Weddington’s WeddStock – Where ‘good’ intentions justify any cost!
Posted on September 4, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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By Walker Davidison
Weddstock – The “Free” Concert Series
Early this summer, a group of people including Weddington Mayor Nancy Anderson, decided to host a “free” concert series called “Weddstock.”
Mayor Anderson volunteered to provide the location for the concert series at her business called Hunter Farm. Hunter Farm is her agri-tourism business that sells strawberries, Christmas trees, and pumpkins. Holding Weddstock at Hunter Farm is a good way to promote the business given that Weddstock could attract hundreds of people to the farm who may return in the future as paying customers.
Kids First of the Carolinas offered to provide volunteers for the event. Kids First is a local charity that does a great job of organizing charitable events.
Kids First also agreed to raise the $18,000 in capital for the production and promotion costs of the event through private donations with the exception of a request for $2,000 from the town (a.k.a. the Weddington taxpayer).
At this point I was fine with everything this group was doing, except for the $2,000 from the taxpayer. I don’t consider music festivals to be part of the town’s “essential services.” However, as the Weddstock project progressed more taxpayer money was spent, corners were cut with town council procedures, and people were left confused about the purpose of the events.
The planning of the Weddstock project was rushed. For some reason this concert series was deemed necessary and urgent. There were a lot of obstacles to overcome in a short period of time. Mayor Anderson was determined to make it work. She used her position as mayor and her skills of persuasion to “fast track” the project. She also did a very good job of creating a difficult political situation for the town council.
No financial statements were submitted to the town council regarding Weddstock. Apparently the council felt that its responsibility to provide free music festivals was greater than its fiduciary responsibility.
First Mayor Anderson called a special meeting of the town council. She needed to get approval from the council to allow the sale of alcohol at Weddstock, so that Kids First could raise money by selling beer and wine at the events. She needed approval to have the town buy more liability insurance in case the town was sued over an alcohol related issue. She also needed the council to approve the $2,000 from the town. The $2,000 actually came out of the Parks and Recreation budget, but the Parks and Recreation Committee was never given the opportunity to vote on the matter.
Council members Barry and Gilmartin supported Mayor Anderson’s requests. Council members McKee and Thomisser voted no. Mayor Anderson broke the tie, and everything was granted. No one on the council proposed that the mayor recuse herself from the vote. Does requesting $2,000 of taxpayer money for a project which could help promote the mayor’s private business qualify as a conflict of interest? I think it at least warrants discussion by the council.
It has also been the practice of the council in the past to require financial statements before an organization receives town money. This was the case with Wesley Chapel-Weddington Athletic Association and the Providence Fire Department. No financial statements were submitted to the town council regarding Weddstock. Apparently the council felt that its responsibility to provide free music festivals was greater than its fiduciary responsibility.
After the first Weddstock event was held, the organizers discovered that the citizens who attended the event did not buy enough alcohol to cover the costs of the event. So, as with many failed business plans these days, the taxpayer was asked to give more. In this case, $3,000 more. When the request for the additional $3,000 came in, Mayor Anderson was out of town. The responsibility fell to Mayor Pro Tem Dan Barry. Dan Barry did not bother to have a special meeting. He simply made phone calls to the other council members to get their approval to give the additional $3,000. He got their approval and the check was sent. No financial statements were submitted to the town council.
After the second Weddstock event, organizers disclosed that Weddington citizens were still not buying enough alcohol at the event to cover the expenses and that two pledges from private donors had been withdrawn. Now the organizers wanted another $6,000.
To be continued…
Filed under: Politics, Weddington | 2 Comments »
Political Cartoons you won’t find in our local papers
Posted on August 29, 2010 by Mark D (the Scribe)
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Cuthbertson ALTS program School Board Appeal – Video
Posted on August 26, 2010 by Mark D (the Scribe)
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Click panel to view Video
Part 1 – Opening of Hearing, Parents Appeal Presentation
Part 2 – Administration Presentation
Part 3 – Board Q & A
Part 4 – Board Deliberation & Decision
Each segment is approximately 24 minutes
Filed under: Politics, School System | No Comments »
‘We’re not the other guys’ isn’t good enough, GOP
Posted on August 24, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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Examiner Editorial
August 22, 2010
Republicans enjoy a 50 percent to 43 percent advantage over Democrats among registered voters, the highest yet in Gallup’s weekly tracking of the 2010 midterm elections. But a Republican victory in November will mean nothing if it means more GOP business as usual. That is why it is critically important for congressional Republicans to put forward a concrete agenda before the election as an alternative to that of big-spending congressional Democrats. Instead, Republicans appear satisfied to fall back on a one-plank platform: “We’re not the Democrats.” That won’t cut it because, as pollster Scott Rasmussen recently told the Wall Street Journal, the GOP will benefit from voters’ desire to oust the party in power, but “75 percent of Republicans say their representatives in Congress are out of touch with the party base. Should they win big this November, they will have to move quickly to prove they’ve learned lessons from the Bush years.”
Those Bush years too often displayed little difference between Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Much of the vast expansion of the federal government by Democrats was previewed by the Bush-led Republicans. Obamacare’s overreach? Don’t forget the Republicans’ entitlement-expanding and budget-busting Medicare Part D. In fact, Republicans were off the reservation long before Bush ever entered office. The 1994 Republican revolution marked the first time in more than 40 years that Republicans held a congressional majority. They won while pledging specific policy goals in their Contract with America, including term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and welfare reform. Some significant progress was made but in a few years the revolution was all but abandoned. The Cato Institute’s Ed Crane recently noted that the “combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate … increased by 13 percent.”
Read full article
via ‘We’re not the other guys’ isn’t good enough, GOP | Washington Examiner.
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Parents file legal action over Cuthbertson Detention Center
Posted on August 19, 2010 by Mark D (the Scribe)
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A
nyone paying attention on the school board, the school administration or at Cuthbertson High School should have seen this coming. In fact, the filing for a ‘temporary restraining order” was the only alternative left to the parents opposing the “alternate school”. Many hundreds of parents have signed petitions, blasted emails and blogged about the issue for the last two weeks, to express their dismay and disgust.
Instead, school board members, Dr. Davis and other administrators apparently just buried their heads in the sand. There has been no outreach — you know the recent concept that even stretches into outer-space these days.
Like the famous line from the movie “Cool Hand Luke”, where the prison boss is standing on a hill with the sun to his back and says to the road gang, “what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate”.
More to the point, we apparently suffered a number of failures; the school principal failed to engage the site base team before volunteering the empty school wing, the school administration failed to inform the parents of the plans prior to making a decision, and in doing so failed to follow procedure as outlined by state statute and policy. To some folks, it smacks of intentional expediency — purposefully keeping the parents in the dark.
Toss into the simmering cauldron of anger and irritation, a display of arrogance, as related by witnesses to the August 3rd school board meeting, which did nothing but add fuel to the fire.
Let’s be clear — the Cuthbertson parents did not fail the system, the system failed the parents.
The Gears of Bureaucracy
Over last 10 years, the Union County school system has grown exponentially, and with it, the central office staff. A pondering bureaucracy under great budgetary pressure is difficult to steer. But give credit where it’s due, there doesn’t seem to be a month that goes by where the school system isn’t heralded for its exceptional success. This didn’t happen by accident and I doubt many of us would trade our problems for Charlotte’s. This is why many of us moved to Union County. We want our children to be educated by the best teachers with the best equipment and facilities that we as taxpayers can afford.
Personally, my greatest disappointment is in the school board members, people who are elected to represent the interests of the parents and students attending our schools. When the push-back became apparent, the district and at-large members should have reacted quickly, engaged the parents and worked with staff to one, understand the issue and two, find a way to resolve it. That didn’t happen.
Instead, it seems commonplace to move the chess piece down the board because the administration says that’s where its supposed to go. What happened to the independent minds of the people we elected? Is it easier to let the staff make the decisions rather than actually have to vote on a controversy?
What should have happened
Earlier I spoke of the lack of communication and how it contributed to the standoff currently underway.
Dr. Davis, Dr. Ellis, the School Board Chairman and the District 6 representative at the very least, should have conducted a “town hall” meeting for the parents at Cuthbertson who had voiced concern, signed the petition and sent e-mails to their representatives.
Instead the ostrich policy prevailed.
It’s not that the principal Rob Jackson or Superintendent Ed Davis didn’t attempt to communicate, a letter was sent out as an attachment to an e-mail explaining the administration viewpoints. It landed with a thud — and in essence, accomplished nothing. People need face-to-face, not exchanging e-mail that pass like artillery shells in the Gulf War.
What’s more, there seems to be an deliberate effort to mischaracterize the objections of the parents, to blindly argue the wonderful merits of the program and ignore the real problem, namely where the “Academy” was going.
The arbitrary decision stands as it is and on Monday at 11 AM at the courthouse in Monroe, the parents/taxpayers will be spending their money trying to get the courts to force the school system to abide by its own policy.
What to do next
We have election in November, Districts 3, 4, 6 and one at large seat will be filled. Get to know the candidates, examine the record of the incumbents and find out which ones will exhibit true leadership and shake up the status quo of this apparently complacent school board.
Cuthbertson Parents VS Dr. Davis and Board of Education Legal Filing {Click to View}
The following link is to the story posted in the Union County Weekly.
Parents take action to stop Cuthbertson program
Sign The Petition: Oppose The Academy at Cuthbertson Petition
Read and Participate: CHS Issues Blog
Filed under: Politics, School System | 5 Comments »
What happened to Tee Jay?
Posted on August 13, 2010 by Mark D (the Scribe)
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Tee Jay, a 20 year old horse, was hit and killed after suffering collisions with two different vehicles on June 8, 2010. Apparently, there maybe a connection between a Marvin Ridge High School senior prank, eight chickens stolen from the same farm and the releasing of the horse from his pasture.
For more information visit the Help Bring Justice For Tee Jay website.
Filed under: FYI, Misc | 2 Comments »
Republicans Say They Won’t Kiss Off Kissell
Posted on August 13, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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National Republicans went to great lengths to help former sportscaster Harold Johnson win his primary runoff last month in North Carolina, but as the 8th district general election gets under way, it will be interesting to see whether GOP leaders are serious about making Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell’s defeat a top priority this fall.
And if the 8th district race does eventually end up on the back burner, it’s probably a sign that all the recent interest in Johnson was borne more out of a desire to ensure that controversial businessman Tim D’Annunzio (R) wasn’t a part of the 2010 election story line.
Johnson may find out exactly where he stands this week when he heads to Washington, D.C., for his first fundraising trip after earning the right to face Kissell in November.
The D.C. visit comes a week after Johnson expanded his campaign team ahead of the general election. Johnson brought on Bellwether Consulting Group to focus on D.C. fundraising and added a new media consultant in Doug McCullough, who also does work for Sen. Richard M. Burr’s (R) re-election campaign in North Carolina.
Johnson said last week that he has “no doubt” that the national party views the 8th district as one of the prime races in the country this cycle, and National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Andy Sere called Johnson an “excellent candidate” who the party is “dedicated to helping” in the fall.
But Kissell’s pollster, Zac McCrary, said he’ll believe it when he sees it.
“I would be shocked if the NRCC spends dollar one on Johnson’s behalf,” McCrary said in an interview last week. “Republicans lost this race on filing day.”
via Republicans Say They Won’t Kiss Off Kissell – Yahoo! News.
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More union bailouts who’s feeding whom?
Posted on August 12, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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Barack Obama criticized Republican Representatives Tuesday for characterizing a $26 billion bill ostensibly designed to reduce teacher layoffs as a “special interest measure.” President Obama called the House Republicans’ lack of support “partisan.”
Teacher layoffs “should not be a Democratic problem or a Republican problem. It’s an American problem,” said the President.
It’s not even the teachers who are getting bailed out. It’s the teachers’ unions. Without unions teachers would easily stay employed. As it is, unions buoy the entire market, hiring less qualified individuals at grossly exaggerated rates.
Indeed, unionized teachers aides earn twice as much as non-unionized aides. Yet most direct-hire aides hold advanced degrees or teaching certificates, while the typical unionized aide lacks a four-year degree.
via More union bailouts who’s feeding whom? | Washington Examiner.
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Library Is Located Incorrectly
Posted on August 6, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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An Open Letter To Western Union County Residents:
I recently had the opportunity to attend a Waxhaw Board Of Commissioners meeting and listen to a presentation concerning a proposal for a western Union County Library located in Waxhaw.
The presentation was given by a Ms. Jan M. Ringeling, SFR of RE/Max Executive Realty. I believe the developer she was representing was in attendance. I listened to Ms. Ringeling’s positive variables concerning this Waxhaw location,and when she was finished she requested that the Waxhaw Board meet with her in closed session to discuss the financial aspects.
The Board was unsure about meeting with her in closed session, but then agreed to meet with Ms. Ringeling and the group she was representing. My immediate thought was, where is the transparency concerning further discussion on this matter?
It was my understanding that the Union County Board of Commissioners were the decision makers concerning funding and where and when a western Union County Library would be built. At the conclusion of Ms. Ringeling’s presentation, I had the opportunity to address the Board during public comments. I attempted to point out that the western Union County library should be in a location with more county residents.
The total population of western Union County (U.S. Census 2008, deemed correct) is 27,770. The break down is as follows: Wesley Chapel: 6,299, Weddington: 11,400, Marvin: 4,096, Waxhaw: 3,975, and Mineral Springs: 2,000.
Yes, only 14 % of the Western Union County’s population lives in Waxhaw! Where would you locate the library?
I think you would support building this library in a location which would provide access and convenience to all western Union County residents.
Finally, there is a Western Union County Coalition composed of leaders of the above towns. In 2009, these leaders came to an agreement concerning future transportation needs (they won an award from the Centralina Council Of Governments for their efforts). This would be an excellent issue for this coalition to reach an agreement relative to a library location. They could then pass their recommendation on to the Union County Board of Commissioners.
Werner Thomisser, Councilman
Weddington Town Council
704-654-6100
Filed under: Library, Waxhaw, Weddington | 7 Comments »
Obamacare Takes a Beating
Posted on August 6, 2010 by Guest Columnist
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Obamacare Takes a Beating
It’s been a bad week for Obamacare.
On Tuesday, Show Me State voters fired a shot across the bow of the administration, with a stunning 71 percent of those casting ballots supporting a referendum opposing the centerpiece of Obamacare — the so-called “individual mandate.” That’s the requirement that every citizen and legal resident of the United States purchase government-approved health insurance.
The Missouri vote came on the heels of a decision by a district court judge in Virginia denying the administration’s motion to dismiss a case challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate in court. The lawsuit, brought by Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli and others, will therefore proceed to trial in the coming months. Moreover, the judge’s statement accompanying his denial of the administration’s motion made it abundantly clear that this is anything but a frivolous exercise. It seems to be dawning on more than a few people, in and out of the legal profession, that if the federal government can do this, it can do almost anything.
via Obamacare Takes a Beating – The Editors – National Review Online.
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