6 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,2016
Perspectives
Tight races for all 3 top-of-the-ballot contests in NC
R ALEIGH — This year is shaping up
to be one of the most intriguing and
important election years in a long
time for North Carolina voters.
Of course, the presidential race leads the
way. Recent N.C. polls show Republican
Donald Trump has closed the gap separat
ing him and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the
race for the White House.
It’s a toss-up. FiveThirtyEight.com, which
analyzed 42 polls on the presidential race in
North Carolina, is predicting a very narrow
Trump victory. RealClearPolitics, another
reputable site, gives Clinton a razor-thin
lead based on poll averages in mid-Septem
ber.
North Carolina voters have sided with
either party in recent presidential elections.
Democrat Barack Obama won the state in
2008 and Republican Mitt Romney defeated
Obama — by 92,000 votes — in 2012.
Right now, it appears either candidate
could win this state — a true battleground.
North Carolina voters will con
tinue to see a lot of the candidates
across the state during the weeks
leading up to the election.
It doesn’t stop there.
The next race down on the Nov.
8 ballot also is generating head
lines across the state and country.
(By the way, you can view your
sample ballot through the Voter
Tools section on the State Board
of Elections website, ncsbe.gov.)
Democrat Deborah Ross is chal
lenging two-term GOP incum
bent Richard Burr for the U.S.
Senate, a race being watched
nationally that could affect the ,
balance of power in the Senate.
Columnist
PATKICK
GANNON
While Ross was seen as a long shot to
unseat Burr early on, that has changed.
Polls still give Burr the edge, and Ross must
overcome a lack of name recognition. Both
sides, along with outside groups, are pour
ing tremendous resources into
this race.
A little farther down the ballot
is the governor’s race, between
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and
Attorney General Roy Cooper, his
Democratic challenger. It’s one of
the most talked-about gubernato
rial races in the country.
As of mid-September, Real
ClearPolitics gives Cooper a 4.7
percent lead in an average of
polls, and McCrory’s campaign
recently was hurt by announce
ments that the NCAA and Atlan
tic Coast Conference are moving
, college sports championships
out of North Carolina because
of House Bill 2, the transgender bathroom
law signed by McCrory.
The candidates say they wish voters
weren’t talking about HB2, yet they’re run
ning ads and sending press releases out
about it. It will be a defining issue in this
election. Clinton even mentioned it in a re
cent visit to Greensboro.
“If anyone wonders what the costs of
discrimination are, just ask the people and
businesses of North Carolina,” she said.
“Witness what’s happening with the NCAA
and the ACC. This is where bigotry leads,
and we can’t afford it, not here or anywhere
else.”
McCrory, meanwhile, is touting the en
dorsements of the state’s four largest law
enforcement organizations. Given Cooper’s
role as the state’s top law enforcement of
ficer, that’s pretty interesting.
As of mid-September, most polls show
Cooper and Burr with leads, with the presi
dential race a virtual tie. Of course, much
can happen between now and Nov. 8.
We’re about to see just how purple North
Carolina is in state and national politics.
Patrick Gannon is the columnistfor the
Capitol Press Association.
Letters to the Editor
President Obama shifting balance of power to himself
Dear Editor,
The 10th Amendment to the
Constitution is brief, only 28 words,
and should be perfectly clear to
anyone who reads it. It says, in ef
fect, that the federal government
has no powers except those spe
cifically granted to it by the Con
stitution. Yet, the 10th Amendment
has been violated more frequently
by the Executive Branch than any
other. And of all the presidents who
have violated it, Barack Obama is
the worst. He has said unabash
edly that where Congress fails to
act, he will. And he has. Again and
again he has legislated from the
White House, usurping powers
specifically granted to Congress
by the Constitution.
Most egregious perhaps are the
changes the President made to
ObamaCare, re-writing provisions
of the law he didn’t like. He got
away with it, because a squabbling
and divided Congress proved pow
erless to stop him.
Most numerous have been his
frequent extra-constitutional ex
ecutive orders. But in some cases,
like the one leading to amnesty
for illegal immigrants, the court
stepped in to prevent the Presi
dent from executing his unlawful
orders.
Most insidious, though, are
the regulations issued by federal
agencies with the force of law.
The worst offender, in my view, is
the EPA, which has, among other
abuses, interpreted the broad man
date of the Clean Air Act to put the
coal industry out of business.
One can hope that the next
president will put a stop to these
violations and respect the bal
ance of power our Founders felt
was so necessary to maintain an
effective government responsible
to the people. In January Hillary
Clinton or Donald Trump will take
the oath to protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States.
But do they intend to respect the
10th Amendment? That would be
a good question to ask the candi
dates in the up-coming debates.
Claude Milot
Hertford
Wind project developers benefit from Production Tax Credit
Dear Editor,
Setting any real money con
cerns aside, the wind industry ma
nipulates their public relations for
large scale wind farms. (Quotes
from the 2002 Siting Subcommit
tee of the National Wind Coordi
nating Committee (NWCC) Hand
book). “Wind project developers
can lower costs by taking advan
tage of the wind energy Produc
tion Tax Credit (PTC) or Renew
able Energy Production Incentive
program (REPI) included in the
Energy Policy Act of 1992.”
The wind industry doesn’t tell
us who benefits from the PTC.
Wikipedia comments on the PTC,
“wind energy policy is generally
directed at three categories of
constituents: Research and De
velopment Organizations, Com-
mercial/Residential Generators
and Manufacturers and Producers
. . . Historically, incentives have
come in the form of production or
installation tax credits, grants, and
renewable portfolio standards, at
the federal, state, and local levels
of government. Policy facilitating
appropriate location has histori
cally come in the form of local or
dinances and permitting require
ments.” These incentives won’t
have to be paid back because
taxpayers have already footed the
bill; in other words: free money to
the wind industry.
American taxpayers are financ
ing Research and Development
(R&D) for the wind industry. Tax
payers are financing those compa
nies and/or persons who apply the
R&D to build new wind turbines.
Additionally, American taxpayers
are subsidizing those who buy
the turbines and produce use-
able electricity somewhere. These
subsidiaries are hidden from the
public during the C.U.P. applica
tion process because Chowan and
Perquimans’ citizens don’t need to
know how much money is really
at stake with developing a suc
cessful wind farm.
The Hill website says, “Warren
Buffett admits he uses the PTC
to lower his Berkshire taxes: ‘we
get a tax credit if we build a lot of
wind farms.
That’s the only reason to build
them. They don’t make sense
without the tax credit.’” Randy T.
Simmons and Jordan Lofthouse
from thehill.com ask, “Must the
American people tolerate paying
at least $12 billion annually in tax-
funded PTC money to prop up the
wind industry indefinitely?”
Local citizens pick up the wind
industry’s bonuses every month
with every subsidized electric bill
they pay.
Patrick Flynn
Edenton
What’s so important
about being great?
Dear Editor,
Donald Trump says that, as
President, he will make America
“great again.”
This must mean that America is
no longer great.
Two questions:
What will make America great
again?
Why is it so important for us to
be great, and to be greater than all
other nations in human history?
Jerry Gill
Hertford
Does the public share access to North Carolina’s sand?
I f you were among the lucky who got to
take a stroll on a North Carolina beach
this summer, it probably didn’t occur to
you to ponder who owned the sand beneath
your toes. After all, aren’t North Carolina’s
300 miles of shoreline the public’s to eqjoy?
That’s long been the assumption with our
state’s beaches, but the notion is being chal
lenged by two retirees in Emerald Isle. Their
lawsuit involves a small patch of shoreline,
but at stake is something much larger - the
public’s access to what everyone presumed
was a public resource.
The case began in 2011 when Gregory
and Diane Nies, a retired couple from New
Jersey, objected to an Emerald Isle ordi
nance that bars those who own beachfront
The Charlotte Observer
property from putting up beach structures
or equipment “within an area 20 feet sea
ward of the base of the frontal dunes.”
That 20-foot lane, part of what’s called
the “dry-sand beach,” is all the land from
the dimes to where the water reaches at
high tide. The “wet-sand beach” is the area
that is covered and uncovered by the tide.
The Nies sued, saying that their property
line included the dry-sand beach, and that
the public was entitled only to the wet-sand
beach.
The town says that it helped maintain
and improve that 20-foot lane covered by
the ordinance, and that it is now essentially
public land.
Moreover, the town said that N.C. law
allows the public to use dry-sand beaches,
and that all 300-plus miles of beach, in eight
oceanfront counties, has operated with
this understanding for centuries. Attorney
General Roy Cooper agreed, and the N.C.
Superior Court and Court of Appeals ruled
in Emerald Isle’s favor.
Problem is, the rulings have relied on
common law and tradition more than spe
cific N.C. statutes, which don’t speak pre
cisely to what happens if the dry sands in
cludes someone’s property. In some states,
including the Nies’ home state of New Jer
sey, property owners are allowed more con ¬
trol in such situations.
The N.C. Supreme Court has taken up the
case, an unusual move given that the Court
of Appeals’ ruling was unanimous. There’s
some worry the Republican-led Supreme
Court could rule in the Nies’ favor, given the
couple is supported by the Republican-lean
ing Civitas Institute for Law and Freedom.
We expect the N.C. Supreme Court will
affirm the Appeals Court ruling, which
noted that N.C. law has long declared that
the “full width and breadth” of beaches are
subject to “public trust rights.”
But the Supreme Court could rule for
property rights. We’d feel better if the legis
lature made clearer what has long been as
sumed: The sand is everyone’s to enjoy. ,
The Perquimans weekly
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