Winston-Salem Journal from Winston-Salem, North Carolina • 15

Winston Salem Journal Thursday July 15 1999 Iz Virginia LotteryB2 I jV U' pV ObituariesB4 B5 Um kZJ V'lW I 1 Weather B8 I NO SALE: Shopper cards sneaky way to rack up details It seems that everywhere I go store clerks are inviting me to be a card carrying member of their clubs They offer me these nifty memberships at the grocery store the bookstore even the card store All these clubs have pretty much the same names They use the same Mary Giunca fi try to make it sound good But de spite the wooing these programs only make me feel used grouchy and in vaded The stores promote the savings that get for being one of their spe cial customers But the deals come with a price: a loss of privacy Stores are collecting information on what brands I buy when I buy them and how much I spend A clerk could say: see you pre fer store brand toilet paper Ms Giunca and you go through a 1 2 pack about every three Sure a remote possibility but the thought drives me crazy Convenience vs intrusion The stores also try to sell you on how convenient the cards are They say there are no coupons to clip I have trouble feeling that any one's made my life more convenient when they require me to add a bunch of cards to a billfold al ready bulging with my bank card license health insurance card and who knows what else You could argue that someone can already get all kinds of information from my health insurance records or credit card purchases I resent these intrusions too but not foolish enough to go without health insurance to prove a point about privacy My credit card buys are irregular and generic enough that I consider them all that personal But something about someone compiling information from weekly or twice weekly trips to the grocery store that gives me the creeps This information is tied into my dai ly life All of tlus business with cards clubs and computers is a long way from the retail relationships that were once commonplace When the guy at the local seafood store tells me that he has a new curry sauce making a recommenda tion based on conversations about our mutual love of Asian cooking It the same when the giant computer system of some national re tailer compiles information on what I buy and then sends me deals based on that information The first experience feels person al the second cold and clinical words: priority gold valuable and important The implication is that the people who join are special In some stores you get savings that the cardless slobs get Others offer special sweepstakes and perks for fre quent buyers The stores all Changing times Between those two experiences is a dramatic shift in the way wre shop I could see the change coming when I left the advertising business about sev en years ago As a copywriter I spent a good part of my day designing programs for companies that wanted to tell their customers how much they cared about them often ask people to fill JOURNAL ILE PHOTO The tax value of the closed North Wilkesboro Speedway is in dispute Speedway owners ask panel to cut assessed value By Duane Marsteller JOURNAL NORTHWEST BUREAU NORTH WILKESBORO Wilkes County says that the tax value of the idle North Wilkesboro Speedway is more than $95 million The owners of the speedway wliich closed in 1997 say that it should be about $7 million It will be up to the NC Property Tax Commis sion to decide if either one is right The owners Bob Bahre and Bruton Smith filed an appeal with the tax commission late last month that says the county overestimated the tax value and that the Wilkes County Board of Equalization and Review erred in initially refusing to consider the appeal A spokes woman for the state commission said yesterday that a hearing date has not been set According to county records a 1 998 revaluation increased the assessed tax value from $24 million to $85 million The owners appealed However the review board refused to consider the appeal be cause the owners missed the filing deadline The equalization board rejected a second ap peal filed earlier this year by the owners As part of the appeal process the county conducted a more in depth appraisal that in See SPEEDWAY Page B6 Lab on the Grab JOURNAL PHOTOS BY ALLIE BROWN Kim Newton and Tia her two year old Labra dor retriever play with a soft flying disc in Hanes Park (above and right) After her work out there's nothing like a refreshing dip in the creek (top) for a dog who's had her fill of running and jumping Newton said that Tia minds very well but tends to get distracted when she has an audience oi tafi' Bi i MfcA i i'2 1 rr JS rWhfyUjf' 1' Mfr iS WwlA Hbs System has time to make pitch See BONDS Page B3 GENERAL ASSEMBLY UNC CH is staring at a $20 million tax bill B6 UNC officials get another weekend to sell bond plan without going to public vote By David Rice JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU RALEIGH Legislative leaders said yesterday that they will give officials with the University of North Carolina system another weekend to persuade legislators to agree to a $2 billion bond issue for state universities and community colleges without putting the bonds to a vote of the people going to reduce the size of the package about a said Marc Basnight the Senate pres ident pro tern The state Senate has already voted to issue $3 billion in bonds $27 billion for universities and $300 million for communi ty colleges without subjecting the bond issue to a referendum But Republicans and at least 14 Demo crats in the House pared the list to $12 bil lion $1 billion for universities and $200 million for community colleges and added a provision that the package must be put to a statewide vote next May Richard Morgan the House minority leader said that House Republicans voted unanimously to require a referendum on the bonds More than a handful of Democrats in marginal or rural districts have also insisted on a public vote trying to take away an issue that Republicans could use against them in next elections But Basnight who has argued against a referendum saying that legislators were elected to make these kinds of hard deci sions themselves continued to say yester day that university officials would rather not put the bonds to a vote either want the referendum They feel the same as we he said Bond supporters say that the university r99 out cards hi order to receive a special gift Tliis was a ploy of course to get marketing information It was amazing what kind of infor mation people would give to get some cheap trinket My co workers and I know whether to laugh or cry at the heartfelt letters people would write to the company We called it relationship market ing The goal was to encourage people to think that they were forming a friendly bond with an anonymous prof it making corporation The idea was scary seven years ago and even scarier now So many of our social problems seem tied to the fact that our relationships with the things we buy are stronger than our relationships with each other an idea for a column? Call Mary Giunca at 727 4089 or nuiil her at mgiuncaw journal com House OKs two bills expanding liquor sales By David Rice JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU RALEIGH A bill that received tentative ap proval from the House yesterday extend permits for alcohol sales to golf and tennis resorts as long as they depend on tourism for at least 25 percent of their income Opponents criticized the bill be cause it would allow alcohol sales even in dry counties without a vote of the people In a separate bill liquor sales would be allowed at the Mast arm Inn in Watauga County and within 15 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Ashe Alleghany and Watauga counties as well as at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and in several other counties The resort bill tentatively ap proved by a 57 48 vote is an at tempt by state officials to fend off a lawsuit filed by the Mountain Air Country Club in Yancey County which says that the practice of hav ing the legislature issue special ABC permits is unconstitutional Moun tain Air contends it was denied a permit although its competitors were granted permits See ALCOHOL Page B3 TA have all said that that lawsuit will succeed11 Rep Bob Hensley Man is accused of bilking clients in investment scam By Valerie Baueriein and John Railey JOURNAL REPORTERS Until a few months ago Delmar Penn seemed to have it all He and his family lived in a 6000 square foot home in a posh subdivision in Kernersville He drove a nice car had lots of friends and talked up the success of his investment business BTL World wide Unlimited Inc The BTL stood for The Lord" Now' the house is vacant locked up and under foreclosure proceed ings The family has been evicted Yesterday afternoon a red Olds mobile sat in the yard with cinder blocks thrown through the front and rear windows The tires were flattened Neighbors said that the car is Penn 36 and his family are liv ing elsewhere He is facing three felony charges of securities viola tions and allegations that he bilked clients out of hundreds of thou sands of dollars through invest ment schemes Plenty of people who thought of Penn as a friend are angry was devastated that all my money was gone especially after he kept telling me it was doing so I thought of him as being See DELMAR PENH Page B6 Se Xis.