Birdies and Bogeys

Birdie: By Cate Edwards, the granddaughter of Robbins residents Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, for representing North Carolina so well on national television last week. Edwards, who recently graduated from Princeton University, introduced her mother at the Democratic National Convention. Standing before a crowd of 15,000 screaming delegates and a television audience that numbered in the millions, the young Edwards came off as poised, polished and poignant — a striking image of all that is right with the Old North State and the South.

Bogey: By the county of Moore’s bureaucrats for being so difficult about the $43,617 in leftover funds for the Hillcrest Park project. The county trumpeted the fund-raising effort several years ago as a public-private partnership. The nonprofit foundation that raised the money wants to spend the remaining balance on improvements to the facility. Now that the ball fields have been built, the county says all the leftover money belongs to the government to spend it as it sees fit — probably on its bloated legal department. That’s hardly a partnership.

Birdie: By the town of Southern Pines for wasting no time in getting the downtown train depot project under way. The initiative, which should be completed by the year’s end, holds great promise as a magnet for attracting locals and tourists alike to the shops of Broad Street. That is, if they can resist the siren’s song of renting out the space to a T-shirt shop or real estate firm. The space, which the town received for free, cries out for a use that defines our community — like a visitors center. This special space cries out for a special purpose.