NORTH CAROLINA – U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx is holding a different kind of town hall meeting this week — 21st century style.

On Thursday, Foxx will host a telephone town hall on health care reform.

The call-in event is open to all those who live in North Carolina’s 5th District, which includes the northern three-fourths of Iredell County.

“We need sensible healthcare reform that is patient centered, not government-centered or insurance company-centered,” Foxx said. “In the midst of the national debate over healthcare reform many constituents want to know what their government is up to with healthcare.”
Foxx said the healthcare matter is moving too fast.

“North Carolina taxpayers are rightly demanding that Washington slow down the process and listen to their concerns,” Foxx said.

Fifth District residents can call into the town hall meeting by dialing 1-877-850-4133 at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 6 and entering the password FOXX (3699).

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue will speak to community leaders about the importance of small towns across North Carolina and their future.

She will speak at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Rural Center, 4021 Carya Drive.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Room to receive citizen comments on a draft ordinance that would establish a $250 limit on campaign contributions to candidates for town elected offices.

Information on the proposed ordinance may be obtained from the Town Clerk’s office (918-7309, E-Mail: swilliamson@townofcarrboro.org) located in the Carrboro Town Hall. Citizens are invited to comment.

The Meetings, Events & Activities Calendar is available at the following
location: http://www.townofcarrboro.org/docs.htm.

The Town of Carrboro, NC Web Site is available at the following location: http://www.townofcarrboro.org.

The Johnston County Board of Elections broke a tie in the Clayton Town Council election by asking a man selected at random to pull an envelope out of a box.

CLAYTON, N.C. — Clayton voters will elect two town council members Tuesday.

This comes more than a year after the State Board of Elections discarded the results of the November 2007 town council race because poll workers gave Clayton ballots to 18 people who live outside the town. The 18 votes could have made a difference for the second and third place candidates. 

Lawsuits about whether all or some of the candidates should be on the new ballot held up the new election. About six weeks ago, a judge ruled that all five candidates should be on the ballot.

The candidates are: Alexander Atchinson (incumbent), Alex Harding (incumbent), Art Holder, R.S. (Butch) Lawter, Jr., and Michael Starks.

Local officials expect a record low turnout.

“If there’s 500 people that show up I’ll be surprised,” said Leigh Anne Price, Director of the Johnston County Board of Elections.

About 9,500 people are eligible to vote in the election. Just 10 people voted early at the Board of Elections.

About 40 requested absentee ballots. The board received just one of those ballots back as of Friday, Price said.

“I just feel like since there’s nothing else on the ballot other than that, that people are just not going to come out for it like they would if there was more than one race on the ballot,” Price said.

In the November 2007 election, 1,188 people voted, she added.

Clayton residents can vote at their local precincts on Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

CLAYTON, N.C. - Clayton voters will have to wait another month to choose their town council, after waiting nearly a year for the legal battle over last year’s election to be resolved.