Nick Picerno and Tim Lea appear to the be the winners in the two County Commissioner races that appeared on Tuesday's Republican Primary ballot, though incumbent Commissioner Lea's lead over Challenger Tim Sloan was a razor thin 113 votes, or 1.1 percent, out of the 10,019 cast. The Southern Pines Pilot newspaper reported that Sloan will ask the Board of Elections for a recount in the race.
    Picerno, a McLendon HIlls resident, won by a more convincing margin, picking up 5,780, or 55.5%, of the 10,414 cast in the contest to succeed current Board of Commissioners chairman Colin McKenzie. Despite having McKenzie's endorsement, Fiorillo, who serves as the Chairman of the Moore County Planning Board and once served as Moore County Planning Director, fell more than 1,100 votes short of Pincerno's total.
    In the Seven Lakes Precinct, Picerno's lead was slightly stronger — 59 percent to 41 percent — while Lea bested Sloan 60 percent to 40 percent. [Reporting precinct by precinct numbers is complicated by the fact that election night results provided by the Board of Elections do not assign the votes of those who used One Stop Voting Centers to their home precinct.]
    No Democrat is competing for the District II and IV Commissioners' seats, so, barring an independent petition candidate, the winners of Tuesday's GOP primary will join the Board of Commissioners in November.

Sales Tax Defeated
    The other county government-related issue on Tuesday's ballot was a referendum on a proposed additional quarter-cent county sales tax, which failed 63 percent to 37 percent. It fared only slightly better in Seven Lakes, where voters rejected the new tax 55 percent to 45 percent.

Boles Wins GOP House Race
    State Representative Joe Boylan, hampered by both DUI charges and a low effectiveness rating from a state non-profit, will not return to District 52 seat in the NC House of Representatives.  The incumbent managed to garner only 25% of the vote, less than winner Jamie Boles, at 47 percent and Lane Toomey, at 28 percent.
    Boylan's returns were even worse in Seven Lakes, where he took only 20 percent of the vote, with Boles at 47 percent and Toomey at 33 percent.
    Boles will face Democrat Betty Mangum in the General Election in November.

The May 2 edition of The Seven Lakes Times is now available for download in pdf format.

Highlights of this 44-page issue include:

- Donna Stephan has resigned from the SLLA Board of Directors after coming under fire from fellow Directors after The Times a letter from Stephan questioning who should decide the fate of the Seven Lakes Country Club Driving Range.

- The Westside Board is urging landowners to approve a covenant change necessary to clear the way for home mail delivery in Seven Lakes West, if the Postal Service agrees to curbside delivery.

- Onetime SLWLA Board Candidate Jim Johnson, representing a group called "Dam Friends of the Lake," is urging the Westside Board to obtain a second engineering opinion on repairs to the Lake Auman Dam.

- The Moore County Board of Commissioners voted to rebate sales tax and property tax revenues to the Moore County Airport Authority in order to help fund the construction of new hangars at the airport.

- Moore County Public Schools is looking for $26.7 million in county funding for the coming fiscal year.

- Laura explores the ubiquity of China, Mason wonders about the curious beast that is the human being, and a whole host of folks weigh in on their favorite candidates in the upcoming May 6 primary elections.

Download the pdf edition and read it all this morning, pick up a copy at locations all over Seven Lakes this afternoon, or check your mailbox tomorrow.

    Director Donna Stephan resigned from the Seven Lakes Landowners Association Board [SLLA] Wednesday Night, a casualty of continuing conflict over the proposed development of the Seven Lakes Country Club [SLCC] driving range.
    Though a Superior Court judge ruled two weeks ago against a lawsuit aimed at stopping development of the old driving range, the issue continued to create division and controversy during the SLLA Open Meeting, held on Wednesday, April 30.
    Stephan, who served as the chair of the SLLA Architectural Review Board [ARB], said she could no longer work with a group of people who questioned her integrity and resigned from both the ARB and the Board of Directors.
    Two weeks ago, Stephan published a letter in The Times questioning who should determine the fate of the old driving range. Believing that her letter undermined the agreement between the SLLA and SLCC, the Board responded to the letter by offering Stephan three options: resign from her chairmanship prior to the Open Meeting; continue as chair of ARB but recuse herself from any discussion regarding the old range; or create an ad-hoc ARB committee, without Stephan’s participation, to oversee any potential development of the old range.
    “Does this board have any thoughts on the difference between a conflict of interest and an opinion?” queried Stephan.
    Continuing with a prepared statement, Stephan said she believed her loyalty to the community and the decisions of her committee will stand the test of time. She said her primary responsibility was to the landowners and that new construction continues to improve and will increase the value and investment of all homes in Seven Lakes.

    The Westside Board of Directors is urging landowners to vote "yes" on a proposed covenant change that would make curbside mail delivery possible in the community, President Jim Haggard told  told landowners during the Tuesday, April 22, General Meeting of the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA].
    Both the covenant change ballot and a sheet explaining it will be included in the Annual Dues packets, which are scheduled to be mailed out on May 1.
    Language in the Seven Lakes West covenants that dates back to the early days of the community prohibits the approval of new roadside mailboxes once a centralized mailhouse has been constructed. The ballot simply asks landowners whether they favor deleting that language. Without the deletion, the Westside could not have curbside mail delivery, even if the US Postal Service agreed to it.
    Deleting the paragraph will require a "yes" vote from sixty-seven percent of all landowners.
    "The Board strongly supports deleting the mailhouse covenants to maximize our options going forward," Haggard said at the end of the April meeting. "The Board strongly suggests voting yes for the deletion — not as a vote on how delivery should be done, but to give us the option."
    The offending paragraph, Legal Affairs Director Ed Silberhorn explained, is included in the covenants for Seven Lakes West lots, but not in the covenants of the Morgan Wood, The Pinnacle, or Beacon Ridge neighborhoods. However, the  2002 agreement that merged the Westside Associations requires that all landowners — no matter the neighborhood — must vote on this proposed change.
    Westsiders can look for the ballot as the last stapled page in the dues packet, Haggard said. The explanation sheet will be up front, following the President's cover letter.

    In the end, the airport got what it asked for: tax dollars to build new hangars.
    The Moore County Board of Commissioners, meeting on Monday, April 21, voted to give the Moore County Airport Authority the county's share of sales taxes collected at the airport, as well as the ad valorem property taxes the county collects on planes housed at the airport. Together, the two revenue streams amount to roughly $150,000 per year — a figure that will grow if the airport is successful in attracting new pilots and their planes.
    The commissioners have been debating whether and how to support the airport authority's hangar project for several weeks. The Airport Authority has claimed it lacks the financial wherewithal to borrow the $2 million needed to fund the project. They asked that the county either borrow the money to build the hangars or rebate the sales and property taxes in order to strengthen the Authority's financial position.
    Other North Carolina Counties funnel airport-related tax receipts back to the airport operation, including, according to Chairman Colin McKenzie, in neighboring Lee County. McKenzie said in a statement during the Commissioners April 7 meeting that the county is obligated to rebate these taxes to the airport. That appears to be the case for sales taxes collected on the sale of aviation fuel; the rebate of those taxes is called for in documents governing the county's acceptance of state and federal grants for airport capital projects. County Attorney Misty Randall Leland told The Times that she has found no agreement or statutory language that would obligate the county to give the airport tax revenues on planes housed at the facility.

    Moore County Schools [MCS] is asking the county for $26.7 million to fund operations and construction in Fiscal Year 2008-2009 — a 7.6% increase over last year's local funding request.
    MCS Superintendent Dr. Susan Purser presented the County Board of Commissioners with the budget request during their April 21 regular meeting. In North Carolina, both state and local governments particpate in providing funding for public education.
    "We are about children, and everything that we do is about first, safety, and then the academic progress of our children," Purser told the Commissioners. She thanked the Board for supporting a "sizable" budget increase last year and noted that "there is seldom anything taken off the plate of the schools, but often more things are added."
    Purser began with increases related to "stuff that we can't control," that is, programs already approved and underway and cost-of-living related increases.

    One-stop early absentee voting for the May Primary Election begins Thursday, April 17 at the Moore County Agricultural Center in Carthage. Additional early voting sites -- including the Old West End School Gym -- will open on April 28.

    If you haven't yet registered to vote, voting early is the only way to participate in the May Primary. Regular voter registration has closed for the Primary, but you can register and vote all in one stop at the One-Stop Voting centers.

One-Stop Voting Centers

    Here's information from the Moore County Board of Elections about the One-Stop Voting Centers: 

    Beginning Thursday, April 17, the One Stop Voting site at the Moore County Agricultural Center will be open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m., 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, and on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Roughly 50 to 60 voters per hour can be accommodated at these sites, so plan accordingly. Arrive at the voting site no later than 20 to 30 minutes before the closing time, if possible.    
    On April 28, 2008, additional sites will be opened at the Moore County Airport in Southern Pines and at the Old West End School Gym. These sites will be open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p. m.