"I'm very disappointed in this council." That was how I began my presentation to then Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Robbie Perkins and the rest who were seated there in the council chambers the night before a film crew from Discovery Channel Canada was scheduled to arrive in Greensboro to film me.
I was disappointed because I had spent weeks trying to make Council aware that Discovery Channel Canada was coming to Greensboro, North Carolina to film me and was willing to work with the City of Greensboro to highlight some of the very things the city ordinarily pays tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to get people around the world to see. I was angry and disappointed that I had offered to share what I knew would be my last 15 minutes of fame with the city where I had spent my life and not one soul had taken the time to return my e-mails and take advantage of the opportunity that Discovery Channel Canada and I were offering the City of Greensboro free of charge.
Morons, the lot of them.
As I left the Council chambers a woman from the City's PR department was directed to follow me outside in the hopes that Council might salvage their reputation. She asked me what the City could do. I told her we'd be filming the next day and would prefer they stay out of our way.
As it turned out, my rooster, Gus, was a natural in front of a camera and stole the show that aired in front of 20 Million viewers in Canada and the Asia- Pacific. For those of you who think the Asia- Pacific doesn't matter to Greensboro, the Center for Creative Leadership thinks it matters enough to build a campus there.
The next time I went before City Council was to plead for the lives of my pet chickens as Greensboro was about to outlaw them. When I explained to Council that banning chickens would require that I put Gus down, T Diane Belamey-Small exclaimed, "Oh no, not Gus!"
You see, I had already secretly spread the word that I would call Discovery Channel Canada and tell them that Greensboro, North Carolina's most widely known celebrity was about to be sentenced to death by the Greensboro City Council and ask if they'd like to follow up. My rooster and his flock were grandfathered in.
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