NFL Picks: Week 9

Jennifer and I sat down in the Dairy Bar Sunday morning and wrote our NFL picks on a napkin. I have those picks at home … and will post them on here probably Tuesday. Just by seeing the scores, I see she did better than me once again.

This week, I’ll get back to posting our picks BEFORE the weekend.

— Billy

Herald endorses Stone for Sanford at-large race

I’ve been moving into a house this week, and Internet connectivity has been a touchy subject for me. I’m finally getting around to posting our Sunday editorial endorsing Mike Stone for the Sanford City Council at-large seat.

Your comments are always welcome and appreciated, whether you agree or disagree with what we’ve written.

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You don’t always know what you’re getting when you cast your vote for someone. The Herald endorsed Steve Brewer two years ago because he knew how to get things done. But since his election, it’s been the manner of his doing, and not just the doing, that has caused us to regret the endorsement.
While Brewer goes around town poking his index finger into your chest as if to say, “This is MY town,” a tug-of-war has developed between him and his accomplices on the board and those on the board who favor more open government, more citizen say-so and maximizing service while minimizing the fiscal impact on city residents.
If Brewer has been a surprise, the at-large council race between incumbent Mike Stone and challenger Lora Wright shouldn’t be.
With Stone and Wright, you pretty much know what you’re getting. Stone has become Brewer’s nemesis on an otherwise mostly-sleepy board that follows Brewer’s lead. He’s asked questions and sought debate on issues that others on the board would pass or approve without so much of a peep.
So in steps Wright, who’s lifted pages — actually, whole chapters — out of the Brewer playbook and has spent much of the last few weeks of her campaign confessing the perceived (and mostly inaccurate) sins of her opponent, rather than telling the people how she’d do what she says she plans to do for them.
But make no mistake about it: a vote for Lora Wright is an endorsement of a city council which, by a 4-3 margin, is in favor of shutting the public voice out of the council chambers, is OK with little oversight of city spending and doesn’t mind casting votes without regard to what the citizenry thinks. A vote for Stone, however, is a vote for sunshine, for shining a light on the process by which the City of Sanford is governed.
Wright, when not talking badly about Mike Stone, says many things that voters like to hear. Her “I’m mad as heck and I’m not going to take it anymore” shtick wore thin early on, so she shifted gears and became, like Brewer, an attack dog. She says she wants change on the city council, and you can take that to the bank: she favors 5-2 votes and 6-1 votes without Stone prolonging meetings with questions about how your tax dollars are spent.
She might say differently at times on the campaign trail, but a close watch of her reveals the alignment problem that has driven this contest way off-road: the very kinds of bad practice she accuses Stone of are the very kinds of things that have characterized her campaign.
Our endorsements of other Sanford and Broadway races have included the positives and negatives of all candidates, regardless of whether they were chosen by us. Wright does carry good qualities — we don’t feel like she would come to a council meeting unprepared, she’s outspoken and possesses leadership qualities, she’s run a successful business in downtown Sanford and she is genuine in her desire to serve as a public official.
But unlike the other candidates we have not endorsed, Wright has chosen to wage personal attacks with members of this board, whether by participating in juvenile name-calling or accusing us of doing the same. Negative ads against her opponent claim Stone voted to cut money from the Temple Theatre and other programs in Sanford, but the information was lifted from an e-mail circulated by Brewer. We’re already seeing the trend.
While the negative campaign and dealings with our staff doesn’t help, it has little to do with why we’re endorsing Stone. We’re picking him because we liked his performance during his first term.
We feel Stone has demonstrated a willingness to truly serve the people by putting aside the “easy” to go for the “good” and, dare we say it, the “best.” He has looked at issues squarely and asked the good questions. He treats tax dollars with respect.
Wright has based her campaign on attacking Stone’s “no” votes, but we ask what is wrong with questioning a new fee on businesses, questioning a golf course that has been losing several thousand dollars a year, questioning a city budget that doesn’t appear to cut the fat and questioning a council that continues to vote together on seemingly every issue?
Stone’s “no” votes may not always be right, but heck, who else is even asking questions? It’d be one thing if all of these “yes” votes were best for Sanford, but that is where we disagree with the current council.
A vote for Lora Wright is a vote for the “same old” government. If you’re happy with the way things have been run, then she is probably your candidate. If you prefer a government that rolls its eyes when somebody questions an item on the budget, or uses dissenting views as an attack during the next election cycle, she’s your candidate once again.
But if you prefer debate in your government, councilmen who believe the “same old” way of doing things isn’t always the best way and a government that fights for fewer taxes, then vote for Mike Stone.
We feel that in this much-talked-about important race, he is the better candidate.

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In case you haven’t kept up with our endorsements this week, we will provide them once again.
• In the two Broadway races for spots on the Town Board, we endorse Woody Beale for the two-year term and Clem Welch and Lynne West Green for the four-year terms.
• In the Sanford City Council Ward 2 race, we endorse candidate Charles Taylor because of his commitment to fewer taxes in government and his potential to become a leader on the council.
• Our editorial board was split on the Sanford City Council Ward 5 race. Half of our board chose incumbent Linwood Mann, while the other half chose challenger Earl Barker.
We feel if our picks are ultimately chosen, they will best represent the municipalities of Lee County for the next term.
We hope to see a good turnout Tuesday for these elections. Regardless of what we say, it’s your vote that matters most.