RC Soles’ Legacy. . . . Still Making News

I just can’t make it up:

TABOR CITY, NC (WWAY) — Tabor City Police arrested two people over the weekend in connection with a chase that ended in a crash Saturday night, and the crime apparently started at a well-known address in town.

Investigators say the vehicle was stolen from outside former Sen. R.C. Soles’s home.

Christopher Byrd and Krystal Burgess are charged with larceny of a motor vehicle and fleeing to elude arrest.

According to police reports, an officer spotted a car that matched the description of the stolen car. When he put on his lights, the driver sped off and lost control of the car, crashing into a ditch.

The woman whose car was stolen said she and another man picked up Byrd, Burgess and Frankie and Danielle Jernigan at a motel and took them to Soles’s house to get $2,600 with the promise she would get $100.

Story after story talks about Soles giving money to this same circle.  Arrests, car crashes, car thefts, it’s a sad legacy indeed.

Is Municipal Golf The Role Of Government or a Bogey?

Is a golf course a publicly funded necessity? That’s an obvious question, but not one taken seriously in Wilmington.  They already have one course, and are prepping the next for opening soon.  But they’re also spending another $700k to renovate the one they already have.  Is that what citizens consider a high priority?

(PortCityDaily.com) Beatty said the first nine holes would receive focus in fiscal 2014 and the second nine in fiscal 2015, with the entire course back in form by July 2015. Each nine was estimated to cost $350,000, for the $700,000 total.

At the same time, staffers are noting revenues the course would lose during the closures. The downtime could add up to $509,000 not generated, that estimation representing half of what the course would make if it remained open as usual.

The issue here is simple.  If this can be run as a private enterprise why shouldn’t it?  The staff claims the course will be renovated with funds generated at the course.  So be it, make it private, let it become a tax generator instead of a tax loss.

The John Locke Foundation has spent almost a decade illustrating that municipal courses are a bad idea.  Here, here and here are but a few examples of their work on the matter.

WASTEC Ends, Fear Mongering Never Came True

After millions of wasted dollars, after unfulfilled promises of incinerators and after the countless fear mongering assertions that trash would pile up on the streets, become ridiculously expensive or that landfill space was about to run out, WASTEC is being dismantled.  And guess what, life goes on!

(Star News) – New Hanover County staff requested the deconstruction of the Wastec stack and enclosed flues, and commissioners approved the proposal unanimously Monday. The proposal allows staff to proceed with deconstruction immediately, as long as the cost doesn’t exceed $300,000.

At the time of its closing the facility was losing approx. $500k in taxpayer dollars a month.

Kudos to the county commission for taking a serious look at solutions on this matter rather than pandering to fear.

$500k Incentives To Castle Branch? A good move?

There is no doubt that this area would benefit from the expansion of Castle Branch in this area.  Moving their corporate headquarters and adding 400 jobs would be a boom for an area whose unemployment is still higher than most of the state.

New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington have agreed to hand over $500k for this potential opportunity right out of their general funds (that’s fancy speak for taxpayer dollars sitting around waiting to be spend).  But here’s the funny part:

(PortCityDaily.com) The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved its part Monday morning after learning the company was also scanning real estate in northern California.

Really?  California that just passed a 33% increase in personal income taxes?  The same California that led pro golfer Phil Mickelson (and others) to decry the egregious taking of money from successful hard working folks via higher taxes and more regulations?  Are we really not in a place that we can compete with California except with incentive giveaways?

Heck, we’re in a state debating getting rid of all corporate taxes and dramatically reducing, if not eliminating, personal income taxes.  And yet, we still lead with “let’s give ‘em some money!”

Maybe we should be recruiting professional athletes to move their residency here.  We might also want to figure out how you’re actually going to count jobs created.  Do we really think local government is going to sneak around Castle Branch counting the employees on any given day?

Healthy Debate GOOD For New Hanover County

Yes, they had a sparky discussion relating to spending millions on septic tank replacement.  In the end, having the ability to have such discussions can serve the public interest much better than simply going along to get along.  Kudos to the commission for having a bit of passion in their deliberations.

In the end, the deliberations between the commissioners will likely lead to a better solution for the folks in the Marquis Hills and Heritage Park area.  There is no doubt the septic tank issue is NOT a long term solution, but is the right solution to spend almost $17m to fix it?

Much more on this matter soon.

More Local Government Turmoil

It’s not that it isn’t uncommon, but in the small (relative) world of southeastern NC, there’s been quite a bit of local government turmoil.

We’ve had police chief issues (both no longer chiefs) in Fairbluff and Leland in the past 24 months.  We’ve had a city manager allegedly imitate his police chief (Chadbourn).  We’ve had town managers leave in Oak Island, Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach.  The city manager in Southport will be departing in April. And the city manager in Fairbluff is having trouble explaining alcohol use in city vehicles.  We also had mayors resign in Belville and Carolina Beach.

I’ve missed a few, to be sure, but that’s a lot of shifting sand.

Affirming Belief in Constitution is News?

There is something rather odd here at WECT:

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WECT) – The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners plans to “reaffirm” their beliefs and support of the Constitution and laws of the United States and North Carolina.

According to commissioners, a number of emails were sent to the board regarding the recent debate on gun control.

Local citizens have been asking where their elected leaders stand on the issue.

In response to these emails, commissioners will swear that they will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Isn’t it just a bit odd that local AMERICAN elected officials are having to publicly say they will support and maintain the constitution when they’re oath of office already affirms it?

I don’t know exactly, but there’s something here that paints a much darker picture of the rest of NC or the country if this is actually a story.

Just Funny. . Naked Man on McClammy St.

Nope, can’t make this up:

Min Wage Discussion. . . Cordato Adds Saliency

More often than not, the media tends to hype trendy issues like minimum wage rather than actually looking at the fallout or implications from it.  Roy Cordato, head of research at the John Locke Foundation, has an excellent blog post on the matter here.  Here is a sampling:

With mandated employer taxes such as those required for Social Security and Medicare, at the current minimum wage wage of $7.25 per hour it costs a potential well employer over  $8.00 per hour to hire a new employee. And with mandated health insurance this number will be much higher as of next year. At a $9.00 per hour minimum wage, including all other mandated labor costs, it will probably cost about $12/hour for a minimum wage employee. What this means is that everyone whose skills are such that they cannot produce more than $12.00 per hour worth of productive output will be unable to find work.

Low wages define poverty they do not cause it. Wages, like other prices, reflect underlying realities. In this case the underlying reality being reflected by low wages is that there are many people whose skills are such that they cannot command a higher wage.

Excellent points. . but not points you’ll tend to find in real news print.

Kenan Fountain Lighting Disappoints Council

Kenan Fountain, at the intersection of 5th and Market, was struck by a car back in August.  The repairs have finally been made and the lighting upgraded that allegedly will stop folks from hitting the fountain in the future, or at least reduce such crashes.  But, and this is the funny (sad) part, it probably won’t.  And the folks that are most disappointed are the ones that approved the solution.

(StarNews) - “Obviously, the current (improved?) lighting is somewhat amateurish,” Councilwoman Margaret Haynes wrote in an email to top city leaders. “The LED lights in the street lamps are garish and cold.  I can’t imagine how on earth the so-called lighting improvements could have cost $8000+. We can do better than this.”

Councilmen Charlie Rivenbark and Neil Anderson wrote back that they, too, were dissapointed in the results.

Having driven by the fountain several times since the “updated” lighting I can say the lights actually make it harder to see the fountain.  VERY bright lights obscure your visual field as you approach the fountain.  Doesn’t mean you can’t see it, but this was NOT a solution, this is an invitation for more crashes.