The 2012 State Medical Facilities Plan has identified a need for seven additional dialysis stations in Macon County (I know of none) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will hold a public hearing today at 12:30pm in the large courtroom on the 4th floor of the macon County Courthouse. I'll be there to cover this meeting and may tweet from it if I can get a good WiFi signal. My tweets will be on the widget embedded below the notice of public hearing.
**Note** The next meeting of the Macon County EDC The Macon County EDC meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 22 at 5:30 PM and will be meeting in Highlands at the Highlands Civic Center. Richard Delany, General Manager of Old Edwards Inn, will be speaking.
After a year-long hiatus, the Center for Economic Research & Policy Analysis at Appalachian State University has resumed it's Western North Carolina Economic Index with a new report. You can download it from CERPA or from my blog. I have embedded it below for your convenience.
An explaination from the CERPA website of their goals:
CERPA's Economic Development Program facilitates research and policy analysis that promotes higher standards of living and improved economic and social conditions. The program addresses a wide range of economic and social issues, such as the urban-rural divide, higher education and tax incentives, but a particular area of interest is the intersection of environmental, energy and economic policy.
The program maintains an area of work that focuses on Western North Carolina economic and social issues. WNC initiatives attempt to improve conditions in the region by providing relevant, timely and accurate information to people in the private and public sectors.
If you're a numbers geek and want to look at the source information, try the WNC Data Center that is maintained by CERPA.
I'd like to thank Tommy Jenkins, the Macon Economic Development Director, for pointing out this report and website to me. It is a wealth of economic information!
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivers the commencement address at the Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va, Saturday, May 12, 2012.
Transcript of Mitt Romney's remarks:
For the graduates, this moment marks a clear ending and a clear beginning. The task set before you four years ago is now completed in full. To the class of 2012: Well done, and congratulations.
Some of you may have taken a little longer than four years to complete your studies. One graduate has said that he completed his degree in only two terms: Clinton’s and Bush’s.
In some ways, it is fitting that I share this distinction with Truett Cathy. The Romney campaign comes to a sudden stop when we spot a Chick-fil-A. Your chicken sandwiches were our comfort food through the primary season, and there were days that we needed a lot of comforting. So, Truett, thank you and congratulations on your well-deserved honor today.
There are some people here who are even more pleased than the graduates. Those would be the parents. Their years of prayers, devotion, and investment have added up to this joyful achievement. And with credit to Congressman Dick Armey: The American Dream is not owning your own home, it is getting your kids out of the home you own.
Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about life in four-year stretches. And let’s just say that not everybody has achieved as much in these last four years as you have.
That’s a theme for another day. But two observations. First, even though job opportunities are scarce in this economy, it is not for nothing that you have spent this time preparing. Jerry Falwell, Senior, long ago observed that “You do not determine a man’s greatness by his talent or wealth, as the world does, but rather by what it takes to discourage him.” America needs your skill and talent. If we take the right course, we will see a resurgence in the American economy that will surprise the world, and that will open new doors of opportunity for those who are prepared as you are.
Of course, what the next four years might hold for me is yet to be determined. But I will say that things are looking up, and I take your kind hospitality today as a sign of good things to come.
I consider it a great life honor to address you today. Your generosity of spirit humbles me. The welcoming spirit of Liberty is a tribute to the gracious Christian example of your founder.
In his 73 years of life, Dr. Falwell left a big mark. For nearly five decades he shared that walk with his good wife Macel. It’s wonderful to see her today. The calling Jerry answered was not an easy one. Today we remember him as a courageous and big-hearted minister of the Gospel who never feared an argument, and never hated an adversary. Jerry deserves the tribute he would have treasured most, as a cheerful, confident champion for Christ.
I will always remember his cheerful good humor and selflessness. Several years ago, in my home, my wife and I were posing for a picture together with him. We wanted him to be in the center of the photo, but he insisted that Ann be in the middle, with he and I on the sides. He explained, by pointing to me and himself, “You see, Christ died between two thieves.”
Maybe the most confident step Jerry ever took was to open the doors of this school 41 years ago.
He believed that Liberty might become one of the most respected Christian universities anywhere on earth. And so it is today.
He believed, even when the first graduating class consisted of 13 students, that year after year young Christians would be drawn to such a university in ever-greater numbers. And here you are.
Today, thanks to what you have gained here, you leave Liberty with conviction and confidence as your armor. You know what you believe. You know who you are. And you know Whom you will serve. Not all colleges instill that kind of confidence, but it will be among the most prized qualities from your education here. Moral certainty, clear standards, and a commitment to spiritual ideals will set you apart in a world that searches for meaning.
That said, your values will not always be the object of public admiration. In fact, the more you live by your beliefs, the more you will endure the censure of the world. Christianity is not the faith of the complacent, the comfortable or of the timid. It demands and creates heroic souls like Wesley, Wilberforce, Bonhoeffer, John Paul the Second, and Billy Graham. Each showed, in their own way, the relentless and powerful influence of the message of Jesus Christ. May that be your guide.
You enter a world with civilizations and economies that are far from equal. Harvard historian David Landes devoted his lifelong study to understanding why some civilizations rise, and why others falter. His conclusion: Culture makes all the difference. Not natural resources, not geography, but what people believe and value. Central to America’s rise to global leadership is our Judeo-Christian tradition, with its vision of the goodness and possibilities of every life.
The American culture promotes personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and, at the foundation, the pre-eminence of the family.
The power of these values is evidenced by a Brookings Institution study that Sen. Rick Santorum brought to my attention. For those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and marry before they have their first child, the probability that they will be poor is 2%. But, if those things are absent, 76% will be poor. Culture matters.
As fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate. So it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.
The protection of religious freedom has also become a matter of debate. It strikes me as odd that the free exercise of religious faith is sometimes treated as a problem, something America is stuck with instead of blessed with. Perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government.
But from the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.
Religious freedom opens a door for Americans that is closed to too many others around the world. But whether we walk through that door, and what we do with our lives after we do, is up to us.
Someone once observed that the great drama of Christianity is not a crowd shot, following the movements of collectives or even nations. The drama is always personal, individual, unfolding in one’s own life. We’re not alone in sensing this. Men and women of every faith, and good people with none at all, sincerely strive to do right and lead a purpose-driven life.
And, in the way of lessons learned, by hitting the mark or by falling short, I can tell you this much for sure.
All that you have heard here at Liberty University – about trusting in God and in His purpose for each of us--makes for more than a good sermon. It makes for a good life. So many things compete for our attention and devotion. That doesn’t stop as you get older. We are all prone, at various turns, to treat the trivial things as all-important, the all-important things as trivial, and little by little lose sight of the one thing that endures forever.
No person I have ever met, not even the most righteous or pure of heart, has gone without those times when faith recedes in the busy-ness of life. It’s normal, and sometimes even the smallest glimpses of the Lord’s work in our lives can reawaken our hearts. They bring us back to ourselves – and, better still, to something far greater than ourselves.
What we have, what we wish we had – ambitions fulfilled, ambitions disappointed … investments won, investments lost … elections won, elections lost – these things may occupy our attention, but they do not define us. And each of them is subject to the vagaries and serendipities of life. Our relationship with our Maker, however, depends on none of this. It is entirely in our control, for He is always at the door, and knocks for us. Our worldly successes cannot be guaranteed, but our ability to achieve spiritual success is entirely up to us, thanks to the grace of God. The best advice I know is to give those worldly things your best but never your all, reserving the ultimate hope for the only one who can grant it.
Many a preacher has advised the same, but few as memorably as Martin Luther King, Jr. “As a young man,” he said, “with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow. But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
In this life, the commitments that come closest to forever are those of family.
My Dad, George Romney, was a CEO, a governor, and a member of the President’s Cabinet. My wife Ann asked him once, “What was your greatest accomplishment?” Without a moment’s pause, he said, “Raising our four kids.”
Ann and I feel the same way about our family. I have never once regretted missing a business opportunity so that I could be with my children and grandchildren. Among the things in life that can be put off, being there when it matters most isn’t one of them.
As C.S. Lewis is said to have remarked, “The home is the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose, and that is to support the ultimate career.”
Promotions often mark the high points in a career, and I hope I haven’t seen my last. But sometimes the high points come in unexpected ways. I was asked to help rescue the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
I’m embarrassed now to recall that when this opportunity was first presented to me, I dismissed it out of hand. I was busy, I was doing well, and, by the way, my lack of athletic prowess did not make the Olympics a logical step. In fact, after I had accepted the position, my oldest son called me and said, “Dad, I’ve spoken to the brothers. We saw the paper this morning. We want you to know there’s not a circumstance we could have conceived of that would put you on the front page of the sports section.”
The Olympics were not a logical choice, but it was one of the best and most fulfilling choices of my life. Opportunities for you to serve in meaningful ways may come at inconvenient times, but that will make them all the more precious.
People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology. Surely the answer is that we can meet in service, in shared moral convictions about our nation stemming from a common worldview. The best case for this is always the example of Christian men and women working and witnessing to carry God’s love into every life – people like the late Chuck Colson.
Not long ago, Chuck recounted a story from his days just after leaving prison. He was assured by people of influence that, even with a prison record, a man with his connections and experience could still live very comfortably. They would make some calls, get Chuck situated, and set him up once again as an important man. His choice at that crossroads would make him, instead, a great man.
The call to service is one of the fundamental elements of our national character. It has motivated every great movement of conscience that this hopeful, fair-minded country of ours has ever seen. Sometimes, as Dr. Viktor Frankl observed in a book for the ages, it is not a matter of what we are asking of life, but rather what life is asking of us. How often the answer to our own troubles is to help others with theirs.
In all of these things – faith, family, work, and service –the choices we make as Americans are, in other places, not choices at all. For so many on this earth, life is filled with orders, not options, right down to where they live, the work they do, and how many children the state will permit them to have. All the more reason to be grateful, this and every day, that we live in America, where the talents God gave us may be used in freedom.
At this great Christian institution, you have all learned a thing or two about these gifts and the good purposes they can serve. They are yours to have and yours to share. Sometimes, your Liberty education will set you apart, and always it will help direct your path. And as you now leave, and make for new places near and far, I hope for each one of you that your path will be long and life will be kind.
The ideals that brought you here … the wisdom you gained here … and the friends you found here – may these blessings be with you always, wherever you go.
The agenda for tonight's meeting of the Macon County Commissioners is embedded below. Be advised that this meeting will be truncated to allow Commissioners who are running for re-election to be in the big court room upstairs to watch the election returns live.
I will post the audio and video at the top of this article when I get the chance.
You can follow the returns for the NC Primary via the following links:
Select County Results Macon County Jackson County Haywood County Buncombe County
The only item under consideration for the meeting is the public hearing regarding the 2012 Update to the Ten-Year Solid Waste Management Plan. The commissioners will consider a resolution accepting and endorsing the updated plan immediately following the public hearing, then recess the meeting until May 15th at 6pm.
**update** The story continues to be pushed by the Legacy Media. There has yet (to my knowledge) been an official communication from Chief hicks to the Town of Franklin or Macon County.
Editorial in the Franklin Press:
Franklin residents, if your town asks you serve on a committee, you might want to give it a second thought.
That's the message that emerged from the May 7 meeting of the Franklin Board of Aldermen, with the abolishment of the Nikwasi Mound Committee.
The town had asked several people to serve on this committee. The specific concern that led to its formation was maintenance - the town hoped to find a less labor-intensive solution to caring for the ancient landmark. However, committee members were also encouraged to look at other options to make the mound more attractive and prominent, because of its historical value.
Although town aldermen have since disparaged the committee's work, claiming that it dawdled and didn't reach a conclusion, in fact the members gathered whenever they were asked to do so. They considered a range of options, and they did make recommendations to the town.
Members included representatives of the Historical Society and Cooperative Extension; the editor of this newspaper, the mayor and an alderman (Bob Scott). Other persons having an interest in or knowledge of Cherokee history, landscape design and related fields were invited to various meetings to share their ideas. This could not be said to be a revolutionary guard by any stretch of the imagination; the group's recommendations were conservative and easily accomplished. For example, the committee asked that signage be cleaned up and rock boundary corners replaced. These were maintenance matters; perhaps they should not have required a committee to instigate them. However, the committee made these points, the work was done and the Mound property looks much better as a result.
Source: The Franklin Press "Town to citizens: Just Shut up (title taken from printed version of editorial)
And more from the Smoky Mtn News:
Franklin leaders declined last week to offer a formal apology to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for using weed killer on an ancient Indian mound.
“I don’t think we did anything destructive,” said Franklin Alderman Sissy Pattillo. “And I have a problem with the chief or whoever saying we did something disrespectful. That just bothers me.”
Principal Chief Michell Hicks earlier this month said he was “appalled” by Franklin’s use of a weed killer to denude the mound. Hicks called on the town to formally apologize for what he termed a culturally insensitive action and one that demonstrated a marked lack of respect for the Cherokee people.
Alderman Bob Scott was the lone town leader who wanted to issue an apology. He had drafted a letter to the chief expressing regret for what had taken place, and said that perhaps the dustup could serve as a means of opening new dialog between Franklin and the tribe. His call to send the letter received a lukewarm response from fellow town board members, however. The other aldermen pointed out that they had never been formally asked by the tribe to apologize, but instead the demand for an apology had come only through the media.
“I’ve got a question,” Alderman Farrell Jamison said to Scott at a Franklin town meeting last week. “Was there actually a letter or are we just listening to media stuff? Do you have a copy of a letter?”
The full video of this meeting will appear in a day or so at is.gd/12F0507
Thundertorial
For all the people who 'said' they were upset about the Town of Franklin spraying the Nikwasi Indian Mound with weed killer, not one of them actually cared enough to attend the town meeting where it was on the agenda to add their voice to the discussion to express their concerns or to hear what the town had to say.
If they had, they would have heard the explanation that the grass had to be killed before it was replaced with something else. This is something that anyone with an ounce of common sense would have known. Remember not to believe everything you read in local (or regional) papers. Sometimes, there is an agenda that we may or may not be aware of, or it may simply be an attempt to gin up circulation.
Here is an excerpt of the article they were responding to:
A move by the town of Franklin to spray the ancient Nikwasi Indian Mound with weed killer is not sitting well with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Principal Chief Michell Hicks last week described himself as “appalled” and called on the town to formally apologize for what he termed a culturally insensitive action and one that demonstrated a marked lack of respect for the Cherokee people.
“I’m going to make an issue out of it. I am not a happy camper. I’m not happy at all,” Hicks said in an interview. “I think this is really disrespectful to the tribe.”
Hicks said he plans to talk to both town and county leaders in Macon County.
Due to tomorrow being election day, I don't know if I'll be able to have the video ready tomorrow. It may be a day or two before I can get that done.
The Franklin Town Board of Aldermen will meet tonight at 7pm and I will be there to cover the meeting live via Twitter. You may follow along on the embedded widget below or on Twitter by searching for the Twitter hashtag #MaconGov. I will be simulcasting the meeting on my @WPIG and @ThunderPig accounts.
Of particular interest to me is whether or not the town will issue an apology to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), or ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, for a perceived insult to the tribe by spraying weed killer on the Nikwasi Indian Mound as part of their preparations to plant Lovegrass on the mound so that the costs of maintenance swill be reduced.
I covered the meeting where this was discussed and here is a clip of that discussion:
The complete meeting video is available by clicking here.
I don't see what the fuss is about, but then again, I knew the grass would have to be killed before they put Love Grass or whatever they decide to use to cap the mound. I think that most people didn't have a clue as to what was going on in the Town Board meetings.
Here are a few photos I shot four years ago today (I was prolifically posting them to a photoblog, but it never generated traffic so i closed it down after a few months), followed by links to what I blogged about on that day...the 2008 primary.
Here are some interesting numbers from the NC-11 race four years ago...
A Delta passenger who filmed birds striking his plane over New York City's John F. Kennedy International airport received a scathing letter from the Federal Aviation Administration condemning his use of an electronic during flight takeoff.
Grant Cardone, 54, became a viral hit after posting a video of birds being sucked into the engine of his Los Angeles-bound Delta flight on April 19. The plane was forced to turn back to the airport and landed safely, the New York Post reports.
Soon afterward, Cardone received an official letter from the FAA complaining the video was taken illegally because he used his iPad to film the strike, and use of portable electronic devices is prohibited during "critical" phases of a flight, such as takeoffs. Electronic devices also cannot be used during an in-flight emergency. "Your failure to comply with flight attendant instructions during a critical phase of flight and an aircraft emergency could have affected the safe outcome of the flight," the letter says.
Here is an excerpt of what I posted on Facebook regarding this incident:
I wonder if the Federal Aviation Administration realizes that there are tens of thousands of videos on Youtube documenting every phase of flight? Why are they harassing this guy?
Why pick on this guy and not the others? What makes him different?
Here are other videos of bird strikes, takeoffs and landings. There are also pilots who film their own flights, so what is the big deal about this? The pilots and crew all behaved in a professional manner. I suspect it has more to do with an idiot bureaucrat who needed to intimidate someone to make his (or her) life just a little bit more bearable.
If anything, these videos bring to light the skill and professionalism of the pilots and air traffic controllers and the letter to the passenger who filmed the bird strike reveals a petty and arrogant federal bureaucracy.
The agenda for the May 8, 2012 meeting of the Macon County Commissioners is embedded below. Be advised that this meeting will be truncated to allow Commissioners who are running for re-election to be in the big court room upstairs to watch the election returns live.
The only item under consideration for the meeting is the public hearing regarding the 2012 Update to the Ten-Year Solid Waste Management Plan. The commissioners will consider a resolution accepting and endorsing the updated plan immediately following the public hearing, then recess the meeting until May 15th at 6pm.
Here is the agenda packet for the May 7th meeting of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen. I plan on being there to to cover the meeting that will start at 7pm Monday night. Agenda Packet 050712
The North Carolina General Assembly [link] has convened for the short session. The NC Senate [link] and the NC House [link] are not scheduled to meet today.
I have posted the calendar of scheduled legislative activity along with links to where you can listen online to our state legislators as they go about their tasks. I do not plan on listening or recording today.
Another good source of live and recorded audio of the NC General Assembly is Voter Radio. Check out their website. [link]
If you experience problems listening to the meetings via the links below, try the North Carolina General Assembly website. [link]
9:00 AM
Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government (House)
Personal observation regarding the 800 Mhz VIPER Towers (Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders):
I monitor public safety radio traffic nearly every day and, a few weeks ago on Feb 22nd, I monitored a foot chase by the NC State Highway Patrol conducted (with assistance of deputies from the Macon and Jackson County Sheriff Departments. The troopers were out of radio contact for most of the chase because their radios were useless on the mountainous terrain on Cowee Mountain. They had to rely on the UHF radio communications provided by the sheriff deputies that were with them [link].
800 Mhz may work well on flatland and in the foot hills, but not so much in the mountainous terrain west of the Balsams and in the High Country in northwestern North Carolina.
The North Carolina General Assembly [link] has convened for the short session. The NC Senate [link] and the NC House [link] are not scheduled to meet today.
I have posted the calendar of scheduled legislative activity along with links to where you can listen online to our state legislators as they go about their tasks. I do not plan on listening or recording today.
Another good source of live and recorded audio of the NC General Assembly is Voter Radio. Check out their website. [link]
If you experience problems listening to the meetings via the links below, try the North Carolina General Assembly website. [link]
The North Carolina General Assembly [link] has convened for the short session. The NC Senate [link] and the NC House [link] are not scheduled to meet today.
I have posted the calendar of scheduled legislative activity along with links to where you can listen online to our state legislators as they go about their tasks. I do not plan on listening or recording today.
Another good source of live and recorded audio of the NC General Assembly is Voter Radio. Check out their website. [link]
If you experience problems listening to the meetings via the links below, try the North Carolina General Assembly website. [link]
8:30 AM
Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources (House)
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