Majority is Majority

Last night I attended the Stalling Town Council meeting, there was a comment made by Linda Paxton (Mayor) about the constant 3 to 2 votes in neighboring Indian Trail. It struck me that there is such hoopla associated with a 3 to 2 vote. Whether in Indian Trail, the County Commissioners, or other boards especially when it represents typically a majority of the voting members. Is it better to have a 5 to 0 vote? If so why? Does the item being voted on have any more credibility if the vote was 5 to 0? Does the item in a 3 to 2 vote make it any less important to the particular community? I think not!! I think it makes more sense that a board have 3 to 2 votes than constantly having 5 to 0 votes. The boards are made up of INDIVIDUALS. They were not voted in as group so as to achieve a 5 to 0 margin. Each person supposedly has an opinion and experiences that they can call their own. Typically, if you put 10 people in a room and present them something, you have the potential of receiving 10 different opinions even though they have seen the same presentation, so what makes elected officials somehow different. Nothing, they are people too and as such are apt to different opinions. Does a 5 to 0 vote signal uniformity and harmony, I think not. Judging by what I saw at the Stallings meeting last night, each motion had at least one disenting opinion, or statement of I don't understand yet when the vote was taken it was unanomous. It might be frustrating to see 3 to 2 votes but at least the elected officials stand by their votes and beliefs...right or wrong you can learn a lot more by dissenting votes than a constant 5 to 0 outcome. Just for the record Mayor Paxton...Indian Trail may have started off rocky, but the last two meetings have seen a lot of unanomous votes, maybe 3 to 2 can be looked at as a learning opportunity afterall majority is majority.

Stallings Attorney Caught? or Just Set-up?

Seems the town of Stallings is fast becoming the "Peyton Place" of Union County. According to the newspaper and TV reports, the so called news is that the Stallings Town attorney after finding money at a Harris Teeter has somehow created a major moral oops by wanting to make sure the money got to the rightful owner? Seems there is a lot more to the story than is actually being reported. Such as what is really behind all the noise? Is this something more than a witch hunt? Part of a larger picture to insert a new attorney (one to the mayors liking?). I don't know for sure but ther is quite the scuttlebutt floating around. Anyone care to chime in on the situation in Stallings?

May 2, 2006 Very IMPORTANT to UNION COUNTY

May 2nd is the primary and unlike other years will be the election at least for the Union County Commissioner candidates. Since all 10 are republican the top 3 vote getters will move on in the fall to become our next commissioners. All the candidates have seemingly been divided up and put into one category or another. The main one being Developer endorsed and Non Developer endorsed. There also seems to be other sub group classifications also but as a voter the important thing to remember is 1. Get out and vote. 2. Get to know the candidates. 3. Don't let others influence your vote by believing everything you hear. Its your decision to vote or not. If not you don't have much room to complain about the happenings in the county. You have basically forfeited your vote to those who cared enough to vote. If you are unhappy about the outcome, complain to those who voted.

Williams Rescue Road = $25 million

Does the town of Indian Trail need Williams Rescue Road? Approximate cost is $25 million.
Supporters of the new road would like you to believe that safety, traffic, and reviatalization were the core of the road being built. All of which would better the lives of residents.
Opponents to the road believe that the road would be built to benefit a handful of developers that stand to make millions developing not only the downtown area but areas near the road itself. They see traffic easing on Indian Trail road but only as a minor benefit and for a short time due to the 600+ residences planned for the downtown project. The traffic would still end up on an overcrowded Monroe Road and without massive changes to Monroe Road what real good would Williams Rescue Road do? The immediate benefit would be apparent with the downtown project recently approved by the previous council as well as Austin Village at Potters and Chestnut. So I am asking is Williams Rescue Road needed? Who should build it? Does it solve existing problems or create new problems?