Premise to Report
It is the intent of this publication to pronounce our opinion on issues important to our readers, and, whenever possible, to entertain their curiosity and pique their passions through the honest discussion of subjects significant in their lives. These subjects will not be relegated to just those that are government or economic driven, but also, those that are community driven, and those that speak to our creative spirits. (Read More)
 Carolina Chocolate Festival
9th Annual Carolina Chocolate Festival Offers Fun For Everyone
Prepare to pamper yourself in decadence at the 9th Annual Carolina Chocolate Festival being held at the Crystal Coast Civic Center February 4-6, 2011 at Morehead City. Featuring vendors from around the state and beyond, the festival provides lovers of mankind's best-loved desserts - chocolate. From chocolate cakes and tortes to chocolate bars and ice cream, the event offers more than a sampling of everything chocolate. Organizers are putting the finishing touches on other activities that will please everyone this year from cooking demonstrations, to dinners and spa treatments. "The whole family can participate in one or more of the activities we have to offer." says Porter Wils... Read More March 10th, 2011
 Can BRHS legally agree to merge with UHS? Secretary of State suspended the corporate charter
Publisher's Note: We do very much appreciate this fine article on the BRHS debacle from our friends at the Beaufort Observer. It is the opinion of this publisher that their continued, complete reporting and analysis of this controversial issue is unparalleled in scope.
The Beaufort Regional Health System may have more problems on its hands than we have yet been told. The corporate entity that is negotiating with University Health System of Eastern Carolina (UHS) may not be legally capable of making any legal or binding decisions on the merger with UHS. On October 11, 2010, the N. C. Secretary of State suspended the corporate charter of the "Beaufort Regional Health System" for failure to file required paperwork with the Department of... Read More May 16th, 2011
  State to conduct public hearing in Beaufort County on redistricting
The North Carolina General Assembly will conduct a public hearing on the redistricting process for the State House, State Senate and U.S. Congressional districts in Beaufort County on May 7 at 9:30 a.m. at Beaufort County Community College, Building 9, Room 935.
Similar public hearings are planned at sites across the State. To see a list of all county hearings, with date, time and place, click here. Members of the public may comment on the current district plans, communities of interest, voting history, or any other topic related to redistricting. Each speaker is limited to five minutes. Speakers are encouraged to submit their oral comments in writing. Persons proposing plans are encouraged to provide maps and any supporting data. Regist... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Beaufort County Democratic Convention fails to inspire
The Democratic Party is in need of a new source of inspiration and hope, after sustaining political losses in 2010; but following Saturday's annual Democratic convention at the Beaufort County Courthouse, the Party walked out divided and weak.
Though Surry Everett did not have any trouble getting elected as Chairman of the Beaufort County Democratic Party, he did have some difficulty finding the words for a post-election speech to the party and remarks to the press. Everett--the nominating committee's choice, elected unanimously by the delegates--approached the lectern without any emotion or excitement whatsoever and read two manuscripts written by Democratic Party State Chair David Parker and Governor Bev Perdue, instead of delivering... Read More May 16th, 2011
  An open letter to our elected officials
I recently had two experiences that have taught me a great deal. The first was covering the School Board presentation of its budget request to the County Commissioners and the other was watching the debate this week in the N. C. House on the state budget.
To understand what I'm about to say requires you to either accept that this nation, state and county are in serious financial trouble. If you do not accept that then you can stop reading this. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe most people know this. They know the national debt is unsustainable. They know inherently that the state, city and county cannot continue to spend more than they take in. So when I sit and listen to a School Board and its superintendent ask for more money such that it ... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Grandma is okay with the Tea Party
I'm writing to address Ms. Winborne's letter, published in Greenville's Daily Reflector on April 29, which accused the Tea Party and the GOP of trying to put grandma in an early grave by seeking budget cuts. Well, that is simply outrageous and ridiculous. The fact is that our government promises too much to too many people but continues to relieve too many of them from contributing. We continue to fund lifestyles that place a huge burden on our fiscal well-being. You eventually run out of other people's money, which is where we are now. If Ms. Winborne wants to accuse leaders of sending grandma to an early grave, then she should look no further than Obama himself and his group of healthcare advisors.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist c... Read More May 16th, 2011
  Get Low
From the Bottom Rung, One Often Sees the Risers to the Top.
And then again, we may never know all there is to know about Felix Bush. Felix was a hermit, who stayed to himself, and kept locked up inside to the point that no one knew the truth, the history of who he was, and how he got that way. Felix figured it was about time to awaken his dark past to enlighten those folks, who had long considered the many rumors that filled that blackened void. Venerable Actor Robert Duvall is drawn to these roles: Dark conflicted men, who are at the nexus of their existence. He finds value in films that share real truths that are universal, irrespective of the budget of the film in question. Usually; however, these are of the low budget variety... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Ten days remain to submit artistic rebuttal
Artist and arts advocate Amy Scheidegger continues to enjoy overwhelming support for her Artistic Rebuttal Book Project. As of Mar. 25, Scheidegger reported that 357 people have confirmed to contribute from 83 cities across America and Canada. The finished product of the Artistic Rebuttal Book Project will be marketed to galleries, arts councils, tourist departments and libraries across the country. Scheidegger will also now be collaborating with teachers and students across the country on a children's edition of the project.
Nearly 200 entries have already been submitted. Beaufort County Now published the first batch on Feb. 8, which can be viewed by clicking here; the second batch on Feb. 13, which can be viewed by clicking here; the th... Read More May 16th, 2011
  Salt should be respected, not feared
The oceans on our planet and in our bodies are primarily composed of two substances: water and salt. In fact, the salinity of the water outside the cells in our bodies is similar to that in the ocean. There are two oceans of water in the body: one ocean is held inside the cells of the body, and the other ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance is achieved by salt. Water has to get inside the cells to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells. Too much salt will extract water from our cells, causing dehydration; too little salt and the cells will swell with water, causing cellular damage.... Read More
March 10th, 2011
 The Meeting Place Quiche-knockoff recipe
A traveler passing through downtown Washington during its cool season might presume they had fallen upon a ghost town. When skies are gray, shop windows are dim and pedestrians scarce.
From November to March, most Beaufort County citizens enter a sort of hibernation phase, causing downtown businesses to keep even more limited hours than usual and downtown organizations to stop hosting their many attractive festivals. When spring arrives and the stir-crazy people of Beaufort County emerge from their homes and venture out to boat, fish or just admire the Pamlico River, the adjacent downtown business district really perks up. Ten springs ago, I had the pleasure of experiencing the height of downtown Washington's active season, as a waitre... Read More May 16th, 2011
  Steven Wright: Monotone comedian, clean humor, still funny
Three months ago, Beaufort County Now published a selection of jokes by the "king of deadpan," Steven Wright. Wright delivers disturbingly bizarre dialogue, with no emotion, in the style of Christopher Walken, Bill Murray and, sometimes, even Seinfeld. A second selection is past due. Enjoy!
I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep. Mom said, "Steven, time to go to sleep." I said, "But I don't know how." She said, "It's real easy. Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left." So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I hung a right. My mother was there, and she said "I thought I told you to go to sleep." I wrote a song, but I can't read music so I don't know what it is. Every once in a while I'll be lis... Read More March 10th, 2011
 Myrtle Beach Gets an Inner Beach Makeover
But the sunsets are still an exquisite thing of beauty.
The middle of Myrtle Beach gets a makeover, which includes a new boardwalk and promenade that traverses 1.2 miles in the heart of the Redneck Riviera. The new Boardwalk and Promenade, with the construction completed in May, 2010, begins near the eastern end of 2nd Avenue and then negotiates through the waterfront property of the older hotels that remain near the southern end of the concrete padded Promenade section that initiates the walkway, and then the actual boardwalk, in various designed configurations, which meanders along the front of the commercial district north from near the eastern termination at the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean of 8th Avenue to its conclusion at the 14... Read More March 10th, 2011
 Beaufort County adds jobs in March
Unemployment figures for March 2011, released today by the North Carolina Employment Security Commission, show Beaufort County's unemployment rate improving for the second-consecutive month.
Since Beaufort County's unemployment rate peaked at 11 percent in January 2011, it has started to drop off, from 10.8 percent in February, to 10.2 percent in March. The significance of this drop is especially poignant, in that Beaufort County is not only reporting less unemployment claims filed for the past two months, but is actually posting an increase in new jobs, with the number of employed increasing from 18,056 in January, to 18,242 in February, to 18,563 in March. The addition of 321 jobs throughout Beaufort County from February to March is ... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Is publically funded pre-school worth more than the alternatives?
I recently wrote a Teacher's Desk piece in which I said that there is little evidence that pre-school programs have much of a lasting effect on the success of students in later years. Click here to read that piece.
The article got quite a bit of feedback, almost all from advocates of government supported daycare or pre-school operations. In an attempt to foster more productive debate I would offer the following. Smart Start, More At Four, Headstart and other publically supported daycare/pre-school programs all share one fatal flaw in terms of whether the taxpayers should support them or not. That is, they are selective and not open to all children. I would contend that either publically supported daycare should be universal or entirely p... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Bath resident, John Lacava, responds to former BC Republican Party Chairman Larry Britt
Publisher's Note: This article appeared in the Beaufort Observer, and is a response to a Letter to the Editor, by former Beaufort County Republican Party Chairman Larry Britt, which was published in the WDN.
When I moved to Bath, North Carolina, ten months ago I discovered that there were two Republican parties in Beaufort County and three Republican parties in Pitt County. As a lifelong Republican (until 2006), who grew up in Taxachusetts and resided in Virginia for 45 years, I found this a little disconcerting. In my former places of residence there had only been one Republican party. Granted one was liberal (guess which one) and the other conservative but a least there was only one to whom one owed allegiance. At this point, I said to m... Read More May 16th, 2011
 Happy Mother's Day Lynn Deatherage. You're the best.
I know there are many wonderful mothers residing in this region, however, my personal best is my wife, Lynn, and for good reason.
She has raised our four children: Brandia, Meredith, Stanhope and Anna from birth, and has selflessly given much of herself to do so. Our children will grow older and wiser with time on their side, but they will never experience anything again resembling the unconditional love that was showered upon them by both of their parents, but especially by their sweet, lovely mother. My greatest decision in life was to ask Lynn Womble to marry me. My children's greatest fortune will always be their mother. Pictured above: Meredith Deatherage Loughlin (left), Anna Alyss Deatherage (middle). Lynn Womble Deatherage ... Read More May 16th, 2011
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