The Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776.
On July 3, 1776, the British army evacuated Boston, leaving no British troops anywhere in the thirteen colonies of the Continental Congress.
The Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
The official signing ceremony was not held until August, 1776.
So when British troops returned to the thirteen colonies, they were arguably invading an independent, sovereign nation.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Voting: Privilege or Right?
Last week, one of our local papers in Pamlico County printed an article claiming that voting is a privilege.
Wrong. Under both state and federal law, it is a right held by all citizens. The right can only be taken away by a court of law.
Or it can be frittered away by not standing up for it.
One of my earlier posts addressed the issue here.
Remember: municipal elections come up this fall.
Exercise your right to vote.
There are no unimportant elections!
Wrong. Under both state and federal law, it is a right held by all citizens. The right can only be taken away by a court of law.
Or it can be frittered away by not standing up for it.
One of my earlier posts addressed the issue here.
Remember: municipal elections come up this fall.
Exercise your right to vote.
There are no unimportant elections!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Age of Grand Undertakings
In September, 1929, the U.S. Stock market crashed. By 1932, as the depression set in, US industrial production had fallen nearly fifty percent, wholesale prices had fallen by a third, foreign trade was down by seventy percent and unemployment was up more than 600 percent.
In New York City, the corporation planning to build the world's tallest building continued with their plans and completed the building in 1931, a year and a half after construction began. Construction began on the largest reclamation project in the west, the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover dam) in 1931, with completion in 1936.Further west, in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California legislature, was incorporated in 1928 to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. After the crash, unable to raise construction funds, the District lobbied for a $30 million bond issue. The bonds were approved in 1930. Bank of America bought the entire issue in order to help the local economy.
In New York City, the corporation planning to build the world's tallest building continued with their plans and completed the building in 1931, a year and a half after construction began. Construction began on the largest reclamation project in the west, the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover dam) in 1931, with completion in 1936.Further west, in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California legislature, was incorporated in 1928 to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. After the crash, unable to raise construction funds, the District lobbied for a $30 million bond issue. The bonds were approved in 1930. Bank of America bought the entire issue in order to help the local economy.
Construction began January 5, 1933. It was finished by April 1937, $1.3 million under budget.
Further north, work began on the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia river in 1931. Later expanded in design, the project was completed in 1942 and provided hydroelectric power for wartime industries in the Pacific Northwest.
In 1934, the US Army Air Corps put out a bid for long range bombers. Less than a year later the first prototype B-17, which became the backbone of strategic air operations in World War II made its first flight.
About the same time, Congress authorized a new battleship. The keel of USS North Carolina was laid October 27, 1937. The ship was launched June 13, 1940 and put in commission April 9, 1941. Nine more fast battleships came behind her and served in World War II.
These were all grand undertakings. They were by no means the only grand undertakings in these years. In my native state of Oklahoma, the longest multiple arch dam was built on the Grand River to provide flood control and hydroelectric power.
Every one of these designs was created on paper by design engineers who did calculations by hand and with slide rules, made copies of detailed drawings using the blueprint process. Not a single digital computer was used, because none existed.
Where are our visionaries of today? All we hear is, "oh, we can't afford anything like that!"
Are we led by a generation of fraidy cats and wimps?
Friday, July 1, 2011
Don't Fence Me In
Sometimes memory plays tricks.
In my memory, I never cared much for cowboy movie star Roy Rogers. He sang too much and paid entirely too much attention to Dale Evans. Even Gabby Hayes was more interesting.
Didn't care much for Gene Autry, either.
This evening on Turner Classic Movies I watched a 1945 Roy Rogers movie that I first watched 65 years ago at the Will Rogers Movie Theater in Tulsa Oklahoma. The movie didn't get any better in the intervening decades. Still, I found I could sing along with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers when they sang "Don't Fence Me In" and "Tumbling Tumbleweed." I was surprised that I remembered the words after all these years.
I still preferred Hopalong Cassidy.
In my memory, I never cared much for cowboy movie star Roy Rogers. He sang too much and paid entirely too much attention to Dale Evans. Even Gabby Hayes was more interesting.
Didn't care much for Gene Autry, either.
This evening on Turner Classic Movies I watched a 1945 Roy Rogers movie that I first watched 65 years ago at the Will Rogers Movie Theater in Tulsa Oklahoma. The movie didn't get any better in the intervening decades. Still, I found I could sing along with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers when they sang "Don't Fence Me In" and "Tumbling Tumbleweed." I was surprised that I remembered the words after all these years.
I still preferred Hopalong Cassidy.
Pamlico County Municipal Elections Candidate Filing
The candidate filing period for Pamlico County municipal elections opened today at noon at the Board of Elections office at the county court house in Bayboro. The filing period ends at noon on July 15.
As of 3:00 this afternoon, July 1, 2011, no candidates have filed.
As of 3:00 this afternoon, July 1, 2011, no candidates have filed.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Oriental Town Commissioners and Management
Some Oriental Town Commissioners seem to have great difficulty grasping the proper role of the board of commissioners. Let's try again.
The Town of Oriental has a council-manager form of government. That means the board of commissioners exercises a legislative role by providing general direction and control over town government, adopting general personnel rules, regulations, policies or ordinances and providing oversight over the Town Manager's activities.
The Town Manager is the chief administrator of the town. He is responsible to the board of commissioners for all municipal affairs. His powers and duties are spelled out in North Carolina General Statutes.
The manager supervises and directs all departments of Town Government, including appointing, suspending or removing ALL city officers and employees not elected by the people (subject in some cases to other provisions of the law).
In brief, the town board gets to hire the town manager. The board has NO statutory authority to hire or fire any employee subordinate to the manager. To be sure, the board can establish general personnel rules, regulations and policies.
Commissioners have NO operational role in the town's administration. No supervisory role and no authority over employees. No individual commissioner has any administrative or disciplinary authority over the manager or any other employee. Neither does the mayor.
We saw at today's agenda meeting the sort of problem that can arise when an individual commissioner takes on the task of obtaining cost estimates, "bids," making design decisions, and attempting to move forward with a project instead of asking the entire board to task the manager with the project. In this case, the project that seems unnecessarily muddled is the pier at the end of South Avenue.
There have been other matters unnecessarily muddled by commissioner meddling in the past year and a half.
The board needs to address this. It is a procedural issue.
The Town of Oriental has a council-manager form of government. That means the board of commissioners exercises a legislative role by providing general direction and control over town government, adopting general personnel rules, regulations, policies or ordinances and providing oversight over the Town Manager's activities.
The Town Manager is the chief administrator of the town. He is responsible to the board of commissioners for all municipal affairs. His powers and duties are spelled out in North Carolina General Statutes.
The manager supervises and directs all departments of Town Government, including appointing, suspending or removing ALL city officers and employees not elected by the people (subject in some cases to other provisions of the law).
In brief, the town board gets to hire the town manager. The board has NO statutory authority to hire or fire any employee subordinate to the manager. To be sure, the board can establish general personnel rules, regulations and policies.
Commissioners have NO operational role in the town's administration. No supervisory role and no authority over employees. No individual commissioner has any administrative or disciplinary authority over the manager or any other employee. Neither does the mayor.
We saw at today's agenda meeting the sort of problem that can arise when an individual commissioner takes on the task of obtaining cost estimates, "bids," making design decisions, and attempting to move forward with a project instead of asking the entire board to task the manager with the project. In this case, the project that seems unnecessarily muddled is the pier at the end of South Avenue.
There have been other matters unnecessarily muddled by commissioner meddling in the past year and a half.
The board needs to address this. It is a procedural issue.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Town of Oriental Personnel Procedures: Due for Amendment?
This morning at their 11:15 special meeting, the town board of commissioners passed a motion to offer Dwaine Moore, who is a corrections officer at the prison in Pamlico County. Moore, a resident of Oriental, has been working for months as an unpaid auxiliary officer for the Town of Oriental. The board also offered an unpaid position as auxiliary police officer to Bob Lyons, a marine patrol officer for the state.
From the subsequent discussion, it was unclear to me whether the board would decide to conduct a formal search for a permanent Chief of Police to replace the retiring Chief Casasa.
After the meeting, I decided to reread what North Carolina General Statutes have to say about hiring personnel. Here is what I found:
"Section 160A-148. Powers and Duties of Manager.
The manager shall be the chief administrator of the city. He shall be responsible to the council for administering all municipal affairs placed in his charge by them, and shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) He shall appoint and suspend or remove all city officers and employees not elected by the people, and whose appointment or removal is not otherwise provided for by law, except the city attorney, in accordance with such general personnel rules, regulations, policies or ordinances as the council may adopt.
(2) He shall direct and supervise the administration of all departments, offices, and agencies of the city, subject to the general direction and control of the council, except as otherwise provided by law.
(3) etc."
Among the officers who may be appointed by a city, presumably in this case by the manager, is the chief of police and other police officers (NCGS 160A-281.)
Another interesting provision of NCGS is the following:
"Section 160A-165. Personnel board.
The council may establish a personnel board with authority to administer tests designed to determine the merit and fitness of candidates for appointment or promotion, to conduct hearings on the appeal of employees who have been suspended, demoted or discharged, and hear employee grievances."
In other words, it appears that under NCGS, the board appoints the manager and the manager makes all other personnel decisions, possibly as supported by a personnel board if one is established.
And by the way, town commissioners have no legal authority to provide any degree of supervision or direction over any town employees.
Maybe it's time to review how the town does business.
From the subsequent discussion, it was unclear to me whether the board would decide to conduct a formal search for a permanent Chief of Police to replace the retiring Chief Casasa.
After the meeting, I decided to reread what North Carolina General Statutes have to say about hiring personnel. Here is what I found:
"Section 160A-148. Powers and Duties of Manager.
The manager shall be the chief administrator of the city. He shall be responsible to the council for administering all municipal affairs placed in his charge by them, and shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) He shall appoint and suspend or remove all city officers and employees not elected by the people, and whose appointment or removal is not otherwise provided for by law, except the city attorney, in accordance with such general personnel rules, regulations, policies or ordinances as the council may adopt.
(2) He shall direct and supervise the administration of all departments, offices, and agencies of the city, subject to the general direction and control of the council, except as otherwise provided by law.
(3) etc."
Among the officers who may be appointed by a city, presumably in this case by the manager, is the chief of police and other police officers (NCGS 160A-281.)
Another interesting provision of NCGS is the following:
"Section 160A-165. Personnel board.
The council may establish a personnel board with authority to administer tests designed to determine the merit and fitness of candidates for appointment or promotion, to conduct hearings on the appeal of employees who have been suspended, demoted or discharged, and hear employee grievances."
In other words, it appears that under NCGS, the board appoints the manager and the manager makes all other personnel decisions, possibly as supported by a personnel board if one is established.
And by the way, town commissioners have no legal authority to provide any degree of supervision or direction over any town employees.
Maybe it's time to review how the town does business.
Baby Boomers Strike Again and Stay Put
It's no news that there have been few recent real estate closings in Oriental and elsewhere in Pamlico County.
The question is "why?" and "will this be a long term trend?"
Yesterday's Washington Post provided an explanation: retiring baby boomers are staying put and not moving to Florida, Nevada, and other sandy locations further south. Will this trend affect North Carolina and Pamlico County? I wouldn't bet against it.
So maybe we need to get busy with an economic development plan that recruits younger workers with families instead of more affluent retired folks who don't seem to be moving here any more anyhow.
The question is "why?" and "will this be a long term trend?"
Yesterday's Washington Post provided an explanation: retiring baby boomers are staying put and not moving to Florida, Nevada, and other sandy locations further south. Will this trend affect North Carolina and Pamlico County? I wouldn't bet against it.
So maybe we need to get busy with an economic development plan that recruits younger workers with families instead of more affluent retired folks who don't seem to be moving here any more anyhow.
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