Addressing Mayor Mel Cohen's Morganton -- Guest Commentary

Another article relating to Morganton by a reliable source:

On February 1st, 2012, Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen gave his annual "State of the City" address to both Burke County AARP and Burke County Rotary Club in which he talked about several topics, and what Mayor Cohen feels will be the future of Morganton.

After reading this report, I find several problems including things like 'conflict of interest' and just plain improper conduct by Mayor Cohen. In the Election's Information section of the report, Mel Cohen was questioned by a reporter and quoted in the Morganton News Herald as saying "The city has experienced some criticism of its election and election runoff method with an October election date. The method requires a candidate receive 50 percent of the votes cast plus one in order to be declared the winner."

The method mandates that if there is not a winner, a runoff election can be requested and scheduled in November. The runoff election would occur on the November election day that over 500 cities and towns currently use under the plurality method of local elections. The story continues saying the October local election is the same used by 17 other cities in the State, including Raleigh, Shelby, Statesville, Monroe, and Rocky Mount. Mayor Cohen adds, "I've heard some argue that we could save money by holding the city election at the same time as the county elections, or by going to a plurality election where the candidate who gets the most votes in the initial balloting is the winner," Cohen said.

"There have been some figures thrown out, and every time they get thrown out they seem to be different. Mayor Cohen continues saying, "I believe that elections are the foundation of our democracy. Like the foundation to your house, I would ask, 'Do you want it built the cheapest way?" This is perhaps one of the most ridiculous comparisons I have ever heard, because the cost of the election is in no way tied to or connected to the cost of building a strong foundation for your home. This is stupid !!

The fact is that ALL Burke County towns and the Burke County School Board use the plurality method and hold their elections in November as more than 500 of the 700+ municipalities in North Carolina do. This results is an average cost in conducting local elections of about 1200 hundred dollars per town. Since Morganton chooses to hold a seperate election in October and the Burke County Board of Elections handles that election, taxpayers must find and cough up 20 THOUSAND dollars to pay for the privilege of electing local officials every two years.

The cost is so much higher because Morganton holds a SEPERATE election from all other municipalities in Burke County and the seperate election must be paid for as a SINGLE election instead of being SHARED with other towns when holding local elections and electing their leaders. As to elections, the plurality method is the most cost effective way for citizens to decide on who they want to be mayor or elected to their town or city council. The fact that North Carolina allows a local election process that only has 17 towns and cities is a reason to believe that these areas including Morganton are not getting true representation because most people who vote if not all voters look for first Tuesday in November as the time to select local, state or national leaders. Many registered voters in Morganton never vote in city elections because they are CONFUSED as to when and where to vote.

Mel Cohen continued arguing the plurality method can result in a candidate being elected who has received a smaller percentage of the overall vote. Cohen also said holding elections in October, rather than November, keeps them from getting lost in the shuffle of deciding county-wide issues. Just look at last year's elections. The county elections in November saw a turnout of 10.4 percent of registered voters, he said. Morganton's October election had a turnout of 14.6 percent. Cohen said he believes the city will have to go back to a single polling place for city elections in 2013.

Let's look at these statements. First, this country has had more than one election on a national level to be decided by either a single vote or a few votes. In 235 years the idea has been whoever gets the most votes wins. We as voters and taxpayers may not always agree with that or not always be happy with the election results, but when should taxpayers be forced to pay exponentially more to hold an election at a time other than in November to somehow provide that candidiates and incumbents have an opportunity to be elected without being affected by other possible contested elections?

If you have what voters want and you can articulate to the electorate that you will do what is in the best interest of the voters, you shouldn't need a "training wheel" so to speak such as a seperate election to prove that to voters. Next, Mayor Cohen's comparison of the "county election in November" and Morganton's election in October is really comparing 'apples to oranges' since Burke County has more than 52 thousand registered voters and Morganton has a little more than 10 thousand registered voters. So the difference in voter turnout is not the same using simple math and comparing the end results.

Mel Cohen continues and is quoted as saying he believes the city will have to go back to a single polling place for city elections in 2013. The fact that Morganton devised a contract with Burke County providing that Burke County Board of Elections will conduct ALL future elections in Morganton is proof enough that under state election law, the ONLY thing Morganton can do is select the method of local elections, non-partisan / runoff, plurality, etc. but the Burke County Board of Elections has the legal authority to decide the number of polling places to be used in every two-year election cycle in Morganton's City elections.

Finally, Mayor Cohen stated to the reporter, "The multiple voting sites and the method of notifying voters used by the elections board were confusing and we won't be using that in the future," he said.

It should be noted here that on election night, October 11, 2011, while results were being completed and the election staff was very busy, Mayor Cohen called and demanded to speak to the Director of Burke County Board of Elections, Debbie Mace. Mayor Cohen reportedly told her that "the city election went so well, WE can probably start using only one polling place in 2013." Director Mace responded to Mayor Cohen, "What's this WE stuff ? When Morganton contracted with Burke County in 2011 to hold future elections, Burke County Board of Elections is required to do the job itself, not with any assistance from Morganton. Director Mace told mayor Cohen, "That's what Morganton is paying Burke County to do".

The Director further told Mayor Cohen, "You don't have a say in the matter other than when you want us to hold your election". Mayor Cohen repeated that he believed Morganton would be better using a single precinct to which Director Mace responded saying "Morganton's election would have to conducted as state statutes require, and using one polling place will not meet the statute requirements of conducting Morganton's elections. Mayor Cohen responded and said "Let me contact the State Board of Elections" "I can get it changed."

Director Mace said "The State Board of Elections won't talk to or discuss this with you, and if they did they would be violating the law." From this in October to the February "State of the City" address in which Mayor Cohen continues to talk about changing things OUTSIDE of his authority, but continuing to CONFUSE voters as to when and where they vote. Every two years in Morganton after local elections are held in October, for about 1 to 2 weeks many citizens will question the local officials saying "When do we vote for Mayor" or "When do we vote for city council." Many who would vote in city elections are just confused as to when and where they should go to vote for mayor or city council members.

Hopefully those of you that read this will see just how "messed up" things are in Morganton, and it is because a dictator runs the city and everything in it, Mel Cohen has been mayor since 1985! for more than 26 years !! Maybe one day Morganton voters will wake up and realize they have been manipulated and led to believe Mayor Mel is a good mayor, when just the opposite is true, Morganton has missed many good opportunities over the years because Mayor Cohen acts as though he is a KING and Morganton is his Monarchy in which to rule and do as he has stated in public many times "Whatever the Hell I want to, and no one can do anything about it"

Proposal to Hickory City Parks & Recreation Department Commission and the Hickory City Council - Dr. Joseph Inglefield

The Hound: Two weeks ago at the February 7th Hickory City Council meeting, Dr. Joseph Inglefield and his wife, Attorney Rebecca Inglefield addressed the Hickory City Council about the issues regarding Aquatic Recreation in Hickory. I asked Dr. Inglefield about a plan that he had helped put together nearly two years ago to try to solve these issues in a positive manner.  The Doctor and his associates were summarily ignored without even the courtesy of a discussion. Without further adieu, I present Dr. Inglefield submitted message, which I believe speaks for itself.

It has been recommended that a proposal for an aquatics facility be made based on the recent public hearings and City of Hickory Aquatics Assessment Survey.

There are numerous citizens of Hickory who are very interested in aquatics facilities at this time. With the closure of the Ridgeview and West Hickory pools the last two summers, there has been an increasing demand for public aquatic facilities. At present, all other aquatic facilities in the Hickory area are private. Based on the city’s survey, aquatic recreation compares favorably in terms of the agenda for the Park & Rec’s department. In the survey only Police, Fire and Library Services surpassed it. Only 5.8% of citizens feel that no aquatic recreation is necessary.

The recent Gallup and Healthways Well Being Index poll ranked Hickory as being last in the USA, is quite a surprise considering Hickory’s being named an All American City. Construction of an Aquatics Center also fits with the ongoing effort of the Business Development Committee to market the City to existing and potential entrepreneurs including young professional couples, middle managers and telecommuters. Aquatics are an area where Hickory is clearly behind similar and competing cities. It is also consistent with our standing charter to attract retires who need a pool for recreation, exercise and medical rehabilitation.

The need to provide aquatic recreation for the public health and well being, safety, and protection of our citizens would be the primary motivation of building an aquatic facility. However, there are numerous other organizations and citizen groups that would be interested in the development and success of aquatic recreation in the public sector of Hickory.

Uses of such a facility include family swim and recreation times, swim lessons for all ages, and water safety lessons. Also, team training including swimming, water polo, and synchronized swimming, scuba diving, kayak training, police, fire and rescue training, medical rehab and water aerobics, obesity remediation. This would involve all age groups and citizens within the community.

Other groups that would have interest and could benefit from a public recreation aquatics facility include Lenoir Rhyne University, Frye Hospital, the YMCA of the Catawba Valley, economic development council, local developers, city and county schools, home schoolers, Western Piedmont Council of Government, hotel/motel owners, transportation agencies, local merchants and restaurants and eateries. The ability to attract regional competitive events and even national events is possible with the facility we suggest.

Collaboration with these organizations as well as philanthropic groups within Hickory would be strongly urged. These include the various foundations and philanthropists in the Hickory area.

With all this in mind and after careful review and attendance at the public hearings, we would recommended on behalf of the citizens of Hickory:

1) That we use local expertise in aquatics that can provide knowledgeable up-to-date information regarding aquatics facilities
2) The aquatics facility should be a minimum of 25 yards by 50 meters with a minimum depth of 60 inches. The initial construction would include bath house and adequate parking provided or available for immediate and future applications. This pool should be up to current standards and recommendations in terms of water filtration and handling with supplementary solar heating panels and blanket water cover to allow the facility to operate at least six months of the year. Deck space/room for future bleachers for swim meets and planning for possible seasonal enclosure might also be provided as the concept develops.
3) That the facility have adjacent land for expansion including at some point in the future a warm-up or teaching pool of a smaller size planning that this facility would be enclosed at some point in the future either by a seasonal inflatable bubble type structure or a permanent building.
4) We would recommend that this pool be placed adjacent to the Ridgeview area which is central to the city of Hickory, preferably very close to downtown, or even adjacent, where the facility would be an attraction for the entire city and would attract developers of the area surrounding the swimming facility such as hotel, restaurants and other support businesses.

We are available to answer questions to give guidance and recommendations regarding this basic facility which will serve the needs of the Hickory citizens for many years to come.

This proposal, the $30k survey on aquatics, 3 public hearings were all ignored by City Council and the recreation department. The sneaky destruction of the pools approved over the holiday, just like the "Big Tent" , followed. We need new leadership. Pure ward voting would help!

The Hound: If you think that a city should operate through obfuscation, charades, and without public discourse or input then you are in the right place. If you think there is something wrong with this style of authoritative governance, then please think about signing the petition to have an election about the way that Hickory City Council Representatives are elected. 

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- February 19, 2012

Gas prices are highest ever for this time of year - AP - Chris Kahn - Energy Writer - February 18, 2012 - Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year. At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April..           
High oil and gas prices now set the stage for even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.  Every spring, refiners suspend operations to switch the type of gasoline they make. Supplies of wintertime gas are sold off before March, when refineries need to start making a new formula of gasoline that's required in the summer.          That can mean less supply for service stations, resulting in higher gas prices. And summertime gasoline is more expensive to make. The government mandates that it contain less butane and other cheap organic compounds because they contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a primary constituent in smog. That means more oil, a costlier component, is needed to produce each gallon.            The Oil Price Information Service predicts that gasoline could peak at $4.25 a gallon by the end of April. That would top the record of $4.11 in July 2008.           The national average for gasoline began the year at $3.28 a gallon. The average price for February so far is $3.49 a gallon. That's up from $3.17 a gallon last February, a record at the time. Back in 2007, before the recession hit, the average for February was $2.25 a gallon.


In Russia, Putin allies sharpen anti-American attacks ahead of elections - The Washington Post - Kathy Lally - February 16, 2012 - A nasty spate of anti-Americanism set off by Vladimir V. Putin has grown into waves of attacks aimed at the new American ambassador and Russian opposition leaders, raising questions about the future of U.S.-Russian relations. The attacks started just before the December parliamentary elections and have intensified as the March 4 presidential vote approaches. Although widely viewed as aimed primarily at a domestic audience, they have grown shriller and more aggressive, provoking debate about whether Russia is deliberately giving a cold shoulder to President Obama’s effort to promote more productive relations.


Exclusive: 2nd N.C. Mother Says Daughter’s School Lunch Replaced for Not Being Healthy Enough - The Blaze - February 17, 2012 - North Carolina officials have said there was a misunderstanding when a preschooler’s homemade lunch was sent home for not meeting certain nutritional requirements, but now a second mother from the same school has come forward exclusively to The Blaze to say the same thing happened to her daughter.       Diane Zambrano says her 4-year-old daughter, Jazlyn, is in the same West Hoke Elementary School class as the little girl whose lunch gained national attention earlier this week. When Zambrano picked Jazlyn up from school late last month, she was told by Jazlyn’s teacher that the lunch she had packed that day did not meet the necessary guidelines and that Jazlyn had been sent to the cafeteria.        The lunch Zambrano packed for her daughter? A cheese and salami sandwich on a wheat bun with apple juice. The lunch she got in the cafeteria? Chicken nuggets, a sweet potato, bread and milk.         “She never eats breakfast or lunch at the school,” Zambrano said of her daughter during an interview with The Blaze. “We always wake up early and make her lunch.” It happens “every so often”        That day, Zambrano said she picked Jazlyn up from school and asked if she ate her lunch.“She’s not picky about food but you have to be on top of her,” she explained.                    When Jazlyn said she didn’t eat what her mother had made her, Zambrano went to her teacher and demanded to know what happened. She said the teacher told her an official had come through that day to inspect students’ lunches and that those who were lacking certain food groups were sent to the cafeteria. After she received her cafeteria food, the teacher told Zambrano, Jazlyn was told to put her homemade lunch back in her lunchbox and set it on the floor. Zambrano said the teacher told her it was not the first time student lunches have been inspected, and that officials come “every so often.”




Price hikes catch up to U.S. food makers - MarketWatch - Matt Andrejczak - February 18, 2012 - U.S. brand-name food makers raised prices throughout 2011 and it’s starting to catch up to them. On Friday, General Mills (GIS +0.37%) blamed “weak volume performance across U.S. retail food categories in December and January” for cutting their fiscal May 2012 outlook to between $2.53 and $2.55 a share from $2.59 to $2.61.          Lately, General Mills and other brand-name food makers have faced softening consumer demand, calling into question exactly how financially strong the U.S. consumer really is despite rising employment numbers...            General Mills is yet another sign brand-name American food makers continue to fight an uphill battle to win over U.S. shoppers, who have been very price conscious during this period of stagnant wage growth. Shoppers have been enamored with cheaper store-brand foods. Campbell Soup (CPB -0.55%) , which Friday beat Wall Street’s profit view for its quarter ended Jan. 29, said shoppers pulled back on food purchases following the winter holidays. On Friday, H.J. Heinz (HNZ +4.49%) also highlighted the mindset of U.S. consumers.                   While reporting strong sales for its namesake ketchup in emerging economies like China and Russia, Heinz said volumes fell 2% in North America after it raised prices for ketchup, Ore-Ida frozen french fries and Classico pasta sauces.


S&P 500 Q4 Profit Margins Decline By 27 basis points, 52 basis points Excluding Apple - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - February 18, 2012 - What a difference a quarter makes: back in Q4 2011, in light of the imploding global economic reality, the only recourse equity bulls had to was to point out that corporate profitability was still at all time highs, and to ignore the macro.....       America's self-delusion skills are legendary. But when it comes to corporate profit margin math, things are all too clear: the corporate profitability boom is over. As Goldman points out: with the bulk of companies reporting, in Q4 corporate profits have now declined by a significant 27 bps sequentially, and an even more significant 52 bps excluding Apple.......                 While we won't comment on the fact that Apple is accountable for half the margin delta in the S&P (or that the entire InfoTech space ex. Apple would have recorded a 2% EPS Growth and 8% sales growth instead of the 19% and 16% in EPS and Revenue otherwise reported), it is now clear that the "record profit" story is well and truly dead. As a result, the only "upside" case is for the delusion-driving US decoupling to continue, until such time as Europe is "fixed." Then again, since Europe's capacity for self-delusion is also quite impressive, it is not unrealistic to expect the continent to onboard the hopium pipe with the reckless abandon... of America.

Definition of 'Basis Point - BPS - A unit that is equal to 1/100th of 1%, and is used to denote the change in a financial instrument. The basis point is commonly used for calculating changes in interest rates, equity indexes and the yield of a fixed-income security.

20 Signs You Might Be A Typical American Worker - the Economic Collapse Blog - Once upon a time, anyone that was relatively competent and willing to work hard could go out and easily get a job that would enable that person to financially support a family. Unfortunately, that is simply no longer true anymore. Well paying "middle income jobs" are being rapidly replaced with "low income jobs" and part-time jobs. As the economy crumbles, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the typical American worker to survive from month to month. The number of companies that provide benefits such as health insurance has fallen steadily over the past ten years, and paychecks have not been keeping up with the rising prices of food and gas. Average American families are seeing their budgets squeezed like never before, and many of them are going into huge amounts of debt in order to make up the difference. Sadly, this is a problem that has developed over an extended period of time and that is not going to be reversed overnight. Over the past four decades, the ratio of wages and salaries to GDP in America has fallen dramatically. The typical American worker is not as valued as much as he or she used to be, and if current trends continue even more of us will be working part-time jobs or "low income jobs" in the years ahead.

In this economy, a good paying full-time job is incredibly precious. If you still have one, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. Check out the following chart. It is a chart that shows the level of wages and salaries as a percentage of GDP in the United States since the late 1940s. As you can see, the slice of the pie being taken home by American workers has been dropping like a rock since about 1970....

Is that a clear trend or what?   And it is going to continue year after year as long as we continue to pursue the same foolish economic policies.      As our politicians continue to allow millions of American jobs to be shipped overseas, competition for the jobs that remain inside this country is becoming extremely intense.    Back in 1967, 97 percent of all U.S. men with a high school degree between the ages of 30 and 50 had jobs.  Today, that figure is down to 76 percent.   As you read this, there are hordes of hard working American workers sitting at home staring at their televisions as they wonder why nobody will hire them.     Right now, if you gathered together all of the unemployed people in the United States, they would constitute the 68th largest country in the world.        That is absolutely insane.

But even if you do have a job that does not mean that you are in good shape.  The percentage of "low income jobs" just continues to climb.  Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs.  Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
Many Americans work as hard as they can and still find that they must turn to the government for financial assistance.  According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.

 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs even though our population has increased by more than 30 million since then.  In the year 2000 there were about 72 million middle class jobs in the United States, but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.
The lack of good jobs in America has some very real consequences.  In particular, our young adults are really feeling the pain of not being able to find quality employment.



Foreclosure abuse still rampant across U.S., experts say - Report found 84 pct of San Francisco disclosures illegal - Reuters - Tim Reid - February 18, 2012 - A report this week showing rampant foreclosure abuse in San Francisco reflects similar levels of lender fraud and faulty documentation across the United States, say experts and officials who have done studies in other parts of the country.
The audit of almost 400 foreclosures in San Francisco found that 84 percent of them appeared to be illegal, according to the study released by the California city on Wednesday.           Across the country from California, Jeff Thingpen, register of deeds in Guilford County, North Carolina, examined 6,100 mortgage documents last year, from loan notes to foreclosure paperwork. Of those documents, created between January 2008 and December 2010, 4,500 showed signature irregularities, a telltale sign of the illegal practice of "robosigning" documents.               Robosigning involves the use of bogus documents to force foreclosures without lenders having to scrutinize all the paperwork involved with mortgages. The practice was at the heart of the foreclosure scandal that led to a $25 billion settlement between the U.S. government and five major banks last week. The banks have never formally admitted any wrongdoing.


20 Lies Every American Should Know!

Morganton - What is going on up there?

 A story from a reliable confidential source relating to Morganton Shenanigans:

On Monday February 6, 2012, a lifelong resident of Morganton came to Morganton City Council to express his issues with what he described as a "False Arrest" on January 30, 2012. Mr. Roper began his comments saying he had been told he would have ten to fifteen minutes to speak but actually captivated those in the council chamber for almost twenty minutes.

Joe Eddy Roper lives on College Street in Morganton, about a mile from Morganton Public Safety Headquarters and next to a busy area of Morganton, Fleming Bypass. In his own words Mr. Roper described the events of January 30, where he was ordered out of his car at gunpoint by Morganton Public Safety Officer Kim Davis and immediately "slammed" onto the hood of the patrol car followed by being handcuffed so tightly he had severe injury to both wrists.

Mr. Roper demonstrated his rotator cuff injury saying he did not have full un-restricted use of his left arm, and still experienced numbness in his fingers. Mr. Roper is 75 years old and although he was a wrestler in his younger days he is not as "quick" and able to move as he was in his younger days. Joe Eddy demanded Morganton City Council fire officer Kim Davis and an unnamed backup officer for what he described as 'police brutality' on January 30th.

Mr. Roper stated that "50 years ago, if he had been treated as he was on January 30, he wouldn't have 'took it' off the officers and they may have been hurt and hurt bad." Mr. Roper further said "If Morganton cannot operate a reasonable and fair police department, maybe a new chief should be hired."

Joe Eddy spoke of his work and accomplishments during his life, stating he had twenty years in law enforcement and he would not ever have "jerked away" from an officer in a manner appearing to be resisting arrest and especially now that he is 75 years old. He told those at city council he had been asked to be a chief deputy at Burke County Sheriff's Department during the time David Oaks was sheriff in the 1960's and had been asked to accept the Chief of Police job at Drexel in the past, but did not work in those positions.

Joe Eddy has been a teacher and NC Driver's License Examiner in Burke County and continued to tell city council about threats against himself and his son by an individual he named as "Eric Nichols." Mr. Nichols reportedly has threatened to kill both Joe Eddy Roper and his son on multiple occasions and has "pulled a gun" on both of them more than once including in the parking lot of Mighty Dollar - a dollar store less than a mile from Joe Eddy's home. On Monday January 30, when confronted by Eric Nichols, Joe Eddy said he reached for a can of mace, but decided instead to get into his car and go home.

Joe Eddy told Morganton City Council, "There are two reasons most people do not come before this city council, one they fear retaliation from the establishment, this city council, or they have no money. Joe Eddy continued saying, "I don't fall into either of those categories."

When he left the store Public Safety was called to a report of a domestic disturbance in the parking lot of the dollar store. After arriving officers immediately went to Joe Eddy's home where he was forced from his car at gunpoint by officer Kim Davis. It is this reporters belief based on many citizens telling of incidents of excessive use of force that Morganton officers who are "cross trained" both as police and firefighters, leads to fatigue and shorter fuses as to how they respond to people in apparent criminal situations.

As Joe Eddy finished his comments, he stated "this is not going to go away tomorrow. Joe Eddy Roper will be here tomorrow and I will follow-up on this until I am satisfied it has been resolved, however long it takes."

Last summer, a 17 year old Freedom High student was shot and killed at his home when he answered the door and the officer stated "he saw a gun" and when the suspect was ordered to drop the weapon, he did not (according to the officer) and he was shot and killed. The mother still maintains Public Safety never announced themselves as "the police" but after knocking on the door and seeing the young man holding a BB gun started shooting, killing the young man.

That case was ultimately 'cleared' by the District Attorney's office, but the mother attempted to sue Morganton as she maintains they did not identify that they were "the police" and just killed her son without justification. Morganton has had several incidents recently such as this, and many citizens believe the fact that officers are required to do "two jobs" they are more stressed than just police officers who face similar circumstances.

Morganton is the only municipality in North Carolina (other than Butner, a prison near Raleigh) that has "Public Safety" in which officers are required to do two jobs and as such it seems Morganton is setting itself up for disaster by overextending the limits of 'one person' by requiring them to do two jobs. All other towns and cities that have been "public safety" now have 'switched back' to separate police and fire departments because of low morale and dangerous situations faced by people doing two dangerous jobs.

It has been said that Police Officers deal with people, and Fireman deal with things and the two should do only one job because of the nature of the work and to be able to provide citizens with the best protection possible.

I have been a critic of the "public safety" enforcement model for years, and as we continue to see people treated in a manner other than within "due process" Morganton will continue to become a less desirable place to live.

Help Bring Fair Representation Back to the City of Hickory

Will you print out and sign the attached petition and mail back to us? It will take you less than 5 minutes and will make a HUGE improvement in future elections.

I’m writing to tell you about a petition we’re circulating to get Hickory city council elections changed to a true ward system. It’s really important because:

• In a true ward system, voters in each ward choose their own representative; it’s more democratic because local voters have a bigger say in who represents their wards.
• A true ward system allows more citizens to consider running for office because it is less expensive to run an election in one ward than to run city-wide; we’ll get some new perspectives and fresh ideas on city council.
• A true ward system makes representatives more accountable because they live and work in the same community where their constituents live so they have daily contact with their voters.
• True ward system elections are less expensive for taxpayers because only half the polls have to be open each election year.

The City Council could make this change simply with their vote, but they are happy with the status quo. We think the voters should decide how they want their elections run, and that's where we need your help.

Will you print out and sign the attached petition and mail back to us? It will take you less than 5 minutes and will make a HUGE improvement in future elections.

Click here to download the petition.

Other registered voters in your house and neighborhood can also sign the petition. If you prefer, I can mail you a petition and a stamped envelope to return it in - just reply to my email (cjane@rayandcjane.com) with your request.

I know you believe in fair and representative government; if you have questions about how the true ward system will make that happen, please call me any time at 828-612-8448.

Thanks for your time.

C. Jane Johnson