The filing deadline for Municipal elections has passed. All Granville County Republican candidates need to contact webmaster by e-mail for more information on getting support help on this sites Candidates page.
Granville County Republican Party
418 Hancock Street, Oxford, NC 27565
Granville County Board of County Commissioners
141 Williamsboro Street
Oxford, NC 27565
June 15, 2007
Dear Chairman Alligood & Commissioners All,
Proposed Closure of the Granville County Farm Services Agency Office
At the regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Granville County Republican Party held on June 12th 2007 consideration and extensive discussion took place regarding the rumored and reported proposed closure of the local Granville County FSA office and relocating it to, and absorbing its current operations within the Vance County FSA office.
Because of the relative paucity of factual information regarding this issue that was immediately available at the meeting, the Officers of the Granville County Republican Party were charged with the authority to investigate the matter and make such representations as they saw fit.
Though research and investigation is currently incomplete, early findings encourage us to confidently assert that closure and relocation of the Granville County FSA Office has little or no merit in terms of fiscal efficiency or service to the end user of FSA services. Additionally, if it is the intention of the USDA plan to seek efficiencies by downsizing the FSA, we are strongly of the view that closure of the Granville County FSA Office would be counter-productive to that objective.
In particular;
· We note that Granville County outranks Vance County, by three to one, in almost every category of agricultural and livestock production and agricultural land ownership.
· We consider any assertion that a relocation of offices by a ‘mere seven or eight miles’ (Oxford – Henderson) would not have any significantly detrimental impact on users of FSA services to be specious, as such argument ignores the increased journey time/distance and associated costs that would be experienced by users from outlying districts and communities.
· We are unable to identify any fiscal efficiency that would result from a move from a Federally owned building, that appears to require no draw down of State or County funds, to a privately owned (rented/leased) facility that would require a net outflow of tax dollars from whatever source. We believe that, in effect, the proposed move would be more expensive and tax burdensome than current arrangements.
· With special regard to the lack of modern broad band telecommunications infrastructure in Granville County, we reject the argument that local users of FSA services are increasingly able to obtain FSA services ‘on-line’ and thereby avoid a journey to the FSA office. Most, if not all, Granville County agricultural based businesses either do not have access to the world wide web, or such access that they do have is limited to dial-up access over existing telephone lines that do not support the efficient transfer of anything more than simple email messages.
· Especially mindful of the urban growth of neighboring counties such as Wake and Durham, where we believe that demand for commercial agriculture support services has long since been overtaken by domestic horticulture considerations, we contend that office closures and amalgamations in those counties are likely to realize considerably greater and more immediate efficiencies than those available in Granville County.
We are aware that the Granville County Board of Commissioners have expressed their concerns regarding this proposed closure to the North Carolina Congressional delegation and others, and we are further aware of statements made by certain elected individuals in support of your position and your opposition to this proposed closure.
Therefore, we, the Officers of the Granville County Republican Party, on behalf of the Executive Committee and the many Republican voters in the farming and other agricultural communities that we have the privilege to represent, are pleased to invite the Board of Commissioners to vigorously oppose the closure of the Granville County FSA Office, sure in the knowledge that they do so with bipartisan support.
Submitted as a matter of record,
Sincerely,
Robert Rector, Chairman.__________________________________________________
Brian Reynell, Vice Chairman. _____________________________________________
Jimmy Chalmers, 2nd Vice Chairman_________________________________________
Some have talked about him for a while, and now it’s official.
I am a gun owner. I enjoy the sport of shooting. I love wildlife and hunting, but I do not enjoy the killing of animals anymore. I hate killing! I cannot imagine killing another human, unless My life and the lives of MY family were in danger. Thanks to South Park Pundit…
Here is a video PSA on gun control…you be the judge.
testing this morning to see if it works
I was reading local news this morning when I saw this article. The State budget has not been passsed into law, yet the Governor is already crying about about budget short falls for our highway funding. He has quickly forgotten that not a fortnight ago the General Assembly spent a 2.4 BILLION dollar surplus of money. They did not payback the hundreds of billions they have been taking form the highway fund. The legislation is on the books to continue to raid that fund until 2010. Watch your wallet!! There will be budget short falls over the next 9 months and the Governor, Mark Basnight and Jim Black will raise N.C. taxes.
Granville County desperately needs an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance to stop the drain caused by lopsided growth.
My plan calls for the use of an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) to address the inadequacies that have been developing as our County becomes more populated. A properly implemented APFO can be applied to any public service including Education, EMS, Fire, Police or Recreation. One of the first steps in implementing an APFO is to open the lines of communication. Citizens, Government (all levels), Developers, and Industry all need to collaborate to identify key areas of concern and establish parameters that are considered adequate by all parties.
Economic development is the second area that I would reevaluate. The moneys being spent to attract particular entities into specific areas could be redirected to improve an aspect of the entire county. You have to ask: If our (blank) were better, would we stand a better chance at getting new business? Fill in the blank with Schools, Recreational Opportunities, Medical Care, Senior Programs, etc.
We must keep Urban Sprawl in check through use of sound comprehensive planning.
Only A few weeks to go… Please help spread the word!
Tim Karan
http://timkaran.com
From the Daily Dispatch, 17 Oct. 06
To the editor:
The Triangle Business Journal confirms what some, for months, have known; that in 2007, North Carolina will be facing a budget deficit of at least a billion dollars.
It is my understanding that North Carolina General Assembly increased spending by nearly 10 percent.
Also, the General Assembly spent all of a two billion dollar surplus and left us at least a billion dollars overspent (debt) that will be paid for with future tax increases. What’s the right word for this? Irresponsible? Incompetent?
What’s worse is that Senator Doug Berger said he was “proud” of this budget. How can you be proud of knowingly mismanaging our tax dollars and putting the state over a billion dollars in debt, and forcing families to pay more in taxes? This is not right and I believe shameful.
Our right and privilege to vote is the only voice we have, and all of us should be proud to vote and whom we vote for. If we continue to reelect those politicians who have supported this budget, we (voters) are no better than they (politicians) are. We would all be irresponsible. We would all be incompetent in our duty in how we cast our vote. If we repeat the mistakes we made two years ago, then shame on us because now we know better. It is therefore my opinion that Doug Berger hasn’t earned the privilege of our reelection vote. We cannot afford to return him to Raleigh. I am encouraging my friends and neighbors to vote for Chuck Stires to better represent us in the General Assembly.
Ellis Gregory
Youngsville
The arrest of more than twenty alleged terrorists in London yesterday should scream in the ear of every freedom loving American, especially those who may be sympathetic to the opposition by the Democratic Party of anti-terrorist measures pursued by President Bush and the current administration.
The tactics and tools employed by the British intelligence and law enforcement authorities to prevent mass murder on an unimaginable scale are precisely those tactics and tools that Democrats and their liberal press allies so recently shouted down. Anti-terrorist surveillance was emotively labeled as ‘domestic spying’ and perfectly legitimate, and highly effective covert methods to identify and track the movement of potential terrorist funding were exposed in the most cynical and damaging way. We were told repeatedly that ordinary and innocent citizens were being subjected to the most outrageous invasion of their civil liberties by a cavalier and dictatorial White House.
Today more than twenty supposedly ‘ordinary and innocent citizens’ are currently being interrogated in London’s Paddington Green Police station on suspicion of plotting to blow up ten or more trans-Atlantic airliners. It is just possible, but absurdly unrealistic, to imagine that it was only those who were arrested who had their telephone calls and financial transactions monitored. But it is much more likely that in order to get to the bad guys many hundred, perhaps thousands of people were at some time watched and subsequently exonerated. Almost certainly they had no idea that anyone was taking a look-see, and they certainly suffered no harm. They had nothing to hide and therefore had nothing to fear
And what do we hear today from the Democrats about the need for vigorous and effective measures to pursue the war on terror and root out the enemy within? Absolutely nothing. The silence is deafening.
The most fundamental of our civil liberties is the right to stay alive and to be protected from those who have declared that they hate us and wish to kill us. The most fundamental duty of any individual who holds public office is to defend that first and most fundamental civil liberty. They swear that they will ‘preserve and defend, against all enemies, foreign and domestic’.
On the subject of terrorism and those that wish to harm us, President Bush rightly said “if you’re not with us, you are against us”. It therefore follows that if any elected representative at national, state or local level prefers to place partisan politics over the requirements of the oath that they took, and to blindly (and dishonestly) toe the party line, then one can only conclude that they are not with us.
These are not matters for exclusive consideration in Washington DC. These matters also demand attention and leadership in Raleigh and in Granville County.
Take that thought with you on polling day.