Burke APRIL 15, 2011
DISTRICT 44
Caldwell APRIL ISSUE #2
Dear Friends, We have now completed 45 legislative days at the North Carolina General Assembly. Though we have worked at a dizzying pace, we remain focused on breaking the trend of annual tax increases by right-sizing the government and getting it out of the way of the job creating private sector. I am excited to tell you about the legislation that has recently emerged at the General Assembly, because I feel that it ultimately affects and benefits you, the hard working people of North Carolina.
Warren and Breanna McKay
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Senator Warren T. Daniel Legislative Office Bldg., Room 411 300 N. Salisbury St. Raleigh, NC 27603-5925 Email: warren.daniel@ncleg.net Phone: 919-715-7823 Fax: 919-754-3265
District Office of Sen. Warren Daniel 348 Harper Avenue NW Lenoir, NC 28645 Email: senwarrendaniel@bellsouth.net Phone: 828-754-9335 Fax 828-754-9335 (Please call before faxing) www.facebook.com
** http://bit.ly/SenDaniel (For pictures, more news, resources)
Senate Bill 22 is an important bill that was passed and signed by the governor last week. It forbids any new rules and regulations to be placed on the private sector, until a joint committee of House and Senate members reviews the rules which are already in place and determines which ones are burdensome and ineffective. The committee is touring the state and hearing suggestions about the regulations from citizens, business owners and environmentalists. More than 15,000 rules have been put on the books over the past decade. For years, these burdensome regulations on businesses have created uncertainty in the private sector and stifled job growth and economic recovery. The small businesses and companies in our state deserve the freedom to profit and create jobs. With this law enacted, North Carolina businesses that have been strangled by years of over-regulation will now have an increased ability to exercise this freedom. The next piece of legislation that has now passed in both the House and the Senate is the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. This bill passed in the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 45-4, and it should be on Governor Perdue’s desk for signature next week. Once this bill becomes law, North Carolina will have one of the toughest Unborn Victims statutes in the country. As my colleague, Senator Thom Goolsby, said on the floor today, every person in North Carolina who commits an act of violence against a woman of childbearing age is now on notice that you may be charged with a crime against both a mother and her unborn child. Mrs. Brenda Greer of Caldwell County was in the gallery today to watch the debate on this bill. In October, 1986, Mrs. Greer, who was 8 months pregnant, lost her unborn child through an act of criminal recklessness. As she and her husband were traveling, they were struck by a drunk driver. Brenda received relatively minor injuries, including a broken leg, but her daughter Kandy Renae’s umbilical cord was severed, , and she did not survive.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: THE HALIFAX RESOLVES The resolution was adopted by the Fourth Provincial Congress of the Province of North Carolina on April 12, 1776, during the American Revolution. The resolution helped pave the way for the United States to declare independence from Great Britain and mobilize public support for the Declaration of Independence.
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Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jerry and Dollie Woods on their 50th wedding aniversary.
Congratulations to Mr. Carl Anderson of Lenoir on his 70th birthday.
Burke
DISTRICT 44
Caldwell Page 2
APRIL 15, 2011
The drunk driver was charged with manslaughter based on the death of the child, but the charge was ultimately dismissed because Kandy Renae was not a legally recognized person. This Unborn Victims law will ensure that this crime will be punished in the future.
Civil War History & the Daniel Family
It is also worth mentioning that Governor Perdue continues to follow through on her threat to drown Republican reforms - and North Carolina taxpayers - in a sea of red ink. By doing so, the governor is ignoring the outcome of the 2010 elections and the will of the voters. On Wednesday, Governor Perdue vetoed Senate Bill 265, which would close a $515 million shortfall in the State Health Plan by requiring state employees and retirees to pay a small health insurance premium - about 5 percent - and make $10 copays for generic prescriptions. The irony of this veto is that these changes to the State Health Plan were nearly identical to the ones made by the governor in her own budget proposal. One can only speculate on the reasons why the governor chose to veto her own plan. Ultimately, this veto puts the State Health Plan at financial risk. In addition to this veto, the governor also vetoed House Bill 7, which gives local control to North Carolina community colleges in decisions about federal loan programs. This unprecedented "double-veto" should not surprise North Carolinians. Just last week, Governor Perdue boasted at a fundraising event that she planned to use a "quart jar of red ink" to veto Republican legislation. Finally, I was privileged to meet this week with a group of community leaders from Caldwell County who traveled to Raleigh to ask questions and express their concerns to Representatives Edgar Starnes, Phillip Frye, and myself. Among them was Breanna McKay (pictured above), the granddaughter of Cajah’s Mountain Councilman Jerry Woods. Until next week, I hope all of you enjoy this warm spring weather. Please continue to contact my offices about your concerns and ideas about proposed legislation. My office staff members are always ready to assist you with issues that affect your families and communities. Sincerely,
Isaac Erwin Avery was born December 20, 1828, on the old Swan Ponds Plantation near Morganton in Burke County. Col. Avery survived the battles of Richmond, Antietam and Chancellorsville before being killed in action during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg on July 3rd, 1863. In October 1905, President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1901-1909) delivered a speech in Raleigh at the unveiling of a statue of the Englishman, Sir Walter Raleigh, from which the state capital of North Carolina takes its name. According to the Atlanta Journal the President's program contained words he struggled and choked to read from a slip of yellow-aged paper. The short message that left both men speechless that day in Raleigh had been etched in human blood. Written over forty years earlier, it said all that could ever be asked or all that could ever be expected from a soldier - North or South: "Major, tell my father I died with my face to the enemy." Fun Fact: Isaac Avery is a distant relative of Mrs. Lydia Daniel. Her family still owns the farm the Avery’s built.
Colonel Isaac Avery
Fort Sumter On Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter, firing for 34 straight hours, thus beginning America’s bloodiest war with a total cost of nearly 620,000 American lives.
LOCAL LEGEND: BURGESS SIDNEY GAITHER Burgess Gaither (March 16, 1807 – February 23, 1892) was a prominent North Carolina politician and attorney who served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War. Admitted to the state bar in 1829, Gaither practiced law and served as clerk of court in Burke County. He was also elected to represent the county in the 1835 convention to revise the North Carolina Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina Senate in 1840-41 and again in 1844-45, where he served as President pro tempore. He represented the state in the First Confederate Congress and the Second Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1865. Gaither died in Morganton shortly before what would have been his 85th birthday.