Published on: 2005-02-20

 

The Feb. 12 editorial, "What's Fair?," discouraged the legislative work of state Rep. Marvin Lucas and state Sen. Larry Shaw while finally agreeing with proposed annexation victims that they will receive little in the short term.

Tim White, the Observer's editorial page editor, does not feel that this annexation is un-American ("Annex everything," Feb. 13). He suggests that annexation is just an everyday function of government like rezoning a neighborhood or adding a few cents to the tax rate.

Take a good look at the members of the Fayetteville City Council. What makes them any more qualified to vote on annexation than the residents involved? The council members remind me of candidates for shows like the Jerry Springer show. People on that show seem to want to do anything just to be in the spotlight. City Councilman Curtis Worthy said he supports the "silent majority." Springer would like him because he can read minds. If people are silent, then you can't hear them.

I finally received a letter from the governor's office. The ombudsman who replied indicated that annexation should be resolved locally. I received a similar response from the lieutenant governor's office a few weeks ago. This past summer the county attorney sent a letter which indicated the county commissioners had no power as far as annexations. So who can residents ask for assistance?

The "Big Bang" annexation appears to be the plan of the city manager. His degree is in politics. That would point to a person who has planned the annexation much like a chess game. If you are going to plan a land grab, do it where you will not offend anyone powerful. One might note that most of the annexation is in Shaw's district. Very little is in Rand's district. One who majors in politics would know the rules of the "short session" of the legislature. Shaw's bill to stop the "Big Bang" was prevented from being heard because of the senate rules for the short session.

Shaw invited me to be his guest on the state Senate floor when he was sworn in with the rest of the newly elected senate. I was present for one of the first orders of business, adopting the rules of the Senate.

Sen. Horton proposed an amendment to the rules. It appears that in one portion of the rules the word "shall" was changed to the word "may." It appears that a committee chairman "may" now bring bills before their committees rather than "shall." Horton was concerned that a committee chairman would now unfairly be able to prevent another senator's bill from being debated even at the committee level. The Senate voted and I believe the vote was 21 to 27 defeating Horton's amendment. Considering that Rand was able to stop Shaw's annexation bill during the short session because of the rules of the short session, it would appear that he now has the power to stop it again during the long session. The news of this amendment never made it to the Fayetteville newspaper.

White states he does not think annexation is un-American. I think it is un-American to annex soldiers while they are preoccupied with fighting enemies of our country.

Remember as well that the city showed favoritism to a gated community, excusing them for five years. If the city had its way, soldiers would not even be excused for a day. Many of us believe it is an important enough issue that it should be determined by a good old American vote, not by a political game of chess.

Walter Murphy is a founder of the Cumberland County Citizens United, which filed a suit against the annexation of some 42,000 people and 27 square miles.