Some people think I am writing this blog because I am somehow lacking for attention. Honestly, I will relish the day when this blog is no longer necessary. I remember a lunch I had with a local leader five years ago. I expressed my concerns with this person who I have known for 30+ years. This person expressed empathy towards my issues, but in the subsequent year I saw no action being taken that would alleviate those issues of concern.
As I have stated in the past, Harry and I went to several city functions and we were summarily ignored and one could see if you didn't belong to the inner circle, then you weren't going to play any role in the city's methodology. The labelers would ask, "Who are you? Who are you with?" I guess if you don't have a title, which I never thought much of titles anyway, then you are a non-person to these people. That in a nutshell is why people don't participate and that is the reason why we moved forward with this blog.
Five years and a couple of days ago my Uncle died -- March 31, 2007. He knew what was happening in this community. We talked about some of it. He was always direct and to the point. Those conveyances about where things were headed were eye-opening to say the least. He was pretty much on target about the trends. He understood the energy issue and the economic competition we face with China. He had been an executive in the furniture craft, furniture, and hosiery industries. He was one person that was an executive that I actually saw hustle.
Alex Moore was a computer genius and helped me a lot and taught me a lot. He would run satellite programs on his laptop at his bed, while he slept in bed, that went directly to his business all night. He taught me how to put computers together and troubleshoot programs. This man went to work before sunrise and got home after sunset and worked many Saturday mornings. He would come help us at 1859 in his time off and he always found a way to spend time with his kids. He had a Purple Heart from Vietnam. And yet, he spent a year and a half out of work, because of what happened with our local economy. He was looked highly upon by many people in this community, but he was stressed out because he wasn't finding permanent work and he was a Number 1 Class A Executive.
He didn't toot his own horn and you would never hear him brag about himself. He was low key, but when he said something you listened. Whenever I talk to people about Alex, who knew Alex, they tell you how they revered him. He was a class individual. He was the Real Deal. If he had lived, I believe in my heart of hearts that he would have figured a way to make things work out, but I don't know that it would have been in Hickory. Hickory doesn't seem to offer opportunities to people who aren't in the inner circle.
Many of you don't like what I am doing. I don't have a problem with that. It's a mutual thing. Sometimes I don't like doing this. This isn't about ego. When I had lunch with that person five years ago, I told them if I didn't see certain things start moving forward that I had things that I could do. I waited and bided my time, but eventually you figure out when people are pacifying you and playing you off as someone who is insignificant, even when they are long time friends. I don't think my concerns met with their agenda.
Some people have insinuated that I and others who have the audacity to speak on this forum don't know what we are talking about. If that is the case, then why don't we hold a Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Hickory Daily Record and WHKY and discuss the issues related to this area. If we are truly the most open local government in North Carolina, as the Mayor stated this morning on WHKY, then let's have an open ended forum where people can ask public questions and get public answers.
I have proposed this in the past. I'll go back to when Patrick McHenry had the healthcare forum in the Summer of 2009. I thought it went pretty well and a lot of people attended and a lot of issues were addressed. You can argue about whether it was a show or not, but I truly believe that the people that left that auditorium that night felt a little bit better about their partnership with government.
If our form of government is truly a partnership, then let's do things that empower individuals. I understand that a Town Hall meeting won't resolve many issues, but I do think it would help with moving issues of trust and understanding forward and to me that is always a good thing.
I honestly believe that a government that has good communication with its constituents is the most effective form of government. How can you not believe that?
