Election 2018: Candidates for District 2 Macon County Commissioner

These videos were part of a forum that was held Wednesday, April 25th at the Macon County Public Library for candidates seeking votes from Macon County voters. The event was organized by the Smoky Mountain News and the Macon County News and Shopping Guide.

County Commissioner, District 2, All Candidates



Betty Wallace, challenger



Ron Haven, challenger



Ronnie Beale, incumbent


Gary Shields, incumbent



Video of the event was recorded by Macon Media and has been cut into smaller segments for those lacking the intestinal fortitude sit through the entire forum.

Links to the Full Forum [LINK]


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If you have a business or event you are interested in sponsorship opportunities or underwriting coverage, send an email to editor@MaconMedia.com for more information. Serious inquiries only. Macon Media rewards early sponsors/underwriters with lifetime guaranteed low rates while newer sponsors/underwriters pay higher rates based on the date they first support Macon Media.

Thank You to the people who have been sending in donations and those businesses who are underwriting coverage of news and events. You have kept Macon Media online. You have made it possible for Macon Media to begin purchasing state of the art equipment and begin work on building a real website with features not employed by any local news outlets.

You can find out more information on how to do that and some of what I plan to accomplish if I reach certain levels of funding at https://www.patreon.com/MaconMedia

Published on April 30, 2018

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Nantahala Forum for County Commissioner Challengers

Members of the Nantahala Community invited the candidates running against the incumbent county commissioners to a Meet and Greet Forum where the candidates answered written questions from audience members, then afterward, light refreshments were served and the candidates spoke with interested members of the Nantahala Community. A video of the Questions portion of the event is embedded below. Macon Media was the only media outlet present.








CROWDFUNDING OR DAY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

If you receive value from what Macon Media provides to the community, please consider becoming a supporter and contribute at least a dollar a month.

If you have a business or event you are interested in sponsorship opportunities or underwriting coverage, send an email to editor@MaconMedia.com for more information. Serious inquiries only. Macon Media rewards early sponsors/underwriters with lifetime guaranteed low rates while newer sponsors/underwriters pay higher rates based on the date they first support Macon Media.

Thank You to the people who have been sending in donations and those businesses who are underwriting coverage of news and events. You have kept Macon Media online. You have made it possible for Macon Media to begin purchasing state of the art equipment and begin work on building a real website with features not employed by any local news outlets.

You can find out more information on how to do that and some of what I plan to accomplish if I reach certain levels of funding at https://www.patreon.com/MaconMedia

12:33 pm on April 25, 2018

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Challenge to Haven's Candidacy Fails

The Macon County Board of Elections met yesterday to consider a challenge to the eligibility of Macon County Commissioner Ron Haven to run in the District II race for county commissioner issued by Charles "Scoon" Nichols.

After the hearing, the board voted 3-0 that Ron Haven did indeed maintain a domicile in the district. A brief video of just the decision is below:


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Full video of the entire proceeding and a copy of the paperwork filed by Nichols is below:


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Ron Haven Residency Challenge by Thunder Pig

A similar hearing will be held this coming Tuesday, March 18th, in Courtroom 4A on the fourth floor of the Macon County Courthouse to hear a challenge issued by Victor Drummond to the candidacy of Gary Shields to run in the same district. A second hearing relating to the challenge issued by Charles nichols against Ron Haven has been scheduled immediately thereafter. I will post the official notice when it becomes available from the Macon County Board of Elections.

**UPDATE** 11:53AM 

Victor Drummond is withdrawing his challenge to the candidacy of Gary Shields, candidate for one of the two seats in the District II County Commissioner race. 

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Dedication Ceremony for the Nathan B. Henry Bridge

A local bridge was named in honor of Nate Henry yesterday and I was able to attend and record the proceedings to share with those who were unable to be there due to other obligations.


Program for the Nathan B. Henry Bridge Dedication Dedication Ceremony that was held Friday, October 12, 2012 in Franklin, NC at 2pm in the Veterans Memorial Park:

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Ronnie Beale
Macon County Commissioner

WELCOME
Kevin Corbin, Chair
Macon County Commissioner

Joe Collins, Mayor
Town of Franklin

Pledge of Alleigance
Ron Haven
Macon County Commissioner

NATIONAL ANTHEM
Nikki Pons Corbin

INVOCATION
Chaplain Sam Hastings
Vietnam Veterans Chapter 994

INTRODUCTIONS
Ronnie Beale

SPEAKERS

Heath Shuler, Member
U.S. House of Representatives

John Snow
Former State Senator

Rick Norton, President
Vietnam Veterans Chapter 994

Bobby Kuppers
Macon County Commissioners

Larry Kernea, Member
N.C. Board of Transportation

PRESENTATION OF REPLICA SIGNS
Larry Kernea

RESPONSE
Nathan B. Henry

THANK YOU and GOODBYE
Becky Henry


Here are some of the photos I took during the ceremony and at the photo opportunity at the bridge:



Individual photos may be viewed on Flickr by clicking here.

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A Hiker Passes Through Macon County: Jonathan Welch's Account

Jonathan Welch on Wayah Bald


A former staff photographer with the Mountain Xpress is attempting a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail and is keeping an interesting blog of his experiences. [AT Blog]


He recently came through Macon County and made a stop over here, riding in the shuttle driven by Ron Haven.


You can see the two blog entries as he passed through our county by clicking the two links below:


Farewell GA, nice to meet again NC


"It's all about the smiles, not the miles!"


He is keeping an interesting record, photographic and written, of his journey and I hope that he keeps it up for the duration of his attempt. I will be checking on his progress from time to time and I hope that some of you will as well.


Hat Tip to the Mountain Xpress for posting a recent story on Welch's journey that alerted me to this endeavor.


Check out galleries of Jonathan's photographic work on his website.

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The Macon County Board of Commissioners Flips to Republican Majority

Ron Haven thanks his supporters.


The political makeup of the Board of Macon County Commissioners will switch from 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans to 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats starting with the December 2010 Meeting and will be electing a new chairman from their number.


Only 180 votes separated the top two finishers, Ron Haven and Ronnie Beale, and a mere 178 votes kept the third place finisher, Charlie Leatherman, from winning a seat on the Macon County Commissioners. 


Bob Simpson lost his seat on the County commissioners and Vic Drummond came in last place in an independent run for a seat on the Board of County Commissioners. I believe he received many of the votes that would have likely gone to Charlie Leatherman had there not been another choice for conservatives. 


A Table of the results are below:

Candidate	Percent of Votes	Number of votes
Ron Haven (R)	24.66%	5,719
Ronnie Beale (D) incumbent	23.88%	5,539
Charlie Leatherman (R)	23.12%	5,362
Bob Simpson (D) incumbent	18.36%	4,259
Vic Drummond (I)	09.98%	2,316

Table by Bobby Coggins

Jim Davis, Vice Chairman of the Macon County Commissioners, won his race to unseat John Snow in the NC Senate Race for District 50 and he will be replaced by an appointee of the Executive Committee of the Macon County Republican Party, who is expected to take up the matter this Thursday night. 

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Macon County Republicans Gather at 9/11 Memorial Picnic

Macon County Republicans gathered Saturday for a 9/11 Memorial Picnic at the big picnic shelter in the Macon County Veterans Memorial Park in Franklin, NC. There was food, fellowship and memories of that terrible day on 9/11/2001.















Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland was one of the first speakers, and he shared memories of 9/11 with the crowd. He is running for re-election this year, and here is his campaign website.

There were several speakers at the event, including Jim Davis. He is a Macon County Commissioner who is challenging John Snow for the District 50 seat in the NC Senate, and he spoke a little about his campaign effort:











Visit his campaign website for more information.

Dodie Allen, always a crowd pleaser, spoke about her campaign and conservatism. She is challenging Phil Haire for the 119th District seat in the NC House:













I was unable to get footage of Roger West, who is running for re-election in the 120th NC House District, because I was in line getting food. As always, he was a man of few words and got to the point of remembering what happened on 9/11/2001.









Several of the candidates had the opportunity to meet with one another and share their experiences on the campaign trail and meet with voters during the picnic. Pictured here are Dodie Allen (L) and Ron Haven (R).











Ron Haven is running for one of the two seats on the Macon County Board of Commissioners in District II. Visit his campaign website to find out more about him.







Kristina Earwood is running for a seat as a 30th District Judge in western North Carolina. Visit her campaign website for information about her.





In addition to some of the speeches above, there were raffles and door prizes awarded and karaoke. There was a highly entertaining group rendition of the song "YMCA". The Gem Country republican Women did an excellent job putting this event together and kept things running smoothly. Gary Dills, chairman of the Macon County Republican Party, was the master of Ceremonies. Visit the Macon GOP website to see what else is coming up during the campaign season.

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