Water Logged

Since the Phil Templeton group, Citizens for Change, has decided to overrun Boone Town government on the issue of water -- its great abundance, in their view, and the “myth” of a water shortage – a few facts might be in order.

2003, late summer/early fall: Town of Boone, faced with low water flow due to drought, is forced to treat its supply for algae

2004, January: facing its own water crisis, the Town of Blowing Rock approaches Boone about buying bulk water. Boone wisely decides first to requisition an engineering report on Boone's actual water capacity before agreeing to sell bulk water

2004, October: Hydrologic engineering report is completed on Boone's water supply. Study forecasts future water needs of 6.8 million gals. per day (at current rate of growth). Town is currently permitted to draw only 3 million gals. per day from its sources. Town immediately forms a Water Committee, consisting of all Town Council members, the Mayor, and members of the community. Phil Templeton is appointed to the Water Committee by then-mayor Velma Burnley. The Water Committee will make recommendations as to policy

2004, Nov. 16: First meeting of Boone's Water Committee, with Phil Templeton present. A search for additional raw water supply is first order of business. Town also initiates discussion with ASU about "water interconnection" (and NOT as claimed on Templeton's website ... ASU does NOT repeatedly "offer" its water to Boone).

2005, January 19: Water Committee adopts draft water allocation ordinance, forwards to Town Council, which adopts it by unanimous vote on January 20, 2005 ("unanimous," including the vote of Dempsey Wilcox, who is now running against the ordinance as one of Templeton's anointed boys).

2005, July 19: Water Committee adopts unanimously (with Phil Templeton present) a recommendation to the Town Council for voluntary water conservation measures

2005, August 15: The last meeting of the Water Committee that Phil Templeton attends. In fact, of 14 meetings of the Water Committee since November 2004, for which minutes have been found, Phil Templeton attended exactly 5. He did not attend a single meeting of the Water Committee during all of 2006 or thus far in 2007.

How Citizens for Change are propagandizing about the water supply in Boone has more to do with wishful thinking than with scientific fact. Town Council member Lynne Mason lays out the facts about water on her website.

She Thinks ASU is "Hot! Hot! Hot!"?

The YouTube of the addled South Carolina beauty queen has been viewed over a million times now, and we wouldn't recommend it, except that Fox News says she's coming to ASU. (Hat-tip: TD) In fact, she may already be here. NOT enrolled in a geography class, we suspect.

Behind the Headline

The real story that's emerging is that Sen. Larry Craig almost -- ALMOST -- managed to keep his arrest in a Minneapolis men's room secret forever. The hot action happened June 11th, but the Roll Call reporter who finally broke it didn't get the tip until last week.

Interesting piece in Editor & Publisher about how the press behaved in all of this, particularly the Idaho papers. As soon as the Minnesota arrest became public, the Idaho Stateman published its rather fat investigative file on Craig ... including accounts of other alleged gay activity. The paper had launched its investigation when accusations against Craig surfaced on (what else?) a blog, but had failed to publish any of it until Roll Call broke the story on Monday.

"The Statesman's decision not to run its investigation until the arrest had been revealed raises the issue of when a news outlet should both investigate such allegations and report on its findings."

It may surprise the mainstream press people who monitor this site, but we agree that the decision to publish such stuff ain't easy. Don't know what we would have done in that Idaho editor's position, but given Craig's actions in Congress actively to hurt gay people, with his speeches about the "gay agenda" and his self-righteous vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, we might have leaned toward exposing his blatant hypocrisy. Maybe we would have at least written an editorial about how public piety at odds with private behavior is the particular curse of the modern Republican Party.

We're gratified, at least, that Craig's hometown paper was investigating.

Speaking of Water

Citizens for Change (a.k.a., Big Developers For Giving Boone Back to Big Developers) has its new website up (yep, Stephen Phillips, there you ARE!), and if you've any doubt of the alternate universe they inhabit, get a load of their "we need to sell as much water as possible in the midst of severe drought" recommendations. (Hat tip: BooneWeb.com)

We'll Take Our Bourbon Straight, Thank You

Mandatory water restrictions now in Hickory.

Boone may be next.

The Notorious Jumping Frog of Cabarrus County

The make-up of the Cabarrus County Commission is all-Republican, but it's far from united. One of its members is the Rev. Coy Privette, recently convicted of aiding and abetting prostitution in two Salisbury hotel rooms. (Well, at least he took her out-of-county!)

Rev. Privette is in (semi)full repentance mode. He's resigned his leadership position with the State Baptist Convention of North Carolina and his presidency of the Christian Action League of NC, but so far he isn't showing positive signs of wanting to resign his seat on the Cabarrus County Commission.

Privette told a fellow commissioner that he's received over 500 cards and letters from citizens begging him not to resign. The commissioner Privette told that to is a member of the other Republican faction. That commissioner had just written Privette asking him to do "the honorable thing" and resign. Privette told him he'd only gotten four requests for his resignation. "No final decision has been made," Privette wrote.

But the Cabarrus County Republican Party's executive committee has now voted, calling for Privette's resignation. Privette will have to decide whether his faction of the party is bigger than their faction (ahem). He's a man who's enjoyed power, so it's going to be tough.

For the sake of hypocrisy connoisseurs everywhere, we pray that Rev. Privette will stoutly resist demands for his resignation. We need him in office preaching at us about how our political opinions undermine this Christian nation.

Now, about Sen. Larry Craig ... who's got those sterling opinion ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and the Family Research Council ... hypocrisy flavor of the day!

Ahem

Today's Watauga Democrat contains confirmation of what was first aired on this site in April 2006. The much contested letter from former Sheriff Mark Shook to his chief deputy Paula Townsend, for example, was first published here, in the comment thread to a Glenn Hubbard posting, "Who Shot the Sheriff." (You'll have to scroll waaay down into the comments, but it's there, and it's the same words published in the Watauga Democrat today.)

Forgive us -- or don't -- if we reflect at this time on the "citizen journalism" of blogsites like WataugaWatch ... and coincidentally recall that because of "Who Shot the Sheriff" we were the subject of a lacerating editorial ("Rumor has it...") on April 28, 2006, in the Watauga Democrat, calling for the "eradication" of blogs as a threat to high journalistic standards. (Apparently, the editorial is no longer available on-line, but we summarized its content here.)

Gonzo: "My Incompetence IS My Legacy"

Gone? Well, not until September 17th. There's some packing to do, some rewriting of history, some paper-shredding.

Resigned last Friday, the traditional day for bad-news dumps in this administration, but true to his legacy of effing everything up, he waits until Monday morning to make the announcement. Cable news shows will feast far into the night. And beyond.

And what does he get for being a giant tool? A lousy lunch with El Presidente at the show-ranch in the middle of God-forsaken, burnt-to-a-crisp Texas.

Oh, Bush&Cheney? ... still in office.

Generational Paradigm Shift?

The Peace Corps saw a 37 percent increase in applications from 2001 to 2006, bringing the total number of applications to over 12,000 last year.

AmeriCorps' Volunteers in Service to America program has had a 50 percent increase in applications since 2004.

Teach for America, which puts new college graduates of every major in urban and rural classrooms, had its applications skyrocket to 19,000 last year, an increase of nearly five times what they were in 2000. Participation rates have climbed from about 900 in 2000 to 2,400 last year.

The above volunteerism statistics from the Associated Press ... which suggests a full-blown trend among college students away from the corporate model of success.

Locally, that altruistic impulse is expressed by ASU's impACT program. Those capitalized initials stand for "Appalachian and Community Together." The program has for years worked to connect ASU students as volunteers with the local non-profit community, to the benefit of both.

Whatever the cause for this shift in personal values among 20-somethings, the community as a whole is strengthened and enhanced by the involvement of its young in a future that transcends "career advancement."