The Country Club
of the Crystal Coast
...wherefriends connect
By the time you read this,
most schools and colleges will
have already started their fall
semester and summer will
soon be over. Please celebrate
and drive safely during the
upcoming Labor Day weekend.
The highly successful annual
Crystal Coast Artisans Show
was held at the club on Saturday,
August 6. Thirty vendors were
there selling their pottery, wood
carving and nautical decor,
jewelry, canvas works of art,
textiles, photography and much
more. I hope you were able to
be there. If you weren’t, there is
always next year’s event, which
will be held on August 5, 2017,
so save the date.
The tennis Mixed Doubles
Championship is being held
at the club on September 16,
17 and 18. Visitors are always
welcome to come, watch and
support their favorite amateur
tennis player. The LGA 9-Hole
President’s Cup Tournament
is being held at the club on
During the recent Member-Guest Golf Tournament
at The Country Club of the Crystal Coast, the team
of Pine Knoll Shores resident Jason Wordsworth
and guest Troy Forguites from Morehead City held
on to win the competition. Pictured from left; Jason,
country club General Manager Chip Chamberlain and
Troy—Photo by Sandy Hale
September 6 and 13, and the
LGA 18-Hole Championship is being held on September 23 and 30.
On October 26, club member and Pine Knoll Shores resident Peter Makuck will
speak at the club about his two latest books, to be released in October. The event will
be open to the public. The first is Wins and Losses: Stories, which is a collection of
short stories filled with humor, heartbreak and compassion. As stated by others, Peter
explores the territory of small, rural American towns, and delves into their everyday
lives to reveal unexpectedly vulnerable and compassionate characters. His stories
explore characters struggling with questions of what really matters in life.
Peter’s other new book. Mandatory Evacuation, is a collection of original poems.
As stated by Betty Adcock, a renowned American poet and 2002-03 Guggenheim
FeUow, “In Mandatory Evacuation ..., a deeply accomplished poet faces memory
and mortality, earth, sea, and spirit with the quiet energy of a lyric voyager.
Beginning with the wildflowers and enveloping art of France, a stray melody in
a blood-red Spanish sunset, and backed by the red-tiled roofs of Greece where
a priest relaxes into the ordinary, the poems move to America’s canyons and
distances, and finally to ‘Barrier Island,’ the place where two immensities meet, a
spiritual home.”
Peter is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at East Carolina University. He
previously wrote Long Lens: New and Selected Poems (2010), Off Season in the
Promised Land (2005), Against Distance (1997), The Sunken Lightship (1990) and
Where We Live (1982), among others.
The club’s next open house for prospective new members is September 9 from
5 to 6 p.m. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served. Bring a
friend and come see what the club has to offer. We are looking forward to seeing
you at the club—where friends connect.
G)iirt Cases Affect November Election
By Phyllis Makuck
Voter Rights Coalition
of Carteret County
A Nonpartisan Organization
This article is part of the continuing efforts of the
Voter Rights Coalition of Carteret County to make
citizens aware of laws and court cases related to voting
in North Carolina.
Court cases concerning redistricting, the election
of judges and North Carolina’s 2013 Voting Law have
already affected the November General Election and
could potentially affect it further. What should you know concerning these cases?
Voting Law
On July 29, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals repealed North Carolina’s
2013 Voting Law, finding that the North Carolina legislature had written it with
discriminatory intent. Based on the Circuit Court’s instructions, the U.S. District
Court is rewriting the law:
• To eliminate the photo ID requirement
• To count out-of-precinct provisional ballots
• To permit registration during Early Voting
• To hold Early Voting over three weeks rather than two and
• To reinstate pre-registration of 16-year-olds by DMV.
Governor McCrory’s request that the appeals court stay the ruling for November
was denied; however, on August 15, he asked Chief Justice Roberts for a stay,
allowing the photo ID, shortened early voting and elimination of pre-registration to
remain in effect for the November General Election. Governor McCrory has said he
plans to appeal the 4th Circuit Court decision to the full 15-person appeals court or
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Redistricting
• The June 7 Congressional Primary reflected a redrawn map of North Caroli-
nas U.S. Congressional Districts based on a U.S. District Court decision ruling
that North Carolina’s 2011 redistricting was racially gerrymandered. However,
North Carolina has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The
case, McCrory v. Harris, is on the docket for the U.S. Supreme Court’s October
2016 session and could nullify the June 7 vote for U.S. Congressional candi
dates who are expected to be on the November ballot.
• Common Cause in August joined with others in a suit to overturn the newly
drawn congressional district map on the grounds that it was politically ger
rymandered. Theoretically, this suit could also affect the November General
Election of U.S. Congressional representatives.
• On August 11, another U.S District Court panel ruled that North Carolina’s
2011 legislative redistricting was racially gerrymandered and, therefore,
ordered the state to redraw the districts. However, since the ruling is so close
to the November election, the District Court is not enforcing this decision
until after the General Election, so candidates for the N.C. House and Senate
elected in the March Primary are expected to be on the ballot in November.
Judges
In March 2016, the North Carolina Supreme Court declared a 2015 law calling
for a yes/no retention vote for second-term North Carolina Supreme Court
incumbent justices unconstitutional. Therefore, North Carolina Supreme Court
candidates were added to the June 7 Primary, and Primary Election winners. Justice
Robert Edmunds and Judge Michael Morgan, are on the November ballot.
Another law passed with the retention bill is still in effect. It calls for judicial
candidates for all statewide elections, which had in the past been nonpartisan, to
designate party affiliations when declaring their candidacy. A later law changed the
random order alphabetization for how judges in nonpartisan races are listed on the
ballot and substituted alphabetical order with candidates of the party of the sitting
governor listed first, similar to ballots for partisan races. So, even though party
designations will not be next to the name of judicial candidates, the names will be
on the ballot alphabetically by party in November.
September 2016d li TheSlioreMne 9