Just a brief summary of some goings on west of I-77. I know that some don't believe the state exists out here ... and some of us don't believe anything that happens in Raleigh should apply.

1. Former Rep. Charles Beall (D-Haywood) died on January 1. Beall had a particularly lackluster 20-year tenure in Raleigh, with his major accomplishment being legislation that made the Plott hound the state dog. Otherwise, he was wingman (and beneficiary) of Speaker Liston Ramsey, who did cause millions of state tax dollars to find their way across the Eastern Continental Divide.

2. Republicans in the 113th House district (Henderson, Transylvania, and Polk) tapped former Rep. Trudi Walend of Brevard to replace Rep. David Guice, who stepped down last week to head the state's probation system.

3. The controversy surrounding Henderson County Republican Sheriff Rick Davis continues to make waves. More allegations of misconduct were reported today in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Davis has been on accrued leave since late November, and has requested medical retirement because of manic bipolar disorder. One primary allegation is that some $5000 were paid out of county funds as part of the deductible payment to insurance to settle some kind of liability claim against Davis. There are allegations of sexual misconduct, improper administration, and improper use of public funds.

Outside of that, last night's snow and this morning's brutal cold weather slowed things down here in Haywood County.

Happy New Year!

Some evening inspiration for all us grumps.

The CMS School Board will be appointing a new member in the next week to replace a district rep who was elected at-large this past November. This is the district I live in so I have been watching with interest. Tim Morgan, the rep who is getting replaced has been a good representative for the district and I am hoping the board replaces him with someone as capable. I have known Tim, his brothers and parents for over 30 years and consider them friends and while I disagree often with their politics, they truly care about our community and our school system. Tim and his brothers are CMS grads and Tim has two children in the system.

What will be interesting about the appointment is that Tim is a Republican and our district is Republican (we also have Bill James as our county commissioner, google his name and Mecklenburg if you don't recognize it) but the board is now majority Democrat.

Paying attention to the twenty percenters:

The truth is, government and the private sector have not adequately addressed the historical and structural causes of the deep poverty in Eastern North Carolina. The truth is, long before the Great Depression and the recent Great Recession, thousands of God's children of all colors lived on the edge of survival. The truth is, the recent economic and ecological tornadoes just made this structural poverty worse."

That's Reverend Barber, and here are a few words from Gene Nichol:

If you're not keeping up with Mark Binker's reporting, you're missing the best coverage of the NC GOP Tea Party Tantrum you'll find anywhere. Today's story sorts through what's likely to happen tomorrow in Raleigh.

The General Assembly is due to reconvene Wednesday to consider overriding Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the Racial Justice Act (background link), which allows death row inmates to challenge their sentences based on statistical data.

Here's my own take on the subject:

North Carolina has the second-longest federal judicial emergency in the nation.

Apparently shooting somebody in the front is okay:

"I said to all assembled, ‘Here is solid scientific evidence that these two Iraqis were shot from the front and not in their backs,'" he wrote in the letter. "Lt. Pantano is innocent."

Of course, this Doctor's letter of support leaves out the fact that Pantano had ordered the two Iraqis have their handcuffs removed just prior to him unloading two clips of ammo into their (unarmed) bodies. But since it was in the front, well...

I thought I'd make my first blog entry of the new year, and my first one as a Blue NC frontpager, a look at the state of our state on two issues that I care passionately about: voting rights & LGBT equality. The first map refers to photo ID voter suppression laws, and the second map refers to marriage discrimination constitutional amendments. For both maps, gray means the bad measure has not passed. And for both maps you can see that NC stands alone in the South as we start 2012.

This year we want BlueNC to be a more valuable resource for people in search of insights and information. One simple way to do that is to operate as a point guard, sharing content smoothly and purposefully.

Right now, we have a short list of North Carolina-focused "Places to Think" under the Right Rail. What sites should be added to that list?

We also want to create a new list of what might be considered "essentials." What sites should be on that list?

This is your chance to help set the agenda.

Pretty please?