Andy’s endorsement and the “reaction” that’s sweeping the state

By now most political followers in Mount Airy have heard about Andy Griffith’s endorsement of Barack Obama, and by “endorsement” I mean his appearance in a video masterminded by Ron Howard that recreates a scene from The Andy Griffith show to demonstrate its Democratic support. The full clip can be seen here and, in my [...]

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Brown v Johnson, the battle in print

In a race without campaign websites, series of campaign events or even catchy slogans, the Paul Johnson v Eddie Brown battle for county commissioner has been defined in large part by a war of words in print. Here’s a quick synopsis of our letters to the editor referencing this race (along with links to each). [...]

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In pursuit of a prison

“Project X” is fast going to turn into Project U.
Dean Brown may have given his pursuit of a state prison a mysterious sounding title. But now that’s it’s out in the open, it really comes down to what You think. This has all the ingredients of a classic economic recruitment project (search for a site, [...]

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The hammer comes down on Judge Badgett

A lot of observers in the legal community didn’t expect a ruling from the N.C. Supreme Court on the Judicial Standards Commissions’ recommendation to censure local District Court Judge Mark Badgett until after election day.
But not only did a ruling come in before voters were to decide on sending Badgett back to the bench for [...]

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Wages to live by

One of the side debates that has emerged from forums held by The Golden LEAF Foundation is what a “living wage” comes out to in Surry County. The Foundation is awarding $2 million in grants for projects that forum participants deem priorities, and the top objective agreed upon is creating 750 jobs that pay a [...]

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Rise of the moderates

We’re hitting crunch time when it comes to voter registration, with the deadline on Friday. Since the Democratic primary in May, 1,666 new voters have registered in Surry, almost evenly split among Democrats, Republicans and those unaffiliated. Take a look at county registration stats over the past year and it’s evident that the latter group, [...]

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Win one for the industry

Jon Cawley doesn’t fancy himself a businessman, and his background doesn’t include lengthy experience in financial matters.
But the pastor and Mount Airy commissioner does have a lengthy and dedicated history helping sports and recreation programs. So he reacted to the news of the most recent loss of manufacturing jobs to Virginia thinking like a coach. [...]

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Pick a design … one design

Andy Griffith used to be Surry County’s only tourism presence online. Then that site got a makeover more egalitarian in promoting other attractions. Then the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce wanted to get in on the act and devised its own tourism site, complete with a logo and slogan chosen among entries in a contest. [...]

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To bail or not to bail?

The roll call vote on Monday that killed the most recent version of the $700 billion bailout package is interesting if only for its lack of ridged partisanship. Democrats and Republicans are scattered among the no votes that ultimately undid the bill. Count Surry’s representative Virginia Foxx among those opposed. In a statement you can [...]

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