Hal Row's First Talk - CEG discussion about Ward Specific Voting - The Interview

Part 1 - Billy Sudderth gives his reasoning for the formation of the Citizens for Equity in Government and Joe Brannock begins the discussion about how the current voting structure came into existence.

Part 2 -  Joe Brannock continues on with the history lesson of what happened back in the 1960s that has led us to where we are today and Billy Sudderth talks about some of the political maneuvering that took place at that time

Part 3 - Billy Sudderth continues by talking about disenfranchisement and the lack of participation that he believes is a result of the system. Joe talks about the perceptions and how he is white, republican and young and Billy is black, a senior, and a Democrat and we need to cast off the labels to be able to move things forward. He talks about how 4 people on council made a decision that shut out citizen participation. There is no entry point into the pipeline of civic service.

Part 4 - Joe Brannock talks about council people representing the City of Hickory at the same time that they are directly elected by their ward. Citizens of Hickory don't vote on members of Congress from other districts and yet these representatives represent the welfare of the entire State of North Carolina. They give out contact numbers to sign the petition: Billy Sudderth 828-308-4669 / Joe Brannock: 828-455-3789

 1967 - How we got where we are today - November 11, 2011

1961 -- A lesson in Hickory's History - November 10, 2011

Hickory City Elections: The Results are in - November 9, 2011

Press Conference on Ward Voting Referendum -- September 20, 2011

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of June 7, 2011 -- Addendum on "The Newly Proposed Ward Boundary Map" - June 8, 2011

Big thanks to Hal and WHKY for having this educational interview on First Talk. I think he did an excellent job of hosting this interview and I believe that WHKY is now in the ball game when it comes to the discussion of this issue. All anyone has asked for is to be allowed to have a public forum to discuss the Direct Ward versus At-Large issue with the public and from there the chips shall fall where they may.