Expectations were for around 100,000 and I’d say they hit that number if not well above it. This was one huge Saturday in Lexington this weekend, bigger than any prior year by a fair margin. This is a shot from the Kids area looking back downtown. Downtown itself was elbow to elbow. If anything Lexington probably needs to look at expanding the area they use for the Festival, moving some of the music further off main to get the crowds moving a bit more.

Antimicrobial Technologies Group recently visited Winston-Salem having meetings with Meridian Reality and Grande Peak Technologies. CEO Simon Johnston and the management team from ATG reviewed the area for potential sites and appears to have expressed a serious interesting in the RJR Whitaker site.

Antimicrobial Technologies Group makes anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-odor fabrics, fibers, plastics and paints. They are looking for a facility in the 100,000 square foot range however commented that they could easily outgrow such a site within a few years. ATG is a relatively new company derived from the research of a professor at the University of South Dakota.  They had a ribbon cutting of their South Dakota facility just last year at which time they employed just a handful of people. Dr. YuYu Sun discovered a N-Halamine molecule which is claimed to fight germs, fungus, mold and viruses, a very bold claim I would think. ATG holds the rights to that molecule and looks to deploy it in everything from paint to textiles, textiles being where Winston-Salem comes in. Read the rest of this entry »

Appears Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools played it a little fast and loose with Federal Stimulus Funds resulting in thousands of dollars spent in violation of the terms of the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. These expenditures included over $400 to send students to watch “Ice Age” and “Terminator” as well as a nearly $1,000 trip to Wet and Wild. What is the school system doing sending kids, even 6-12, to an R-rated Movie anyway? Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like everything published on this site about PACE Airlines is finally coming out in court as the Trustee Allman filed a complaint last week showing the troubles with PACE go back to the beginning and never got better. I won’t bother re-writing a very thorough article from The Journal by Richard Carver, “Pace set for a fall – Bad business model, mismanagement led to failure, lawyer says.”

I will point out however that back in October 2009 we posted that Lee Booth had taken over PACE Airlines and was the primary for weeks. The paperwork filed by Edwin Allman III, the Chapter 7 trustee, without a doubt claims Rodgers signed over PACE to Booth and that Booth had indeed taken PACE assets. It appears Allman also states many of those assets are now missing. Unfortunately The Journal doesn’t have a link to the latest court documents so hopefully they will get those online soon. Read the rest of this entry »

Well Dell has extended again the final closing of it’s Winston-Salem plant, why do we say Winston-Salem anyway considering where it’s located but I digress. Anyway most likely due to labor issues in Mexico Dell has decided to keep the plant open allowing some 400 employees per The Journal to keep getting those paychecks. I say per The Journal because the reports I have put that number a good bit less but that’s all rumor.

Recent labor events in Mexico and problems with PC Electronics component maker Foxconn are likely the cause for this extension.

Ben & Jerry’s will be providing FREE Ice Cream to everyone on Tuesday from noon till 8 P.M.. They will be accepting donations at the three Triad locations for various local charities.

Contributions at the Shops at Friendly Center location will go to the Greensboro Children’s Museum. Donations made at the Palladium at Deep River store in High Point will go to the N.C. Shakespeare Festival. Contributions made at the Harper Hill Commons store in Winston-Salem will benefit the Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem.

Harper Hills

151 Vinegar Hill Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Phone: 336-768-0511

The Shops at Friendly Center
Greensboro, NC 27410
336-856-2178

Palladium
5836 Samet Drive
High Point, NC 27265
336-841-2178

Well today is the day Hanes Mall will start kicking the kids out after 6PM unless they are accompanied by an adult, or so they say. The interesting thing to watch for is how will this policy be applied because who is to say a 16 year old is 16 or an 18 year old is 18? Will mall security go around asking for I.D.’s and kick anyone out that doesn’t have one? Will teenagers with their disposable cash walk away in protest to the policy?

Multiple websites have shown up calling for a boycott or repeal of the policy and even if this doesn’t have traction is the negative publicity something any retail center want when times are as tough as these?

FaceBook – Boycotting Hanes Mall

Hanes Mall Petition Site

Of course neither site appears to have much traction so maybe it will be much to do about nothing as the saying goes. There is even less traffic on this within the Twitter crowd we one would expect to be abuzz if the younger crowd was upset about this so one might assume the number of “kids” Hanes Mall is ejecting is limited to a small group of teens.

In what is the final act for PACE Airlines Judge Thomas Waldrep has entered PACE into involuntary Bankruptcy. On December 2, 2009 multiple creditors filed a petition to start the liquidation of PACE Airlines almost a year and half after PACE stopped paying it’s lease agreement with Smith Reynolds Airport. Interesting enough nobody representing PACE Airlines showed up at the December hearing.

We posted back on October 27th that it had been reported that CEO William Rodgers had signed away any interest in the company. What information was available appeared to point to Lee Booth had taken various assets and was likely setting up shop in Burlington however that is about all that was known or maybe rumored would be better. It appears the attorney appointed by the courts to handle this case is as much in the dark as everyone else as he was quoted as saying, “I will examine corporate officers under oath to determine the ownership.” Edwin Allman III who was appointed as Trustee further went on to say if he can recover any assets the legal fees will be paid first then creditors with the 400 or so employees owed back pay “would be pretty high up" the list of creditors”. While I would like to think he is right I have enough experience with things like this to know employee back pay will be considered  unsecured debt while the multiple companies owed $10 million or more will likely be seen as secured debt  and secured debt always gets paid first.

Of course there are still charges against William Rodgers for failure to pay insurance premiums while months later the N.C. Labor Department is still “investigating” the failure to pay wages.

My last comment on this is at what point is the Airport Commission called to the carpet on allowing PACE to go a year without paying it’s lease obligations? Remember the Airport Commission is also in hot water for allowing it’s contractor in charge of runway expansions per a 1997 Grant to not pay it’s subcontractors. I’ve not heard or seen anything else on this and the Journal certainly hasn’t covered this.