Alert: Exploitation Well Crafted! and Rudy Wright

 Update (6:45pm  - 10/9/2013): Can you imagine how you would feel if  someone were to exploit your elderly parent for personal gain? We all can because we've all dealt with issues of a loved ones being in a vulnerable state whether mental or physical or both at some time in our lives. Rudy Wright has mentioned frequently about his mother's last years and dealing with Alzheimer's and yet he still willfully went through with his scheme to exploit the former Congressman purely for personal political gain.

Update 2 (7:35pm - 10/9/2013): I just heard a voicemail this evening that was left by Congressman Ballenger's wife that described the exploitation of the former Congressman by Mayor Wright as "Despicable". 

Rudy Wright as seen in a picture in this mornings Hickory Daily Record (10/9/2013) with our Former Congressman Cass Ballenger in a photo-op stunt. I was sent a message that his family is vurry, vurry, (I cain't emphasize enough) vurry-vurry upset about this.

If they had known about this, the family would have never allowed it. The Assisted Living Center the Congressman resides in should have known better, the Hickory Daily Record should have known better, if someone set this up they should have known better, and MOST of all Rudy Wright should have known better. Given the inappropriate action and the family's feelings towards this, when can we expect the vurry appropriate public apology.

^ Used by permission ^

Rudy is trying to whip up Republican support as he runs against a Democrat. Rudy pushes the non-partisan angle in public, but pretends to be an ultra-conservative when he feels it benefits him. Remember this is the guy that promises to raise your taxes and spend money on beautification.

Rudy wants to call people out when he disagrees about a sign that is up for interpretation, but Rudy exploiting an 86 year old dementia patient for political purposes is fine????

Old Hickory in the lead

Tonight the results are in for Ward Voting and now we go to the Julian Whitener finals, in which the system works to dilute a level playing field of representation on the Hickory City Council, but that battle was lost last year and won't be changed for a few more years.

The Julian Whitener Finalists will be:
Ward 4 - Anetia Wright vs. Hank Guess
Ward 5 - David Zagaroli vs. Joe Brannock
Ward 6 - Jill Patton vs .......
Mayor  - Rudy Wright vs Dr. Jody Inglefield

It will be an uphill battle for those facing the establishment, especially here in a community that looks to cling to traditions long ago abandoned by forward moving communities.

The Establishments Positions:
1) Taking care of Old Money interests first and foremost. Competition is a Sin.
2) Union Square, Union Square, Union Square. Obviously.
3) A community tailor made for 70, 80, and 90 year olds. Actions speak louder than words.
4) Business built upon Cheap Labor and Worker Bees. The Underemployment Economic Model.
5) Regressive Taxation for Public Relations. Paid for by the middle class. Spent by the Upper Class.
6) The City Administrative form of government is the be-all/end-all.

The Challenger Positions:
1) Term Limits.
2) We have got to fix this demographic issue.
3) Taking seriously the Health problems in this community.
4) Leveling the Policy making Playing Field. Conflicts of Interest are killing us.
5) Bringing the Community together as one through love and compassion.
6) The Mayor and City Council are responsible for our governance.

The Hound: Ernie Masche and I sat in a meeting with a gentleman yesterday who is a friend of mine and he talked about the origins of the Economic Development Corporation back in the 1970s. Most of the established "old money" companies in Catawba County were dead set against it's formation. It was named the "Catawba County Industrial Development Commission" - the precursor of today's EDC.

Everyone in this community today touts the EDC, but it would not have been allowed to form if certain people had not gone up against the local entrenched establishment of the 1970s, much as the Challengers to current city governance are having to do today.

We will see what happens in the next few weeks. Time is definitely on our side, but economic progress is not. We have not turned any corners. The economy continues to rot and we have people who have no interest in real issues and common sense.... We Move Forward!

Oh if you only knew - Bwahahaha!!!

Domo Arrigato

Hickory Mayor Debate - Lenoir-Rhyne University - October 4, 2013

Friday night, Lenoir-Rhyne University hosted a mayoral candidate forum at P.E. Monroe Auditorium. All six candidates were present.  Jeff Brittain, Candice Harold, Dr. Jody Inglefield, Ernie Masche, Terry Revels, and Rudy Wright answered three questions posed by the Lenoir-Rhyne Professor Cade Hamilton and his debate team.

Videos (2 parts) are at the bottom of this article. Video quality isn't so great because of the stage lighting effect and the natural darkness of P.E. Monroe. The contrasts lead to a white-out effect. This is the best debate that I have ever watched live - very professionally facilitated. This is as level a playing field as you will ever see in a local election.The only suggestion I would make is to have the time manager on the center-front row with large time cue cards.

Moderator Information:
Cade Hamilton, Director of Speech and Debate, School of Journalism and Mass Communications Lenoir-Rhyne University

The Questions:
- What is your most significant achievement for the greater good of the City of Hickory and why does that make you most prepared to be the mayor?
- What would you do as mayor to help attract cultural events and diverse populations to Hickory?
- What are the two most significant issues facing the city of Hickory in the next two years and what would you do to address those issues?

Additional Topic Areas:
- Transparency and Accountability
- Jobs and the Local Economy
- Variances between Candidates


In witnessing this forum, once again we see five candidates who see many issues in the community that need to be addressed and an incumbent Mayor who comes across in a My Way or The Highway fashion. At least on this night he didn't talk about turning the corner or say the other candidates wanted his job after he had done all of the hard work.

In this round, we once again saw a defiant Mayor inferring that he was going to keep on doing it the same way he had been for the past twelve years and pontificating about a lack of understanding as to why the other candidates weren't addressing the issues he wanted to address. He seems to be confused about this not being the typical Hickory City Council Beauty Pageant setting.  Of course, I don't mind pointing this out since I will never be awarded the Mr. Congeniality trophy.

The voters will have to make the call as to whether they agree with the five candidates who would like to see the city alter course on some issues/objectives or the three term Incumbent who seems to be wondering why he is being challenged and especially in this manner. To my knowledge, we have never seen a political race such as this in Hickory. And it really isn't hard to understand why it has come to this. The Status Quo wants to blame the Hickory Hound and the CEG, but maybe it is time that they do one of my favorite exercises of the past six-plus years -- REFLECTION!!! It is a healthy exercise.

There was an excellent opening message by Dr. Inglefield about his wife Rebecca and her arrest last year and being shocked about what he has learned over the last few years. "What does it take to shock the people of Hickory." He related all of this to a lack of communication and transparency. There was another excellent message by Jeff Brittain about finding Shark Teeth on a beach. He has hundreds. Most people never find one. He has a plan. He related that to bringing jobs to our area. No plan, no jobs. Ernie Masche took a cue from Mayor Wright and walked out towards the audience and sat on the front of the stage and spoke about it being time for a change and about transparency and needing youth in the community. He says that we need to look out for the whole city and not just certain sections. Candice Harold spoke about going to the Taco Bell on Hwy 70 on the weekend and meeting the young people who cruise late at night and how they expressed that there is nothing to do around here. They wouldn't be out cruising if they had a place to hang out. Terry Revels comes across as a man who truly loves and reveres the United States of America.

The Mayor has changed the dialogue from "Inspiring Spaces" to "Innovate Catawba" and "Innovate Hickory". He said that Inspiring spaces is a part of all of that. Pigs and Billy Goats... lipstick still ain't gonna change the situation.

The Mayor is now saying what he said at the Democrat Dinner forum was a S.W.A.G. (Silly Wild @$$ Guess) remark. You can go to the link at the bottom of this paragraph where the Mayor point blank says that the number being discussed is $80 million ($20 million State, $20 million Federal, $20 million Hickory, and $20 million hopefully from private interests - $2 million each over 10 years). I have also heard that from other sources. He knows that people don't want to hear this.
Link to the $80 million Comment.

He and the city are also trying to ride the coattails of a man's devotion towards his wife in the creation of a conservancy on the lake and swerve the meaning of that devotion towards their own message and objective - Ain't Cool.  

One last comment - Hickory United PAC is definitely in Rudy's corner. They have to be, because none of the other five candidates support their extremist tactics that prey upon ignorance. They were the ones that asked a question about whether the candidates would support a gun manufacturer moving to Catawba County. As Dr. Inglefield answered the question the young Co-Chair of HUPAC immediately sprang up out of his seat, which was very noticeable, dialed his phone and was heard saying they were going to run an ad against Dr. Inglefield on Tuesday morning. He didn't even have the courtesy to listen to the man's answer. Wow! How ingenious! How original! Just like their ACORN thing from last year, but you know what they say about coming around and going around. Boys being boys, they never seem to learn that such tactics come back to bite you in the end.

Part 1




Part 2

Through the Looking Glass - See You Tonight

2013 Hickory City Elections - The Candidates < Link to everything about the candidates that have been willing to interact with the Hickory Hound.

Lenoir-Rhyne to Host Hickory City Mayoral Debate Details
Tonight's forum at Lenoir-Rhyne will be the most real discussion about political issues in our lifetime. You can take away the controlled pageantry of Hickory Inc. functions. It will be refreshing to see a level playing field and an open discussion about the policies that shape our future.  Questions are finally going to formally be asked in a public setting.  Let's get down to the raw truth. Who is going to stand up for the people of Hickory? Who has Hickory's best interests at heart?

Lenoir-Rhyne Mayoral Debate
October 4, 2013
6:00pm
PE Monroe Auditorium

3rd annual - The Edison Project - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce

The following presentation was the finals of the 3rd annual Edison Project. The Jackson Group's The Mesh was the winner, followed by David Waechter- Verdante BioEnergy Services, and then Bob Hedin- FaceGuard Software.

The sound in the SALT Block auditorium has always left a lot to be desired and was especially bad this day. It was almost as if there was no amplification, so the voices weren't loud, there was a low bass hollowness to the sound, but I edited it as best I could. I feel that this event is worthy of documentation and presentation and I hope that next year they will beef up the audio, because I doubt that the people further back could hear much -- I was on the third row, no more than 30 feet from the podium.

What is The Edison Project? The Edison Project is sponsored by the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and is a celebration and recognition of the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of Catawba County. We are looking for entrepreneurs that have an innovative idea for a viable business in the Catawba County area that they would like to submit for consideration and review by a panel of judges. You will compete with other entrepreneurs for an economic incentive of $10,000 in cash ($5,000 1st place; $3,000 2nd place and $2,000 3rd place) plus other pro-bono benefits for the best new entrepreneurial business ideas in the Catawba County area for 2013.






The following information was from the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce website:

Tim Clark & Drew Estes- Cornerstone Columbarium: Founders Clark and Estes provide custom columbaria and niche walls for churches, municipalities and individuals. Services include design, footing, construction, urns, and niche covers, direct cremations and final expires insurance. Seeking $410,000.

Bob Hedin- FaceGuard Software: Founder Bob Hedin has developed password security system to supplant managing multiple security codes. With fully functioning software developed, company needs to prepare for equity capital to enable and market testing and management team building-out. Seeking $500,000.

David Hudson - Quality Relationship Building Professional System: Founder has developed a system to educate attorneys and financial advisors on how to work together and coordinate services to transition clients from one to the other with the goal of greatly improving the volume of business by offering the most complete estate plans in the Catawba Valley. Seeking $30,000 for 12% of equity.

Alan Jackson and Mary Margaret Baker - The MESH: The MESH is a 'new media' online network, design to produce and deliver original unique audio and video content to computers, mobile phones, tablets and any other device connected to the internet. Company plans to target western NC as a market. Seeking $150,000 for up to 49% equality.

Dr. Paula Love - RFP Match.com: Firm provides fund-matching services to companies who market their products and services to education entities. Three distinct offerings include: 1) GrantMatch, industry-specific intelligence, 2) BidMatch, which vets RFPs against company identified key words and phrases, and 3) RFP Supports which is a technical consulting arm of the company. Seeking $200,000 launch capital.

Carla D. Spencer- 2 Your Health: Founders has developed a meal planning solution for individuals with chronic kidney disease so that these clients can slow the progress of their disease, live a higher quality life, and reduce medical expenses. Seeking $75,000

Britney Valas- Sweet Behaviors: Company provides parenting development, including a daily support system and products to help parents proactively guide their children to learn responsibility and instinctively desired behavior. Seeking $635,315

David Waechter- Verdante BioEnergy Services: Founder provides location-based networking and database management in commodity-based feedstock inventory access for industry brokers, vendors and participants. Company is seeking to monetize on early success in transition to growth mode. Seeking $800,000.

Hamilton Williams Jr.- Hamilton Williams Clayworks: (Did not present) Hamilton started his company in 1994, and produces functional artisan and one-of-a-kind pottery. With a BFA and a passion, founder seeks to scale to production with expanded facilities, and plans to staff operations with locals. Seeking $50,000.

The Edison Project - Good News and Great Ventures - 9/19/2011 (1st)

The Edison Project - Good News and Great Ventures - Year 2 - 10/1/2011 (2nd)

Lenoir-Rhyne to Host Hickory City Mayoral Debate Details

While I am working on getting a few things out, let me take the time to inform you of the Mayoral debate taking place in two days.

Lenoir-Rhyne Mayoral Debate
October 4, 2013
6:00pm
PE Monroe Auditorium

This event is sponsored by the Lenoir-Rhyne School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the LR Debate Team.

The event receives personal/professional development or community service convocation credit for our students; it will offer the local community a great opportunity to find out more about each of the candidates before the final day of primary voting on October 8th.

LR is very proud to assist the community in elevating the nature of political discourse that attends to the personal, communal, and business needs of all of Hickory's constituencies. We sincerely hope that you will attend and tell your friends about this opportunity. A special thanks to Prof. Cade Hamilton for his work in organizing the event. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Prof. Hamilton at cade.hamilton@lr.edu.

Initial Format of the debate is that it will last approximately two hours.

Each candidate will have an opening statement of (3 minutes a piece) = 18 minutes

Questions from moderators - each candidate will respond (2 minutes a piece). We hope to have at least 4 questions from the moderators and have some extra time dedicated to some healthy debate and moderation if clarity is required. (4 questions x 2 minutes x 6 candidates) = 48 minutes + ???? response time = 60 minutes??? for the round

Following the questions from the moderators, each candidate will have a closing statement
(3 minutes a piece) = 18 minutes for the round

The remaining time after the closing statements will be from the audience. As discussed, Lenoir-Rhyne debaters and students will begin collecting questions as soon as we open the doors of P.E. Monroe and they will continue to collect them through the closing statements. We will then have students read the selected question (questions will be pulled from a hat) and candidates will have 2 minutes each to answer, again. 

The Hound: In the time covering all of Hickory politics, this will be the only large setting actual debate that has occurred. The reason why the questions from the audience are being done in this format is to cut out the grandstanding that has taken place at forums held in the past. You have had audience members stand up and take several minutes espousing statements without even asking a question. It is understood that context/background is sometimes needed in detailing a question, but when individuals turn questions into grandstanding sessions, they take away valuable time and it is rude to the candidates who are trying to get a message out and to the audience members who are there to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision.

Thank You Lenoir-Rhyne University Debate Society for working to help have a comprehensive discussion about this Mayoral race so that the public can make a more informed vote. There is no reason that hundreds of people should not be at this event. I hope it is the success that I think it can be.