If Johnson C. Smith University's outgoing president, Dr. Dorothy Yancy, were mayor of Charlotte, light rail and a lot of other dumb mess in this city would make more sense.

For the last 14 years, Yancy has been running the only university in Uptown Charlotte so well that some people forgot the place was there. During Yancy's reign, JCSU has excelled. As a historically black college, none of the financial problems that forced the closing of Barber-Scotia and Morris Brown have plagued Smith.

Luckily, there haven't been any violent acts at the school to damage its reputation. The students at Smith are well behaved and smart.

Yancy is going to be missed. But what shouldn't be missed is the fact that she was a first. The first woman to lead this school. Yancy told The Charlotte Observer (one of the outlets that forgot JCSU was here until they won the CIAA basketball tournament this year) that she came to Smith to build a school.

That's what she did. And Yancy gave her all to Smith. I know because I was a student there and watched her walk across campus every day. A proud woman, Yancy loved her students and her Alma Mater. Here's hoping that when she retires she will finally relax!

And speaking of the CIAA basketball tournament (a huge money maker for the city of Charlotte and its transit system) Yancy had the vision to try and get the event here when the Hornets were still in vogue - before George Shinn got caught up in his head games (pun intended).

It's funny because she came in to school planning to be there for a short time. I mean she was the interim president for about four years. Now, she leaves a legacy that will be hard to top. And can you believe that even as she was packing her office to leave, Yancy was still hard at work. She's a true leader. Charlotte could learn a lot from this lady!

Smog, that nasty and very visible air pollution, isn't pretty and can be dangerous, but most of us have learned the ways of the ostrich in order to keep driving our precious vehicles guilt-free. According to CNN, Beijing noticed their problem with smog years ago, but suddenly wishes to correct their smog problem as soon as possible for the 2008 Olympics. They are especially anxious since Olympic officials stated that events will be postponed if the air quality is too dangerous. Well, good luck! What has taken years to create can't be undone in a few months. Nevertheless, officials have decided to pass laws, beginning this week, that restrict citizens from driving their vehicles freely. They think that allowing certain cars, according to license plate numbers, to only drive on odd or even days will reduce the smog. Sure, there's probably a lot of people who will have to scramble for alternate transportation. And sure, businesses that rely on deliveries will suffer, but it's China!  And since it's the Communist land of the People's Republic of China, the government can do whatever they want, no matter how far into fantasy land they've drifted. Apparently this includes believing they can cure smog before Aug. 8.

If you want something to drive you crazier than even United Way's Gloria Pace King and her million-dollar compensation, check out a story in today's New York Times by Dan Frosch . Guess what the far-sighted Bush administration (a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry) is doing now? They're freezing all solar energy projects on public land. That's right, they're stopping solar energy projects at a time when everyone but oil industry puppets agree we need new forms of energy pronto. Hell, who in the US, except for Limbaugh's pinheads, doesn't realize now that the United States should have started pouring money into alternative energy decades ago? But no. Since Bush's (the oil industry's) proposals for off-shore drilling (motto: "Drain America First") are going nowhere, then by God, these hippie ideas like solar energy are gonna get squeezed to death. OK, there's no hard proof that the feds' solar freeze is a tit-for-tat revenge policy, but you at least have to wonder about these people's motives. The reason the Bushies give for the freeze is that there's such a surge in demand for solar power plants, a moratorium is needed to study their environmental impact -- for a couple of years. These same GOP operatives have spent their entire careers helping oil, gas and electricity companies weasel out of environmental impact statements, but mention solar energy (i.e., not an industry that bankrolls the GOP), and they go all Earth First! on us. Solar power supporters and entrepreneurs are complaining bitterly that this latest slap in the face of common sense by Bush & Co. will bring efforts to substitute solar power for coal or nuclear power to a grinding halt, in effect killing the baby in its crib. Compare the new policy to the one that allows Duke Energy to continue building the coal-fired power plant in Cliffside even though all the legalities and permissions haven't been worked out. You can't find a better example than this new Bush move of how the public good gets sacrificed to the sick relationship of power and corporate money. It's enough to make you puke.

Here's a story from CNN if you're one of those people who think the world is all pretty. The judge called the testimony "eye-opening, to say the least -- that things like that go on in our country."

This quote was taken from a photo of protesters on Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns. The Supreme Court ruled today that the 32-year-old law was unconstitutional and violated the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." If there's one city to live in and need the means to defend yourself and your family from the crazies, it'd be D.C. What were those city officials thinking?

Zimbabwe is imploding while the world watches.  Although the United Nations has called for a stop to President Robert Mugabe's murder and mayhem, it has not intervened in what is perhaps the most undemocratic election in recent years.  Mugabe's insistence on remaining president in spite of being voted out legally is further crippling an already troubled economy.  If what is happening in Zimbabwe is representative of a "democracy," then I am scared to see what it would look like if it were not.

Let's see -- what's happened in Charlotte in the past few months? Well, a teenager was Tasered to death, a guy was shot in the back by a police officer under circumstances now under SBI investigation, gas is about $4 a gallon, and the country is waging war that a majority of citizens don't support, among innumerable other matters.

So what sparks public outcry? A police chief who uses impolite language. Chief Rodney Monroe said a bad-cop allegation -- indictments of two cops accused of helping a drug dealer -- "pisses off a lot of officers."

And ta-da, the propriety police are out in full force. Several people wrote in to The Charlotte Observer not to inveigh against the alleged actions of the two cops, but against a police chief who would use such "gutter" language.

He's a cop, not William Safire. Granted, he's the chief and isn't out responding to domestic violence calls at 2 a.m., but he deals with a nasty business that involves some nasty people. What kind of language do you expect? Leave it to certain contingents of this town to quibble over such inconsequential matters.