All over the US and even at our local level, there appears to be a lot of disgruntlement with government these days. Some think governments are doing things they shouldn’t be doing and other are unhappy that governments aren’t doing some other things. Lots of finger pointing, heated debates and passionate anger. What’s interesting about all of this is that no matter what side is making their case, it’s clear who’s to blame for every single thing; it is “THEY.” Yes, “THEY” did it or didn’t do it, “THEY” are responsible.
I checked the phonebook, the voter rolls and even Google, and nobody named “THEY” pops up. So just who is “THEY?” Well, “THEY” are the ones who will have another opportunity to maintain or take control of things because “THEY” will vote in the election coming up. Sadly, primary elections in the spring don’t bring out many voters. In the 2006 primary, an election most like this year’s, a whopping 13% participated.
Never mind that in these primaries, we are choosing party candidates for the US senate and house, state officials, county commissioners, county sheriff, county school board members and other county positions as well as nonpartisan judges. One-Stop Early Voting Begins Thursday April 15th and ends Saturday May 1st. Primary Election day is Tuesday May 4th.
If you don’t vote, is it really fair to blame the “THEY” who did vote? Let’s face it; “THEY” should be “US.” If not, “THEY” will always be making the decisions for US.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
IT WAS JUST TOO LONG!
On March 22d the Chapel Hill Town Council had a meeting. Nothing surprising with that, but this was a long meeting, a really long meeting. It went on for five and one-half hours. That’s right, it started at 7pm on Monday and ended at 12:35 am on Tuesday. That’s 335 minutes, or 20,100 seconds.
In other words, it went on for a long time! Why? Because there were lots of major things to discuss packed into the agenda, not to mention petitions and reports to the Council. There’s plenty wrong with meeting this long – any meeting over three hours is just wrong! The council members are not at their best, the staff has to still come to work in the morning, presenters have to sit through these things and waste a lot of their time, citizens tune out before the meeting is over, and worst of all, there may be some terrible decisions made by tired people.
I would encourage the Council and manager to take a hard look at their meeting agendas and work hard to keep them to three hours max, or better yet, two hours if possible. Sad to say, long meetings are real barriers --- a barrier for people who might want to serve on the council and still have a job, have a family or even want to have other activities in their lives. And it’s also a barrier to the public who wants to watch the process in real-time. We can and must do better!
In other words, it went on for a long time! Why? Because there were lots of major things to discuss packed into the agenda, not to mention petitions and reports to the Council. There’s plenty wrong with meeting this long – any meeting over three hours is just wrong! The council members are not at their best, the staff has to still come to work in the morning, presenters have to sit through these things and waste a lot of their time, citizens tune out before the meeting is over, and worst of all, there may be some terrible decisions made by tired people.
I would encourage the Council and manager to take a hard look at their meeting agendas and work hard to keep them to three hours max, or better yet, two hours if possible. Sad to say, long meetings are real barriers --- a barrier for people who might want to serve on the council and still have a job, have a family or even want to have other activities in their lives. And it’s also a barrier to the public who wants to watch the process in real-time. We can and must do better!
Monday, February 22, 2010
PRIDE IN OUR HEROES (A WCHL Commentary)
Hero is a word that gets tossed about loosely a lot these days and many of people see sports stars, media personalities, and entertainers as heroes. But we seem to be confused at times about what a real hero actually is. Calling someone a hero ought to be reserved for very special usage, and for a extraordinary group in our community, it is.
On Valentine’s Day, WCHL had its Village Pride Awards luncheon to celebrate the men and women who were designated “Hometown Heroes” during 2009. Congratulations to these 250 selectees who were each honored for what they do right here in our community. My favorite definition of a “hero” is an ordinary person who does extraordinary things that benefit others. These people were selected because of the extraordinary things that they did in a whole host of endeavors to make our community an even better place to live.
Weekday mornings when I listen to the Pride Award segment, I’m just amazed by all of the different things these selectees from so many different segments of our community are doing to help others in so many different ways. The majority of these people are unknown to most of us, even though we might be familiar with the actions that got them nominated. They didn’t seek publicity for their actions; rather, those who nominated them thought that what they were doing was extra special.
When you listen to the Village Pride Award segment, you can’t help but conclude that real heroes actually do walk among us. If you know one, I bet the folks at WCHL would love to hear from you.
On Valentine’s Day, WCHL had its Village Pride Awards luncheon to celebrate the men and women who were designated “Hometown Heroes” during 2009. Congratulations to these 250 selectees who were each honored for what they do right here in our community. My favorite definition of a “hero” is an ordinary person who does extraordinary things that benefit others. These people were selected because of the extraordinary things that they did in a whole host of endeavors to make our community an even better place to live.
Weekday mornings when I listen to the Pride Award segment, I’m just amazed by all of the different things these selectees from so many different segments of our community are doing to help others in so many different ways. The majority of these people are unknown to most of us, even though we might be familiar with the actions that got them nominated. They didn’t seek publicity for their actions; rather, those who nominated them thought that what they were doing was extra special.
When you listen to the Village Pride Award segment, you can’t help but conclude that real heroes actually do walk among us. If you know one, I bet the folks at WCHL would love to hear from you.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
WHAT'S LOCAL? (A WCHL Commentary)
There’s has been a lot of discussion recently on what “local” means in classifying our business community. During the holidays, you probably saw the “BUY LOCAL” campaign, a way to keep our dollars at home. Buying locally makes a lot of sense, especially when many of the other ways that we could spend money dose absolutely nothing to help our local economic situation.
Then another face of the issue appeared when two members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen raised the issue about our local Chamber having state and nationally branded firms among the sponsors for its annual meeting. The problem to the aldermen is that the sponsoring corporations played a role in causing the economic crisis, contributes to global warming, and participated in domestic surveillance. As a Chamber member, I am not blaming the local entities for what others may have done. I’m very happy that some members of the Chamber agree to sponsor these events so that they are more affordable to the entire membership, and especially to us small business owners.
These state and nationally branded corporations operating locally in our community are good citizens; they participate in the life of our community, they hire local residents, their leaders live here, they pay local taxes and the give back to our community financially and in many other ways. I support them as good local corporate citizens and I will continue to do so until they don’t deserve support. Where do you stand?
Then another face of the issue appeared when two members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen raised the issue about our local Chamber having state and nationally branded firms among the sponsors for its annual meeting. The problem to the aldermen is that the sponsoring corporations played a role in causing the economic crisis, contributes to global warming, and participated in domestic surveillance. As a Chamber member, I am not blaming the local entities for what others may have done. I’m very happy that some members of the Chamber agree to sponsor these events so that they are more affordable to the entire membership, and especially to us small business owners.
These state and nationally branded corporations operating locally in our community are good citizens; they participate in the life of our community, they hire local residents, their leaders live here, they pay local taxes and the give back to our community financially and in many other ways. I support them as good local corporate citizens and I will continue to do so until they don’t deserve support. Where do you stand?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE (A WCHL Commentary)
It's a new year and a new Council. I wish all of them well as they go about the difficult task of governing this opinion-gifted town. One of the things I hope our new mayor and council members work hard to do is to avoid mistakes of the past. Before former Mayor Kevin Foy left office, he did an interview on WCHL with Jim Heavner. Jim asked about defeats and Mayor Foy responded by stating that the biggest mistake was the renaming of Airport Rd. for Martin Luther King process because the Council didn’t do what it normally did, and that was to engage the public and having community dialogue before making a significant decision. When they backtracked and instituted a process, Mayor Foy said that there wasn’t a lot of trust.
Instead of learning from this mistake, the Council, he said, repeated it with moving forward with the health care debacle last year before getting community input. Since some of the key players in both mistakes are still on the Council, I hope that they don’t have to relearn this lesson once again. Conversation is surely time consuming and the process may even be frustrating, but as the Council says about the tedious development process, it produces a better outcome.
Keep that in mind, Town Council, as we are depending on you to do the right things for all of us. And just because you might not think something has a lot of interest to the community, give the community the chance to decide that.
Instead of learning from this mistake, the Council, he said, repeated it with moving forward with the health care debacle last year before getting community input. Since some of the key players in both mistakes are still on the Council, I hope that they don’t have to relearn this lesson once again. Conversation is surely time consuming and the process may even be frustrating, but as the Council says about the tedious development process, it produces a better outcome.
Keep that in mind, Town Council, as we are depending on you to do the right things for all of us. And just because you might not think something has a lot of interest to the community, give the community the chance to decide that.
Monday, December 28, 2009
THE RE-STORE (A WCHL Commentary)
Are you aware of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore? If not, you need to know about it. The ReStore is a joint endeavor of the Durham and Orange County Habitat organizations. Open now for a few months, it is located on 15-501 near I-40 in the old Haverty’s building next to the Bob Evan’s restaurant.
The basic concept is to fill the 36,000 square feet of space to sell furniture, building materials, appliances, household goods, books, and many other things. These items are sold at a great discount and have drawn record crowds to the facility. Best of all, the funding allows Habitat to achieve their home building goals and help the environment by keeping a lot of what they sell out of the landfills. If you are able, Habitat will happily accept donated merchandise that you no longer need but useable. Your donations are also tax deductible. Habitat will do free pick-ups of large items that you need help with.
What a great way to help our community through support of the ReStore as a buyer or a donator or both. Using the proceeds to help to fund the cost of building a home for a family is really a great contribution to our community; helping the environment at the same time is just plain good for all of us. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 10 to 5. You can call them at 919-403-8668. Let’s all help the Habitat ReStore!
The basic concept is to fill the 36,000 square feet of space to sell furniture, building materials, appliances, household goods, books, and many other things. These items are sold at a great discount and have drawn record crowds to the facility. Best of all, the funding allows Habitat to achieve their home building goals and help the environment by keeping a lot of what they sell out of the landfills. If you are able, Habitat will happily accept donated merchandise that you no longer need but useable. Your donations are also tax deductible. Habitat will do free pick-ups of large items that you need help with.
What a great way to help our community through support of the ReStore as a buyer or a donator or both. Using the proceeds to help to fund the cost of building a home for a family is really a great contribution to our community; helping the environment at the same time is just plain good for all of us. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 10 to 5. You can call them at 919-403-8668. Let’s all help the Habitat ReStore!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
STUFF ABOUT FRED IN LOCAL PAPER
Retired colonel takes group's helm
Chapel Hill Herald (Dec. 9, 2009)
CHAPEL HILL -- Chapel Hill resident and Vietnam combat veteran Fred Black, a retired U.S. Army colonel, was installed as president of the N.C. State Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America on Saturday.
A past president of the state council's Orange-Chatham Chapter, Black is married to the former Sylvia M. Sloan of Durham. They have a daughter who is a labor relations specialist, and a son who is a major in the U.S. Army.
There are 19 chapters in the state council and more than 18,000 members in North Carolina. The association plays an active role in military personnel matters and especially proposed legislation affecting the career force, the retired community, and veterans of the uniformed services. Its purpose also has grown to include career transition assistance, improved member products, military benefits counseling, educational assistance to children of military families (to include enlisted) and strong involvement in military professionalism activities.
The state council serves to further the aims and legislative goals of the national organization and assist member chapters in effectively serving their members, their communities and the nation.
The Military Officers Association of America is open to active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired and former commissioned officers and warrant officers of the seven uniformed services, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With a membership of about 370,000, it is the country's largest military officers' association.
Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1994, Black served as a professor of political science in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. A life member of the Military Officers Association of America, he currently works as an independent management consultant specializing in leadership and organizational evaluations and assessments for both corporations, public and nonprofit organizations.
Black is a Vietnam combat veteran and a distinguished military graduate of Howard University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry in June 1968. He received his graduate training in political science and public policy and administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Black is an honor graduate of both the Army's Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., and the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a visiting professor of national security policy.
Black has served in a variety of infantry command and staff positions with airborne and light infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, the Republic of South Vietnam and the Republic of South Korea. He has earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, Senior Parachutist wings and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. His other military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal with a 2nd oak leaf cluster, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.
Chapel Hill Herald (Dec. 9, 2009)
CHAPEL HILL -- Chapel Hill resident and Vietnam combat veteran Fred Black, a retired U.S. Army colonel, was installed as president of the N.C. State Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America on Saturday.
A past president of the state council's Orange-Chatham Chapter, Black is married to the former Sylvia M. Sloan of Durham. They have a daughter who is a labor relations specialist, and a son who is a major in the U.S. Army.
There are 19 chapters in the state council and more than 18,000 members in North Carolina. The association plays an active role in military personnel matters and especially proposed legislation affecting the career force, the retired community, and veterans of the uniformed services. Its purpose also has grown to include career transition assistance, improved member products, military benefits counseling, educational assistance to children of military families (to include enlisted) and strong involvement in military professionalism activities.
The state council serves to further the aims and legislative goals of the national organization and assist member chapters in effectively serving their members, their communities and the nation.
The Military Officers Association of America is open to active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired and former commissioned officers and warrant officers of the seven uniformed services, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With a membership of about 370,000, it is the country's largest military officers' association.
Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1994, Black served as a professor of political science in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. A life member of the Military Officers Association of America, he currently works as an independent management consultant specializing in leadership and organizational evaluations and assessments for both corporations, public and nonprofit organizations.
Black is a Vietnam combat veteran and a distinguished military graduate of Howard University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry in June 1968. He received his graduate training in political science and public policy and administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Black is an honor graduate of both the Army's Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., and the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a visiting professor of national security policy.
Black has served in a variety of infantry command and staff positions with airborne and light infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, the Republic of South Vietnam and the Republic of South Korea. He has earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, Senior Parachutist wings and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. His other military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal with a 2nd oak leaf cluster, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.
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