Political Soup

In better days, Todd Poole and Virginia Foxx speak with yours truly prior to Foxx's debate with Democrat Billy Kennedy in Oct. 2008.



What a wacky first half of August for all those things political that are happening in relation to Ashe County, NC and/or our elected officials. Almost feels like we are heading into campaign season a bit early, but that’s what feeds the political junkie’s monkey so let’s look at a few things you and I.

Inked Out
As I tried to drive through West Jefferson the other day I thought about my friends living in WJ and those in the occupied territories of the ETJ.
Sadly seeing all the empty storefronts I couldn’t help but be amazed at how the, always forward thinking West Jefferson Board of Aldermen, have put the official NOT WELCOME HERE stamp on tattoo shops as part of their regressive plan for the town’s slow death.
This stems out of last year’s vote to stop one local man from opening a tattoo ship, too close to the other evil town business, the ABC store. Maybe the tattoo artists should have considered offering a monthly payoff, I mean, payment to the board as the ABC does?
Seriously though, this board is dragging this town backwards in time in some attempt to make us a cute little mountain town / drive through petting zoo for tourists. They think somehow if we look more charming and Norman Rockwell like that it will bring tourists out 221 to . . . what? Visit a gallery, buy a little cheese? Great but what about the rest of us and those from neighboring towns that just come to town to, shop or get ice cream or just to walk around? For us, it is home, not a theme park.
Along with banning certain “unsavory” businesses, we have seen the removal of our downtown stop lights, to be replaced with stop signs. Sounds to me like those looking into future planning either have the wrong idea of what moving forward technologically means, or they have a little dyslexia problem. Signs to lights not the other way; what’s the next step? Will Chief Rose be forced to put his officers out to work the intersections with whistles and white gloves?
At this rate the town will soon have a dress code written sometime in the late 50’s.
Want to make the town more inviting? Here’s a thought; how about putting businesses into the dead looking open storefronts downtown? Hanging quilts is cute for a minute, but empty is empty and nobody is being fooled.
Want to make the drive into town look better and less desperate? I hate to say it, but mass yard sales do not convey an image of prosperity. Damn, at least build a Flea Market so it looks organized.
Communities that begin to pick and choose the types of legal businesses they allow admittance, are heading down the road to an economic crash. You may think you can turn back time and things will be like they were, but you can’t. We are a mountain community with good people living here and that is enough. Our elected officials need to plan for us, not for those who might visit.

Okay, we can do it this way
Well, the Dan McMillan - Ashe BOC saga is not going away in the discussions around Hardees, Smithy’s and the WJ Coffee Shop along with all the other place people gather to complain about government; and I’m sure not letting it drop.
It was nice to see Jesse Campbell pick up the ball and beat the bushes a little with his latest piece in the AMT, but there is so much more going on here than even Campbell got out of the reluctant interviewees.
Folks, we have elected officials hiding behind incorrect interpretations on Freedom of Information Act requirements and are still not giving their tax paying – voting, constituents anything more than window dressing.
What happened to bring about the request of McMillan’s resignation? The different visions line is a smokescreen used when nobody is supposed to talk. That’s fine with private business. I left the AMT because I and the company had different visions of . . . blah, blah, blah. See what I mean?
Here’s the difference; I was an employee of a private business, McMillan was an appointed government official working, supposedly, for elected officials. There are no secrets and no information too privileged (aside from medical and family data) to be off limits to the public.

Chapter 4, page 67-68 of the NC Media Law Handbook states, "in Chapter 132 of the NC Gen. Statutes that the public and the media have a right of access to most documents made or received by state and local governments."
A public record is defined in the NCMLH as, "documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes electronic data-processing records, artifacts or other excluded because of physical form."
As far as what information is public record, the NCMLH defines public, "the records of an agency of NC government or its subdivisions, which means the records of every public office, public officer (state or local, elected or appointed), institution, board, commission, bureau, council, department, authority or other unit of government of the State or of any county, unit, special district or other political subdivision of government. That means all levels of government from the General Assembly to local boards and commissions.”

McMillan said he had no contract. Other than that being just plain stupid on behalf of the county commission at the time, it wasn’t too smart of McMillan since he had no protections. The truth of what happened from the decision to hire the man by the board seated then to the decision to get rid of him by the current board.
Some partisan Democrats are trying to beat the drum of Republicans getting rid of a Democrat, but the Republicans have had the majority and the chair since 2008, so that argument won’t hold water. If it were a partisan issue, he would have been gone long ago. No, something happened and the board doesn’t want us to know what it was, but they want us to pay for it anyway. Am I alone in thinking that $45,000 plus a retirement package is something that shouldn’t be awarded to an employee you are in actuality firing?
Here’s a thought; is there an attorney out there that would consider taking a class action suit to force the board to open the books? If enough citizens get together and file the suit it might get their attention and make them understand that we really are fed up with the business as usual in our local politics.

Be fair when assigning guilt by association:
Just a few words here in defense of all those associated with people who find themselves in trouble with the law.
For nearly a week now the news trolling sites I use have been blowing up about Todd Poole’s (local Virginia Foxx employee) DUI bust over in Watauga County. This situation has no doubt caused embarrassment to the Foxx camp and Poole. But it is a bit unfair for people to bash Foxx for any part of this, as has been the case on some blogs and discussion boards. You can hate the woman for her politics or social views but, you can’t hang this stone around her neck.
Poole will be gone after Foxx’s staff ensures he gets the help he needs to deal with his demons, but that is the extent of their responsibility.