The N&R’s Jeri Rowe (unposted) profiles Guilford County Register of Deeds, Jeff Thigpen, whose work against robo-signed mortgages has vaulted him to the national stage:
At the Carolina Theater, he stood before a big crowd in his gray jacket and jeans and sounded like a politician on the campaign trail:
“The Constitution didn’t say people are corporations are people.”
“We are the people, and we need to stand up.”
“We’re all in this together, and we need to act. Let’s do that for equal dignity and equal justice.”
The crowd just roared.
That has all happened just in the past few weeks. And to think, Thigpen is Guilford County’s register of deeds.
Meanwhile, Burlington Times-News editor Madison Taylor rips Alamance County Register of Deeds Hugh Webster a new one for using the ‘R’ word when describing the state Supreme Court at the county’s GOP convention:
Of all the words Webster could select, he chose that particular one: “Retarded.”
I’m sure on some level he thought it very clever.
And he’s flat wrong.
It’s a hurtful word used in this context — considered an epithet almost rivaling a racial slur to the families of those with Down’s syndrome or other developmental disabilities. It’s a hate-filled term used by bullies to ridicule those they cannot or will not consider or comprehend. It’s a word without feeling. It’s a word without remorse. It’s a word that speaks volumes about its user.
At first, I was simply astonished. It’s been some time since I heard an adult use that word as a way to describe anyone. Fact is, I thought most had learned how awful it sounds and how hurtful it is. People in polite society discarded it years ago as anything but a reprehensible thing to say. And don’t chalk this up to political correctness. It’s about manners, respect and a certain amount of common sense.
Thigpen is running for reelection unopposed; Webster will face opposition from one of two Democrats squaring off in the May 8 primary.
