A Sudden and Unfortunate Goodbye

It is with profound sadness and regret that we must make this very important announcement. Due to the lack of interest, the Triad Tribune project has been cancelled. That's right, done, finished, kaput. It has been a short, but incredible journey, and we hope that we kept you informed this 2011. Hopefully in 2012, you can find great alternatives to see what's hot and trendy, and what events are happening in the Triad area right now.

It's unfortunate that we'll never get the chance to see how successful the Triad Tribune could have been, but a combination of a lack of interest, a lot of work I personally have in college, and a lack of proper marketing and promotion all hamstrung the could-have-been online and print newsspaper from the start. We did the best we could to put together a quality publication, but as we discovered, without any interest, it's all an exercise in fultility.

-Matt Norcross,
Publisher of Triad Tribune

Man Arrested In Winston-Salem For Involvement in Robbery and Kidnapping

Winston-Salem police have found a suspect involved in a robbery and kidnapping that took place at the Hop In Convenience Store at 4116 Indiana Avenue. Shortly after midnight last Saturday evening, police responded to a reported kidnapping at the store. Officers were told by employees that the suspect assaulted and possibly abducted an unknown 25-45 year old female.

Both subjects and a second male left the store in a newer model, dark colored Volkswagen New Beetle convertible. The investigation of this incident lead police to 817 E. Clemmonsville Rd., where the suspect was arrested for outstanding warrants unrelated to the robbery/kidnapping.

Nathaniel Hairston Jr. was arrested and taken into custody. The victim has been identified as Betty Galloway, she has luckily not suffered from any injuries. According to police, the investigation is still ongoing.

10 years of 9/11

It's been 10 years since the occurrence the worst terrorist attack in the history of the United States. Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. That day started out as a normal day for the US. Kids were off to school that morning, their moms stayed home and took care of the house, and their dads were on their way to work. There was not even a single cloud in the sky in New York. But, at 8:46 a.m. eastern time, five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower. This was followed 17 minutes later by a second hijacked plane crashing into the South Tower. Another American Airlines flight, Flight 77, flew into the pentagon at exactly 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93 was targeted to hit the US Capitol building in Washington D.C., but eventually crash-landed into a small farm in Pennsylvania. The area where United 93 crashed will now be the site for a permanent memorial. Our nation still feels the pain of what happened that fateful day. Many police and firemen in New York risked their lives to save as many people as they could that day, and hopefully an attack like this will never happen on American soil again.

Hurricane Irene Making Landfall on North Carolina Coast

Despite being a Category 2, Hurricane Irene could possibly be a big one. Some are evacuating the area, while others are staying put and riding out the storm. Heavy rain and tropical storm force winds began sweeping the North Carolina coast this afternoon, and will continue on into the evening. North Carolina however, is not the only area affected by Irene. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is currently being moderately hit by the storm, and has the possibility to have an extreme effect in the New York City metro area as well. This hurricane has a strong potential of not only being one of the most devastating storms of the season, but it may as well make weather history. In fact, we might even see a repeat of the time when Hurricane Floyd hit the NC coastline in 1999. We can only hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

NC Alliance for Public Charter Schools Convention

Well, this Sunday-Tuesday was the NC Alliance for Public Charter Schools' 2nd annual Conference. This year, the event was held at the Marriott hotel in Raleigh. Among the vendors in the huge event (double the size of last year's conference) were Staples, CollegeBoard, Pearson Publishing, RDS Industrial Furnishings, and the Greensboro-based construction company Samet Corporation. Our biggest sponsor for the event was Acadia Norstar. Paul Norcross, Chairman of the Alliance, and former state senator Eddie Goodall were among the hosts of the event, which serves as the celebration of the passing of Senate Bill 8. The bill eliminates the limit of charter schools that are allowed to open in the state.



I was pleased to have lunch with a couple of guests who were generous enough to come to the Conference. A few examples include Richard Vinroot and Pat McCrory (two former mayors of Charlotte and gubernatorial candidates) and Laura Foxx (the mother of the current mayor of Charlotte, Anthony Foxx). I was also pleased to meet the State superintendent June Atkinson. With the huge number of vendors and spectators, our number of people who support the charter school system is growing, and we can only hope it will continue to grow like this.

How Borders collapsed while Barnes & Noble flourished

The retail industry is very competitive these days, especially here in the Triad. Back then, it was big-box retailers competing with small locally-owned businesses, and now it's basically online retailers competing with the big-box stores. Small businesses here in the Piedmont are still flourishing as of now, but what about the big boys in retail? They're trying the best they can to adapt the changing times, and the book industry is one example. I'm going to focus on two specialty booksellers in this post, and I will talk about how one flourished, while the other is currenty facing liquidation.

As many of you know by now, Borders Group announced that they were going out of business, closing all of their 399 stores (including the Winston-Salem location) and eliminating 10,700 jobs. Many people are wondering what caused Borders to fail while its larger rival Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) is still thriving. The answer? Barnes & Noble developed its own eReader, something Borders failed to do. Barnes & Noble itself was falling behind Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the time the Amazon Kindle was launched, but was finally able to catch up in 2009 when they introduced the Nook, which proved to be very popular with consumers. Books-A-Million (NASDAQ:BAMM), which recently took Borders' throne as the second-biggest bookseller in the United States, even has a deal with B&N to sell the Nook. But, the question we keep asking is why did Borders fail? Sure, they had eReaders available at their stores, but they couldn't come up with an eReader of their own like Barnes & Noble did with the Nook. Instead, they sold an imported eReader from Canada called the Kobo (manufactured by the Canadian company of the same name), which has not been very popular in the US so far.

Not only was failure to shift themselves into our modern digital world the case for Borders, but while a B&N employee was helping me find a book I wanted called "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn", he said to me that their (B&N's) rival's poor management (which dates back to the chain's ownership by Kmart back in the 90's) and poor customer service was a factor as well. Even though Barnes & Noble has been rumored to have a buyer (Liberty Media) earlier this summer, there's no question that they're doing just fine, despite the liquidation of their biggest competitor. One lesson learned in retail (and from the liquidation of Borders) is, if a business sticks to an old fashioned business model for a long time during a changing world, it can be dangerous. And, when you finally decide that you want to change that business model, you realize it's too late to do anything about it.

Borders to close all remaining bookstores, including Winston-Salem location

Borders Group, the second largest bookstore chain in the United States is the latest victim of our struggling economy. The Michigan-based company couldn't find a buyer to keep its doors open, and now has announced it will be going out of business. It will be closing all of its remaining 399 stores by September, including one in Winston-Salem. The liquidation plan means that all 10,700 Borders employees, including 400 working in their flagship store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will lose their jobs this Fall. So far, there is no word on how many employees work in the Winston-Salem location.

Borders could not overcome larger rivals like Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), both of which now dominate the US book industry after it shifted largely online. One of the reasons is because they could never come up with an eReader of their own, like Amazon's Kindle, and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Instead, they were relying on selling an eReader made in Canada known as the Kobo eReader, which is not very popular among US consumers.

Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, hoping to emerge as a more competitive force in the book industry. However, not even an attempted bid from an Arizona buyout firm could save them from the decision they made today. Books-A-Million (NASDAQ:BAMM) has announced that it was interested in buying 50 vacant areas where Borders stores were originally located. It is unknown if this includes the Greensboro or the soon-to-be-closed Winston-Salem location.

English Teacher/Athletic Director At Local Church-owned School Becomes New Administrator

In 2009, Mr. Matthew Doyle became an English teacher at Hayworth Christian School, and had no idea what to expect. He also became the athletic director for the school that same year. Now, even more changes are headed towards his career at Hayworth. This summer, he has been announced as the new administrator at Hayworth Christian School, and he is deeply excited about getting this new position. "It's different from teaching because there are a lot more responsibilities you have to face", says Doyle. "However, there is still teaching involved." During his tenure as a teacher, his subjects included American Literature, Writing, History, and the classes he was assigned to teach were the 7th & 8th grades, and High School juniors. Hayworth Christian School, a private school teaching K-12, is affiliated with the Hayworth Wesleyan Church on Westchester Drive in High Point, and has been operating since 1996. Doyle's tenure as their administrator will begin during their 2011-2012 school year.

Welcome

Welcome to the all-new Triad Tribune! We are a brand new independently-owned online newspaper located in High Point, North Carolina dedicated to bringing you some of the best local information in the area. Right now, we are still currently under construction, but we have many great new things in store for you. From local news to movie reviews, and from restaurant reviews to some other stuff going on in the community, we are committed to be one of the best local news sources in the Piedmont. Check back soon.