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.

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.

Who should be the one lynched, Mayor Hester? Keep that up then look in the mirror.

I was at the meeting. My audio recording started in the middle of the comment. Somebody else got the comment on video. NBC17 is carrying the story on their web site. Don't blame me, I voted for William Overby.

SELMA, N.C. - Some residents in Selma attended a public hearing, not expecting to hear Mayor Charles Hester begin the meeting with offensive remarks, resident Tony Tetterton told NBC17 in an email.

The comments were recorded on video.

City leaders held a public hearing to discuss the rezoning of a tract of land for industrial use for a proposed ethanol plant.

At the beginning of the meeting, Hester commented that there was "one" that "stirred up the crowd" and then suggested that there should one day be a "lynching".

The Mayor did apologize for making the comment.

NBC17 called the Mayor's office about his remarks, but has not received a call back.

The video is now on youtube.com.

Once again, forced annexation took stage in Selma

UPDATE: Be sure to follow the comments on this post.

At last night's Selma Town Council meeting, a full house was in attendance. Most were there for the public hearing on the proposed annexation of five territories. Most of the people were from the McCormick Heights subdivision, not too far from here. People were passionate in their opinions about being annexed.

I don't blame these people one bit. I am on the record as not being in favor of forced annexation except under some common sense, strict conditions. I don't always agree with Mr. Tony Tetterton, especially on the topic of quiet zones for the local railroads here in Selma. I don't agree with the idea that he was allowed to comment in the public hearing, since he is not personally affected by the proposed annexation, he not a resident of the town, and does not pay property tax to the town.

However, last night, he was correct in what he attempted to convey. There are other valuable properties that could be annexed and it would make sense to annex them since they are totally surrounded by the town city limits. They are mostly commercial properties and get all the benefits of being in the town but technically are not. He was also right about it being a political thing that they are not being considered instead of the residential areas. Tony is further correct that the only reason for the proposed annexation is tax revenue.

Mr. Tetterton had a 15 minute presentation but was not allowed to give it. He was only allowed the same three minutes that everyone else was granted. However, that three minute rule was not enforced once he left the meeting. That was just unfair. If there is going to be a time limit rule, apply it equally. I do not believe the time limit was appropriate to begin with.

I heard grumblings from the crowd near me that if they get to vote in the upcoming election, they will do everything they can to vote out anyone who voted for the annexation. Mary Tyndall (who has been at Johnston Medical and Surgical Supply as long as I can remember) said so in her three minutes of commentary, which were the first ones given in the public forum.

I hope that the residents remember this when it comes to the election in November. Here is the column I wrote for The Selma News on involuntary annexation.

Here is The Smithfield Herald article on the council meeting.