Transylvania Voter Guide2014

The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014–Page <#> Election Guide

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY

ELECTIONGUIDE

2014

SHERIFF’S ELECTION BOARD OF EDUCATION ELECTION CLERK OF COURT

NC SENATE ELECTION COUNTY COMMISSIONER ELECTION NC HOUSE ELECTION

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO

Page 2 - Election Guide –The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014

Transylvania County transylvania voter’s guide 2014

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

One-stop early voting for the Gen-eral Election begins Thursday, Oct. 23.As voters head to the polls, they shouldremember several key points. Key Point #1: The ballot is lengthy.There are 27 contests for TransylvaniaCounty voters to consider. These breakdown as eight partisan contests, ninejudicial contests, two county non-parti-san contests, one constitutionalamendment referendum, and sevenseparate referenda pertaining to thesale of alcoholic beverages in thecounty. “Voters will have a lot of decisionsto make this election,” said David P.Morrow, chairman of the TransylvaniaCounty Board of Elections. “Westrongly encourage voters to be famil-iar with the ballot before going to vote.” Sample ballots are available onlineat transylvaniaelections.org or at theElections Office, 221 S. Gaston Street,Brevard. They will also be displayed atall voting sites. “Lines will be shorter and theprocess will go more smoothly foreveryone if voters have determined inadvance the selections they want tomake,” Morrow added. Key Point #2: No photo ID isneeded to vote in this election. Voterswill not be required to show a photo IDin order to vote in the 2014 GeneralElection. Instead, election officials willbe giving instructions to voters aboutthe requirement which takes effect in2016 for voters voting at a one-stopearly voting site or Election Dayprecinct polling place. Beginning in 2016, voters whopresent to vote in person – either on theday of a primary or election or duringone-stop early voting – will be requiredto show a photo ID that bears a reason-

able resemblance to the voter. Fornow, a voter simply needs to state hisor her current name and address. Aslong as the voter’s information is in theprecinct or one-stop early voting data-base, he or she will be able to vote. If avoter cannot be found in the database,then they will be offered a provisionalballot or transferred to their correct vot-ing precinct if it is Election Day. “The process this year is the sameas in previous elections,” said KarenBrinson, Transylvania County ElectionsDirector. “The difference at this point isthat when the voter checks in, electionofficials will ask voters if they have oneof the forms of photo ID that will be re-quired in 2016. If the voter indicatesthey do not, then the election officialwill ask them to sign an acknowledge-ment and provide them with a handoutoutlining appropriate forms of photo IDand information on how to obtain a no-fee photo ID from the North CarolinaDMV.” By current federal law, there arecertain voters who are required toshow some form of identification whenthey present to vote. First-time voterswho at the time of their initial voter reg-istration did not provide their NorthCarolina driver license number or thelast four digits of their Social Securitynumber, or who provided a numberthat could not be validated, are re-quired to show identification when theyvote. This identification does not haveto be a photo ID. The requirement forfirst-time voters to show identification isa requirement of the Help AmericaVote Act (HAVA) of 2002, a federal lawnot unique to North Carolina. First-timevoters who are required to show HAVAID will have been notified of this re-quirement when the Elections Office

mailed them their voter registration ver-ification postcard. If these voters do notbring an acceptable form of identifica-tion when they present to vote, they willbe given a provisional ballot and havean opportunity to present ID at theElections Office before the election isfinalized. Key Point #3: Two one-stop earlyvoting sites are available. Any regis-tered voter in Transylvania County mayvote during the one-stop early votingperiod at either one-stop voting site –Rogow Room of the TransylvaniaCounty Library or Rosman Town Hall. One-stop voting begins Thursday,Oct. 23. Both sites will be open week-days, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays,10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neither site will beopen on Sundays. Early voting endsSaturday, Nov. 1. “We really encourage voters to voteduring the one-stop period,” said Brin-son. “The sites are available to accom-modate a large volume of people, soparking and lines are usually less of anissue. One-stop also allows voters tovote on a schedule that works best forthem, when the weather is nice, orwhen they are out and about doing er-rands. Too often things happen onElection Day that cause a voter to ar-rive too late, they get sick, or an emer-gency happens. In those situations,they miss their opportunity to vote. Withone-stop voting lasting over a 10-dayperiod, voters can choose the day theywant to vote and avoid some of thoseunfortunate circumstances.” Key Point #4: Voters are required tovote at assigned precinct on ElectionDay. Voters planning to cast a ballot onElection Day, Nov. 4, must do so attheir assigned precinct polling location. On the actual day of an election,

North Carolina law requires voters tovote in their proper precinct based onthe address where they have residedfor at least 30 days before the date ofthe election. “In years past, if a voter showed upat the wrong precinct, they could votea provisional ballot and the Boardcould count that ballot. This is nolonger the case,” said Karen Brinson,“Due to a recent change in the law,precinct officials may offer any voter aprovisional ballot if a voter does not ap-pear in the registration database, butwhen the Board of Elections reviewsprovisional ballots cast in the wrongprecinct, they will not be able to countthose votes.” Voters who have moved within thecounty more than 30 days prior to Elec-tion Day without updating their addresswith the Elections Office may vote attheir new precinct. Alternatively, theymay vote a provisional ballot at their oldprecinct, and the Board may countthese ballots since they were cast dueto an unreported move and not be-cause the voter simply appeared at thewrong precinct. Voters may confirm their precinctvoting location by calling the Transyl-vania County Elections Office at 884-3114 or online attransylvaniaelections.org by clickingthe “My Election Information” tab. Theinformation is also listed on voter reg-istration cards issued at the time avoter registered to vote. The General Election is Tuesday,Nov. 4. Election Day polls are openfrom 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. For addi-tional information contact the Transyl-vania County Board of Elections attransylvaniaelections.org or 884-3114.

Key Points About Voting In The Upcoming Election

the transylvania election guide 2014 is a publication of the transylvania times, inc.Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent issues of The Transylvania Times. Correction requests should be sent in writing to

The Transylvania Times, 37 North Broad St., Brevard, NC 28712, www.transylvaniatimes.com

The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014 – Election Guide - Page 3

County Board of Education(You may vote for TWO)

Tom Ammons

Marty Griffin

Jenni Pogue

Michael J. Rogers

Betty M. Scruggs

Michael Shelton

Write-in

Write-in

Soil and Water ConservationDistrict Supervisor(You may vote for TWO)

Joffrey Merrill

Bob Twomey

Write-in

Write-in

REFERENDA

NC Constitutional Amendment

Constitutional amendmentproviding that a person accusedof any criminal offense for whichthe State is not seeking asentence of death in superiorcourt may, in writing or on therecord in court and with theconsent of the trial judge, waivethe person's right to a trial by jury.

For

Against

Transylvania CountyMalt Beverage Election

To permit the "on-premises" and"off-premises" sale of maltbeverages.

For

Against


To permit the "on-premises" saleonly of malt beverages.

For

Against


To permit the "off-premises" saleonly of malt beverages.

For

Against


To permit the "on-premises" saleof malt beverages by Class Ahotels, motels, and restaurantsonly; and to permit "off-premises"sales by other permittees.

For

Against

Transylvania CountyUnfortified Wine Election

To permit the "on-premises" and"off-premises" sale of unfortifiedwine.

For

Against


To permit the "on-premises" saleonly of unfortified wine.

For

Against


To permit the "off-premises" saleonly of unfortified wine.

For

Against

North Carolina

PCT DR DUNNS ROCK VTD DR

Page 4- Election Guide –The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014

Transylvania County SHERIFF’s RACE Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

William Hemphill Jr. (Democrat)

Age: 46Family: Wife, Angela; two sons, WilliamIII and Christopher; one daughter, Jeda.Education: Graduated from BrevardHigh School in 1987. Attended Mars HillCollege and received a Bachelor of Sci-ence degree in physical education in1991. In 1992 graduated from N.C.Highway Patrol Basic Training. Com-pleted more than 2,500 hours of furtherhighway patrol training.Employment: State trooper since1992. Previous political experience: None.

Questions: • Do you think the Sheriff’s Office issufficiently funded and has the neces-sary number of deputies to cover thecounty? Answer: Most definitely. The staff hasincreased tremendously since Davidtook office. The staff members are aneed, but there doesn’t need to be anincrease. The number of members inthe Sheriff Office currently need to beused properly and accordingly to thedemographics of the community —from the east end to the west end to thenorth end to the south end of thecounty. The money in the budget youuse to be a productive administration

and do things that the taxpayer wantsto see — patrol, take care of residents,take care of their property and answerthe questions they may have. Do thatand that makes people feel confidentand satisfied with the job you are doing. • What do you think of the currentcourthouse setup from a safety/securitystandpoint? Answer: The courthouse is outdated.The new detention center was a need.You don’t want to see people using thecourthouse facility being impacted neg-atively because of the lack of security. A new courthouse is needed, and I’mnot saying that as a political thing. I’mlooking at it as someone who uses thecourthouse. I’ve been in this countyworking for 17 years and it’s changedfrom a safety point to protect the peopleand officers who use it. Other than thejail and other duties, the courthouse isrequired to be protected by the Sheriff’sOffice. A new courthouse would be apositive for the community and the peo-ple who work there. It will show the com-munity that the county wants to protectyou and be secure when you come tothe courthouse. • What is the No.1 criminal problemin this county? What is the solution? Answer: The biggest problem isdrug use. Alcohol use, prescriptiondrug abuse and illegal drug abusecause crime and negativity across theentire county — from the schools to thedifferent communities and the work-place. If someone has issues withdrugs, it can cause a vast number ofproblems, such as larcenies at homesand shoplifting. It creates higher num-bers in other crimes that are normallynot there. To fight drugs, I’d make surewe are making the correct charges, aredocumenting what is being done, andmake sure he or she is getting the rightassistance. If you have one personusing drugs, that’s a problem, but canyou eliminate all drug use? No, youcan’t. • What can a Sheriff’s Office do tocreate a trusting relationship with allsegments of the community? Answer: Transparency and have anopen-door policy and allow people to

come and speak to you. If they can’tmeet you at the office, you go to theirhouse. Everyone that you talk to is notgoing to have a valid complaint, but youare the person who is supposed to be alistener. The rule of thumb for a law en-forcement officer is that you have onemouth and two ears to hear twice asmuch as you say. If you hear it, youknow it and do something about it. For those who come and speak toyou, it needs to be a closed-door policywith them about their concerns. Youthen take care of their concerns. Youcan’t take care of all problems, but youcan be a person who is proactive andnot reactive. Do things that you say youare going to do, so people can trustwhat you say. Be respectful and profes-sional about what you do, and, last butnot least, have an impeccable recordabout being totally honest about whatyou do. If I tell you and tell my administrationsomething, it’s going to be the samething straight across the board. Every-one will be treated the same and every-one will be treated with respectregardless of what she or he has done.That develops a trust. • What sorts of things, if any, can aSheriff’s Office do to minimize criminalactivity before it happens? Answer: Be proactive. Be seen andheard. If there is a problem in a certainpart of the county, be there in presence.Get out in the community. Get out of thecar. If you see someone in their yard,get out and talk to them. Ask them whatkind of concerns do they have. Whenpeople come into the neighborhood invehicles and you don’t know who theyare, they are not there to sell productsor to see you in a positive way, a lot ofthe time they are doing behavior that isvery negative. You need to be there in the commu-nity. You need to go the schools andmeet with the faculty and the school re-source officers (SROs). You also needto let the students have a voice and findout what they think needs to be im-proved, made better and safer. Send a message that you want to do

things for the people and by the people.

• What qualities do you have thatmake you more qualified than your op-ponent to be sheriff? Answer: My qualifications meet or ex-ceed (David Mahoney’s). I have a four-year college education and 23 yearswith the N.C. Highway Patrol. I’vecoached for 14 years at Brevard HighSchool. I’ve done things in the commu-nity — from high school to now — thatshow I truly care about the people. I drove a school bus while in highschool. I’ve done things that have ex-emplified that I’m for and about the peo-ple. If I see someone broke down by theside of the road, I’m going to stop andhelp. If I get a call from a friend whoneeds help, I’m going to help. That’s what it’s all about – helpingpeople. It’s not just about enforcinglaws. It’s giving assistance when peoplehave less. It’s doing for the people whenthey can’t do for themselves. The N.C. Highway Patrol in my opin-ion is the best organization in the state.We set the standard for a lot of things.We want other people to be doing whatwe are doing because what we do isprofessional, has accountability, andintegrity and honesty. I have those characteristics and Ithink I can present those in the Sheriff’sOffice. I’m not saying David doesn’thave that, but my qualifications meet orexceed David’s. My hours of training have given mesomething that other departments don’tget. A highway patrolman may not seema hard job, but walk a mile in my shoes.Get in a car and pursue someone at 70mph. Walk up to that car by yourself onthe graveyard shift. If given the oppor-tunity to be an administrator, I can dothose things — be the lead administra-tor and speak to people and relate topeople and associate with people. Ihave the ability to do that. I’m not sayingDavid doesn’t have the ability to do that,but given the opportunity, I can showyou more than I can tell you thesethings.

The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014–Election Guide - Page 5

Transylvania County SHERIFF’s RACE Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

David Mahoney (GOP)

Age: 44Family: Wife, Christina; and children,Lauren and Nathan.Education: Graduated from BrevardHigh School in 1988 and completedgeneral education courses at N.C.State University. Earned an Associatesof Applied Science degree in law en-forcement technology from Asheville-Buncombe Technical CommunityCollege in 1992 and completed basiclaw enforcement training in 1991. Graduated from Sheriff’s LeadershipInstitute in 2008. More than 3,000 hoursof law enforcement training.Employment: Current TransylvaniaCounty sheriff.Previous political experience:Elected sheriff in 2006 and 2010.

Questions: • Do you think the Sheriff’s Office issufficiently funded and has the neces-sary number of deputies to cover thecounty? Answer: Yes, I do. We work veryclosely each year with the county com-missioners on our budget to make surethat we are able to provide the appro-priate response to situations in ourcommunity. We have to spread ourbudget over a detentions division, civil

process, investigations, patrol, schoolresource officers (SRO) — all those dif-ferent areas of service that we provide. It’s a big task to put together thatbudget. The commissioners and ourcommunity have been wonderful intheir support. We are able utilize somepart-time funding and volunteer serviceto supplement patrolling, so that wecan increase exponentially our visibilityin the community. Between the fundingthat commissioners give us, as well asour volunteer program and the use ofsome part-time funds we use, we aresufficiently funded. • What do you think of the currentcourthouse setup from a safety/secu-rity standpoint? Answer: Court security is one of theconstitutional duties specifically givento the sheriff. As such, it’s of specialconcern to me as sheriff. Our court-house has obviously served our countywell for a number of years, and wehave outgrown that. It’s certainly notconstructed to modern-day standardsfor safety and security. I do appreciatethat commissioners are taking a look atthat, and we’ve had several studiesdone over the years. We’ve done our own assessments.We’ve had the U.S. Marshals Servicedo a security assessment of our court-house. All of which point to the fact that it’salmost impossible to secure that facilityto the standards of today. I do believethe current courthouse certainly lacks,structurally, the ability to be as secureand safe as it needs to be. I appreciatethe commissioners looking at differentoptions, whether that’s remodeling aportion of the current courthouse ormaybe building another one. • What is the No.1 criminal problemin this county? What is the solution? Answer: Prescription drug abusehas emerged to be one of our biggestcriminal challenges. Looking at ourdrug arrests, we have on an annualbasis averaged double the drug ar-rests in the eight years I’ve been sheriffcompared to the eight years prior. What’s important to note about thatis that although we’ve seen a steady in-

crease each year in the number of ar-rests, this past year we saw a slight de-crease in those arrests. I think what thatdemonstrates is the change from mar-ijuana, methamphetamine, cocaineand crack cocaine use to prescriptionpills. It’s much more difficult to investigatea prescription pill case and bring crim-inal charges against someone who isin possession of a valid prescription.Our efforts on that have really been onthe education end. I believe it’s impor-tant, not only to do strict enforcementand collaboration with our community,but also to do education. We’ve ex-panded our DARE program into themiddle schools. We work with groupslike the CARE Coalition and other com-munity groups. At the Project Lazaruspill drop-off boxes at the Sheriff’s Officewe’ve collected more than 355 poundsof prescription medication in the past18 months. That’s important because the lateststudies show that about 72 percent ofthe prescription pills that our youth areabusing come from mom and dad’s ortheir grandparents’ medicine cabinet. We think it’s important to educateour community on the dangers of thatand give them the opportunity to de-posit those unused medications intothose pill drop-off boxes, so we canappropriately destroy them. • What can a Sheriff’s Office do tocreate a trusting relationship with allsegments of the community? Answer: It’s a great question andsomething we’ve worked very hard todo. One of the first things I did afterbeing elected in 2006 was to establisha Community Advisory Board. Thatboard is made up of men and womenfrom all over the county — just aboutevery community in the county is rep-resented. We meet, at least, everyother month. It’s a group that comes inand talks about the issues they are fac-ing in the community. It’s a group thatprovides great interaction between lawenforcement and the community. I be-lieve it’s extremely important to involveour community in its law enforcement.We work very hard to create a lot of

community partnerships — to establishthings like a neighborhood watch.Some of the best success stories wehave are the programs we’ve startedlike Cops for Kids, where we partnerwith the community to raise money sounderprivileged children can have aChristmas, and SHIELD camp, wherewe offer a two-week camp to middleschool students who are strugglingwith the transition. All of those are funded by the com-munity — either by personal donations,civic group donations or church groupdonations. Those are the types of rela-tionships that law enforcement has tohave in the community to foster thattrusting environment. I believe we’vedone that very well and the proof of thatis the great community support wehave for the various programs we offer. • What sort of things, if any, can aSheriff’s Office do to minimize criminalactivity before it happens? Answer: Crime prevention is whatwe should be about. High visibility isone of the most important things wecan do. We accomplished that forstarters, as silly as it may sound, bychanging the paint scheme of the pa-trol cars, when we switched to theblack and white. We immediatelystarted getting feedback from the com-munity — “Wow, where did you get allthe extra deputies?” They were justseeing them a lot more. We also redrew the patrol lines, soinstead of just having two very largezones, we have a number of smallerzones now. Deputies are assigned tothose areas, and we’ve taken our re-sponse time down from around 15 min-utes on average to around eight and ahalf on average. All those things worktogether. But it’s also the investment we areputting into our youth and programslike SHIELD and DARE camp andclasses we teach through the SRO pro-gram. The fact that we have the officersin the schools and are constantly build-ing relationships from the elementary tothe middle to the high school, all ofthose things work together to create

(continued on pg. 6)


TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

David Mahoney

(continued from pg. 5)this environment where we are able towork better with the community. The only difference between law en-forcement and the community weserve is that we get paid to keep oureyes and ears open. But it’s also im-portant that all our citizens keep theireyes and ears open. The safest communities are thosewhere law enforcement and the com-munity work together. I think that’s oneof the reasons we’ve had our 20-year-low crime rate. The model is working.We work very well with our communi-ties and our communities work verywell with us. • What qualities do you have thatmake you more qualified than your op-ponent to be sheriff? Answer: Experience is number one.I’ve served 23 years with the Transyl-

vania County Sheriff’s Office. Duringthat time, I’ve worked in all the divi-sions. I’ve had experience in civilprocess and detention, communica-tions, patrol and investigations — all ofthose things that the Sheriff’s Officedoes and the sheriff is responsible forthe management of. I’ve found it’s been critical to havethat experience in those different divi-sions because now that I’ve served inthe role of sheriff for the past eightyears, as the manager of that agency,it’s so important to be able to under-stand that when you make a change ina division how it impacts another divi-sion and how that impacts another di-vision. The position of sheriff is not an entry-level position at the Sheriff’s Office.That executive-level management ex-perience, that’s truly the thing I feelseparates me from my opponent in thiselection.

Norm Bossert supports:� Medicaid Expansion to help people

making less than $10,400.00 a year� Raising the minimum wage to a level

necessary to make it a living wage. � Reforming our tax policies so that we all

share fairly in raising revenue sufficient to support our most important priorities.

� Protect women's rights

� Protect property rights by putting an end to talk of fracking in North Carolina.

� Protecting our water and forests and wilderness areas.

� Insure that we do everything we can to ease access to the voting booth.

� Raising all teacher's pay (including veteran teachers) to the National Average

� Lifting per pupil expenditures to the National average

� Lessen testing - we test too much� Restore Community College and our

University budgets� Restore instructional supply/textbook money

Norm Bossert:Career educator with 41 years of experience.

Currently Principal at Black Mountain Elementary School.

(828)577- ‐9545 [email protected]

Paid for by the Committee To Elect Norm Bossert

NORM BOSSERTffoorr tthhee NC HOUSEDDiissttrriicctt 111133

I BELIEVE in PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS and OUR RESOURCES

I BELIEVE in EQUALITY and JUSTICE

I BELIEVE in PRESERVING our LANDS

I THINK EVERY CHILD DESERVES a CHANCE

Absentee-by-mail Ballots

Absentee-by-mail voting has begun. To receive a mail-in absenteeballot for the general election, a voter or voter’s near relative or legalguardian must submit a state absentee ballot request form to requestthe ballot. Request forms are available at the Board of Election Officeor on the website. Requests for absentee-by-mail ballots must be received by 5 p.m.,Tuesday, Oct. 28. Voted absentee-by-mail ballots must be returnedto the Board of Elections office or postmarked by 5 p.m., Nov. 4, inorder to be counted.

Persons serving in the military and their dependents, who are away from their permanent home on Election Day, and U.S. citizens who are living abroad, have special voter registration and voting rights. They may apply to register and/or vote under a special law for military and overseas citizens. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) is a federal law that requires states to allow certain voters who are absent from their county of residence to have special rights that provide an expedited means to register and vote. In order to qualify under the provisions of UOCAVA in this state, a voter must be a legal resident of North Carolina.

Voters covered by UOCAVA include:

A member of the active or reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States who is on active duty.

A member of the Merchant Marine, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, or the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States.

A member of the National Guard or state militia unit who is on activated status.

A spouse or dependent of a uniformed services member.

U.S. citizens residing outside the United States.

Covered voters may use the Federal Postcard Application (FPCA) to register to vote and/or request an absentee ballot. They may also use the State Absentee Request Form.

Military-overseas voters need to only apply for an absentee ballot by one of the methods mentioned.

The deadline for military-overseas voters to register to vote and/or request an absentee ballot is 5:00 p.m. on the day before Election Day. The military-overseas voter may return his or her voted ballot, via mail, fax or email. The deadline to return military-overseas ballots is by the close of polls on Election Day (7:30 p.m. EST).

In addition, covered voters may use a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) to register to vote, request a ballot, and vote an official military-overseas ballot.

For more information about Absentee Voting for Civilians or Military-Overseas Citizens,

please visit our website at www.ncsbe.gov or call us at -

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Transylvania County board of education Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Editor’s Note: Six candidates, TomAmmons, Marty Griffin, Jenni Pogue,Michael Rogers, Michael Shelton andBetty Scruggs, are running for twoseats on the Board of Education. Eachcandidate was contacted to take part in the Q&A. Shelton did not respond.

Tom Ammons

Age: 43Family: Wife, Jessica; daughter, Abby;son, Andrew.Education: High school graduate andBachelor of Science degree in criminaljustice from Western Carolina Univer-sity in 1993.Employment: Past 11 years with theN.C. State Bureau of Investigation and19 total years in law enforcement.Previous elected official experience:None.

Questions:• What are the drawbacks to school

consolidation? What are the benefits?Answer: As far as benefits go, that’s

a complex idea. It’s going to take a lotof discussion amongst the people onthe board, the community and thecommissioners.

The community has a big impact onthat. I understand Brevard High is theoldest school in the county. It is goingto need repairs. It’s going to take morediscussion. An immediate drawbackthat I see is transportation. I left homeat about 4:30 a.m. last week to attenda class, and I don’t remember whichcounty I was in, but at about 5:50 in themorning there were kids standing outat the bus stop.

My thought process turned to con-solidation in our own county. If we dothat, some of our kids are going to haveto get up that early. Do we really wantthat? Our buses are already out on theroad about 6:20 a.m. I see them on myway to work. Do we want them outthere any earlier than that? And costis a big concern, and where is theproperty going to be? Some peopledon’t want to talk about it, but if youcombine the high schools, you taketwo varsity and JV teams and putthem into one team.

There are a lot of kids that play inthe local church leagues, and theirparents want them involved in them inschool. I think it’s beneficial for thekids to be in the sports arena, so theycan learn to have teamwork and co-hesion and of course physical activity.

• What can the school board do tominimize the time spent by teachershaving to do testing and other admin-istrative tasks at the expense of actualteaching in the classroom?

Answer: I know that testing has tobe done. There’s no doubt that theyare going to need to be tested on alllevels. Maybe we should be focusingon adapting a statewide curriculum,and the school board can review allthat. But we need to let teachersteach. They structure it out and maketheir lesson plans, but we need to letthem do what they need to do.

• Do you support students beingallowed to take part in sports pro-grams at no cost while teachersspend their own money to buy class-room supplies?

Answer: I’m a perfect example ofthat. My wife is a teacher, and we dobuy things out of pocket. On the otherside of that, my daughter plays volley-ball and basketball and runs track.

Being able to be in the sports areain high school and middle school, Ithink that a lot of the money that helpsthose programs comes from the par-ents. For example, the Rosman TigerClub does a lot of fund raising to helptheir kids play sports. I am a memberof that, and I work the concessionstands, and that money goes to anysport that they want to promote. Ihave seen it personally.

• The school system’s TIME pro-gram has been a great success, pro-ducing national awards and studentsreceiving scholarships to prestigiouscolleges. The program’s funding,however, is almost gone. As a schoolboard member would you supportfunding this program?

Answer: We need to look at all suc-cessful programs, identify them anddo whatever we can to fund them. Ifwe have unsuccessful programs, thenwe need to look at them, as well. Weneed to look at what our goals are.Does that mean that another programwill not benefit? Well, if it’s not workingthen it may lose some funding. Work-ing with other members of the board,as a rookie, I need the other mem-bers’ experience in looking at this.

• Do you support a comprehensivestudy of the school system, and, if so,what should it entail?

Answer: As part of my job I do aska lot of questions: Where is the rea-soning? What is the motivation.

I assume we have had one before,and I need to know when the last timeit has taken place. I would like toknow the results of that study — fromfacility wise to operation wise and

whatever it may entail. I’d like toknow what we did about the resultsfrom that study. If it’s been a longtime since we’ve had one, I wouldwant to know what the overall goalof the study and what funds aretaking away from the classroom todo a study that we may not need? Iwould support one if it was neededand it has been a long time sinceone has been done.

• Do you believe there are toomany administrative positions inthe school system? Explain.

Answer: If you’re talking goingfrom the Education Center andworking your way back down, Dr.McDaris has a staff that he needs.Just like any organization, youhave people that work under a per-son, and each of those people hasa specific job function and they allreport back to him. I think that Dr.McDaris knows what he needs tobe effective in his job, and I feellike he would eliminate a job thatwas not needed. I don’t think he isgoing to waste money for a positionfor a job that is not needed. Theboard will follow up on that, ofcourse.

• What needs to be done to ad-dress the deteriorating condition ofsome of the school system’s facili-ties and infrastructure?

Answer: The first thing we needto do is go through the schools acouple of times a year. Maybe weshould do those walkthroughs oncea quarter instead of twice a year tomake sure that everything is welltaken care of.

I think the additional walk-throughs need better communica-tion, too, with the administratorsand the maintenance staff becausethey are ones who know what theschools needs. We need to focuson that and we need to back upand look at what out priorities are,look at the schools and find outfrom the administrators what theirneeds are.



Transylvania TaxpayersIs local government

REALLYOff your back and Out of your pocket ?

Since Ecusta, DuPont and Coats American closed:• We have a new justice center ($22 million)• We have a new animal shelter ($737 thousand)• We have remodeled the old Sheriff’s Office ($323 thousand)• We have remodeled the Courthouse ($213 thousand)• We have remodeled the old library ($1.5 million)• We are discussing remodeling the Courthouse again. ($11 million)• AND the county has a multi-million dollar fund balance. ($12 million)• (NONE of these brought jobs or added to our tax base.)

Who paid for those things? YOU DID. AFTER

you lost your good paying jobs.How much has been invested in bringing jobs back to our people and rebuilding our tax base?

• Incentives to companies moving here – LESS than $1 million• Goldsmith Study $30,000• Economic Development Task Force ($5,000)• Product Development Task Force ($17,000)• Budgeted this year for Economic Development $500,000

$24,773,000 in county buildings.$1,552,000 in bringing jobs to you.

Satisfied?I’m not.

We Need Jobs. Vote Sam Edney

Paid for by Sam Edney for County Commissioner



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ELECTION 2014

Tom Ammons(continued from pg. 7)

We make those decisions based on theinput from those administrators. Theyare the people in the schools day inand day out.

• What is the one thing the schoolboard can do to improve education inthe county?

Answer: To get a better educationsystem we need to be more involvedfrom the beginning. For example, wehad an open house at my wife’s schooland there was very little participation atall. We need to get more people in-volved.

I think it’s important that the teacherssend paperwork home from studentsso that the parent can understand howtheir child is performing. Communica-tion is important. We need to focus ongetting some of the kids fed if theyaren’t eating at home. If they come inhungry, they will not be learning.

Marty GriffinAge: 63Family: Wife, Carson, two daughters,Mary and Amanda.

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree insociology from Mars Hill College andreceived teacher certification fromUNC Asheville.Employment: Retired school teacherand coach.Previous elected official experi-ence: None.


consolidation? What are the benefits?Answer: I’m totally against consoli-

dation. I can’t find one benefit. Theschools are the community, and thecommunities are the schools.

You can attend either school, and ifthere is a course you can’t take at oneschool, you can take it at the other. Isee no need to consolidate. Some ofthe drawbacks are that you are takingthe communities out of the school.You’re busing kids. I am totally againstbusing, although there are situationshere where we do bus. I see no advan-tage to consolidation in this county. Asfar as the people talking about it, I don’tthink they’ve been in the schools andseen how great they are.


Answer: I wish as a local unit wecould have more control over this. A lotof the time what they are forced to useis set on us by the General Assembly.

Paperwork and the testing is theworld we live in today. I don’t like it butthat’s the way it is. I don’t think the Gen-eral Assembly realizes what they haveset down on teachers, but as a localunit I think we need to do all we can toprovide time for them to do this neces-sary work.

• Do you support students being al-lowed to take part in sports programsat no cost while teachers spend their

own money to buy classroom sup-plies?

Answer: As an athletic director I al-ways made this comment: “If a pro-gram is worth having, if the schoolsystem and the board of educationthink it’s worth doing, then we shouldsupport it financially.” That has not al-ways been able to be worked out. Wehave had different groups raise moneyfor their teams, and groups provide re-sources that the school systemcouldn’t.

I don’t believe in “pay to play” be-cause when you do that you’re goingto leave out certain kids, and I’m astrong believer in public education andpublic education means you providefor everybody if they want to partici-pate.

• The school system’s TIME pro-gram has been a great success, pro-ducing national awards and studentsreceiving scholarships to prestigiouscolleges. The program’s funding, how-ever, is almost gone. As a schoolboard member would you supportfunding this program?

Answer: I feel like any program thatcan help our young people go to col-lege, improve themselves in any man-ner, then we need to look at thoseprograms. The biggest question rightnow is: everybody wants to fund every-thing and you have to be very selectivein what you do fund. There are a lot ofprograms that I feel like that the statehas hurt us with. For example, the Gen-eral Assembly has done away with theteacher fellowship program, where werecruited the best students out of highschool to become teachers. It was anexemplary program used nationwide.So, again, if something is worth doing,then we need to try and find the moneyand do the best we can.


Answer: To do a study, you need tohave evidence that there is a need foran outside source to make a studywhen we’re capable of doing it our-selves.

I feel like the citizens of TransylvaniaCounty are knowledgeable and edu-cated, and I don’t think we need tohave somebody else come from theoutside to tell us what we alreadyknow.

I don’t see any major problems inthe research that I’ve already done,and, personally, I want everything tostay as locally controlled as possible.We have too many mandates put on usby the federal, state and local govern-ments. I think we can do the job inter-nally.

• Do you believe there are too manyadministrative positions in the schoolsystem? Explain.

Answer: Administrative positions aredependent on the work that needs tobe done. As I just mentioned earlier,there are federal, state and local regu-lations. I feel like we need to make surethat these are covered.

Most people don’t realize all thethings that entail an administrative po-sition. At the central office you havesafety concerns, you have transporta-tion concerns, you have child nutrition,you have supervision from elementaryall the way through high schools, anda financial office. Each year, all thesejobs should be evaluated to see if weare using every person to the best oftheir ability to help the school boardcarry out their jobs. In my personalopinion, the most important job is thesafety of the school.

Principals, assistant principals andthe others have a lot to deal with.

• What needs to be done to addressthe deteriorating condition of some ofthe school system’s facilities and infra-structure?




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Marty Griffin(continued from pg. 9)

Answer: We need to always have aworking plan and try to find the re-sources to have continuous mainte-nance. As we all know, our homesneed maintenance, as well, and if wedon’t do certain things, we pay for it inthe long run.

Oftentimes, we find in the schoolsystem we are just fixing things hereand there and not making the big re-pairs that need to be made. Again, thisis a financial issue. This is an areawhere we have to work with the com-missioners to provide the proper facili-ties for the most important resource inour county — our students.


Answer: The most important thing ismaking sure that we retain and keepthe best possible teachers.

There are several reasons why welose them. One is retirement and an-other is people moving. Their spousemay get a job and they have to moveaway. And then some people find outthat they just don’t want to teach.

It doesn’t turn out to be exactly whatthey thought it was going to be. Wealso need affordable housing here, andnot just for teachers but for everyone inthe middle class that needs to livehere.

The number of teachers leaving thecounty because they can’t afford to livehere is a large number. That meansthose teachers cannot take part in theircommunity, and bottom line they arenot spending money here.

Jenni Pogue Age: 40Family: Husband, Chris; son, Hunter;and daughter, Ashton. Education: Bachelor of Arts degreein sociology from UNC-Asheville.Employment: Owner and administra-tor of The Rain Forest Learning Centerand also the executive assistant to thepastor at Sacred Heart Church.Previous elected official experi-ence: Member of the TransylvaniaCounty Board of Education from 2004-2008


consolidation? What are the benefits?Answer: To be really honest, I

haven’t done as much research onconsolidation as some of the otherpeople in the county or the other cur-rent board members.

The drawbacks that I hear from thecommunity members and from my ownresearch obviously would be findingthe location and the cost of building afacility that would house the number ofchildren that it would need to house. It

would leave us with a number of vacantbuildings in the county. Other issues in-clude the amount of time some stu-dents would have to spend on schoolbuses, and pride seems to be a verybig issue for people.

We’ve got a lot of school spirit and alot of school pride, and consolidatingmight take away from that. So, I thinkthe very immediate thing that we wouldbe up against is a location that wouldbe big enough and central to all ofthem. I don’t think I have done enoughresearch to feel like there are manybenefits to consolidation, but obviouslyour athletics would be a benefit, alongwith the courses that we might be ableto offer. We might be able to afford tooffer more options as far as course-work goes and putting all the numberstogether. Outside of that, I don’t see asmany benefits as compared to thedrawbacks.


Answer: I think that’s where we haveto look at whether or not we can affordassistants that can come in who can,across the board, help with some ofthose administrative duties.

Assistants are so critical, but in thepast we have had to cut back due to fi-nances, but I do think it does help theteachers in so many ways besidesfrom testing and administrative duties.

Obviously, the testing is a nobrainer; that’s how we evaluate, that’sour accountability. If we are at leastable to provide for our teachers somekind of support, even if they are sharedbetween classrooms, we need to findsome way to make it work.

• Do you support students being al-lowed to take part in sports programsat no cost while teachers spend theirown money to buy classroom sup-plies?

Answer: I don’t think teachers

should ever have to spend their ownmoney on school supplies. I feel like ifstudents are going to have to pay forwhatever sport they are a part of, I feellike it should be something that isacross the board. We provide jerseysand that’s fine if we are going to pro-vide that across the board for every-one.

I don’t have a problem with us com-ing up with fundraisers or others waysto raise the money for the cost of what-ever their sport is. I know that somesports receive more funding than oth-ers and I think that sometimes can cre-ate a lot of heartache for peoplebecause there are some sports that wehave that are very expensive to partic-ipate in. And then there are othersports they can participate in for littleor no expense at all.

So, as far as comparing the two,teachers versus students and athletics,I have a hard time comparing them be-cause we have a hard enough timepaying our teachers what they de-serve. For them to have to use any oftheir own personal resources for theclassroom is a problem we have toface and deal with now, and as far asthe athletics go, I feel like the studentswho participate need to be a part ofsome kind of fundraising.


Answer: I don’t know much aboutthe TIME program, so without havingenough information about it and whatbenefits to it there have been andwhether or not they outweigh the ben-efits of other programs that we have, Iwouldn’t just be able to say I support itone way or the other. It would have tobe something that I did enough (continued on pg. 12)

For election news, turn toThe Transylvania Timestransylvaniatimes.com

The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014–Election Guide - Page 11 Re-Elect Representative Chris Whitmire

NC House District 113

Proven Conservative Leadership with Outstanding Results

ACT! For America 2014 National Security Eagle Award Recipient for Exemplary Courage and Statesmanship in Defense of America’s

Security and Freedoms

Concerned Women for America of North Carolina Outstanding Legislator of the Year in Defense of Family Values

Endorsed by North Carolina Right to Life for protection of the

unborn and all innocent human life

Key Roles on 10 Standing Committees & 3 Study Committees, including Co-Chair and Vice Chair

Authored or Primary Sponsored 17 Bills into Law. Topics Included:

Job Creation Privacy Protection

Enhanced Agriculture Education Improvements

Defense of Private Property Rights Protection of Fundamental

Constitutional Rights

The Most Significant Military-Economic Bill of the 2013 Session

Led Six Public Bills into Law—Most of Any 43 First-Term House

Members More District Jobs Created than

Anytime in the Past Decade

Stood Up to the Establishment & Secured the Best Results for Our District, State, & Nation!

Paid for by Chris Whitmire for NC House

of Any of the 43 First-Term House



TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

(continued from pg. 10)

research on, including talking to mem-bers of the community.


Answer: Knowing what the cost ofthe study would be, I feel like to somedegree the school administration foreach different school, along with theschool board in the past, have sort ofmade their own assessments and theirown comprehensive study.

We would go to the schools andcome up with a list, along with the ad-ministration and the teachers, of whatare the immediate things and long-termgoals. I feel like it happens every yearanyway. I think making that decision,the cost of the study would probablydetermine whether or not I thought itwould be worth doing. I think we needsome kind of idea of what our facilitiesand staffing needs are.


Answer: I can’t say that I have feltlike there are. I’ve never really thoughtof that as an issue. Obviously, you’vegot your principals and your assistantprincipals. I don’t feel like at this pointwe have more administrative personnelthan we need.


Answer: In a perfect world, we wouldjust get all the money we need and wewould be able to go in and make the im-provements and upgrades that weneed. I feel like, for the most part, thatthe administration and the school boardand other related people do a prettygood job of assessing what the needsare going to be and prioritizing. So, it al-ways comes down to the finances.

The funding keeps getting less andless. Aside from the funding issues it’sjust about really analyzing what theneeds really are and doing our best toprioritize.


Answer: One of my main goals ismaking our schools as safe as possi-ble. In order for a student to be able tolearn they have to have an environmentthat is conducive to learning.

Society is different from when I wasin school, and these kids are pre-sented with things that we weren’t pre-sented with as openly as kids thesedays are. For me, one of my main fo-cuses is how do we continue to worktoward making our school environ-ments safe and healthy, so that whenour students are there, their focus iseducation.

Mike RogersAge: 47Family: Wife, Connie; five children fromages 5 to 19.Education: High school graduate.Employment: Owns Rogers Masonry Inc.

Previous elected official experi-ence: Transylvania County schoolboard member elected in 2002 and2006; appointed in 2013.


consolidation? What are the benefits?Answer: Cons of consolidation are

the elimination of some high schoolathletic spots on the teams. It mightalso possibly impact some of thedowntown businesses in Rosman, buttwo other schools would remain openand keep traffic flow in town.

We would lose one salutatorian andone valedictorian. The potential cost ofa new school could be a drawback, aswell. It would also eliminate some clubpresidents.

Some of the benefits of consolida-tion are being able to offer a broaderrange of courses to a smaller numberof students, like AP classes, ROTC pro-grams and CTE classes. It also givesmore athletic opportunities that aren’toffered now, such as swimming,lacrosse, indoor track and field. Ros-man does not have a soccer team ortennis team. Neither school has itsown track and cannot host trackmeets.

It is much more difficult to receivethe attention from colleges and univer-sities for scholarships, another benefit.Without consolidating, TransylvaniaCounty will have two 1A high schoolsin the same district traveling to thesame schools as far as three hoursaway one way.

Rosman has had to do that for manyyears. It would eliminate those travel-ing expenses. Instructional time wouldalso be made up by not having thosestudents out of the classroom as often.

Davidson River School could moveto Brevard Middle School and givethose 149 students a gymnasium, sci-ence labs, CTE opportunities, a mediacenter and a cafeteria. Brevard Middle

School could move to Brevard HighSchool and give those students theirown athletic facilities, larger fine artsclassrooms and auditorium, much bet-ter science labs and more CTE offer-ings.

Brevard Middle School athletescould compete without having to moveequipment. Rosman Middle Schoolcould have its own athletic facility.

TC Henderson could be restruc-tured as a CTE school. Another possi-bility is leasing the Rosman HighSchool campus to Blue Ridge Com-munity College for a satellite voca-tional learning center for thosestudents in the upper end of thecounty. You could build a state-of-the-art high school in the Cathey’s Creekcommunity and pay for part of thatproject with current money beingspent on a 1998 bond, which expiresin 2018.

We currently pay $2.2 million a yearfor a bond about to expire. $2.2 millionover 15 years is $33 million and thatwould pay a large portion of the cost.

This would be no additional ex-pense to the tax payer because we arealready paying for it now. With a study,we could save additional monies, aswell, bringing the current facilities upto grade. We could eliminate havingtwo 1A schools, and move the centraloffices out of the Rosenwald buildingto the Brevard Middle School campusand give the black community theirbuilding back.

Other benefits include attractingnew business and parents to thecounty with a state-of-the-art highschool and allowing us to be competi-tive with the charter school should theydecide to build in the county. It woulddecrease the number of studentscrossing the highway at both schools.Moving Davidson River to BrevardHigh School could also make a build-ing available to Parks and Recreationwho need space. (continued pg. 13)

Jenni Pogue



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(continued from pg. 12)• What can the school board do to

minimize the time spent by teachershaving to do testing and other admin-istrative tasks at the expense of actualteaching in the classroom?

Answer: A lot of these tests and as-sessments are controlled and dictatedby the N.C. Department of Public In-struction and legislators.

Therefore, good communicationwith legislators and the DPI is essentialin legislating how tests are being given.


Answer: I am a fan of athletics andof students participating in sports.These sports they play are voluntarily

participated in, and if there are anycosts associated with that sport, thenwithin reason I support having to payto participate.

As a parent of five children I have al-ways had to pay for my children to playsports, whether it’s Brevard Youth Foot-ball, Transylvania Youth Soccer,Church League basketball or LittleLeague Baseball, so really nothingchanges from the time that they’re 5years old all the way through highschool. I do support having to pay afee within reason. I also support schol-arship opportunities for those studentswho want to participate in sports butmay not have the resources availableto them to play.

• The school system’s TIME pro-gram has been a great success, pro-ducing national awards and students

receiving scholarships to prestigiouscolleges. The program’s funding, how-ever, is almost gone. As a schoolboard member would you supportfunding this program?

Answer: I would need to know howmuch we have received, and I am notsure what that budget is. It’s a great pro-gram, but I need more information onthe actual cost before I could vote oneway or the other.


Answer: Absolutely. It should entail asalary study for our employees, and itshould include a financial review, pro-jected enrollment and course offerings.The salary study should include admin-istrators and all classified personnel tosee how we compare with districts

across the state and surrounding coun-ties in order to recruit and retain the verybest personnel possible to fill these po-sitions.

I’m interested in doing more for ourteacher assistants. They are a valuableasset in our classrooms. The financialreview is the result of a dwindling fundbalance, which is projected to decreaseto between $50-60,000 in the next threeyears, down from $3 million just twoyears ago. Our expenditures have in-creased by more than $2.365 million intwo years. A professional firm has pro-jected high school enrollment to de-crease within the next five years, and apersonal review of current enrollmentfrom K through grade 11 projects thathigh school enrollment will decreasedramatically within the next four to 11years. (continued on pg. 14)

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ELECTION 2014

Mike Rogers(continued from pg. 14)

• Do you believe there are too many ad-ministrative positions in the school sys-tem? Explain.

Answer: I personally don’t think thatthere are too many administrative posi-tions. However, an outside independentcomprehensive study could and mayreveal some cost savings in administra-tive cost.


Answer: With a comprehensive studywe would be able to have a vision forwhat is best for the current schools, aswell as the future. The study could helpus with that vision and enable us tostructure our school system either in itscurrent form or a different makeup.Upon the completion of that compre-hensive study, a facility study would bein place and in order and at that time es-timate the cost for restructuring or bring-ing in those facilities up to standard andstate-of-the-art rate.


Answer: The school board needs tobe good listeners. This is the largest im-pact that we can have on our educationsystem. We need to be approachable toour stakeholders. They are the parentsand citizens of the county, including ourteachers, who are in the trenches everysingle day. If we listen to them, we willcontinue to find ways to do a better jobof educating all students.

Betty Scruggs Age: 40Family: Husband, Terry (deceased);son, Jeff. Education: Bachelor of Arts degree inhistory and education from Mars HillUniversity in 1972; Master of Arts degree in education from Western Car-olina University in 1981. Employment: Served TransylvaniaCounty Schools from 1973 to 2007 asa teacher, counselor and administra-tor. Since retiring in 2007 was asked tocome back and serve on interim basis.This past year has served as interimassistant principal at Rosman HighSchool and Middle School.Previous elected official experi-ence: None.


consolidation? What are the benefits?Answer: First of all, I do not see an

issue or a need to consolidate. For onething, it would be extremely expensiveto consolidate the high schools. Sec-ond, the schools are very much sup-ported by their communities.

Rosman High School is very much

the spirit of the town, and the converseis true, as well. The town is very mucha part of the school. When you walkinto the school you can just feel thecommunity.

Transportation is a concern also. Iworked there last year and was re-sponsible for the bus transportation.It’s a great distance for those studentsfrom the upper end of the county, andTransylvania County is small as far aspopulation.

People come here because we’resmall and they want a small commu-nity. In all the years when I worked inthe schools, when I dealt with enroll-ment I never once had a parent taketheir kids out from a school becausethey wanted them to be in a biggerschool. A few left to go to privateschool, a charter school or home-schooling.

The ones that did leave for biggerschools had to do so for work, and theywere sad to leave our wonderful schoolsystem. Some of the benefits of schoolconsolidation that individuals havecited, I have not really seen.

Some claim that we would have in-creased course offerings, but I don’treally see that from my knowledge orexperience that would be a benefit. Abrand new school would be a benefit,and I assume if we’re going to consol-idate, then there would have to be abrand new school built. But I do notfeel that benefit would outweigh thedrawbacks. Some believe that it wouldbe a benefit to the athletic program. Idon’t see it as benefit because we’vegot two football teams, two basketballteams, and you can’t put all those chil-dren on one team.


Answer: Usually the testing is gen-erated by the state, so that’s a difficult

one to minimize. I think the schools’ ad-ministration should, as much as wecan, bring in retired teachers and vol-unteers to help with testing. I think theadministrators are the ones who reallywork with teachers, and I think it worksbest when there is a team effort, soboth sides look at an issue and say,“How can we make this better?” Iwould support that as a school boardmember.


Answer: There is a lot of fundraisingthat goes into funding these programs.The gates at the football games fund alot of the cost with not only the footballprogram but other athletic programs.

If you took football away, then theregoes other money for other sports liketrack.

I’m sure it also helps fund the bas-ketball program. The football team isyour main program that funds otherprograms. There is more to winningand losing in regards to athletics.

I know a teacher right now at Bre-vard High that meets with her studentsand talks to them about their goalseach week and asks them what theycan improve, asks them if they can in-crease their yardage.

There is more to success than a win-loss. I also know that parents work inconcession stands, and there is a lot ofmoney that comes from parents andfrom the communities to fund the ath-letic programs.

I bought my own supplies as ateacher, and I did it as a principal. Iwould encourage the teachers to limitthat — really the schools should bepaying for that. But I understand if theywant to do it, because I did it myself formany years. We need to work, asschool board members, to see if we


“Nobody will ever deprive theAmerican people of the right tovote except the American peoplethemselves and the only way theycould do this is by not voting.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt


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ELECTION 2014

can help teachers with these costs.There has been reduced funding forsupplies, and as a school board mem-ber I would try to increase those funds.


Answer: Oh yes. I have beenchecking on that program. I was atBrevard High during its inception. Ivery much support that program, and Ihave been checking with that teacherto see if there will be continued fund-ing. It’s an excellent program. It islearning at its best.


Answer: Yes. I think our organiza-tion, Transylvania County Schools, inorder to be totally effective it has tocontinuously look at itself — everythingfrom facilities to programs to trans-portation.

We need to continuously evaluatethose. Along with that, you need to becareful in looking at the overall goodand overall benefits. You have to becareful. You can’t always just look atthe numbers. You have to look at theoverall program. If the school board isgoing to do this, there should be a rep-resentative group of parents and com-munity members, school staff andfaculty, and they should all be involvedin this.


Answer: No, I do not. Our schoolsystem used to have more administra-tors. Also, we used to have more ad-ministrators at the central office level. Ithink right now the number of adminis-

trators is fine. What happens when youdecrease administrators you decreaseservices from the central office level tothe school level, and then on down tothe students. Administrators do pro-vide an important service.


Answer: I don’t think we can accu-rately know that until we have a facili-ties study. We don’t have thoseparticular needs identified. Generally,we know about leaks in roofs and otherthings that need repair, but until wehave a specific study done to identifyspecific problems, then we can’t doanything about it. We do need to iden-tify those needs and they need to beaddressed. Our kids need to be ableto go to school in buildings that are atleast adequate.


Answer: The school board does nothave its own pot of money. Often, a lotof our needs are tied to monies. We’vehad decreased money from the state,and the county government has donea good job funding our schools. If thestate continues to cut funding, then itputs more of a burden on our commis-sioners. The greatest thing I can be asa board member is to be an advocatefor the students. We’re talking aboutlearning and our kids. The best thing Ican be is an advocate to others in ourcommunities.

Transylvania CountyBoard of Elections

221 South Gaston StreetBrevard, NC 28712

Phone 828-884-3114 TransylvaniaElections.org

(continued from pg. 14)


Transylvania County N.C. House Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Chris Whitmire (Republican)

Age: 46Family: Wife, Shannon, and three children.Education: Bachelor of Science de-gree in civil engineering from U.S. AirForce Academy; Master of Science degree in structural engineering fromthe Institute of Aerodynamic FlightStructures, Columbia University. Employment: North Carolina Houseof Representatives, U.S. Air Forcecolonel, self employed broker withSusan Breedlove Properties, Inc.Previous political experience:2013-2014 N.C. House District 113representative; 2006-2012 Transylva-nia County Board of Education.

Questions: • Do you support or oppose frackingin North Carolina? Answer: I support reducing our de-pendency on foreign oil. Energy explo-ration for clean burning natural gas ina responsible manner is a means to dothis. During the last session with bipar-tisan support, North Carolina tookmajor steps to make this happen. Westudied states that currently allow thisprocess and enacted laws authorizing

hydraulic fracturing, with the most strin-gent provisions in the nation to ensureit is accomplished safely and respon-sibly. Not only is this good for the econ-omy, natural gas exploration is betterfor the environment because it yieldscleaner burning fuel. Hydraulic fractur-ing is not a new concept. It first beganin 1947, and today more than 1 millionwells are in place in the United Statesand more than 2.5 million worldwide. Regarding water contamination, a2004 U.S. EPA study of hydraulic frac-turing of coal-bed methane wells foundno incidents of drinking water well con-tamination. Additionally, in 2009, stateregulators with the Interstate Oil & GasCompact Commission found no casesof drinking water contamination by hy-draulic fracturing. Furthermore, Stan-ford University geophysicist andObama administration energy adviserMark Zoback makes the point that wellconstruction is the key to protectingdrinking water. Additionally, a 2012Wall Street Journal report identified agrowing consensus among energycompanies, state regulators, academ-ics and environmentalists that the chiefrisks are tied to well construction. Fi-nally, an April 2012, N.C. DENR andN.C. Department of Commerce studyissued during the administration of De-mocrat Gov. Perdue attested to thesafety of hydraulic fracturing as long asthe right protections were in place. Another concern is the use of “se-cret chemicals.” The fluid used in hy-draulic fracturing is 98 percent waterand sand. Most of the additives usedare found in common household prod-ucts. The proprietary blends of addi-tives are shared with the N.C. Miningand Energy Commission, DENR, thestate geologist, state health directorand Division of Emergency Manage-ment. If a situation arises that warrantsan emergency response, then thesesubstances are immediately disclosedto first responders and medical per-sonnel.

In summary, I support these meas-ures to reduce our dependency on for-eign oil and bring jobs to NorthCarolina. • Do you support or oppose the useof public funds to provide vouchers oropportunity scholarships for children toattend private schools? Answer: I opposed House Bill 944,The Opportunity Scholarship Act, andadamantly voiced my dissent during itsdeliberations, as did many N.C. Houseconservatives. I opposed this concept,commonly referred to as “vouchers,”for three primary reasons: 1) Govern-ment funding always has strings at-tached, either immediately oreventually. With regard to churchschools, their sovereignty in choosingthe curriculum they present in fulfillingtheir Godly mission of providing aChristian education in the classroom isfar more important than the financialmeans a voucher yields. Dependencyon voucher money could compromisethe sovereignty of these schools’ cur-riculum choices as government ac-countability requirements increase withtime. 2) The voucher concept came ata time when public education was suf-fering from funding cuts that beganwith the Gov. Beverly Perdue adminis-tration during the 2009-2010 schoolyear, and I could not justify moneygoing to vouchers and away from ourpublic schools, which serve 92 percentof our K-12 students. As a multi-termschool board chairman from 2009 to2012 of our highly performing Transyl-vania County Schools, I knew firsthandthe belt tightening that had gone onsince 2009 and fought for every dollarI could for public education. 3) The Op-portunity Scholarship Bill had short-comings in my opinion that I thoughtwould lead to abuse and/or fail in court.To date, my concerns have proven trueand the outcome rests with the courts. • Do you support or oppose the re-duction or elimination of the state in-come tax? If so, how would funds be

raised to compensate for those lostrevenues? Answer: I absolutely support reduc-ing our state income tax, with the longterm goal of eliminating it altogether.House Bill 998, The Tax Simplificationand Reduction Act, provided the firstmajor tax code overhaul in more than80 years. With this, everyone’s per-sonal income tax bracket was loweredto 5.8 percent for 2014 and 5.75 per-cent for 2015 from the previous three-tiered system that peaked at 7.75percent. Within this reform, the stan-dard deduction is increased; mortgageinterest and property tax are de-ductible up to $20,000; all charitablecontributions are fully deductible; So-cial Security remains exempted; foodpurchases and medicines remain un-touched; and our most vulnerable citi-zens have an effective income tax rateof 0 percent. This reform package also loweredthe corporate tax rate to 6 percent for2014 and 5 percent for 2015. Amongall neighboring states, N.C. now hasthe second lowest personal and corpo-rate tax rates, and, as a result, is beat-ing national employment trends for thefirst time in years. This is puttingmoney back into our citizens’ pocketsand creating a business-friendly tax cli-mate, which is essential to attractingjobs. I am confident that North Car-olina will experience even greater eco-nomic gains at an accelerated pace asbusiness and industry relocate to NorthCarolina on the heels of tax and regu-latory reform. With more abundant jobs, we allprosper and state revenues increase,thus better providing increased fund-ing for state governmental functions —education, health and human services,public safety, economic development,environment and natural resources,agriculture, general government, etc. In summary, states with lower per-sonal income tax rates fare better





TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Chris Whitmire (continued from pg. 16)

economically because they better at-tract job providers, and everyone inTransylvania County who has livedhere since DuPont, Olin/Ecusta, andAmerican Thread/Coates America pro-vided solid, year-round, reliable jobs,knows the importance of jobs, jobs,jobs. • The state economy appears to berecovering slowly but unevenly. What,if anything, would you do to spur eco-nomic growth more evenly across thestate and across income classes? Answer: North Carolina’s economyis improving, and we will return to pros-perity in the foreseeable future both atthe state and local levels—thank good-ness. As bad as our situation had got-ten since our local major employerswent out of business over a decadeago, coupled with the tremendous set-back in late 2008, I am extremelygrateful for the 880 job announcementsTransylvania, Henderson, and Polkcounties have garnered in 2014. De-spite Transylvania County not havingan interstate highway or a functioningrail line, we enjoyed the largest job an-nouncement in over a decade in Au-gust with Sigma Plastics adding 80jobs over the next three years. I amworking diligently to facilitate more jobsat other sites in the county, includingDavidson River Village. As far as “spurring economic growthmore evenly across the state andacross income classes,” a key functionof government is to facilitate an envi-ronment where job providers can pros-per, and North Carolina is doing this.The tax reform package and commonsense reforms to right-size job-killingregulations that stifle business and in-dustry are essential measures enactedwithin the past two years that are yield-ing excellent results statewide and willaccelerate as time passes.

Complimenting economic recoveryis The Strategic Transportation Invest-ments Act, which revamped road fund-ing to prioritize the flow of commerce,connect population centers and in-crease access to tourism. This designhas been key to my efforts to facilitatea critical requirement related to theDavidson River Village and the 2,838potential jobs that will follow. Another initiative to spur economicgrowth is the N.C. Economic Partner-ship Modifications that utilize public-private partnerships to provide NorthCarolina with the speed and flexibilityto attract businesses and grow existingones. Additionally, the Legislature em-powered Department of Commerceeconomic developers with flexibility tosecure jobs and help employers com-ply with federal regulations Furthermore, the 2014 Farm Act andtwo of my bills, HB 194 and HB 558,accomplished practical reforms toequip our state’s top industry, agricul-ture. These measures protect farmers’property rights, facilitate productionand prevent frivolous lawsuits, so agri-culture’s $77 billion in annual revenuecan grow even greater. • Do you support or oppose the ex-pansion of Medicaid? Should Medicaidbe administered privately or remainunder the auspices of the state Depart-ment of Health and Human Services? Answer: In 2013, I opposed the ex-pansion of Medicaid. A DHHS auditduring this time revealed $375 millionin program cost overruns, inefficien-cies, mismanagement and substan-dard outcomes. To expand thistrouble-plagued program and poten-tially jeopardize the function it servesfor many in need made no sense, es-pecially with fewer doctors acceptingMedicaid patents. SB 4 was NorthCarolina’s way of saying “no” to Medi-caid expansion and a major element ofObamacare/The Affordable Care Act(ACA).

The ACA is one of the largest expan-sions of the federal government in his-tory. The Obama Administration soldMedicaid expansion as a simple way toprovide health insurance to previouslyuninsured individuals despite stateleaders’ concerns. Under the ACA,states could expand Medicaid eligibil-ity to people earning up to 138 percentof the federal poverty level, whichwould have added over 300,000 to thestate’s Medicaid roles. Since the inception of the ACA, ithas experienced troubles. It is expen-sive, inflexible, bureaucratic, and farfrom inspiring confidence—recall themiserable website rollout. Americanswere promised they could keep theirexisting healthcare plan/doctor, butthis has been proven blatantly false.Since October, retailers like Walmarthave discontinued part-time workers’health benefits. For Walmart, this is30,000 employees and is devastatingto these individuals and their families. Most of these people are finding theinsurance they lost was superior toACA options. What other corporationswill follow suit? None of this is good!This said, for those who proclaim theACA would fund 100 percent of the ex-pansion through 2016 and 93 percentthrough 2023, recall its failures to date.The ACA has not reliably honoredmost of its promises and federalmoney is not free. It comes from alltaxpayers, and the 27 states that ex-panded Medicaid eligibility remain un-certain whether the federalgovernment will honor its reimburse-ment promise. Going forward, the General Assem-bly will focus on Medicaid reforms thatwill correct system inefficiencies, pro-vide accountability, and transition from“fee for service” to anaccountable/managed care conceptthat ensures quality care access. Tes-timony from subject matter expertsand debate will determine the out-

come. I anticipate Medicaid will re-main under DHHS. • Do you support the use of incen-tives to attract businesses to NorthCarolina? If so, what are the criteriayou believe should be used in deter-mining whether or not incentives areoffered? Answer: Given our rural setting, cat-alysts in the form of incentives areoften necessary to attract jobproviders. The tax, regulatory and un-employment insurance reforms en-acted during the 2013-2014 sessiontremendously benefitted North Car-olina’s ability to attract small andmedium job providers, but we remainat a disadvantage with our neighbor-ing states regarding large employers.Often incentives prove to be the tip-ping point as to whether or not busi-ness and industry locates in NorthCarolina or another state. Simply put,these incentives serve as investmentsthat pay for themselves when properlyadministered and parametered. The Job Maintenance and CapitalDevelopment (JMAC) fund is an incen-tive that targets private businessesthat make substantial capital invest-ments that support and maintain jobswithin the state. The JMAC fund wasinitiated in 2007 under the Departmentof Commerce and is designed so thatjob providers cannot simply grab theincentives and disappear. Instead,JMAC requires significant investmentwhich drastically increases the likeli-hood that only viable businesses ben-efit and the jobs they provide remainlong-term. For the purist, I, too, am afan of the free market and will note thatincentives must have provisions thatprevent them from becoming corpo-rate welfare. Previously, only projects in tier 1counties, the most economically dis-tressed, could qualify for JMAC proj-ect funds. This year, the General


The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014–Election Guide - 19

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TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

(continued from pg. 18)Assembly, via Senate Bill 3, expandedthe eligibility criteria by reducing thequalifying threshold for a company’scapital investment from $65 millionover three years to $50 million over fiveyears. Also, the number of counties el-igible for JMAC funds expanded to in-clude small tier 2 counties. Large tier2 counties and tier 3 counties are stillineligible for funds under the JMACprogram. These measures are neces-sary to land jobs in less traveled, ruralparts of the state like ours. Addition-ally, JMAC allows more flexibility foreconomic developers to secure jobsand help employers comply with ag-gressive, over-reaching EPA regula-tions when jobs lie in the balance. • The state has taken steps to havecoal ash ponds cleaned up. However,no decision has been made as to whoshould pay for cleaning up thoseponds. Should Duke Energy and itsshareholders pay for those costs orshould the costs be passed on toDuke’s customers? Answer: Duke Energy will bear thecost, but, ultimately, the Utilities Com-mission approves or disapproves ratechanges. The challenge right now isto prudently protect our environmentfrom further coal ash incidents whileensuring we do not inadvertently par-alyze our primary source of reliableand affordable electricity. It is impor-tant to note that massive amounts ofcoal ash have been accumulating formore than 100 years and it is abyproduct of how most of our electric-ity is produced. To address this I supported TheCoal Ash Management Act of 2014,which gives North Carolina the nation’sstrictest statutes governing coal ashand made us the first state to force clo-sure of all coal ash ponds. Its provi-sions include: banning utilitycompanies from recovering costs forthe damage caused by coal ash spills,

including associated civil or criminalfines; establishing an independentCoal Ash Management Commission toreview and approve risk classificationsand closure plans proposed by coalash pond owners and DENR; prohibit-ing any future wet ash disposal; man-dating the closure and excavation ofthe highest risk coal ash ponds lo-cated at Dan River, Asheville, River-bend, and Sutton not later than 2019;setting a firm 15-year timetable for de-watering and closing all unlined coalash ponds in North Carolina and clas-sifies them into three categories.High-risk ponds must be closed withinfive years. Intermediate ponds closedno later than 2024. Low-risk sitesclosed no later than 2029. High- andintermediate-risk ponds may not becapped in place, and coal ash fromthese must be stored in lined landfillsor recycled. Low-risk ponds can onlybe capped in place if approved byboth the Coal Ash Management Com-mission and DENR and long-termmonitoring requirements are met.Other provisions include strengtheningregulations on the use of coal as struc-tural fill and mandating that all futurecoal ash disposal be managed in newor existing lined landfills with extensivegroundwater monitoring with stormwater diverted away. For additional Coal Ash commen-tary, visit VoteWhitmire.com and clickon the Newsletter Tab and then selectAug. 22. • Do you believe North Carolina ison the right or wrong track? Whatareas are fine, need tweaking or needmajor turnarounds? Answer: North Carolina has turnedthe corner and is on the pathway toprosperity, but still has far to go. At thelocal level, we need solid, year-roundjobs that enable us to thrive, and weare getting them. Recent job an-nouncements and potential for manymore are certainly encouraging be-

cause jobs produce revenue and im-prove the well-being of everyone. Atthe state level, we have gone from a$2.5 billion deficit in 2011 to balancedbudgets and a pathway to success. In2013-2014, we implemented long-terminitiatives to grow our economy andproduce increased revenue essentialto providing a great education system,improved health care and essentialservices. We are on the right trackand we are seeing more and morepositive results. We have added morethan 200,000 new jobs since 2011,and this pace will accelerate with timeas more business and industry cometo North Carolina on the heels of tax,regulatory and unemployment reforms. In 2013, North Carolina had the bestdrop in unemployment in the nation.Additionally, we finished 2013 as oneof only four states reporting meaningfuljob gains. Thus far, 2014 is yieldingcontinued progress, with the state un-employment rate almost 40 percentlower now than when Republicansgained control of the legislature in2011. We now rank among the top fivestates for improved economic outlook.We vaulted from 44th to 17th in businesstax climate and our new found fiscalresponsibility prompted the Cato Insti-tute to award North Carolina an “A” inits most recent “Fiscal Policy ReportCard on America’s Governors.” Yes, North Carolina is poised forsuccess. Graduation rates are up to83.9 percent, an all time high, thanksto our outstanding teachers who real-ized the first significant pay increasesince 2009. We will continue to im-prove education and educators’ payas part of an on-going framework tomake up for many years of neglect bythe previous administration. Addition-ally, we will work to improve healthcare. We live in the greatest state inthe union, and I am confidant that it willbe even greater in the years to come.

Voting Curbside:

If you are a registered voterbut are unable to enter the

voting place because of ageor physical disability, you

may vote either in your vehicle or in immediateproximity to the polling

place. Each polling place isequipped with an alert

system for curbside voters. To vote a curbside ballot:

• Sound the alert by drivingyour vehicle over the alert

hose and park in the Curbside Voting designated

parking space, which is different than the handicap

parking space. • Alternatively, if a passen-ger is able, they may enterthe voting place to alert an

election official that you wishto vote curbside.

• Within a few moments aprecinct official shouldcome out to your car.

• You will be asked to signan affidavit stating that youcannot physically enter the

polling place to vote. • The precinct official will

return to the polling place tolocate your name on theregistration list. They will

then return to your car andissue you a ballot based onyour registration information.• Once you have completed

the ballot, the precinct official will then take your

ballot back into the pollinglocation and place it in the

secure ballot container. Your ballot will be tallied on Election Day after the

polls close.


Transylvania County N.C. HOUSE Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Norm Bossert (Democrat)

Age: 63 Family: wife, Shelley, and two sons.Education: Bachelor of Science de-gree in elementary education from OldDominion University; master’s degreein school administration from WesternCarolina University.Employment: Currently employed asprincipal of Black Mountain ElementarySchool.Previous political experience: Twounsuccessful bids for Board of Educa-tion in Transylvania County.

Questions: • Do you support or oppose frackingin North Carolina? Answer: I oppose fracking (and offshore drilling for oil.) First, fracking isdangerous to our water supply. Pump-ing dangerous chemicals into theearth, integrity issues, with the wellsthemselves, stealing people’s propertyrights. Finally, criminalizing peoplewho reveal the list of chemicalspumped into the ground is simplywrong. • Do you support or oppose the useof public funds to provide vouchers oropportunity scholarships for children toattend private schools? Answer: I oppose using public funds

to provide vouchers. Doing so is a di-rect violation of the State Constitution.Moreover, it is wrong to provide fund-ing to schools when they have no re-quirement for accountability or theproper licensure of teaching staff andno obligation to teach the state’s man-dated curriculum. According to ourcurrent legislature, these voucherswere intended to give poor peoplesome choice in their child’s education.All they really will do is provide a sub-standard education to people whoneed the best teachers and supplies.They also siphon much needed fund-ing from our underfunded publicschools. • Do you support or oppose the re-duction or elimination of the state in-come tax? If so, how would funds beraised to compensate for those lostrevenues? Answer: I do not. I do believe thatthe current tax plan is a plan for failure.It already has brought in far less rev-enue than needed. The Budget andTax Center anticipates a $ 660 millionbudget shortfall. I believe that the taxcode should be fair, with all tiers of ourcitizens bearing a fair share of the taxburden. An income tax makes thatpossible. I am also concerned that theintent of our legislature is to move to-ward no tax burden for our large cor-porations. Still, I have always believedthat the government will get its money.They will do it through taxes or fees.Friends in the business world tell methat their fees have increased. • The state economy appears to berecovering slowly but unevenly. What,if anything, would you do to spur eco-nomic growth more evenly across thestate and across income classes? Answer: I would want to give NorthCarolina businesses first crack at Statecontracts. Further, I believe that weshould return the Earned Income TaxCredit to our struggling workers andstart paying people a living wage.These steps would put cash back inthe pockets of our biggest consumergroups. When we have a strong mid-dle class, with some disposable in-

come, we all may see growth in spend-ing, spurring economic growth for all. • Do you support or oppose the ex-pansion of Medicaid? Should Medicaidbe administered privately or remainunder the auspices of the state Depart-ment of Health and Human Services? Answer: I support the expansion ofMedicaid. A few years ago I wouldhave wanted the government to admin-ister the program, but Gov. McCrory’sleadership in DHHS has been so in-competent, I would rather move that re-sponsibility to a competitive privatesector. • Do you support the use of incen-tives to attract businesses to North Car-olina? If so, what are the criteria youbelieve should be used in determiningwhether or not incentives are offered? Answer: I do. They should be at-tached to guarantees regardingsalaries (must be a living wage as aminimum), benefits for employees,commitment to the local community,etc. I would also encourage the gov-ernment to motivate businesses thatopen/start operations in rural commu-nities and/or communities with high un-employment. • The state has taken steps to havecoal ash ponds cleaned up. However,no decision has been made as to whoshould pay for cleaning up thoseponds. Should Duke Energy and itsshareholders pay for those costs orshould the costs be passed on toDuke’s customers? Answer: First, the plan needs to bemore aggressive. As for your question,Duke’s shareholders have benefitedfrom profits for years. Shareholdersshould bear the burden of cost forcleaning coal ash up. That said, DukeEnergy has been a big supporter oflots of public service. They evenplayed a large part in bearing the ex-penses of the last Democratic NationalConvention. • Do you believe North Carolina ison the right or wrong track? What areasare fine, need tweaking or need majorturnarounds? Answer: We are on the wrong track

— Public School funding (pre-K – col-lege); the environment; tax policy; un-employment insurance cutbacks; livingwage; voter access; gerrymanderingand more.

Brevard 2Precinct Voters

Have New Voting Location

Registered voters in theBrevard 2 precinct will be

voting at a new location forthe Nov. 4 General Election

after a fire in August significantly damaged theVFW Building. The buildinghas served as the precinctvoting facility since 2000.

After surveying severalfacilities, the TransylvaniaCounty Board of Elections

voted unanimously on September 5 to relocate tothe Brevard Music Center

Alumni House. It is the intent of the Board that thisbe a temporary relocation,

but use of the VFW for future elections cannot

be considered until renovations are completed. A letter with directionsand an updated voter cardwill be mailed to each reg-istered voter in the Brevard

2 precinct the week ofSept. 29. Directional signswill also guide voters on

Election Day.


Transylvania County alcohol referendum

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

When Transylvania County voters goto the polls, seven alcohol-related ques-tions will be on the ballot. The questions were placed on theballot after county commissioners ap-proved a resolution in August. A countyalcoholic beverage election is con-ducted by a county board of electionsonce the elections board receives awritten request from commissioners orreceives a petition requesting an elec-tion signed by at least 35 percent of thecounty’s voters. “North Carolina law does not allowcommissioners or any other governingbody to make the decision — an elec-tion is required,” said Karen Brinson,Transylvania County Elections director,in a press release. The wording for the ballot is also de-termined by North Carolina law. “The only option given to the com-missioners was to determine whichquestions would be put before the citi-zens for a vote,” Brinson said. “How thereferenda items are worded cannot bechanged by the commissioners or theElections Board because the N.C.General Statutes specifically define theballot language, and the language hasbeen in place for decades.”

Terminology To help voters better understand thereferenda items, the Elections Boardvoted unanimously to provide voterswith an information sheet that definesthe referenda terms. The documentwas developed by the N.C. AlcoholicBeverage Control (ABC) Commissionand is not an endorsement or opinionof the Elections Board, county govern-ment, Commissioners or any other en-tity. The sheet outlines the followingterms: • Malt Beverage — beer, lager, maltliquor, ale, porter, and any otherbrewed or fermented beverage (ex-cept wine) containing at least one-halfof one percent and not more than 15percent alcohol by volume. • Unfortified Wine — any wine of 16percent or less alcohol by volume.

• On-premise (malt beverage, unfor-tified wine) — for consumption on thepremises of place purchased and forsale in manufacturer’s original con-tainer for consumption off the prem-ises. • Types of malt beverage on-premise locations: restaurants, hotels,eating establishments, food busi-nesses, retail businesses, privateclubs, convention centers, communitytheatres and breweries. • Types of unfortified wine on-premise locations: restaurants, hotels,eating establishments, private clubs,convention centers, cooking schools,community theatres, wineries, wineproducers and wine shops. • Off-premise (malt beverage, unfor-tified wine) — for sale in manufacturer’soriginal container for consumption offthe premises only. • Types of malt beverage off-premise locations: restaurants, hotels,eating establishments, food busi-nesses, retail businesses (i.e., conven-ience stores, grocery stores). Types ofunfortified wine off-premise locations:Retail businesses, viticulture/enologycourse for school, winery and wine pro-ducer. The document is available on theElections Board’s website, transylvaniaelections.org, or at the Elections Of-fice, 221 S. Gaston St., Brevard.Copies will also be available at theone-stop voting sites and the electionday polling places. Officials working atthe voting sites will not be allowed toprovide opinion or give any additionalinformation other than the terminologysheet.

Voting Process Seven items will appear on the bal-lot. Each item is its own contest, and avoter’s choice on one referendum doesnot change or negate their choices inthe other items. “The attorney for the ABC Commis-sion has explained that if the majorityof voters vote ‘for’ a referendum ques-tion, then that type of alcohol sale will

be allowed in the county,” Brinson said.“If some measures pass and others donot, then only those that pass will be al-lowed.” Some voters have been confusedby the word “only” in several questions. “The questions that indicate ‘only’on-premises sale or ‘only’ off-premisessale allow the voters to vote for oragainst those individual permits,” Brin-son said. “If both pass, then both willbe allowed in the county even thoughthe first question for each type of bev-erage allows for ‘on-premises and off-premises’ sale.”

Alcohol Sales in Municipalities Several alcoholic beverage elec-tions were held in the city of Brevardand town of Rosman between 1967and 1993. The approval by the votersin those municipalities to allow alcoholsales will not be impacted by the refer-enda on the November ballot. “The questions before TransylvaniaCounty voters are whether or not toallow alcoholic beverage sales outsideof the city and town limits,” Brinsonsaid. “Pass or fail, businesses in Bre-vard and Rosman will still have the op-tion to sell alcoholic beverages.”

Election Information Polls will be open Nov. 4 from 6:30

a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voters cast their ballot at theirprecinct polling location on that day.

All voters in Transylvania Countymay vote early at either of two one-stopsites beginning Thursday, Oct. 23. Thelibrary’s Rogow Room and the RosmanTown Hall will be open for voting week-days, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays,10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neither site will beopen on Sundays. Early voting endsSaturday, Nov. 1. Voters also have the option of re-questing an absentee-by-mail ballot.Request forms are available at theTransylvania County Board of Elections office or at transylvaniaelections.org.

November 4 Alcohol Vote Explained

Political Party Websites

Transylvania CountyParty Links

Transylvania Democratic Party

transcodems.wordpress.com

Transylvania Republican Party

goptc.org

State of North Carolina Party Links

NC Democratic Partyncdp.org

NC Republican Partyncgop.org

NC Libertarian Partylpnc.org

National Party Links

Democratic NationalCommittee

democrats.org

Republican NationalCommitteegop.com

National LibertarianPartylp.org


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Paid for by the Transylvania County Democratic Women’s Club

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The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014–Election Guide - 25

Transylvania County clerk of court Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Rita Ashe (Republican)

Age: 57Family: Married with three childrenand five grandchildren.Education:Graduate of Rosman HighSchool.Employment: Working in Clerk ofCourt office for 26 tears.Previous political experience:Clerk of Court for 10 years by this De-cember.

Questions:• Do you believe the current court-

house setup is adequate for the clerk’soffice to operate? If not, what could bedone to improve it? Answer: Our current offices for allthe employees in the different divisionsare adequate. A year and a half agothey moved us into new offices, wherethe Register of Deeds and tax officeused to be, so we have adequatespace now. What’s lacking over there is court-room space. Our small courtroom canseat about 30-35 people, and when wehave Criminal Superior Court, there’stimes that we may have 200 people onthe docket and they have to go to the

small courtroom because the jury hasto be in the large courtroom. There’s noway to seat a jury in the small court-room, so the small courtroom is very in-adequate for the needs and has beenfor years. It’s been a blessing that no one hasgotten hurt or badly hurt while in court.Everyone is very close together. Theyare standing in the hallways, sitting onthe steps. That could be greatly im-proved. But as far as my office, our of-fices, they are adequate at the momentfor our needs. The offices are separated and di-vided and are not quite as publicfriendly as they used to be simply be-cause that’s the way they are. Theydidn’t do any or very little renovations,so we just moved up. We’ve made itwork. There has been some talk of ac-cessibility to the office, and that’s theonly thing I can think of — that we’rejust not quite as visible as we used tobe. Although we are still there everyday, working every day, and as soonas we see someone needing help wewait on them. It’s hard to revamp thatcourthouse because in some placesthe walls are 3 feet thick.

• What can be done, or is beingdone, to facilitate better relations be-tween the clerk of court and the Sher-iff’s Office and the District Attorney’sOffice? Answer: I believe we have a greatrelationship with the Sheriff’s Officeand the District Attorney’s Office. We communicate daily with both ofthese offices, particularly the civilprocess with the Sheriff’s Office. Wesee them several times a day whenthey come to pick up their civil papersthat need to be served. If they have a problem or a question,they call us. We help them with that.Sometimes, the jail has a questionabout a judgment or wanting us tohurry up and do a judgment. We al-ways try to get them their paperwork as

quickly as we possibly can, once weget out of court and are able to do so. The District Attorney’s Office is in thecourthouse with us. We interact withthem daily also. I believe I have a goodrelationship with Greg Newman, thenew district attorney. We’ve been hav-ing a lunch forum over the last year,just inviting different offices, court se-curity, and we always invite civilprocess because we like to interactwith them. There are times when we don’t seeeveryone. Greg, for instance, we don’tsee him as often as the others, but he’llbe here to have lunch with us. Social-izing with them also builds that relation-ship with them, so that they know theycan come to us when they need us andvice versa – we know we can go tothem.

• What can the clerk’s office do, or isdoing, to make the public more knowl-edgeable about the services it pro-vides? Answer: Anytime anyone comes toany division in the clerk’s office andthey tell us what they need, whomeverthey get, whether it’s criminal, civil orchild support, we will send them to theappropriate division. Everyone in the division is knowl-edgeable. Of course, we cannot givelegal advice, but we will help as muchas we possibly can without crossingthat line. For instance, some peoplecome into the office for a traffic ticket.They’ll come down to the estates doorbecause they don’t think they shouldgo to the criminal door because theyare not a criminal, but actually that iswhere you go to take care of a trafficticket. Everyone in my office is knowledge-able and can answer any question any-one has, or if we don’t have it rightthere on the spot, we will get it for them.

• What makes you more qualifiedand better suited than your opponentto be clerk of court?

Answer: I have worked in the Clerkof Superior Court office for 26 years. InDecember, I will have been the Clerkof Superior Court for 10 years. I startedas cashier. I’ve worked the other divi-sions – civil, criminal and juvenile. I’veworked all the different divisions overthe years and learned about each oneas time has gone by. I feel like I have the experience, thecompassion and the knowledge tohelp people who come into the office.One of the toughest things we do areestates because you have people whoare broken-hearted and don’t want tobe there. Anyone who we’ve helped with anestate would tell you the same thing –we treat them very kindly and with re-spect and compassion. They really ap-preciate that. That is a very rewarding part of myjob — helping people get through es-tates. I have a great staff in place. Theyare all very competent and cross-trained in all the other divisions, to acertain extent, enough to be able to gothere and help if needed. We alwayshave backups for all the different divi-sions. My office runs very smoothly. We allget along. We work together well. Mystaff and I are good public servants,which is what we strive to do every day. Magistrates have limited knowledgeof a small portion of the criminal divi-sion and a small portion of the civil di-vision, which would be Small Claims.Beyond that, they have no knowledgeof how the clerk’s office is operated ona daily basis. That does make me morequalified because I know how the of-fice runs. I know how to make it runsmoothly and a magistrate would nothave that knowledge.

For election news, turn toThe Transylvania Timestransylvaniatimes.com


Transylvania County clerk of court Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Donna Robinson(Democrat)

Age: 61Family: Single with three brothers.Parents are deceased.Education: Associate degree in ac-counting from Southwestern TechnicalCollege in Sylva and a Bachelor of Sci-ence degree in business administra-tion from Mars Hill University.Employment: Magistrate for 22 yearsin Transylvania County. Previous political experience:None.

Questions:• Do you believe the current court-

house setup is adequate for the clerk’soffice to operate? If not, what could bedone to improve it? Answer: I think the current court-house can be used for only a short pe-riod of time, but it’s a matter of timewhen we are going to have to eitherbuild a new courthouse and or dosome changes with the courthouse wehave now. I think that there are safetyissues that need to be addressed. Thelarge number of people coming to thecourthouse is a safety issue for every-one, including the staff of the court-

house. I feel like instead of puttingmoney into the courthouse we havenow, a new building should be con-structed and make better use of tax-payers’ money.

• What can be done, or is beingdone, to facilitate better relations be-tween the clerk of court and the Sher-iff’s Office and the District Attorney’sOffice? Answer: For 22 years I have workedclosely with the Sheriff’s Office, city po-lice, probation parole officers, wildlife,SBI, state troopers, county rangers,state rangers, U.S. Forest personnel,as well as local support agencies whoare related to the court system, andmaintained a good rapport with thoserelationships. I will ensure that the staffand I will work closely with the judgesand the District Attorney’s office, seek-ing to create a better flow of courtcases. I will ensure a service-orientedoffice to accommodate all law enforce-ment, attorneys and partnering agen-cies. I will foster an environment thatmakes me and my staff approachableand friendly to those coming in contactwith the Clerk of Superior Court’s office.When elected, the staff and I will con-tinue this cooperation to ensure thecontinuity of the court system in Tran-sylvania County. • What can the clerk’s office do, oris doing, to make the public moreknowledgeable about the services itprovides? Answer: I would like to think thatevery person in Transylvania County atone time or the other is going to betouched by the clerk’s office, whetherit be through filing an estate, filing pa-pers for a domestic violence situation,or going through Small Claims Court toevict someone in a landlord-tenant re-lationship or paying a traffic ticket thathas been issued by law enforcement. The Clerk of Court’s office has fourmajor areas of responsibility. The firstone being a judge who has judicial re-

sponsibilities, including probate ofwills, administration of estates, andpresiding over 40 different special pro-ceeding actions, including adoptions,guardianships, boundary line disputes,incompetency and partition of land. Foreclosures are also under the ju-risdiction of the clerk. The clerk canissue arrest warrants, search warrants,approve securities on bonds and holdsfirst appearance in the absence of ajudge. The second major area is recordkeeper for the court system. Theserecords include all filings and courtproceedings occurring in TransylvaniaCounty, including criminal and civilproceedings, special proceedings, ju-veniles, estates and judgments. The clerk must operate under a uni-form record keeping system designedby the North Carolina AdministrativeOffice of the Courts. The third majorarea is as administrator, managing anoffice involved in a high number of var-ied transactions. The clerk hires andmanages a staff in the number ap-proved by the Administrative Office ofthe Courts. The clerk is responsible and bondedto cover all employees in her charge. The fourth major area is as comptrol-ler, supervising all financial transac-tions related to the court system inTransylvania County, including collec-tion of court costs, fines and othermonies paid pursuant to court order,investments for minors, audit of foreclo-sure reports, accounting in estates andguardianships. I would like to think of the clerk’s of-fice as a hub; that the clerk is in thecenter and she has four major areas ofresponsibility. • What makes you more qualifiedand better suited than your opponentto be clerk of court? Answer: I have a vision for the Tran-sylvania County Clerk of Superior Courtoffice to be the most accessible, in-

formative and responsive office in thestate of North Carolina to the needs ofits citizens. I have experience in leading people,hearing facts and making decisions,following the law and experience withthe court system. But experience inand of it self is not always positive. Ex-perience without a vision stopsprogress and creates an environmentwhere vision is absent. This vision canonly happen by my being dedicated toserving the needs of TransylvaniaCounty, and I will use my experienceand my education in developing an of-fice that will show, above all, that I ama good public servant. I will lead by example, be involvedin my community. I will foster an envi-ronment that makes me and the staffmore approachable and friendly withthose coming in contact with the office.I will be available, visible and helpful. Iwill introduce strategies to improveworkplace communication and effi-ciency in the clerk’s office. And I willensure a service-oriented office thatwill accommodate law enforcement, at-torneys and partner agencies. If you believe as I do that our com-munity deserves nothing less than thebest, then I ask that you stand with meas you cast your vote for Clerk of Su-perior Court.

How To Vote In N.C.

Registered North Carolina votersmay vote at their designatedpolling place on Nov 4, 2014. Voters may choose instead to

cast a ballot before Election Dayduring the early in-person votingperiod -- North Carolina calls this"one-stop voting." Finally, votersmay choose to apply for an ab-sentee ballot and vote by mail.


Accountability Professionalism Honesty

HEMPHILLFOR SHERIFF

WILLIAM� � � �

V O T E


Transylvania County N.C. Senate Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Tom Apodaca (Republican)Age: 56Family: Wife, Lisa, and two sons,Brandon and Tate.Education: Bachelor of Science de-gree in business administration, with aconcentration in finance, from WesternCarolina University.Employment: Small businessmanand consultant.Previous political experience: Sixterms as member of the N.C. StateSenate.

Questions: • Do you support or oppose frackingin North Carolina? Answer: I support exploration of ourstate’s energy resources. This can cre-ate jobs and reduce our dependenceon foreign oil. Any hydraulic fracturingshould be environmentally responsible,geologically appropriate and reflectcommunity sentiment. The energy andmining commission is currently draw-ing up rules to govern the process andrequesting public comment on how toproceed. • Do you support or oppose the useof public funds to provide vouchers oropportunity scholarships for children to

attend private schools? Answer: We’re fortunate in westernNorth Carolina to have a number oftop-notch public schools. I support fullfunding for our public schools, K-12, aswell as community colleges and univer-sities. There are areas of North Car-olina where the public schools are notas strong and so a limited number ofprivate school scholarships can pro-vide children with more and better op-portunities. • Do you support or oppose the re-duction or elimination of the state in-come tax? If so, how would funds beraised to compensate for those lostrevenues? Answer: I support a pro-growth taxcode, which keeps taxes low on our cit-izens and provides adequate revenuesto fund state government services likeeducation, transportation, health careand public safety. A pro-growth taxcode doesn’t penalize individuals andbusinesses for getting ahead; rather itencourages them to start companiesand create jobs. More jobs meansmore taxpayers in North Carolina tosupport essential needs. • The state economy appears to berecovering slowly but unevenly. What,if anything, would you do to spur eco-nomic growth more evenly across thestate and across income classes? Answer: The global economy hasbeen slow to recover from the GreatRecession. However, we are fortunatein western North Carolina to have thelowest unemployment rates in thestate. We’re not where we need to beyet, but we are heading in the right di-rection. I support policies — strong ed-ucation, a pro-business climate —which encourage economic growth.More taxation, litigation and regulationwill not grow the economy. • Do you support or oppose the ex-pansion of Medicaid? Should Medicaidbe administered privately or remainunder the auspices of the state Depart-

ment of Health and Human Services? Answer: I’d like to see as manyNorth Carolinians as possible havehealth insurance. We need Medicaid as a safety netfor those in need, and I’ve voted forbudgets which support them. The bestsolution is to create more jobs so em-ployees can have private health insur-ance rather than spend more taxdollars on Medicaid. Unfortunately,Obamacare has imposed costs on em-ployers which make them more reluc-tant to hire. • Do you support the use of incen-tives to attract businesses to North Car-olina? If so, what are the criteria youbelieve should be used in determiningwhether or not incentives are offered? Answer: I don’t like incentives forlots of reasons. But when every otherstate in the nation is using them ag-gressively to recruit businesses wedon’t have much of a choice but tocompete. I oppose just giving companiescash for promises that may or may notmaterialize. I can support providing in-frastructure improvements and cus-tomized training for workers — the kindof things that stay around and benefitthe whole community. • The state has taken steps to havecoal ash ponds cleaned up. However,no decision has been made as to whoshould pay for cleaning up thoseponds. Should Duke Energy and itsshareholders pay for those costs orshould the costs be passed on toDuke’s customers? Answer: North Carolina is the firststate in the country to crack down onthe use of coal ash ponds. Along withmy House colleague, Chuck McGrady,we led the fight to pass the nation’stoughest law. Duke Energy is respon-sible for cleaning up the mess and pre-venting any future problems. The experts on the state’s UtilitiesCommission — not politicians —

should decide on the exact frameworkfor cost recovery. • Do you believe North Carolina ison the right or wrong track? What areasare fine, need tweaking or need majorturnarounds? Answer: We were on the wrong trackfor years. Higher taxes, ethics scan-dals, record unemployment. The Republicans won the legislativemajority in 2011 for the first time in overa century. Since then we’ve balancedthe budget, reduced taxes for every-one and the economy is recovering.We aren’t where we need to be yet andI won’t quit fighting until the privatesector can create more jobs and ourschools have the funding they need.

Rick Wood(Democrat)

Age: 71Family: Wife, Beverly.Education: Graduate of Kinston HighSchool, Kinston, Ala. Graduate ofAuburn University, with a Bachelor ofScience degree in physical educationand health education, with a minor inhistory.



Transylvania County N.C. Senate Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Rick WoodEmployment: Retired educator andcoach. Taught and coached for 40years, with the last 17 at West Hender-son High School.Previous political experience:Elected twice (2008 and 2012) to theHenderson County Board of Public Education. Questions: • Do you support or oppose frackingin North Carolina? Answer: I strongly oppose frackinganywhere in North Carolina, particularlyhere in western North Carolina. Ourbeautiful scenic mountains and ourpristine clear streams are vital to ourtourism economy. My opponent voted to fast trackfracking without looking into all therisks and passing regulations to assurethe safety of land, water and air. Thefracking legislation even made it acrime to identify the chemicals used inthe fracking process. Under certain cir-cumstances, a landowner could beforced to join a pool of nearby landersand have fracking take place undertheir land without their permission. Thatseems to violate a constitutional pro-tection against the taking of privateproperty. We have moved too fast without un-derstanding the harmful conse-quences that might occur, especially inour fragile mountain geography. Wedon’t even know yet how much poten-tial energy is to be gotten from frack-ing. That should be determinedfirst.There has been a great deal of in-formation put out about just what frack-ing will do. First, proponents said itwould create thousands of new jobs.Then we learned that only about 400new jobs would be created and thosemostly would be brought in from out ofstate. Proponents said fracking wouldbring huge investments to North

Carolina. Then when interest wanedamong potential drilling companies,the NC General Assembly offered anincentive of up to $1 million for “ex-ploratory drilling.” • Do you support or oppose the useof public funds to provide vouchers oropportunity scholarships for children toattend private schools? Answer: No. I do not. It is unwise totake funds from our public schools,which are already under funded. According to the Chief Financial Of-ficer of the N.C. Department of PublicInstruction, there is $1 billion a yearless to spend for text books, supplies,teaching assistants, and transportationand other classroom resources than sixyears ago. Plus, there is little accountability forwhat happens to school vouchers.According to the NC Public PolicyWatch, the most money given out to asingle voucher school was sent re-cently to the Greensboro Islamic Acad-emy earlier this month. We don’t evenknow what that school teaches. Theycould be teaching their kids to hate thiscountry and worse, and nobody in theeducation hierarchy is bothering to findout. • Do you support or oppose the re-duction or elimination of the state in-come tax? If so, how would funds beraised to compensate for those lostrevenues? Answer: I oppose the recent incometax cuts because they disproportion-ately benefit the wealthy at the cost ofhuge cuts to public education, healthand protection of the environment. Sen. Apodaca predicted these cutswould generate gobs of additional rev-enue. They have done just the oppo-site. On Friday, Oct. 10, the StateBudget Director announced that cur-rent state revenue is down $313 millionfor the first three months of the currentfiscal year. At that rate Sen. Apodacaand his colleagues will face a $1 billion

budget shortfall when they meet nextyear to appropriate a new budget. That will mean even more draconiancuts to our public schools. Also lastweek, the State Commerce Depart-ment disclosed that new job an-nouncements are down 30 percentfrom the previous year and new invest-ment announcements are down 60percent. This pretty much discounts the “lessis more” revenue theory by Sen. Apo-daca and his colleagues. • The state economy appears to berecovering slowly but unevenly. What,if anything, would you do to spur eco-nomic growth more evenly across thestate and across income classes?

Answer: First, we must restore fund-ing to our public schools, communitycolleges and the great university sys-tem. There is a demand for skilledworkers in this country. We have lotsof people available to work, but theydon’t have skills to match the jobs thatare available. That is why education isso important. Second, we must restore civility tothe governing process in Raleigh. Thecurrent majority was elected on a cam-paign to create jobs and get the econ-omy moving. Instead, they have embarked on acontroversial and narrow ideologicalagenda that has made us the laughing-stock of the nation. For example, onefreshman legislator suggested weshould adopt our own currency. I don’t believe I have ever seen somany actions of one session of theNorth Carolina General Assembly chal-lenged in the courts as is happeningnow. That is not good government. Itis not making us a place where corpo-rate executives want to bring their jobsand their families to live. • Do you support or oppose the ex-pansion of Medicaid? Should Medicaidbe administered privately or remainunder the auspices of the state Depart-

ment of Health and Human Services? Answer: Yes, I think we should haveaccepted the federal government’soffer to expand Medicaid to some500,000 deserving people at no cost toour state for three years. That revenueis badly needed by our hospitals. Unin-sured folks are going to the emergencyrooms for their care. This is the mostexpensive and least efficient means ofcare. The cost is being passed on topaying customers, which results inhigher medical costs for the rest of us.That just doesn’t make good commonsense. Medicaid should continue to be ad-ministered by the state Department ofHealth and Human Services rather thanbeing farmed out to a for profit com-pany. There are too many examples ofwhere for profit companies have mis-managed similar programs in otherparts of the country. • Do you support the use of incen-tives to attract businesses to North Car-olina? If so, what are the criteria youbelieve should be used in determiningwhether or not incentives are offered? Answer: Incentives are helpful; how-ever, they should be targeted to unde-veloped rural areas where jobs aremost needed. Studies show thatthough this is the stated purpose of in-centives in the past, most have gone tothe already successful urban Pied-mont. That is not fair. • The state has taken steps to havecoal ash ponds cleaned up. However,no decision has been made as to whoshould pay for cleaning up thoseponds. Should Duke Energy and itsshareholders pay for those costs orshould the costs be passed on toDuke’s customers? Answer: This is a question on whichmy opponent and I sharply disagree.During the debate on this question,Sen. Josh Stein of Wake County pro-posed an amendment that would have

(continued pg. 30)


TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Rick Wood(continued from pg. 29 )

specifically prohibited Duke Energyfrom passing those costs on to ratepayers. Sen. Apodaca stood up andoffered a meaningless substituteamendment that was essentially jibberjabber. The Republican majorityadopted Sen. Apodaca’s substituteamendment. Its sole purpose was to keep Re-publican senators from having to voteon the record in favor of Duke Energy’sstated desire to pass this cost on torate payers. So, the net effect of thisprocedure is that Senator Apodaca isall alone out front for Duke Energy. Thatmay end up costing an additional $20a month for each residential customer. This is an appropriate time andplace to mention that during his sixterms in the N.C. State Senate Sen.Apodaca has gotten $1.7 million incampaign contributions from specialinterests, mostly from outside this dis-trict. He got $65,000 from Duke En-ergy and its predecessor ProgressIndustry. In most of those campaigns,Sen. Apodaca did not have a generalelection opponent. The question is whydid he need all that money? What didhe do with it? Sen. Apodaca’s action on who paysfor the coal ash clean up demonstratesquite clearly where he stands. Sen.Apodaca holds a powerful position inthe State Senate as chair of the RulesCommittee, Co-Chair of the Appropria-tions Committee and membership onother important committees. As such,he is in an excellent position to helppeople of Transylvania, Hendersonand Southern Buncombe counties.Yet, over and over again he has cho-sen to lead efforts to harm our people,

such as the draconian cuts to publicschools. • Do you believe North Carolina ison the right or wrong track? What areasare fine, need tweaking or need majorturnarounds? Answer: We’re on the wrong trackin several areas. Funding cuts for ed-ucation are very harmful. Those cutsshould be restored. We’ve neglectedour infrastructure. For example, thegovernor’s new Highway ImprovementPlan ignores the needs of many ruralcommunities, such as ours. Recent changes to environmentalprotections threaten to degrade ourfragile mountain streams, which are animportant asset to our tourist economy. The lack of civility and constantbickering among our legislative lead-ers is not good. For example, Gov. PatMcCory let Sen. Apodaca’s coal ashbill become law without his signatureand has indicated he might file a con-stitutional challenge to it. And they be-long to the same party. That is no wayto lead a great state. The one area in which our state andour district is in good shape is our peo-ple. Our people are hard working.They have shown great resilience toovercome hardships in the past — TheGreat Depression, World War II, hurri-canes and floods. It is the duty of ourGeneral Assembly to enact policiesthat benefit the people and providethem opportunities to earn a living fortheir families and opportunities for agood education for their children. The folks in charge now seem toprefer policies that help the wealthyand big out-of-state corporations. Iwant to change that.

Transylvania CountyRepublican Party Voter Guide

2014 Elec�ons

(*) – Indicates State Party endorsed candidate

Absentee Vo�ng Begins September 5thEarly Vo�ng Begins October 23rd, ends November 1st

General Elec�on Day – November 4, 2014For more elec�on informa�on, visit our

Transylvania County HQ Office100A East Main Street

Brevard, NC 28712828.883.4677

Paid for by the Transylvania County Republican Party Chris�e Morse, Treasurer.

(I) = IncumbentUS Senate Thom Tillis (*)US House 11th District Mark Meadows (I)(*)NC State Senate District 48 Tom Apodaca (I)(*)NC State House District 113 Chris Whitmire (I)(*)District A�orney District 29B Gregory Newman (I)County Commission Larry Chapman (I)County Commission Kelvin PhillipsCounty Clerk of Superior Court Rita Ashe (I)County Sheriff David A. Mahoney (I)

Supreme Court Chief Jus�ce Mark Mar�n (I)(*)Supreme Court Jus�ce (Mar�n Seat) Bob Hunter (I)(*)Supreme Court Jus�ce (Hudson Seat) Eric Levinson (*)Supreme Court Jus�ce (Beasley Seat) Mike Robinson (*)NC Court of Appeals (Hunter Seat) Bill Southern (*)NC Court of Appeals (Stroud Seat) Donna Stroud (I)(*)NC Court of Appeals (Davis Seat) Paul Holcombe (*)NC Court of Appeals (Mar�n Seat) John M. Tyson (*)

NC Superior Court Mark E. Powell (I)

County Board of Educa�on Tom Ammons(Vote for two) Jenni Pogue

Michael J. Rogers (I)Michael Shelton

County Soil & Water Dist. Supr. Joffrey Merrill(Vote for two) Bob Twomey


FOR COMMISSIONER


Transylvania County new voter id guidelines

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Voters will not be required to show aphoto ID in order to vote in the upcom-ing election. Instead, election officialswill be giving instructions to votersabout the requirement, which takes ef-fect in 2016 for voters voting at a one-stop early voting site or Election Dayprecinct polling place. Both the education period in 2014through 2015 and the requirement toshow photo ID beginning in 2016 arepart of the Voter Identification Verifica-tion Act (VIVA) passed during the mostrecent legislative session. Beginning in2016, voters who are present to vote inperson – either on the day of a primaryor election or during one-stop early vot-ing – will be required to show a photoID that bears a reasonable resem-blance to the voter.

For now, a voter simply needs tostate his or her current name and ad-dress. As long as the voter’s informa-tion is in the precinct or one-stop earlyvoting database, he or she will be ableto vote. If a voter cannot be found in thedatabase, then they will be offered aprovisional ballot or transferred to theircorrect voting precinct if it is ElectionDay. “The process this year is the sameas in previous elections,” said KarenBrinson, Transylvania County ElectionsDirector. “The difference at this point isthat when the voter checks in, electionofficials will ask voters if they have oneof the forms of photo ID that will be re-quired in 2016. If the voter indicatesthey do not, then the election officialwill ask them to sign an acknowledge-

ment and provide them with a handoutoutlining appropriate forms of photo IDand information on how to obtain a no-fee photo ID from the North CarolinaDMV.” By current federal law, there are cer-tain voters who are required to showsome form of identification when theypresent to vote. First-time voters who atthe time of their initial voter registrationdid not provide their North Carolinadriver license number or the last fourdigits of their Social Security number,or who provided a number that couldnot be validated, are required to showidentification when they vote. This identification does not have tobe a photo ID. The requirement for first-time voters to show identification is arequirement of the Help America Vote

Act (HAVA) of 2002, a federal law notunique to North Carolina. First-time vot-ers who are required to show HAVA IDwill have been notified of this require-ment when the Elections Office mailedthem their voter registration verificationpostcard. If these voters do not bringan acceptable form of identificationwhen they are present to vote, they willbe given a provisional ballot and havean opportunity to present ID at theElections Office before the election isfinalized.

For additional information contactthe Transylvania County Board of Elec-tions at www.transylvaniaelections.orgor 884-3114. The Elections Office is located at 221 S. Gaston Street, Brevard.

Re-elect EEXXPPEERRIIEENNCCEE

VVoottee RITA ASHEClerk of Superior Court

Your vote in this 2014 election will enable me to continue to serve as your Clerk of Superior Court.

IIff iitt’’ss nnoott bbrrookkeenn.. DDoonn’’tt ffiixx iitt!! ** Keep Rita as YOUR Clerk **

I am a lifelong resident of Transylvania County, bornand raised in the Silversteen Community, where myhusband, John and I raised our three children, and

now get to enjoy our five grandchildren.

serving the last 10 years asYOUR Clerk of Court,since December 2004

26Years of Experience.There is NOTHING better than onthe job, hands on training!

My staff and I will continue to be goodpublic servants to our fellow

citizens of Transylvania County with:Integrity ~ Compassion

Fairness ~ Honesty

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New Guidelines Regarding Voter IDs For This Election


Transylvania County Commissioner Candidates

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

LarryChapman(Republican)

Family: LarryChapman hasbeen married tohis wife Jill for 42years. Chapmanhas three adultchildren, a daugh-ter-in-law and two grandchildren.Education: Graduate of Brevard HighSchool and Western Carolina University(Bachelor of Science). Chapman alsograduated from U.S. Marine Corps OfficerCandidate School and retired as colonelafter more than 30 years of service.Employment: Current Vice Presidentwith Delfortgroup, an Austrian-basedpaper company. Chapman also worked atEcusta for 26 years in sales and market-ing.Previous Political Experience: CurrentVice Chair of County Commissioners(elected in 2010); also a board member ofthe North Carolina Association of CountyCommissioners.

Questions: • The closing of the Rodeway Inn inMarch brought the lack of affordablehousing in the county into the spotlight.What would you do to help provide morelow-cost affordable housing the commu-nity? Answer: Chapman said the first stepthe county has to take is identifying theneeds in the community, which, he said,was one of the biggest revelations of theRodeway Inn situation. Chapman said thecounty should work with the local SocialServices board and other local organiza-tions to get an assessment as to the extentof the homeless population in the county. Chapman said the county has severalhousing options in the area for elderly cit-izens but believes the county should workto provide low-cost housing options foryounger families, as well. Chapman saidany effort would require collaboration be-tween local, state, federal and private re-sources. • What is your position on land-useplanning?

Answer: Chapman said land-use plan-ning is “extremely important” and thecounty needs to engage in it in order topinpoint areas where it wants to focus de-velopment efforts. While the two are oftendiscussed in conjunction with one an-other, Chapman said he does not equateland-use planning with zoning. “Land-use planning is identifying areasthat can be used for certain industry orcertain development activities but they’renot totally restricted,” he said. “Wheneveryou start talking about zoning, you’re talk-ing about completely restricting that use.” Chapman said the county already hasland-use planning for approximately 70percent of the land when you considerfederal/national forests, private develop-ments and municipal areas. Chapman said it is important for thecounty to explore sites that are conduciveto growth and development opportunities. Chapman said the county is currentlylooking at the possibility of an industrialsite although there is not a lot of county-wide support for “spot zoning.” While hereiterated his stance against countywidezoning, Chapman said he sees land-useplanning as critical for the county as thereis such a small amount of developableland in the community. • Some people believe the county has“put the cart before the horse” by provid-ing funding for the EDO (Economic Devel-opment Organization) but not providingfunding for an industrial park or industrialbuilding. Should the county have investedin the EDO or in an industrial park/buildingfirst? Answer: Chapman said the first step isto determine the best way to move for-ward, which the EDO’s 11-member boardof directors is currently working on.Chapman said he would not be in favorof the county buying a piece of land, con-structing a building and putting it up forsale without knowing the specifics ofwhat an incoming business or industrywould be looking for. “You’ve got to have a plan before yougo out and start investing millions,” hesaid. “When you start looking at industrialsites – where’s it going to be and how areyou going to get water and sewer to it –you’re talking multiple millions of dollars

to put a sign up, say, ‘Here it is’ and hopethat somebody comes.” Chapman said he sees the EDO being“critical” because it moves economic de-velopment from the public to the privatesector. Chapman said he is in favor of thecounty looking at parcels of property toacquire the first-right-of-refusal, so thoseareas would be readily available whenprospective businesses come into thearea. Chapman said investors would thenhave the chance to see the property andget a sense of how much it would cost todevelop the site. • The town of Rosman recently tooksteps to seek a permit to withdraw waterfrom the French Broad River. Should thecounty commissioners take a lead role inhaving the county and both municipalities(Rosman and Brevard) collaborate onwater projects or should the county havea “hands off” approach? Answer: Chapman said the county hasto play a “significant role” in bringing thetwo municipalities together, as neitherBrevard nor Rosman has the necessaryresources to go out and build a watertreatment facility on their own. Chapman said there has been discus-sion around the creation of a countywidewater authority. While both municipalitiesare looking at increasing water supply totheir respective areas, Chapman saidthere is no current plan on how to expandwater countywide, which, he said, wouldbe integral to economic development. “The county has to play a lead role inbringing those parties together,” he said.“I don’t think the county is going to takeover that until we get through a lot ofstudies, but we’ve got to bring the partiestogether to look at water as it is a criticalissue. Right now, Rosman and Brevardare going out on their own, and we haveto figure out a way to bring all the partiestogether in the same room and come upwith a countywide plan to address waterand sewer issues.” • For you, what would be the two de-termining factors as to whether or not thecurrent courthouse should be reno-vated/expanded or a new courthouseshould be built? Answer: Chapman said his number

one priority is addressing the security is-sues facing the courthouse. As commis-sioners have been holding workshopsover the past month on the courthouseissue, Chapman said he sees the betteroption as being the construction of a newcourthouse. Chapman said the proposed court-house expansion would present prob-lems, such as lack of space, lack ofparking and failing to address thecounty’s long-term needs. Chapman said he also sees a newcourthouse as being more prudent froma financial standpoint. Even though a newcourthouse would cost more than ex-panding the current facility, he believesa new courthouse would offer a longerperiod of service to the county. Whatever direction the county does goin, Chapman reiterated his belief that thesecurity issue has to be the top prioritymoving forward and that situation mustbe addressed. • What mechanisms would you put inplace to make sure that actions and ex-penditures by the EDO are transparent toboth the commissioners and the generalpublic? Answer: Chapman said the EDO iscurrently developing its organizationalstructure that would be presented tocommissioners for approval sometime inthe near future. Chapman said commissioners havenot been involved in the early part of thatprocess but would be reviewing theEDO’s progress once the organizationbegins its work. Chapman said commis-sioners would expect to receive regularreviews and the county funding would notbe a “free check.” “I assure you from my standpoint it willbe fully transparent on where every dollargoes, and the EDO will be reporting to(the county) because we control themoney,” he said. “But we also want togive them the flexibility to develop theirplans and not micromanage what they’retrying to do.” Chapman said if the commissionersever reached a point where they were notsatisfied with the EDO, they always hadthe option to withdraw or withhold funds,(continued on pg. 34)



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Larry Chapman

(continued from pg.33)but he assured the public that all EDOactivities would be transparent. • There is talk about holding a bond ref-erendum to renovate the local schools.Should payment for a new courthouse alsobe decided through a bond referendum?If not, why? Answer: Chapman said the schoolbond is estimated to be between $20 mil-lion to $22 million and would have to becovered by a bond, as the county doesn’thave that type of money to spend out-of-pocket. Regarding the courthouse, Chap-man said if the county chooses the optionto expand the current facility the projectcould be paid for by borrowing, but if thecounty wants to build a new facility, abond would be required for such a majorproject. Chapman said there are also optionsfor bonds related to infrastructure in thecounty, but there is no way the countycould financially support all three bondsat the same time. Chapman said he be-lieves the school bond would receive pri-ority and the courthouse bond would bean issue to be addressed in the future. • If elected, what would be your topthree priorities as commissioner? Chapman said his first priority would bemoving forward with the EDO and gettingthat organization fully established and op-erational. His second priority would be comingup with a way to continue funding countyschools at an appropriate level. Chap-man’s third priority would be dealing withthe courthouse situation, putting an em-phasis on addressing the facility’s securityneeds.

SamEdney (Democrat)

Family: SamEdney’s wife isDeda and he hasthree daughters –two of whom (Alli-son and Jenni)

live in the community and a third who livesin Golden, Colo.Education: Graduated from East Hen-derson High School; Graduated fromAsheville-Buncombe Technical Commu-nity College in 1970 with a degree in in-dustrial engineering technology.Employment: Owner of two businesses– Pisgah Pest Control and Mountain Homeand Mattress.Previous Political Experience: Servedon the Transylvania County Board of Edu-cation from 1988-1992

Questions: • The closing of the Rodeway Inn inMarch brought the lack of affordablehousing in the county into the spotlight.What would you do to help provide morelow-cost affordable housing the commu-nity? Answer: Edney said while he didn’tknow all the details, he was aware of pro-grams in the community dedicated tohelping people with acquiring affordablehousing. Edney mentioned the GillespieCircle project headed by Carroll Parker asa viable alternative to constructing low-cost housing and suggested using highschool students to build affordable hous-ing in the community, as well. “The Rodeway Inn situation is ironic inthis way,” he said. “It was discoveredthree or four managers of fast food opera-tions were living there because theycouldn’t afford to live anywhere else. Sowe tore down the place where they couldafford to live in order to build another fastfood restaurant. That’s pretty ironic,”Edney said. • What is your position on land-useplanning? Answer: Edney said he sees land-useplanning as very important as Transylva-nia moves forward. Edney said land-useplanning needs to be part of the overall vi-sion for what the county wants. Edney ac-knowledged the term “land-use planning”is a “trigger word” that sets off two oppos-ing groups – those in favor of land-useplanning and those opposed. He said itwas unfortunate that the topic was soemotional for people because he sees itas being very beneficial to the community,

if done correctly. “Number one, establishing businesscenters or industrial parks, ensures in-vestors who are coming here what theycan and can’t do so they know the rules ofthe road before they commit,” he said. “Inthe absence of that it’s a risk, which ischilling to business investment. I think alsoit will be a benefit to the community be-cause I don’t want to see the corridorsleading into Brevard and Rosman look theway Maggie Valley or Pigeon Ford looks.We have a personality here, a characterhere, in our community, and I think land-use planning can play a role in that.” • Some people believe the county has“put the cart before the horse” by provid-ing funding for the EDO (Economic Devel-opment Organization) but not providingfunding for an industrial park or industrialbuilding. Should the county have investedin the EDO or in an industrial park/buildingfirst? Answer: Edney said the Product Devel-opment Task Force, headed by Don Sur-rette, gave, in his opinion, the mostimportant presentation to the county withinthe past year because it identified wherethe county failed and what the countycould do about it. Edney said he did believe the countywas putting the cart before the horse to acertain extent but noted that economic de-velopment “is a marathon, not a sprint”and the county would have to work hardto reap the benefits. Edney said he be-lieves there is a “strong sentiment” amongcounty residents that there is no “seriouscommitment” among county leaders to re-focus on economic development and re-build the job market. “Why do I say that?” he said. “We’vegot a new library. We have a new justicecenter. We have a new animal shelter.We’ve remodeled the old sheriff’s officeand moved the tax office and Register ofDeeds into that space. We’ve remodeledthe courthouse and moved court officialsinto that space. Now we’re completing theremodel of the old library and movingcounty administration into that space. And(the county has) $12 million in the bankand no meaningful action has been takenon rebuilding the job market. And people

in this county are suffering.” Edney said 28 percent of householdsin the county (between 5,000-6,000) aretrying to get by on less than $25,000 andthe county isn’t listening and respondingto their needs. • The town of Rosman recently tooksteps to seek a permit to withdraw waterfrom the French Broad River. Should thecounty commissioners take a lead role inhaving the county and both municipalities(Rosman and Brevard) collaborate onwater projects or should the county havea “hands off” approach? Answer: Edney said Transylvania is asmall community and, as such, it is incum-bent on leaders to work together on important issues, of which water is one. Edney said there is no question that thecounty needs to move forward on theissue of water and those efforts should bedone in cooperation with municipalities. “By working with the city council to de-velop a vision for the county, once that vi-sion is established, we can then puttogether a strategic plan and that be-comes the blueprint for your economic de-velopment organization,” Edney said. Edney disagreed with the approach thecounty took on its most recent water studythat, in his opinion, focused on comparingsources to try and find the cheapestsource of water for the county in the future. “That was the wrong question in mymind,” he said. “That question is, ‘how dowe protect the resources this county hasaccess to.’ (The county) is at the headwa-ters, and we need to behave as if we areat the headwaters. I don’t think buying(water) capacity from another countyhelps us protect our watershed.” Edney said if Transylvania made a dealto acquire water from Henderson or Bun-combe County, it could be susceptible tobeing outbid by other, larger countiesdown the road. • For you, what would be the two deter-mining factors as to whether or not thecurrent courthouse should berenovated/expanded or a new courthouseshould be built? Answer: Edney said the county has (continued on pg. 35)


TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

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(continued from pg. 34)relocated offices previously located in thecourthouse not directly pertaining to judicialproceedings to more immediate areasdowntown. The question now is where thecounty’s court proceedings should takeplace. Edney said part of the answer to thatquestion comes in what the county sees aspossible alternative uses for the courthousein the future. “We should hit that with a little imagina-tion,” he said. “What could we do with thatbuilding? It could be a heritage museum. Itcould be a music venue. We used to havemusic performances in thecourthouse...make that a venue. It couldalso be a performing arts center, where youhave other types of arts, so it could be areal draw to downtown Brevard.” Edney said he believes the county fre-quently “asks the wrong questions” whenfaced with a major project and comparedthe courthouse scenario to the water studyhe mentioned earlier. Edney said the court-house project is a “once-in-a-generation”type project and the county should ap-proach such projects with imagination,thoughtfulness and with future generationsin mind. • What mechanisms would you put inplace to make sure that actions and expen-ditures by the EDO are transparent to boththe commissioners and the general public? Answer: Edney said transparencyshould be a condition of county funding forthe EDO, although he said there is a certainamount of privacy necessary to the eco-nomic development process as to not neg-atively affect potential real estate orbusiness transactions. Edney said there is not a large businesscommunity in the county at this time andthere is not the opportunity to have the pri-vate sector fund the economic develop-ment across the board, at this time. Edney said until that economic base inthe county is rebuilt both the county and theEDO need to be able to ensure the publica certain level of transparency from that or-ganization. • There is talk about holding a bond ref-erendum to renovate the local schools.Should payment for a new courthouse alsobe decided through a bond referendum? If

not, why? Answer: Edney said his answer to thequestion would be contingent on havingmore knowledge regarding all potentialsources the county has for funding for theproject. Edney said while the decision re-garding the courthouse has yet to be made,he said he was completely supportive of abond referendum for schools. Edney said since 2007 TransylvaniaCounty Schools’ budget has “taken a majorhit” as schools have lost out on fundingfrom numerous sources, including lotteryfunding from the state, and local fundinghas been cut, as well. Edney said when res-idents were surveyed in 2011, as part ofTransylvania County’s 150th celebration,education came back as the top priority inthe county and he expects a referendum oneducation would receive broad supportfrom the community. • If elected, what would be your topthree priorities as commissioner? Answer: Edney said his top prioritywould be economic development and “get-ting people back to work.” Edney saidpoverty is a widespread problem in thecounty and referenced an article that ap-peared in an August edition of The Tran-sylvania Times where a local child wasquoted as saying they went hungry be-cause “it wasn’t my turn to eat.” Edney said his second priority would beto govern the county with an eye on “fiscalresponsibility” and said as a commissionerhis job would always be to make decisionstaking a strong mind on the financial im-pact that decision would have on thecounty. Edney said the commissioners are re-sponsible for providing some servicessuch as health, education and welfare, butcommissioners should also ask “hardquestions” when the county managerpresents a budget request that would putthe county above revenues. Edney said his third priority would beensuring the county funds the school sys-tem adequately, something he doesn’t be-lieve the county has done in recent years. Edney said he would also never seek to“blame” a tax increase on the need forschool funding, as there are always other(continued on pg. 36)



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Sam Edney (continued from pg. 35)sectors of county government that see increases in costs, as well. “What determines how you establishpriorities are your core values, and mycore value says if a child is going hungryand I can do something about it – eco-nomic development, bringing jobs back –then I am obligated to do that,” Edneysaid. LeeMcMinn(Democrat)

Family: LeeMcMinn is marriedto his wife Lindaand has four adultsons.Education: Completed the Marine CorpsCommand and Staff School; attended theArmed Forces Staff College and earned aMaster in Arts from Pepperdine University;earned a degree from the University ofTexas in industrial relations; while workingat an adult education program in Ger-many, McMinn also earned a master’s ofeducation in counseling and personnelservices from the University of Maryland.Employment: Retired from the MarineCorps as a lieutenant colonel in 1991 after22 years of active service. McMinn is alsoa former teacher for vocational trainingand adult education at Central Texas Col-lege.Previous Political Experience: None

Questions: • The closing of the Rodeway Inn inMarch brought the lack of affordablehousing in the county into the spotlight.What would you do to help provide morelow-cost affordable housing the commu-nity? Answer: McMinn said affordable hous-ing was an issue in 2005 when the countybegan crafting its Comprehensive Planthat is currently being revisited by thecounty planning board. McMinn said that“very little has been done” in the area ofaffordable housing since the 2005 plan

was published. McMinn said the county should adopta policy that supports the establishment ofaffordable housing in the area. McMinn said there are organizations inAsheville that go around buying up prop-erties, mostly single family dwellings, fixesthem up and rents them out to young fam-ilies in entry-level positions. Some housesare also offered for families to purchase.McMinn said rent and mortgages are bothsubsidized by those organizations andsaid he would be in favor of exploring sim-ilar opportunities in Transylvania. McMcinn clarified he wasn’t speakingabout public housing but simply an oppor-tunity for the county to provide “reason-able rents and affordable mortgages” forentry-level employees and young families. • What is your position on land-useplanning? Answer: McMinn said he is a strong ad-vocate for land-use planning and believesit can be accomplished without steppingon toes or violating personal propertyrights. McMinn said any land-use planningdoctrine the county adopts should haveminimal impact on property rights, but hebelieves land-use planning is necessaryfor economic development. “If you believe that the county needsjobs, if you believe that we need to attractnew businesses here, and if you believethat we need to help or provide avenuesfor existing businesses to expand, then(the county) must have places for them togo, policies that say what they have to doto get there and to tell them what is ex-pected of them once they arrive,” McMinnsaid. McMinn said land-use planning is alsoan important component of the applica-tion process the county would go throughwith the state should the county want topursue construction of a certified indus-trial park. • Some people believe the county has“put the cart before the horse” by provid-ing funding for the EDO (Economic Devel-opment Organization) but not providingfunding for an industrial park or industrialbuilding. Should the county have investedin the EDO or in an industrial park/build-

ing first? Answer: McMinn said he believesthose efforts should take place collabora-tively throughout the process. McMinn said the county must haveplaces for businesses to go and notedseveral areas that he feels have potential– along the Rosman Highway, along U.S.64 and along N.C. 280. McMinn said there are a few industrialsites in the county, and it has been sug-gested that the county purchase parcelsof that property and construct a shellbuilding for potential incoming busi-nesses. McMinn said he believes the countyneeds to continue with funding the mar-keting side of economic development andthe infrastructure side of development intandem with one another. • The town of Rosman recently tooksteps to seek a permit to withdraw waterfrom the French Broad River. Should thecounty commissioners take a lead role inhaving the county and both municipalities(Rosman and Brevard) collaborate onwater projects or should the county havea “hands off” approach? Answer: McMinn said the county com-mission is the overarching branch of gov-ernment for Transylvania. Brevard has itsown water source, and many Rosman res-idents rely on wells for water services cur-rently, although the town is attempting toacquire its only water source on theFrench Broad River. McMinn said he believes the county is“missing the boat” by not having a coun-tywide water authority. McMinn said it would also be “impos-sible” for the county to have a serious dis-cussion about water resources withoutalso addressing the need for additionalsewer infrastructure. “The county, the city of Brevard andthe town of Rosman operating togetherprovides the only chance, on a county-wide basis, for the type of infrastructuredevelopment that we need to service thewhole county,” he said. “Whatever waterand sewer structure goes in should beadequate to address those needs for thenext 50 years.” • For you, what would be the two de-

termining factors as to whether or not thecurrent courthouse should berenovated/expanded or a new courthouseshould be built? Answer: McMinn said the first factorwould be identifying the problems withthe existing facility, which he said havebeen publicized recently due to commis-sioners holding workshops on the court-house situation. McMinn said he believesthe biggest problem with the currentcourthouse is security. McMinn said his second considerationwould be the potential economic impacton downtown businesses if the court-house were relocated. McMinn said that is an important ques-tion to ask and described courthouses as“anchors of towns” for small communitiesacross the nation. McMinn said he be-lieves moving the courthouse out ofdowntown would negatively impact down-town business. McMinn said there are also problemswith the option of courthouse expansion,as there are currently no plans to dealwith the increase in traffic volume that al-ready presents a problem downtown ondays court is in session. McMinn said the best “do no harm op-tion” would be to expand the courthouseat its current location and believes if donein a “suitable manner,” the project couldservice the county for an additional 40years. In regards to parking, McMinn said hesees a great opportunity for the city andcounty to partner on construction of 300-spot parking deck located on land thecounty owns behind the courthouse. • What mechanisms would you put inplace to make sure that actions and ex-penditures by the EDO are transparent toboth the commissioners and the generalpublic? Answer: McMinn said most of the pre-liminary enquiries the county receivesabout prospective investments are donewith respect to privacy and much of thereason behind the creation of the EDOwas to provide an organization that couldbe flexible and help attract businesses tothe county. (continued on pg. 37)

The Transylvania Times, Brevard, N.C., Monday, October 20, 2014– Election Guide - Page 37


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ELECTION 2014

Lee McMinn(continued from pg. 36) That being said, McMinn said it is im-portant that the county controls the flow oftax dollars and ensures county residentsa level of transparency. McMinn said if a business negotiateswith the EDO and receives a final packageoffer, that would be discussed with com-missioners in closed session before beingbrought before the public at a public hear-ing. McMinn said that system is already inplace and he does not see it changing.McMinn said that much of the negotiationaround the proposed biomass plant inPenrose took place in private sessionsand the controversy around the projectcame to light once the issue was put be-fore the public at a hearing. McMinn said while he would allow theEDO freedom in performing their duties,he would use funding as a way to ensurethe organization was doing quality work onbehalf of the county. “As far as transparency goes, thecounty commission will still control thebudget of the EDO until it becomes self-sufficient,” he said. “That is the mecha-nism I would use to control the operations– not to micro-manage – but if I am dissat-isfied with a broad spectrum.” • There is talk about holding a bond ref-erendum to renovate the local schools.Should payment for a new courthouse alsobe decided through a bond referendum?If not, why? Answer: McMinn said a new court-house is estimated to cost around $25 mil-lion, and, by statute, that amount of moneyrequires a bond referendum and a publicvote. The earliest the issue could appearon the ballot would be 2016. McMinn said there is a certain pointwhere the county can no longer borrowand must take out a bond to pay for proj-ects. McMinn said borrowing money asopposed to taking out a bond allows thecounty to be more flexible with the moneyand also comes with a lower interest rate. McMinn said the cheapest way to goforward, in his opinion, is to move forwardwith courthouse expansion at a cost of$11-12 million, which could be paid for by

borrowing money. McMinn said the county has savingsthat could be used to provide a down pay-ment for the courthouse renovation proj-ect. Whatever option the county takes,McMinn said the project would requirespending county dollars and believes theexpansion option would cause the leastimpact, in terms of tax increases. • If elected, what would be your topthree priorities as commissioner? Answer: McMinn said his top prioritywould be providing good and effectivegovernance as a commissioner and refer-enced his proposed cooperative city-county effort on a new parking deck as anexample of such leadership. McMinn’s second priority involves eco-nomic/workforce development. McMinnsaid commissioners have to lay out theblueprint for economic development, in-cluding how the county plans to acquirenew business, how the county plans to fa-cilitate development and what sorts ofguidelines the county puts in place sothose businesses know what the expecta-tions are when they arrive. In regards to workforce development,McMinn said the county should workclosely with Brevard College, Blue RidgeCommunity College and the TransylvaniaCounty Schools’ CTE (Career and Techni-cal Education) program to ensure thecounty can provide the type of workforcethat incoming businesses are ready tohire. “Whether it be machining, whether it becomputer analysis or whether it be chem-ical analysis, we have a responsibility tomake sure the workforce is ready,” hesaid. McMinn’s final priority would be im-proving school funding. McMinn saidcommissioners have to be the “buffer” be-tween the federal government andschools and make sure federal and statebudget cuts do not impact local schoolsnegatively. McMinn said all of those priorities mustbe done in the context of respecting and preserving the county’s beautiful environment – both natural and cultural.

Kelvin Phillips(Republican)

Family: Marriedto wife Gayla for38 years; two adultchildren – Ian andJillian – as well astwo grandchildren.Education: Graduate of Rosman HighSchool; attended Western Carolina Uni-versity as well as Blue Ridge CommunityCollege.Employment: Previously worked forEcusta for nearly 26 years; currently ownshis own business, KP Steel Inc. Past Political Experience: Served onthe Board of Education from 1992-1996;served on Board of Commissioners from

2004-2012; served on the county’s healthboard as commissioner representative;also served on the county planning board.

Questions: • The closing of the Rodeway Inn inMarch brought the lack of affordable hous-ing in the county into the spotlight. Whatwould you do to help provide more low-cost affordable housing the community? Answer: Phillips said he believes com-missioners could act as a liaison betweenthe private sector and those in need ofhousing while also encouraging partner-ships between communities and local or-ganizations, such as Habitat for Humanity,to utilize resources in the county and helpin any way they can.

Phillips said while the county shoulddo everything in its power to assist those(continued on pg. 38)

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TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Kelvin Phillips(continued from pg. 37)looking for affordable housing, he isagainst using taxpayer’s money to buildpublic housing.

“I’m not one of those in favor of the gov-ernment building housing but I believe wecan do everything we can to help thosewho want to work here on a professionalbasis get started,” Phillips said. “I do notbelieve in spending public tax dollars forhousing.” • What is your position on land-useplanning? Answer: Phillips said the county doesneed to ensure there are industrial areasin the county that are options to potentialinvestors or businesses looking to move toTransylvania. Phillips said the county alsoneeds to invest in water and sewer as cur-rently the county “doesn’t have a whole lotto offer” in those areas, which negativelyimpacts the potential for incoming indus-try. “We need to make some changes inthat area to be more accommodating tobusinesses because that’s what thecounty needs,” Phillips said. While he voiced support for infrastruc-ture development in some areas, Phillipssaid that development should not nega-tively impact personal property and reiter-ated his position as a strong advocate forpersonal property rights. • Some people believe the county has“put the cart before the horse” by provid-ing funding for the EDO (Economic Devel-opment Organization) but not providingfunding for an industrial park or industrialbuilding. Should the county have investedin the EDO or in an industrial park/buildingfirst? Answer: Phillips said although thecounty hasn’t been very successful in de-veloping a plan for an industrial area theProduct Development Task Force hasdone good work and is a group the countyshould pay particular interest to. Phillipssaid he believes the county could makegreat progress in that area if commission-ers and the Product Task Force workedcollaboratively.

Phillips also disagreed with the countysetting aside $500,000 for the EDO earlierthis year and feels that money would havebeen better spent in other areas.

“I don’t think we should have fundedthe EDO to that extent. I think we shouldhave used those monies more wisely andinvested in infrastructure,” Phillips said. • The town of Rosman recently tooksteps to seek a permit to withdraw waterfrom the French Broad River. Should thecounty commissioners take a lead role inhaving the county and both municipalities(Rosman and Brevard) collaborate onwater projects or should the county havea “hands off” approach? Answer: Phillips said the water is atopic of interest for the entire county andas such, Rosman, Brevard and the countyshould all be equally involved.

“We’re all in this together,” Phillips said.“We shouldn’t have anybody developinga product that won’t work for some ormight work for others. We need to have acollaborative effort on that across theboard.”

Phillips said the county was going tohave to look at its water situation as along-term need, particularly given theamount of people who continue to moveor vacation in the area. Phillips reiteratedto accomplish the goal of addressingwater would require cooperation by allcounty entities. “We all have to work together. We can’tlet Brevard dictate for everybody, or Ros-man, or the county. We all have to pitch intogether and work toward a commongoal,” Phillips said. • For you, what would be the two deter-mining factors as to whether or not thecurrent courthouse should berenovated/expanded or a new courthouseshould be built? Answer: Phillips said that was an “easyquestion” for him and voiced his supportfor building a new courthouse adjacent tothe public safety facility. Phillips said the project to expand thecourthouse, which he estimated wouldcost between $10-15 million, would onlybe a “temporary fix” that would last 15

years. Phillips said courthouse expansionwould also exacerbate the downtownparking problem and force the county tobuild a parking deck. “I’ve had plenty of citizens complainabout having to go to the courthouse andthey can’t find parking. So it doesn’t makesense to compound the problem whenyou can do something that will last 50years and beyond,” Phillips said. Phillips said building a new courthousewould lessen the expense and effort in-volved in transporting prisoners betweenthe detention center and the courthousedowntown. While various cost estimates ofcourthouse construction have beenbandied about, Phillips said he believesthe cost of a new courthouse would bearound $18 million. Phillips also said he was a commis-sioner in 2008 when a committee formedto study the courthouse issue was unani-mous in their opinion that a new court-house was the best way to go and heagreed with that recommendation. • What mechanisms would you put inplace to make sure that actions and ex-penditures by the EDO are transparent toboth the commissioners and the generalpublic? Answer: Phillips said while there arecertain preliminary negotiations that mustbe conducted in closed session, becauseof their nature, all activities should beopen to the public, as the EDO is beingfunded by taxpayer dollars. “I think we need to have guidelines andmechanisms and let the public know how(the EDO) is proceeding and what’s beingdeveloped. If land is found and being pur-chased or being explored, all those kindsof steps need to be made public,” Phillipssaid. “Sometimes you have to start withnegotiations that may not be public upfront but it needs to be eventually.” • There is talk about holding a bond ref-erendum to renovate the local schools.Should payment for a new courthouse alsobe decided through a bond referendum?If not, why? Answer: Phillips said he would be infavor of a bond referendum on new court-

house construction; adding that he wouldalso support the citizens of the county ul-timately making the decision as to whetheror expand the current courthouse or builda new one. Phillips said the county should continuegathering information about the court-house so commissioners and the publichave as much quality data as possible be-fore making a decision. Phillips said he heard discussions sug-gesting that once the county pays off itsschool bond that the county should beginsaving the same amount as had beingpaid but isn’t sure it would work, giventhere are several needs to need to be ad-dressed. “A referendum where the people makethe decision is always the best way to go,”Phillips said. • If elected, what would be your topthree priorities as commissioner? Answer: Phillips said bringing jobs tothe county would be his top priority.Phillips said the county’s job market hassuffered since the closing of the largerplants and that many of the jobs in thecounty today don’t provide employeeswith a living wage. Phillips said the countyalso has a reputation of not being “wel-coming” to incoming businesses and thatwas something that needs to change. “We have to work to get work,” he said.“It’s not just going to fall in our lap and Iwant families stay in tact that want to stayin Transylvania County. I want to see busi-nesses here that can support a family.” Phillips said his second priority wouldbe to continue the county’s support ofschools and continue to cultivate the rela-tionship between commissioners and theboard of education. Phillips’ third priority would be address-ing the county’s water issue. Phillips saidthe county would have to study that issueclosely and begin development and plan-ning with the future in mind. All those things, Phillips said, must hap-pen while protecting TransylvaniaCounty’s quality of life and encouragingthe various communities in the county towork collaboratively with one another.


Why I Want to Be Your State SenatorI am asking for your vote as District 48 State Senator because I believe we can do better for ourchildren by restoring excellence to our public schools and by adopting policies that will createjobs and protect our fragile environment. If elected, here are the things I will work for. Also, I will be accessible to your phone calls, your email and your suggestions.1. JobsOur North Carolina economy still hasn’t recovered from the recession. Though it is growing, fewerpeople are employed today than six years ago. Many of the new jobs are temporary and low paying.The current majority was elected four years ago, promising to create jobs. Instead, they have focusedupon a controversial, ideological agenda that has given our state a bad name across the country. Newjob announcements are down 30% and capital investment announced by the NC Department ofCommerce is down 60%. We can do better. Improving education opportunities for our children is theanswer to better jobs.2. Public SchoolsOur public schools have lost ground in the past few years, first as result of funding cuts during the recession and then bydrastic budget cuts by the current regime. We must restore funding for textbooks, classroom supplies, driver education train-ing and other things that impact directly upon quality teaching in the classroom. That will be my top priority.

3. Community CollegesVocational training in our community colleges is key to attracting new industries that require new skills. That is being doneeffectively in our regions of the state. We need to make it work here. I will work to bring more resources to our Blue RidgeCommunity College.4. EnvironmentOur beautiful scenic mountains and our pristine clear streams are vital to our tourism economy. Yet the current legislaturevoted policies that will jeopardize that great natural asset. Take fracking, for example. Just imagine a huge oil drilling rig inthe foreground of a scenic picture of Mount Pisgah? What happens when our drinking water is contaminated?

I want to be your State Senator because I know we can do a better job for the people of Henderson, Transylvania andSouthern Buncombe Counties. I will answer your mail and return your phone calls. We must do better or we willleave this place in worse condition than we found it.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Rick Wood.

Transylvania County SAMPLE BALLOTS & POLLING PLACES

TRANSYLVANIA

ELECTION 2014

Page: 1

Transylvania County, NC 2014 General: (English Version)

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POLLING PLACESPrecinct: BD

N.Transylvania Fire Dept.5299 Asheville Highway, Pisgah Forest

Precinct: B1Community Services Conference Room

98 East Morgan St., Brevard

Precinct: B2 (NEW LOCATION)Brevard Music Center Alumni House

78 Brevard Music Center Drive, BrevardPrecinct: B3

Transylvania County Rescue Unit/Brevard 233 Fisher Road, Brevard

Precinct: B4Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church

249 East Main Street, BrevardPrecinct: CC

Cathey’s Creek Community Center131 Island Ford Rd, Brevard

Precinct: CMCedar Mountain Community Center

10635 Greenville Highway, Cedar MountainPrecinct: DR

Dunn’s Rock Community Center461 Connestee Drive, Brevard

Precinct: EFConnestee Fire Rescue Substation2047 Walnut Hallow Road, Brevard

Precinct: RE Rosman Town Hall6 Main Street, Rosman

Precinct: LRLittle River Community Center

191 Little River Church Road, PenrosePrecinct: TC1

Balsam Grove Community Center8732 Parkway Road, Balsam Grove

Precinct: PFTransylvania County Public Safety Facility

153 Public Safety Way, BrevardPrecinct: TC7

Lake Toxaway Community Center, 81 SlickFisher Road, Lake Toxaway

Precinct: WCWilliamson Creek Community Center,

122 Community Center Drive, Pisgah Forest

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Documents

Transylvania Voter Guide2014