The Tuesday, July 13 Greensboro City Council meeting was the first since March 2020 that some residents were allowed to attend and speak in person to the City Council.
The honor of being the first person who doesn’t get a city paycheck to speak from the podium at a City Council meeting since March 2020 went to Malachi Parson III, who thanked the City Council in accepting a resolution honoring his father Malichi Parson Jr., who died on May 13 at the age of 71.
The resolution states that after graduating from North Carolina A&T State University Parson joined the United States Marine Corps and “served as the first black Presidential Support Pilot for the Marine Helicopter Squadron (HMX1) based in Quantico, Virginia, a USMC helicopter squadron responsible for the transportation of the President and Vice President of the United States, Heads of State, Department of Defense Officials and other significant officials as directed by the USMC and White House Military Office.”
The resolution also states, “as Mission Commander, and self-acclaimed as the highlight of his USMC career, Mr. Parson held the responsibility for flying former President Ronald Reagan from June 1981 through July 1983.”
The City Council also passed a resolution celebrating the 90th birthday of Dot Kearns, who served on the Guilford County Board of Education from 1972 to 2008.
The resolution notes that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution declaring her 90th birthday, June 27, 2021, as Dot Kearns Day.
And it notes that the Guilford County Board of Education in 2016 had renamed the Academy at Central in High Point The Kearns Academy.
Councilmember Yvonne Johnson read a special presentation from Bennett College recognizing Kearns for her long support.
In thanking the City Council for the recognition Kearns, who is from High Point, said, “I feel like I’m almost coming home since I spent most of my days here in Greensboro.”
She said, “It’s been glorious to work with people who have been so wonderfully supportive.”
It sounds like those who spoke were vetted first. Like a buddy-buddy thing.
So Kearns was on the Board of Education for 36 years. That’s at least 34 years too long. Our educational system has been broken for decades, and Dot Kearns was part of the problem. Nothing against her as a person, but I’m glad she is no longer on the board. Not that it makes any difference, since the ones on the board currently are, for the most part, totally incompetent and arrogant.