National Night Out at East Side Park: Chief Bellamy missed my fish.

I worked with the organizers of the East Side Park National Night Out event tonight and had a great time. I was honored to be in charge of the fish frying. I went to Tri-City Fish Market on Florida Street and got a 10 lb. block of whiting. I arrived at the East Side Park Community Center with my two kids ready to go to work at about 4:45pm. I went into the center and introduced myself to everyone and began to get my cooking station ready! They aleady had one block of whiting ready at the center when I arrived. That is 20 lbs. of fish.

Once the grease reached the perfect fish frying temperature, I began to drop that fish and we got busy. I easily fried 150 pieces of fish and loved every minute of it. I had a great time and so did my kids.

I really love being back in Greensboro. The pictures I took are: the fish being fried, the fried fish, Cameron and Graham (my kids) and East Side Park President Marie Stamey, Robbie Perkins and Graham, Easy Side Park event volunteers with my kids and Jack Cho and I.

Everyone that volunteered for the event did a great job and the event was successful. The Greensboro Police Department was well represented. However, Tim Bellamy showed up after I had already left and the fish was long gone. My fish was eaten as soon as it came out of the grease. The truth of the matter is I can fry fish. I am arguably the best fish fryer in the world. If you don't believe me ask Robbie Perkins or Trey Davis.

I have invited Chief Bellamy to all of my fish frying events at my house and he has rejected every invitation. However, we have talked about frying fish. Chief Bellamy seems to believe that he can fry fish better than me and has flat out told me so. He thinks he can beat me because he cuts a white potato in half and puts it in the grease with the fish. He thinks this does something to prevent the fish from burning.

I have laughed at his suggestion and have never tried it. I don't need a potato to help me fry fish. I have told him on many occasions that we could get it on any time and anywhere for a fish fry showdown. Chief Bellamy has failed to respond to my challenges. He has reported to me that he is from Eastern North Carolina and I am just a city boy from Greensboro. Because of this, Chief Bellamy thinks he has an edge. What Tim Bellamy fails to realize is I learned how to fry fish from a mature Louisiana woman right next to the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. I have also studied the art under the tutelage of Mrs. Viki Kilimanjaro. I have fried many a fish on her back porch.

Today when I talked to Chief Bellamy he assured me he was coming to East Side Park and was going to get some of my fish. I knew that if he tasted my fish he would be forced to admit that he could not top my fish frying ability, even with a sliced potato.

I fried many pieces of fish from 5:45-7:00pm. At 7:15pm all of the fish I had cooked was gone and we were running on hot dogs. I began to clean up, gather my kids and wished everyone a goodnight at about 7:30pm. After I got home I received information that Chief Bellamy arrived at the East Side Park event after I left. There was no fish for Chief Bellamy to eat at the time of his arrival.

I talked to many people and even got some votes! Dianne Bellamy Small aint to popular around there. However, I am. I also ran into a few guys I went to jr. high with. I heard the issues the community is facing and I will begin working on them immediately. The number one complaint I heard is there are lots of robberies in the area. The second complaint was the crack cocaine issue. Ironically, a driver of an SUV was chased by police cars through the neighborhood hours before National Night Out began. He was seen throwing drugs out of the window as he attempted to evade police. The chase was short and the man was arrested.