The Mayor on Hal Row's Show about the Ward Referendum - July 16, 2012

The Mayor was on Hal Row's "First Talk" ,show on WHKY this morning for the "Monday morning meeting with the Mayor." He was asked by Hal about the Ward Specific voting referendum. The Mayor seemed to state that the Council and he were all for this referendum, but that they chose to allow the petition process to play out, because they didn't want to set a precedent and have people coming forward with frivolous requests for referendums.

The Mayor couldn't be more full of (propaganda). People have told us that the Mayor volunteered to open dialogue about the issue of the petition and expressly told some not to sign it. When members of the CEG openly expressed that they wanted the issue of Ward Specific Council Elections versus the Current At Large model discussed, the Council steadfastly refused to even discuss the issue. They were never going to address this issue. We forced their hand through the necessary means.

The Mayor talked spin about 3,500 people participating in City wide elections and seemed to poo-poo the number of signatures that were received, when in the last two Council elections respectively 2,300 and 1,100 people voted. 2,707 people signed this petition, which is very nearly double the support that the winners received in the 2009 election. This petition garnered 10.6% of the registered voters signatures in the City of Hickory and in actuality many more people than that signed the petition and very few of those signatures were disqualified for reasons other than the legibility of the name or a missing address. We learned from on-the-job training during this process. It was new to us and we learned as we went along. What people can take to the bank is that we learned a lot about this process; and as we move forward, we now have valuable experience to fall back on should we need to revisit this process about other issues that this Council refuses to engage the public on.

A Council member talked about how changing to the Direct ward system would institute walls. What we see now is one wall. That if you went to your Ward Representative and they would not listen that you could go to another. What we have seen is a Council of Unanimous Consent. Why should anyone feel that going to another Ward Representative is going to result in anything different when they are "All of one mind." I have addressed what appears to be this Council's Us versus Them mentality. That is the real wall that the people face. That is what brought this petition about. It is about representation and accountability. Not really for this particular Council, but for Councils going forward.

I think many people look forward to tomorrow night and the debating of this issue that will take place throughout this community. Usually Hickory Inc. is in charge of processes. Well, now we see the playing field leveled to a large degree. The Mayor is right about one thing. The changing of this system would completely change how the City of Hickory Inc. operates. The old saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it." For many, they view the system of political governance in Hickory as broken and so they haven't been participating in it. This is the chance to bring government back to those who feel disenfranchised. This petition screams loud and clear, "This system is broke and it's time to fix it."

And for all of those who complain about how Hickory's local economy isn't working, but continue to go along to get along by suppressing messages that interested parties attempt to deliver, it is time that you stand down and let processes happen naturally. Democracy isn't always pretty. Politics is never a comfortable thing, but this is how the decisions that affect our every day lives are made. It is time to allow the people of this community to be heard!

A Message to Hickory about the Ward Specific Voting Referendum

To whom it may concern about the Referendum on Ward Specific voting:

Those who support this referendum have always intended to remain calm, cool, and collected and just make the points of support in a clear manner and stick to the issue that this is about bringing representation to everyone in Hickory... No one really understands who the current council is representing, and not many think the Council really understands who they are representing other than a few specific interests. What we do know is that people of every demographic and characteristic and from every ward in this community signed this petition and we believe that they signed it because they feel disenfranchised. This disenfranchisement, we believe, is caused not as much by the character of this City Council, but because of the current system in place. The representation of the current council, or the lack thereof, has been tainted by the current flawed at-large system.

The Council is firmly entrenched in a box that not one of them understood until we brought this issue forward. They should recognize that this isn't personal and if they take a step back and realize that and look at this with an empathetic-objective eye, then maybe they might see where we are coming from.

The Council didn't even want the issue addressed. When the Ward Map Redrawing took place and we asked that they at least take a look at the Direct Ward versus At Large issue, they said that wasn't what they were here for and completely dismissed the issue and that is what forced us to start doing our homework. When the City refused to listen to citizen's concerns, they forced us to do our due diligence and reexamine ourselves and readdress what our mission really was. We should thank the Mayor and the City Council, because their steadfast refusal to listen to citizen concerns about representation forced us to look at where all of this began and from there, with the effort and research of Walter Witherspoon, we were able to find out about 1967. We were able to see that 4 City Council members thought that they knew what was best for the thousands of people in Hickory. The citizens of Hickory weren't allowed to make the determination about how their representatives would be voted upon, instead those who received the votes made the determination about how they would be elected. That is the definition of the Fox guarding the hen house.

All we are trying to do is make participation in local government more user friendly. Whether you are Black, White, Rich, Poor, Woman, Man, Baptist, Lutheran, or whatever, it isn't about labels. It is about the stake you have in this community. Everyone has something to contribute. This issue brings everyone together. It brings everyone in this community to the decision making table. It makes the representatives on City Council responsible and accountable to the people closest to them. It makes them attentive to the 6,700 people in their ward, instead of diluting that representation to a bloc of people outside of their ward. That will not dilute the interest of the City as a whole. We believe it enhances it. Ward empowerment is not a plus and minus affair. It is a plus and plus affair.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- July 15, 2012

Food crisis fears as US corn soars - The Financial Times of London - Jack Farchy - July 13, 2012 - It has become a distressingly familiar question. With the price of agricultural staples such as corn, soyabeans and wheat soaring for the third summer in five years, the prospect of another price shock is once again becoming a prominent concern for investors and politicians alike...                  

High quality global journalism requires investment.                             The debate marks a dramatic shift from just a few weeks ago, when traders were expecting bumper crops and policy makers were comforting themselves that – if nothing else – falling commodity prices would offer some relief to the troubled global economy.                    But since then, scorching heat and a paucity of rain across the US has withered the country’s corn and soyabean crops, with the US Department of Agriculture this week making the largest downward revision to its estimate for a corn crop in a quarter of a century.                     The US is crucial to supplying the world with food: the country is the largest exporter of corn, soyabeans and wheat, accounting for one in every three tonnes of the staple grains traded on the global market.                    Prices for this year’s corn crop, deliverable in December, have jumped 44 per cent in a month, wheat has rallied 45 per cent, and soyabeans 17 per cent.

The rise in grain prices has inspired comparisons with 2007-08, when a price surge triggered a wave of food riots in more than 30 countries from Bangladesh to Haiti, and 2010, when Russia banned grain exports, setting off a price jump that some have argued helped to cause unrest across the Arab world last year.

Drought stretches across America, threatens crops - CNN - Moni Basu - July 13, 2012 -  As of Tuesday, 61% of land in the lower 48 states was experiencing drought conditions -- stretching from Nevada to South Carolina -- the highest percentage in the 12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor.               The parched conditions come after some areas of the United States suffered record-setting heat waves, killer storms and blazing wildfires.                   In America's Corn Belt, the prognosis for farmers is grim as fields and pastures become drier by the day....                       He says 30% of the corn crop in the 18 primary corn-growing states is now in poor or very poor condition, up from 22% the previous week.                    Half of America's pastures and ranges are in poor or very poor condition, up from 28% in mid-June, he says........                                 Consumers will be hurting as well down the line when they feel the drought in their pocketbooks, says Miller, who is also the director of research and commodity services at the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Corn prices have climbed 45% already, Miller says; soybeans, 22%.                         "In the short run, that doesn't show up in the grocery store," he said, since most of this corn is used as livestock feed.

In fact, he said, meat prices could fall at first if farmers slaughter more animals to decrease the cost of buying feed.                      But eventually, Americans will pay more at the checkout counter.                   "It's likely that in three to six months from now, you will start seeing an increase in prices in the meat case," Miller said. "There will be a quicker impact on eggs and poultry because the production cycle is shorter."                   And even milk could see 4% to 6% price hikes if there are reductions in dairy herds.

The Real Libor Scandal ~Paul Craig Roberts and Nomi Prins - PaulCraig Roberts.org - Paul Craig Roberts and Nomi Prins - July 14, 2012 - ...Banks are not the only beneficiaries of lower Libor rates. Debtors (and investors) whose floating or variable rate loans are pegged in some way to Libor also benefit. One could argue that by fixing the rate low, the banks were cheating themselves out of interest income, because the effect of the low Libor rate is to lower the interest rate on
customer loans, such as variable rate mortgages that banks possess in their portfolios. But the banks did not fix the Libor rate with their customers in mind. Instead, the fixed Libor rate enabled them to improve their balance sheets, as well as help to perpetuate the regime of low interest rates. The last thing the banks want is a rise in interest rates that would drive down the values of their holdings and reveal large losses masked by rigged interest rates.                 Indicative of greater deceit and a larger scandal than simply borrowing from one another at lower rates, banks gained far more from the rise in the prices, or higher evaluations of floating rate financial instruments (such as CDOs), that resulted from lower Libor rates. As prices of debt instruments all tend to move in the same direction, and in the opposite direction from interest rates (low interest rates mean high bond prices, and vice versa), the effect of lower Libor rates is to prop up the prices of bonds, asset-backed financial instruments, and other "securities." The end result is that the banks' balance sheets look healthier than they really are...                      In other words, we would argue that the bailed-out banks in the US and UK are returning the favor that they received from the bailouts and from the Fed and Bank of England’s low rate policy by rigging government bond prices, thus propping up a government bond market that would otherwise, one would think, be driven down by the abundance of new debt and monetization of this debt, or some part of it. How long can the government bond bubble be sustained? How negative can interest rates be driven?                         Can a declining economy offset the impact on inflation of debt creation and its monetization, with the result that inflation falls to zero, thus making the low interest rates on government bonds positive?                       According to his public statements, zero inflation is not the goal of the Federal Reserve chairman. He believes that some inflation is a spur to economic growth, and he has said that his target is 2% inflation. At current bond prices, that means a continuation of negative interest rates.                   The latest news completes the picture of banks and central banks manipulating interest rates in order to prop up the prices of bonds and other debt instruments. We have learned that the Fed has been aware of Libor manipulation (and thus apparently supportive of it) since 2008. Thus, the circle of complicity is closed. The motives of the Fed, Bank of England, US and UK banks are aligned, their policies mutually reinforcing and beneficial. The Libor fixing is another indication of this collusion.                 Unless bond prices can continue to rise as new debt is issued, the era of rigged bond prices might be drawing to an end. It would seem to be only a matter of time before the bond bubble bursts.


New York Fed Knew of False Barclays Reports on Rates - New York Times - By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and BEN PROTESS - July 13, 2012 - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York learned in April 2008, as the financial crisis was brewing, that at least one bank was reporting false interest rates.                    At the time, a Barclays employee told a New York Fed official that “we know that we’re not posting um, an honest” rate, according to documents released by the regulator on Friday. The employee indicated that other big banks made similarly bogus reports, saying that the British institution wanted to “fit in with the rest of the crowd.”                  Although the New York Fed conferred with Britain and American regulators about the problems and recommended reforms, it failed to stop the illegal activity, which persisted through 2009.                           British regulators have said that they did not have explicit proof then of wrongdoing by banks. But the Fed’s documents, which were released at the request of lawmakers, appear to undermine those claims.
The revelations fuel concerns that regulators are ill-equipped to police big banks and that financial institutions can game the system for their own purposes.....                         Regulators are now expanding their global investigation into the manipulation of key interest rates, a multiyear inquiry that has already examined more than 10 big banks, including UBS, JPMorgan Chase andCitigroup. In June, Barclays agreed to pay $450 million to settle claims that it reported bogus rates to deflect concerns about its health and bolster profits.                            The Barclays case is the first major action stemming from the inquiry into how big banks set major benchmarks like the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor. The rate is essentially how much interest banks would pay to borrow money on a short-term basis from other financial firms, a process that is overseen by the British Bankers’ Association, an industry trade group. Such benchmarks are used to determine the price of trillions of dollars of financial products, including mortgages and credit cards.
Since the Barclays settlement, lawmakers have focused their attention on regulators’ role in the rate-manipulation controversy.                  “As much as $800 trillion in financial products are pegged to Libor, so any manipulation of this rate is of serious concern,” said Representative Randy Neugebauer, the chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which initially requested the documents from the New York Fed. “We’ll continue looking into this matter to determine who was involved in this practice and whether it could have been prevented by regulators.”
              


Market Savior? Stocks Might Be 50% Lower Without Fed - CNBC.com - John Melloy - July 12, 2012 -  A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that the bulk of equity returns for more than a decade are due to actions by the US central bank.               Theoretically, the S&P 500 [.SPX  1356.78    22.02  (+1.65%)   ] would be more than 50 percent lower—at the 600 level—if the bullish price action preceding Fed announcements was excluded, the study showed....                   What they found was that the Federal Reserve has had an outsized impact on equities relative to other asset classes.                         For example, the market has a tendency to rise in the 24-hour period before the release of the Fed’s statement on interest rates and the economy, presumably on expectations Chairman Ben Bernanke and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, would discuss or implement a stimulus measure to lift asset prices.                          The FOMC has released eight announcements a year at 2:15 ET since 1994. The study took the gains in the S&P 500 from 2 pm the day before the announcement to 2 pm the day of the statement and subtracted that market move from the S&P 500’s total return over that time span.                     Without the gains in anticipation of a positive Fed action, the S&P 500 would stand at just 600 today, rather than above 1300.

JPMorgan loses $5.8 billion on trades; traders may have hidden losses - Reuters through CNBC - (Reporting by David Henry and Jed Horowitz in New York, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) - July 13, 2012 -  JPMorgan Chase & Co lost $5.8 billion in 2012 from disastrous credit bets, and traders might have tried to conceal the extent of the losses earlier this year, the biggest U.S. bank said on Friday.               The bank still managed to earn nearly $5 billion in overall profit in the second quarter and said it had fixed the problems in the Chief Investment Office, which was responsible for the trading losses. In the worst-case scenario, JPMorgan will lose another $1.7 billion on the trades, it said.             But JPMorgan's disclosure that traders may have deliberately lied about their positions could bring even more intense regulatory scrutiny to the bank, analysts said. It is already under investigation by everyone from the FBI to the UK's Financial Services Authority.               The trading losses and possible deception from traders are a black eye for JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who was respected for keeping his bank consistently profitable during the financial crisis...                      A host of international regulators and agencies are probing the trading mishap. Besides the FBI and FSA, they include the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Treasury's Office for the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

JPMorgan's Drew Forfeits 2 Years' Pay as Managers Ousted - Reuters - Dawn Kopecki - July 13, 2012


How Your Bank Account Could Disappear (BAC, C, JPM) - ETF Daily News - Jeff Neilson - July 11, 2012 - ... We are being led to believe by the Corporate Media (another unreliable source) that this problem is only a risk for all individuals with “brokerage” accounts, however as we piece together all the pieces of the puzzle (already revealed) this is what we see before us:

1) Our banking regulators knowingly allow financial institutions to engage in recklessly misleading (if not outright fraudulent) contracts with their clients, through the use of complex “small print” in their account contracts with clients.

2) The three largest U.S. “banks” by deposit JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C) have made bets in their own rigged casino, which total well in excess of $100 trillion, an amount which completely dwarfs their total, combined deposits (and assets).

3) A large portion of those bets occur in the $60+ trillion credit default swap market. Pay-outs in these markets can (and do) exceed 300 times the amount of the original bet. It is bets in this market which “blew up” AIG, requiring more than $150 billion in immediate government aid.

4) Following the Crash of ’08; these same banks mooched a package of hand-outs, tax-breaks and “guarantees” (i.e. future hand-outs) from the Bush regime in excess of $15 trillion, the last time their gambling debts went bad on them – and all of these banks have been allowed to dramatically increase the total amount of their gambling since then.

5) It would take only a minor change in the gambling contracts in which these bankers engage to allow their creditors to seize funds out of ordinary bank accounts.

6) The existing language for the bank accounts of these U.S. banks is possibly already so vague (and prejudicial to clients) that it would allow these banks to reinterpret the terms of these bank accounts – and allow rehypothecation to be used to rob the holders of ordinary bank accounts, people who themselves make no “bets” in markets whatsoever. Alternately, customers could be blitzed with an offer for “new and improved” bank accounts, where terms allowing rehypothecation are slipped into the contract, with the banks knowing that the “regulators” will do nothing to warn account-holders of the gigantic risk they are taking.


Producer prices rise despite drop in energy costs - Reuters through CNBC - July 13, 2012 - 
Producer prices unexpectedly rose in June despite big drops in energy prices, a sign that some inflation pressures could keep the Federal Reserve on guard.                     The Labor Department said on Friday its seasonally adjusted producer price index rose 0.1 percent last month. Analysts polled by Reuters expected the index to drop 0.5 percent.                The increase was driven by gains in consumer goods like household appliances, light trucks and pet food.               That led so-called core inflation, which strips out more volatile food and energy prices, to rise 0.2 percent, in line with expectations.                   While overall inflation has cooled recently, core inflation has held at higher levels. Some policymakers at the Fed worry that further moves to lower borrowing costs could fuel higher inflation, though the central bank has said it was ready to do more to help the economy if needed. Energy prices dropped 0.9 percent in June, dragged down by a record drop in prices for residential electric power, which fell 2.1 percent. Diesel fuel prices sank 8.8 percent.                The fall in energy prices is likely to help the economy as lower costs for fuels and other input prices leave companies more money to spend on other things, such as equipment or even hiring.

Postal Service default appears likely - USA Today - Sean Reilly, Federal Times - July 13, 2012 - The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is within weeks of defaulting on a legally required $5.5 billion payment into a health benefits fund for future retirees....                           Under a schedule laid out in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the Postal Service also is supposed to make a $5.6 billion payment into the retiree health fund at the end of September....                   Lawmakers appear likely to let the Postal Service default, representatives of mailing industry groups said Thursday......                        Both the House and Senate will be on break Aug. 6 to Sept. 7; after that, the House is scheduled to be in session for only three weeks in September and October, according to a schedule posted on its website.                  Tony Conway, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, sees little chance of an intervention from Congress before next month's deadline. Lawmakers have "got all this stuff on their plate, and they're running out of time. And there's no vehicle, so it doesn't appear it's something they're going to get to," he said.                  The health-care payment originally was due in September 2011, but Congress deferred it until Aug. 1.

In requiring the Postal Service to build up the health benefits fund, lawmakers' stated purpose was to ensure coverage for future retirees without resorting to taxpayer assistance. But Postal Service executives and unions have objected that no other business or government agency faces a similar mandate.                  Although the agency has struggled to make the payments in recent years, Congress has twice stepped in, either to reduce the legally required amount or to push back the deadline.

Banks Lend Money into existence as Debt - Max Keiser ...most people assume that a Bank takes in a deposit and then they loan that deposit out and this creates liquidity in the system , that's false , in today's banking system Banks first lend money into existence that's where money comes from it is loaned into existence as debt , a small fraction of that ends up in another bank's balance sheet that they then call collateral but it is just debt , there is no hard collateral ...that's why at this time around the world there is a mad scramble to try to reclassify gold as a tier one asset because that's the only intangible collateral that you can have at this point to solve the fact that none of these banks have any collateral that's worth anything in the resale market , they are all technically bankrupt .... this is what they discovered in Island .....

Special Hickory City Council meeting to discuss ward referendum on July 17, 2012

Ready for second sequence. Man all stations... T-Minus 84 hours... Loading Program XVK-Mach 2... Comprende... Go for 2....

The People vs The Too Big to Fails

The City of Oakland vs Goldman Sachs - Oakland City Council votes to terminate swap agreement with Goldman Sachs - San Francisco Chronicle - July 11, 2012

The City of Oakland is currently debating the possibility of terminating a contract it has with the investment bank Goldman Sachs. The deal in question is called an interest-rate swap, and is a particular type of arrangement that was supposed to save the city money, but instead has resulted in Oakland taxpayers making annual payments of around $4 million to the banking giant. Last week city officials, SEIU members, and Oakland taxpayers rallied together at Oakland City Hall to stand up to Wall Street's stranglehold on their community. They marched to Citibank to deliver a letter, telling the bank to stop bilking their city through shady deals like interest rate swaps




Matt Taibbi : The Libor Scandal.The Biggest Financial Scam In World History - CNN - Viewpoint - Eliot Spitzer - The banking system is in the spotlight again amid rising political and public anger over the Libor scandal. Matt Taibbi talks about The Libor Scandal saying that it is The Biggest Financial Scam In World History . Some of you by now have probably heard that the former CEO of Britain's Barclay's Bank resigned over the LIBOR scandal, and has accused the bank -along with others -- of "fixing" interest rates. LIBOR is simply an acronym for London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, the rate at which banks extend credit to each other, similar in effect to the Federal Reserve's rate. This is the Biggest Financial Scam In World History , the largest banking corruption scandal in history.Yet nobody is freaking about LIBOR in America, while JP Morgan caught doing an Enron on US energy markets and GlaxoSmithKline pays 10% of their ill-gotten gains for bribing doctors and scientists across America These large banks have stolen money from every single human on the planet. Not one person was left out. Not even YOU! Now that it is exposed there is no going back. We will ALL support the "NO MORE BAILOUT" mantra... This one will not go away. It was not planned to go away like other "banking scandals". This one will build and build and build until it is known by every man, woman and child on the planet. This is the exposure that will END the bad guys reign.





Barclays Scandal : Bob Diamond Resigns in anger - BBC - Barclays bank CEO Bob Diamond resigns . The chief executive of Barclays, one of the world's largest banks, resigned Tuesday in the wake of a scandal, the bank announced. Bob Diamond's resignation is effective immediately, the bank said. Diamond has long been a controversial figure, and has been a vocal backer of huge bonuses for bankers.Barclay's reputation has been hammered by a scandal involving the rates at which banks lend each other money, known as Libor. Libor rate is the rate banks charge to lend to each other , which is then passed to the customer .In a statement, Diamond, who faced mounting calls to step down, said he made the decision as the external pressure on the bank has reached a level that risks "damaging the franchise". I just can't believe that Bob Diamond of Barlcays Bank had no idea the traders were fixing the libor rate. The sheer gaul of the Barclay's Bank chief executive officer to say he was saddened and angry at the perpetrators and that he was proud of instigating a £100m investigation. The Barclay's Bank CEO also "told tales" on other banks for similar activities "unaware" of it happening at his institution - if you believe that you'll believe anything!!




Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Banking Scandal? - Rolling Stone - matt Taibbi - July 3, 2012 - ...The furor is over revelations that Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and other banks were monkeying with at least $10 trillion in loans (The Wall Street Journal is calculating that that LIBOR affects $800 trillion worth of contracts).

The banks gamed LIBOR for two semi-overlapping reasons. As noted here last week, there were instances of Barclays traders badgering the LIBOR submitters to "push down" rates in order to fatten their immediate bottom lines, depending on what they were trading or holding that day. They also apparently rigged LIBOR downward in order to produce a general appearance of better health, essentially tweaking their credit scores a few ticks upward.

Most intriguingly, or perhaps disturbingly, there were revelations last week that Bank of England deputy Governor Paul Tucker had a conversation with Diamond at the peak of the crisis in 2008. The conversation reportedly left Diamond, and subsequently his traders, with the impression that the bank had carte blanche to rig LIBOR downward in order to help allay spiraling public fears about the banks’ poor financial health.

British officials, and Tucker individually, deny that Tucker gave Diamond permission to rig rates. But a report by British regulators did conclude that the two were talking about Barclays LIBOR submissions on October 29, 2008, and that as a result of that conversation, Diamond came away with a “misunderstanding.”

Ward Specific Voting Referendum Discussion - Catawba County Board of Elections - July 10, 2012

The discussion this morning at the Catawba County Board of Elections entailed the Ward Specific Voting Referendum issue. Discussion details included setting the date and the language of the referendum along with time frames.

This will be a paper ballot, but the election will be counted electronically and the system must be programmed. The 45 day public notice does not have to include the specific ballot language, but can ( and most likely will) include proposed language. The State must approve the ballot design and its language. The State will look to ensure that the language is not negative towards either side.

The Council will have to adopt a resolution and submit it to the Board of Elections. The Board of Elections will inform the State that the City has adopted the resolution. Once the ballot has been created, then it is submitted to the State for approval.

Absentee ballots will be sent out 30 days before the election and the early voting process begins the third Thursday before the official election date. The Board of Elections desires that the election take place well before the deadline date in October. Walter Witherspoon interjected that the CEG requests input in the process including the wording of the ballot. As far as any confusing language David Hood stated that he doesn't expect that from the City. The CoEs role is to see that the statute has been followed. If there is a judgment call to make, it isn't theirs to make. They can express their opinion, but that is as far as they can go. The language should be kept as simple as possible to limit confusion.

The City Council may have to call special meetings to address this issue. They must give 48 hours notice before holding such a meeting and that will be posted in the paper and on the City's website. City Staff Attorney Arnita Dula stated that she has not been informed whether this issue will be on the July 17, 2012 agenda.

North Carolina General Statute

§ 160A‑105.  Submission of propositions to voters; form of ballot.

A proposition to approve an ordinance or petition shall be printed on the ballot in substantially the following form:

"Shall the ordinance (describe the effect of the ordinance) be approved?

(  )          YES

(  )          NO"

The ballot shall be separate from all other ballots used at the election.

If a majority of the votes cast on a proposition shall be in the affirmative, the plan contained therein shall be put into effect as provided in this Article. If a majority of the votes cast shall be against the proposition, the ordinance or petition proposing the amendments shall be void and of no effect. (1969, c. 629, s. 2; 1971, c. 698, s. 1.)

Another meeting with the Catawba County BoE at 8:15am

The Hickory staff attorney will be at the Board of Elections meeting Tuesday morning at 8:15 am to propose a date and ballot wording for the Referendum election. No the CEG hasn't had any input so far and yes there will be some of us present in the morning and we will let you know what happens ASAP.