I've always been somewhat interested in politics-and the older I get, the more focused I get locally.  You can have the drama in DC, thank you very much!

Because we have plenty here in our small town of Harrisburg NC.  Just north of Charlotte NC.  You probably last heard of Harrisburg when the first edition of Big Brother hit CBS....there was a lot of information on the AP about the battles between our hard-core Southern Baptist mayor and the openly gay resident of town on Big Brother.  Yes, we're very proud that THAT is how you know where we are!

But I digress.

There has been an ongoing battle in Harrisburg over retail space and the best planning for growth.  The residents, by an overwhelming majority, do NOT want big box retail in town (specifically Wal-Mart) and the town council has been very divided on this issue.  We fought and Wal-Mart died in the town meeting.  We continued the fight over Lowe's...and after a vote that was determined to be illegal, the re-vote came out against Lowe's this past week. 

Not sure why grown men turn into children at such times...but one of our council members who is an outspoken opponent of big box was barred from the vote because he had published articles in the local paper against big box.  At which point another councilman was barred because he published FOR big box in town.  Virginia Halter wrote about this meeting earlier this week when she was forced to leave the meeting because it was 'too large for the venue.'  What a crock.  They could have moved this meeting at any time-it was well-known in town that there would be a large turnout.

In today's Charlotte Observer, another article about the big box fight in Harrisburg surfaced.  Funny how the media tends to portray our town as close-minded and anti-growth (even if not in so many words), just because we don't want Wal-Mart (the feelings are pretty open toward Target).

And to top it off, the developers behind Lowe's are threatening to SUE THE TOWN to get their store built.  Which ticks me off, that they plan to tie up the town's money and the court system to force their way into where they're not wanted (if you didn't know, we have 2 Lowe's within a 10 mile radius already).

So I guess I'll have to run for mayor to put a stop to some of this foolishness, as much as I can.

My platform?

1. I'm not the current mayor.

2. I'll change venues if it's a hot topic.

3. I'm pro-Harrisburg. And that means understanding the difference between Wal-Mart and Target.