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Opinion
A ‘bearly’ believable tale
While at the Mud Bog last weekend I received requests to do a column including a bear story, no doubt prompted by printed reports of the furry denizens being spotted in urban and suburban areas. This shouldn’t surprise us in the wake of terrible weather over the past two years putting a strain on the animal’s food supplies. Keep in mind a lot of development has squarely placed human homes in what was once the bears’ living rooms and prelimi...
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Funding tax cuts over the long term could be problematic
On Monday, the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners approved the fiscal year 2013-2014 budget, which includes a 4-cent tax reduction, something most city residents undoubtedly welcome. When the fiscal year begins on July 1, the new tax rate will be 52 cents per $100 of assessed value, down from 56 cents. This is a 6-cent drop in the city over the past three years, when the commissioners stated their goal was to drop the rate by 10 cents over a...
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Time to jump in feet first
It could have been a boa constrictor tightening around its prey, except it was a toddler with his arms wrapped around my neck and his legs tightly around my waist saying “Let me out, let me out.” Summer swim lessons began this week at Armfield Civic Center, and Little Man is one of a large class of water tots, which are swimmers from birth to 3 years of age, taking the evening class. Last year, we took a morning class with just Little Man a...
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Playing ball with McCrory
Gov. Pat McCrory threw a curve ball last week to a delegation from the liberal advocacy group NC Progress that wanted to deliver petitions asking for more school funding. Several children were part of the group. A spokeswoman told the visitors to the Capitol that the governor was tied up in a meeting. In fact, as a photo taken minutes later showed, he was outside playing catch with a security officer. Later in the week, NC Progress organi...
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‘It’s about the farmers’
It’s no secret that since the first whisper I’ve heard about it I’ve been a fan of Pilot Mountain Pride, if for no other reason than it’s a deceptively-simple-yet-absolutely-brilliant program. The idea? Provide struggling local farmers a venue to market their products. Because let’s face it: If you’ve grown 20 bushels of squash it’s going to be much more difficult to sell than if you had 200 bushels to market to a grocery store or restaur...
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Thumbs up
To area libraries for running their summer reading programs. For the kids this can be a fun, exciting series of events that keeps them interested in reading and learning — even if they don’t realize that’s what’s going on. It also will doubtless make great memories for the young ones, who will recall with fondness those summer reading programs well into adulthood. ***** To the Mount Airy Elks Lodge 2061 for its annual community Flag Day ob...
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Certain about a grandfather’s pride for his grandson
I rounded the corner at the foot of the stairs at the Broyles home Wednesday morning to see Number One Son in his new uniform preparing to leave for training. He’s a big guy and looked sharp in the dress blues. After many years of work and a degree in criminology and psychology, Wee wifey and myself have been overjoyed to see him finally get a break into the criminal justice field, even though his talk with us on hostage policy unnerved me on...
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One-time windfall may not be good reason to cut taxes
Mount Airy commissioners are considering selling timber on the city-owned Westwood Industrial Park for an estimated $400,000, and some board members see this as a way to drop the city’s tax rate in the upcoming budget year that begins on July 1. The 2013-2014 budget under consideration already calls for a 2-cent decrease, from 56 cents per $100 of assessed value to 54 cents. If enacted, that would be a total tax rate decrease of 4 cents sin...
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‘Dig into Reading’ at a young age
Vividly, I can recall sitting on the carpeted floor with other children listening as the lady in front of us reads a book and shows us the pictures depicting the action. I remember going home with a stack of books, reading them, then taking them back and getting them counted toward my summer total. Yes, as a child, my family frequented our local library often, especially in the summer time once I was old enough to start reading on my own. M...
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No new taxes might work this year, but long-term another solution needed
Despite Surry County Manager Chris Knopf’s proposal to the contrary, it appears the county board of commissioners will not raise taxes in the upcoming budget year. Knopf had suggested a 2-cent increase in tax rates, from 58.2 cents per $100 of assessed value to 60.2 cents. That increase still was not enough to cover all the county’s needs — his proposal also called for dipping into the county’s year-end fund balance again this year, taking ...
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ACLU marginalizing itself?
Local law enforcement officials are unfairly targeting men for arrests in cases dealing with marijuana. The statistics are clear on this point. Of 83 people charged or cited for marijuana-related cases from June 2012 until now, 74 were male and just 9 were female. In other words, 89 percent of those charged were male. Given the fact that only 49 percent of Surry County’s population is male, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, this is a c...
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Thumbs up
To the Surry County Board of Commissioners for setting a public hearing on a proposal by board member Larry Phillips to consider combining the department of social services and the health department. We’re not saying combining the departments is a good idea (nor are we saying it’s a bad idea), but it’s good that the public will get a chance to weigh in on the proposal and we hope all board members will approach the hearing with an open mind. ...
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NSA spying is one more reason to distrust government
I admit I’m not the best “Facebook friend” in the world — in fact I fail miserably in that role, based on accepted social media standards. Of course, I do maintain a Facebook account, mainly for work purposes to stay in the loop with certain events, and a profile page — albeit a skimpy one with no bells or whistles or extensive bio information. When people attempt to add me to their friends list so we can network about our activities, I t...
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Tax hikes inevitable in county budget plan
Surry County Administrator Chris Knopf presented his budget proposal to the board of commissioners this week, and that budget includes a tax rate hike of 2 cents, to 60.2 cents per $100 of assessed value. No one enjoys the idea of a tax increase. But they are, from time to time, necessary if a locality is going to continue offering services at a consistent level — services such as law enforcement, the court system, social services, educatio...
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Call me Pinball Wizard
I love pinball. For sure, pinball machines are my all-time favorite arcade game, but they have become quite rare. If I see a pinball machine anywhere, I’m hopelessly hooked, sometimes for quite a long time because I’m pretty good at it, and I tend to win lots of free balls and sometimes free games. Pinball takes a combination of hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, and the ability to think ahead and change at a moments notice. I will be...
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