Patrick Henry hated two things: tyranny and James Madison. That’s why in 1788, Henry persuaded the Virginia General Assembly to re-draw the 5th Congressional District to favor his friend James Monroe. The ploy didn’t work because of Madison’s popularity across party lines, but it does mark the first documented case of gerrymandering in America. Since then, the practice of fiddling with boundaries has become commonplace, especially here in North Carolina.
To be fair, both major political parties have engaged in gerrymandering, a strategy designed to protect incumbents of whichever party was in power at the time. It is also sometimes employed to strengthen that party’s hold on the state legislature or increase their numbers within the congressional delegation. Lately, though, the GOP’s map-drawing activities have been particularly heavy-handed and ballsy, considering that Democrats outnumber Republicans on the voter rolls.
In recent times such gerrymandering has been designed to dilute Democrat and minority voting and make it unlikely for Black candidates to win a seat in Congress. To that point, earlier in this decade, Republicans once held 10 of North Carolina’s 13 congressional seats. But the census and the courts changed that equation when our state picked up an additional congressional district, and a panel of special masters came up with a map that resulted in each party holding seven seats.
Earlier last month, the Republican-controlled N.C. Senate re-drew district lines that can be used for the 2024 election, and with a conservative Supreme Court in the mix, the GOP stands to unfairly gain seats in both Raleigh and Washington. But if that kind of political skullduggery leaves a bad taste in your mouth, just wait until it actually affects the taste of your drinking water, and it could.
According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, we need to spend between $17 billion and $26 billion dollars to ensure that our water and wastewater infrastructure systems don’t pose a hazard to our health. Speaking with the Winston-Salem Journal’s John Deem, NCDEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser said, “Our communities are dealing with an aging infrastructure. A lot of pipes that were put in the ground before any of us were born, are made out of terracotta and wood, and they’re leaking and losing water and wastewater throughout our state.”
As Deem reports, last month Republican lawmakers approved $2 billion dollars for replacing and improving more than 200 local water and sewer projects. But Democrats like Guilford representative Pricey Harrison point out that those budget allocations were not formulated based on the highest need, but rather on which localities are controlled by Republicans. To be specific, the North Carolina Conservation Network estimates that 83% of the funding will be spent in counties and cities that are, “represented exclusively by Republicans in the General Assembly,” and only 2.5% will go to areas ”represented entirely by Democrats.” That, my friends, is gerrymandering at its worst.
Sam Chan, a spokesperson for Gov. Roy Cooper told the Journal, “It’s wrong to divide up money in the back room based on politics…the need is great for clean water infrastructure that’s critical for our health and our economy, and it cheats taxpayers not to get the best use of every dollar.”
Patrick Henry once said, “Give me liberty or give me death!” He also opposed “taxation without representation”. But thanks to his pioneering efforts in the art of gerrymandering, we are slowly losing our liberty by having our tax dollars spent without fair and balanced representation, and that’s hard to swallow, with or without water.
JL:: How many kids auditioned for the role of Little Ricky in I Love Lucy?
Mayberry Days runs from Monday, September 18 through Sunday, September 25. For more information visit 
Posted November 21, 2023 By Triad TodayJFK and the First Thanksgiving
President John F. Kennedy receives a turkey presented to him for Thanksgiving by the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board.
Photo By Abbie Rowe, White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Presidents are only human, so they make mistakes. No, I’m not talking about Bill Clinton hooking up with Monica Lewinski, or Joe Biden forgetting which way to walk off stage. I’m talking about John Kennedy, and how he misread history, unintentionally insulted the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was compelled to make amends.
The story begins on Wednesday December 4, 1619. That’s the day 38 English settlers from the London Company navigated their ship down the James River and onto Berkeley Hundred (Harrison’s Landing), in what is now Charles City, Virginia, just 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, which had been settled 12 years prior. The landing party was led by Captain John Woodlief, who, as prescribed in the company charter, ordered a day of Thanksgiving to be observed upon their arrival, and every December 4th thereafter.
Over time, Berkeley became known for its historic firsts. The first bourbon whiskey was made there in 1621 (by a preacher no less). “Taps” was played for the first time while the Union army was encamped at Berkeley in 1862. And, of course, it was the site of America’s first Thanksgiving. More on that in a moment.
In 1907 Berkeley was purchased by John Jamieson who had served as a Union drummer boy during the army’s encampment at the plantation. Ownership later fell to his son (and my friend) Malcolm, who passed away in 1997. Mac loved Berkeley and was aggressive in marketing the historic site, including through the use of promotional videos and commercials which I helped to produce. He invited the public to tour the house and grounds, sold Berkeley boxwoods and bourbon, and held an annual Thanksgiving pageant which attracted tourists from across the country. But the celebration wasn’t always widely recognized.
One hundred years after his father beat the Yankee drums at Berkeley, Mac was upset by something another Yankee did. In the fall of 1962, President Kennedy issued his yearly Thanksgiving Proclamation in which he recognized his home state of Massachusetts as the site of America’s first Thanksgiving. And so, on November 9th of that year, Virginia state Senator John Wicker was prompted by Mac to write to the President, and point out Kennedy’s faux pas. In his telegram, Wicker referenced historical records about Berkeley’s celebration, which took place one full year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620.
Later that year, Kennedy confidant and noted historian Arthur Schlesinger sent a reply to Wicker with a tongue-in-cheek apology from the President. According to Berkeley records, Schlesinger “attributed the error to unconquerable New England bias on the part of the White House staff.”
The following year, on November 5, 1963, President Kennedy had to eat crow during his annual Thanksgiving proclamation, saying, “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and Massachusetts, far from home, in a lonely wilderness, set aside a day of thanksgiving.” Kennedy’s New England bias wouldn’t allow him to disavow Plymouth entirely, but Mac was happy that Berkeley finally gained official recognition for holding the first Thanksgiving, even if it was a shared honor. Sadly, it was to be Kennedy’s last proclamation. He was assassinated seventeen days later in Dallas.
The holiday season is now upon us, and that means gathering together with friends and family to share food, gifts, and goodwill. And, despite the personal and financial losses we might have endured over the past few years, we will find a way to give thanks for what we have and who we’re with. Perhaps we would also do well to emulate those weary English settlers, and just be thankful for surviving another day of our long journey. So, here’s a Berkeley bourbon toast to Captain Woodlief, a little drummer boy, old Mac, and to that Yankee president who finally set the record straight.
God bless, and Happy Thanksgiving.