Health-Care Backfire

From The Pilot:  October 28, 2009

A reader came by the other day to vent about two mailings he had recently received from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
The first one informed him that his health insurance rates would be going up by more than 10 percent next year. Just as he was getting over that, another flier arrived from Blue Cross, this one urging him to send an attached post card to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, demanding that she vote against any health-care reform bill that includes a "public option."
"The whole idea behind a public option is that the competition might help keep insurance rates under control," sputtered our visitor, who preferred anonymity. "Yet here you have an insurance company raising my rates with one hand, while with the other trying to get me to badger Kay Hagan to vote against something that might help keep costs down. And how much of that rate hike is due to these kinds of lobbying expenses?"
Turns out our caller wasn't the only one turned off by this one-two punch, which was a little like the proverbial youth murdering his parents and then begging for leniency on the grounds that he was an orphan. Cries of outrage have gone up all over the state from policy holders complaining that their premium dollars were funding a self-serving corporate campaign.
The thing has even backfired. Some policy holders have phoned Hagan's office to voice support for the public option. Others have altered the post card and sent it along with the opposite of the intended message. Blue Cross acknowledged that the timing of the two back-to-back mailings may have been "unfortunate."
Ya think?

Smith for Council

From The Pilot: October 28, 2009

Last November, when the huge election had folks lined up for quite a bit, I was standing in line to vote and a gentleman walked by and asked for votes.
I asked if he was endorsed by The Pilot, and he said that his opponent was. I assured him that I would vote for him since I was voting against The Pilot's endorsed candidates.
People around us applauded and several thought that was an excellent idea.
I urge folks who like Southern Pines as it is and has been to vote for Marsh Smith and David Woodruff, as they are for a clean and uncluttered town. I have known Marsh Smith for 30 years and admire his principles and his stance against the good old boys who would mess up our gracious and spacious town and county.
George McManus
Southern Pines

A Vote for Smith

From The Pilot: October 28, 2009

Over the past two weeks I have heard from many voters in Southern Pines asking my thoughts about the upcoming election and candidates running for my unexpired term.
I would like most to be there myself, working with the citizens, mayor and council members, as I deeply care about the issues that continue to face our town.
We have made giant leaps from the business-as-usual attitude that I found when I became involved in town government.
The outcome of this election will determine whether or not our movement forward to enhance the quality of life for all citizens was a brief blip in our town's history, or if we have established a true beginning of creating a sustainable economy that benefits all.
While both candidates are highly qualified, it is important to consider where each will fall when a decision must be made. I believe that Marsh Smith is the only candidate who will put the spirit of Southern Pines first and act to protect the qualities of life that define our town. As both a citizen and council member, I observed Marsh's enthusiasm at town meetings, even when few other citizens were there to witness his concern for Southern Pines on a wide range of issues and his commitment to finding solutions beneficial to all sides. I seldom recall seeing Mike Fields at a meeting, except in support of the PUD and to encourage the sitting council to vote on Pine Needles Village prior to swearing me in.
I know that on council Smith will work hard for Southern Pines to ­protect and preserve both the natural beauty of the area and the special character of our town.
Please vote for Marsh Smith on Tuesday.
Abigail Dowd
Portland, Maine

Local Democrats Honor Capel, Gilmore at Event

From The Pilot: October 28, 2009

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall turned to that notable philosopher Kermit the Frog of Sesame Street to encourage Moore County Democrats Saturday.
"It's not easy being green," she quoted Kermit as saying, adding her own observation that "It's not easy being a Democrat in Moore County."
Marshall, an announced candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Richard Burr, was keynote speaker Saturday for a Moore County Democratic Party fundraiser luncheon at Little River Resort and Golf Club.
She was referring to the Republican majority in the county's voter registration, a factor that means the GOP controls county government and most legislative seats.

"Your hard work is very valuable," she said. "In the face of adversity, don't give up. This is not a county that gives up." Marshall, the first woman elected to statewide executive office in North Carolina, reminded her audience of Democrats that their votes added thousands to her grand total in the last general election.
The event, with a theme "Celebrating Community Leader-ship," honored Felton Capel, a Southern Pines businessman and community leader, and the late Voit Gilmore, a philanthropist, scholar and civic leader. The two men are recognized for their successful and peaceful efforts to end racial segregation in Moore County in the 1960s.
At the end of the program, the party presented a $1,000 check to the Coalition for Human Care. Algene Johnson made the presentation on behalf of Moore County Democrats in honor of Gilmore and Capel.
In accepting the gift, Caroline Eddy, Coalition executive director, said the money would be used to buy food, prevent utilities from being cut off, pay rent for people facing eviction and meet medical needs of needy families throughout the county.
'Can't Stand by and Watch'
In what was clearly a campaign address, Marshall focused on the health-care reform issue now commanding the attention of both congressional chambers.
"We can't stand by and watch as health-care costs keep going up," she said. "We can't stand by and watch. We have to have a public option of some sort."
She urged Democrats to call their congressional delegation despite the differences in their political affiliation and let them know they want health care reform with a public option.
"It won't make a bit of difference to Howard Coble, but call him anyway," she said. "It won't make any difference to Richard Burr, but call him anyway."
Coble, who represents Moore County in the U.S. House, is a Republican.
Gilmore's Legacy Continues
Eddy made the presentation on behalf of Voit Gilmore, who died in 2005 at the age of 87.
"Voit Gilmore was friend, father, husband, and philanthropist," she said, explaining that these characteristics are in addition to his service as a human rights leader and a travel expert.
Eddy went down a lengthy list of contributions Gilmore made to the overall community, including a gift of land to Pinecrest High School, a gift of 10 acres to the town of Southern Pines for the Head Start program, and more land to house the Coalition for Human Care, the latter large enough to accommodate a community garden, where families can grow their own vegetables.
Elsewhere, Gilmore donated land to the park system, now accommodating the Appalachian Highland Learning Center. His estate has also established the Voit Gilmore Distinguished Geography Professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a doctorate in geography in his later years.
"Voit was changing the world when he was alive, but his legacy continues to change the world," Eddy said. "He was not afraid to take a stand."
Gilmore, who was white, and Capel, who is black, joined forces to carry out a joint integration of a movie theater in Southern Pines, a bowling alley, a golf course and other cultural and recreation sites in the county during the 1960s, when desegregation was an emotional and sometimes violent political issue across the country. In Moore County it was accomplished without violence.
"He was a visionary, a world traveler, a Tar Heel forever, a philanthropist and a Democrat forever," Eddy said.
Wilma Laney read a response on behalf of the Gilmore family, none of whom was able to attend the luncheon. His children are scattered across the United States and as far away as Ecuador.
'Be a Lifter, Not Leaner'
Jeff Capel II and Ken Capel deferred their comments on behalf of their father to their brother, Mitch Capel, a well-known entertainer and educator. Mitch Capel is best known by his storytelling persona, Gran'Daddy Junebug.
"I'm here to talk about my father, who taught me how to talk," Mitch Capel said. "We grew up Democrats in our household."
He recalled a childhood when on Election Days he wore a pin that said, "I'm too young to vote. What's your excuse?"
"My father was a great athlete, a great baseball player," he said. "He also taught us to be generous and how to do the right thing. He taught me to be a lifter, not a leaner."
Capel called Gilmore and his father "two of the strongest lifters I ever knew." He told of watching them as they integrated the Sunrise Theater, the bowling alley, the golf course and any number of other public places in the community.
He also paid tribute to his mother, Jean Capel, whom he called "a great woman."
Through the years, the elder Capel has received so many honors, awards and recognitions that his son said they really need to build another house to have enough wall space to display all these honors.
John "Bingo" Barringer followed the three sons but did not hesitate to list all the honors bestowed through the years but added that his long-time friend was the first black to serve on the Southern Pines Town Council and the first black Rotarian in Moore County.
"Fayetteville State University thinks so highly of him that they named the arena for him," he said. "So, he gets a good seat at all their games."
Mostly Barringer regaled the gathering with humorous anecdotes about Capel and his family.
In responding, Felton Capel said he could spend a lifetime telling all the things that Voit Gilmore did. He shared the fact that his affiliation with the Democratic Party dated to age three or four.
Finally, Ken and Jeff were persuaded to speak, although briefly, on behalf of their father.
"Voit Gilmore was a common name around the house when I was growing up," said Ken Capel, who recalled that Gilmore and his father accomplished racial integration peacefully.
Contact Florence Gilkeson at (910) 693-2479 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.

By Bruce Henderson
bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009

 

Tim Will's $100,000 idea: Nurture new small farms, then link them with Charlotte chefs.

RUTHERFORDTON Charged with growing entrepreneurs in rural Rutherford County, Tim Will surveyed foothills numbed by 14 percent unemployment and illiteracy and limited by few high-speed links to the global marketplace.
But one other statistic caught the newcomer's eye: the county's 6,000 small plots of land, much of it overgrown former farmland.
What if played-out cotton fields, Will wondered, grew fruits and vegetables again? And what if the produce was marketed online to Charlotte restaurants hungry for locally raised foods?
The result is Farmers Fresh Market, now ending its third year. Charlotte chefs log on to its Web site, clicking on the purple potatoes or haricot verts that please them. The produce is delivered to their kitchens within 24 hours of harvest.
This year, 87 Rutherford growers marketed their produce that way.
A San Francisco think tank, Civic Ventures, got wind of the market, which is believed to be the only one of its kind in North Carolina. Each year Civic Ventures awards "Purpose Prize" to social innovators over 60 who do good things in their "encore" careers.
That's why, today, Tim Will is $100,000 richer.
As you might expect from a former Peace Corps volunteer, affordable-housing advocate and inner-city teacher, Will shrugs off his role, crediting the community's effort.
"What's happened to them, they didn't cause this," he said of the boom and bust of the county's textile and furniture industries. "Over four decades, these people forgot how to grow stuff."
Purpose Prize director Alexandra Kent said Will, 61, was chosen as "an inspiring role model" from among 1,200 nominations.
Will won, she said, "for his innovative approach to solving important and timely issues: job creation, ecological sustainability and the preservation of family farms."
Rutherford County lost 7,000 to 8,000 jobs in the past decade, says local newspaper publisher Jim Brown, chairman of Foothills Connect, the nonprofit business and technology agency Will heads.
"Putting people back to work is as important as the product they sell," Brown said. "And the straw that stirs the drink here is Tim Will."
The pairing happened by luck. A few years ago, Will watched "The Last of the Mohicans," filmed partly in Rutherford County, and decided the scenic hills were so beautiful he would die in them.
He and his wife Eleanor pulled up stakes in 2006, leaving his teaching job at a Miami high school. He was stunned to learn that Rutherford County schools lacked broadband Internet access.
Will fell into a job at Foothills Connect, where previous experience as a system integrator - analyzing what industrial processes can be automated - paid off.
The technology for Farmers Fresh Market fell into place. A $1.4 million grant from the N.C. Golden Leaf Foundation paid for 100 miles of fiber-optic cable that spread broadband service across the county, including all schools, police and fire departments.
It took time to convince Rutherford growers that their small bits of land could profit in a market 74 miles away in Charlotte. Chefs, they found, were willing to pay more for rare varieties.
Steadily, borlotti beans, Bull's Blood beets and Lacinato kale sprouted in the red clay. Garden-variety tomatoes were replaced by heirloom varieties so flavorful, market manager Kirk Wilson said, that 20 minutes after eating one "you can still taste it in your mouth."
Jean-Pierre Marechal, executive chef at the Charlotte Marriott City Center, was the first to feature Rutherford County produce at the hotel's Savannah Red restaurant. The market now also sells to groups of Charlotte residents.
"The possibility to have vegetables picked in the morning and have it in your kitchen that afternoon, it's a new world," he said.
Foothills hopes to show the county's young people, many of whom leave for jobs elsewhere, that they might again make a living from farming.
The agency began a small-farm sustainable agriculture course, emphasizing business aspects, that has graduated 120 students. R-S Central High School's 3-year-old sustainable-ag curriculum has tripled to more than 200 students.
"We're not just losing our farms and our families, we're losing our heritage," said Jill Maner, one of the farm-school graduates. "We have to show that they don't need 160 acres of land and a $140,000 tractor."
Tim Will says Rutherford County is only the beginning. He vows to spread its business model across the state, through the state's six other business-technology centers, connecting growers with their land and consumers with their food.
"Getting change, getting things done, that's what's important to me and my wife," he said. "It's not my money. The community has earned it."
So he will give his $100,000 prize to the farm program.

Four-state alliance looks like sound investment

From an editorial published in the Hickory Daily Record on Oct. 21:

The South Atlantic Alliance formed by North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida is a good idea and reminiscent of regional pacts that were created in the past.
This alliance is aimed primarily at preserving and expanding coastal resources, resources the four states depend on for business and tourism.
The deal was signed by Govs. Bev Perdue, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Charlie Crist of Florida and Sonny Perdue of Georgia.
"All four governors realize that we are facing considerable challenges to sustain our coastal resources for future generations," Bev Perdue said. "This alliance will enable us to work together to protect our ocean environment and the health and economic well-being of the people dependent on those resources."
Coastal erosion and the damage left by hurricanes are pressing issues. There are wildlife areas to protect, tourism dollars to consider and a burgeoning industry that runs from port traffic to individual fishermen. Cutting through the abundance of words, the main points of the pact are:
Healthy ecosystems
Working waterfronts
Clean coastal and ocean waters
Disaster-resilient communities
The four cornerstones of the alliance address quality of life and the necessity of thriving coastal areas in each state's economic health.
We are pleased to see business being given a priority. Each state has demonstrated that business and environmentalism can be maintained together.
The Atlantic and Gulf coasts are still attractive to investment, and there is money to be earned while keeping a high degree of protection for fragile wetlands.
This kind of regional commitment and cooperation could be a boon for all concerned. Just as cities and counties are finding cooperative ventures necessary for economic stability, so should states look for ways to pool resources for the common good.
This attitude would have been helpful when North Carolina gave the go-ahead to moving water from the Catawba River Basin. But interstate ramifications were not figured into the equation, and North Carolina and South Carolina are embroiled in litigation.
The alliance could be profitable for the four states. But equanimity must rule. If one state perceives it is the poor relation in the pact, the agreement could become a wedge instead of a unifier.

Playing Both Ends Against the Middle

From The Pilot: October 25, 2009

Last week, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr took part in an Alexander County ceremony celebrating a $2 million federal grant for a new fire station.
"This is a great thing for this county," Republican Burr said as he posed for pictures. "We're not accustomed to federal dollars in that magnitude finding their way to North Carolina."
Yes, well. Fact is, that $2 million would never have found its way to North Carolina at all if it weren't for last February's $787 billion economic stimulus bill, pushed forward by the Obama administration -- and voted against by Sen. Burr!
"In typical Washington fashion," Burr publicly and vociferously complained at the time, "we have thrown together a hastily written bill with little public input, little debate and very little thought about the long-term consequence of what we are passing. By spending nearly a trillion dollars on projects that expand the government but provide little to no stimulus, we are ensuring a massive debt for our grandchildren."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee lost no time in jumping on the recent contradiction, declaring that Burr wins "the gold medal in hypocrisy for trying to have it both ways," and it is hard to dispute that. After all, as committee spokesman Eric Schultz said, "This is somebody who, every chance he got, opposed the very funding that he went and had the photo-op about." Burr is up for re-election next year. His office tried to brush the matter aside, replying: "Sen. Burr was invited to the grant presentation by the Alexander County Commissioners and was happy to be there to recognize the community and the fire department for their work in securing this highly competitive grant."
That, of course, purposely misses the point.
It is one thing to come out in bitter opposition to a federal spending bill designed to kick-start the U.S. economy in hopes of helping blunt the effects of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many members of the Senate and House, most of them Republicans, did just that.
But then to turn around a few months later and seek to gain a political bounce from the trickling-down to the local level of some of that federal money you tried to prevent from flowing in the first place?
Yep, "hypocrisy" is the word.