Comments by Van Zant | Eastern NC Now

Regarding the March 3 Commission meeting: What a shocking lack of decorum.

Commented: Monday, March 10th, 2025 @ 8:47 am By: Van Zant

Stan: I suppose the resolution is meant for the County Commission Board. There's not much need to put it before the School Board. I'm pretty sure that, not all, but a majority of that board is totally committed to chasing that ever more expensive "free education lottery money".

Concerning the County Commission Board: I hate to be a sourpuss but I'm not too confident that those "Knockoff Republicans" that just happen to be recent Democrats are going to be inclined to vote for such a resolution. But if they did it would be very entertaining seeing if they could do it with a straight face considering the hypocrisy of it all. I could be wrong though, because it's also mighty hypocritical to sit on a Republican Executive Committee and write checks to Democrat candidates. They do that with a straight face.

Commented: Sunday, March 9th, 2025 @ 8:42 am By: Van Zant

I noticed that only one of the two newest board members voted for new board leadership. If both had voted for new leadership, it would have happened. So far it appears that the recent election has changed nothing.

Same with the board of commissioners. The recent election has put them one vote away from new leadership instead of two votes from new leadership. So, in a re-evaluation year we seem to be on track for some very real tax increases.

Commented: Friday, March 7th, 2025 @ 9:15 pm By: Van Zant

I got my property revaluation last week. Whooo! I can't see the rate being lowered enough to avoid a huge tax increase. I think I've about figured out that somebody is getting free money from me.

Commented: Monday, March 3rd, 2025 @ 11:24 am By: Van Zant

I think that's $10 million 500 thousand so far.

I'm really getting the impression that not much effort is being put into addressing county population trends and enrollment choices, and too much effort is being put into procuring education lottery funds for ill thought-out building projects for the consolidation of schools.

Commented: Monday, March 3rd, 2025 @ 9:32 am By: Van Zant

Yeah. I was just using the 1.5 years as the statement attributed to Waters in the article. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it were not much longer. The big question is, why was the School Superintendent and the Chair of the County Commission working together independently of the Commission and the School Board?

I remember in 2023 when the new School Board members at that time were accused falsely of representing themselves as the Board to the State Legislature. Wouldn't it be a hoot if it turned out the accusers were doing it themselves. While that's fun to wonder about, it seems pretty likely that Cheeseman and Waters have been doing that sort of thing for a long time.

Commented: Friday, February 28th, 2025 @ 8:50 am By: Van Zant

As I've said before, the staff leadership of BCS has absolutely abandoned their quest for a social studies curriculum purchase. After the public concerns and hard questions by the then new board members a couple of years ago, they actually removed it from any consideration. As I remember it, the item was not placed before the Board again after the public resistance.

As I have observed since then when board members have asked about curriculum status they have been put off by staff. Recently, after being questioned by individual board members they have admitted to not having any plans for social studies curriculum. It seems like it was SAAVAS or nothing for them. Now, they say they want to plan for science curriculum. I don't know anyone that really knows what the status of that is.

I have noticed that some Board members have renewed their requests for staff status reports regarding curriculum. It seems to me that this board is being blown off by staff and there are not enough board members that care enough to demand staff to respond. It seems like a will-full staff and a lazy or ideologically hostile Board majority - not sure what the majority proportion is.

So, how long does it take? It seems like the strategy is to delay untill the clock runs out.

Commented: Thursday, February 27th, 2025 @ 5:27 pm By: Van Zant

RH: We have been living in a real time George Orwell novel for some time now.
Stan: The really disturbing thing is that BBo is not alone, and he just may be a Republican - RINO version.

Commented: Tuesday, February 25th, 2025 @ 7:10 am By: Van Zant

Here we are at that awkward moment. Do we let the BBob ridiculousness hang there or do we say the obvious. OK, I'll do it.

Ms. Cayton was on subject when she mentioned teaching U.S History grounded in the founding of the country. That occurred in the 18th century with roots in the 17th century. BBo wants to muddle it up by concurrently teaching NAACP 19th and 20th century history. They are different time periods. Of course you teach both, just not at the same time.

I'll give BBob this, no matter what the subject it is always about race to him.

I hope our school board can stick to their guns and provide some clear direction. Recent Leftist political and education practices are confusing the heck out of our young people.

Commented: Sunday, February 23rd, 2025 @ 8:54 am By: Van Zant

Am I hearing that indisputable "facts" are being delivered to us from the far-Left echo chamber? Well, I've given BBob ample time to demonstrate a spirit of learning and growing while engaging in interesting dialog. It is not to be.

What he should have said previously is something like for example, Musk perhaps misread that screwed up SSA data and exaggerated the payments, but still there is almost $72 billion in improper payments from the agency, and DOGE is providing a long overdue service.

But no. Instead, race is brought into conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with race and Musk is falsely portrayed as a South African racist with the insinuation that all white South Africans are racist.

Additionally, when he accuses advocates of a color-blind society of being in some way responsible for slavery and Jim Crow, that is highly insulting.

Going back into the catalog of outright false statements, for example the time when he said there were zero free blacks in the antebellum South when there were hundreds of thousands of them at that time. When it is pointed out that he is kinda way off on the crazy pronouncement he doubles down. There are volumes of those type examples.

Not much constructive can come from dialog with that level of hostility and dishonesty other than just letting him demonstrate the lunacy coming out of the extreme Left in this present-day world in which we live. I suppose we should thank him for that.

Commented: Thursday, February 20th, 2025 @ 10:45 am By: Van Zant

BBob is like a race ninny. It's so much that most of what he says is absolute nonsense.

Commented: Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 @ 10:37 am By: Van Zant

The three that voted against it were the two with wives on the School Board and the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners.

Commented: Friday, February 14th, 2025 @ 5:31 am By: Van Zant

Surely, the logic of this project does not follow, but the reasons why this is a flawed process do follow.

Commented: Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 @ 10:34 am By: Van Zant

Ok. Is this the way this all went down?

1) The Beaufort County School system thought they owned all the land at the Eastern Elementary School site where the demolition and construction are to be.
2) They found out after the fact that they did not own all of the land.
3) Initially, the School system thought they had a gentleman's agreement with the City of Washington to use the land.
4. The City of Washington reneged on the agreement and decided to demand a land exchange involving the City of Washington gaining Kugler Field or P.S. Jones Park or a half million dollars.
5) The County School Board did not officially specify any preferred direction but offered to pay half the money (a quarter of a million dollars).
6) Then, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners by a 4 to 3 vote decided to pay the money to the City of Washington instead of the land swap.

If that is it, this has got darned near everything, including incompetence and greed.

Commented: Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 @ 6:55 pm By: Van Zant

Do Eastern Carolina residents really want California style school consolidations, and do Eastern Carolina residents really favor California style ethics? I'll wager that most of our reps really do not want to know.









eastern Carolina residents

Commented: Monday, February 10th, 2025 @ 9:56 am By: Van Zant

Thanks to Soros funded NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson, our state is the ugly purple/blue spot of the southeastern states. We have become the California of the South, and that is truly disgraceful.

Commented: Sunday, February 9th, 2025 @ 3:49 pm By: Van Zant

Questions that need to be answered before going forward with a project this big:
1. More preparation and more scrutiny by both boards. Where was it?
2. Input from the community. Why was there none?
3. A County Long-Range Facility study and plan. Where is it?
4. A County/City Transportation study? Where is it?

People elect Hood Richardson because he asks these questions. Why do so many other board members (majorities) not ask these questions? It is their job to do so.

Commented: Saturday, February 8th, 2025 @ 12:18 pm By: Van Zant