Here is an an early look at Bob Wilson's column coming Sunday in The Durham News. Tell us what you think below (with your name) or in a letter to the editor at editor@newsobserver.com

BY BOB WILSON

I hope you didn’t reflexively toss the mini-billboard that came in the mail a few days ago. You know, the one with the beaming faces of County Commissioners Chairman Michael Page, fellow incumbents Joe Bowser and Brenda Howerton, and incumbent wannabe Rickey Padgett.

The billboard – er, campaign post card – appeared to be from the candidates themselves, all fervent supporters of 751 South, the proposed 167-acre, mixed-use project hard by the Chatham County line.

And hard by the eutrophic upper reaches of Jordan Lake, which needs another patch of urban sprawl about as much as James Harden needs another elbow punch from the Lakers’ Metta World Peace.

The post card actually came from the Durham Partnership for Progress, a political action committee formed by Southern Durham Development Inc., the local outfit behind 751 South. The PAC exists for one purpose: Elect its four anointed candidates to ensure that 751 South has a future.

Don’t be dazzled by Southern Durham President Alex Mitchell’s declaration that the PAC has high-minded ambitions to “foster a political environment … that encourages equal opportunity, job creation, smart growth.”

Smart growth?

What’s so smart about planting 1,300 homes and townhouses and 600,000 square feet of office-retail on 167 acres of environmentally sensitive land whose runoff by Southern Durham’s own assessment will put 600 pounds of nitrogen a year into Jordan Lake?

Here is an early look at Bob Wilson's column in this Sunday's Durham News. Agree or disagree? Tell us here (with your name for publication) or at editor@newsobserver.com.

By Bob Wilson

Mayor Bill Bell is on another hayride for sharply higher bail bonds that would, so he claims, discourage firing a gun in the city. That’s a noble aim (no pun intended), but raising the current bail from $75,000 to $300,000 would be toxic for the constitutional notion of excessive bail.

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson isn’t buying Bell’s snake oil, and neither are the city’s trial lawyers. They say the city’s maximum bail for illegally discharging firearms is already higher than most other North Carolina jurisdictions.

Bell’s latest call for $300,000 bail came during his 2012 State of the City address. This is nothing new. It goes back to 2008, when Bell first raised the issue. It lay fallow until August 2011, when Bell blew smoke again upon learning that a homicide suspect free on bail was accused of bank robbery.

Admittedly, that sort of thing concentrates the mind into believing that Durham really does have a revolving-door criminal justice system (Hudson dismisses the perception as a media construct). Yet, as Hudson, the defense lawyers and the U.S. and state constitutions rightly point out, bail can’t be used to trump presumption of innocence.

The constitutions’ language is clear: “Excessive bail shall not be required” for suspects arrested in connection with criminal acts.

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

But first, you'll want to read staff writer J. Andrew Curliss' latest on ousted DA Tracey Cline. Find the main story in today's N&O here and get links to Judge Hobgood's ruling and other materials HERE.

In The Durham News:

AND THEY'RE OFF: All five seats are up on the Board of County Commissioners. And a whopping 14 candidates, including four incumbents, want them. Staff writer Jim Wise hast the list.

CHARTER SCHOOL APPROVED: The state approved the new high school planned for Durham. DPS already has 10 percent of school-age kids enrolled in charter schools and fought this proposal, which it said would undermine the district's own efforts in science, technology, engineering andmath education. Read out story and tell us what yoiu think, and see the conversation this has generated on my Facebook page.

RENTAL REDUX: Love that word redux, which basically means repeat or again. The city's proposed rental inspection programcomes back to the City Council tomorrow night. The last time it covered 37 percent of Durham, but some said it was too broad. Read Jim's preview.

Bob Wilson (and NCCU, see left) takes on the let-it-all-hang-out crowd, Mayor Bell says why he's backing Obama again and you should too, and a Falconbridge reader asks ... what was Bob thinking with last week's crime column?

What's on your mind? Tell us at editor@newsobserver.com. And thanks for reading,

Mark

Monday night's Town Council meeting went too late to get the whole Yates Motor discussion in. Please read staff writer Katelyn Ferral's story in today's N&O here. The issue moves to the citizens police advisory council at 7 p.m. tonight at the Hargraves Center. Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro  plans to pitch tents there to show support for the call for an independent review of the Nov. 13 police raid.

'LIFE PARTNERS': In other news, correspondent Flo Johnston has a story on the wedding of Chapel Hill pastor Jenny Shultz and her partner, Shannon Thomas, this past weekend at United Church of Chapel Hill. Shane Snider took our photographs. Read the story and tell us what you think here, on my Facebook page or at editor@nando.com

(Speaking of Facebook, we got a lot of comments on a posting yesterday about the police raid. We will try to run some of them this Sunday. I've learned some readers really do prefer to have their conversations on social media; we will try to bring that conversation to print readers whenever possible.)

A PLAN IN THE WORKS: Still wondering what Chapel Hill 2020 is all about? We have two stories today: a short overview by Katelyn and more from co chairs Rosemary Waldorf, the former mayor, and George Cianciolo, the former planning board chair, and others in today's issue. Have you participated in 2020? We'd like to hear from you.  

We give the Rev. J.R. Manley roses as he steps down from the pulpit at First Baptist. Bob Wilson says don't blame just the system for the Section 8 housing squeeze (I expect that will get some letters). PlayMakers brings an award-winning look at "No Child Left Behind" to the UNC campus this week. And sports editor Elliott Warnock reports Special Olympians are flocking to Chapel Hill. 

And did I mention Mary Sonis has a really cool photo of a bat on our front page? Mary's amazing. She goes into the woods and creeks with a camera and comes back with magic.

It's a packed issue. Thanks for reading,

Mark 

BY BOB WILSON

No one not in the shoes of the 26-year-old Durham mother of four whose struggle to keep family and soul together in these desperate times can fully understand her anxiety. In search of an increasingly rare Section 8 housing subsidy, she and her children could be on the streets by late spring.

Reporter Katelyn Ferral's Dec. 25 story in The Durham News on the demand for Section 8 housing in the Triangle focused on  of one family, but the story of that family can be multiplied to the nth degree in contemporary America. It is a story famously foretold almost 50 years ago by the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

In 1965, Moynihan, then a Harvard scholar (and later a U.S. senator) published a seminal report on the coming destruction of the black family by good intentions gone bad. His policy conclusions now apply just as forcefully to whites and Hispanics.

Before you accuse me of a hate crime by using the Durham mother as an example of how government has such a sorry record of making things worse for the black underclass, consider the choices she and others have made.

Here's an early look at this week's Durham News column by veteran journalist Bob Wilson.

Like a bad habit, the unwanted guest is back again. No, not 2011. Southern Durham Development’s ill-conceived 751 South project, the one that bids to transform the Durham-Chatham County line from rural to urban.

Earlier this month, Southern Durham submitted a revised site plan and rezoning request for the 167-acre site in the low country close to the upper reaches of Jordan Lake. To use the words of perennial opponent Steve Bocckino, “The rezoning is worse than the first one … and I wouldn’t have thought that possible.”

Oh, but the revision is indeed worse. Among other changes, the new plan raises the impervious-surface limit on most of the site from 55 percent to 70 percent, the maximum allowed by law. That’s playing awfully dicey with the troubled waters of Jordan Lake.

Upping the impervious-surface percentage to 70 percent is presumably tied into Southern Durham’s decision to scrap the detailed street plan in the first version, thus giving project developers more elbow room.

To add a bit of Cool-Whip to the dessert, Southern Durham also says it won’t insist on city annexation as a condition for donating land for schools to Durham Public Schools. That’s nice, but no cigar.

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

But first, go to newsobserver.com for Matt Caulder's story on the opening of the Festival for the Eno and for photojournalist Ethan Hyman's gallery of pictures.

In today's Durham News:

COUNTY HOLDS LINE ON TAXES:  The county board did not raise your taxes this year. But you can -- when the county asks you to approve two new sales tax increases for schools and regional transit this fall. Virginia Bridges has the story.

CELEBRATING DURHAM TECH'S 50TH: Emily Weinstein is at it again. The prolific local artist (and cat rescuer) is putting the finishing touches on a huge mural honoring our community college. Staff writer Lana Douglas looked over her shoulder.  

LAWYER SEEKS DISMISSAL IN BONES CASE: Should the medical examiner's office have returned a missing woman's bones to her family? A lawyer for the man accused of murdering her says no. Lana reports on why that decision could now get the charges tossed.

Editorial page writer Bob Wilson says 751 doesn't add up, East Durham activist Aidil Ortiz Collins says Self-Help messed up, and Flo Johnston reports on a local church that serves up communion bufet style.

Happy Fourth, and thanks for reading,

Mark