The voters of Rockingham will get an opportunity to meet and greet the three challengers for the seats on city council up for grabs in the upcoming November election this evening.
The three challengers for the open seats on the Rockingham City Council will hold a “Meet the Candidates” forum at 6:30 at the Long Leaf Bank Community Room.
They are educator Teressa Beavers, Perdue Human Resources Representative Travis Billingsley and Riley Paving General Manager Jerry Austin Jr.
Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited to attend.
I mean, who doesn't enjoy paying one of the highest propert tax rates in the state? Right? I mean, with all of these workers being laid off and having business after business up-roots and leave, our citizens have tons of excess cash to spend toward an increasing tax rate that we see tons in return from. Our tax dollars have brought us.....hummmmm, come to think of it, what has it brought us?
Here are a few statistics I found on our city:
In the last complete census survey, the median family income in the community was $33,534. Median family income in the U.S. was 50,046.
Per capita income in Rockingham in the last full census was 15,426. Per capita income in the U.S. was 21,587.
According to the most recent survey,families living below the poverty line in Rockingham numbered 476, or 18 percent of the population. The percentage of families in America living below the poverty line was 9.20%.
I'm not saying all candidates are good, and I'm not saying all current council members are bad. What I am saying is that if we are ever going to improve our situation, it starts by placing the right candidates in the position to make change happen...and I for one don't think that just because someone hasn't "voted" or because they are from a neighboring town doesn't make them incapable of making the right decisions.
And frankly...in Austin's defense, who has earned his vote?
Do the citizens of Rockingham really want a Hamlet native who just moved to Rockingham as one of our own City council members? I don't know Travis Billingsley and I mean no disrespect toward him, but he is an unknown quantity. What are his ideas and issues that motivated him to run for Rockingham City Council? I am afraid that he may bring those same Mean-Spirited,divisive politics that we see time and again in Hamlet to Rockingham. The citizens of Rockingham don't need that.
Is this the kind of change we need in Rockingham? A mayoral candidate, Bruce Stanback, who is the target of a federal investigation and two City Council candidates, Jerry Austin and Travis Billingsley, who have never voted in a Rockingham City election. Thats right, check their voter registration records, I have. Personally, I don't want a mayor that may be serving our City from a jail cell and I don't want any City Council members who are to lazy to exercise their constitutional right to vote for their leaders before they decide to try to be leaders themselves.