The contents of the letter, provided by Wilson to Eyeondare, can be read by clicking here.
A copy of the Hall mailing is included with an earlier blogpost (see below).
The June 7th referendum will mark the fifth time the question has been put before the voters.
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| Photo from J. Wilson mailing to Manteo voters. |
Meanwhile, this writer has filed a compliant with the Dare County Board of Elections (DCBOE) over what he feels is laxity within that board to use "prudence" in the carrying out of its duties to support the election laws of the county and state. In short, EOD thinks the DCBOE should be asking more questions and providing more information when people come into the office and seek voter information during election/referendum periods. The failure to do so, EOD believes, can and has, in the past, led to non-compliance of voting laws as they pertain to PAC committees and/or individuals who try to influence the outcome of elections and/or referendums.
According to director Melva Garrison, the local board of elections has recently provided "custom" local voter mailing labels and/or mailing lists to A. Hall of Adrianna's Restaurant, J. Wilson of the Roanoke Inn, and M. Ortego of Ortego's Restaurant, all located in Manteo, NC.
Readers interested in this matter should refer to earlier blogposts, entitled "Political Mailing May Have Violated Election Laws" and "Manteo Liquor-by-the-drink HOT ISSUE"
Reader comments are welcomed.
Note: Dare County and especially the Town of Manteo has a long and sordid history of anonymous political mailings at election/referendum times; aimed at candidates or issues. EyeonDare believes it's past time our board of elections became more pro-active in seeing that our election rules and laws are enforced to the highest degree.
11 comments:
Good Lord----liquor-by-the-drink would ruin Manteo-----who knew?! Hey, they'd still have their precious plastic Basnight bags.
John W. can be against it because he doesn't have to make a living in the restaurant business. Restaurants need the profit dollars to offset all the other costs of doing business.
Tough way to make a living...
Sheesh, Wilson, overly dramatic much?
EOD would suggest that anyone who thinks that Wilson is being "overly dramatic" should look across the sound to the towns of Nags Head/KDH/KH/SS/DK. Can we blame Manteo residents who don't want their town to become like that?
Kudos to Wilson for using a Robert Crumb drawing on the postcard, but c'mon, claiming liquor by the drink will turn Manteo into generic suburban hell is just wrong. Look at 321 business in Boone- they've had tons of chain restaurants and generic motels for years before they passed liquor by the drink. The two issues are wholly separate. The owners of Food-A-Rama and Star Value kept Food Lion out of town, not a liquor ordinance.
It's entirely possible to charge Virginians $8 for a watered-down margarita at Ortega'z without having a Hampton Inn next to the old Hardee's or wherever. Downtown could use the business- I know several people who've had to close down their stores after the courthouse was moved and the new Mann's Harbor bridge opened. Also, someone needs to do something with the Weeping Radish before it starts falling apart and attracting snakes.
I guess it is good that a "blog" is one's opinion and does not necessitate expertise to support it. In the past when your opinions were finance based, you had credibility, but application of voter laws is best left to those who have some credibility to their opinions. The BOE staff and non-partisan members are tied to enforcing laws as written and interpreted by the legal system. Perhaps your new crusade would gain friction if you went after either changing or intrepeting the laws - IMHO. Of course this will not be published, but at lease you will have read it.
There is no crusade going on here, my friend. This blog is primarily dedicated to "blogging" about various aspects of Dare County politics, and this fits the bill quite well. If you've lived here long enough and follow local politics, you know the history. And, to discount it and call it like any other small town America really doesn't cut it for folks who honestly want good government and good leaders.
Ray, go have a drink! :):)
So you think the County Elections office should ask the purpose of the public information requests and then deny them if they feel the use is not appropriate?
What if the finance office asked why you wanted the various records you have requested over the years and then denied them for being not "approved" uses?
And yes, the county voter rolls are public information, or do you think they should be secret comrade?
Did I say that, Uncle Joe?
Don't think so.
It has taken this many years for the rare few chains to come on the beaches...I don't see how they'll have any better demographics projections to grant franchises on Roanoke Island.
You'll recall the Olive Garden was supposed to have been here over ten years ago but they don't want their franchises in low-population seasonal areas, period.
And look at Hooters! they're gone already and they served liquor (albeit poorly)!
So I see Wilson's point but his graphics are definitely dramatic, JMO. The argument is a bit lame and makes me think there are other reasons.
Certain RI families have made big bucks off restaurant liquor sales on the beaches...they know how much this could mean to the restaurant proprietors on the island.
Again, it would be up to each proprietor to serve booze or not, just like the smoking ban should have been, dang "nanny-state" around here... (and this is coming from a non-smoker who votes Democrat!)
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