north carolina

Chris Knight's avatar

I will not vote for Amendment One.

Neither will I vote against Amendment One.

Because the more I have thought about it and the more that I have seen especially during the past couple of weeks across North Carolina, Amendment One is by far the worst thing that I have ever seen on a ballot in the Tarheel State. And that’s sayin’ something about this place…

For this blog’s readership in various and sundry places not between Manteo and Murphy, Amendment One is the measure on next week’s ballot that would make the Constitution of the state of North Carolina explicitly state that marriage will only be between one man and one woman. As you can probably imagine, this is widely perceived to be a measure attempting to circumvent the legality of “gay marriage”.

I’ve been wrestling literally for the past several weeks on how to articulate what I believe ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

There’s just no stopping the legend of Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton!

First thing’s first: the Third Annual Popcorn Sutton Tribute is set for August 3-4, once again in beautiful Maggie Valley, North Carolina! That’s right this year it’s gonna be a two day event! I’m currently planning to be there for all of it.

Wouldn’t surprise me at all if next year’s is a three-day extravaganza, given how Popcorn’s life and times continues to gain legions of admirers. And there are gonna be even more after this article in The New York Times about Popcorn’s life and likker. There’s a terrific photo of Mrs. Pam Sutton holding a jar of Popcorn’s original moonshine.

Meanwhile, attorney Will Cheek notes that three years after his passing, Popcorn has achieved a victory of sorts. Namely, that distilling liquor is now legal in Cocke County, Tennessee (where Popcorn lived)....

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

How in Heaven’s name did we make it this far without the Food Police?

I mean, I remember going to school every day with a lunchbox packed with a sandwich, a small bag of potato chips, a thermos of lemonade and sometimes a brownie or slice of cake. Around the holidays Mom would also usually throw in a bag of Chex snack mix (we’ve always called it “trash” because “there’s all kinds of good junk in it!). So did millions of other children around the country. And we certainly didn’t seem to suffer from malnutrition, rickets or plague.

In 2012 however, those individually-prepared meals packed with love would almost certainly have had our parents taken away in handcuffs by Department of Social Services. That seems to be the general direction we’re headed according to this story from Carolina Journal Online, which reports on government run amok in the schools ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

The past several weeks have seen an exploding amount of interest in the life and art of Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton: the legendary brewer of moonshine. It will be three years next month that he left us… but Popcorn Sutton has gotta be smiling and laughing his butt off in Heaven at how his myth has grown down here on Earth! Ever since his family began legally selling Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey I’ve seen it going for $150 a jar on eBay. And then a few days ago Kellie Pickler introduced it to Ellen DeGeneres on national television, in a clip that simply must be seen.

Meanwhile, there are things going on behind the scenes that I’ve been sworn to secrecy on that… well, y’all will just have to wait and see how uberawesome this is all gonna be! I can tell you that the third annual Popcorn ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

The news out of Raleigh today – which will no doubt be enjoyed by many across the Tarheel State – is that Bev Perdue, known on this blog as the WORST governor that North Carolina has EVER had, will not seek re-election to a second term.

Kinda historic, given that since our governors have had the ability to run for re-election since the late 1970s, that all of North Carolina’s governors since have run for and won second terms. Perdue is going to prove to be the break from that.

Wouldn’t surprise me if she wound up with a job offer in Obama’s second term (providing he’s delivered one) but even so: that Bev Perdue will no longer be in the governor’s mansion is terrific news. This lady has no clue how much her tax increases have wrecked havoc on this state. Not to mention that she once advocated ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Dear Ron,

Five years ago last week, on the night before the election that included the names of you, me and fourteen other individuals on the ballot for Board of Education, you were involved in an incident that continued to make headlines long after the polls had closed.

In the many months following that incident, there were individuals who attempted to extract a measure of accountability from someone who was by that time a duly elected public official. I was one of those, as you well know. It is not only a matter of public record what I did with this blog regarding the events of November 6th, 2006, but a legal one also, as I was subpoenaed during your lawsuit against another party.

I am not writing this to reiterate what it is that you may have done, or to again press claim for what I sincerely believed was ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

I kept meaning to post an extensive write-up about the Second Annual Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam, held in Maggie Valley, North Carolina two months ago. Guess it just sorta collided with some other stuff going on in my life at the time. But I have heard bunches from event organizers who were delighted at the turnout and now, there is serious talk afoot about making it an ongoing yearly festival. Maybe even one taking place across an entire weekend (and in the fall when it would be cooler 🙂

Well anyhoo, here’s the BIG news of the day, friends and neighbors!

Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey – AKA real honest-to-goodness moonshine – is now being sold in Newport, Tennessee! This is the real deal: made according to Popcorn’s very own original recipe with the permission and blessing of his family, which is in a partnership with country music legend Hank ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Bev Perdue should do the right thing and resign as governor of North Carolina. And I am absolutely serious.

If she intended this as a joke, I don’t see how it could possibly have been funny at all. It’s too scary enough that Perdue conceived of such an unconstitutional and morally wrong idea, let alone verbally articulated it.

Here’s what North Carolina’s Worst Governor Ever said yesterday at a meeting of the Rotary Club in nearby Cary…

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”

So Perdue wants to suspend democracy and elections in the name of reigning-in the economy. She said ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Hurricane Irene should be thrashing the coast pretty hard come this time tomorrow. As of this writing it’s a Category 2 storm: weaker than it had been a day ago but still capable of tremendous devastation. Thoughts and prayers going out to those in the eastern part of North Carolina and the rest of Irene’s projected path.

A hurricane is never something to take lightly. But given the current situation, I thought it might be neat to all the same share with this blog’s readers something that I’ve always thought was an intriguing story from the already rich culture of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. And it is perhaps the most unusual (some say the most accurate) hurricane warning system anywhere…

The Gray Man of Hatteras is a ghost reputed to haunt the beaches in the vicinity of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. If beaches are haunted then I suppose there are ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Looks like I picked the wrong day to start blogging again…

The 5.9 magnitude earthquake epicentered near Richmond, Virginia shook my house west of Reidsville, North Carolina for… darn nearly 30 seconds! Okay, probably not that long but it sure as hell felt long enough. I was working on some stuff on my iPad while sitting up on my bed when I felt the bed shake and heard the windows creaking. First thing I thought was “wow, that wind sure is strong…” Then I looked outside and saw that there was no wind.

Getting reports from friends all over: my girlfriend’s apartment shook a few hours north of here. Good friend Chad in Cary felt it there. Folks as far away as Cleveland, Ohio and southwest North Carolina are saying it shook them too.

Wow.

Okay, I know there are lots of you who are like “Chris, this is no ...

Read more