Bi-partisanship Worth Praise

 

I'm a partisan Democrat. Never tried to deny it. My druthers are totally out in the open. But I hope I'm not a "partisan hack" -- one of those robotic hatchet-men who can always be depended on to cheerlead the Party, no matter how wack, and attack the other side, no matter how sensible and sane. Partisan as I am, I know a really good bi-partisan deed when I see one.

The best recent example: The agreement between the Watauga County Commission and the Boone Town Council to build a bridge at Brookshire Park to link the county's walking path with the Town's 30 acres of public land, which will have trails and plantings along the South Fork of the New River. A good idea, well executed.

Chair Braxton Eggers led the initiative on the County Commission, and Boone Mayor Pro Tem Dalton George led the Town Council. This proposed new infrastructure will benefit the wide population who enjoy the outdoors at Brookshire Park and the adjacent soccer fields.

The New Watauga CoCommish A House of Cards?

 

Last night, two new Republicans were appointed to fill the empty seats on the Watauga CoCommish created by Big Daddy Ralph Hise's gerrymandering local bill: Tim Hodges and Emily Greene. Tim Hodges lives in current Commish Dist. 4, so he's double-bunked with Ronnie Marsh, who was just elected in November. Emily Greene lives in current Commish Dist. 5, so she's double-bunked with Todd Castle who also just won in November. In other words, these two appointments could almost be considered "honorary," since their appointments can only last for two years, and neither Hodges nor Greene will run (we assume) a primary against the very people who appointed them last night.

Newly appointed County Attorney Nathan Miller tried to explain away the stupidity of provisions in the Hise restructuring bill, asserting to the packed house in the Commish Boardroom that the two appointments must come from the old commissioner districts formerly represented by Braxton Eggers and Todd Castle and that they also must belong to the same political party. In other words, "We get to run for election under the new Hise districts, but we get to appoint new commissioners under the old district map." Which is on its face absurd.

Whatever. The point remains that current Commish districts 1 and 2 have no representative on the board and districts 4 and 5 have two each. The voters of districts 1 and 2 have been egregiously harmed, and any one of them, or a group of them, would have standing to sue to bring down this house of cards.

The Braxton Eggers Era In Watauga Gets Worse

 

Nathan Miller, 
County Attorney to be

When Big Daddy Ralph Hise gerrymandered the Watauga County Commission, he simply vacated two office-holders in Commish Districts 1 and 2 while allowing new elections in Districts 3, 4, and 5. Those elections were won by lopsided Republican majorities, and now those three Republicans get to appoint the reps for Districts 1 and 2 tonight.

We have learned that the Republicans intend to appoint two more Republicans to the other two seats. Neither lives in the commissioner district they are being appointed to represent. District 1, which is largely downtown Boone and the campus of AppState, is majority Democrat. It gets as its county commissioner a Republican who doesn't live in Boone. District 2, which leans Democratic, gets a Republican who doesn't live in that district. Representative government?

It gets worse. The two new Republicans who will be appointed tonight are actually double-bunked with incumbents Ronnie Marsh and Todd Castle, respectively, in Districts 4 and 5. While Districts 1 and 2 will have no resident reps, Districts 4 and 5 will each have two. Among other things, this seems plain screwy.

Democrats, who up until 5 p.m. today, held a 3-2 majority on the County Commish, will now be shut out entirely. How is that fair? How is that not simply an abuse of power?

Braxton Eggers Will Be the Next Chair of the Watauga County Commission

 

The Watauga Board of Commissioners will have a complete turnover of power on Monday, December 2nd, at its regular evening meeting, when returning Republican Commissioner Braxton Eggers will be formally elected chair of the board by the other returning Republican Todd Castle and newly elected Republican Ronnie Marsh.

The new Republican board will also be appointing Nathan Miller as county attorney, and they plan to pass a resolution giving Miller some eyebrow-raising powers of his own. Miller is well known to the authors of this blog for the lawsuit he initiated targeting the voting rights of AppState students (and see here), for the long-running harassment of elections expert and AppState professor Stella Anderson, and for exacting retribution against the town of Boone by unilaterally changing how sales tax revenues are distributed -- among other public and legal activities he engaged in while chair of the County Commission and then as a lawyer for the Watauga GOP. According to the board packet for Monday's commissioner meeting, the Republicans intend to pass a resolution granting Miller what looks like a free hand to act like a member plenipotentiary of the commission, with no guardrails.

The language in the resolution granting Miller a free hand:

The County Attorney is authorized to initiate and pursue legal action for the County on any matter, including but not limited to imminent domain, contractual breaches, declaratory action, and such other matters as the County Attorney deems advisable and in the best interests of the County, without need of further Resolution or Ordinance to be adopted by the Board of Commissioners....

"...and such other matters as the County Attorney deems advisable...." Whoa! From his recent history, we know that Nathan Miller deems a lot of stuff very advisable for his particular partisan disposition.

That's where we're starting the Braxton Eggers reign. Can't wait to see the additional chapters.

Watauga’s Chance for Home Rule

 By Bricca Sweet, guest-posting

[Editor's Note: For additional background on the redistricting of Watauga's County Commission by Sen. Ralph Hise, see "Does Senator Hise Hate Watauga?" and "Watauga County Commission Sues Over Gerrymander"]

It’s ironic to write this on June 6, the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I’ve stood on the cliffs of Omaha Beach, imagining the grit and terror of the young men coming ashore and scaling those obstacles in the face of withering enemy fire, as they fought for the freedom of a people they didn’t know. Yet on Tuesday evening, I witnessed two of our own Watauga County Commissioners repeatedly reject the notion that Wataugans should decide for ourselves how we elect our county commissioners. Why aren’t they, safely in the comfort of a modern meeting room, fighting for our freedom?

The Hise map for Watauga County
Commissioner Districts

A little background. In the waning days of the 2023 General Assembly (late October), NC State Senator Ralph Hise quickly pushed through a "local bill," legislation specific to Watauga’s county commissioner election process. NC Statute 153A-22 -- proposed without ANY local input -- basically achieved three changes. First, Senator Hise redrew our five County Commission districts so that some of our voting precincts were split into three different districts and the population varied among the districts by well over five percent. Second, Senator Hise changed our voting process from one where we each voted for each commissioner candidate to one where we now can only vote for the candidate from our own district. Third, Senator Hise changed the election rotation basis from terms that depended on the amount of votes each commissioner received to a rotation based on the districts. Conveniently, three of the districts (3, 4, and 5) leaned Republican, and they will be up for commissioner election in 2024, while voters in the Democratic-leaning districts (1 and 2, the largest two districts, with a population of 22,696) can’t even cast ballots for commissioners until 2026. The newly drawn District 1 has no current commissioner residing within it. Commissioner Ray Russell resides in newly drawn District 2, yet his term expires in 2024.

This statute governs how Watauga’s County Commissioner elections will proceed for the 2024 election, unless there is a very expensive lawsuit on the part of the now disenfranchised voters in District 1 or 2. The June 4 County Commission meeting focused on how our elections should proceed in the future. Democratic Commission Chair Larry Turnbow proposed that a referendum be placed on our 2024 ballot, allowing Watauga voters to choose a map of three electoral districts for three commissioners who reside in each of those districts, while two additional commissioners can be elected at-large from a county-wide vote. Turnbow further proposed to seek the services of an independent professional map-maker to provide three proposed maps for the commissioners to consider in selecting one map for the referendum. He imposed these criteria in developing the maps: no use of current voter registration statistics (voter party affiliations); the districts must be equal in population; districts must be contiguous; and no voting precincts can be split. Commissioner Russell added that existing municipalities should be kept intact within proposed districts.

Chair Turnbow stated that the districts in Statute 153A-22, along with the rotation of elections for those districts, were imposed by Raleigh, and did not reflect home rule. All county commissioners have previously stated on record that no one in Raleigh, including Senator Hise, had consulted with them at all in developing these districts or the statute. None of the commissioners had any issue concerning within-district voting, other than the likely consequence of the commission becoming divisive and losing sight of county-wide issues. The ensuing discussion revolved around allowing Watauga citizens to choose how we vote via a referendum, as allowed by state law.

Republican Commissioners Todd Castle and Braxton Eggers repeatedly echoed that they liked the maps as drawn by Senator Hise. They offered no explanation of why they wouldn’t want Watauga voters to decide on district maps along with at-large commissioners. Democratic Commissioner Wallin expressed curiosity as to why, since the terms for Castle and Eggers are not up until 2026, yet the Hise redistricting put their seats up for election in 2024.  Again, there was no reasonable explanation for this. Incredibly, Castle and Eggers explained that they would stay on the commission regardless of the 2024 election. Obviously, if they each win their county commission elections, they would remain commissioners. Astonishingly, they argue that if either or both of them lose, they would then become commissioners for the new Districts 1 and 2. They argued that because they were elected at-large in the 2022 election, this was indeed representation. They couldn’t explain how this would be representation of districts that didn’t even exist in 2022, or how they could be considered commissioners for districts in which they don’t even reside. Neither Castle nor Eggers expressed any concern for the issues that voters from the new District 1 and 2 have over being excluded from the opportunity to vote for their county commissioners.

After all of this laborious and at times heated debate, Chairman Turnbow asked if there was any more discussion of the motion to put the proposed referendum on the 2024 ballot. Commissioner Eggers once again stated that he supported Senator Hise’s maps. The motion passed three to two, with the two Republican Commissioners opposed. It is beyond me to comprehend why there was so much furor over allowing Watauga voters to choose how we would like to elect our county commissioners. I thought that Republicans were all about local control. It’s a quandary.

The point is that we Watauga voters will now be able to exercise home rule in determining how we vote for our own county commissioners. The other bottom-line is that it sadly appears that voters from the new District 1 and 2 (population: 22,696) will likely have no say in their own representation until 2026. It’s vital that we make sure that our fellow voters understand the importance of voting YES on this referendum!

Jon Council, Testing the Power of the Unaffiliated in Watauga County

 

He's a construction worker living with his wife Peden in a reclaimed barn, with four dogs (Hannah  Jack, Bear, and Matilda), and 15 ducks on the Watauga River Road in Watauga, because it was the only available and affordable housing that Jon and Peden could afford in a super-expensive vacation destination like Watauga County. 

Jon Council just became a rare unaffiliated candidate for a Watauga County Commission seat (Dist. 3), "certified by petition" for the November ballot. No Democrat had filed for the seat against incumbent Republican Braxton Eggers. Council knocked doors to get the signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot because he believes that there should always be a choice of candidates and because he believes he can provide an important voice for working people in his district. Council may be the first unaffiliated candidate in Watauga County history to complete the petition process. He's certainly unusual in North Carolina.

Council has always been unaffiliated, and like many people who do not register as either Democrat or Republican, he sometimes has not voted in elections where he felt his interests were not being represented. Political scientist Chris Cooper at Western Carolina Univ. did research and found that some 261 unaffiliated candidates met the requirements and ran in North Carolina between 2010 and 2022. Almost all of them lost -- badly. During those years, 33 unaffiliated candidates (out of those 261) actually won their races, and frequently they were running for county commission seats. Can Jon Council beat the odds and join that rarest of rare winners' circle?

Unaffiliated voters now out-number both registered Democrats and Republicans in the state of North Carolina. And they out-number Democrats and Republicans in County Commission Dist. 3 of Watauga County, which includes the precincts of Watauga, Laurel Creek, Beaver Dam, Shawneehaw, Beech Mountain, and a portion of Brushy Fork. Here's the partisan breakdown of that district:

D 1,695

R 2,921

U 3,445

(Explains why no Democrat filed to run in the district.)

The Jon Council Story

Photo by Sophie Mead

Have you ever tried to live in the structure you're also trying to renovate? Carry on life while you add a kitchen and wood heat and a composting toilet to a structure that never had any of those "necessaries"? You may have to cover the bed with a tarp to protect it from falling construction debris and cook on a single-burner Coleman set on a desk. That's what Jon and Peden went through to have an affordable place to live, while (big irony here) Jon got up early every morning to go to work maintenance at a high end country club. Now he slings a hammer on construction jobs building summer places that he also can't afford. He's a keen observer of the realities around him -- a well informed, smart, and practical thinker who understands how the economy grinds working people. The crisis in affordable housing is a particular flashpoint for him. In a Barn Raiser online magazine interview last October, Jon pointed out that "development" in a mountain county is "just another extractive industry":

We’re in a place that’s got heavy tourist traffic at different times of the year with ski resorts and other recreation industries. We’ve seen a lot of single-family homes that have been turned into Airbnbs and short-term rentals, which makes it difficult for working-class people to find places that they can afford to live and work. Because we’re a pretty low-income community, we’ve seen how easy it is for outside interests with a lot of money to come in, buy up land, parcel it off and develop it, not for the people who live here, but for second homes or for short-term rentals for people that are living elsewhere.

That struggle for a decent place to live is coupled for Jon with a personal determination to heal and reclaim the two and a half acres of mountain hillside that he and Peden were able to afford in 2018. The land had been neglected for years, sprayed periodically with herbicides and pesticides to keep the scrub from taking over, but blackberry canes took over anyway.

Jon Council is characteristic of any number of smart and determined young people (he's 32), for whom college didn't click, which makes him not a candidate for a white-collar type job but worthy of respect for the struggle to live reasonably in a society that does not value physical labor and native smarts nearly enough. Jon and Peden have learned "make-do" -- living "on the cheap" -- but knowing the benefits and pleasures of a vibrant community of similarly struggling working people who help one another and understand barter/borrow. For Jon, duck eggs, which are significantly higher in both fat and cholesterol than chicken eggs and also higher in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, have become a valuable side enterprize. He's sold up to 200 duck eggs at a time to chefs for special event dinners featuring locally sourced ingredients. Jon and Peden trade and barter with other local small farmers for fresh vegetables and other produce during the warmer months. Jon told Barn Raiser, 

Jon and Peden's home. Photo Sophie Mead 

A lot of our friends are craftspeople. My wedding ring and my wife’s wedding ring were made by a friend, a woman we know in the community, which we traded for barter. There’s a lot of that.

Though Jon left college -- sampled but unfinished -- he's become skilled in a number of life-hacks, not just carpentry and renovations but also the nurturing of native plants and the health of the soil (not to mention the precious water). "I didn't do well in college. But I love to learn," Jon says, "and I'm often moved by novelty." So Jon is a deep reader widely curious about the world. He lights up when talking about favorite books and mentions the work of Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac), Peter Heller (a longtime contributor to Outside magazine), Craig Childs (The Secret Knowledge of Water), and Wendell Berry, whose Unsettling of America holds a special spot in Jon's library. He's a deep thinker on the ways and means that economic power gets wielded against the labor that sustains it, and the Barn Raiser interview quotes him at length on the failures of the two dominant parties.

Jon found a new local community organization, Down Home North Carolina, a member of the People's Action Network, dedicated to finding common ground with blue-collar working people and engaging them in action. The Watauga chapter was building a petition to the County Commission about affordable and fair housing (Watauga County has no minimal housing standards). Jon was also motivated by the repeated raw sewerage spills from a mega-student apartment complex on the west side of Boone. Those spills end up in the Watauga River drainage system, which runs it directly past Jon and Peden's homestead. Jon became an activist. He understands the cost-benefits for the corporate owners: They've been repeatedly hit with fines, "and they just pay the fine and everything still goes back into the watershed. And then it happens again, and they pay the fine." An endless loop of abuse.

He told Barn Raiser about what door-knocking and porch-sitting for Down Home taught him about human community:

When you can talk to somebody face-to-face and say, “Hey, man, we share a watershed,” or, “We rely on this mom-and-pop business up here that’s in danger of being run out by outside corporate interests,” I think you find that people are willing to cooperate with one another. People don’t have to agree on everything. But if we take care of one another, especially within a small community like this, it benefits everyone.

He told me, "Look, I'm not like a vigilante do-gooder. It's doing the simple stuff like helping someone get firewood or picking up trash on the road on a Saturday morning." Helping out. Building community. "Common Sense rules the day" is Jon's motto.

Down Home's petition for the county to enact minimum housing standards went nowhere, and that was under a Democratically dominated County Commission. So this unaffiliated activist is testing whether an amorphous non-party can also elect a representative to the partisan office of County Commission. 

An Unaffiliated Candidate Qualifies for Watauga CoCommish

 

Watauga County Commission Sues Over Gerrymander

Watauga County districts, redrawn by Ralph Hise

On December 8th, the Watauga County Commission filed a lawsuit in Watauga Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment on how to implement Sen. Ralph Hise's gerrymandering of Watauga's County Commission districts. The local act that Hise passed has created confusion and actual chaos among the very Board of Election people who will have to implement what they argue is an unworkable law, or send it back to the General Assembly to fix. The Hise bill redraws Watauga's Commission districts and converts them from "residential districts" to "electoral districts" (the new map, above), meaning that in the future the whole county will not vote on all commission seats. Candidates for those seats will have to come from an electoral district and only voters in that electoral district will be allowed to vote on candidates from that district. 

The town of Boone and students at AppState are segregated and isolated in a single district (# 1 on the new map). Districts 3, 4, and 5 are greater in land mass but with fewer voters, are largely rural in character and historically very Republican. In other words, the whole gerrymander is a lead-pipe cinch for producing a guaranteed Republican majority on the Commission in perpetuity.

But whereas Hise promised that "all county commissioners will serve the terms they were elected to," "no terms will be extended," and "no terms will be cut short" -- that promise was simply not true. Because the bill mandates that Districts 3, 4, and 5 will be on the ballot in 2024, which means (shorthand version) that...

Todd Castle in new Dist. 5 has his 4-year term (won in 2022) cut short by 2 years.

Braxton Eggers in new Dist. 3 has his 4-year term (won in 2022) cut short by 2 years.

Ray Russell in new Dist. 2 has his term (set to expire in 2024) extended until 2026.

Furthermore, Dist. 1 (Boone and AppState) has no incumbent commissioner living in district but is not mandated for an election in Hise's bill until 2026. The voters of Dist. 1 will be disenfranchised from representation for two years, or -- worse -- will get a commissioner appointed by the new Republican majority (early in 2025).

The old saying "You can't out-think a man who ain't thinking" applies here, perhaps. 

Does Senator Hise Hate Watauga?

New district maps for NC Senate, proposed in S 758.
Dist. 47, which includes Watauga, sends Ralph Hise to Raleigh

 

Ralph Hise's "local bill" completely upending the structure of the Watauga County Commission -- evidently to give Republicans a guaranteed (or nearly) advantage in three of five new commissioner districts -- is now moving in the General Assembly.

What Used To Be: Every voter in Watauga County got to vote in all county commish races. Didn't matter where the voter lived. Did matter where the candidate lived, because each of Watauga's 5 districts demanded residency for the candidate. But any voter in, say, Beaver Dam, could also vote for any commissioner candidate representing far off Stony Fork.

What Will Happen Under Hise's Local Bill: There will be five new geographical districts. The only map I've seen is this one, annoyingly devoid of place labels and lines. Hise has presented no map, only population "blocks" under the Census, which can actually be reconstructed into a map. It's clear enough that Boone (deep blue) has been segregated into a single district. Three new, large, and largely rural districts will ring Boone and pretty much guarantee a perpetual 3-man Republican majority on the commish. 

So, We Get It. Hise has power. Some might claim absolute power. He'll probably get this bill through, and it'll be another notch on Trump-era belts (but to us-ens a grotesque abuse of any understanding of democracy, of how a republic is supposed to govern itself). But we get it. We do get it. We're all naked apes, potentially, and why pass up the opportunity to pound your enemy into dirt and eat his cake?

At Its 1st Meeting with 2 New Republican Members, Watauga CoCommish Votes To Spend Money Advancing the Cause of Affordable Housing

 

Castle and Eggers last night

Last night, with newly installed Republican members Braxton Eggers and Todd Castle and presided over by new Commish Chair Larry Turnbow, the board voted unanimously to approve $52,300 for an affordable housing study of an 8-acre tract of county-owned land near Brookshire Park. The proposed study is the result of the interest generated for affordable/workforce housing at last spring's "housing forums."

As a result of those well attended forums, the dormant Watauga County Community Housing Trust was reactivated with County Planner Joe Furman serving on the board of directors. Furman initiated discussions with the UNC School of Government's Development Finance Initiative (DFI), which is charged with helping counties with economic development projects. 

The DFI subsequently presented a proposal for technical services to the county "to attract a private development partner for the development of housing for low- and moderate-income households" on the Brookshire Road site. The proposed "technical assistance" was priced to the county at $62,300, but the High Country Assoc. of Realtors and NC Realtors Assoc. have pledged $10,000 to help underwrite this study. The DFI estimates the study and recruitment of a private partner to take seven months. (The full scope of the "technical assistance" that DFI is promising gets outlined on pages 29-30 here.)

If people were expecting the election of Republican members to the Commish to signal cantankerous wrangling over the spending of public money, it certainly didn't happen last night. Affordable housing appears to retain its salience for both sides.

Local Bill H193 Is Kaput

 

Ray Pickett

Issued before 9 a.m. this morning, this bottomline news: Watauga County Commission requests the shelving of that special legislation introduced by Rep. Ray Pickett and will follow the town's UDO in the building of a parking garage, a facility that both parties believe is needed.

Here's the money in the last paragraph:

We have reached a consensus so that the local law will be withdrawn, litigation can be avoided, and consideration of the County’s parking garage project can move forward as speedily as possible consistent with the Town’s development ordinance.

 

Boone Town Council Takes a Stand on the Power Grab

The Boone Town Council issued the following statement at the end of its regular monthly meeting
held on June 8, 2022 in response to a “local law,” House Bill 193, recently offered in the
General Assembly at the initiative of Watauga County:

“We as a Town Council have discussed in closed session a local law introduced in the General
Assembly at the initiative of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners relating to a parking
garage that the County is planning for downtown Boone. This local law, if passed, would
exempt the County’s proposed parking garage from Boone’s Unified Development Ordinance,
including the downtown historic district standards.

As a Council, we feel blindsided and extremely disappointed with this action by Watauga
County. This Council has tried hard to improve relations with the County and to work together
with the County. Most recently, the Town and the County reached an amicable settlement of a
lawsuit over water service; we worked together to move the County’s new 911 call center
forward, and we combined our 911 communication operations. This Council would have been
happy to talk to the County about its parking garage project, and to do what the Town reasonably
could to facilitate it. Yet, the County did not even approach the Town to seek cooperation.

The Town still stands ready to facilitate proper consideration of the parking garage project as
quickly as local regulations allow. But the standards that apply to every resident and business in
this town, and to the Town itself, should apply equally to the County.

This proposed local law, House bill 193, sets a dangerous precedent both for us as a town and for
municipalities across the state. Watauga County should be subject to the same standards that
apply to all other property owners. We urge the County to rescind this bill and reach out to us.
We stand ready to work together.”

County Commish Calls a Special Meeting Next Monday

The Underhanded, Horrible, No-Good Screwing of Boone NC

 

Rep. Ray Pickett introduced a "local bill" (H193, that the governor can't veto) which will exempt the development of the Oscar and Suma Hardin House property (a.k.a, the Turner House) in downtown Boone from following the rules in Boone's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The Watauga County Commish wants to build a parking deck for the Courthouse, and they don't want to be bothered with following rules that will include a public hearing. If you recall, they refused a public hearing before they demolished that historic house.

That Ray Pickett, who served on the Blowing Rock Town Council and who would not, we think, have screwed his own town with a bill like this, is apparently happy to screw Boone speaks to a political moral compass somewhat out of whack.

The Town's UDO development standards apply to everyone, whether a government, a major or minor devloper, or even a person wanting to build a storage shed. Why should the big, powerful players be exempt from the rules all the rest of us have to follow just because they have the means and power to get a special law introduced in Raleigh?

But we have other questions. Who on the County Commission approached Pickett to get this bill introduced? And what secret meetings went on behind the scenes that led the Commission -- without ever taking a public vote that we know of -- to take this underhanded path. Who met with whom and who was there? And why the need to operate under cover and in the dark of night without public input or knowledge? And what says the Boone Town Council about such a blatant and dangerous subverting of local control?

Demolition of Historic House Rankles Watauga Commish Primary

 

Turner House before demolition

Eric Plaag, the chair of Boone's Historic Preservation Commission, president of the Watauga County Historical Society, and a noted authority on historic preservation, has published "An Open Letter to County Commissioner Carrington Pertalion," taking her to task for misrepresenting the events leading up to the bulldozing of the Oscar and Suma Hardin House (a.k.a., "the Turner House") for a parking lot.

Plaag quotes Pertalion's answers to a questionnaire from PamsPicks.net and argues that they are either a mistaken recitation of what led the County Commission to order the burning of the house, or a deliberate obfuscation. Plaag maintains that the county flouted open meeting laws in making its decision to destroy the landmark.

Based on Pertalion's responses to her questionnaire, PamsPicks.net endorsed Pertalion's opponent, Angela Laws King, in the Democratic primary now underway (which will be concluded on May 17th).

The Case Against the Watauga County Commission

 

On April 16, 2013, the Republican majority on the Watauga County Commission -- Chair Nathan Miller and members David Blust and Perry Yates -- voted to redistribute county sales tax revenues on an ad valorum basis (based on the values of homes in the towns of the county) rather than on the previous basis of population (based on the numbers of people actually living in those towns), a move meant to punish the town of Boone for its stubbornness about zoning. Plus the Republican majority introduced a further ripple into their scheme, getting the governments of the wealthier towns to agree to "kick back" funds to county government to keep Watauga from hurting itself with the change. Democratic commissioners John Welch and Billy Kennedy voted "no."

Fast-forward five years, to 2018: The Town of Boone estimates that the punishment the Republican commissioners dished that April night in 2013 has amounted to a total loss of some $10 million in revenue for the town, about $2 million per annum.

 

Here's the thing: The Town of Boone collects between 60 and 70 percent of all the sales taxes collected in Watauga County. By 2020 under the method of distribution that Nathan Miller et al. engineered, the town of Boone only receives 12.29 percent of sales tax revenues.

 

Here's the other thing: By December 2020, Nathan Miller, David Blust, and Perry Yates were all gone from the commission. All five seats belonged to Democrats, none of whom show any inclination for righting an historic wrong.

 

Before he voted "no" in April 2013, John Welch made an impassioned speech about the revenge Miller et al. were poised to take against Boone:

 

“The main issue I have is, obviously, the lack of transparency and openness. To be honest, we’ve heard the threat of the sales tax change for however long here, but for me an issue that touches every taxpayer in this county should be done in the open, transparently with input with the towns in a joint meeting,” Welch said. “If there is an issue with the sales tax, by all means lets have an open and honest discussion, but I can’t be a part of a process that brings personal and professional vendettas that will not only hurt 17,000 county residents within the Town of Boone, but also county residents that own a business in the Town of Boone, does business in the Town of Boone, without having an open and honest discussion.” 

 

Here's the final thing: Arguably, statistically, the five Democrats on the Watauga County Commission owe their elections to the voters in the Town of Boone. Yet, the Democratic majority -- who retook control of the commission after the election of 2016, and they have to -- under state law -- reaffirm every April in its budgeting process the method of distributing sales taxes passed by Miller et al. There hasn't seemed to be much hesitation in maintaining a system of civic malfeasance that has hurt Boone's ability to maintain its infrastructure, keep qualified staff, and expand its programs.

 

Frustration with the commission's inertia led the Boone Town Council to sue for injunctive relief in February of 2020, which caused the Democrats on the commission to hunch their shoulders and go silent. That suit was summarily thrown out last month by Superior Court Judge Gary Gurganus, ruling that Boone doesn't have standing to sue. Whaaa? I certainly hope and trust that Boone will appeal.

 

I write this as a progressive activist. I live in the town limits of Boone and have admired all of our commission members. I worked to elect all of them. But I'm also feeling alienated from their continued willingness to continue a tax distribution policy that actually hurts their most loyal constituents.

"NC fails White House benchmarks for reopening, health experts say"

That headline above appeared on the WRAL website late yesterday, with this paragraph:

As of Tuesday, ... a nationwide collaboration [created by public health and crisis experts] tracking every state's progress toward recovery puts North Carolina in the red. That color-coded designation means it failed one of several "gating criteria" provided by the administration of President Donald Trump in its guidelines for "Reopening America Again."

Not that Donald Trump even knows what those guidelines are or gives a flip.

So far, North Carolina has hit benchmarks for low flu-like illness activity and sufficient hospital capacity. But it's the trendline for new cases, however, that scored the state the lowest on the project's three-color scale.

All signals from Raleigh suggest that Governor Roy Cooper is poised to accelerate reopening anyway, and he could make that announcement that we're going to Phase 2 today.

Meanwhile, last night the Watauga County Commission voted unanimously to ease up on its own virus shutdown. The Commish modified its original plan, which included a ban on short-term rentals and a 14-day self-quarantine order for those arriving from an overnight stay outside of the county, to align with the governor's phases. So now Watauga will allow short-term rentals to resume at the beginning of Phase 2 -- likely to be this Friday — and will lift the 14-day quarantine order for those arriving from an overnight stay outside of the county. The Watauga commissioners said they didn't want to be out of synch with neighboring counties, let alone the governor.

Durham Mayor Steve Schewel,
resisting pressure to reopen too quickly

You know what local North Carolina government isn't going along with a hopeful, easier "unity" with "the neighbors"? Durham Mayor Steve Schewel has extended his stay-at-home order for the foreseeable future, which includes a continuing mandate for face coverings. Durham County ranks 13th in the state for positive COVID-19 cases with 29 cases per 10,000 residents. For deaths, the County ranks 19th in the state with 1.12 deaths per 10,000.

Schewel did not state how long the stay-at-home order would last nor did he go into specifically which guidelines or restrictions would be affected. He even offered a word to critics who say the order is too strict and the city should reopen sooner rather than later.

"There are some people who are just opposed to the stay-at-home orders, and I simply disagree with that. And I think that we've needed those orders .... Because our infection rate is so low ... it means that we don't have much immunity. And so, unless we are coming back with safe practices, it would be very easy for the COVID-19 cases to spike and to hit us very hard. We want to keep our community safe."

Word! Watauga County, too, has had a blessedly low infection rate, but our leaders seem vague about the equation that Durham Mayor Steve Schewel understands. COVID-19 cases are increasing in North Carolina. Why in the world would a responsible local government help that acceleration without requiring, say, face coverings at the very least?

The Change-Over in Watauga County Government

This morning the Watauga County Commission came under Democratic control after six years under the Republicans. With the swearing in of newly elected Democratic Commissioner Larry Turnbow and the seating of Democratic Commissioner John Welch as the new Chair of the Board, Watauga enters a new era.

Equally consequential: the firing of the Eggers Eggers Eggers and Eggers law firm as counsel and the hiring of the di Santi, Watson, Capua, Wilson, & Garrett law firm. No more "Four" Eggers, and for that, we thank you!

Everything was harmony and light this morning. Republican Commissioner Perry Yates nominated John Welch for the chairmanship and expressed his eagerness to work together with the new Democratic majority. All votes after that were unanimous (granted, there was nothing controversial on the agenda).

Commissioners Blust and Yates Rewrite History

High Country Press put up videos of county commissioners David Blust and Perry Yates (and all the other commish candidates) responding to pablum questions about recreation and giving their pablum answers. As a witness said, "Yadda yadda yadda." But in the process, commissioners Blust and Yates managed to completely hide their records on the topic, and no one challenged them.

At a May 2013 commissioners meeting, Blust and Yates were the two votes against extending the Brookshire Park greenway under the New River bridge at Hwy 421. Those of us attending that meeting heard Mr. Blust diss greenway and trail projects as a potential money suck down the road. No surprise. Blust has always expressed disdain for maintaining the Brookshire greenway and the Rocky Knob bike park. So Blust and Yates voted "nay" on a procedural motion to go forward with an environmental assessment of the proposed greenway extension under Hwy 421. The Blust-Yates "no" votes would have killed the project in its infancy.

The minutes of that May commish meeting are here. Coverage of the vote didn't make the local press until June 10, in this paragraph at the end of an article titled "Vulnerable greenway projects may see reprieve":

Not everyone is as enthusiastic as others about the planned trail projects. County commissioners Perry Yates and David Blust last month voted against an environmental assessment contract for the 421 underpass. Blust expressed concerns about the future costs of maintaining the trail. The contract was approved by a 3-2 vote, however.

Another local citizen who witnessed the Blust/Yates "no" vote, and who has a vital interest in bike trails in our county, wrote me the following in an email:

Mr. Blust (and apparently Mr. Yates) seem to be concerned about the "future costs of maintaining the trail." I'd like to ask exactly what costs they are concerned about, and whether or not they consider trail maintenance money well spent, given the number of the public who make daily use of this infrastructure for recreation, wellness, and commuting? What maintenance costs scare them so? Mowing the borders? Occasional gravel backfill? This 'penny wise/pound foolish' approach to trails is difficult to understand given the over $47,000 spent on intervening in the ETJ lawsuit, which both men supported....

I ride a bike everywhere, so this stuff matters to me. When Blust in that meeting in 2013 said, 'I'm worried about saddling the taxpayers with maintenance of the trail' and voted 'Nay'-- it was one of the most monumentally stupid things I've ever witnessed.

To now witness Blust and Yates get away with appearing supportive of greenways and recreation in general, and not be called out on their past votes, is a little galling.

The Rise & Fall of a Scenic Highway

April 3, 2000

Watauga County Commission votes unanimously to make the Doc & Merle Watson Hwy (construction just beginning) a scenic hwy, an essentially cosmetic designation (county-designated "scenic" roads carried fewer restrictions than did state-designated "scenic" roads), but the county's designation did prohibit billboards and off-premise signs on the roadway. The push for scenic designation is coming mainly from the business community, led by John Cooper of the Mast Store. The Committee of 100, an economic development arm of county government, and prominent members of the Chamber of Commerce also support scenic designation. On the other side of the argument -- against any restrictions on advertizing and therefore opposed to scenic designation  -- are business leaders Joe Miller (Boone Drug, Cheap Joe's) and Brad Moretz (Ski Mountain), among others.

Early 2002

Attitude on Commish has shifted strongly against scenic designation, partly as reaction to Widespread Panic that "zoning" is coming to Watauga! Democratic Commissioners Sue Sweeting and Pat Wilkie become bumper-sticker targets of "No Zoners." A "scenic byway" that restricts business -- in any shape, form, or fashion -- has become anathama.

June 18, 2002

Watauga County Commission votes not to seek scenic byway designation from the state for the Doc & Merle Watson Hwy.  Two of three Dems on the Commish (Sue Sweeting and Pat Wilkie) vote for scenic designation; third Dem and Chair of the Commish at that time, Jimmy Hodges, votes with the two Repubs to defeat.

Sept. 17, 2002

[lifted from Co Commish official minutes]

SCENIC HIGHWAY DISCUSSION

            Mr. Joe Furman apologized for an omission in information given to the Board in 2000 when the Doc and Merle Watson Highway was designated as a scenic highway. County Attorney Hedrick stated that a scenic highway is designated locally and that a scenic byway is designated by the State. The County Attorney stated that the Watauga County Board of Commissioners designated the Doc and Merle Watson Highway as a scenic highway in 2000 and that designation legally stands.

            Per Board instructions, six citizens were scheduled to speak for 5 minutes each; 3 in favor of the designation and 3 opposed to the designation.

            Mr. Brad Moretz, Ms. Lila Phillips, and Ms. Deborah Greene spoke in opposition to the scenic highway designation and requested that Board rescind the resolution from 2000 designating the Doc and Merle Watson Highway as scenic.

            Mr. Phil Minor, Ms. Susan Phipps, and Ms. Velma Burnley spoke in support of keeping the scenic highway designation.

            No Board action was required and none was taken.

Oct. 3, 2002

The Partnership for Watauga's Future, a coalition of business/environmental activists, stages a "community walk" on a section of the still unfinished Doc & Merle Watson Hwy. Hundreds show up and walk about two miles. Doc Watson himself shows up with his brother. Watson also signs the petition to keep the road "scenic."

June 2003

Watauga County Commish reaffirms its opposition to the state about scenic byway designation. All five commissioners are voting in lock-step: Republicans James Coffey, Keith Honeycutt, David Blust, Allen Trivette, and Democrat Jimmy Hodges. But local representative on the state Board of Transportation, Caldwell County's Sam Erby, privately favors scenic designation (not a well kept secret).

July 25, 2003

Despite the preferences of Co Commissioners and the vociferousness of "no zoners," led by Deborah Greene, the NC Dept. of Transportation schedules a public hearing on scenic byway designation for Aug. 20, 2003, at the Broyhill Inn.

August 20, 2003

Hundreds of people show up for public hearing, with slightly over 100 of them signing up to speak, on both sides (though only 15% of speakers opposed scenic designation). The crowd as a whole leans decidedly toward scenic byway designation. State Senator Virginia Foxx tries to grandstand for the "no-zoners" and is shut down by the moderator. (She'll go on to run successfully for Congress in 2004.)

December 4, 2003

Despite opposition from Watauga Co. Commish and many citizens, the NC Bd of Transportation votes in favor of scenic byway designation.

[13 years pass]

April 5, 2016

Watauga Co Commish votes 3-2 along party lines not to challenge the Watauga Bd of Adjustment's decision that the Johnny Hampton family had every right under God's blue heaven to sell a "polluting industry license" to Maymead. Jimmy Hodges, now chair of the Commish and now a registered Republican, votes with fellow Republicans David Blust and Perry Yates not to defend the scenic integrity of the Doc & Merle Watson Hwy. Democratic commissioners John Welch and Billy Kennedy vote to appeal the BOA decision.

Today

The air quality license for the planned Maymead asphalt plant on the Doc & Merle Watson Scenic Byway is on hold until Maymead fixes environmental violations at their existing plant in Boone. 

Welcome to your future, Doc & Merle Watson!

Henion Family Raising Money to Take Maymead Asphalt Case to Superior Court

Randall & Carolyn Henion, who are neighbors to the Doc & Merle Watson Scenic Highway and to the Maymead asphalt plant (set down squat on that highway), are raising money through GoFundMe to appeal the Watauga Board of Adjustment's decision to reinstate Maymead's permit to make asphalt and ruin the neighborhood.

The Henions are going forward with an appeal because the Republican majority on the Watauga County Commission would not.

Visit their GoFundMe page and give if you can.