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People Will Look Back and Say…

At the Farmland Protection public hearing a picture of a farmer was shown to the commissioners. While they recognized the farmer was cutting silage, they failed to recognize the cornfield that is now the soccer field.

Five years ago after a public hearing on the purchase of the Brookshire Farm, the county purchased the 73-acre farm for $2.6 million ($35,616/acre). 
The Watauga Democrat wrote:

“Deal also defended the board’s philosophical stance of using the fund balance for land purchases and other opportunities for growth and expansion. He said the board took the long-term view, and that the county should have been pursuing a second industrial park a decade ago.” [We got a soccer field that cost a fortune.]

“Deborah Greene said a third of the property was in the flood plain and other portions were on steep slopes, calling the land purchases ‘high-roller Monopoly.’” [Little did we know the Monopoly stakes would go as high as $80,000/acre.]

“Winston Kinsey cited the rising land prices in the county and said, ‘There’s no cheap land left.’” [The county has redefined property values with their deep pockets and impeccable loan rating. Thanks to the taxpayers, the banks have now found a new borrower of choice. And, by the way, the farmland protection plan shows $12,000/acre as the highest going development rate for farmland.]

“He (Honeycutt) said the land purchase and development of an industrial park would bring jobs back to Watauga County that would pay $10 an hour or more.” [Just where is that industrial park? Where are those jobs?]

“David Blust, the only commissioner who voted against the purchase, said he liked the property but was concerned about the county’s debt. ‘I feel like we’ve run up a lot of debt,’ he said.” [Little did we know that our current debt would grow to 450% of the debt that Commissioner Blust was concerned about.]

“Commissioner chair Jim Deal defended the purchase, saying, ‘At no time has any commissioner ever acted against the benefit of the public,’he said. ‘We act in the best interests of all residents and the future of the county.’” [Really? Little did we know how untrue this statement was.]

“…the cost of the land is approximately $300,000 below appraisal.” [Tennille & Associates, the same appraisers whose licenses were suspended over the high school property, appraised this property. And, if our purchase price was $300,000 below appraisal, why did the county change the selling price from $2,600,000 to $3,600,000 on the closing documents and show $1,000,000 in donations by the seller? The seller gets a tax benefit for that donation. Governor Easley got into trouble for a similar thing; however, the dollars were peanuts to this transaction. Isn’t this tax fraud and land valuation manipulation? Just who does that benefit Chairman Deal?]

“Years from now, people will look back and say this was a bargain,’ he said (Chairman Deal).” 

And, the people say—WE HAVE BEEN FLEECED!

Deborah Greene

A Huge Thank You from the Banner Elk Chamber

The 2010 Banner Elk Summer Concert Series is over, and we would like to extend a huge thank you to the following who helped to make it such a huge success this year: 

Bands: The King Bees, Carolina Crossing, The Rhodes Brothers, The Johnson Brothers, The Blue Notes, Wolf Creek, The Dallas Reese Trio, The Harris Brothers, Billy Scott & The Party Prophets, The Neighbors and The Whip Daddies.

Sponsors: Little Main Street Inn & Suites, Apple Hill Farm, Mountain Sotheby’s International Realty, LLC, Vivo’s Café, Vistas at Banner Elk, Headwaters, Fifth Third Bank, Frank & Mary Watts, Cycle 4 Life Bike Shop, StoneGarden Guesthouse and Wraps Box & Ship.

Vendors: Carolina BBQ, Fast Eddie’s Chicago-Style Hot Dogs, Papa’s Pizza To Go, Bella’s, Sweet Sue’s Bakery, Palm Products (Kid Zone & Dog Treats) and Trish Daniels (face painting & glitter tattoos).

Emcee, Roy Krege (who is gearing up for his next emcee gig, the Annual Woolly Worm Festival that is always held the third weekend in October).

Ticket Sellers and Helpers: Andy Meyer, Carroll Hickman, Adam Binder, Jack Masters, Frank Wimbush, Sharon Meyer, Linda Fiacco and Cindy & Kevin Williams.

Raffle Prize Donors: Almost Rodeo Drive, Appalachian Termite & Pest Control, Apple Hill Farm, Ashi Therapy, Bank of America, Bayou Smokehouse & Grill Restaurant, Bella’s Italian Restaurant, BJ’s Resort Wear, Carolina BBQ, Cycle 4 Life Bike Shop, Exchange Book Store at Lees-McRae College, Fifth Third Bank, Grandfather Home for Children, Headwaters, Hearthstone Tavern & Grille, Horn in the West, Little Main Street Inn & Suites, Lodges of Eagles Nest, Mountain Grounds Coffee & Tea, River & Earth Adventures, Town of Banner Elk, USA Raft, Vivo’s Café & Wine Cellar, Wraps Box & Ship and Zuzda’s Restaurant.

Concert Committee: Andy Meyer, Sharon Meyer and John Heinlein for all their hard work before and during the concerts.

Banner Elk Elementary School for giving us permission to use their tables and chairs at the concerts all season.

Banner Elk Town Hall for giving us permission to use the band shell and the beautiful Tate Evans Park to hold these concerts.

High Country Press for doing such a great job promoting all these concerts.

And last but not least…all the wonderful people who attended the concerts. We love you and will see you again next year!
Banner Elk Chamber of Commerce

Sales Tax Opponents Should Demand Balanced Budgets, Responsible Spending

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to those members of the Republican Party (and “Boone Tea Party”) who got organized, spent lots of money and turned out the votes to defeat the proposed sales tax increase meant to help fund recreation centers in Watauga County. The arguments on both sides are well known, and whether or not I agree with them is irrelevant at this point. The point is, your side was better organized, better funded and turned out more voters. We now all have to live with the decision of the voters, which is life in a democracy.

I am writing this letter to respectfully request that you now commit to actually demand that our public officials abide by the principles that motivated your opposition to the tax increase. I ask that you help elect people to local, state and federal government positions that will actually balance budgets, spend responsibly and pay down our debts, all motivated by thinking about future consequences of policy decisions. And I ask that you hold our leaders accountable when they fail to do this.

But I ask that you do this not only when it comes to things that help us—like building new schools or recreation facilities for our children—but also for all issues addressed by government. I request that you be consistent and demand that governments stop wastefully spending on ALL policies that fail to effectively address real social problems, that add to government debt, and that are not accountable to the people because they are funded through emergency appropriations paid for by loans and huge deficits. Examples that come to mind include “national defense” (e.g., the stated FY 2011 budget of the Pentagon is $708 billion, a sizable portion of which is wasteful even according to the Pentagon!); war (e.g., the war on Iraq has already cost us $1 trillion, all of which has been added to the national deficit; according to President Bush's 2009 budget, 44% of our taxes that year were used to pay for current and past wars!); prisons (e.g., at least 20% of inmates do not need to be in prison because they are low- and medium-level drug offenders; this costs us about $15 billion every year); drug policy (e.g., the stated FY 2011 budget for the drug war is $15.5 billion yet research clearly shows it fails to meet literally any of its stated goals); and capital punishment (e.g., every execution in the state of North Carolina costs $2.16 million more than a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment). 

Other issues we might want to address to save money include closing corporate tax loopholes; stopping enormous state spending to attract corporations to the state that provide only a small number of jobs; and heck, even spending less money at Wal-Mart! Did you know that Wal-Mart employees must often rely on taxpayer-funded health care since they cannot afford to buy private insurance? This raises your taxes! Did you know that Wal-Mart pays less than its fair share of state and local taxes and actually owes billions in back taxes? And did you know that Wal-Mart receives subsidies from local and state governments, costing you lots of money even as they put local retailers out of business? So if we want to lower our taxes, why don’t we demand that our leaders hold Wal-Mart accountable? 

In conclusion, I congratulate you on your efforts to help defeat the proposed sales tax increase, which will amount to short-term savings to citizens of ONE PENNY for every $4 they spend on non-grocery items. Now, can we agree to get down to stopping the wasteful and irresponsible government spending that really is bankrupting us as a people, much of which was outlined above? In other words, can you put your money where your mouth is?

Sincerely,

Matthew Robinson

Soucek Responds to Letter

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to some of the questions asked of me in the last paper. I did attend and support the community fundraiser in Sugar Grove. Events such as this one are great ways to support the local community, meet people all over the county and learn more about people’s concerns and solutions. I regret that our conversation might have been considered a distraction to the event, and that is why I quickly apologized and ended the conversation, agreeing it would best be done at another setting.

I am passionate about the issues Ms. Andrews spoke about; jobs, education energy and quality, affordable healthcare.

She asked if my family had ever been poor. My parents, like hers, struggled and grew up during the Great Depression. When my father was in elementary school, his only source of income was to sift through fire pits to find loose change and recyclables. With the pennies he found, he would go to the local store to buy candy and small items, giving him the nickname “Penny.” I completely agree with the statement, “Most Americans don’t want a handout—they just want a good job and their dignity back.” Turning North Carolina back into a “jobs friendly” state will be my top priority. So many of our economic and social ills will be greatly improved when that is accomplished.

My education at The United States Military Academy at West Point was paid for by the same source as Robert E. Lee and every other graduate over the past 200 years, the U.S. government. This debt was repaid with my more than eight years of active duty service in accordance with West Point’s mission “to provide leaders of character for a lifetime of service to the nation.” I don’t receive any VA health benefits or retirement. I have never been wealthy, my mom was a nurse, my dad worked for AT&T for 43 years, and my military service, ministry and volunteer work has never paid especially well. Wealth has never been my goal. I have always been drawn to the aspect of doing something of significance and impacting the lives of other rather than working purely for profit.

Finally, I stand by my principal of being wise and effective when helping those in need.  One of the most important lessons I have learned from working with the needy in our country and around the world is that good intentions and throwing money at people and problems, if not done right, can cause significant harm. While working in Africa and Asia, I’ve watched organizations, in the name of aid, cause animosity between neighbors and family, create crippling dependency and destroy local economies. I want to use these lessons to help those in need in the most effective ways possible.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address these questions and important issues.

Dan Soucek
Boone

EDITOR'S NOTE: High Country Press does not verify the information in the letters to the editor submitted to the newspaper and does not endorse the positions expressed in the letters. The opinions and assertions are those of the writers alone.

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