For the 2003 county convention, the Democrats will gather at the Westmoore Agri-Civic Center. The convention will begin at 11 a.m.
Former state Sen. Howard Lee of Chapel Hill will be guest speaker.
A number of people will be recognized during the convention. They include Cecil Hackney, former principal of North Moore High School and a former member of the Board of Elections; Wallace and Bobbie Edwards of Robbins, parents of U.S. Sen. John Edwards; Robbins Mayor Mickey Brown; former state Sen. Wanda Hunt; Board of Education member Dale Frye, and Frank McNeill Jr., a former member of the school board.
Former state Rep. Leslie Cox and Jimmy Love, who was an unsuccessful candidate for state Senate last year, have also been invited but have not responded. Both live in Sanford.
Newton tells Pilot Light that scheduling the convention in the western part of the county on Stoneybrook day is something of a gamble. But he says it is also a diversion and will give Democrats from other parts of the county an opportunity to see the scenic Westmoore community and to visit historic pottery country.
The Westmoore Agri-Civic Center is located on N.C. 705 north of Robbins.
HEALTH CARE RALLY — What is expected to be the single largest turnout of health care professionals in North Carolina in history will take place in Raleigh Tuesday.
More than a thousand doctors, hospital and health care facilities representatives and other health care professionals from across the state — including a group from Moore County — will converge on the Legislative Building to urge state legislators to adopt meaningful legislative liability reform.
The event is sponsored by the North Carolina Access to Quality Health Care Coalition, which includes the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association, the N.C. Hospital Association and the N.C. Medical Society.
FirstHealth of the Carolinas is taking a bus to the rally. The local group will meet with Moore County’s two legislators, state Rep. Richard Morgan, who is co-speaker of the House, and state Sen. Harris Blake.
GOODWIN — State Rep. Wayne Goodwin of Richmond County has indicated that he will not seek re-election next year and instead will seek the Democratic nomination for state secretary of labor.
If the original 2001 redistricting plan had been adopted, Goodwin, a Democrat, would have served a district covering several precincts in the southern part of Moore County. A superior court judge overturned that plan last year when a group of Republicans appealed.
Cherie Berry, a Republican and a former state representative, presently serves as state secretary of labor.
HOG BAN — A bill has been introduced into the state Senate to extend the moratorium on industrial-size hog farms until Sept. 1, 2005.
Sen. Charlie Albertson introduced the bill last week. If it passes both chambers, the bill would prevent new hog farms and the expansion of existing hog farms until an improved system of waste disposal is developed and implemented.
State Rep. Richard Morgan, now co-speaker of the state House, was instrumental in passage of the initial moratorium bill, which went into effect in 1997. That moratorium expires Sept. 1.
Albertson said N.C. State University scientists have developed some promising technologies for hog waste disposal systems and says the state should wait until that research is complete.
STATE BUDGET — If new sources of revenue are not found, the state faces serious budget cutbacks again this year.
This was the warning from Secretary of Health and Human Services Carmen Hooker Odom.
She presented a list of possible cuts in her department, ranging from $64 million in cuts to the Medicaid program to an $11.6 million reduction in Smart Start funding.
She also mentioned $24.7 million in cuts to community-based mental health services.
“If we go to this level of cuts, we will see catastrophic results,” Hooker Odom told legislators.
