Macon County Planning Board 06-20-2013

The Macon County Planning Board met yesterday afternoon and discussed the county sign ordinance, including whether or not the county needed one and the issue of non-enforcement of the current county sign ordinance, which has been in place since the middle 1990s. It was also brought up that the NC DOT sporadically enforces their own sign ordinance, typically during mowing operations. The county planner reminded board members that the there would...

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Franklin TDA 06-10-2013

The next meeting of the board will be Tuesday, June 18th at 5.30pm. **note** This conflicts with the previously scheduled meeting of the Macon County Commissioners. I'll try to arrange to have cameras at both events. I may need a volunteer who is willing to sit with the camera I leave at the TDA meeting to ensure that Mike Gruberman does not shut it down prior to the start of the meeting like he did the last time I had two meetings that conflicted. Here...

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Two Minor Quakes Shake Macon and Jackson Counties Updated with Information on the June 7th Tremor

**update** Another minor quake, this one Magnitude 2.4 has happened this morning. Some people are reporting they felt two separate events. I have added information about the new quake at the end of this article. **update #2** The USGS has adjusted the magnitudes of the recent quakes as follows: The strength of the second quake (previously 2.2 Magnitude) has been more than doubled to match the first quake. Both are now rated at 2.5 Magnitude. Today's...

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Macon County Fails to Receive PARTF Grant for Parker Meadows Property Will have to pay full price

RALEIGH — State officials today announced the award of $3.8 million in grants from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to 14 local governments for parks and recreation projects. “Through the local grant program of the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, state and local governments have been partners in providing green space, outdoor recreation opportunities and stimulus into local economies,” said Lewis Ledford, director of the N.C. Division...

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FY 2013-2014 Macon County Budget Discussion Videos

According to my calculations, the county commissioners have spent around 16 hours publicly discussing elements of the FY 2013-2014 county budget. Close to 6 hours alone have been spent on the budget of the Macon County School System. They still have a public hearing on the budget (next Tuesday at 6pm) and another possible meeting beyond that. This article has all the videos of their budget discussions in one place for anyone who cares to sit...

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Macon County Commissioners Budget Work Session III: Board of Education 06-04-2013

Here is low resolution video of the budget work session held last night by the Macon County Commissioners, the bulk of which was devoted to "discussing" the budget of the Macon County School System. I didn't get the feel that the Commissioners were willing to budge on their previous position of not giving the Board of Education any more than they've already committed to in the FY 2013-2014 budget. To refresh your memory, the proposed budget...

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Storm Chasers Get Too Close to Tornadoes in Oklahoma Is it Time to License Chasers?

I'll just leave this here and let you compare the hypocrisy of The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes speak for itself. People like him, Brandon Sullivan and Reed Timmer give legitimate severe weather chase teams a bad name with their blood lust for better footage in the name of TV Ratings and profit from the sale of footage of tornadoes. Mike Bettes in 2011 on storm chasers who get too close to storms, risking getting flipped and injured: “Chasing...

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