - yeah, right) underscored that point this morning.  The hit came from a Google search for Bob Morrison at Randolph Hospital.

Here's Steve Eblin and Randolph Hospital.

And Dr. Mary Johnson.

Right now, one of the biggest draws for this blog from outside of Asheboro is my Pediatric Residency Personal Statement.

When the newbies read that . . . and then jump to the sidebar to read what was done to the the person who wrote it . . . for simply doing her job and what was right by a very-sick-newborn-who-was-not-even-her-own-patient twelve years ago . . . it does not say a whole lot that's good about the old hometown . . . or "care you can trust" . . . or a young doctor taking their investment to Asheboro to put down roots.

In short, Asheboro, its newspaper and its business gurus have a very long way to go to clean up their act.  Accountabiliy and transparency have to be more that politically-correct buzz words.

I've said all along that Randolph Hospital needed new leadership more in-tune to modern realities . . . and that the way over-rated, overpaid Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin, community bullies-of-the-first-order, needed to be fired (for cause/no parachutes) and prosecuted for their misdeeds . . . and that the hospital Board . . . and the local Courthouse . . . might prove they're honorable by acting honorably (and with that integrity they all like to talk about).  But so far, it's fallen on deaf ears.  Nothing to see here.  Move on along . . .

. . . even though there IS something to see, a lot of people can see it, and nobody is going to be moving on along at this point (with any success) until it's properly addressed.

Over at our newspaper, the Courier Tribune could start cleaning its house with new (less fawning over the "right people") leadership . . . by blowing holes through all of the ugly - and exposing all the cover-ups (my story-of-woe is not the only one) that aren't so covered up anymore. 

IT IS A MATTER OF ASHEBORO'S SURVIVAL NOW. 

In closing, since I know people are reading this blog, I'd like to leave a message to Asheboro City Council member, Clark Bell:  Dr. Mary Johnson wasn't so crazy or "stupid" after all.