🧵 In Today’s Edition

1. Accusations Against Council Candidate
2. Winston-Salem’s Most Elite Real Estate Is for the Dead
3. What We’re Reading

Former Employee Accused Greensboro Candidate April Parker of Sexual Harassment


Days before the November 4 general election for Greensboro City Council, a former co-worker of District 3 candidate April Parker is publicly raising allegations of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, and verbal abuse they say caused a toxic work environment.

Jesse Hoyle worked under Parker at Elsewhere, a downtown Greensboro museum and arts nonprofit, in 2021 and 2022. Parker was the organization’s managing director at the time. Hoyle, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, reached out to The Assembly to detail experiences with Parker and provide documentation of an internal investigation into their complaints.

“When I saw she was running for office, I struggled with whether I should say anything publicly,” Hoyle said in an interview. “But I think voters deserve to know who is running for office. And I don’t want anyone to be in that situation again.”

Hoyle alleges that Parker smacked and grabbed their buttocks at the museum in July 2021. “I immediately let her know that was unacceptable, but she did not take me seriously,” Hoyle said. “She basically laughed it off.”

In a statement to The Assembly, Parker does not deny the incident occurred, but said she apologized at the time and learned from the experience. She described Hoyle as a friend and said the physical contact was made “in a moment of celebration” before an event and “was not received as intended.”

Read the full story here.

— Joe Killian

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

The Most Elite Real Estate in Winston-Salem Is for the Dead

“Don’t hit your head on the meathooks,” our guide warns as she leads us by lantern through the uneven cobblestone streets of Old Salem. 

We entered the historic market house. Originally built as a vending place for fresh meat, the small building has been transformed for the night into the “corpse house.” Back in 1850, Salem Square included an actual structure that stored the recently deceased, just a short walk from the area’s two noteworthy local cemeteries. 

Inside, we hear the story of Louisa, a young Moravian woman from the 1800s who died a year after giving birth, followed quickly by her baby. But the pair did not end up buried with their fellow Protestants in the Moravian cemetery, God’s Acre, made up of rows of meticulous, identical white grave markers. Instead, they were interred at Salem Cemetery, the neighboring burial ground full of elaborate vault houses and ornate monuments.

The cemetery is a minor, though recurring, character in Winston-Salem’s Night Watchman Tours, a limited series of ghost tours full of eerie and sometimes ghastly tales. All are taken directly from historic accounts of Old Salem—it’s really more of a spooky history tour about early Moravian life led by college-aged guides dressed in period garb. 

Read the full story here.

— Tina Vasquez

What We’re Reading

All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is mourning the death of its K-9 officer, Coal. The dog’s handler found Coal, just two years old, dead last weekend of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Coal was a veteran of more than 30 deployments with the department, reports Fox8.

Mock Hurricane, Real Training: UNCG nursing students got training for a mass casualty event during a mock hurricane scenario. The News & Record has more.

Real Hurricane, Really Stranded: An N.C. A&T University student is stranded in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa hit the island this week. Fox8 has an interview.

Joe Killian is The Assembly's Greensboro editor. He joined us from NC Newsline, where he was senior investigative reporter. He spent a decade at The News & Record covering cops and courts, higher education, and government.