Posts by Carter Wrenn
Nifong’s Logic
I don’t know Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong but, sometimes, he says things that leave me shaking my head. Like when the press asked him why the defense attorneys tried to have him recused from the Duke Lacrosse trial. Mr. Nifong said, in effect, ‘Well, if he was a defense attorney he wouldn’t want to…
Read MorePresident Bush’s New Catch and Release Program
Dear Carter, I hate it that President Bush gave in to the Democrats on this issue. Best, A Reader President Bush’s ‘New’ Policy The US Navy today announced that it has released a senior Al Qaeda terrorist after questioning him extensively for 27 days while being held prisoner aboard a US aircraft carrier in…
Read MoreWhere’s the Governor?
Not to long ago State Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker-Odom claimed she was going to save taxpayers millions by hiring a new computer vender to process the state’s Medicare claims. Today the new vender is a year behind schedule, the system is not in place, the state is in a contract…
Read MoreEminent Domain
There is a controversy simmering around the state about government using its right to Eminent Domain to seize private property. A recent article in the News and Observer – about the Triangle Transit Authority – gives an example. Last year, the TTA took Mr. Bob Morrison’s business, ‘Bob’s Service Garage,’ in Durham because it wanted…
Read MorePlensa Plaza
Raleigh Arts Commissioner Lee Tripi recently spoke out on behalf of Juame Plensa’s Plaza in the News and Observer 8-17-06. He wrote: “Decisions concerning public art should not be about what any individual likes or dislikes… “Those who see more value in hot beds of asphalt …than in having a city square with cultural significance…
Read MoreHigher Gas Taxes Equals Less Roads
With the price of gasoline soaring the state must – it has to be — be awash in gas tax revenues – so why does it seem every time I open the newspaper the headline reads “DOT Delays Road Construction”? (News and Observer, 9-6-06) It seems the DOT hardly builds roads anymore – at least…
Read MorePolls
Gary, here’s some good news for your folks on the Democratic side of the aisle. Each month the Civitas Institute takes a poll; in August they asked voters who they would vote for in the elections for state legislature this fall – a Democrat or a Republican. Voters said: Republican: 36% Democrat: 40% Neither 7%…
Read MoreA Third Wake County Tax Increase
In June the Wake County Commissioners raised property taxes. In July they endorsed raising them, again, if the School Bond passes. And in August they voted to raise them a third time. This time the Commissioners want to reassess the value of your home more often — and to keep the tax rate fixed after…
Read MoreThis is Art?
The City has asked Spanish ‘artist’ Jaume Plensa to redesign the ‘Plensa Plaza.” Mayor Meeker has his director of the City’s Urban Design Center handling the new plan. The Director says Plensa will have plenty of room and flexibility under the new guidelines (News and Observer, 9-4-06). The idea, he says, is “Fayetteville Street needs…
Read MorePlensa Plaza – Art or a Park?
The Raleigh Arts Council has told Jaume Plensa his $4.3 million plaza in the middle of Fayetteville Street has to be redone. That it can’t be in the middle of the street and it can’t block the view. So, Jaume’s going back to the drawing board. So far people have been debating whether this is…
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