Updated with links to new Rhino site

Jerry Bledsoe: Cops in Black and White

Part 1, Wray: An Ambitious Farm Boy
Part 2, The White Choice
Part 3, The White Reign
Part 4, Chief Wray Takes Over
Part 5, Homestead Hits the Fan
Part 6, Shifts Rotate, Police Irate
Part 7, Hinson Takes Center Stage
Part 8, Police and Prostitutes (includes "Morton's Version," a retraction and correction on an incident previously cited by Bledsoe)
Part 9: Hinson Dodges Snare
Part 10: Hinson Lands in the Dog House
Part 11: Hinson HELPs Hooker House
Part 12: Bird Dogging Wayward Cop
Part 13: Hinson Finds the Tracker
Part 14: N&R Invents Secret Police
Part 15: Kitchen Aids Wray's Case
Part 16: Wray Takes on Ahearn
Part 17: Wray Helped by Daughtry
Part 18: Hinson Gets Suspended
Part 19: The Truth Behind SID
Part 20: N&R Sides With CWP
Part 21: Embroiled in Scandal
Part 22: Police Info Up for Sale
Part 23: Nabbed at McDonalds
Part 24: Brian James Questioned
Part 25: City and RMA Distort Facts

I understand Willy Hammer's flinty-eyed view of the web: the Rhino will make a serious move online when someone shows them the money. Willy would rather invest in a cash-spinning real estate insert and let others pioneer local online publishing.

It's a reasonable play in the short term, yet there are risks to being overly cautious. The move to online sites of local classified ads, along with real estate and entertainment ads, is a question of when and not if; this won't be the death of free weekly print pubs, which will still have great utility, but the price pressure on print ad rates may be nontrivial.

All of which is to say that in late 2006, the Rhino's website reflects its business strategy, and even though they are publishing a series that is making significant local news, they don't bother to collate links to it so people can read from the start. That makes it harder to follow, and to blog about, so I've done it here, and will update this page through the end of the series. (Joe Guarino has been doing yeoman work summarizing the series -- maybe he'll collate those links, too.)

Jerry, meanwhile, has been promising a blog of his own for a couple of months now...

Comments

[David Wharton]

Thanks for the legwork, Ed.

[John D. Young]

The web knowledgeable folks and especially the Greensboro blog community have a lot to offer in this important community discussion. Ed, it is good to see that you have provided much better access to this important information. Yes indeed -- THANKS!

I do want to mention that Joe Guarino at his blog at http://www.guarino.typepad.com/ has contributed significantly to this discussion by providing regular summaries of Jerry Bledsoe's articles since week one.

[Danny Smith]

In reading the series "Cops in Black and White", I read parts 1 thru 16 and then nothing after that. Where are parts 17 thru ....?

[Bubba]

"Where are parts 17 thru ....?"

Note the date on this thread.

Try the Rhino web site now.

[Ed Cone]

Danny, thanks for the reminder. Updated.

The Rhino posts these things several days after I read them in print, and I'll admit that my eyes have begun to glaze as the series goes on and on without addressing the central issues of the City's case against Wray.

The Rhino's own web page has improved, but it still lacks a central landing page with all of these linked, and the archives are not well-laid-out, so I'll keep adding these as I remember to do so...

[benholder]

ed,

You dont address anything either.