Leaky roof at the museum

Elisabeth Arriero had an article in The Enquirer-Journal a couple days ago about the leaky roof at the Museum of the Waxhaws.

WAXHAW — Rainstorms and persistent leaks are threatening exhibits, but The Museum of the Waxhaws can’t afford a new roof.

Roof leaks at the Museum of the Waxhaws have been getting worse over the last year, to the point where museum director Sharon Murrer has had to set up several buckets inside.

It's strongly implied that local government won't be supplying the museum with the money for repairs, which suits me just fine.

“I prefer to see it come from the citizenry, from contribution,” Baucom said of the possibility of the county providing funding for a new roof. “Every organization in existence can make a valid case that it has value to the community but at some point, you have to take and put a limit on how far you can go.”

Baucom added that the “the financial condition of the citizens in the county would need to change” before he would support funding a new roof.

...

But he [Parker Mills], too, cited the current economic climate as a reason why extra funding for the museum’s new roof is unlikely.

The estimates in cost appear to range from $20k - 90k. It doesn't seem unreasonable to collect at least the low end of that nowadays through private donations assuming you can get enough local residents aware of the problem.

News14 Carolina has followed up today with their own report (video clip at the link).

For those interested in donating, the News14 article recommends calling (704) 843-1832, although I imagine donating directly through the Museum of the Waxhaws website would suffice.

Waxhaw police on Halloween

Just a note congratulating the Waxhaw police on their Halloween presence, at least in my neck of the woods. Officer Mike was assigned our neighborhood and spent lots of time walking the neighborhood and speaking with those of us handing out candy.

As far as I know, there hasn't been any recent incidents in my neighborhood on Halloween, but given the strategy of the Waxhaw police making their presence felt, perhaps that is the reason why.

On a side note, on the day after Halloween, I saw something sitting on the counter stating that there was a 9pm curfew in Waxhaw on Halloween night. I had no idea this was the case, so perhaps they need to find better way of getting this info to residents. An after-the-fact web search revealed this was accurate. You would think they would've at least put it on the town's Facebook page.

All precincts in! - The 9:53 Update

Well, all votes are in; News14 once again has the numbers.

The referendum has passed, so I don't have to open that speakeasy anymore, right? We should all go celebrate with one of those Carolina dogs from Southsiders. Will someone now tell me what group was responsible for all those yellow anti-referendum signs?

Oh yeah, in other news, Erin "Eric" Kirkpatrick, Brett Diller, & Joyce Blythe have all won.

I can say now that these are the three candidates I voted for, not because I agree with them on everything but because they spent the most time and effort responding to my referendum-related emails. (Given the totals, does this mean I've jumped on a bandwagon I had no idea existed?) Good luck to them.




Everyone go have a celebratory drink. I am.

Election results (2 precincts reporting) - The 9:08 Update

And of course immediately after posting, I see two precincts are now in.

Same top three in the commissioner race, but the order has changed. But for all intents & purposes, they're Blythe, Diller, Kirkpatrick are all tied. Max Walker & Ken Collins are falling behind.

In referendum news, two-thirds of the voters in the two precincts still support them.

Partial Waxhaw election results

News14 Carolina has partial results of today's election in.

With one out of four precincts reporting, approximately 3 out of every 4 are supporting the malt and mixed beverage referendums.

And Brett Diller, Erin Kirkpatrick, and Joyce Blythe are currently leading the commissioner voting.

Counterfeit electronics ring in Waxhaw

I missed this story back in March, but it's interesting. This WSOC-TV report (video at the link) speaks of two Waxhaw houses being key cogs in a counterfeit electronics ring.

The FBI says companies overseas copy all kinds of electronics, illegally putting brand names and logos on the outside but using inferior parts on the inside. Dishonest dealers then sell them illegally as genuine brand-name products.

In the Waxhaw case, federal court documents allege at least a half-dozen different Web sites were used to sell counterfeit items that made their way from China to Waxhaw before being shipped to unsuspecting buyers across the country.

An article in the Charlotte Business Journal in September provides more useful details for anyone not familiar with the case.

Federal authorities have seized more than $345,000 in cash and electronic equipment of undetermined value in an investigation of an alleged counterfeit equipment operation in Waxhaw.

Elizabeth Lopez and Omar Salem sold counterfeit iPods, memory sticks, digital picture frames and other electronic equipment, investigators allege.

Affidavits and other documents filed Tuesday in seizure proceedings in U.S. District Court in Charlotte say the two sold the equipment through several online and catalog operations. They include Deals Direct Inc., Computer City.com Inc. and The Computer Warehouse.

Brian Boze of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Lopez and Salem are being investigated on allegations of trafficking in counterfeit goods, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and smuggling goods into the United States.

No charges had been filed against them in federal court as of midweek.

According to a Waxhaw town memo dated 3/20/09, the investigation involved houses in the Quellin & Providence South Downs neighborhoods.

While I have not been able to find much details on this current case (still under investigation), it appears that Elizabeth Lopez & Omar Salem have teamed up before in Florida much to the chagrin of Disney, Viacom, and Warner Brothers. I'm fairly confident that the Lopez & Salem detailed in the following link are one and the same.

LegalMetric link

Frothy malt beverages coming to Waxhaw?

Today's the big day to vote for the referendum.

I had also planned on posting over the weekend with a round-up of my thoughts on the town commissioner candidates with regards to the referendum for what it's worth at this late date. It was to be mainly based on my email correspondence with some of them.

Unfortunately, a number of obstacles prevented that from happening, including but not limited to out-of-town visitors, high fevers, birthday parties, hayrides, trick-or-treating, the Phillies playing in the World Series, and most importantly my procrastination.

I only queried them on the referendum, but here's a quick rundown.

Brett Diller and Erin Kirkpatrick said while they did not support these referendum in the past, they both planned to vote for them this time around.

Joyce Blythe is against the referendum.

Max Walker's response suggested he supported the referendum, but he never followed up when I asked for clarification.

As for the mysterious Ken Collins, who knows? I couldn't find a contact email address for him.

Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate with a beer in one hand and a mixed drink in the other.