NBAF Opinion From a Local Candidate

Recently, I contacted Chuck Stires, the Republican candidate running for the State Senate seat currently occupied by Doug Berger. District 7 includes Vance, Warren, Franklin and Granville Counties. It is refreshing to see a candidate who actually understands the unique perspectives of our community.

When asked what his thoughts were on the National Bio Agro Defense Facility, Mr. Stires had this to say.

Over the decades, Butner has been the depository for necessary but distasteful facilities because folks in the Triangle screamed “Not In My Back Yard”. Butner, like other towns and counties immediately outside of the Triangle has the potential to see real residential and commercial growth.

The growth of the Triangle encourages new residents, and the businesses that cater to them to look for commuting neighborhoods that offer quieter, less congested, more economical places to live. This is the kind of growth that residents and the economy of Granville County and Butner need.

Prisons, mental hospitals, sewage treatment plants and bio-disease labs are necessary facilities, but pose serious concerns for the community and those who are looking to move to the community. Those concerns translate into lower property values and stifled economic growth. At what point does Butner and Granville County get to share in the economic rewards of the growing Triangle instead of being looked at and used as the place to build the undesirable but necessary facilities that no one else wants “In Their Backyard”.

State Senator Doug Berger claims that “Rural North Carolina Matters”. Yet he is supporting and promoting a bio-disease facility that may have some short-term economic benefit during its construction, but would no doubt be an obstacle to the long-term economic development of a rural county that so desperately needs it. More importantly, why isn’t he listening to the people of the district he purportedly represents in Raleigh?

Why is Doug Berger’s agenda so often different than the citizens’ agenda?

Why indeed? The citizens of Butner and Granville County have a lot to consider in the months to come. Is Doug Berger the best man for the job?

You can visit Chuck’s website here.