North Carolina is the place to be

From the majestic mountains to beautiful Beaches.

North Carolina has something for everyone. With the tallest mountains on the east coast and beautiful beaches to boot it's no wonder that for the second straight year Americans are moving to North Carolina at a higher rate than any other state in the country according to a study by by United Van Lines. It is estimated that North carolina will be come the 7th most populous state in the next 10 years. This might be good for businesses, and even politicians, however I hate to see NC lose it's rual touch.

New Bern is attracting more than it's fair share of those who are relocating to NC. When retiree's first started moving to New Bern back in the late 1970's the vast majority were coming from New York or New Jersey. By the 1990's we were starting to see more folks moving here from around the Washington DC area. Today believe it or not, many are moving here from Flordia and California. Seems like the property taxes and cost of living have become so high in those areas folks are looking for a state with more reasonable taxes. Lets hope they stay that way.

I guess growth is ok but at the same time I hope we do not experience it to the extent that we lose our southern charm. Let's hope Eastern NC retains it small town flavor for many years to come. To learn more about New Bern go to www.newbern-nc.info.

Shall we zone?

At present, with the exception of airport zoning, Craven County does not have any zoning in place at this time. Over the years this has led to a hodgepodge of single family homes, multi family homes, trailer parks, and businesses all within the same areas. In addition, in Township 7 commercial development along service roads that were not designed for heavy volumes of traffic has led to serious traffic flow problems at the major intersections.
Tuesday night the Craven County Planning Department held a public information meeting to discuss what zoning can and can't do to help ensure balanced and stable growth in Township 7 and Township 6. The meeting was well attended, and feedback was mostly positive. Although there was initially some confusion about the City of New Bern's extraterritorial jurisdiction authority and ability to forcible annex I feel we all came away from the meeting having learned something.
Craven County was not so many years ago considered a rural area. When you were heading south from downtown New Bern on HWY 17, Simmons Street was the boundary for the city limits. Beyond that were small farms on Trent Road and as you crossed Racetrack Road you again saw mostly family farms. Across the Trent River with the exception of Old Cherry Point Road you found family farms and large tree farms. Now these areas are developing at a very rapid pace.
Several months ago at one of our regular scheduled meetings I asked my fellow County Commissioners to support me in asking the County Manager to hold a series of public information meetings to get input from the citizens and see how they feel about zoning in Township 6 and Township 7. I feel it is something we need and I hope the majority of the citizens feel the same.

New Bern High School Football Team is recognized

Today the 2007 4-a state football champions were honored with a parade and a pep rally. The parade began at the Police station on George Street and ended at Union Point where proclamations from Mayor Tom Bayliss and County Commissioner Renee Sisk were read and presented to the team. State Senator Jean Preston read and presented a letter of congratulations from the North Carolina State Senate. After the presentations a pep rally was held and the NBHS cheerleaders and the NBHS band put on a wonderful show. We wish the players the best as they move forward with their lives and hope they all continue futhering their education.

Good time to buy Real Estate

Despite all the national news about how bad the housing market is I believe it is a great time to buy a home in the New Bern area. Home prices have stabilize and are certainly more reasonable than they were a year and a half ago, and interest rates are very attractive. I have always felt it was a mistake to listen to the gloom and doom media. Frankly, the market had to adjust some as prices were rising faster than they could be sustained. Don't listen to the prophets of doom, if you are in the market for a home buy one. Check out my website www.newbern-nc.info for all the information you need on Real Estate in the New Bern area.

New Bern History

New Bern has a very unique and storied history and the older I get the more interested I am becoming in not only the history of New Bern but of North Carolina as well. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it is because the older I become the more I feel like I am a part of history myself. I guess one of the advantages of growing older is that I can remember things from 50 years ago. Yikes! thats scary.

With the 300th aniversity of the founding of New Bern just around the corner there will certainly be some interesting facts surface regarding early New Bern and I look forward to learning more about the colonial capital of North Carolina. If you would like to learn a little more about early New Bern go to my website at http://www.newbern-nc.info/ . Please let me know what you think and if you have any information on this subject that you would like to share with me please do so.

The Incredible New Bern Bears

This was your classic David and Goliath story. Going into the state 4A championship Saturday night, Charlotte Independence had won 7 straight state championships. Talk about being an underdog. I think the only folks in the state that thought New Bern had a chance to win were the players and the coachs. It is common knowledge that Charlotte Independence is a football factory of sorts. They recuit players outside of their district and draw from a talent pool of over 1 million. The New Bern Bears draw from perhaps 40 thousand. Despite getting behind 14 to 0 early in the first quarter the Bears never gave up hope. History was made last night. David aka Bears, won their first state championship.

Go New Bern Bear's

I attended the New Bern High School final playoff game Friday night in New Bern and cheered as the Bear's beat a game but out gunned team from Raleigh. Both teams played hard but in the end New Bern proved to be the better team. Next stop the Bears will take on a team from Charlotte. This is the 4 th time in about 7 years that New Bern has made it to the State championship game. In past years they have gone up against teams from Charlotte which requite players from a much larger area, perhaps 20 times as large. Good luck Bears in the final 4A Championship game.

Wounded Warriors Leave Program

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!
Let's Get 'em home for Christmas!

Last December the national director of the Military Order Of Purple Heart (MOPH) visited the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp Lejuene. He wanted to give each of the Wounded Marines a special gift for Christmas. Some of these brave men have suffered debilitating wounds. When asked "What do you want for Christmas?", most said they just wanted to spend Christmas at home with their families. Because many of the brave Marines could not afford the cost of an airline ticket and planned to spend Christmas in the Wounded Warrior Barracks, the Wounded Warrior Leave Program was born.

Last year there was a fundraiser that was held at New Bern Golf and Country Club. That fundraiser, along with an e-mail that was circulated throughout the United States, raised enough money to send every Wounded Marine home for Christmas. Donations to this project bought airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, bus tickets, whatever was necessary to get the wounded Marines and Soldiers together with their families and grant them their Christmas wish!

This year will be even more of a challenge. In addition to the 125 or so Wounded Marines at Camp Lejeune, the MOPH will help the Wounded Soldier's at Fort Bragg.

Here's how you can help.
Please join us Tuesday, December 11th from 6-8 PM for a fundraiser at New Bern Country Club where our guests of honor will be several of these wounded Marines.There will be heavy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. Bring a check payable to "MOPH-Wounded Warrior Leave".
Our donation goal is $50 per person or more for attendees. Even if you can only stay a short while, please come by and meet these brave Marines and let them know we appreciate the sacrifice they have made! Ask anyone that attended last year, it was a truly special ocassion, everyone was overwhelmed with the Christmas spirit, and we expect this year's event to be just as memorable.

If you have other obligations but are still willing to help with any amount of donation, please mail a check ASAP, payable to MOPH-Wounded Warrior Leave. Send to SteveTyson , 820 Broad Street, New Bern, NC 28560

We recognize this is short notice, but there is a deadline of December 12th in order to purchase plane tickets. The limited time-frame is why we are attempting to contact as many people as we can by email. Please forward this e-mail to everyone in your contact list. Last year, we were surprised at how much came in from the email that was circulated nationally. It was truly a team effort for a wonderful cause. Time is short, We must purchase tickets soon before the airlines get booked up with holiday traffic.

DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND 100% OF THE MONEY RAISED WILL BE SPENT TO UNITE THESE WOUNDED MARINES AND SOLDIERS WITH THEIR FAMILIES FOR CHRISTMAS!

If you can attend Please RSVP by email as soon as you can at tyson@century21.com or call 252-633-5720.

God bless you and your family this Christmas,

Glory Days

Friday night I invited a friend of mine to go with me to see New Bern High School play in the first round of the division playoffs. My friend, who had not been to a high school game in years, was quite a player in his day. As we were walking down the bleachers looking for a seat we saw 5 guys that we had gone to high school with some 35 years ago and we sat with them. It was a great time and we all reminisced about our glory days on the High School team back in the day. New Bern proved to be to talented for the team they played from Raleigh, and it was pretty much a blow out. Nevertheless we all throughly enjoyed the game and have decided to go to round 2 of the playoffs next week. Hope to see you there.

Ghost walk

Saturday was the final night of the New Bern Ghost walk and some members of my lunch Rotary volunteered to help at the Cedar Grove Cematary. There were 5 groups of actor's playing various roles with a common theme pertaining to the occupancy of New Bern by Union forces during the Civil War. The weather was perfect, the crowds were quite large, and everyone seemed to enjoy their evening stroll through a time in New Bern's history that has become somewhat blurred with time. Quite a bit of money was raised for the New Bern Historical society and me, I found it to be a haunting experience.