Merry Christmas, Love Your Corporate Publisher

The Little Ole Grey Lady in Winston-Salem, the Winston-Salem Journal, announced Tuesday that the copy editors have left the building. All 17 of them have been laid off and ain't coming back, thanks to the "efficiencies of modern technology."

The Journal will now be designed and proofed by the knowledgeable folks in Tampa and Richmond. We're betting these telecommuting copy editors in Tampa will have to pull up Googlemaps to figure out the difference between Ashe County, Asheboro and Asheville.

New Journal publisher Jeffrey Green allows that, "If we perform as expected in 2011, I anticipate being able to add news resources to improve our coverage."

Yeah, right. If Green believes that, we have some ocean front land available in Glendale Springs we can sell him.

The Journal's owner, Media General (which owns 42 newspapers in the Southeast at latest count), will continue sucking out all the ink, and the cash, until the Journal is nothing more than a crumpled old piece of newsprint lying in a dusty corner. The once proud aggregator of news from Northwest North Carolina has been declining rapidly in the last five years, routinely eliminating sections, reducing page sizes and cutting copy space all in the effort to preserve those big 20+ percent profit margins that newspaper publishers have historically enjoyed. Media General and her equally greedy sister conglomerates long ago shed any pretense of serving the local communities in which they do business. Investigative journalism and carrying out the duties of a watchdog Fourth Estate just don't pad the pockets. Media General CEO Marshall Norton still pulled down a hefty $1.4 million in 2009 while his empire lost more than $35 million.

UNC J-School professor Phillip Myer predicted some years ago that the last newspaper reader would retire sometime before 2043. Sadly, the Journal won't be one of the last ones standing.

What price vengeance?

In a hopeful sign that we're going to join the rest of the sane world, death penalty popularity is waning in America. Fewer juries embraced old Sparky to exact a pound of flesh in 2010 and two-thirds of Americans think that maybe other punishments are better than a sendoff to the Great Beyond.

In North Carolina, nobody took the long walk down the short hall at Central Prison this year, and no one has an appointment to do so in 2011.

The mortal experts on these matter attribute the lack of enthusiasm for capital punishment to the continuing drop in violent crime rates and the fact that it costs a lot of dough to murder someone in the name of the state. There's even a few nuts, like us, who think our imperfect courts have no business doling out final sentences that can't be corrected later.

Wow...that was from left field...

North Carolina's Richard Burr joined seven other Senate Republicans in voting to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell this afternoon.

And nobody saw it coming. Legislation sponsor Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, says she didn't even bother lobbying Burr for support of the repeal.

"It's just that we’ve had a generational change and I have vehemently objected to making a policy change of this magnitude at this time. When cloture was passed, that settled that,” Burr told Politico. “It’s not accepted practice anywhere in our society, and it only makes sense. But again, I was vehemently opposed to the timing of this."

That's a bona fide wishy-washy statement but they say it ain't wise to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The warden threw a party in the county jail...

Those vans of inmates coming to the fine jail up on the hill in Jefferson might as well be Wells Fargo trucks bringing money into Ashe County. Ashe officials are boasting that the $11.5 million hoosegow will bring in an estimated $600,000 in revenues during its first year of operation.

Any chance that means the county will make it's economic development website active with some of that extra dole? The official county site welcoming prospective industry has been "under construction" longer than it took to plan the jail.

There's a plenty of law-abiding county residents in the poorhouse who would be mighty appreciative of using some of that jailhouse cash for recruiting a few jobs to the community.

Will he or won't he?

State House Rep.-elect Jonathan Jordan still isn't saying whether he'll fight to keep Mount Jefferson State Natural Area. Apparently, he's waiting to see which direction the political winds are blowing. Here's a hint for any newly minted freshmen legislators who are carrying the burden of representing Ashe County: there's a blizzard going on at Mount Jefferson in more ways than one.

Every government body in Ashe has signed on to saving the park. The Ashe Chamber of Commerce and Ashe Board of Realtors have joined the fight, too.

On Sunday, the Winston-Salem Journal added to the avalanche of support for the park with an excellent pontification on the park's value. The Journal points out the park's annual budget is only $165,000. With the attraction bringing in more than $3 million in tourist cash, the math here is easy.

Jordan reckoned last week that Governor Bev's proposed budget cuts are aimed at causing a firestorm in his district. That could be, but Jordan ain't going to win friends and influence people by refusing to offer a full-throated endorsement of Mount Jefferson.

Humbug!

The President says he's "itching for a fight on a whole range of issues" with the incoming Tea Party Congress after rolling over on the millionaire tax cuts and one in 10 Republicans in North Carolina think Virginia Foxx should be the 2012 Republican nominee for governor.

Are we living a sequel to Tim Burton's "Nightmare before Christmas"?

Trickle down the mountain economics

If the state can't pay the bills to keep Mt. Jefferson State Natural Area open, then newly re-elected County Commish Chairwoman Judy Poe suggests county government should explore stepping in to keep the park open. That was her suggestion at Monday's board meeting after the new all-GOP board was seated and re-elected her chairwoman.
Huh?
We wholeheartedly applaud Poe's dedication to this county gem and her out-of-the-box thinking on this issue, but we fear she may have a Tea Party fall on her head if she keeps up thinking like that.

Let them drink ditch water

Three Ashe County communities are now in dire need of assistance with water and sewer services, but they'll have to look somewhere other than Jefferson for help.

Residents in the Peak Creek community have been suffering for decades from water contamination issues around the old Ore Knob mine. The feds came to town recently to discuss the issues. Heavy metals continue to contaminate household well water and some families rely on bottled water just to get by.

Possible solutions involve a community water/sewer service district. But that ain't going to happen. And Commissioners aren't even concerned enough about these folks to pick up the phone. County Manager Dan McMillan says the county is not in the water and sewer business. Period. End of story.

Peak Creek residents can get in line with folks in Warrensville and Todd. Both of those communities have real needs for a local water and sewer service, but they're not getting any help from the county either. Both are old railroad towns where small lot sizes and geographic impediments make complying with state health laws a challenge to say the least. The Todd Post Office has had to bring in bottled water for years because of bad well water. Both have opportunities for economic growth, but that can't happen without community water and sewer services.

County Commissioners screwed county residents several years ago when Watauga County officials came knocking with an offer to collaborate on creation of a regional water and sewer system. The county got a second dose of stupidity last year when Commissioners refused to fight for the resources of the New River. The Town of Boone now owns all the allowable drinking water from the South Fork of the New River. Any future plans for West Jefferson or Jefferson to draw water from the New will mean paying Boone -- or shipping it in from the moon. Ashe County residents are left in the desert without any leadership.

What exactly is it that Ashe government does again? No water and sewer. No planning. No parks and recreation. No economic development. No Mount Jefferson. But the toilets at the pretty courthouse on the hill are still flushing just fine!

It must be time to fire up the moonshine still and clean the cobwebs out of the outhouse. Welcome to the 19th century, Ashe County!

Meet your new mute representatives

The silence we're hearing from the Taj Mahal in Jefferson and the offices of newly elected state representatives over the proposed Mount Jefferson closure is becoming deafening.

So far, the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce, the Ashe County Board of Realtors, the Jefferson Board of Aldermen, Lonnie Adamson at the Jefferson Post and Ron Fitzwater at the Ashe Mountain Times have pleaded for public support to keep Ashe County's majestic lady open. Even Rep. Cullie Tarleton and Sen. Steve Goss have weighed in with their support for the mountain.

But no one's heard a peep from new Representative-elect Jonathan Jordan, Senator-elect Dan Soucek or the Ashe County Board of Commissioners. If this is how they're going to govern, it's going to be a long, dark two years for Ashe County.

Com'n guys, is this even a debatable issue for you? Mount Jefferson and New River State Park brought an estimated 268,000 people to the county in 2009, and spent an estimated $6.3 million if you use the state park economic impact figures.

If this governing thing is going to be a problem, please let someone know. If you can't even voice an opinion on closing the county's most well-known landmark, God help us when you have to actually tackle a tough issue.

Mt. Mothball?

A new round of austerity cuts being proposed in Raleigh may land smack on top of Ashe County.

The News & Observer reports this morning that a hefty round of budget cuts being proposed for next year include closing down Mount Jefferson State Natural Area. The rest of the state park system, including New River State Park, would shut down Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

According to the state park system, 268,000 people visited New River State Park and Mount Jefferson last year. Even if those people just spend 50 cents in the county, that's a hefty chunk of change for a county with 25,000 residents. (A study estimates each tourist visitor to a state park in North Carolina spends $23.56 per day.)

What will the deciders at the Taj Mahal in Jefferson say about closing down the county's most prominent landmark? With the previous proclamation of a return to "conservative government" we can't help but believe the Poe Posse will once again fail in their obligation to look out for the interests of the county's residents and treasures -- just as they did when they remained silent on the future of the New River.

Given that what's left of Ashe County's hobbled economy is based on tourism, we fail to see how this is going to do anything but lower us another few feet down into the dark, dark ground.

More conservative?

Re-elected Ashe County Commissioner Judy Porter Poe suggests the Ashe Board of Commissioners will be returning to conservative leadership now that the GOPers control all five seats on the board.
Wait, wasn't Poe the chairman for the last two years?
Were those the progressive years?