Activist Victoria Peterson attended a bond hearing last week for Crystal Mangum, who is accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in 2010. Mangum was asking to have her $200,000 bond lowered, her charges dismissed or to be let out of jail with electronic monitoring.

Peterson, a vocal supporter of Mangum dating back to the 2006 Duke Lacrosse case, said last week she is considering running for the City Council this year. During the hearing, Peterson stood up in the courtroom and asked to comment on Mangum's behalf. Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson had a comment of his own before he let her speak.

“This may be the day that Ms. Peterson has chosen to kick off her election campaign," Hudson said, “The decision she said she was not going to make the other day in the newspaper.

“So I guess you'll take this opportunity to make a public statement that you're going to run. ... We await your decision. Why could you possibly be standing my courtroom to offer some kind of statement in support of Ms. Mangum?”

Peterson has run for office multiple times, without success. In court, she ignored Hudson's comment and made her statement, which also went without success. Hudson denied all Mangum's requests.

Omar Beasley, a bail bondsman who ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in 2012, said this week he plans to run for the Ward 2 City Council seat currently occupied by Howard Clement.

Beasley said he made the decision to run for City Council soon after the November election. His campaign committee still has $1,320 in hand, according to a report filed Wednesday with the county Board of Elections.

Victoria Peterson, a citizen activist who has made unsuccessful bids for several offices in the past, said she is "looking at" a run for Ward 2 as well.

"I have not made a final decision but I have been thinking about it and I will be praying about it," Peterson said.

Clement has been on the City Council since 1982, the longest tenure of any council member in Durham history. However, health issues have caused him to miss all but a few council meetings for more than a year.

In case you missed it, here is some of what made headlines in yesterday's Durham News.

POLICE COMPLAINT: A group of protesters says a Durham police officer beat a woman during an arrest. The woman won't talk about it, and Police Chief Jose Lopez says her supporters, led by community activist and former political candidate Victoria Peterson, are hampering his department's investigation. Read Jim Wise's story here.

TRAFFIC TIE-UP: The NC 54 corridor can be a bear at rush hour. Tonight the Durham City Council will weigh a development that proposes to put 365 apartments  near the intersection with Barbee Road. Jim has that story, too, here.

HOW TO HELP LINCOLN: Find out how to help the residents facing the shutdown of Lincoln Apartments. Housing for New Hope is coordinating aid, from cash to mattresses. Get the details in this story and in the infobox in the column just to the right of the story here.

Jim is all over the Sunday paper. For a moving essay on what makes a house a home for the holidays, or anytime, read his My View essay. Find out who's giving the commencement address at Duke, who's tromping in the waters of Ellerbe Creek (and why) and why size does matter ... when it comes to syringes and the fight against AIDS.

And thanks for reading,

Mark

City Council candidate John Tarantino (right) said this afternoon that he's endorsing County Commissioner Joe Bowser for mayor in Tuesday's primary election.

"I'm aligned with Bowser and encouraging my friends to vote for Bowser," he said.

Bowser (below), who has more than a year left on his commissioner's term, is challenging incumbent Mayor Bill Bell. Retired salesman Ralph McKinney and minister Sylvester Williams are also in the race.

Tarantino is one of seven candidates for three at-large Council seats. Tuesday's voting will eliminate one, as well as two mayoral candidates, leaving the survivors to face off in the Nov. 8 general election.

Tarantino said he decided to come out for Bowser after Williams's campaign began passing out sample ballots encouraging votes for three black City Council candidates: Solomon Burnette, Donald Hughes and Victoria Peterson.

"The worst thing that can happen is nothing," he said.

Tarantino said he was miffed because he had given Williams support, including financial support, in a past campaign for City Council.

Bowser is also black, as is Bell; Tarantino is white, and said Williams, Burnette, Hughes and Peterson appeared to have formed a bloc after the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, one of Durham's major political organizations, decided against making endorsements for the primary.

Williams, Hughes and Peterson have said the Durham Committee's political subcommittee recommended them for endorsement, but the full Committee did not accept the recommendation. Peterson said the political subcommittee also favored Burnette, but Burnette declined to comment.

"The candidates scrambled and formed an alliance," Tarantino said.

The People's Alliance, another major Durham PAC, has endorsed Bell along with council incumbents Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti and former School Board member Steve Schewel. An Alliance campaign mailer promotes the four as a team in the elections.

Brown, Catotti and Schewel are white.
 

Incumbent Diane Catotti and challenger Victoria Peterson filed as city council candidates today, joining Steve Schewel who filed Monday.

Both Catotti and Peterson had announced their intentions to run earlier. Catotti is running for re-election for a third term in the at-large seat she has held since 2003. Peterson has run for council three times, unsuccessfully.

Mayor Bill Bell has also filed for re-election.

It wasn't on the agenda, but citizen Victoria Peterson (below) got three minutes of the city council's Thursday work session to make a pitch for 751 South.

Her reason: She might like to live there.

751 South is the village-sized subdivision proposed for rural Durham County near New Hope Creek and Jordan Lake. The project has stirred passionate controversy and several lawsuits, and whether it is built or not remains to be determined.

"There are persons in this community, like myself and my husband — we're starting to get a little older," she said.

"You just started?" said Councilman Howard Clement.

"We're starting to get a little older," Peterson repeated, "and it's sort of hard to wake up in the middle of the night when you hear gunshots and some of the other foolishness that's been going on here. ...  

"I think there are citizens in this community that still want to live in the city, still want to live in Durham, but sometimes when we lay our heads down on the pillow at night we don't want to hear gunshots [at] 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning," Peterson said. "We don't want to hear the police driving up and down in my stret constantly, 24-7."

The Durham County commisisoners approved a $54,000 contract with Downtown Durham Inc. tonight, but not without questions and comments from two dependably outspoken citizens.

Lavonia Allision, long-time head of the Durham Committe on the Affairs of Black People, said the amount was reasonable for the stated purpose -- "to perform the functions of economic development in the downtown area" -- but pointed out that other organizations are trying to do the same thing in other parts of town without the county's money.

Peterson had much the same point to make.

"Why do we have two systems here?"  Peterson said. "This organization and the Chamber of Commerce are allowed to get direct contracts, economic development contract [with the county]. ... We have other organizations in durham that are trying to train and put people to work. ... in Northeast Central Durham and other parts of Durham."

Peterson, a frequent candidate for public office who speaks at almost every meeting of the county commissioners and City Council, has been raising this issue at every opportunity for months. She wants a similar contract for a program she runs that offers occupational training in fiber-optic technology.

"I'm asking somebody, please investigate," she said.

The Durham city council has set April 6 for a public hearing on the way it is elected.

"Let the public discourse begin," said elections director Mike Ashe.

By voting Monday night to hold the public hearing, the council began the process that could change Durham's council elections from a non-partisan primary and general election system to a non-partisan pluraity system.

That means holding one election instead of two — or three, when a runoff primary is needed.

Durham County Board of Elections chairman Ronald Gregory requested the change in a February letter to council members and Mayor Bill Bell.

According to Ashe, the switch would save taxpayers between $170,000 and $180,000 per municipal election year.

"This is purely a way to save money we don't have right now," Ashe told council members Monday.

"We don't believe this helps or hurts anyone, any group, any candidate," he said.

Read more about it in Wednesday's News & Observer.