New Gazette

John released another new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette last Friday. My lack of updates means most of the info there is out of date at this point, but he has put together a nice slide show of Waxhaw's Christmas Parade that's worth checking out.

The town also has some pictures of the parade available at Facebook for those interested.

New Gazette released

John Tiley released another new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette on Friday. Among other things, it contains a lot of useful information on upcoming events in town, including the light-up night on November 25th and the Gingersnap 5K on December 3rd.

Read the whole thing.

Latest Waxhaw Gazette

John has the latest Waxhaw Gazette up.

In Waxhaw-related news, John linkss to this article in the Charlotte Observer explaining that the Fill Good BP (new gas station near Lowe's) is the first gas station in Waxhaw to offer up E-85 ethanol gasoline.

I guess this is good news, although given gas prices in Waxhaw versus those in Indian Land, SC, the introduction of E-85 into Waxhaw might be met with little fanfare for a significant portion of Waxhaw residents.

There also are downsides to ethanol especially now that more corn is being used for fuel than for animal feed, which is most definitely a contributor to rising food prices.

Dorothy Maloney = video star?

I mentioned last week that Dorothy Maloney is back and I wasn't kidding.

She's now gone multimedia, showing up on Jim Black's "Land of the Waxhaws."

Latest Gazette

John Tiley has another issue of the Waxhaw Gazette up now.

In Waxhaw-related news:

* Another mention of the fact he's only spoken with one of the mayoral candidates.
* He also publishes what appears to be Daune Gardner's letter to the editor (originally featured in the Union County Weekly). He's got in a handy-dandy one-page format for those who still haven't read it.

There's also an article on the ongoing Occupy Wall Street (and related) protests where John appears to approve of the ragtag bunch of hipster protestors and their wide-ranging demands, ranging from higher education being a human right. I personally don't see how they can be taken very seriously. There is much evidence this is just the latest attempt by the left to replicate the more conservative Tea Party, including the Occupy groups hodge-podge of historically liberal complaints and lack of protesting at the source.

Much of their complaints revolve around big business getting its hooks in government, but they've yet to protest occupy the very government that beds itself with big business. Strange. Especially since the head of the current administration has taken in more Wall Street money than any politician in the last 20 years. That's a lot of politicians he's one-upped with Wall Street money.

Dorothy Maloney back

In print. And badder than ever, I suppose.

With the untimely death of the Waxhaw Exchange, I thought we'd seen the last of Dorothy Maloney, Waxhaw's social columnist. But at the Enquirer-Journal's site the other day, I discovered that her column has been resurrected there.

Read the whole thing if interested.

The highlight is that Commissioner Joyce Blythe is giving another town historic walk. The snippet:

Saturday, October 15th at 10:00 a.m., is the date Town of Waxhaw Commissioner Joyce Blythe, and Melvin Faris have scheduled their Historic Tour of Waxhaw. If you have not had the pleasure of one of these tours, you should not miss this one. Both Joyce and Melvin are superb tour guides. The tour takes about an hour and a quarter, starting at the Waxhaw Methodist Church. You will truly not regret attending this tour. Just show up at 10:00 a.m. on October 15th.

But once again, our schedule prohibits me from attending.

New Gazette

Times sure flies. Another new Waxhaw Gazette was released on Friday.

Apparently he dined with the current mayor this week in his effort to hobnob with all the mayoral candidates.

Read the whole piece here.

New Gazette

John released another issue of the Waxhaw Gazette last Friday.

Of note is his "Free Lunch" column directed towards Vivian Riegelman, a local businesswoman.

It begins with the back story:

Recently I received an e-mail from Vivian Riegelman, of AAA APPRAISAL CO. Following is the entire e-mail:

“As a member of the Waxhaw Business Association, I am disappointed that my antique appraisal business is not listed on your website.“

That was it, just a complaint, and not the first, although the first from her. No call, no PR release on her company, no advertisement order, just disappointment that the Gazette should have divined that her and her business were there and automatically blessed her with some free advertisement....

It continues with a rather judicious response from John that's worth reading in its entirety. Check it out.

Diller v. Thornton - Round 2?

Not necessarily Diller v. Thornton, but Diller v. Thornton supporter.

I mentioned Commissioner Brett Diller's letter to the editor earlier, but there was a follow-up from one of the accused sock puppets, Tramaine Williams, in Friday's Union County Weekly. Since I shared Brett's, I'll share Tramaine's.

Here it is:

Hello Mr. Diller;

I’d like to take this opportunity to clear up a few obvious misconceptions you have. Mr Diller, you emailed me on August 8, requesting that I meet you for coffee to discuss your whereabouts during NNO. I responded to you on August 10 and advised that while I appreciated your invitation, I have no interest in meeting you for a cup of coffee. I’m not entirely sure why you felt the need to repeat the invitation in a public forum, but I will not be provoked into a situation akin to “meeting you at the bicycle racks after school” so you can assuage whatever it is that brought on this little outburst of yours. I have a family to care for and a full time job, both of which require my time and attention more so than meeting you. I hope you can understand that they are my priority, not you.

When I responded to your email, I very clearly told you that I was not aware you were elsewhere volunteering your time that day, and commended you for doing so. I still do. As far as why I missed you at the event, Mr. Diller (and I really shouldn’t have to explain this), you are a town commissioner. As such, you are a public figure, and people recognize you. Even the ones you haven’t met or do not remember. So yes, I noticed that you weren’t there, as well as Mayor Gardner and Commissioner Kirkpatrick. As for you not knowing who I am, I’m not surprised. We don’t exactly run in the same circles, and you’ll have to pardon my assumption, but I’m positive you don’t remember every single person you have ever met in your lifetime. I know I certainly don’t. However, given that you don’t seem to recall that I responded to your email, it isn’t a stretch to think you don’t remember who I am.

While I do sincerely apologize for any offense you may have taken to my comment regarding your absence (and please remember, I already apologized to you for this in my email response to you), there seems to be more behind your words and actions. “Methinks he doth protest too much”? I’m also not entirely sure why you felt the need to note that I support Lisa Thornton for Mayor… possibly the two issues are related? Will you go on the offense against every single person who provides support for her in a public manner? Unless I’m mistaken, this is a free country and we are all entitled to Freedom of Speech — as such, I can voice my support for which ever mayoral candidate I choose.

I wish you all the best
Tramaine Williams
Waxhaw

There's yet another Waxhaw-related letter supporting Lisa Thornton for mayor there as well, so go check it out if you're interested.

One last question I have: how did Brett Diller get the email address for Tramaine Williams to personally extend the invitation for coffee?

New Waxhaw Gazette

John's put out the latest issue of his long-running biweekly.

There's a lot there about the poor state of the economy (here and here). The latter is essentially a plea for Warren Buffett to fix Washington. I'm not one who thinks as highly as Mr. Buffett as others -- something about a fabulously wealthy individual man pressing for more and higher taxes on those who don't have the phalanx of attorneys to devise ways to get out of paying them. But I digress...

There is some Waxhaw info in there as well, including details on the September 11th "Healing and Remembrance" ceremony. Here's the flyer for the ceremony:

Waxhaw Exchange no more

I hadn't received my weekly issue of the Waxhaw Exchange for a couple months and had just chalked it up to the hit-or-miss delivery of this free weekly put out by the Enquirer-Journal.

After stopping by the Farmer's Market on Saturday, I convinced my family to eat lunch at the Main Street Grill on our return. It was here I learned (from Don?) that they haven't released an issue of the Exchange in a couple months.

Apparently plans are in place to release something similar, but the MSG had no specific details. I'd email Alan Jenkins, editor of the Exchange for some details, but last we left off he describing me as a thief on Facebook for having the gall to link to and share Enquirer-Journal articles.

I just figured when I signed up for a free account at the EJ website that gave me access to read whatever articles I wanted that this is what they wanted to occur. This belief was further strengthened since I'd been linking to their articles on this blog with nary a complaint. Perhaps I should take some comfort in the fact that Alan has since removed his posts from Facebook.

All that being said, the Exchange was a nice weekly worth checking out for Waxhaw-related tidbits despite my frustration with it not being available online. Hopefully the next generation Exchange will be as or more informative (and available online) assuming it comes to fruition.

Diller v Thornton?

Earlier I linked to a letter to the editor post-mortem of Waxhaw's National Night Out that appeared in the Union County Weekly. The next week, town commissioner Brett Diller had his own letter published in the Union County Weekly publicly calling out two of the other letter writers in the afore-linked letters.

Here's Brett's letter not so subtly calling out Lucas Stemner and Tramaine Williams.

Dear Editor,

In response to “Tramaine Williams” letter in last week’s paper, I would like to extend an invitation to grab a cup of coffee with him so I can explain where I was on Waxhaw’s National Night Out. I’m flattered that “he” missed me considering I have never met “him” and not sure how “he” even knew I wasn’t there. “He” went on to say “I hope whatever kept them away was important..” For the record “Mr. Williams”, I was volunteering with my family that evening for something that was important to us.

So again I extend an invitation to you “Mr. Tramaine Williams” to meet and get to know you better and find out what direction you think Waxhaw should be heading. I would also like to extend that invitation to “Mr. Lucas Stemner” who also wrote a letter last week to the Weekly. The both of you seem to be involved, concerned, and active Waxhaw citizens with one common thread: Supporting Lisa Thornton for mayor. I can’t seem to find anyone who has ever met either of you in person and I feel as an elected official I should try and get to know as many of the citizens as I can.

So please, email me and let me know what time works for you to meet. bdiller@waxhaw.com

Thank you
Brett R. Diller
Waxhaw Commissioner

I'm not sure if either of these guys exist, but it's clear that Brett doesn't think so. I find it a little intriguing that he questioned the existance of both Tramaine and Lucas, even though only one of the two actually criticized him for missing National Night Out.

Given that, it seems unlikely that Brett Diller will be supporting Lisa Thornton in her bid for mayor. At least not any time soon.

New Waxhaw Gazette

John has a new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette out today with a couple useful tidbits:

* The Kohl's outside Waxhaw (Tom Short Road & Rea Road) is accepting applications and conducting interviews, so that's good for local job-seekers. And also for local shoppers who soon won't have to travel quite so far to shop at Kohl's. As John mentioned, it appears applicants need to fill out an online form here before attending an upcoming job fair.

* Per John, apparently we've got another candidate throwing his hat into the upcoming mayoral race -- former Waxhaw mayor Gary Underwood, who was defeated by Mayor Gardner November 2007.

Read the whole thing.

Enquirer-Journal's Reader's Choice

For anyone interested in voting for Union County's best (read Waxhaw's best), you should find your way over to the Enquirer-Journal's Reader's Choice ballot.

A couple comments:

* There's no space to vote for best blog. What's up with that?

* I tried to fill out a ballot, but there was so many blanks that I abandoned this idea. Kudos to anyone who can vote in all these categories.

Voting ends on 7/27/11.

New Waxhaw Gazette

John Tiley's put out another new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette.

He's got all the details on Monday's events from the parade to the music to the fireworks, so check it out for the specifics.

New Waxhaw Gazette released

John's got a new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette out (well, it's been out for a week now, I imagine).

He's got tidbits on the Farmer's Market and the Independence Day festivities among other things. And for those First Friday aficionados, he's got the list of movies to be played at upcoming First Fridays.

Of note, apparently the movies are no longer being displayed against the wall of the Cockinos Building. They are apparently being shown in the park near the skate park.

New Waxhaw Gazette out

John's put out a new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette.

Check it out to see early details on the upcoming 4th of July festivities, more tales of animals running amuk to go along with my peacock sighting, in this case a grey fox; and shameful copper thieves hitting a Habitat for Humanity house among other things.

Mark D with Union County Weekly now

I noticed that Mark D (or Mark DiBiasio) of the Village Scribe Online fame is now writing for the Union County Weekly. Village Scribe Online maintains one of the coveted yet rarely updated spots on my blogroll of Waxhaw-related links off to the side.

I'm not sure how long he's been at it there, but here's a link to the first article of his that I came across -- a piece touching upon the numerous complaints about the proposed animal control ordinance in Waxhaw that I linked to in an earlier post.

Read the whole thing to get a feel for the bevy of complaints about the initial proposal.

Who put together the original proposal? I was just wondering who thought it necessary and/or desirable to have Waxhaw residents paying more per animal than Charlotte residents.

The draft ordinance stipulates a $20 annual license fee for spayed or neutered animals, $40 if not. By comparison, the City of Charlotte charges $10 license for spayed or neutered and $30 for fertile animals.

It seems like a lot of law-abiding pet owners will be penalized if the current proposed ordinance passes.

Observer drops Neighbors section...

...and replaces it with the Union News.

I got a preview on Saturday and the real deal on Sunday. Giving it a quick once over, there appeared to be little on Waxhaw in the debut issue.

But it appears designed to give the Union County Weekly and the Waxhaw Exchange a run for its money.

I'm not sure if they plan to make this a free weekly available to everyone or, like the Neighbors section before it, available only for subscribers. I suspect the latter.

New Gazette

Another new issue of the Waxhaw Gazette is out and the Waxhaw-related material:

* An article on the upcoming 5K

* Reminders about the upcoming Spring Fest and the accompanying Food & Drink Weekend. I've posted on this here and here.

Check it out.