Bricks and Boondoggles

My local town purchased an old building to become a new "civic center".  There are only about 6,000 residents in our town, and the majority of those people do not own their homes.  They are property renters, which means that they vote but do not directly pay property taxes to the municipality.  Our town sometimes falls prey to the idea that because something is a nice idea that we must spend taxpayer money on it.  I highly differ.
When it comes to this civic center, it was a boondoggle from the beginning.  It was an old building owned by the American Legion.  Well, the leader of that post is now on our town council.  The woman who was leading the charge to purchase the building and renovate it is also now on the town council.  At least the building was purchased by the town prior to her being elected.
The problem is that we already have a civic center building for public use.  We also have an unused Lion's Club building in town.
The idea was to get private donations to renovate the building.  The building cost the town $60,000 and the renovation to make it usable was going to be $300,000.  Private donations were never going to cover the cost.  So what do fundraising leaders do?  They look to handouts from government grants, of course.  What does an empty building in a rural town have to do with the USDA?  Why are our federal tax dollars funding a civic center in Podunk, NC?  What business is it of taxpayers in Arkansas or California to help fund a boondoggle project in Selma?  The only positive side to this is that it was not a loan, so we are not being taxed on the front end to supply the funding by the federal government and taxed locally on the back end to repay the loan.
Well, the fundraising is not quite over yet.  The town is still taking donations/purchases of bricks to fund the project further.  I have purchased a brick to pave a veterans' memorial before, and they were about one fourth the cost of what the town is asking.  But, IF the town is willing to take my $100 to engrave the brick I want to purchase with the message I want, I am willing to buy one before the upcoming deadline.

Federal "grant money" is still tax payer money

There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers’ money. - Margaret Thatcher

I have long decried the local municipality paradigm of looking to the federal government for a source of funding for every pet project.  Not every single "good idea" or even "nice idea" needs to be funded at the public expense.

I remember one local mayor that was praising a US Congressman for constantly helping get road funding for his little town from the national coffers.  I have a better idea.  Instead of extracting the money from local taxpayers to begin with, why not leave the money in the pockets of the populace so that the local governments can finance their own expenditures?

I am so tired of the mentality that keeps people and lower levels of government dependent upon Washington, DC for their monetary needs and desires.  I have seen this here in my little town of Selma, NC.  For years the town has repeatedly looked to the US Government for loans and grants to fund water, sewer, roads, building renovations, and now even a civic center.  Our town only has about 6,000 residents.  We already have a parks and recreation department, a local Lions Club building that the public can rent, and an entire former school complex that is used as a gymnasium, workout center, meeting place, and can be used for civic events.

An old gymnasium has been re-incarnated as a utility contractor's building and was later given to the local American Legion, who in turn sold it to the town under the guise of building a civic center.  OK, this is a nice idea for our little town, but I sure don't want to spend our tax dollars on it.  The town was already hoodwinked into paying $60,000 for the facility.  Well, that facility needs an additional $300,000 in renovations in order to be usable.  The concept was sold to the town that private fundraising could bring in the money necessary, but a couple of years later, no such thing has happened.

The town has applied for and is waiting on the results of the grant application from the USDA.  The USDA?  Why is the US Department of Agriculture involved in any way, shape, form, or fashion in the funding of a small-town civic center?  Of what importance is this to the topic of agriculture?  For that matter, why has it been the USDA that has been involved in our town's loans for sewer line projects?  I fail to see a single provision in the US Constitution that allows for Congress to make provision for any such program or projects.  Why should someone in Montana be paying tax dollars to help renovate a civic center in Podunk, North Carolina?  I commented on this very project on my TV commentary as far back as 2015.

Whenever a town gets money from the federal government, it is still money extracted from the pockets of taxpayers.  When a town borrows money from the feds, it is even worse.  We have to be taxed to supply the funds lent to the town.  Then we have to pay taxes to the town to repay the loan to the feds at interest, so we get doubly taxed on all such subsidies and loans.  The only good thing about a grant is that we pay the tax money once, not twice.

I, for one, am tired of seeing small towns attempting to suckle off the federal government teat and often settling for the crumbs that fall from Caesar's table, instead.  I am tired of seeing our government run money laundering schemes and overtaxing the citizenry for the sake of retaining power over people and local governments.  I am tired of local politicians agreeing to be beholden to the national pork barrel spending projects that are bleeding us taxpayers dry.  And I am tired of seeing the national government spend money upon projects that are wholly unconstitutional.

My little town providing free public internet?

There are a few issues that I have with the idea that the Town of Selma will be providing free public wi-fi.  First, there is no reason why we have to hire a "consultant" to do this for the town when there are high-speed network providers that can do the job right here already.  Furthermore, one of these same providers already does networks like this, and I use their services regularly to connect to computers and networks hundreds of miles away.  I have my company computer on this very desk connected 24/7 to do the very thing that the town is spending almost $60k to do.  This can be done for far less money.  Next, I have a problem with providing wifi hotspots at public expense, especially "the public would be able to have free Wi-Fi service up to two blocks away from all 10 public buildings".  Some of these buildings are near residential housing and businesses. That means that I will be subsidizing tenants, homeowners, and business owners with free internet while my neighbors have to pay full price for theirs.  With internet providers abound and mobile data plans in plentiful supply at reasonable prices (even free if you know where to look), why are we taxpayers funding internet for private citizens and businesses?  It is one thing if private businesses wish to provide free wifi as a way to attract, keep, and placate customers.  Different data carriers even provide free hotspots around the country for their own customers.  But a town government should not be giving away that for which we who fund the town have to pay.

A letter to the editor of The Selma News

I don't know if this will get published or not, but I sent this letter to the editor of The Selma News just a bit ago.  The newspaper rarely publishes their news articles online except for a few here or there, so the article to which I refer is not available to share online or I would do so.
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Just five days before our election last week, Donald Trump came to Johnston County to speak locally at The Farm for a campaign rally.  This rally drew approximately 17, 500 people according to Sheriff Steve Bizzell.  I am not personally a fan of Mr. Trump, but considering that it was being held only three miles up the road and I wanted my son to experience the political process, I took him and my wife to the event.  I still remember back to my youth when I went to a Ted Kennedy speech in my home town back in 1980 when he ran for President.  I carry that memory thirty-six years later.

While at the event, we noticed emergency services presence from different towns, most notably the Four Oaks Fire Department supplied a ladder truck that bore the American flag.  We saw other departments that had staff and equipment on site, but did not notice any from Selma.  Considering that the event was in our backyard, so to speak, I expected to see our town's presence if emergency responders were going to be on hand.  I can tell you that EMS workers were kept busy from people fainting after being on their feet all day and not eating any meals all day long.  Between old age, health conditions, and diabetes, we saw three people just in our immediate area that needed assistance.

I mentioned that we noticed the Four Oaks ladder truck being there prominently displayed.  I obtained some insight on my own after the rally and read some confirmation of what I learned in “The Selma News” article last week about our town manager vetoing the presence of our fire department at the rally for fear of showing favor to one political party over the other.  If only the candidate from one party decided to come to our town, how is that showing any favoritism?  This politically correct myopic fear wears thin on the patience of many people, as evidenced by the outcome of the election.

Look, Hillary Clinton could have had a rally locally if she wanted but she ignored little old Johnston County, and probably for good reason.  She could probably have filled the local theater with supporters and had some room to spare.  Personally, she would have had to get John Bon Jovi to perform here in Selma to get me to come see her rally.  I wasn’t willing to travel just as far as Raleigh to see Bon Jovi at a Clinton event, even if I did grow up listening to his music, still own some of his CDs, and still like his iconic tunes.

But if it was Clinton having a rally in town, I would not allow my disdain for her as a person and candidate veto our town's visibility in our American process or at a local event.  As I said, I am no fan of Donald Trump myself.  He was never my candidate from the beginning, I vehemently disagree with some of his positions, and I am embarrassed as an American by some of his statements.  But, I am even more embarrassed as a US citizen by what Mrs. Clinton has actually done.  Still, I would not let that stand in the way of our town being represented at a local event that she was holding.

Our little town missed an opportunity for visibility and good public relations with this event.

Troy LaPlante
Selma, NC

Wanting special treatment by my town

The very notion that someone wants to be treated differently than the rest of the community irritates the snot out of me. This arrogant individual was practically a tyrant as mayor, and I had to suffer through his tenure. His brash attitude brought shame to my community. I do not disparage the good that he did in our town. Yes, he has developed properties here and in other areas. Yes, he served on our planning board with a questionable history thereon, and did do some good things as mayor. When he did good, I publicly praised him. When he did wrong, I criticized his public performance. However, to whine to our town council that he should be treated any differently than every other citizen in town is sheer hubris. If he is in violation of local ordinance, then there is a prescribed course of action necessary. Every citizen deserves equal treatment under the law. This man got equal treatment under the law and complained about it openly in a public forum, demanding special treatment. Sure, he did a lot of development, but he will probably never admit is that he founded his business with the help of our tax dollars. He ran the business successfully for years, but recently went through bankruptcy, and one way or another, that will most likely indirectly be at our expense. He violated state regulations in some of his developments (I know, having reported them and spoken with enforcement agents) and never remedied them. It was not until his property right down the street from here was purchased after bankruptcy that it got developed. It sat as an eye sore for a couple of years. The bottom line is that this man demanded publicly for an entitlement and a consideration that no other citizen in this town gets. I don't care if he was a former POTUS or my uncle. He deserves treatment that is fair and identical to everyone else in town. To complain about that is petty and is the very attitude that got us Congressmen that feel entitled to special treatment. Nope. Equal treatment under the law. If I don't cut my grass, I will get the same enforcement letter he got. That is the way it should be. Boo-frickity-hoo.

Voting irregularity found today in Selma, NC

I shared this on Facebook earlier.  Yeah, I know that I have not been blogging like I should be, but I actually do share a whole lot of stuff on Facebook, instead.  It is a lot easier to just share there.

VOTING IRREGULARITY: I was voter #73 in my precinct this morning. My wife voted about an hour or 90 minutes before I did. She said that the person in front of her to place their ballot in the voting machine had their ballot show an error upon scanning. The same happened to her when she put her ballot in the machine. When I got to vote and went to put my ballot in the machine it was rejected not once but twice. I was told that they would have to hand count the ballot after two rejections and my ballot had to be put in a separate bin. If we have at least three different errors out of 73 as of the time I voted, something is definitely amiss.

ADDENDUM:
Here are some comments that were left on my Facebook post.  I have blurred out the names and some of the profile pictures since I don't have permission to share that info.

FURTHER ADDENDUM:

I watched the election results come in last night.  My wife and I checked both the local county races and some more state wide races.  We were on the county web site and sites from some local media outlets watching the results trickle in.  I finally saw our local precinct results post.  It is possible that my ballot was indeed counted.  

YET ANOTHER ADDENDUM:

Someone I know was a precinct official and was present when I tried to cast my ballot.  He was the one that registered me in the system in order to vote upon arrival.  He is also a friend on Facebook, saw my post, and commented the following:

Will a humongo new shopping center be coming to Selma?

I have heard for almost two years about a possible new large shopping center coming to town at exit 97 and Hwy 70 near JR's. Originally, the story was that a Home Depot and maybe a Target were coming. Recently, I have heard more rumors. Now there is a formal news story on the subject in The Selma News. The developer presented before the Selma Town Council on Wednesday. By the way, I am not so much in favor of constant special meetings of the town council as a matter of public policy, but that is beside the point.

The developer mentioned possible tenants as Target, Bass Pro Shop, Cabellas, JC Penney, and IKEA, along with up-scale restaurants and motels. Keep in mind that these are just suggested POSSIBILITIES. I am all for such a development, so don't get me wrong. However, keep in mind at this point, the developer is selling the idea and soliciting getting $15 million or so in reimbursements from the town for infrastructure improvements. I am not for corporate welfare programs. I am, however, for the town paying for bringing needed utilities to customers and helping with roads that benefit the town, not just the developer.

Personally, I am dubious over the claim of a Cabella's. I would LOVE to have a Cabella's. However, one already was proposed for Four Oaks and that project crashed and burned. Cabella's announced that they were going to put one in to Richmond, VA and figured that one here would be too close. I find that claim fallacious, but whatever. Just look at the map of their existing locations on their web site (the link I gave). I am not going to drive three hours to go to a Cabella's. If they reconsider because of a better location, highway access, and other development, then hallelujah. I would be thrilled with a Bass Pro Shops, as well.

Anyway, this development would certainly be good for the town for several reasons. First, the developer wants to be voluntarily annexed. Great. They would bring a lot of revenue for electricity and water, if they were to become Selma utility customers. The tax revenue would be wonderful. Other development would certainly come as a result, as well as possible residents.

It will certainly be interesting to see what "develops" in this situation. I am all for development of fallow ground and expanding this area. I am dubious as to the claims that "as much as $500 million in sales tax is leaving the county each year to go to Wake, Wayne, Wilson and Nash counties." That sounds like an excessively high estimate. It is part of the sales pitch.

I do agree with this quote, though.

Dougherty added that Selma is unique in the county in that it is ideally situated to host such a regional complex. He cited I-95 and US 70 and major thoroughfares. He said Exit 98 is excellent for such a complex because it has great access. "There’s no other city right on the an interchange like this," said the developer, who has had an office in Selma for the past two years.

Troy's note: Exit 98 must be a typo, since 98 is the next exit up the interstate and is not the JR's exit. That is exit 97. Access on and off 98 sucks and is difficult, and it could not support the heavy traffic that would come from such a complex. Exit 97 could. If it is not a typo and a direct quote, then it must have been a faux pas.

Either way, I am looking forward to seeing the addition to the town.

Welkum too edukashun n da Yoonited Statz uv Amerika

When the Selma Elementary School instituted a dress code, I pretty much supported the idea. Even when I was in elementary and high school, there was an expectation of appropriate attire. As I look back at old school pictures, I marvel at the clothes we wore, although they were not as risque as outfits often are today. They were funky looking clothes, but it was, after all, the 1970's. I still chide my mother for dressing me in such weird clothes whenever we look over a photo album together. In high school, I grew up in an area where flannel button shirts, blue jeans, and work boots were normal attire for a large portion of the school year. We wore Buck knives in leather holsters on our hips (just like in "The Dukes of Hazzard") to school every day and never thought anything of it, nor did the school administrators. A Buck knife was seen as a necessary tool, not a weapon. Anyway, rabbit trail aside, I supported the school dress code until recently.

As I had written previously, I have been active in the life of a boy who is now five and about to enter kindergarten. In a couple of months, this boy will become my step-son, so I have an active interest in his success at school and getting him prepared for it. His grandmother took him shopping for some clothes, but you don't generally find school uniforms at Macy's. I took him and his mother to Target last weekend to buy the requisite school clothes and supplies we would need. After all, the school system was kind enough to post the uniform code and school supply list on the internet for us to find (after hunting down the information by surfing a while).

Like I said, I was all for a school dress code. I believe in modest apparel. What I found, however, was that clothes that should be perfectly acceptable by public standards are not necessarily so for school uniforms. The real trick was finding clothing for winter while still in August, of which we found nothing but a few pairs of pants that met the criteria. We did find some polo or golf type shirts. The real problem was finding them in solid colors with no brand logo on them, and in the appropriate size 5. The boy already had some nice, appropriate shirts in his closet, but they had stripes and a Polo logo. Those shirts are plenty nice for church, but not for sending a tot to kindergarten, apparently. We can buy solid shirts in orange, red, blue, purple, black, white, or whatever color we want, but they can not have logos, pockets, or stripes. If the school REALLY was shooting for a school uniform, one style of shirt of one color should be required, but I digress.

For pants, a good looking pair of corduroys or nice, new blue jeans are taboo. Wow, that would have shot my whole school career attire down, except for the bell bottom hound's tooth or plaid pants my mother used to buy me, along with white patent leather belt. I do find the requirement for cotton twill only to be a bit excessive. We are talking about 5 to 10 year olds, not teenagers. For kindergarteners, we are talking about children who just recently learned to wipe themselves after using the bathroom, may have just learned to tie their shoes, and have recently gotten used to the use of forks. They may still often use "sippy cups". Maybe my future step-son is the "Messy Marvin" of his day (wow, that is dating me a bit), but there is extensive clean up after each meal. He play rough with me, his toys, and my dog, so I am dubious about not putting the lad in denim to go to school.

I am not disturbed so much by the cost of adhering to the dress code, though. I would have to buy him new clothes anyway, since he has grown like a weed just since I first got to know him late last year. We did find some $5 polo shirts and $10 pants. It was the exclusivity without adherence to a true uniform standard that sort of annoyed me.

Here is what DID annoy me...the school supply list. Parents are expected to purchase an entire shopping list of materials and simply turn them over to the school at the time of a parental conference. We are expected to furnish brand name crayons, markers, scissors, baby wipes, paper towels, hand sanitizer, Ziploc bags, tissues, dry erase markers, napkins, highlighter markers, index cards, and more. We are not supposed to put the child's name on anything except his change of clothes and his book bag.

I am sorry, but the last time I looked, we still live in America, not the former USSR. Furthermore, I just got my Johnston County property tax bill this week and I am wondering why I am paying all that money in taxes, the school system keeps asking for more money, we constantly are having school bond referendums, and I am being asked to supply basic classroom materials. Does the school not have a janitor? Do they not have cases of paper towels somewhere in that building? Are the teachers not supplied with dry erase markers to write on their boards? Chalk was used in my day, right through college and that worked fine, but I can understand using dry erase boards now. But still, the school system, with all the millions of dollars we are paying in taxes for their operation, should be furnishing something as basic as paper towels. If the school can not afford the materials, I am sure we can afford enough dry erase markers for the entire school system by cutting Superintendent Parker's salary to a reasonable level for what he does for a living. I will do the same job only better for half of what he makes. That is an official offer to the Johnston County Board of Education, by the way. If not that, then one less assistant principal at the elementary school would furnish all the paper towels we would ever need.

Why I mention the USSR is that by confiscating the materials that we are furnishing for the classroom as a whole, we are teaching communism. When I was in kindergarten, all I had to show up with was my daily lunch and/or snack. The rest was taken care of by the school system, which was much smaller than that of Johnston County with a much smaller budget and much older facilities. Furthermore, we learned. We did not have issues in which we did not pass mandates for performance. As a matter of fact, the state where I grew up used to consistently score in the top of the national SAT averages while having the lowest per capita state expenditure per student for education in the country. Thus, I know that education is not a matter of dollars and materials can be furnished for said education.

Sure, when I got older, I had to furnish my own book covers, but an old paper bag from a shopping trip to the A&P did fine. I furnished my own notebooks eventually, but they were MY notebooks for my use alone. By taking the crayons that I purchase and pooling them with that of others, we are employing a communist system. I was told by the office staff that 60% of the students at Selma Elementary are Hispanic and from families in which English is not the primary language. If Jose and Maria can not afford to buy a 27 cent box of Crayolas, that is their problem. It is not my responsibility to furnish their children with crayons, markers, glue, and paper towels. I bought the crayons, so I know how much they cost. I bought my boy some pencils with his name on them some time ago. I surmise that he will not be able to use them at school, since not all children are so named. We are supposed to protect the self esteem of some illegal immigrant children or even some poor family's kids by furnishing them with Crayolas? All this redistribution of school supply wealth has got to be all one big joke, right? That is liberal academia social engineering with lower educational results for you.

First, I am ticked that the schools are not furnishing these supplies after we are constantly being asked to "pony up" an ever increasing amount of tax dollars for their operation. Then I am extremely annoyed that our children are being taught communisitic principles for politically correct reasons. If you can not afford a trip to Wal-Mart or the dollar store for your child to bring his/her own supplies and not take from others, then I suggest that you forgo that next DVD purchase, 12 pack of beer, tattoo addition, or carton of cigarettes and buy some 22 cent glue sticks and crayons (at least the non big named crayons were 22 cents, but the school specifically requested the five cent higher Crayola brand). Better yet, let the school system slash its over bloated bureaucracy and maybe we could afford to buy the needed supplies instead of double taxing us by demanding a grocery list of supplies before the first day of school. It gets better, though. We were informed that we will be furnished an additional supply list later. Doggone communists of academia. I miss America.

This is just wrong. Charged for protecting your property?

When your dog is being attacked by another dog, one should have the right to exercise lethal force to protect one's own property and friend. If I am walking my dog or I have my dog in my back yard and a vicious dog attacks either myself or my dog, I am going to use whatever force is necessary to protect my dog. If that means shooting the attacking dog, so be it. In protecting my own dog by shooting the attacker, there is no way under all fairness and common sense that I should be charged with animal cruelty. Allowing the attack on my dog would be animal cruelty, not defending my canine companion and property. This would be a JUSTIFIED use of a firearm in the judgment of any rational, fair minded individual.

The following news story was on WTSB's news page today. It is just wrong to charge this man with discharging a firearm in the city limits (which is a BS ordinance to begin with) and animal cruelty. This is NOT justice. It is just plain wrong.

Owner, Neighbor Charged Following Dog's Death
Two Selma neighbors are in trouble with authorities following the shooting death of a canine. It happened Monday night on Godwin Street. Selma Police reported William Lynn Godwin, 32, shot and killed his neighbor’s dog, reportedly while trying to defend his own animal. Godwin was charged with cruelty to animals and discharging a firearm within town limits. The dog’s owner, Kevin Campbell, was cited for violating a town ordinance of allowing his dog to run at large.

Congratulations on the story, Lewis. You deserve it. Finally, someone recognizes your efforts.

From The Selma News:

Local man uses hobbies to promote Selma
By Kelly Lake, News Editor 17.JUL.08

While his career brought Lewis Mullen to Selma, it was a love of the place that kept him here. Since his retirement, he’s made hobbies of photography and web design and uses them daily to promote the town he calls home.

Mullen relocated to Selma 41 years ago when Sylvania opened in Smithfield. He had previously worked with GE Communications in Lynchburg, VA, where he lived with his wife Marian. He spent many years with Sylvania as an engineer, designing test equipment to be used to test television sets before they were sold.

During that time Mullen and his wife had two children, Teresa and Robert. When the company looked at moving to Tennessee, Mullen took his family for a visit. He was told that in order to keep his job he would have to relocate along with the company.

“He took a vote and decided to stay in Selma and take our chance,” said Mullen. “When we moved here, I figured it was just another move, but once we got here, it was hard to leave. It’s home to me. I love my hometown.”

Mullen has made it his business, his passion even, to promote Selma in any way he can. At age 74, Mullen maintains countless web sites promoting the Selma community, business district, antique dealers, and civic groups, along with his own photography. Many of his photos are taken in a around Selma.

He got his first camera in Korea in 1953, where he was stationed in an aviation engineering group as a member of the United States Army and attached to the Air Force. The group helped to build an air strip there. Mullen used his “pull” with the group of pilots to fly over Korea and snap numerous photos. Many were lost when a bag containing most of pictures and negatives was stolen as he returned home.

Today, he promotes Selma everyday through his photographs. He bought a book of web design and designed a site so he could showcase his photography. He has more than 60,000 photographs archived on CD, about 10,000 of those from Selma. The photos were given to The Heritage Center in Smithfield for public use, said Mullen. Now he posts photos of the area on Selma Daily Photo. There are about 300 towns showcased on the site worldwide. “It’s a good way of promoting Selma, one of the smallest towns on the site,” said Mullen. “I get comment from around the world on my photographs.” Once he set up his own site, Mullen decided to offer his services to others, nearly free of charge. Most of the people he has designed sites for pay a small monthly hosting fee. Mullen’s time and efforts are free. He maintains a site to promote Selma Railroad Days, the Selma Car Classic, and Selma’s East Coast Antique Show.

As a member of the Selma Development Partnership (SDP), he created the web site selmanc.info. The SDP sponsors the site and Mullen maintains it. Through this site, which provides an abundance of information about Selma, Mullen offers links to business people who are also members of the SDP. “If they don’t have a web page to link, I’ll create one for them,” said Mullen. “Over the past five years, I’ve built web sites for our antique dealers. I still maintain two for Railroad Street Antiques and TWM’s Antique Mall.” He created the web site antiquesselma.com for the Selma Antique Dealers Association and continues to maintain it. “It is a way to promote antiques in Selma and the site gets a lot of hits,” said Mullen. He said his hobbies give him something to do – he “hates” retirement. “To be honest, I don’t know if I do it for Selma or for myself,” said Mullen.

Just before the All-American Festival in Selma to celebrate July Fourth, Mullen posted a fireworks photo from last year on selmanc.info. For several weeks it was the top fireworks photo displayed when people search Google for fireworks. The site received about 7,000 hits a day. “Those people now know something about Selma for having visited the web site,” said Mullen. Mullen also designed and maintains a web site for the Keep Johnston County Beautiful Festival of Trees. He donated numerous prints to the SDP this year to be sold to raise funds for the non-profit organization.

As a member of Selma’s Appearance Commission, Mullen helped choose recipients of the residential and commercial appearance awards. He took photos of each winner and provided them to the local newspaper for publication. He still can be found at nearly all events in town, snapping photos to preserve the moment. While on the Appearance Commission, Mullen came up with the idea to provide planter, complete with flowers, for each storefront in the uptown area. He personally planted flowers in each. Although some no longer contain flowers, the planter can still be seen on Selma streets.

Mullen more recently has posted several videos on YouTube and other various sites that promote Selma in a positive way. He frowns on those who would post video showing Selma in a negative light. “There is a lot on YouTube that people, especially children, shouldn’t see, but the site has a lot of potential,” said Mullen. “I believe technology should be used in a positive way, not in a negative one.” Mullen also has videos on Time Warner Cable’s public access channel 1233, which promote Selma.

“Selma has gotten a lot of positive worldwide exposure with its fireworks this year,” said Mullen. “I sent three to CNN ad three made it on television. The fireworks photos made it into our local paper and were featured on several web sites.” Mullen said he enjoys doing what he does and hopes that the town benefits from it. “I love taking pictures and showing them off,” said Mullen. “And, I love Selma and enjoy doing whatever I can to show it in a positive light.”

It took a while for the local radio station to report it, but here it is

I have written a few times about Selma's tax rate going up. Here is what WTSB reported today.

Selma Tax Rate Jumps 4 Cents
Selma residents will be paying higher property taxes under a budget approved by the town council last week. The $15.4 million spending plan includes a 4 cents property tax increase from 49 to 53 cents per $100 valuation. This means, for a resident with a $100,000 house, they will be paying about $40 more a year in property taxes. Residents will likely be faced with an increase in electrical rates during the next year. Town employees will see a five percent pay increase.

Thoughts on property tax rate hikes

I have been in touch with my elected town officials regarding the proposed budget for Selma. The vote on the budget is today. I highly recommend all citizens getting active enough in their community to take part in their town, as well as county, state, and federal governments. Contact your elected representatives when you have concerns, questions, and comments. It is how you learn and make your voice heard.

I am going to give credit where credit is due. I have always had great interaction with Eric Sellers, who was appointed to fill an open slot on the town council and then beat me last election for that seat. My personal opinions aside as to how he was appointed to the position in his first, partial term, I must say that overall, I have been pleased with how he approaches his job as a council member. Eric has always been pleasant and responsive in my dealings and communications with him. Thank you, Eric, your efforts are appreciated by me if not by anyone else.

I am not going to share my entire conversation with him here, but I did share what I had written previously on this very blog. What I do want to share is some research I did. I have written previously about my best frame of reference, the town where I grew up. I was fairly involved for a teenager in town affairs. I was a stringer reporter for the local radio station, I was involved with youth government programs every year in school, I knew the town manager, and I was in the fire department's youth program. If you search my archives, you may see that I reference Franklin, New Hampshire from time to time. That is my point of reference, since the town is almost comparable to Selma.

I called and spoke to Franklin's town assessor's office after reading the tax rate on their web site. I inquired as to what the tax rate included, and she clued me in that this was the total property tax burden on real estate for all state, county, and town taxation. I ran some numbers. I emailed the following to my town council member.

I wanted to share a bit of info with you regarding tax rates. I grew up in a town about the size of Selma in population. They are now not far off from us, about 8,000 people now. I was researching the tax rate in the town. That town has a property tax rate of $18.04 per thousand valuation. That includes the share for the state and the county as well as the town. I was crunching some numbers. Assuming that my house was suddenly transplanted into that town and had the same tax value of $80,840 (according to the Johnston County appraisal card available online on the county web site), my taxes in NH would be $1458.35 per year. Here in Selma, the taxes are $1.27 per hundred valuation. The equates to $1026.67. You may think that hey, the Selma taxes are a lot less, $431.68 per year less. However, once you take into consideration the fact that in my example, NH has NO state income and NO state sales tax, you can see the disparity in effective tax rates. Do I pay more than $431 in income and sales tax each year? You better believe it. Sure, my home would be higher in appraised tax value in NH, but for the sake of comparison, I am comparing dollar value to same dollar value. That is the inherent evil in property taxation (the ethics of property taxation is a whole discussion for a whole other time). In raising 4 cents, my property taxes would only go up $32.33 per year for Selma. I personally will never miss that money. I spend that on two people at Edelweiss for dinner. However, it is the principle of the thing. When does it stop?

I have known for a long time that we in NC were getting hosed on taxes.

Yet another tax increase coming to Selma

I am going to make this simple. All Selma residents need to remember that if this next tax increase passes, Charles Hester, Jackie Lacy, and Debbie Johnson, 3/5 of the Selma Town Council, have been the ones who have been in office and brought us a nine cents per thousand valuation property tax increase. Their terms of office do not expire until a year from November or so. At least that is the next municipal election. We got a five cent increase two years ago. We are getting another four cent increase this year.

We found out that there are some things we can do without in this town. We found that we can exist sufficiently without some staffing positions. We found that we can cut budgets with no significant change in how the town does business.

I do not mind working to restore some pay increases and retirement benefits for town employees. However, the proposed 5% cost of living increase is far above the average for business, let alone government. When facing a budget shortfall at home, I simply cut spending. I had this discussion with a retiree just yesterday. He argued that we needed the increased taxes, yet at the same time said that in his fixed income situation that he has to cut his spending when the price of things go up. Well, duh! It is no different for government. Rather than reach into my pocket and increase my mortgage cost through higher escrow payments to cover increased taxation, the town simply needs to cut its proposed budget.

Every year, the Johnston County Council on Aging asks for town money. They do a good work, and I personally like Donna Creech. However, during a budget shortfall, I find it inappropriate to ask taxpayers for more money and then give it away. Only about 40% of the residents in this town are taxpayers, since about 60% of the residents are renters. Sure, there are landlords that pay property taxes, but the 60% have no real stake in our tax rate since it is built into their rent fees.

I have read the budget ordinance. It is still not a complete budget. I want to see MORE than a two page summary. If the town hall staff can print out a full line item budget, they can print it into a pdf file and make it available online as well.

Several months ago, Stan Farmer was boasting about how far ahead we were as a town in our revenues versus expenditures. Now we are facing a revenue versus expenditure shortfall? How do we go from a 3/4 of a million dollar surplus to needing another tax increase?

I could not care less what other town are paying in Johnston County. That argument is being used, i.e., that Selma has a lower tax rate than most towns in the county. What pisses me off is that NC is one of the higher taxed states around. We pay property tax on real estate, property tax on automobiles, vehicle registration, sales tax, state income tax, county property tax, federal income tax, excise taxes and fees, federal income tax, and the list goes on. I was told how much cheaper it was to live in North Carolina compared to New England when I was looking to possibly relocate here 20 years ago this summer. What a lie. And it is only getting worse.

Here is The Selma News article.

Property tax increase of 4 cents likely for Selma
By Rick Stewart, Publisher

Working feverishly right up to Tuesday night’s public hearing on the town of Selma’s proposed 2008-09 budget, town officials recommended a four cents tax increase and a $2 per month garbage collection fee hike.

It also appears likely that electrical rates will go up during the next fiscal year, said Town Manager C. L. Gobble, but he said until the town is given the new rate it cannot be passed along to the town’s electric customers.

Following a public hearing Tuesday night at which only Donna Creech, executive director of the Johnston County Council on Aging spoke, Town Council members voted to delay adopting the budget until next Thursday at 4 p.m.

Because the actual numbers in the budget were not publicly known until Tuesday night, Council decided to delay adoption to give Selma residents a chance to talk with Council members about the tax increase or any other items in the budget.
The budget adds a full-time planner to the town’s staff and adds the position of deputy town clerk to the budget. It also adds two new trucks in the electrical department and two new police cars.

Following up on the recommendation of the town’s strategic planning committee, the budget contains $8,000 funding to revitalize the town’s appearance committee.
Council members, meeting one-on-one Monday with Gobble, stressed to him, said Gobble, that they wanted to bring pay ranges back up to a higher level after two years of small or no pay increases.

With that in mind, Gobble presented a budget with a five percent across the board cost of living increase for all employees and a three percent town contribution to employees’ retirement program.

“It is imperative that the Town keep its pay plan up to day and stay competitive in the market place,” Gobble said in his budget message to Council.

The property tax rate will increase from 49 cents per $100 valuation to 53 cents per $100 valuation. The new fees and rates will go into effect on July 1 if Council approves the budget next Thursday.

A $2 increase in garbage collection I can comprehend, since the cost of fuel is increasing and I am sure that our contracted garbage collection company is passing some cost onto the customer, meaning the Town of Selma. Still, $18 a month for trash collection does almost seem high. I will compare with private contracted services that my friends in the country use for a point of reference.

One pitfall of being a town utility customer is that Electricities is a wholesale customer, not a retail customer of Progress Energy. Therefore, Progress Energy does not need a Public Utilities Commission (or whatever NC calls their regulatory agency) approval for a rate hike. That rate hike hits us whenever Progress Energy decides to make it happen, whereas direct retail customer rate hikes require agency approval. Thus, we get hit when the town gets hit and we already pay higher rates by the time the general public gets an increase.

We are getting hosed with a property tax increase, then will be paying a trash collection fee increase, and then get hit with a utility rate hike. There are many things about Selma that make me want to relocate. The same with North Carolina, for that matter.

Here is the blurb from WTSB's web site.

Selma Town Council Considering Raising Property Taxes
Selma residents could be paying higher property taxes. The town council is considering raising taxes 4 cents to balance their 2008-09 fiscal year budget. Residents could also pay higher electrical rates and garbage collection fees. The council could approve the budget when they meet again on June 26. The spending plan does include a 5 percent cost of living increase for employees. If the tax hike is approved, the property tax rate would go from 49 to 53 cents per $100 valuation.

I don't know if ALL positions are needed, but I would like to know more

I was reading an article about the special town council meeting last week in which the town of Selma is looking to add back some of the positions it cut under the budget crunch two years ago. I can understand that when things are better financially, we can then contemplate hiring back staff. I have no problem with that concept. I do not have sufficient information to complete my opinion, however. I am not convinced yet that we would need to hire a complete planning department for a town of only 3.5 square miles. I am also not convinced that we need three part time positions in the fire department, either. I would have to get more information and justification from the chief before taking a decision as to my opinion on the matter. There was a huge opposition to hiring a full time chief, but I was in support of the idea and think that the department and the town are better off as a result. I do not know, however, if we need the part time slots or not. I look forward to reading more on the subject.

The Selma Strategic Plan

I have not read the entire document, but The Selma News has published the newly released Strategic Plan. The plan was printed in its entirety in this last print edition of The Selma News. I have not read the entire document yet, but shall. I will most likely do a column or two of my commentary on said plan. Read the linked page for the article on the plan and the pdf file of the report itself.

It is good to see someone like Cheryl Oliver working on the plan for one reason to which I am sure that some others may be oblivious. I do not mean this in an insulting manner, but Cheryl was "dumb as a brick" on town matters when she ran for town council. She was obviously ignorant of a lot of things facing the town when we were interviewed by The Smithfield Herald during election season. I was dumb as a brick before I made a conscious decision to become informed and get involved several years back, myself. I use that expression often, noting that I expect people to be dumb as a brick before becoming educated on different topics or fields of study. I am hoping that this effort has been good for Cheryl to become autodidactic. I have liked some of her perspectives on a few things and how she seems to want to learn all she can to perform her duties as town councilor with an informed opinion. I am glad to see that. I only wish others would do the same.

I wonder if we will ever see this concept again in Selma

I am a firm believer in the idea that with any budget much larger than the average household, there is wasteful spending. I find areas that I could trim in my own spending. When it comes to government, I find it especially true. I have seen wasteful spending in corporate America as well as in government.

What I find interesting is how budgets are handled in different locations. I found a news article about the town where my mother resides, Bow, NH. The town had a meeting and they actually trimmed the town budget by $400,000. Bow is about the same size as Selma. There is about a $50,000 median income difference between the two towns, however.

Anyway, here is an excerpt from the article.

Bow finally took care of business last night, as residents gathered to finish voting on the annual town meeting warrant. Last night's meeting was a continuation from two weeks ago, when long debate over the annual budget delayed action on the rest of the warrant.

At that meeting, residents voted to trim the proposed budget by about $400,000, from $8.3 million to $7.9 million. Last night's meeting held little such drama, with the votes moving along efficiently and swiftly.

In Bow, the town residents are much more involved in the town decision taking than here in Selma. Perhaps that is why they were able to cut the budget so much. Food for thought.

The town where I live

The real reason the town manager is leaving Selma

From The Selma News:

Selma Town Manager Stan Farmer turned in his resignation to Town Council Monday night.

Farmer, manager for the past two years, is headed to Horseshoe Bay, Texas, to take over as town manager. He will leave in about three weeks, said Mayor Charles Hester.

Stan Farmer was quoted as saying, "I saw the handwriting on the wall here in Selma, so to speak. Combine that with the fact that I don't want to be in a town where they don't elect people like Troy to the town council and it was an easy decision for me to seek employment elsewhere."

Good luck with the new job, Stan.

This is not a new idea. Why did it take so long for Selma to figure this out?

Many fire departments use their horn or siren system for regular tests, warnings, and alert systems. I remember the department in which I was a part had fire alarm pull boxes connected to a huge air horn that could be heard all through town and one could look on a published list what pull station was activated. Also, if school was canceled or a major conflagration was going on, the fire department's horn could alert the town. Now, Selma is just getting on board with this concept. Better late than never, I guess. And it only took WTSB two weeks to report this.

From the WTSB news site:

Town Of Selma Unveils New Tornado Warning System
The Town of Selma has a new tornado warning system that may be the first of its kind in Johnston County. The Selma Town Council recently approved a proposal by Fire Chief Phillip McDaniel to use the fire department’s old siren as a warning whistle to sound when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for the area. McDaniel said other parts of the United States, particularly the Midwest, use sirens as warnings for severe weather. McDaniel said the siren would only sound if weather officials have issued a tornado warning. McDaniel said the siren would blow three times in the event of a weather emergency. To get Selma residents accustomed to the sound, the siren, located atop the Selma Fire Station, will be tested each Friday at noon. McDaniel said the siren could be heard for a three-mile radius. “When you hear it, turn on your TV or radio to get more information,” Chief McDaniel said in the event of an emergency.

Targetting Selma?

I have heard the rumor that Selma may get a Target store for a while. I finally see an article in the Smithfield Herald saying it could happen. I find it amusing that the article says that what Selma has going against it is that there is a Target in White Oak in Garner. I was in White Oak just last night. That is 20 miles away. It is odd that a new Target and PetSmart were built in White Oak, when there were already stores just a few miles up the same road on Hwy 70 in Garner, which are at Timber Drive and 70. Why, then, would it be so odd to put one a full 20 miles away? Personally, I would shop at a Target a lot more if there was one local to me. Wal-Mart adds stores, and built one in Clayton while we already have one in Smithfield. Another one is coming in Clayton, as well. Go figure.

Selma could get Target

By Jordan Cooke, Staff Reporter
Selma — A developer is trying to lure retailer Target to Selma.

Frank Wood, an attorney representing AdVenture Development LLC, said Wednesday that his client had talked with Target about anchoring Eastfield Commons, a proposed mixed-use development that could encompass more than 100 acres.

"My client has been in discussions with Target," Wood said. "But they [Target] have some issues because they have another store in the area at the White Oak shopping center [in Garner]. So right now, I couldn’t really say what the odds of them coming would be."

Wood said AdVenture had talked with roughly two-dozen companies so far about locating in Eastfield Commons.

Wood said the mixed-use development could be built near the Holiday Inn Express on the westbound side of U.S. 70. A news release issued late last year by a Raleigh public relations firm said Eastfield Commons would include 750,000 square feet of retail space, a medical and professional office park, an assisted-living facility, hotels, restaurants and housing. The news release said Eastfield Commons would be "the largest single project ever built in Selma.'

Wood said AdVenture is still in the process of buying land. So far, he said, his client has purchased about 50 acres. "And we've got at least an equal amount under contract, if not more," he added.

Kevin Dougherty of AdVenture said he was confident Selma would be ready for a project of Eastfield’s size. "We chose this site because it is an ideal location," he said in the news release. "With its central location, Eastfield Commons will draw people from as far away as 100 miles. We see this development as a core asset for Eastern North Carolina."

Wood said AdVenture might break ground on Eastfield Commons within the next two or three months. He said the project could take seven to 10 years to complete.

"If they can pull it off, this could be really great for Selma," Wood said.