Comments | Eastern NC Now

Befuddled: Kidwell needs to go Audi 5000 and fade into obscurity like Mark Robinson has. I don't understand (I actually do understand) how he keeps "winning re-election" when many common sense conservatives cannot stand him. Either it's rigged OR somebody's got a few tapes of the ol' Karpetbagger with his name in sharpie across the top.

JS: Kidwell IS NOT a strong conservative leader in the NC House; He's a legend in his own mind and not even a native of NC. Everyone knows he's an a-hole but yet some in this area still vote for him because......he's got an "R" by his name. THAT's the biggest problem; people who still think that the GOP does no wrong and that the two-party system is legit.

Insanity- Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results

Commented: Thursday, November 13th, 2025 @ 1:30 pm By: John Valley

Recently a friends 16 year old daughter got her drivers license and when they were doing the information stuff, they asked her if she wanted to register to vote. This was here in Beaufort County.

Commented: Thursday, November 13th, 2025 @ 7:41 am By: Countrygirl1411

From what I read here, I am impressed by the mantle of integrity that surrounds her, and is her. Maybe Ms. Jarvis can help rid our county courthouse of the bias brought to bear upon our local public.

Commented: Thursday, November 13th, 2025 @ 1:30 am By: Richard Marvin Butkus

Maybe Austin can run to replace Kidwell. I would vote for him for that!

Commented: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 @ 8:45 pm By: Befuddled

I think every 1 here is being a little hard on Austin Garrison. Tho I think Hickman has earned reelection. No question abt it.

However Austin is a young person naive person. I'm impressed that he wants to participate in govt & has the courage to run 4 office. Kudos!

He really cant hardly b blamed if the Chairman of the GOP Executive committee has tried to use him as a puppet. I mean, what young person wouldnt be flattered & grateful if he really were being promoted by a person of such influence & power.

My advice to Austin is that Hickman has this job sewn up & there4 Austin should seek election in some other position, then I might
possibly cheer him on. Let's find another spot for Austin, maybe an appointed Govt committee job where he can gain experience. Hey Austin, always try to see both sides of any issue before u judge.

My complaint w elected pple today is that most of them hav come to think of themselves a "trustees" of WethePeople, rather than
"Representatives" of WeThePpl.

Commented: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 @ 12:38 pm By: Washingtonian

In addition to Mr. Garrison's deafening silence at all the meetings on Snowden, there is another "tell" on his real position. During the school board meetings, he sat with a group of Cheeseman allies, and Cheeseman was the one driving the train to close Snowden. There is an old saying about "birds of a feather."

Commented: Tuesday, November 11th, 2025 @ 9:45 pm By: Victoria

Mr. Garrison also essentially admits he was recruited to run by the Forest woman. When it was brought up by someone that Forest had recruited a candidate south of the river, Mr. Garrison responded almost immediately to that description. While he denied another aspect of that post, he has never denied that he is the Forest woman's candidate. The post he responded to did not name a candidate or a district, but Mr. Garrison, who I do not recall ever posting on the BO before immediately came forward and essentially said "that's me". The Forest woman is VERY tight with Superintendent Cheeseman.

Commented: Tuesday, November 11th, 2025 @ 9:56 am By: Conservative Voter

Hey, Garrison. Dude, YOU were the one who failed to engage. Hickman fought for Snowden. You didn't.

Commented: Monday, November 10th, 2025 @ 9:41 pm By: Bubba

Mr. Garrison's reasoning is rather faulty. He is working on his degrees. Mr. Hickman has his degrees. He's working on getting to know area people. Mr. Hickman was born and raised here. Mr. Hickman is already a professional teacher with certifications and experience. As a former service member myself with some intimate knowledge, I know and can appreciate that Mr. Hickman has worked on sensitive projects and information that most are not trusted with. Mr. Hickman has created and run his own successful business. Again, a lot of people have not done that either.

It seems like Mr. Garrison is just starting out. More power to him, but he does not have the qualifications and abilities of Mr. Hickman. Thinking he does is delusional.

Commented: Monday, November 10th, 2025 @ 6:46 pm By: Van Zant

Apparently, Mr. Garrison has not kept up with what was happening at Snowden. They made great progress this past year in improving their scores on the state tests, but in spite of this Superintendent Cheeseman in a sudden move put them on the chopping block. While Mr. Garrison was not involved in helping Snowden move forward, Mr. Hickman was. He was in frequent communication with the school and on site to help out. He encouraged other school board members to visit the school to see what was happening there. Mr. Hickman was very engaged in helping Snowden move forward, but Mr. Garrison was not. So how is it that Garrison thinks he can criticize mr. Hickman?

Snowden was lost because we have a faction on the school board that are yes-men or women for the superintendent, and that is what needs to change. Often a superintendent will push for school consolidation because they think it will look good on their resume for their next job. Charles Hickman is a school board member who has stood up for the citizens of Beaufort County. Mr. Garrison was encouraged into this race by a major supporter of the superintendent, so it does not take a rocket scientist to see which side he would be on. That is also likely the reason he did not speak up at the various meetings, because he did not want to challenge Cheeseman's position.

Wasn't Garrison present at the first meeting where the closing of Snowden was first initiated? There was no big crowd then. If he cared about Snowden, instead of playing politics, he would have spoken up then. Instead, he is trying to falsely put blame on somebody who was there working for Snowden, Charles Hickman.

Beaufort County does NOT need another rubberstamp for the superintendent on our school board. We have too many of those already.

Commented: Monday, November 10th, 2025 @ 4:02 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer

Sir. As I stated, I am a junior in college, and like many students, I remain a dependent of family. I split my time between my home in Aurora for most of the week and class days in Greenville at school, again as many students do, including Republican State Representative Wyatt Gable and newly elected conservative Greenville city councilman Seth Hardee. I'm also not sure what you mean by a real job. As I said, I worked full-time while attending school, playing sports, and being engaged in my community. I also stated clearly that I did not feel a politically driven stump speech would do people who were angry and grieving any good. You cannot make decisions based on emotion, but on facts alone, and riling up a crowd of people I love and care for would have been counterproductive. It is apparent, sir, that you have no desire to discuss policy or strategy but only degrade me personally. That is disappointing as I think you asked reasonable and genuine questions in your first response. Best.

Commented: Monday, November 10th, 2025 @ 2:14 pm By: Austin Garrison

So you are still living at home and have never held a real job? And you acknowledge you were there at the school board meetings but failing to stand up and speak out for Snowden? Did the cat get your tongue?

School systems are big businesses with budget well into the tens of millions of dollars, often the largest employer in many counties. So comparing a candidate who has not even financially run his own household much less his own business to someone with actual business experience running his own independent business shows a huge difference in qualifications.

Teaching school is not a required qualification for the school board, but someone who has been a teacher in the past certainly has a lot more useful knowledge than someone who has merely been a student, something that all of us have been at some time.

It is well known that closing Snosden was the superintendent's project. If someone does not have the backbone to stand up to the superintendent to speak out for his community when their local school is in jeopardy, how could anyone believe he would have the backbone to stand up to the superintendent at a school board meeting on other subjects?

Commented: Monday, November 10th, 2025 @ 1:50 pm By: Conservative Voter