Kudos to Mary Newsom for digging up, shooting in the head, and re-burying an old lie about Don Reid.
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| Not Don Reid |
The claim was that nutty old Don got himself so worked up over something that he once tied himself to a tree. Mayor Pat McCrory and Uptown political fixer Stan Campbell got a good yuck over that notion during the course of their rambling attack on former city councilman Reid during the mayor’s radio show a couple weeks ago.
But it seems Campbell’s prowess as an op-shop wiz is overstated. Newsom reports:
In 1977, the city was widening Wendover and wanted to cut down all those giant willow oak trees. Neighbors erupted in furious protest. Eventually they convinced the city to back off. A few trees were cut but many were spared.
Don Reid was active in the protest. But it was his co-chair, Jim Cochran, who lived on Wendover, who tied himself to the tree. Jim’s son, Webb, who was about 10, also tied himself to a tree.
That should hold the Uptown smear machine for, oh, about 10 seconds. They have no choice but to go the fear-and-smear route on the transit tax repeal issue as the facts are so utterly and totally against them.
Besides, that is not much of a smear to begin with — just an attempt to paint someone as unreasonable, not cut of the Uptown deal-maker, fixer cloth. You know, someone with principles.
And we all know how dangerous they can be.
