Carolina Politics Online

UPDATE:

Republican House Leader Paul “Skip” Stam has a message for local governments that plan to keep funding elective abortions with taxpayer dollars: a lawsuit is coming.

Stam made the pledge minutes after the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted Monday along party lines to restore the county’s policy of covering medically unnecessary abortions in health care plans. Democrats on the board managed to reinstate the coverage after Commissioner Harold Webb, at home recovering from a stroke, phoned in his vote.

“There will be [a lawsuit], but in which county it will be and what month is a tactical question for whoever the lawyer and plaintiffs will be,” Stam said.

The Wake County Republican also had strong words for the four Democrats who voted to re-fund the procedure. “They’ve taken themselves down a path to a very minority status at the request of a Planned Parenthood lawyer,” he said.

The Carolina Journal

Think the Congress is the only government entity debating taxpayer-funded abortions? Think again…

After a pointed legal and moral debate, the Wake County Board of Commissioners agreed Monday to restore insurance coverage for elective abortions for county employees.

“I don’t think that government should be telling women what to do with their bodies,” board member Stan Norwalk said.

With Democrats outvoting Republicans 4-3, members overruled county manager David Cooke. Cooke removed the coverage from the county’s self-insured plan when he learned of language in a 1981 state Supreme Court decision that could be read to forbid counties from paying for elective abortions. Rep. Paul Stam, who was the plaintiff in the case, brought it to board chairman Tony Gurley’s attention this year.

The N&O

Hmmm. So my county tax money is now going to pay for something that I think is outright murder. Nope. Not happy. Campaign activities shall commence.

Here’s a quiz for all of you who supported this move: You think women have a “constitutional right” to an abortion, right? Fine, I’ll cede that. I have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. So if I have to pay for your abortion, why can’t I make you pay for that sweet 9mm I’ve been eyeing down at the pawn shop?

Oh, but Celtic… abortions are a vital health procedure! Guns aren’t!

Nope. These are elective abortions. Try again.

Oh, but Celtic… a woman might need an elective abortion for some legitimate reason!

Fine. I need that 9mm for a legitimate reason: defending myself and property. And for the zombie uprising.

If I have to pay for your constitutional rights, you should have to pay for mine.

Look. Take abortion out of this. The county is making me pay for someone else’s elective medical procedure. Why? I’ll pay for an employee’s emergency medical procedure; I don’t have a problem with that. But your elective procedures should be your business- be it abortion or ear piercing. This was a bad vote, and those four Democrats are going to hear about it.

The first member of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation is pledging to vote “yes” on the latest version of health care reform. U.S. Rep. David Price said the bill will keep insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, ban lifetime limits on care and strengthen oversight for insurance companies seeking to raise premiums.

Price also said the reforms will benefit the American people while reducing the federal deficit.

North Carolina News Network

Let it be known that Congressman David Price is now on record supporting a socialist take over of the American health care system and a culture of corruption that is ripping apart our Federal government.  He is also for raising the cost of health insurance for 85% of the country and he is a cowardly liar.

The inability to deny those with preexisting conditions and to implement lifetime limits will result in premium increases across the board for all of us.  Correct if me if I’m wrong, but this is the exact opposite result of why we were told they were engaging in health care “reform.”  Price is also a liar of the worst kind.  This bill will not reduce the Federal deficit one penny.  They make this claim because they will begin taxing for the program next year even though it won’t kick in until 2014.  That is how they achieve a deficit “reduction.” The bottom line is that the Federal government intends to spend another trillion dollars that we don’t have while we are already running annual deficits of a trillion and a half.

Today the Pelosi Congress is now considering passing this legislation with what has become known as the “Slaughter Rule.”  In essence, they will attempt to pass the Senate bill without actually voting on it.  Is this the representation that the American people voted for?  No, this isn’t representation at all.  It’s decree.  What this is is government tyranny and David Price is going right along with it.  It’s time for the American people to revolt against the oppression of the Federal government.

Raleigh, NC – Wake Community PAC calls for the resignation of Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk for comments made concerning elective abortion insurance coverage for Wake County employees.

In an interview with David Bass of Carolina Journal, Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk stated:

Keeping the abortion coverage in the plan actually saves taxpayer dollars, Norwalk said, since bringing a child to term “would cost 10 times as much.”Wake Community PAC Director Joey Stansbury stated:

“Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk’s comments go beyond the pale of offensive. Stan Norwalk’s statements are so grossly offensive on so many levels. Mr. Norwalk’s statements lay bare the old argument of eugenicists who put a dollar value on the cost of life. Mr. Norwalk simply evaluates expectant children as an economic commodity – noting that economically it would cost taxpayers less if these children were disposed of before birth.

Mr. Norwalk’s comments are a slap in the face to single mothers and struggling families in Wake County’s socially economic disadvantaged community. He has reduced their children to a cost benefit analysis.

Stan Norwalk owes them and all of Wake County his apology. And his resignation.”

Wake Superintendent Del Burns, who until Tuesday ran one of the nation’s highest-profile school systems, will serve out his tenure on administrative leave for making what board members said were “totally inappropriate” public criticisms.

Members announced after a closed meeting Tuesday night that Burns, 56, will remain available for consultation and will be paid until his previously announced resignation date of June 30.

The session was the third closed meeting that board members had held on Burns’ tenure since Feb. 16, when he abruptly announced his resignation and his intention to remain in the job until June 30. At that time, Burns said he was resigning because he could not in good conscience carry out the directives of the new school board majority.

Two days later, he gave pointed interviews objecting to the majority’s plans to make extensive changes in Wake County’s diversity-based assignment patterns and other policies including mandatory year-round schools.

The N&O

Bad-mouth your new bosses in public, go bye-bye.

Del Burns has presided over four straight years of declining graduation rates, but he is being paid more than the governor of N.C. and slightly less than the President of United States. Wake County residents can thank the old status-quo board for that genius move.

Don’t let the door hit ya where the dog should of bit ya, Del.

The newly elected majority on the Wake County School Board made their first vote amidst a heated meeting with the community last night and moved in favor of ending the diversity busing program that has been in place for about ten years.  They’ll need to do so two more times in order to officially approve the resolution.  This is just a common sense issue to me, but I’ve always known that I’m incredibly smarter than most people.  There is no logic whatsoever in taking a child, plopping him on a bus for an hour and a half one way each morning and evening to a school 20 miles away when there are three within just a few miles of his home.  Diversity busing, whether race based or economically based, doesn’t work and studies have concluded as much.

Overall student performance in Wake County actually dropped after the program began and it makes perfect sense.  Primarily, the schools aren’t the problem.  The parents are the problem and it doesn’t matter what school the kid goes to.  If the parent doesn’t care about the child’s education, the child isn’t going to care either.  Furthermore, I guarantee you that after the busing policy began there were less parents participating in school activities because having to get involved with a school 15 miles away makes it much less accommodating.  That will certainly cause a drop in student achievement.

The cold hard facts are on the side of the good folks who want to end this asinine policy, but facts didn’t matter to the Reverends William Barber and Curtis Gatewood, two race baiting blowhards who could do nothing but pathetically echo cries of segregation and racial discrimination.  I guess they are only following through with what has worked for them in the past. Fortunately, we’ve been evolving.

“If you expect to go to hell, don’t take our children with you,” said the Rev. Curtis Gatewood, who was gaveled out of order by school board chairman Ron Margiotta.

Gatewood, who called Margiotta a “white racist,” refused to stop speaking after his time ran out, prompting security to confront him. After a 10-minute recess, Margiotta allowed Gatewood, the second vice president of the state NAACP, to finish speaking.

“In the words of George Wallace, do you want your legacy to be segregation now, segregation forever?” said Samuel Greene, a retired Wake principal.

The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, led supporters of the diversity policy in singing “We Shall Overcome,” a song associated with the civil rights movement.

Barber, who has previously threatened to sue the school board over resegregation, said he’s putting the board on notice that he considered the resolution to be a violation of the constitutional rights of African American children.

”Your plan is wrong. It’s wayward. It will make things worse and you know it,” Barber said. “Data doesn’t support it. Morality doesn’t support it.”

The News & Observer

Sorry Willie, but the data does support it, which you would admit if you were an honest man.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit into the social justice plan of Barber and his ilk.  If Barber is so concerned about black kids receiving a poor education by moving back to a community based school model then why isn’t he out in the community encouraging black parents to spend more time and involvement in their childrens’ educations and schools so that they won’t turn into ill-disciplined war zones?  This is 2010 for God’s sake.  It’s time to stop blaming whitey and start taking responsibility.

This decision should be made because it is what is best for the kids of Wake County, but sadly it is the kids who are the ones getting lost in all of this nonsense.

Chris Mintz, an investment advisor and former candidate for a Wake County seat in the legislature, was sentenced to four years in federal prison last week after he pleaded guilty to embezzling from clients.

Mintz was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.2 million, according to court records. 

He was once the chairman of the Wake County Republican Men’s Club. Mintz switched to the Democratic Party in 2005 and ran unsuccessfully in that party’s primary for the state House against Ty Harrell, who later resigned. Mintz considered a run for state treasurer in 2007.

He was accused in July by federal prosecutors of taking more than $1 million from two elderly clients.

The N&O

Loser.

There will be a Republican primary in the 4th congressional district again as GOP candidates line up to face Democratic Congressman David Price.

B.J. Lawson, an Apex businessman with a medical degree, announced today that he would file for the seat joining Frank Roche, an Apex stock trader, reports Rob Christensen.

Roche had been stumping for the seat for months. But Lawson’s entrance is more of a surprise because he had initially indicated that he would not run again this year.

Lawson was the GOP candidate for the 4th district in 2008, losing to Price by a 63-36 margin. But Lawson generated a lot of interest because of his libertarian views and his fundraising prowess. He defeated Augustus Cho in the GOP primary by a 70-29 percent margin.

The N&O

Interesting. B.J. raised a lot of dough last time from libertarians and liberty caucus Republicans across the country. He’s also more of a “Tea Party” Republican than Roche, who is much more of a traditional conservative.

B.J. Lawson

As you may know Paul Terrell is one of our occasional writers and contributors here at CPO and he is making a run for the North Carolina State House in District 33 which covers a portion of central Wake County.  The district has been held by a Republican in the past, but was redistricted to become more Democratic and since then the GOP has been unable to reclaim it.  Everything changes, however.  Paul has been active in the community and has been working hard to meet the folks of the 33rd so he shouldn’t be underestimated, particularly in an election year that is shaping up to be quite favorable to the Republicans nation wide.

Paul is a conservative Republican and you can read about the many issues he supports at his candidate Web site here.  You can also make a contribution to his campaign at the following link.

The cost of building the Wilmington Convention Center is rising, and the anticipated completion date has been pushed back a couple of months to November.

The city’s original construction contract with J.M. Thompson Co., the main contractor, was for $28.5 million. But 16 change orders since construction began have pushed the cost to about $36.2 million, a 27 percent increase, according to city documents.

The Star-News

While that’s going on down in Wilmington, the city of Raleigh is having a wonderful debate on the intelligence (or lack thereof) of raising taxes to pay for a $205 million dollar building:

Mayor Charles Meeker won’t call a vote on the Clarence E. Light ner Public Safety Center at today’s city council meeting, again delaying a formal decision on a controversial project.

Criticism over the likely property tax increase to pay for the proposed $205 million project has stalled momentum in recent weeks.

Several council members, including Thomas Crowder, Bonner Gaylord and John Odom, have raised concerns about the size of the project and the timing of passing a tax increase in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.

The downtown tower would be the largest and most expensive building the city has ever built, housing police, fire, emergency communications and information technology departments.

The N&O

Raleigh needs the building. Raleigh DOES NOT need a tax increase to pay for a $205 million building. We all have to cut our budgets, Mayor Meeker. I’m pretty sure you can too.

Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC-13) wrote a column for the Huffington Post over the weekend in which he referred to the Republicans in Congress as hypocrites for opposing Obama’s tax on “too big to fail” banks because they posed a similar plan just a few years ago.  Well, that may be true and they probably are hypocrites.  I have met very few politicians who aren’t, but hypocritical or not, this tax should not be implemented and that’s the bigger picture Miller isn’t seeing through his partisan eye glasses.  He quotes a 2000 testimony by Stephen Moore of the CATO Institute.

“The user fee is a partial payment for the implicit guarantee it receives from Uncle Sam,” Moore said. “The rationale behind such a fee is that since taxpayers are bearing an implicit risk on Fannie Mae activities, it is reasonable that the federal government recoup fees to pay for that assumption of risk. The main advantage of such a fee is that it would help level the playing field between Fannie Mae and its fully private competitors.”

What I am reading there amounts to double taxation on you and me.  First of all, Moore is right about Fannie and Freddie.  We, the taxpayers, are bearing a huge risk on backing their overly risky and poor business activities.  We are already being taxed to pay for their recklessness.  The question that should be asked here is why?  Why is the government continuing to take responsibility for Fannie and Freddie with our tax dollars?  That’s what should be addressed.  Miller also notes that the tax will go to help reclaim $120 billion in tax dollars that were lost through the TARP program.  Again, it begs the question, why was it done in the first place?  Adding a 15% tax on all banks to cover this stupidity is what amounts to the second round of taxation on people like you and me because as Congressman Miller and many in the Democrat party don’t seem to understand, businesses don’t pay taxes.  They pass their tax burden on to us  through increased fees and prices and we pay for it when we patron them so I don’t see how Obama’s bank tax is good for anybody other than the power brokers in D.C. steering our nation into the crapper.

Partisan politics have entered the debate over Raleigh’s new public safety center, with the Wake County Republican Party calling for the issue to go before voters.

“The city has also gotten into a habit over the years of just bypassing the voters,” said Claude Pope Jr., chairman of the county Republican Party.

Pope said Friday that he wants a referendum so voters can decide whether the Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center should be built. The center, a 17-story tower, would replace the police headquarters downtown.

The Lightner center, named after Raleigh’s first and only black mayor, is a $205 million project proposed to replace the police headquarters and house the city’s police, fire, emergency communications and information technology departments.

To pay for it, Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen proposed bundling the project with $250 million in remote operations projects and having the council approve a property tax increase of 8percent over five years.

The N&O

I get what Pope is saying, but he is ironically calling for for a direct democracy to supersede the republican form of city government we have now. I’m not a big fan of direct democracy. This is why we have elections- so we can authorize people to decide on stuff like this this. Granted, we usually elect a bunch of idiots, but still…

With the Raleigh City Council wavering over whether to go forward with a new $205 million public safety center, critics of the building are honing their sights on the project’s fine print.

Particularly irksome for Joey Stansbury, who heads the conservative group Wake Community PAC, is the $705,000 designated to pay for public art for the 17-story building.

The city has spent nearly $21 million on the project even though it hasn’t gotten the official go-ahead from the council.

The council will revisit the Lightner project at its Jan. 19 meeting.

Approving it would mean a likely property tax increase of 8 percent over five years, which would also pay for an additional $250 million worth of public works projects, including new maintenance facilities for city and a new solid waste services plant in East Raleigh. Mayor Charles Meeker, who is pushing for the project to go forward, has said the current police, fire and emergency communications facilities are inadequate and should have been updated years ago.

The N&O

So while the rest of us have to scrape every penny together, what does the recently re-elected Raleigh Mayor have to say?

“Public art really is important,” he said.

Renee Ellmers of Dunn, a nurse at the Trinity Wound Center has recently announced her candidacy for the Second Congressional District in North Carolina.  This is the seat currently held by Congressman Bob Etheridge.  Ellmers is the second Republican candidate to enter the race.  Dan Mansell has already entered the race and has unsuccessfully run against Etheridge in the last two election cycles.

The Sanford Herald alleges that the Republican committee for the Second District is unofficially endorsing Ellmers candidacy over that of Mansell because of his unsuccessful bids against Etheridge already.  That’s an understandable strategy, however in Mansell’s defense, he ran during two very bad election cycles for Republican candidates all across the country.

Etheridge has represented the district since 1997, defeating the only Republican to hold the seat in 100 years and he only served one term before losing to Etheridge.  Suffice to say, he’ll start off his reelection bid with the upper hand, however he is going to have some music to face from the voters come November.  The Cook Partisan Voting Index rates this seat as an R +2, meaning it actually leans slightly Republican.  This presents a problem for Etheridge because he has voted with the radical left of his party on every major issue this year:  the stimulus, Cap and Trade, and the unpopular health care bill.

Be it Mansell or Ellmers, both of them will have a lot of ammunition to use against Etheridge in the general election and unlike the past couple cycles where the national mood was favoring Etheridge’s party, he is now having to defend several unpopular votes he’s cast in support of a president with sinking approval numbers.  The shoe could very well end up on the other foot this time.

In the past year, more than 500 illegal immigrants have been deported as a result of a fingerprint system at the Wake County Sheriff’s Office that automatically tells federal immigration agents they are there, according to Department of Homeland Security records.

Wake County joined the federal Secure Communities program about a year ago, along with Durham, Orange and seven other counties across the state. Since then, Wake has put nearly 700 aliens into federal custody – about three out of every five turned over through the program across the state.

About 50 of those had committed major drug offenses or violent crimes such as murder or robbery. Most had committed property crimes or misdemeanors.

The N&O

The owner of a Chapel Hill hookah bar says he will defy the state’s new smoking ban that has ensnared his business but exempted other types of smoking establishments. Adam Bliss, owner of Hookah Bliss, believes the ban is discriminatory. He will continue to sell hookahs and alcohol beginning Jan. 2, the day it becomes illegal to smoke in most North Carolina bars and restaurants.

The Carolina Journal

Good for you, Mr. Bliss. I hope many other private business owners follow your lead and tell the nanny-state assholes in Raleigh to take their bill and shove it.

Failure to comply may bring penalties. Tom Konsler, Orange County’s environmental health director, expects enforcement to be complaint-driven.  “We’re hoping not to test that,” Konsler said. Konsler said the county is aware of Bliss and that a representative will visit him in the next week or two to discuss his plans.

I hope Mr. Bliss takes a hookah pipe and shoves it up up Mr. Konsler’s ass when he shows up. Mr. Bliss is a private business owner with private customers who make their own decisions to buy his legal product.

Are you a supporter of this bill? Well, here’s what you’ve done:

Bliss said he faced three choices: continue operating as usual, stop selling alcohol to fit the definition of a tobacco shop rather than a bar, or close his doors altogether.

Since alcohol accounts for 20 to 25 percent of his sales, eliminating beer would send the bar into a nosedive it might not survive. Closing the doors of his 2 ½-year-old business would devastate Bliss. At risk is roughly $70,000 in cash invested or still owed. Giving up would also put him on the unemployment line. Half a dozen part-time employees would join him there.

Wow! Nice job government! You’ve done it again. Thank God you’re here to protect us from the scourge of free enterprise and hookahs!

And you know who else gets a shout out? One of this page’s favorite politicians, St. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird. We love Ellie here at CPO, and this is one of the reasons why:

Bliss thought he’d won the support of Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange. He said he worked with her assistant to create an exemption [for hookah bars]. On the evening the bill passed the Senate, Kinnaird called and told him she had not introduced the exemption at the request of a sponsor.

Bliss was stunned. He told her she was, in effect, closing down a viable business. Kinnaird’s response wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “This is as close to a quote as I can [recall] — ‘I know it will be difficult.’

“I said, ma’am, you don’t know anything. You’re sitting in an office paid for by people like me and you’re telling me you’re going to take my business away — tough noogies?”

Kinnaird stands by her support of the smoking ban. She said she tried hard to help Bliss, knowing he’d put his life savings and vision into the business. “But when I went to the sponsor of the bill, Dr. [William] Purcell [D-Anson], he asked me not to put it in because he said it would weaken the bill.”

Aren’t you all glad smart people like Ellie Kinaird are in Raleigh making decisions for you? Don’t you wish you could turn over more of your life choices to her? After all, she’s been elected to stuff- that makes her super smart. Way smarter than you and some lame business owner trying to make a living.

The next time I’m in Chapel Hill I’m stopping in at Hookah Bliss to give Mr. Bliss some of my business. Please do the same.

You might remember a month ago after the Republicans swept the Wake County School Board elections that Clay Aiken came out and publicly denounced their plans to do away with “diversity” busing.  His words caused him a minor controversy of his own as he was outed (yet again) as still being a registered voter in Wake County even though he no longer lives there.  His vote in the election was then challenged.  He announced before the Wake County Board of Elections that he intends to change his registration now to Chatham County, but he still knows more about what is better for Wake County children than their own parents do.

RALEIGH — Pop singer Clay Aiken announced Tuesday that he plans to change his voter registration but still speak out against the new Wake County school board’s plans to eliminate the current diversity policy.

Aiken made the announcement before the preliminary hearing today before the WakeCounty Board of Elections into whether he is qualified to vote under his mother’s Raleigh address even though he has a home in Chatham County. Aiken said he still considers Raleigh to be his home but wrote that he’ll change his voter registration “rather than get into a technical dispute.”

“I may not be able to effect change through my vote, but I will join other concerned citizens in speaking truth to those who would reverse decades of progress in Wake County schools,” Aiken said on his blog. “I stand by my opposition to policies that threaten to resegregate schools and eliminate diversity. These policies will not prepare children for the larger world.”

The News & Observer

What the hell would Clay Aiken know about the larger world?  He barely lived in it before shooting to stardom, a world where reality is masked by breakfast  mimosas and limousines.  Can Aiken name one, just one city that has shown undeniable benefits to having children spend three hours a day on a school bus as they are bussed clear across the county to a school 15 miles from their house?  Just name one, Clay.  It shouldn’t be that hard if it’s such an overwhelming success.  Aiken’s time would be better spent worrying about his own child rather than butting into the parenting of others.

Pope says his challenge to Aiken’s vote on Oct. 6 was based on a News & Observer story about the blog post, in which a conservative activist was quoted saying that Aiken did not live in Wake County.

Aiken responded to Pope’s challenge.

“It just goes to show the lengths to which some folks will go to silence an opposing view,” Aiken said on his blog.  “I’ve remained registered at the permanent address that I’ve long used here in Wake County because I consider Raleigh home.”

No, it just goes to show that you have to follow the damn law.  The election law is pretty clear.  You vote based on where you live, period.  You don’t get to choose to vote in a city you no longer reside in just because you grew up there.  Talk about being a selfish idiot.  It’s really not that hard to understand.  He, himself, must be a product of that phenomenal diversity busing program.

Several hundred taxpaying protesters staged a Raleigh rally this weekend protesting the overall destructive policies of the current presidential administration.

UPDATE: Etheridge is out. [N&O] With no more top candidates to recruit, Dems turn to this woman.

National Democrats are apparently stepping up their efforts to try and recruit Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02) to run against Senator Richard Burr in next year’s election.  They evidently think that Etheridge could bring a strong challenge to Burr.  While I realize Burr isn’t all that popular or well known around the state, I think they’re wrong.

Bob Etheridge has this image that he is some middle of the road moderate, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Look at his voting record:

• Voted for Wall Street Bailout?  Check!
• Voted for the Porkulus bill?  Check!
• Voted for Crap and Tax?  Check!
• Voted for the largest budget deficit in American history?  Check!
• Voted for the health care bill that will put people in jail for not buying insurance?  Check!

Bob Etheridge has more in common with far left radicals than he does with the people of North Carolina and I think the Burr campaign will take Etheridge’s record and absolutely destroy him.  That’s my opinion.

In related news to this race, former state legislator Cal Cunningham has decided to bow out and not run.  He was being embraced by the left wing extremists at BlueNC.

Additionally, Republican Dan Mansell of Selma has decided to make another run for the Second Congressional District seat.  I think if Mansell is well funded he can make a similar case and mount a competitive challenge to Etheridge, although it will be more difficult for him to defeat Etheridge than Etheridge to defeat Burr.  Of course, if Etheridge does run against Burr and NC-02 is an open seat then Mansell has an excellent chance of winning because this seat leans slightly Republican according to the Cook Political Index.

Town officials pressured David Bowden on Thursday, saying they will levy fines against the Cary man if he doesn’t remove or tone down a bright protest sign painted in huge, orange letters on the front of his house.

He has seven days.

In a statement, town officials say attempts to negotiate with Bowden have failed to resolve an impasse that started in July, when he had “Screwed By The Town of Cary” painted on his home at 305 SW Maynard Road.

The N&O

I’ve driven past this house. Honestly, I think the sign provides a nice contrast from the suburban monotony along Maynard.

Bowden, who says his house was damaged by runoff caused by town road construction, refuses to budge. The slogan is a free speech issue, he says, a stance that has the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

Like the odd comet or the government voluntarily making itself smaller, sometimes incredibly rare things happen that you didn’t ever imagine seeing in your lifetime, and this is one of them. I am actually going to agree with the ACLU. I guess even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Town officials offered to install a trench drain and new drainage pipe to re-route water away from Bowden’s home. Bowden declined the offer and issued his own ultimatum: The sign wouldn’t come down until the town buys his house. Bowden also declined third-party mediation, according to a town statement issued Thursday.

Is this guy being a stubborn jerk? You bet. Can he and should he work with the town to resolve this? Probably. Should the government force him? Nope, no, and Hell No. His house, his paint, his complaint. If he had a blaring bullhorn that would be one thing, but a bad paint job is another.

Sorry neighbors. If this is really getting to you, plant a hedge or something.