IN
OUR
OPINION
mn
Political
debates
overrated
All over the country, as
election day draws nigh,
politicians are challenging
each other to debates. That's
the way it has been for over
40 years, ever since John EF.
Kennedy and Richard
Nixon squared off in 1960.
But are political debates
really worthwhile? Probably
not.
The dictionary defines
debate as argument and dis-
cussion. That's really not
what happens in a political
debate.
Today, a moderator, usu-
ally a member of the news
media, asks questions of the
debaters, who always take
more than their allotted
time to make a political
speech, rarely touching on
the question asked. His or
her opponent is then given a
like amount of time to
respond, and the response is
usually another political
speech on an entirely unre-
lated subject, and that also
exceeds the allotted time.
After debates are finished,
both camps usually run out
“spokesman” who crows
incessantly about how his
candidate has literally
stomped the other candi-
date. .
In North Carolina, all the
polls indicate that Elizabeth
Dole enjoys a comfortable
lead over Erskine Bowles in
the race for the senate seat
being vacated by Jesse
Helms. The question is
why?
Anyone in politics will
tell you if a candidate has a
wide lead, a debate can only |
| harm him or her. There is
very little to gain.” 9
Political debates could be
useful to voters if handled
properly, but the way they
transpire today makes them
little more than an exercise
in futility
The veto cometh
Last week the North
Carolina House of
Representatives passed
House Bill 1490 which pro-
vides that local revenues
may not be withheld or
impounded by the gover-
nor.
It is highly unlikely that
Governor Easley would sign
such a bill. He would be
more likely to veto.
Easley has said he will
never cut funds for educa-
tion, yet he turns around
and withholds millions of
. dollars belonging to the
cities and towns, thus local
governments get the blame
for shorting education.
The governor has with-
held funds for two consecu-
tive years to cover a “short-
fall” in the state budget.
See Veto, 5A
Seid 913 THOT 21938
i 93in3
——
OPINIO
PICTORIAL
nm
a
Thursday, September 26, 2002
The Kings Mountain Herald
children like Alex.
Whether it's news
or moving on,
deadlines are met
If this column could be written later,
that would be great. Ben Ledbetter
But like a politician from Shelby want- Staff Writer
ing something done, it has to be done
NOW.
Unfortunately, deadlines are about as flexible as Jesse
Helms’ vote during his glory years in the Senate.
The deadline for this column, along for:ottier things:in
ost the papers, iS No xception aver 0} 200v 1110 vey
aking that into account, good ideas have to flow ro
has to pen during that time.
Like a sporting event or town meeting, that changes
with the final buzzer or gavel.
To make sense of the plight reporters and editors go
through to bring readers what they think is interesting
and insightful, I will list a few things.
» Using a big local issue - This makes great fodder for
an editorial or column. It can be anything from a “county”
wide water proposal or a school merger issue that will
benefit the “whole county.”
Often big local issues can be used multiple times.
* What's going on in the big city, state capital or
Washington - For people in Kings Mountain, what goes on
in Charlotte can either effect or interest citizens. The same
thing goes for the state capital, since legislators are also
neighbors.
, ® Political races - I'm not just talking about running
endorsements for candidates that make the most promises
or have incomes that could support third-world countries.
Local races have the tendency to pit family members
against each other and split areas faster than the Civil
War. The dynamics of local elections are also interesting
with one candidate spreading gossip about the other.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop at the local level.
* Beauty pageants and political misdeeds - More good
ideas for the editorial idea clearinghouse. The pageant
idea got a lot of use when North Carolina had two Miss
America contestants that competed for a time during the
national beauty contest. How the pageant thing made
news is amazing. Little explanation is needed on how
political misdeeds can fill a column or editorial.
e With that said, today’s newspaper date is also my last
day at the Kings Mountain Herald. I'll be moving to South
See Ben, 5A
Ss,
LOVE IN ACTION - Gilbert Brazzell, president of the White Plains Shrine Club, is holding 4-month-old Alex Jones of
Mooresboro. Alex, who was born with a club foot, has been a patient at the Shriners Hospital in Greenville, SC since
he was two weeks old. Alex and his mother, Jennifer, and his parents came to Kings Mountain Saturday to buy barbe-
cue at the Shrine Club’s fund-raiser on East Gold St. at York Road. All proceeds from Shrine fund-raisers go to help
Who was that
lady in the red
pickup truck?
The last I heard about Janet Reno was
when she said she was going to buy a
pickup truck and drive across America.
warned people then to be on the lookout
for her lost on some back road in the
Midwest.
Dang my hide if she didn’t go on back down to Florida
and run for governor. XE 3 :
2 1 think Reno must havé Sorat aHowt: how Florida Slee
iohs Work” Youd thirik'she would remember. what hap:
pened to the last Clinton cabinet member in Florida. Of
course nobody ever accused her of being the smartest
woman in the world, not with Hillary still alive.
Anyway, old Janet went down there and ran in the
Democratic primary, but she couldn’t win.
Seems like those blamed Florida voting machines did
another Democrat candidate in.
But, wait a minute. Didn't the state of Florida spend
about $58 million on the latest technology machines? Sure
they did, but they forgot something. They forgot to teach
people how to use them.
The Democratic turnout was low, because it took two
voters to register one vote. How so, you ask? Because
with voters in some parts of Florida, you have to take one
of their hands and help them touch the right part of the
video screen to register their vote. They don’t have the
mental capacity to operate that new-fangled machine. So
it takes two Democrats to cast one vote.
The last time there was a voting foul-up in Florida, all
the Democrat bigwigs, Janet Reno included, were running
around sticking their faces in TV cameras and complain-
ing that the Republicans had rigged everything in Florida
from voting machines to tarpon fishing.
There was talk of hanging chads, dimpled ballots,
undervotes, overvotes, and endless recounts, and it was
all because all those bad old Republicans cheated the
good old Democrats, forcing them to vote for Pat
Buchannan when they really meant to vote for Al Bore, I
mean Gore.
After this latest Florida voting fiasco, the silence from
Democrats is deafening.
Why aren't all the party stalwarts, Janet Reno included,
yelling, pointing fingers and crying about being cheated
I Jim Heffner
Columnist
HIN
See Jim, 5A
Editor: Gary Stewart © 739- 7496
A
:
Re
It’s time for
a change
in Raleigh
To the editor:
After 40 years North
Carolina’s bond rating is
no longer AAA. This is the
very reason why our
Democratic governor and
our Democratic House
member Andy Dedmon,
and our Democratic
Senator Walter Dalton said
we must re-elect them the
last election.
Well, we did and what
have we got to show for it?
The state’s AAA bond rat-
ing is history.
Downgraded. And why?
Did not our Democratic
leaders raise taxes to insure
our bond rating would
stay AAA? Yes they did.
Did not our Democratic
leaders infer that spending
needed to be curtailed to
balance the budget? Yes
they did. Did they deliver?
Our downgrading of the
bond rating is your answer.
The time for change is
Now.
How much longer can
we as taxpayers continue
paying for our governor's
helicopter rides at taxpayer
expense while calling for a
lottery tax on the poor?
How much longer can we
as taxpayers support a
Democrat agriculture com-
missioner whose campaign
is awash in illegal cash
contributions, or a
Democrat judge who takes
hundreds of thousands of
dollars in outside work
while serving on the state’s
: second highest court? ©
"How tauch longer can
we support and elect rép-
resentatives such as Rep.
Andy Dedmon, who voted
for the Budget
Appropriations Act of 2001
(SB1005), which included
numerous tax increases.
He also voted for the
local option sales tax
increase, which would
increase the sales tax from
6.5 cents to 7 cents
(HB1633). He also voted
for the closing of corporate
loopholes, which would
tax small businesses. He
voted for the budget rev-
enue act of 2002, which
also included numerous
tax increases.
How much longer can
we stand back and watch
as the governor takes des-
ignated county govern-
ment funds year after year
and use them for his own
political agendas?
It is time for a change.
How unfair it is to put
the awesome responsibility
on our county commission-
ers to raise funds for our
water, our security as a citi-
zen and countless other
priorities simply because
See Letter, 5A
SIDEWALK
SURVEY
Moo innit
BY BEN LEDBETTER
THE HERALD
u
Should
the U.S.
invade Iraq?
Well I'm pretty sure they’ll
wind up going before its
over with.
I absolutely donot think
so. I think we're rehashing
Bush’s War.
Moffett Scism
Kings Mountain
D.W. Lee
Kings Mountain
No. I don’t think we've
got a bit of business over
there.
I think we ought to elimi-
ante that dude before he
has a chance to get us. I
believe we ought to get
Saddam Hussein before he
has a chance of harming
more Americans.
Bob Pearson
Kings Mountain
Tom Shytle
Blacksburg, SC
I think we should have
done what we needed to
do back in ‘91.
Gilbert Brazzell
Kings Mountain -
Em
Bales
pn