This week was a pretty light week in regards to council responsibilities. This allowed me to get caught up on quite a bit at work that, until now I just didn’t have time to get to. Serving on council takes a lot of time away from one’s family and work responsibilities and I do my best to balance the three. My family always comes first, but council always seems to place a close second. ;-)
On Monday evening I attended the Western Wake Republican Club’s monthly meeting at Bentley’s Grill at Crossroads. Our featured guest was Wake County Commissioner Kenn Gardner. He spoke to the group about his work this past year as a county commissioner, his upcoming reelection campaign, and the very successful Wake Investment Scholarship for Education (WISE) foster care initiative he started. The program has been such a success Commissioner Gardner was selected to receive the National Association of Counties Courthouse Award because of his passion for helping foster care children attend college, along with his longstanding dedication to environmental stewardship. Gardner created the WISE initiative in 2004, and since that time, more than $100,000 has been raised for foster care, enabling 30 percent of Wake County foster care graduates to attend college. Sometimes one person can make a difference.
On Thursday I attended the Triangle Sports Commission’s Bound for Beijing Banquet with the United States and Canadian Olympic Baseball Teams at the Embassy Suites in Cary. I was honored to deliver the welcome speech on behalf of the Town of Cary. As someone who has been a baseball fan all my life this was a real treat for me. Not only did I get to meet the amazing athletes who will represent our nation on the baseball diamond in Beijing, but also their coaching staff – and in particular manager Davey Johnson. Growing up in Southern California I have been a Dodgers and Angels fan as long as I can remember. Players like Steve Sax, Bob Boone, Rod Carew, and Steve Garvey were my childhood heroes; so much so that my mother had to pay extra to have #52 put on my little league jersey. Jerseys always came in numbers 1-24. If you wanted a different number, you had to pay for it. Steve Sax played second base – I played second base. Steve Sax was #52 (later in his career he changed to #3) so therefore I was #52. Davey Johnson managed my Dodgers in 1999-2000.
I’ve got a lot of faith in Davey Johnson’s ability to lead Team USA to Olympic gold. Davey Johnson also managed the Cincinnati Reds for Marge Schott for three years and won the NL Central in 1995 - the year she fired him believe it or not. Taking on the world must seem like a walk in the park compared to working for Marge. ;-)
On Sunday (today) I met with a newly formed schools advocacy group to review and listen to their powerpoint presentation regarding WCPSS’ reassignment policies. I was asked to attend to offer constructive criticism and any advice before they took their show on the road. They plan to speak with and educate area civic groups and business networks about WCPSS reassignment/diversity policies and results. I was very impressed with their presentation, and only recommended a few “tweaks” here and there.
Well that’s about it for this week. Thanks for reading!
