Nebraska’s new marketing tagline, “Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” makes me think that the tagline for Greensboro suggested by Rhino Times County Editor Scott Yost is pretty good.
Yost suggested: “Greensboro, close to places you’d actually like to be.”
It’s what people always say about Greensboro. You can be in the mountains in a little over an hour, less than an hour for the Sauratown Mountains with Hanging Rock, and the closest beaches are three hours away. We’re usually far enough away that hurricanes don’t hit us and, really, for hurricanes, all we got from Florence was a bunch of rain and from Michael rain and enough wind to take down trees, but not enough to damage buildings.
The worst thing about the area is that we are likely to get ice storms. But look at all we don’t have – mudslides, forest fires, earthquakes, floods, dust storms, and in the summer you can leave your office at 5 p.m. and be at the coast in time to take off your shoes, grab a beer and walk on the beach.
Maybe honesty would work.
***
It seems like every election, one party accuses the other of fixing the voting machines for its advantage, but usually what has happened is that the touch screens get out of calibration.
These machines are over 10 years old and some screens have to be calibrated more often than others. The key is to check your vote and make sure the screen is putting the check mark beside the person you want to vote for.
Another hint: If you hit the name dead center and the machine checks the wrong name, try touching the screen a little higher or lower until it displays correctly, and tell one of the poll workers you’re having problems so they can fix the machine for the next voter. And by all means don’t hit the “vote” button until your ballot is correct.
***
Candidates are also always complaining about campaign signs, accusing their opponent of removing their signs, covering up their signs or placing signs next to their signs without permission.
It’s true that people do steal the signs of candidates they don’t like. Volunteers place signs in right-of-ways and on private property without permission.
It’s a big mess, but it isn’t anything new. In the past I made note of judicial candidates who had a lot of illegal signs because if you’re running for judge it does seem like you should make an effort to obey the law. But this year it appears signs are being placed illegally everywhere by everybody.
In past elections the city has collected the signs out of the city right-of-way, but so far this year it appears the city is staying out of it. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better because some candidates are realizing that they have a garage full of signs that will be worthless on Nov. 7, and what usually happens is they put the signs out all over the place.
One thing is certain, if someone places a political sign on your property without your permission you have every right to remove it.
Fortunately we have less than two weeks before most of the signs and all of the political commercials are gone.
Then everybody takes a week off before the 2020 presidential campaign cranks up. Four years ago it appeared that every Republican in the country was running for president, along with some strange real estate developer and reality television star with weird hair who clearly had no chance.
It’s early, but is there a Democrat in the Senate who has not been mentioned as a potential candidate?
***
For years the state was run by folks Down East, and if you didn’t believe it all you had to do was take a drive in the eastern part of the state and compare the roads to the Piedmont where most people lived.
But it appears the folks Down East still have a good bit on influence. Schools don’t have to make up the days they were closed for Hurricane Florence. A blizzard can blanket the western half of the state, closing schools for a week, and those kids will be going to school until the Fourth of July. But a hurricane Down East rates a special exception.
