Cabarrus Cheap Seats

Spirited Discussion About Life in Cabarrus County, North Carolina

Revenge of the Nerds

June 23rd, 2006 · Comments Off

I’m that guy.
I’m the guy when forwarded an e-mail looks up the facts on Snopes and reports back that the e-mail is a hoax. I “Reply To All” to help stop the spread of such e-mails. Rarely am I thanked for it. Usually I get a message asking why I would do such a thing. [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

The Resolution Solution

June 17th, 2006 · Comments Off

In order to accept what I’m about to tell you - it’s necessary for you to suspend all belief in facts, logic, and fiscal responsibility. You’ll have to ignore your judgment and believe what Harold Smith (www.goharoldsmith.com) has said about the Capital Reserve fund being a “slush fund” to be true. This will be difficult, [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners · Cabarrus Youth Tax

92% of Cabarrus County Voters Didn’t Give A Damn

May 4th, 2006 · 1 Comment

A Brief Programming Note
Because of some commitments between tonight and Sunday night, I will not be able to update this blog or get to approving any comments until the end of the weekend.
It’s part of a post-election deal I made with my wife.
Diminishing Returns
About 8% of the County bothered to show up for the Primary [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Beyond Cabarrus · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners · Cabarrus Politics

Cabarrus Election Challenge: Question #3

April 19th, 2006 · 1 Comment

Here was the question:
From 1999 to 2004, the majority of the county’s debt load moved abruptly from voter-approved bonds to non-voter approved instruments. Debt service is the fastest growing part of the budget and is the only major part of the budget significantly outpacing population growth and inflation. With these debt service payments taking up [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

Local Gambling: The House Keeps The Odds In Its Favor

April 4th, 2006 · 1 Comment

Each month, I make a bet. I bet that I will total my car, that my house will be robbed, that I will need open heart surgery, and I will die within 6 weeks.
Of course, I regularly (and happily) lose this bet. Progressive Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and NC Farm Bureau end up [...]

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Tags: Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

2006 Election Challenge: Question #2

April 2nd, 2006 · Comments Off

The Second Question for 2006 Election Challenge was “As a commissioner, what do you feel your role is in response to the North Carolina Research Campus?”
This question was directed at the candidates on the Republican Primary for Cabarrus County Commission.
Here are links to their responses.

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Tags: Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

2006 Election Challenge: Question #1

March 25th, 2006 · Comments Off

I’ve finally got the Cabarrus Election site up. It’s here: http://cabarruselection.blogspot.com
I asked the candidates why they were running. Here are the links to their responses:
Coy Privette
Jay White
Grace Mynatt
Larry Griffin
Carolyn Carpenter

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

Point/Counter-Point: The Resolution Solution

June 30th, 2005 · Comments Off

This is probably one of the most subtle, yet important differences in the two articles. What happens with money outside of the budget. If you noticed, the FY 2006 budget is balanced to the penny. This never happens in reality. Actually, municipal governments are sometimes left with a little more than they anticipated. This happened [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

Counter Point: Coy Privette and Robert Freeman Editorial in This Week’s Independent Tribune

June 27th, 2005 · Comments Off

In an attempt to be fair and balanced, I’m posting the editorial that ran in today’s and Sunday’s Independent Tribune from Robert Freeman and Coy Privette. If you read through both of these, you will have been exposed to just about the entire content of the campaign rhetoric for the 2006 Cabarrus County Commissioner’s race. [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners

Proposal for a New Caucus System: Cabarrus Idol

June 25th, 2005 · Comments Off

In a poll released last week by the North Carolina Center for Voter Education, more NC Voters could identify recent American Idol winner Carrie Underwood than they could Attorney General Roy Cooper.
In their article, they postulate that public financing would take the pressure off of candidates; but I have another idea. A review of the [...]

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Tags: Ancient History · Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners