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WEEK OF JUNE 16, 2010 www.newsatnorman.com DENVER / LAKE NORMAN, NC

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Presorted Standard U.S. Postage Paid Denver, NC 28037 Permit #03 Please vote next Tuesday for East Lincoln’s future.

A critical GOP primary runoffelection is being held nextTuesday, and everyone in thiscommunity should get out andvote, if you’re eligible to do so. Denver's Carl Robinson ledthe Republican ticket in theMay Primary for county com-mission and will be on the bal-lot in November. But a runoffbetween Denver's Jim Kleinand west Lincoln's CeceliaMartin will determine who thesecond candidate will be in thegeneral election. You’ve seen the signs, read theLetters to the Editor, and seenthe advertisements for the twocandidates. There’s been a lot

of chatting back and forth aboutthe candidates. Some residentsin both areas are fired up. Now it is time to act. However, this is more thanjust an East vs. West thing.With the economy in a mess,and the future development ofall of Lincoln County at stake,

the qualification we really needto consider is experience. WhileCecelia Martin is a lifelongcounty resident, she has no realexperience in the issues thatmatter locally, and has not evenshown an interest in the CountyCommission until now. She isprobably a wonderful person,but we can't ignore the fact thatshe is just not very knowledge-able about county issues.And although we at the news-

paper may not have seen eye-to-eye with Jim Klein fromtime to time, he knows the is-sues we face here in East Lin-coln and has been on ourcommunity's side when it mat-

ters. He knows the struggleswe’ve had to overcome as webattled to gain the respect ourpopulation and tax base de-serve. Most importantly, hewants ALL of Lincoln Countyto be a better place to callhome.So this is the challenge. If youare a registered Republican orunaffiliated voter (who did notvote in the Democratic primaryin May), you should and mustvote on June 22. Even if youdid not take the time to vote lastmonth, you get a secondchance. This is a time to act…not sit back and complain whenthings don’t go right.

In May, residents of The Ter-races had a 44 percent turnout.What an example we should allstrive for! Rides are being offered forthose who can’t drive to theirvoting place. Just call 704-820-3980. And since we don’t haveearly voting available in EastLincoln this time around, weneed to all mark Tuesday, June22 on the calendar. Please make this your priorityfor that day. Some call it the“do or die time” for the east.Our future may well depend onit. It’s your right to vote, butit’s also your obligation to yourcommunity.

Now is the time to act - and vote - for our community’s future

Anna J.Fortenberry

Photo by Doreen Sugierski

As "Pomp and Circumstance" plays in the stadium, North Lincoln seniors happily cross the fieldone last time to participate in commencement. Photos of ELHS and NLHS graduation inside.

EAST or WEST?Voters to decidebalance of power

By Ken H. FortenberryWill East Lincoln, with itslarge population and tax base,retain majority control of thecounty commission or will itshift back torural westLincoln andinto thehands ofthose “whocreatedmany of ourproblems,”according toone of thecandidates?That deci-sion may be up to Republicanand unaffiliated voters who goto the polls next Tuesday (June22) to determine whether Den-ver’s Jim Klein or Crouse’s Ce-celia Martin will be the second

GOP nominee for the county’sgoverning board.The winner will join Denver’sCarl Robinson Jr. and face De-mocrats Bob Richardson andLoy Dellinger in November.Robinson led the GOP ticket inthe May primary, and Martinfell short of the margin sheneeded to avoid a runoff withthird-place finisher Jim Klein,who is completing his first termon the board.Klein’s supporters are count-ing on a heavy voter turnout inthe Denver area to put theircandidate over the top and havebeen working behind the scenesfor several weeks on a get-out-the-vote effort that went publicrecently. They are now blanket-ing several precincts with hand-outs, phone calls and visits, and

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Commencement at NLHS

Jim Klein