Update: Friday’s N&R reports fired ABC general manager Katie Alley wore out a shredder, hid a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label in her private restroom.
A valuable source passes along a little perspective on the Greensboro ABC Board in light of its recent problems.
A couple of names are dropped; my guess is most people won’t recognize one name, but everyone will recognize the other.
LIQUOR BOARD GOES OVERBOARD
————————————————–
Greensboro News & Record-April 20, 1991
Some folks get a rocking chair when they retire. Others, a gold watch.
But Barbara Thornton, former manager of the Greensboro Board of Alcoholic
Beverage Control, hit the jackpot. Her retirement gift was a car.
Now, if anyone deserves a nice going-away present, it’s Thornton. She
was a loyal employee of the ABC board for almost 40 years. People who knew her
respected her supervision of the $18-million-a-year operation, which entailed
overseeing 56 employees and eight stores.
Still, a 1989 Toyota Camry is too big a gift. Even in good times, a car
would be a bit much. But when times are tough (as they are), it’s embarrassing,
a glaring example of government out of touch with reality.
Melvin “Skip” Alston, chairman of the ABC board, disagrees. He
believes Thornton is worth every cent of the gift. “She has given more to the
city than this $7,000 gift that we’ve given her,” Alston said, adding that,
under Thornton, the local ABC board earned more than $1.8 million in profits a
year for the city. Apparently, some people – other ABC employees, perhaps? –
agree with the chairman. “Some people have said to me that after 39 years, you
should have given her a Mercedes,” Alston remarked.
The board members’ hearts were in the right place. But their heads were
not. Sure, Thornton deserved to be honored. But governmental bodies ought to be
at least as prudent with money as private employers are. A microwave oven,
maybe. Not a car. Not even a used car.
