Things You Wouldn't Know Without the "Watauga Democrat"

1. ASU Chancellor Ken Peacock's "chief of staff" Stan Aeschleman would not publicly reveal the specific building downtown where the Appalachian Cultural Museum may be forced to move. Aeschleman wouldn't reveal what apparently every last soul in Boone already knows ... that the old Heilig-Myers building on west King Street, across from the new courthouse annex, has been offered to ASU for less that $2 million ... a bargain.

And evidently the need to move the museum for the sake of a nursing school has become somewhat inoperative as the prime excuse. Some sources not tapped by the Watauga Democrat have suggested that Chancellor Peacock has wanted to make the museum disappear from the git-go, and the nursing school -- now apparently relocated to a site closer to the hospital -- was a convenient pretext.

Understatement of the month goes to museum director Chuck Watkins: "I know that not everybody is entirely trustful of what's said..." Because what's said by university pooh-bahs keeps shifting, like the sands of time.

2. The Christmas tree industry has let out its first peep against Madame Virginia Foxx's efforts to decimate its workforce with her war on Latino immigration. A letter to the editor (scroll down) published in Friday's paper from Patricia Gaskin, legislative chairwoman of the National Christmas Tree Asssociation, is only the opening salvo in what could become a most interesting exchange of views: "...the Enforcement bill that Rep. Foxx so proudly sponsors will leave agriculture and small businesses with nothing."

The perceived necessity for populist racism collides with business. Been waiting for that convergence!