The Bright Side
2011-06-15 - by
I just knew there was a pony in the pile of manure that is the new state budget. And, thanks to Laura Leslie at WRAL, I found it.
From the start, let me confess: This is all about self-interest.
You see, we own a small condo at Nags Head. And one of my great joys is playing golf with my beach buddies – an eclectic mix of good old boys, beachniks and Yankee retirees.
But there’s a problem. We play at two courses back on the mainland, on the narrow peninsula of Currituck County. And on Saturdays and Sundays in the summertime, US 158 is jammed with OBX-bound visitors from points North.
Now, we love their tourist dollars. But we hate sitting for an hour, two hours or even more to get across the narrow bridge to the beach after playing golf.
So we have long looked forward to the planned “mid-sound bridge” that would offer another route to the beach, thanks to that old patronage king Marc Basnight.
But things looked dire once Republicans took over and Basnight resigned. In fact, the Republicans even took the mid-sound bridge out of the budget!
Fortunately, budget politics has come to the rescue.
Leslie reports that Rep. Bill Owens from Elizabeth City, one of the five Democrats who voted for the Republican budget, made sure that $15 million was put in the budget for the bridge.
Praise the Lord and pass the pork-barrel! Just because the state is whacking education and cutting health care for poor people and old people is no reason to stint when it comes to saving tourists – and golfers – time on the roads.
So the next time I see Rep. Owens and Speaker Tillis, I’m going to extend to them a laurel and hearty handshake and express my sincere appreciation for keeping North Carolina’s priorities straight.
Isn’t politics wonderful?
The Bright Side
2011-06-15/
I just knew there was a pony in the pile of manure that is the new state budget. And, thanks to Laura Leslie at WRAL, I found it.
From the start, let me confess: This is all about self-interest.
You see, we own a small condo at Nags Head. And one of my great joys is playing golf with my beach buddies – an eclectic mix of good old boys, beachniks and Yankee retirees.
But there’s a problem. We play at two courses back on the mainland, on the narrow peninsula of Currituck County. And on Saturdays and Sundays in the summertime, US 158 is jammed with OBX-bound visitors from points North.
Now, we love their tourist dollars. But we hate sitting for an hour, two hours or even more to get across the narrow bridge to the beach after playing golf.
So we have long looked forward to the planned “mid-sound bridge” that would offer another route to the beach, thanks to that old patronage king Marc Basnight.
But things looked dire once Republicans took over and Basnight resigned. In fact, the Republicans even took the mid-sound bridge out of the budget!
Fortunately, budget politics has come to the rescue.
Leslie reports that Rep. Bill Owens from Elizabeth City, one of the five Democrats who voted for the Republican budget, made sure that $15 million was put in the budget for the bridge.
Praise the Lord and pass the pork-barrel! Just because the state is whacking education and cutting health care for poor people and old people is no reason to stint when it comes to saving tourists – and golfers – time on the roads.
So the next time I see Rep. Owens and Speaker Tillis, I’m going to extend to them a laurel and hearty handshake and express my sincere appreciation for keeping North Carolina’s priorities straight.
Isn’t politics wonderful?