A couple of local newspapers ponder a moratorium on forced annexation: Burlington-Times-News here and High Point Enterprise here. Bottom line is city officials are wringing their hands over the possibility that they might not be able to forcibly annex land.
Sara Burrows writes up the debate for Carolina Journal. Note a Greensboro legislator gets a laugh from annexation opponents:
Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, who served nine years on the Greensboro City Council, said at the hearing, “you always see people oppose [forced annexation] for various reasons, but the bottom line is the services they get are services they need. They may not be services they want, but they are services they need.”
A crowd of about 50 red-shirt-wearing Lenoir and Davidson County residents burst into laughter at Adams’ comment. They cheered when Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, said it “isn’t the government’s job to tell us what we need.”
“It’s a fundamental right for our citizens to be able to choose where they live and not be subject to unwanted, unneeded fees, taxes and services,” Hager said.
Lexington Mayor John Walser “echoed Adams’ assertion, claiming Davidson Country residents should have sewer services, whether they knew it or not.”
