Columns

At the annual N.C. Fourth of July Parade in Southport last Friday, a cheering section of sorts formed in front of Southport Baptist Church, where a master of ceremonies was stationed to describe each parade entry.

Every time a car, band or float passed by the church, the M.C. would describe the person or the organization represented, and, every time, a group of people behind me would let out “whoops” and “whoos” for them—whether they knew who the people were or not.

M.C.: “The mayor of Anytown, U.S.A.!”

The N.C. Department of Transportation has some money tucked away in its coffers, although we don’t seem to see it in action much around here.

Two of the newest road improvements are the new superstreet designs at the busy intersections of U.S. 17 and Mount Pisgah and Ocean Isle Beach roads. If you can’t remember where you’ve heard the term superstreet before—think the year-old intersections on U.S. 17 in Leland.

Apparently no one, not even DOT, could argue these busy intersections didn’t need major improvements.

Perhaps it would be wise to do research before naming the new middle school in the Cedar Grove community. Once a school is named, it is open to scrutiny as to why the name was chosen. Surrounding counties are research-savvy when it comes to Brunswick County, and some of their recent findings have not been positive.

Schools in Brunswick County have received stinging press reviews, which include poor test scores and several inappropriate teacher/student relationship allegations.

First of all, I don’t care what you say, at the end of the day, prefacing your sentences with meaningless phrases is annoying. (See?)

If you need time to work on how you’re going to word your statement correctly, just work it out in your head before opening your mouth, then go directly to your statement.