Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1481514
10 UCW OCTOBER 12 - 18, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Want to keep PWC from being sold? Vote Yes in November. When somebody tells me I can't vote, it makes me want to vote even more. It makes me want to vote six times instead of just twice for Fayetteville Council offices. e City Council's actions tell the citizens of Fayetteville that we should not be allowed to vote on the proposal to change the way the Council is elected. e road blocks thrown up against voting by the Council are not sur- prising. People in power seldom want to give up power. e Council is no exception. ey like being in power. If more people are allowed to vote, we might vote wrong, thus endangering their power. e Council has done its best to prevent citizens from voting on this proposal. It twice postponed its vote to put the referendum on the No- vember ballot. It waited until the last day to actually vote against it due to concerns that a non-existent form had not been completed by the pro- ponents of the referendum. By delaying the vote until the last day, the Council apparently hoped that ballots could not be printed in time for the November election. Like Dean Wormer in "Animal House," the Council used the non- existent form excuse to put Fayetteville voters on Double Secret Probation to prevent them from voting. e Vote Yes folks immediately filed a law suit to put the referendum on the November ballot. Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons or- dered Vote Yes to appear on the ballot. e Council then filed an appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals seeking to stop the vote. e Court of Appeals denied the Council's appeal and ordered the Vote to go on in November. If something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it is probably a duck. e City Council is a duck. It wants to duck and cover up your right to vote. e Council's scrambling to prevent the Vote Yes initiative shows they don't want the voters to decide how they want to be governed. Any political group, Democrats or Republicans, which wants to prevent people from voting is no fan of Democracy. Currently you can vote for two people on the City Council, the Mayor and your District Representative. Five thousand Fayetteville citizens signed a petition to put to a vote the proposal to change the election to allow a citizen to vote for six members of the Council, the Mayor, 4 at-large Council members and a District Representative. Six votes are more than two votes. e average voter gets much more input into how the city is governed if Vote Yes passes. Your vote yes is crucial. Local ownership of PWC is on the line. e current Council is quite likely to vote to sell PWC down the river, kill- ing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Like a zombie from "e Walking Dead," the double secret deal to sell PWC will rise from the grave. e Council will get a big wad of money from the sale to use for pet projects. e windfall will be spent. e current Council will ulti- mately leave office. Local control of PWC will end. PWC rates and preventive main- tenance of utilities will take a back seat to the interests of out of state shareholders interested in squeez- ing every dollar from Fayetteville residents. Citizens will be left hold- ing a very expensive empty bag. If you want to keep local control of your City Council and prevent the sale of PWC, Vote Yes on the referendum. To quote Woody Guthrie: "Nobody living can ever stop me/ As I go walking the freedom highway/ Nobody living can ever make me turn back/ is Land was made for you and me." Get out and vote yes, this local government and PWC were made for you and me. Vote Yes to save PWC by PITT DICKEY PITT DICKEY, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. OPINION Letters to the Editor Do YOU have something to say? We want YOU to be heard! We want EVERYONE to be able to voice their opinions on current community events. Let us be a place to start much needed conversations. ALL VOICES WELCOMED! EMAIL: editor@upandcomingweekly.com CALL: 910-484-6200