OT: Nikki Haley's performance in the SC primary

Leading up to the South Carolina gubernatorial primary, I was curious how Nikki Haley would perform. My commute takes me through parts of York and Lancaster County and I cannot recall seeing a single sign for her; her competitors' (McMaster, Bauer, and Barrett) seemed to be everywhere.

I checked the results and she got nearly half the votes in the county regardless of her sign presence, dwarfing the votes obtained by her competitors.

Obviously, my commute involves only an extremely small sample of those two counties, but I did find it interesting.

Historic guidelines meeting tomorrow

For those who can attend, there is a public information meeting (PDF) tomorrow at 6.30pm at the Museum of the Waxhaws to discuss the guidelines for the proposed Waxhaw historic district mentioned in an earlier post.

If you want to provide some input or have some advance notice of what restrictions you might be subject to, you should attend. And if you take notes or make a recording of the discussion, feel free to pass it along as I could always use more secret sources of insider information.

As for me, I expect to be attending the Boys & Girls Club Family Fun Fest fundraiser in Blakeney, which looks like it'll not only benefit a worthy cause, but be loads of fun for the kids. Can you think of a better way for them to celebrate the end of the school year?

And if you can't attend either of those two events, perhaps you should go to town hall & get some paper shredded so as to better prevent identity theft. There's definitely no excuse to stay at home on Thursday evening.

Apparently OT: Rival Chains Secretly Fund Opposition to Wal-Mart

My first thought after reading this Wall Street Journal article was wondering if local chains such as Food Lion or Harris Teeter have ever hired Saint Consulting Group, oh say, in an effort to keep Wal-Mart out of Waxhaw.

A grocery chain with nine stores in the area had hired Saint Consulting Group to secretly run the antidevelopment campaign. Saint is a specialist at fighting proposed Wal-Marts, and it uses tactics it describes as "black arts."

As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has grown into the largest grocery seller in the U.S., similar battles have played out in hundreds of towns like Mundelein. Local activists and union groups have been the public face of much of the resistance. But in scores of cases, large supermarket chains including Supervalu Inc., Safeway Inc. and Ahold NV have retained Saint Consulting to block Wal-Mart, according to hundreds of pages of Saint documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with former employees.

There's no evidence to support local ties to the Saint Consulting Group, but it was my first thought given the successful defeat of a Waxhaw Wal-mart some years ago much to my disappointment. Either way, it is an interesting article about the astroturfing of this issue by Wal-Mart's competitors in other parts of the country, so it's worth a read regardless.

Waxhaw's schools to be federalized

But not until 2012 so I gues there's still time to turn this around. The article:

Raleigh, N.C. — The state Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved new universal standards for reading and math classes in public schools, becoming the fifth state in the nation to do so.

North Carolina is part of a 48-state consortium that is working toward developing and adopting the "Common Core" standards for grades K-12 to help improve analytical thinking.

The nationwide goal is to build a stronger education system, where students, regardless of where they live, receive the same quality of education.

I can't for the life of me cannot see how this is good for the students of North Carolina. If the worry is that NC education standards are not high enough to meet whatever national standards are developed by the educational bureaucrats of the consortium, then North Carolina should just make their own standards better than the national standards.

Heck, they can even use very same standards without binding themselves to this program. In the latter case, of course, they wouldn't get the federal funding involved, and therein lies the rub. The powers that be in NC want the federal funds.

And while the current standards only apply to mathematics and English, the State Board of Education Chairman conveniently informs us they plan to adopt even more national standards. Hooray! How soon until health, history, and social studies are added to the mix?

State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison said that the state plans to adopt more national standards within the next two years.

Under the changes, which will take effect in 2012, he said parents and students would see more "rigorous" testing standards, as well as an "authentic" way of learning, with a curriculum that deals with real-world problems.

Too bad he didn't clarify the more "authentic" way of learning Waxhaw's children will get to participate in because it sounds curiously like meaningless fluff to me.

Given the state government's inability to control their spending, this clearly is one way Bev Perdue and the state government are able to get additional federal funding. I've been unable to find any information on exactly how much federal funding is involved, but if I can ever get my hands on that info, I'll share.

For more information, here's the Common Core website. Given their investment in these standards being adopted by more than just the five states who've currently opted in, I'd recommend taking what you read here with a grain of salt.

For example, I learned here that the federal government has nothing to do with the implementation of this program. A couple lines below, they include the following, which I would argue directly contradicts that claim.

However, the federal government will have the opportunity to support states as they begin adopting the standards. For example, the federal government can

• Support this effort through a range of tiered incentives, such as providing states with greater flexibility in the use of existing federal funds, supporting a revised state accountability structure, and offering financial support for states to implement the standards.
• Provide long-term financial support for the development and implementation of common assessments, teacher and principal professional development, and research to help continually improve the common core state standards over time.

What are the odds that this program would've been implemented here if we weren't going to be on the receiving end of additional federal dollars? Slim to none methinks.

The federal government is essentially bribing cash-strapped states into joining a program that I suspect will be very difficult to extricate ourselves from once we've spent the money. And unfortunately, I imagine the money's already been spent.

Link to Waxhaw Gazette disappeared?

I could've swore that the town's website had a direct link to The Waxhaw Gazette a few weeks back. If it was ever there, it is gone now for what it's worth.

They still have a helpful link to it, so that's something I guess.

The Waxhaw Gazette editorial

Well, I'm back home again and in case you were wondering, the North Carolina Zoo up in Asheboro is as grueling to walk as it's always been in 90+ degree heat with a youngin' on your shoulders. I was told the whole trek across two continents was 4-5 miles and that felt pretty accurate with the sun beating down on you.

In other news, I missed last Friday's First Friday, but I had forgotten all about it. But that's probably not all that surprising given how no one from the mysterious STMSPCC contacted me with a heads up (not like the old days, that's for sure). I think the town's website had advance notice of a day or two, so that's pretty good by their standards.

Upon returning, I headed over to The Waxhaw Gazette, where John brings up a topic near & dear to my heart (and referenced in the last paragraph no less). I'm intersperse comments throughout, so hopefully John doesn't mind.

A few issues back reference was made to not getting information about happenings around town. I was commiserating with fellow writers of in the Waxhaw area.

I imagine he's referring to yours truly, as referenced by my earlier post. I'm still looking for that elusive link.

It has recently come to my attention that some people have found that I was not accurate in their timely dissemination of information.

This is the most provocative sentence of the whole piece, but unfortunately, there's no follow-up illustration. Obviously some of John's sources feel they've been giving him tips as to local goings-on. Given the tenor of the rest of the article, I would surmise John disagrees.

Well to set the record straight I want to make sure that no offense was intended but rather a sense of frustration on my part that things were happening around town and after spending the last two and a half years studiously attempting to establish contacts that few if any were following through with keeping me informed. People such as the Mayor, the Town Manager, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief,...etc. and yet things happen and I never get a heads up from any of them. Whether it is crime, or a developer bulldozing or a bridge out... and oh yes, I understand there is a new Fire Chief? ...all things you, my many readers would like to know about but I cant pass it along if I don't know about. ...average readership is consistently between 2,000 to 3,000 per issue... and for a pub that only comes out twice a month and is available only on line, that's a lot of you people reading it.

Besides calling out some town notables for their lack of support, I think he gets an impressive number of people viewing The Waxhaw Gazette. 2000-3000 is far, far beyond anything I pull in, especially considering he oftentimes features some general interest stories with little ties to Waxhaw in my opinion. I wonder how said town notables will take to this more public airing of grievances (Festivus anyone?) when at least some apparently chafed at his earlier rather harmless criticism of the town not providing much notice for upcoming events.

When I first started the Gazette, I have consistently asked for help from the towns people to let me know what's on their minds, what's happening around town and what they want to happen. And quite frankly only a very select few have been supportive, something I find rather disappointing. Waxhaw isn't just my stomping grounds and I would have thought more people would have shown interest in participating. Although I can't do much about the citizens of Waxhaw, I am disappointed that the town itself has shown so little support ....after all I would have thought that a local paper would be considered quite an asset for both business and government. The Edge is gone, the Observer is gone and the Enquirer, well they are what they are...

I only have this to add: if John Tiley at The Waxhaw Gazette is having trouble getting local support, then I imagine that doesn't bode well for my grand aspirations turning this blog into some kind of cash cow. By the way, what "Observer" is he referring to? Charlotte Observer? Some long gone Waxhaw local entitled the "Waxhaw Observer"? On a side note, given their lack of local support, you'd think The Waxhaw Gazette would be well-positioned to recognize my predicament and throw me a bone on occasion and give those 2000-3000 readers a convenient link to my site. But I digress...

Perhaps I'm wrong because as you can plainly see by the lack of advertising support, the business community of Waxhaw have studiously avoided the Gazette. Although I must say I get an awful lot of requests from people wanting free promotions... Over these past two years I have written many articles on South Siders, Rippingtons, Main Street, the Barber Shop, covered Rotary Races etc, etc... yet not one has ever taken an ad. No matter how low the overhead is to run an on line paper, I cannot continue to exist without community support. Both from an input and a financial aspect, sadly things need to change if the Gazette is going to still be publishing come the end of summer.

Sounds like The Waxhaw Gazette is threatening to close its doors without a noticeable increase of financial support from area businesses. Now, I haven't been tied into the local scene for as long as some (and many of you migjht argue that if I'm tied in now it's with the loosest of knots. I've yet to come up with a retort to that), but given the fact he calls out specific businesses for their lack of advertising dollars, I would surmise the threat is valid. It'd be shame to lose it.

Ok, I know things are tough all over... I am publishing this in this edition out of frustration and because quite frankly if things don't start changing... At least I know I'll be in the good company of many who have gone before me trying to bring a voice to the Waxhaw Community.

We'll have to stay tuned to see what happens. I think the frustration is evident based on the number of individuals and businesses taken to task in the editorial.

As for me, I unfortunately but perhaps accordingly get paid zilch & I imagine I receive far less local informational support than John given his apparent readership figures. The main reason I started this blog was to help fill a void because I had no idea what was going on in my town & there didn't really seem to be a good resource to keep up with things. I'm having a hard time keeping up given my other responsibilities, but I do what I can. I've got a stack of Waxhaw Exchange's cluttering my bag as they all contain at least one article I wanted to comment on or dig into a little farther. Maybe when I get some vacation time.

Busy, but not so busy...

...that I can't comment a little on the town's efforts to protect its historic structures. Otherwise, posting has been light since I have begun auditing a biostatistics class for all intents & purposes & will continue to be light for some time. Statistics is a harsh mistress.

The mayor via Facebook was kind enough to share this article from Preservation Magazine, published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Make a donation & you too can be a subscriber.

The mayor is quoted extensively throughout the article, discussing the town's efforts to create a local historic district to protect some of the historic structures.

This month the group, with the help of outside consultants hired for $40,000, will determine the boundaries for the district as well as design guidelines historic homes must meet. The group hopes to secure approval by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office by the end of July.

It will be interesting to see what design guidelines historic homes must meet, as any guidelines that are devised will undoubtably trample on the property rights of the owners.

Butch Kelly, a Waxhaw resident and owner of a historic property, states as much:

But not all historic homeowners are thrilled with the prospect of more protection. Butch Kelly, a Waxhaw resident for 22 years, says the local district would infringe on property rights. "We do not want any more government control of our property," Kelly says. "We don't want them to tell us what color they can paint our house, or 'You can't do this,' or 'You can't do that.'" Kelly's own house was built in 1855, he says. "They were going to bulldoze it 22 years ago, and I saved it," he says. "That's my particular license, rights, and beliefs, but I don't think [that] should be forced on my neighbor."

Mayor Gardner & Denise Kuntz, chairperson of the Waxhaw Historic Commission, provide their opinion on potential paint regulations for what it's worth.

Kuntz and Gardner maintain that Waxhaw's historic guidelines will be flexible. Possible guidelines might include regulating the pitch on certain roofs so as not to damage structures, for example, Kuntz says, but the commission has no plans to enforce personal decorative choices like paint color.

"It looks like where Waxhaw's going to end up is pretty much down the middle," Gardner says. "We don't want to tell people what color to paint their front door, but at the same time we don't want to allow for the loss of or complete distortion of the historic structures."

It would have been far more informative to hear what kind of guidelines they prefer or expect to be put in place than disputing one relatively minor one offered up by a concerned citizen. Could a porch be screened in? Columns removed? Answers to those questions would be far more beneficial in my opinion than roof pitches, but I suppose we'll have to wait until the end of July to see what kind of guidelines are proposed.

Read the whole thing.

Exit question: what three historic properties have been torn down in the last three months? I recall the hubbub when the house behind Waxhaw UMC was demolished, but do not recall hearing much about the destruction of any other historic properties.