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🧠Opening Reflection:
A Platform Shares. An Intelligence System Endures.
It is common now to call anything that publishes content a “platform.” The term has become a catch-all, used so broadly that it doesn’t define the purpose of the mission. This platform is an “Intelligence” system designed to document, decode, propose, and eventually take action.
The difference matters. A platform transmits; an intelligence system operates in multiple sustainable dimensions. A platform measures success in clicks and followers; an intelligence system measures its worth in the strength of the frameworks it builds and the permanence of the work it leaves behind. Most platforms today are designed to entertain, distract, or stir reaction. That was never the purpose here. This was built to endure.
The Hickory Hound did not emerge from marketing strategies or growth campaigns. It came from watching a community’s foundations weaken—schools in decline, local government slipping into self-preservation, and economic warning signs buried under hopeful optimism. At first, it was simply a record: someone had to document what was unfolding. But the work evolved. What began as observation became a kind of infrastructure—a living map of our community’s reality and a system for naming what others refused to acknowledge.
Its function is what some might describe counter-establishment. Established institutions teach, preserve, and create pathways of performative action. This is repetitive reinforcement to justify what already exists. It is what Civic programs like Hickory’s Neighborhood College and the Chamber’s Leadership Catawba are to reinforce and justify what already exists.
My work is similar, but its purpose is different. Each article becomes part of a historical and chronological working archive. The articles, series, and videos are built teach from the outside looking inward without vested interest. We are storing knowledge, so that when the reinvent the narrative to circumvent reality, then we don’t have to go along for the ride unwittingly. The goal is not to tattletale. The goal is vigilance.
In my lifetime, the hierarchical establishment has failed people like me. They dismissed those who did not conform to their status, ignored those without the right credentials, and left behind those unwilling to flatter the system. But outside of their walls, a different kind of builder is emerging—people who learned by necessity, not by favor; who created substance without grants, titles, or safety nets. My platforms are endorsements of them. They are the true survivors.
There are no ad campaigns here. I haven’t been overtly popular. Celebrities don’t endorse this. It isn’t hallow npop culture. It wasn’t developed for shallow branding, promotion, and marketing.. What exists here is a framework—quietly constructed, tested, and refined for longevity. It is a structure for those who were locked out of the old order and no longer seek its approval. The work here is full of timeless classics.
Call it journalism, strategic intelligence, or the new multimedia. Do not mistake it for a blog, and do not reduce it to “content.” This is a working node in an overarching public realignment. The legacy institutions we inherited are faltering under debt, disconnection, and a loss of adaptive capacity. The difference now is that some of us have stopped waiting for their revival. We are building parallel systems—not to overthrow the old world, but to take over as they succumb to their self-inflicted demise.
This is not destruction. It is construction of a different kind—creating something that works better, that is grounded, and that can survive the storm that surrounds us by acknowledging its existence. What is coming will not be met by polished press releases or the rhetoric of well-branded nonprofits and NGOs. .
It
will be met by structure. Real structure. Reality. That is what this is: a counter-balance, built
in the shadow of decline and prepared for what is next to come.
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📤This Week:
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 - The Hickory Hound: A Platform of Structural Realism and Community Renewal - Catawba’s hope is more than surface growth. Since 2008, the author has recorded what others overlook—decline masked by boosterism, the collapse of industry and community, and institutions that failed the common good. This is not a cheer-driven platform. It is a lasting archive, diagnosis, and call to structural renewal—rooted in local insight and aimed at guiding real, durable recovery.
Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Under the Surface: Catawba County’s Economic Crossroads - lays bare the gap between the county’s economic reputation and the lived reality of its neighborhoods. Beneath surface success, stark disparities in race, income, and infrastructure hollow out community institutions. The piece calls for honest civic reckoning—and long-term, inclusive investment in the social foundation of hope, not just appearances.
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⭐️ Feature Story ⭐️
Executive Summary: Catawba County at the Crossroads – The CommScope CCS Sale and Our Industrial Future
In early August 2025, CommScope made a decision that will reverberate far beyond the financial pages. The company’s $10.5 billion agreement to sell its Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS) division to Amphenol Corporation is not simply a change of ownership—it is a strategic realignment that places Catawba County, and the town of Claremont in particular, at a crossroads. The transaction includes the Claremont manufacturing facility, a cornerstone of the region’s industrial base and a link to decades of technical expertise in high-performance connectivity systems. The question now is whether this will be a moment of renewal, continuity, or gradual erosion.
CommScope’s rationale is clear. The sale frees the company from a crippling debt load, allows redemption of preferred equity held by Carlyle Group, and positions the remaining business—focused on Access Network Solutions and the Ruckus brand—for greater agility in rapidly evolving technology markets. CCS, in turn, is a natural fit for Amphenol’s strategy, providing products at the heart of global data, broadband, and AI infrastructure. For 2025, the unit is expected to generate $3.6 billion in sales with EBITDA margins near 26 percent—a portfolio that would be attractive to any serious player in the high-bandwidth, low-latency market.
For Catawba County, the path forward rests on how Amphenol integrates this acquisition into its global operations. The region faces three plausible trajectories.
Best Case Scenario: Regional Renaissance (Full Document)
In the most optimistic view, Amphenol sees the Claremont facility not merely as an inherited asset, but as a strategic East Coast manufacturing hub. Recognizing the facility’s skilled workforce, supplier networks, and proximity to key markets, the company invests in upgrading production lines for next-generation data-center cabling, fiber-optic systems, and AI-ready infrastructure components. Capital improvements are matched with commitments to workforce development, undertaken in partnership with local technical colleges and economic development agencies.
In this scenario, local leaders act decisively. Incentives are crafted to secure Amphenol’s long-term presence. Infrastructure reliability agreements—particularly around power redundancy and high-capacity logistics—are formalized. The plant becomes a centerpiece in attracting additional AI, cloud services, and robotics-related suppliers to the region. The data-center boom, fueled by projections such as Eric Schmidt’s estimate of 90 gigawatts of additional U.S. power demand within a decade, becomes a tailwind rather than a distant trend. Catawba County leverages this position to brand itself as a critical node in the nation’s digital backbone, securing jobs, capital investment, and renewed industrial prestige.
Base Case Scenario: Steady Continuity (Full Document)
The base case is a more measured outcome. Amphenol maintains current operations in Claremont largely as they are, preserving existing product lines and staffing levels without significant expansion or contraction. Integration into Amphenol’s global structure proceeds smoothly, but without a surge of new investment. The facility retains its role as a stable producer for established customers, while more ambitious projects are allocated to other sites in the company’s portfolio.
In this scenario, local leaders focus on retention rather than transformation. Incentives and engagement keep Claremont in the conversation, but the plant does not pivot aggressively into new product segments. The workforce remains intact, and the community experiences neither dramatic growth nor sharp decline. It is a dignified outcome: continuity without reinvention, stability without the leap toward becoming a flagship facility. While this path avoids the dislocation of closure, it also risks missing the larger wave of growth tied to AI, cloud infrastructure, and advanced connectivity demand.
Worst Case Scenario: Gradual Erosion (Full Document)
The most damaging outcome unfolds quietly. Amphenol views Claremont as non-essential in the long term, retaining operations only until contracts and customer transitions allow for consolidation. Production of high-volume or technologically advanced products migrates to other facilities—whether in lower-cost global locations or U.S. sites already marked for expansion. Claremont is left handling legacy or low-margin work, which in turn erodes its profitability and strategic standing.
The workforce declines through attrition rather than mass layoffs, with skilled employees leaving for more secure positions. Without new investment, the plant falls behind technological benchmarks, making it even harder to argue for its preservation. Local officials, hesitant to challenge corporate narratives, fail to secure binding commitments. The data-center and AI infrastructure boom bypasses the facility, as capabilities and certifications are not upgraded to meet the needs of that market.
By the third year post-acquisition, Claremont’s role is diminished to the point where further investment is not just unlikely, but economically irrational. Supplier networks shrink, industrial confidence erodes, and the region loses another pillar of its manufacturing identity. The plant never formally “closes”—it simply fades from relevance, leaving behind a cautionary example of what happens when engagement is reactive rather than strategic.
The Stakes for Catawba County
These three scenarios are not speculative abstractions—they are direct consequences of decisions made in the next 18 months by both Amphenol and local leadership. The difference between renaissance, continuity, and erosion will depend on the degree to which the region can assert its value in Amphenol’s global calculus.
Catawba County possesses distinct advantages: a deep-rooted manufacturing culture, an existing skilled labor pool, and a location within reach of major Eastern markets. Yet these advantages must be actively leveraged. Without a coordinated push—combining economic incentives, infrastructure assurances, and workforce training—there is no guarantee they will outweigh the corporate efficiencies of consolidation elsewhere.
The CommScope CCS sale to Amphenol is more than a financial transaction. It is a pivot point for the community’s industrial future. In the best case, it is the foundation for a new chapter of growth; in the base case, it is a holding pattern; in the worst case, it is the first step toward quiet decline. The outcome will not be decided by market forces alone—it will be shaped by the readiness, will, and vision of those who call Catawba County home.
🕰️ In Closing:
The story of the Foothills is not a relic of the past—it’s the ground we’re still standing on. This week marks the beginning of something I’ve been working toward for years: the public release of The Foothills Corridor in serial form on The Hound’s Signal. Every Monday and Friday, a new chapter will go live. This is not entertainment. It’s not nostalgia. It’s a strategic manual built from hard history, designed to challenge how we think about where we are and where we’re going.
If you’ve been following the work here, you already know the stakes. We are living with the fallout of decisions made far from here, and too often without us in mind. But we are not without leverage. This book puts the pieces on the table—how we fell, what we still have, and the moves we can make before the board is cleared entirely.
If the material resonates, I ask for your help. Share it. Support it. Use it in your conversations, your planning, and your decision-making. This is not just my project—it’s a tool for anyone who refuses to let the Foothills be written off as a cautionary tale. The future won’t arrive fully formed. We will have to build it, together, one deliberate step at a time.
The work starts Monday. Let’s not waste the opportunity.
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The Foothills Corridor is a hard, unflinching account of how a 20-county stretch of western North Carolina rose to national industrial prominence, fell into economic and civic decline, and now stands at a crossroads between further erosion and deliberate reinvention. Written in concise, tactical chapters, the book serves less as a nostalgic chronicle and more as a strategic intelligence report for anyone invested in the region’s future.
The work is divided into six parts:
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The Collapse – A clear-eyed autopsy of the region’s industrial base, from the heyday of furniture, textiles, and fiber optics to the long, slow bleed of globalization, automation, and political neglect. These chapters chronicle the loss of jobs, civic cohesion, and youth retention, framing the decline as a result of deliberate economic and policy choices rather than inevitable fate.
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Signals in the Smoke – A framework for detecting early indicators of revival—what the author calls “woo, faint, and weak signals.” Through real-world examples, this section teaches readers to distinguish between cosmetic activity and structural change.
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Foundations of Revival – A close look at existing assets and projects—broadband expansion, Microsoft’s Valley Datacenter Academy, Hickory’s City Walk and Riverwalk, and local food hubs—that could be scaled into anchors of a modernized regional economy.
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Weak Signals with Strong Potential – Examination of emerging opportunities in craft brewing, tourism, heritage reimagining, renewable energy, and youth retention—paired with a realistic assessment of what it will take to turn them into sustainable industries.
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Scaling and Strategy – A blueprint for regional coordination, governance reform, and shared procurement systems. This section emphasizes metrics that matter and strategies for revitalizing rural areas without sacrificing authenticity.
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Rewriting the Regional Narrative – A call to reclaim the region’s brand around grit, craftsmanship, and resilience, while building the political and economic autonomy needed to avoid becoming an appendage of larger metro areas.
Each part is anchored in first-hand observation, historical data, and comparisons to peer regions such as the Rust Belt and other North Carolina metros. The prose is plain-spoken but substantive—designed to be read by both civic leaders and ordinary residents who want to understand why the region looks the way it does and what it will take to change it.
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